Chapter 12
A few tense seconds passed as the elven warrior and I locked eyes, the air thick with tension and as the hum of her Aim field grew louder, I had to put more of myself into the formulas to merely keep control of my sand.
Her eyes narrowed at me when my presence surged to nearly match hers.
"Look, there's been a misunderstanding…" I said, trying to stop this senseless battle. Knowing her identity, I saw no point in fighting her. I didn't want to risk hurting her either.
A sharp change in the music emanating from her field was the only reason I managed to react in time to block her attack.
One moment she was standing still, and the next, she exploded into motion, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye.
My body couldn't react quickly enough, but my mind, operating on numerical predictions, did. A tendril of iron sand intercepted her sword, its winds beginning to saw through it.
Panicking slightly, I quickly cast a whirlwind tornado with my faux arcana cards. The sudden, powerful gust lifted her off her feet, hurling her backward several meters. She tumbled through the air before landing gracefully, albeit with a slight wobble that betrayed her disorientation.
While my tornado shielded me, I took a brief moment to analyze her abilities.
First, there were the vicious winds on her blade, which would have sliced through my iron sand if not for the tornado. The winds created a path of lesser pressure in front of the sword, concentrating into a sharp edge. By its mechanics, I could deduce that the faster she moved, the more concentrated the winds around her sword became, sharpening the edges even further.
When her winds came in contact with my aim field, they started to disperse slightly, blunting the edge, but releasing the highly concentrated wind right into the iron sand. Which destabilized my control of it.
The good news was that I could sense the path of lesser pressure the skill created, so predicting her attacks will be easier.
Then there was that spike of power in her Aim field. So, she had some kind of physical reinforcement Skill.
She also was stupidly fast and her strength wasn't bad.
Not the strongest I had ever faced. A couple of stupidly overpowered amazons who tried to enslave me came to mind. Thank god, they had ambushed me while I was on the beach…
But she was certainly problematic by the current circumstances…
A bitter smile tugged at my lips as I considered the seemingly impossible task ahead: de-escalate the conflict without either of us getting hurt, all while protecting the bewildered shopkeeper.
As the tornado started to disperse, I could only conclude that I had to slow her down. She was too damn fast to battle in this enclosed space.
And speaking of the speed demon, she may as well have straight up teleported behind me thrusting her sword at the shopkeeper.
My iron sand intercepted, deflecting the blow to the side, and the conjured arcs of pressured water I shot towards her made her let out a 'tsk' and forced her to jump back.
She landed on the wall and began running, circling the room as she searched for an opening.
While keeping my metaphorical eyes on her, I started to shower her with balls and arcs of blunted pressured water rapidly getting the floor and walls wet.
I didn't get close to hitting her as she weaved between attacks and deflected with her sword those she couldn't while barely touching the floor.
In a tiny lapse between attacks of my barrage, she jumped straight at me, her sword sharpened by the winds trying to rip into me. Having predicted her attack by the paths of lesser air pressure, my iron sand was there ready to deflect the attack even as it came from my back.
She went by me and landed on the other opposite wall on which she proceeded to jump to an adjacent one and dashed at me again, slashing me with her sword as she passed by my side.
My iron sand was there to parry the attack, but this was just the beginning of a barrage of attacks. With each beat of the accelerating music, her attacks came faster and harder, a deadly symphony of attacks that started to push my defense's speed to its limit.
The next ten seconds turned into a frantic dance to the music of her personal reality where I lashed out my tendrils of iron sand in the direction where attacks were coming from, parrying them at the last second.
With the increased speed, her slashing ability strengthened and she started shaving away at my iron sand, decreasing the amount I possessed on my person to defend. Not that she was anywhere closer to disarming me entirely.
I still had a few tons of the stuff in my enchanted pouch.
But at this rhythm, she would eventually exhaust me.
So I executed my plan.
As she darted past, her wooden sword a blur, I actualized the formula I had lowered the potency of my previous water barrage for. The water that had soaked the floor earlier now froze instantly, turning the ground into a slick, treacherous surface.
The elf's next leap faltered, her feet slipping on the slick surface.
To her credit, she neither panicked nor flailed. But her next attack was lacking in speed and skill as the leverage in her jump was certainly affected by my spell.
I lashed out at her with my iron sand, for once expecting to win the exchange and recover the initiative of the fight.
Instead, she surprised me. With a slow but powerful upward slice, she used my iron sand as leverage to stomp heavily on the ground, cracking the ice in the process.
Using her newfound leverage, she jumped. Leaving her wooden sword behind that I had trapped by my iron sand in the slow swing.
Instants later, she ricocheted from the ceiling, a Japanese short sword in hand slashing down at my head.
'Metal' Was my barely coherent thought. As I let my iron sand which would be far too slow to deflect this attack fall to the ground around me and took a step back while focusing on a new formula.
The powerful repulsive magnetic force I unleashed was the only thing that prevented her strike from cleaving me in half as the sudden force produced from the electromagnetic repulsion surpassed her grip strength for an instant.
The sword was flung in the air before it could reach me.
But the elf was practically in my inner guard standing on the bulk of my iron sand.
The music coming from her AIM field reached its climax.
She lashed out with a thrust from her third and last sword aimed at my face.
Having seen the attack coming, I ducked while maintaining the electromagnetic repulsion over my skin and flash cast an earthen grasp with purely earth formulas.
As the Japanese short sword approached my face I could see as little arcs of lightning jumped from my skin and jolted the sword upwards. The edge missed me by millimeters where the repulsion was strongest and still, it was barely enough to deflect the attack.
On the way upwards, her sword caught on the fabric of my hood and sliced it in two. The fabric fell on my shoulders, uncovering my face.
At the same time, the iron sand under her feet rose from the ground, formed a giant hand, and tightly grabbed her overextended form.
Her angry, narrowed sky-blue eyes locked onto my calm green ones, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still as we sized each other up, both aware that the next move could be fatal.
If she let go of her sword and simply chopped downwards with her hand, she could easily rip my head open with her bare hands. While I had her in an earthen hand, meaning that with a thought, I could crush her.
Instead of those two scenarios, her eyes widened in bewilderment, the music from her field coming to an abrupt end as she saw my face and while slightly retreating her arm she said.
"Wait, you are–"
I couldn't let her finish what she was going to say as I had to throw us sideways into the ground.
An arrow flew through the space we had just occupied a second ago, coming from the shop's entrance.
A disgusting fleshy sound and a scream echoed in the room.
'Shit! The shopkeeper,' I thought. A glance showed that the arrow had already penetrated his but.
"Ah, my bad my bad. I'm sorry Billy. That arrow was for that bitch, the Gale. By the way, do you have our order?" I heard a voice coming from the door.
The shopkeeper whimpered while he lay on the ground.
Extending my senses a bit. I sensed a Level 4 carrying brass knuckles, two Level Twos that possessed daggers, and a Level 1 with a bow.
Putting my feet under me, I turned towards the newcomers while freezing the two halves of my hood together. It wouldn't last more than a couple of minutes, but I would rather not show my face as much as possible.
A few adventurers wearing cloaks not that different from mine entered the shop.
"Evilus…" A guttural voice full of hate that sent shivers down my spine came from the elf standing next to me. Her wooden sword was back in her hands.
And suddenly everything made sense.
Astraea's last familia member must have learned that today there would be some kind of meeting between the shopkeeper and the people who killed her familia. So sensing me talking with the shopkeeper at the time of the meeting must have convinced her that I was part of them.
"Astraea Familia… Or what remains of it anyway. Are you doing okay over there? You seem to be having a rough day." The level four said with a mocking tone. "Man…, I always felt that your Familia was overrated, but you take the cake. I saw you getting matched pretty equally by someone who isn't even an adventurer. It's hilarious hahaha." He continued while glancing at me.
I couldn't help but sigh as I felt her musical aura roaring back with vengeance.
"You need a hand, my friend?" he taunted, a smug grin spreading across his face. "I'm more than willing to lend it to you."
I could feel the elf jump away from me and glance at me warily.
I sighed again.
Exhaustion from this stupid day weighed heavily on me, both physically and mentally.
The stupid assassins trying to kidnap Astraea and interrupting my power curriculum class, the guild being stupid in general, stupid Apollo being a stupid god, Orario being a stupid city where little children are drugged to the point of cursing them, stupid Apollo having all the inns guarded in his search for my stupidly cute ass and finally this stupid misunderstanding.
'Breath, Regis.' I had to keep in mind that this nonsense was still a part of my path and that I had to deal with it.
Still, for today, I'd had enough.
"First of all, I'm not your friend. Today is my first day in Orario. So, not knowing exactly the circumstances, I'll give you one warning." I said in a cold voice. "Get out of this place. My bullshit tolerance for today has reached its limits hours ago." I said towards the adventurers at the door.
I picked a potion from my pouch and proceeded to ignore them.
"Billy, was it? I'm pretty tired, if I heal you, do you think you could sell me that white cloak from before?" I said, aware of the incredulous glances of everyone around me.
But I didn't care.
I'd already analyzed their AIM field strength, Miss Elf over there was more than strong enough to beat them.
I pulled the arrow from the bald shopkeeper's derriere, provoking a loud yelp from him.
"Come on, don't be a baby. It's just an arrow, and it didn't even hit anything vital." I said while pouring half of the potion on the perforated area. The wound rapidly healed itself shut.
The idiot was lucky he was so fat that it cushioned the blow enough to not hit anything important.
I decided to save the other half, knowing already that the battle still wasn't over and it was only a matter of time until they decided they had been disrespected enough and inevitably ignored my warning.
"There you go. Now, the cloak please?" I told the man who was still a bit disorientated from everything going on.
The sound of the wooden frame of the door splintering in half and the following indignant tone of the adventurer validated my decision.
"You think you're funny," said the Level 4 and he continued blabbering away saying something about arrogance and knowing his betters.
Not that I was listening.
Instead, while the shopkeeper gathered himself, I turned towards the walking orchestra who was looking a little lost.
"Aren't you going to deal with them? Weren't they like… your mortal enemies?" I asked her honestly puzzled.
She just returned me a wary glance while staying vigilant. I could feel the tension in her frame and field.
The girl had literally thrown herself at me and now she was there looking indecisive on what to do.
Not that I couldn't understand her. She probably recognized my face from having saved me a couple of years ago.
She must have questions about how a kid who nearly died to goblins a couple of years ago could be a match for her now. Or there was a higher chance that the thing making her indecisive was that she had attacked me previously, if she tried to engage the asholes by the door, the chances of me attacking her from behind in retaliation weren't low.
At least that's what I thought were her thoughts.
Thankfully the shopkeeper finally regained his wits. He was obviously very afraid as his eyes pinballed between me, the elf, and the adventurers next to the door.
"My cloak?" I asked him.
He jumped a little at my voice and a forced shaky smile said, "Of course, Lord adventurer. Thank you for saving me." And hurried up to pick the cloak he was showing me previously. I melted the ice in his path so that he didn't slip.
"Look out!" I heard the feminine voice of the elf say.
Not that I needed it, despite my outward appearance of dismissiveness, I was paying very close attention to their presence.
In the split of a second, the Level four adventurer was on me, his fist lashing at the back of my head.
Level four he might be, but compared to the last remaining member of the goddess of justice familia, he was downright glacial.
A slightly purplish air slash severed said limb and a torrent of iron sand forming a fist crashed on his center of mass almost simultaneously.
The adventurer crashed against the wall next to the door he came from a moment later, alarmed yells from the adventurers who hurried to dodge the human projectile.
The brief silence that followed while they processed what just happened was pleasurable for my tired brain.
"So, how much was the cloak?" I asked the shopkeeper who was looking at me with wide eyes.
"Errr 1.500 valis, sir." Then he took at the bleeding and screaming Level Four behind me and rectified it. "I mean, it's 500 valis, my lord".
Mentally sighing at how this would look from the outside and took the corresponding coins with a value of 1500 valis and left them in his hand.
"There you go. Thanks for the service." I said and turned to face in the direction of screams.
Miss Rage Elf was trying to cut down the handicapped Level 4 while dodging the attempts to kill her from his companions.
I recalled all the iron sand from the floor I could, shaped it like a net, and simply threw it over all of them.
'Dodge it' I sent a whisper towards the elf's ear with an air formula.
Due to my warning, the elf looked in my direction and in a hurry jumped away. Thus was fast enough to dodge the net, but all the enemy adventurers sans the archer weren't.
Once caught, I swiftly melted and quenched the iron sand with fire and ice respectively, and started running fairly high tension through it to lock their muscles. Their screaming made me a little squeamish.
There was a reason I tried avoiding outright electrocuting my enemies with my lightning. Out of all my deaths in the Trials, dying by lightning was always the most painful.
But I decided that for today I had enough. That meant, not giving a flying fuck about my soft self-imposed limits.
Now, if only the frigging elf practically frothing at the mouth stopped trying to kill them.
Since I had captured them, she hadn't stopped trying to whack them in the head with her sword.
I was blocking her attacks with my iron sand.
"Why, aren't you, letting me kill them?!" She all but shouted at me, while trying to split their heads open.
I was about to answer when suddenly, my senses pinged at me and I tilted my head sideways as an arrow passed by.
Right, they had an archer. His low level amidst high-class adventurers, almost made me overlook him.
Focusing on him, I could feel him sense my magic as he tried to run through the door, but I had already blocked the entrance with an ice wall.
Putting his back against the wall with a face of fear, I decided to simply glue him to it by extending the ice around his body like a cocoon.
Then turned to face the elf.
"Your objective is to kill them all, isn't it?" I asked her, a small spark crackling in front of her face to snap her out of her single-minded bloodlust.
"Yes!" She all but growled at me.
"Then, don't you need information about their activities? Or are you going to try to kill anyone that seems suspicious?" I said, with a bit of an edge in my voice.
The 'Like you attacked me' was all but implied.
That seemed to knock some sense into her, but her eyes and music darkened as she said. "I've seen people die. When we merely captured them, I mean. Some of them carried bombs on their person so capturing them for interrogation was and is dangerous and largely useless if we can't know if they are telling the truth. Half of them are also mad, so anything they say is suspect."
That was reasonable, but I could sense lies. So it wasn't a problem for me.
I turned to the adventurers being electrocuted and said. "Don't say anything if the answer is yes, try to say something if the answer is no." The look of hatred and resentment in their eyes told me that they heard me.
"Do you possess a bomb on your person?" The two Level Two and the archer tried to say something while the disarmed Level Four didn't say anything.
The elf tried to kill the Level Four again, but I barred her path with a wall of iron sand.
An arc of fire coming from my hand incinerated the heads of the two Levels Two.
All of them but the archer had been lying, after all.
I didn't want to get exploded on top of everything else today.
"Hah? Why?!" The elf asked for clarifications.
"Those two possessed the means of blowing themselves up," I said in a level tone.
"No, I mean how did you know?"
"The gods know when we lie, if we know that. Then isn't it just normal for us mortals to strive to figure out how they do it and replicate it?"
"What? No, to begin with, you don't make sense. What even are you? You can use all that magic, chantlessly at that. Are you a spirit soldier? I thought the Freya familia killed them all. No, never mind that I don't even sense the falna in you..." She said, her words starting to border on hysterics.
I sighed and told her. "I'm human. It's late, so I don't feel like answering all your questions right now. Much less in front of all these people. The only thing you need to know is that I'm not your enemy. Now, do you want the information or not?"
Her eyes narrowed at me. "Why? Why help me, I tried to kill you. Your actions don't make sense. You should hate me, not try to help me."
I guess her doubts about my motive were reasonable, I would also be suspicious of me in her position.
"As I said before, today is my first day in Orario. Yesterday night, when I made camp on the outskirts of Orario, a certain brown-haired goddess came to me and asked if she could share my fire. Due to certain personal circumstances, we ended up making a deal. My part of the deal was to look out for her last child in case she found herself in trouble."
"I sensed her essence in your back. Which is why I fought so defensively against you." I told her while looking straight at her eyes.
She looked at the stump that was the Level Four hand and gulped.
A gasp came from the trembling archer trapped in the ice wall. "You're him. The one who killed the assassins this morning. It's your fault that we failed to capture the goddess of Justice." He whispered to himself.
Still loud enough, for the elf to hear him. If the way she whipped her head in his direction was any indication.
"Explain!" She all but demanded of him.
"Hih!" He jumped intimidated by her tone. I mean even I was startled a bit, now that I focused on it, her voice reverberated through her Aim field and it gave her voice a bit more of an extra presence.
Perhaps due to that, the archer sang like a canary. "Our god learned that the goddess of justice would be fleeing Orario, so he tasked me with capturing her. I had hired assassins from an assassin familia. But all of them were killed this morning by someone who was with the goddess." He said while his teeth trembled from the cold.
Wait, Now that I looked at him, wasn't he the archer that escaped me this morning?
This was…
Was this karma? I mean if he hadn't destroyed my cloak, I wouldn't be here in this shop and he probably wouldn't be captured…
"Is this true?" The elf asked, her voice soft and seeming almost vulnerable.
The guilt was clear on her face as she bit her lower lips in frustration. Her left arm clutched her right at the elbow as if to provide comfort to herself.
"It is. This morning I woke up to an ambush. The assassins went directly for the kill, so I dispatched them all. Don't worry, your goddess was unharmed and left shortly after appearing confident of covering her tracks." I said looking at her eyes to convince her I was being honest, before giving a glance at the archer. "Although the archer providing support fire escaped."
"I see. I… Thank you for protecting my goddess." She responded while looking at the ground and giving me a quick bow.
According to the stories from the villagers, elves were supposed to be honorable asholes with a stick up their assess who always charged straight ahead with their convictions. Seeing her so ashamed of herself kind of didn't sit well with me. So I decided to change the topic.
Besides, while the lightning formulas coursing through the net to keep the Level Four locked in place weren't that taxing in terms of will.
I was creating multiple electric circuits each selecting contradictory muscles and making them contract. In essence, I was shocking him into locking himself using his own strength. To tell the truth, This wouldn't be nearly as manageable if the iron net wasn't covering his body.
But they still were pretty complex and I'd had a really long day.
"Your thanks are appreciated, but unnecessary. I would have done it anyway." I said. "Now do you want the information or not?"
Her inner fire returned to her eyes as she raised her head and nodded.
At that, I smiled.
That look of determination, even if it was slightly bloodthirsty, fitted her much better.
////////////////////////////
With heavy steps and the full moon high in the starry sky, I walked through the deserted streets of Orario.
Lights powered by magic stones illuminated the closed shops, bars, and restaurants.
It was really late.
The interrogation took a while, since I could only ask binary questions with yes or no answers while keeping the Level Four immobilized by my lightning,
At least I managed to get some good information about the areas these criminal familias lived and operated in. The edgy elf seemed satisfied with what I got for her.
Well, she was satisfied when I stopped interfering with her revenge and let her put those adventurers out of their misery.
She truly had a one-track mind.
At least, I managed to save the shopkeeper, when after a few questions it was clear that he hadn't had a choice in providing to the criminal familia.
I advised him to sell everything he could and flee Orario.
While I had saved his life today, I wasn't sure that Miss Ryu wouldn't return to finish the job when I wasn't there.
As I was walking through the empty streets with my new white cloak over my shoulders, my eyes followed the different lights illuminating the city. Usually, my curiosity would have demanded me to figure out how they worked, but today these urges were absent.
I truly was exhausted after the day I had.
Speaking of absence, I poked at my necklace where Frey resided.
'Hey, are you there?' I asked him.
I understood that he didn't want to appear when the members of Evilus arrived, but he hadn't helped in my fight against Astarea's last child.
At my question, I barely felt him respond. But what he could emit was infused with extreme fear and intimidation.
What? Why would Frey be scared?
I mean the fight hadn't been exactly easy, but I didn't think there was anything that could have paralyzed him to the point of not even being capable of communicating with me.
I was about to ask for clarification when from the alley I was passing by, I heard a feminine cry calling for help.
"Nonono, Stop it! Don't get closer! No–!" The voice was cut off by a loud thud.
I sighed again while my shoulders dropped in exhaustion.
Extending my senses, I saw two figures. A level One male adventurer judging by his coherent AIM and a female civilian. One was pressing the other against the wall and…
Really…? Are you fucking with me?
"This fucking city…" I couldn't help but growl as I drank a bit of potion to revitalize my tired mind and sore body and I dashed towards the alley.
At the same time, with my senses, I could feel a world die. The incoherent AIM of the civilian started to lose any strength and individuality it had.
Finally, getting there, I saw a man with his pants down squishing a girl against the wall. Not wanting to even see such a vile view, my iron sand was already forming a claw and grasping him.
With a furious flex of will, I slammed him against the opposite wall of the alley.
He let out a cry of pain. His eyes full of shock and surprise as he looked at me. Not willing to deal with him, I shocked the hell out of him with lightning, knocking him out.
Letting out a breath to calm myself, I laid eyes on the half-naked victim.
Her clothes were in tatters and her eyes were open but with barely any light in them. Her long, disheveled silver hair framed a malnourished face, streaked with grime and suspect fluids.
Her appearance combined with her almost blank and incoherent field told a horrific tragic tale.
Sighing, I slowly approached her and asked, "Can you hear me?".
Her dark eyes looked at me, but her expression and eyes continued as blank as before.
"I'm going to clean you up and escort you to the Ganesha Familia, alright?" I said gently.
She simply continued looking at me.
I took her unresponsiveness as permission and condensed water from the moisture in the air and used it to clean all the dirt and grime from her skin and clothes.
She didn't react to my ability cleaning her and simply continued staring at my face.
Looking at her ruined clothes and malnourished appearance, I decided to ask, "Are you cold or hungry?".
She continued without reacting but when I offered a bit of jerky and put the damaged cloak I had in my bag over her shoulders, she ate and covered herself with it.
I took that as a win.
"Can you stand and walk?" I asked her while offering her a hand which she took, but it was rapidly apparent that she barely had any energy when her knees almost buckled even with my aid.
So with her arm over my shoulder and supporting her weight, I slowly escorted her towards the closest office of the Ganesha familia. I also cast a tendril of iron sand and grasped the adventurer's ankle to drag him with us.
If a second tendril reached out and crushed a certain part of his body that made sure that he couldn't reproduce in the future, well, no one was watching.
Chapter 13 interlude
A certain Wizard of Legend Pov.
As I rested with my eyes closed, the usual stream of information flowed through the numerous partitions of my mind, managing the various arcana being used in the kingdom.
All the wizards in this world were connected to me through their use of arcana.
Every time any wizard used an arcana, I received a little mental alert that my magic was being used.
Every time a wizard developed a new spell through my runes, I had to decide whether to allow such arcana into the system or make the spell blow in the wizard's face.
My mana and magic have been so extended through the people, that this world might as well have been mine in all but name.
I remember being entertained and thinking that this was the best thing ever.
Almost omnipotent power and having the entirety of human creativity and idiocy at my fingertips.
At first, it was amusing to see the idiots trying to innovate, only to make the silliest mistakes.
Their faces were always hilarious when it blew up in their face.
And it was interesting at first as everyone developed interesting spells that I wouldn't have thought of.
I had seen and learned many wonderful spells created thanks to the wizards of this world.
However, the first couple of years after developing the current system and sharing the method to be an arcana-using wizard with the world had certainly been straining and difficult.
At one point I thought my head would explode.
But after having created the elemental lords to help me manage everything. It had made everything manageable.
Nowadays, three hundred years later, I could manage the system on my own. But I didn't, since it would be even more bothersome than it already was.
It was a burden I willingly took for the good of our civilization. Something only I in this world could have created.
But…, nowadays…, I was just bored.
I lost count of how many times I received pings from people trying to innovate frigging icy dildos into existence through my magic.
At least the guy with the tentacle monster golem was interesting. I still made the spell blow up in his face. But I got a laugh out of it at least.
Nowadays, I was just bored.
People trying to create the same spells over and over…
People fighting over the same things again and again…
The monotony and boredom it provokes in me had always been one of the worst parts of my position of almost absolute power.
Whoever thought that conquering the world was a good idea can blow it!
Screw you, past me! You could have thought of a way of repelling the invaders without resorting to this, couldn't you?!
I sighed as I sat on my cushioned, enchanted throne, my fluffy cloak enveloping me, providing as much comfort as possible.
So bored…
Opening my eyes, the fire of the various torches of my throne room at least distracted me for a couple of seconds.
With a flex of will, the fire in the torches twisted at my whims, forming different images.
The fearsome visage of a dragon.
The epic battle between two different knights.
Enormous waterfalls that reflected the sun beautifully.
Giant forests with supernatural fauna.
Large metropolis from alien civilizations.
Different landscapes and fauna that I had seen from other worlds thanks to my divination.
Soon enough, the fire was joined by light, water, earth particles, and wind.
With a slight touch, the elements started to create even more wondrous spectacles.
But my boredom wasn't satiated.
Just seeing these places wasn't enough. I wanted to be there.
Being chained to this chair while knowing that there were countless worlds out there…
For someone as tightly connected to chaos as me…
It was torture.
Thankfully, I could almost see the light at the end of this boredom.
The relic floating next to me was still active, after all.
I imagined Regis thought himself really clever with his little scheme to escape from Lanova.
But this relic was the culmination of all my experience as a wizard. It wasn't something someone with just a few years of experience could escape. Much less when he didn't understand how magic truly worked.
The fact that the relic was still active meant that the request I inputted was still on course.
I truly hoped that Regis was having a good time. I hadn't particularly wanted him to suffer as much as he did. Hopefully, his stint as a challenger for the Chaos Trials had already ended and the relic didn't force him to go through the Trials again.
As if summoned by my thoughts, the relic next to me vibrated. Signifying that Regis had just cast a chaos spell.
A quick divination spell later, using the resonance of our similar magics helped me narrow down the number of worlds he could have gone to by a few thousand.
His usage of chaos spells has been surging lately.
I couldn't keep my face from twisting into a smile thinking fondly of the boy.
I had always enjoyed our battles. Even when he was limited to being an Arcana wizard. He always came up with different strategies that surprised me.
Now that he must have found a decent body and become a true wizard…
I almost couldn't wait.
Continue tapping into your chaos, Regis.
Refine it, develop it, innovate, make it more versatile, make it stronger.
The more you do, the faster I'll find you.
It was just a matter of time until we met again.
The collision between two chaos wizards.
My body couldn't stop shaking in excitement at the thought.
I could see it already, our next battle will be legendary.
/////////////////////////////////
A certain Goddess of the Hearth Pov
It had taken a few hours to gather all the information I needed to go to the lower world.
Well, when I said gathered information I meant creating butterflies made of fire I stealthily teleported to all the hearths of the different realms connected to the collective heaven.
The results had been more or less the same as the last time I tried this out of boredom.
The other gods were as boring as the last time I saw them.
I hadn't seen any drama or embarrassing moments which had been slightly disappointing.
But I was used to disappointment.
Some deities had detected my power in the butterflies, but I wasn't worried. I had invented this technique as a spying tool during the war. And since we created the collective heaven with other pantheons, I've used them often to send messages and play harmless pranks. So, no one should be too alarmed.
It helped that I had a great reputation and that my name wasn't Loki Odinson.
Anyway, my butterflies' info brought me to this place.
A long halfway made of flawless marble stretched before me. At the end, there was an intersection, to which according to my butterflies, if I were to go right I would reach the room of portals while on the left was the room where the gods who were in charge of guiding the souls of the dead through the process of reincarnation.
With my objective in sight, I decided to put my plan into action.
So, I took a folded cardboard box and started building.
After ten minutes of struggling with the thing, I finally had the instrument to sneak into the lower world.
It was more complicated than it seemed alright!?
Anyway, a perfect cardboard box with a logo of "The Orange" lay on the floor in front of me.
If it worked for the Old Snake who possessed an IQ of 180 then I figured it would work for me too.
I was totally banking on the selective blindness we gods have developed over the years of not having had to fight for anything.
The only thing that could possibly hurt us was the arcanum of another god, so we had the bad habit of ignoring everything else.
And I created this box while I was in my hearth room so no one should be able to detect me.
Hehe, perfect plan.
Slowly, I crouched without making a sound and put the cardboard box over my tiny body.
There, I was totally invisible.
So, I started crawling forward.
And crawled… and crawled…. and crawled…
How long was this stupid hallway!!! My knees would have long since started hurting if I was a mortal!
"Ouch" Just as I thought that, I felt myself crash against something, and my body tensed at the sound I made.
Quickly feeling the front of the box with my hands, I concluded that I crashed against the wall and let out a sigh of relief.
Maybe I should have put holes in this thing…
Anyway, I turned right after putting some distance between me and the wall and continued crawling forward.
A couple of minutes later, I started feeling the magical hum of the divine circles that connected heaven and the lower worlds.
Excited, I started crawling faster.
Just to freeze at the sound of claws scraping against the floor.
Then something nudged the front of the box, then the right side, and a second later the left side too.
Whatever started to nudge the box, started to abruptly jolt me around. Which almost made me lose my balance and faceplant on the ground.
It didn't help that I had to keep a hand on my mouth to not let my voice out.
What the hell was happening?
Suddenly, a weird noise came from the outside…
Wait, was that someone sniffing me?
"Woof? Woof? Woof?"
That voice!!!
And it came in triplicate…
Cerberus!?
What was Hades's good boy doing here?
Then I remembered that my little brother was just next door…
Shit!
Swiftly poking my head out of the box, I found myself faced with three pairs of malicious red eyes, three tongues poking out, and a mountain of red fur.
Look at that fur~, it looked so soft I wanted to bury my head in it.
And look at those eyes that seemed like they wanted to rip my head off and had sharp fangs and teeth that looked like he could.
He was adorable~.
It had been a long time since I had seen him.
It was good to see him again.
What was I doing again? I felt like I was forgetting something.
Oh Right! Stealth mission.
"Cerberus Shhht," I told him, putting my index finger vertically on my lips.
Three 'woofs' and an excited wagging of his tail was his eloquent answer as he recognized me.
"Yeah, I'm also happy to see you. But I'm in a hurry. I'll cook a treat for you the next time I see you. I promise." I said softly while patting his center head.
Which he returned with a silly doggy grin and more tail wags.
I should get a dog in the future, they're great.
Anyway, with that done, I returned under the box and continued crawling.
I felt something playfully nudging me from the side, then from the other.
"Woof"
"Cerberus, let me go," I whispered to the dog.
"Woof." (Play with me!)
"Now's not the time, let me go! Please. I'll play with you later. I promise!" I pleaded.
"And where do you think you're going, Hestia?" A deep voice rumbled behind me.
"Hiiiii!" I couldn't help but jump in fright, the box flying in the air due to my jump.
An enormous muscular man with gray skin, gray hair, and a magnificent long mustache was looking at me with his arms crossed.
"Hades… Fancy seeing you here, how's Persephone? It's been a while since I last saw her." I said trying to seem like it was a complete coincidence that I was here.
"She's doing fine, you know how she is, always designing and building her gardens." Thankfully he followed my little game… or no he didn't, as he gave me a piercing look and said. "Now, Hestia. What are you doing here?"
"Eeehh, you know, I was lonely so I wanted to play with Cerberus for a bit. You'll let me right." I said giving him my best puppy eyes,
"Hestia, your puppy dogs have never worked on me. Don't look at me like that, they still don't. Now, what are you doing here?" He said his tone indicating that he was getting tired of asking.
Sighing, knowing that if I didn't tell him the truth he would get annoyed at me I said. "I just wanted to go to Orario."
"A lot of deities want to descend, and you should only have a few years left until your turn. Can't you just wait?." He said with a matter-of-fact tone and a little perplexed as to why I was in such a hurry.
He was right, I was risking my turn to descend. If I waited a few more years I could go without problem.
But… a certain pair of deep green eyes won't leave my mind.
Only someone with those eyes could possibly understand me.
I wanted to meet him as soon as possible.
Astraea wouldn't have risked sending me that message the way she did if it wasn't urgent either.
"I received a message from Astraea. I have to go." I told him looking him straight in the eyes trying to convey my determination.
His eyes widened as he took a step back. I noted that he was slightly trembling.
Ah! I scared him. My eyes must have changed to scary-looking for a moment.
Sorry Hades, I'll try to be better.
"Hestia… you…" He said before sighing loudly. "Alright, last I remember you still had around 5 years until you could descend. As much as you want it, you still can't descend right now, that's final."
I was about to protest, but he interrupted by raising his hand and continued speaking.
"The rules Ouranos put in place are there for a reason. There are very good reasons for limiting the number of gods in that particular lower world. But last I heard, there was some serious turmoil down in Orario, meaning that the chance of another deity returning to heaven soon is really high. When it happens, you can go without messing anything up.
Prepare a plan to get past Cerberus.
I'll let you know when it happens and turn eye blind to you jumping the queue, I promise." He said while pinching his nose as if he had a headache.
"Hades! I always knew you were my favorite little brother for a reason." I couldn't help but say while hugging him.
Aw! Was he blushing?
He was.
I couldn't keep the teasing smile off my face.
My little brother was always weak to honest compliments, hehe.
But then he must have remembered who our other brothers were because his complexion returned to normal and said in a deadpan tone. "You know, when my competition is Zeus and Poseidon that doesn't feel like a compliment."
"Ehehehe." I couldn't help but stop hugging him and laugh sheepishly while rubbing the back of my head at that.
Zeus and Poseidon might have mellowed out a bit over the years, but they were still incorrigible perverted beings in general.
"Anyway, come with me. If you feel lonely while you wait, then you can come to play with Cerberus in my office for a while. It's been a while since we spent some time together anyway." He said while walking away, and Cerberus pushed my back toward him, his tail wagging really fast behind him in excitement at having a playmate.
Aww, he's so cute~.
In the end, I may have failed my stealth mission, but having Hades by my side was reassuring.
I'll just have to believe that the green-eyed boy will be alright on his own for a while.
But, as I played around with Cerberus, I wondered what could I possibly come up with to distract him to let me go through the portals.
I mean, he had been the guardian of the gates of the underworld for thousands of years.
Then I remembered how excited he was when he saw me. He looked pretty lonely too.
I hadn't seen Loki in a while either.
Maybe bringing another lonely doggo for him to play around with would be enough?
////////////////////////////////
A certain Queen Pov
As I sipped the cold, sweet wine, its aftertaste lingering in my mind, I glanced at the mirror crafted by Perseus, the Hermes familia captain.
The clear reflection of my sinfully beautiful and seductive body seated on an artfully created red couch was visible on it. My visage as always was shadowed by the massive form of my strongest child.
His serious and dedicated expression to me was always a nice distraction from my boredom.
But today promised no boredom; a dramatic play was set to unfold in the streets of Orario tonight.
My godly instincts told me so.
Well, my instincts and Astraea had literally told me the day before to not let her last child die in vain.
Having seen multiple times already what happened when only a survivor of a familia remained after a tragedy…
A tingle of excitement crawled up my spine at the spectacle I was about to see.
Will it be a giant bonfire? Or will she simply quietly disappear?
No, it will be spectacular for sure. Knowing how talented and headstrong that child was, there was no doubt in my mind.
With a flex of will, I activated the mirror that imitated the ability of a divine mirror of a deity. A quick glance through the large window that faced the seedier parts of the city was all it took to find the rhythmically pulsating green and white soul of Astraea's last child.
The huge amounts of grief, guilt, and rage her soul was tainted with only made locating her even easier.
Entering the coordinates into the mirror, my reflection was replaced by the image of a cloaked elf jumping from rooftop to rooftop near the Daedalus district.
The moonlight reflected on her body along with her natural beauty as a high-level elf couldn't help but put a smile on my smile.
I usually would have preferred her soul to shine pure and true, but the visage of her form along her soul twisted by negative emotions wasn't something I could call anything else than mesmerizing.
In the same way you couldn't look away from a meteorite that was about to destroy all life on a planet.
In a way, she was in a pivotal moment in her story.
Whether she shined and resurfaced stronger than before or died in a blaze of glory.
I'll make sure not to lose a moment of it.
She was going to take the trash of Orario for us, after all.
I felt it was the least I could do.
Seeing her approach a shop of ill repute, I tensed and leaned toward the mirror in anticipation.
But, what happened next shattered all and any expectations of what I had for the night.
I witnessed as the elf shattered the door and attacked the shopkeeper and the cloaked figure next to him.
Their souls looked dull at first glance so for a second I thought that my anticipation was for nothing.
But then, in the blink of an eye, the cloaked figure reacted and I saw something that I had never seen before.
I saw him dodge and parry the attack in a display of magical prowess that even the strongest mages of my familia couldn't compare to.
Not in might per se, but in speed and skill.
I saw as he protected the shop owner, and squared against the last child of the familia of Justice.
Then, I saw his murky-looking soul come to life.
What at first glance I thought was an unremarkable soul, started shining with an intense darkish purple inner light, and the impure dark tones at the edges of his soul started to unravel themselves into a mesh of pure colored filaments creating a coherent but at same time contradictory chaotic picture.
My unblinking eyes couldn't help but drink the visage of his ever-changing soul. My heart started accelerating as the battle continued and I saw him manipulate sand and wind to fend off the elf's attacks.
Then my breath was taken away as his soul started to shift and pulsate at the rhythm of the elf's soul.
Full-body chills started to attack my mortal vessel as I saw them dance in complete coordination in body and soul.
Her winds and strikes battered him as his soul unfolded into filaments of brown, yellow, red, and blue, each of their movements a note in the unsung melody of their battle. The shining and mesmerizing purple light at his core bathed them in its brilliance and directed them all.
A spectacle that I had never seen in my eternal life. A view that only someone with my discerning eye could ever see.
The memory burned into my immortal soul.
As much as I wanted this spectacle to last forever, beautiful moments like this could only be beautiful because they were brief and fleeting.
With a spike of light from his soul, the mage froze the interior of the shop and the following exchange was its last, with a series of last moments gambits that had me at the edge of my seat.
Then in her last failed strike, the elf cut the hood obscuring the mage's visage.
His serene and brilliant dark green eyes focused on the sky blue eyes of the elf who quickly realized she committed an error indicated by the hiccup in the rhythm of her soul.
The image of two utterly breathtaking individuals as they connected with each other in what could only be called a fateful encounter.
I couldn't help but rub my thighs together at the rising heat of my nether regions.
'I shipped them' I couldn't help but think, but at the same time, I realized I wanted the mage and the elven warrior all for myself.
Then a second later I licked my lips as I realized that I could have them both together.
I was the queen of the city after all.
Then the moment was broken by an arrow coming from the outside by utterly unremarkable and boring adventurers.
The altercation that followed was interesting, but nothing like the novel once-in-a-lifetime fight like the encounter from before.
"What do you think of him, my dear," I asked the mountain of muscle and stability standing guard behind me.
"Instant and versatile magic capable of killing Levels 4s, at least. But he's physically weak and slow but…" He said, not surprising me at all with the accurate threat assessment but my smile widened at seeing him lost for words.
"Confused as to if he's as weak physically as he seems then it should be possible for him to react to high-level attacks with his magic, aren't you." I teased him.
"I'm sorry for my failure, my lady." He bowed at me.
I couldn't help but laugh and pat him on the arm. "Don't be so serious. it's normal for you to not know. You haven't encountered anyone like him yet." I said with some mirth in my voice.
"What is he? How come I haven't heard of an adventurer like him, my lady?" He asked.
"That's because he isn't one. He's like one of those ancestors of the clans of the Far East. A natural ability user. One who has mastered his ability to a point that even I thought was impossible. He could react to the Level 4s, because of his ability." I couldn't keep the emotion and giddiness in my voice enough, as I heard an exasperated sigh from him.
I giggled.
He knew that when I was like this, it meant that I had a new target.
The following conflict ended with an interrogation where I saw the mage discern the truth with his ability and then depart.
As I followed him with the mirror, my eyes never leaving his otherworldly soul, I realized that under his cloak there was someone hidden.
Narrowing my eyes, I caught sight of a tiny icy blue soul attached to him. The tiny soul seemed to freeze when I focused on him.
Aww, such an adorable soul.
I pouted as I saw it shivering. It seemed like I scared it without meaning to.
With such a sensitivity, it could only be a spirit.
The intrigue and mystery surrounding the boy only seemed to increase.
Then as he left the shop behind, I saw the light of his soul turn off. His beautiful and strong soul slowly turned unremarkable and sluggish with every step he took.
I had to bite my lip in frustration at that image. His potential was almost infinite, but as I examined his battered soul, I could only conclude that he was also really delicate.
If I were to swoop in and try to take him for myself as he was now…
I would probably break him.
I would have to exercise patience.
Something I couldn't say was one of my strong points.
But he was worth it.
But I still didn't want to wait~.
While I could wait to have him for myself, I still wanted to form a bond and get to know him.
I held my chin with my hand, a finger tapping my lips as I thought about how I could get near him.
I couldn't approach him as my divine self, the spirit would probably make the boy wary of me.
I wasn't confident I could fool the spirit or the boy in my alter-ego persona without knowing the extent of the perceptiveness ability of his skill either.
My musings were interrupted as I saw the cloaked mage tense and witnessed the spectacle of his soul unfolding again as he dashed towards a nearby alley.
The reason for such an action was soon made apparent at the appearance of an unfortunately common event in the city.
The male sexual aggressor was soon knocked out and I saw as the boy tended to the poor broken girl.
While I was watching him clean the grime of her body with his water magic, I saw that the girl possessed silver hair not that different from my own.
A smile sneaked to my face as an idea took root in my mind.
That girl… with a half-broken soul and a physique like that…
If I were to play things right…
My eyes narrowed mischievously and said.
"Ottar, fetch my jacket. We're going on a moonlight walk."
/////////////////////
A certain Rage Elf Pov
The streets of Orario blurred beneath me as I leaped from rooftop to rooftop. The cold wind brushing against my face did little to cool the burning rage in my heart. Even as I accelerated and the winds turned from cold to frigid, my Level 4 constitution made it impossible to cool down.
I wasn't sure I wanted to cool down right now either.
But even if my vengeful feelings were gnawing at my psyche, the reason I didn't want to stop right now was because of something else.
The events that happened at the cloak shop just wouldn't stop repeating themselves again and again in my mind.
How could that boy be that strong? How could he cast magic that fast, chantlessly, and with so much versatility? I was watching his eyes mid-battle and was sure that they couldn't track me, how could he possibly react to my movements?
In just two years, and without the falna... It defied understanding.
I was considered one of the most talented and fastest-growing adventurers in Orario. And he grew stronger than me in a mere two years.
It didn't make sense.
Not only that, was I really about to kill him? Why couldn't I recognize him straight away?
I almost killed someone Alise saved…
Did Lady Astraea really send him to help me?
Why?
She told me to abandon my justice.
I thought she had washed her hands off me.
So, why did she send someone to my aid?
Aaargh, nothing made sense!!!
Mid-jump, while my mind was in turmoil, I heard a scream from the street below. My body moved automatically. Two jumps later, I was already slashing at the neck of the man grabbing the hand of the girl who screamed. At the last second, I recognized their smiles and realized I was about to murder an innocent man."
Thankfully, I was Level 4.
Before the couple could even perceive me, I had already abandoned my slash and returned to the roofs.
Once the couple was out of earshot, I stopped, panting for a few moments.
'Are you going to kill anyone that seems suspicious?' The voice of the absurdly strong green-eyed mage repeated itself in my mind.
I…
I didn't want to…
That would just make me a monster.
But they…, all who had a hand in my familia's death deserved to die. The hatred in my heart demanded it.
But…
I might have abandoned the justice of my familia for revenge, but I didn't want to turn into a monster!
When all this was over, I wanted Alise and the rest to scold me for being an idiot.
I didn't want them to not recognize me or worse treat me like the enemy!!!
My body eventually calmed down from the near accident. But my mind… my mind and spirit were a mess.
I was patrolling the area the mage had narrowed down from the interrogation, but after hours of searching, I found nothing. I recognized that I was too altered to do a good job.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to clear my mind and decided to call it a night.
In the state I was in right now, If I were to find someone near my level I would probably perish.
I wouldn't allow that. I couldn't allow myself to waste the sacrifice my sister's in all but blood made until peace returned to Orario.
I would never forgive myself for it.
Returning to the attic I had rented the day before, I entered through the window and thanks to the veil of the night I was fairly sure no one saw me.
In the same way, I was hunting for Evilus, they were equally hunting for me. I had to be careful to not show the position of my base.
Seeing the small attic with barely a simple bed, table and chair made me clench my fist.
Lady Astraea had told me that I couldn't stay in the Stardust Garden, the former home of the Astraea familia. As we were still paying the loan for it.
Now, being alone, it would be far too costly for me to pay and maintain on my lonesome.
I didn't know if I wanted to continue living there either. There were too many memories in that place.
Still, the fact that I had to live here was another reminder of what Evilus had taken away from me.
Sighing and unclenching my fist, I turned to the evidence board with a map of Orario I had on the table. Taking some paper cards from the drawer attached to the desk, I started to write and pin to the board all the information the ridiculous mage managed to get from the members of Evilus.
In the evidence board, there was all the information my familia managed to get about Evilus and their organization.
The Alecto, Apate, and Erebos Familia names were crossed off. Signifying that they had already been destroyed these past years and their gods had been returned to heaven. The Thanatos familia, according to Finn, should also have been all but destroyed. But Thanatos himself hadn't been seen anywhere recently and according to the guild he was still around. But even if the god was still around, without his familia strength, he shouldn't be a concern.
The only familia of note left was the Rudra Familia, and the huge organization of civilians and merchants that provided and supported them.
Why would civilians support them when Evilus were the ones who ruined the peace and caused their suffering in Orario in the first place? I couldn't possibly understand.
I could only conclude they were insane and they needed to be put down.
Looking through the board with the new evidence of today's. I saw a few more merchants and civilians I was suspicious of looking even shadier.
The evidence was practically damning.
The rage I kept contained, surged into my mind with vengeance.
Why were these people supporting Evilus?!
I didn't understand.
What right did they have to still be living when my family was dead!!!
'Are you going to kill anyone that seems suspicious?' The disproving voice of the mage reverberated in my ears.
Shut up! I wasn't a goddess!
I couldn't possibly know who was culpable and innocent with a glance. I could only judge based on the information I had.
Getting up from the chair, I let my cloak drop to the ground and let myself fall on the bed.
The grime of my body was impregnating the bed sheets making it feel disgusting. Like I was lying in a pool of monster gore.
I should have taken a bath or a shower first.
But as I closed my eyes, I didn't feel I deserved to sleep in a clean bed.
Guilt and shame over being the only survivor left of my familia started to crop up in my mind. Not only that, I couldn't even suppress my emotions enough to at least escort my goddess out of the city safely!!!
If it wasn't for a miracle that she had found the mage… I would have never been able to see her again.
As I closed my eyes, I felt tears start leaking from my eyes. Tears that I didn't think I deserved to spill.
The visage of Alise before her final charge at the juggernaut appeared in my mind.
'I want to save Lion. I know Lion… she always does the right thing. She'll stay true to her own justice.'
'I'm sorry, Alice.'
I didn't think I was going to be able to carry on the familia's justice or do the right thing. In the end, I was just a stupid worthless elf that couldn't be there for her goddess when she needed it. I was just a disappointment, I couldn't even kill the monster Kaguya, Lyra and you distracted and sacrificed yourselves for.
For a moment, I felt I could almost hear their voices telling me not to give up. That I was forgiven. That I had to live for them.
But those voices were soon drowned by the lesser voices of all the people I had killed before.
These were screaming at me.
That I was a monster. That I deserved to suffer, that some of them didn't have a choice in what they did, while the most malicious ones just tried to bring me down to even more despair.
My own voice soon joined these to tear into myself even deeper.
I covered my ears trying to silence the voices, but it was in vain. The more I tried to ignore them the louder they were.
Even the voices of my familia as they mixed with the others seemed more demanding than pleading by the second.
What did they want from me?! I wasn't perfect!!! I was just a stupid elf!!!
I couldn't possibly know the truth, to judge everything correctly!!!
If I couldn't know what the truth was and who was truly guilty, how could I even…
The gods know when we lie. If we know that. Then isn't it just normal for us mortals to strive to figure out how they do it and replicate it? The human boy said after incinerating the heads of the Levels Two's.
The voice of the boy Alise saved years ago repeated itself in my mind and silenced the rest of the voices.
His face at that moment, was displeased and disgusted by the action, but I hadn't sensed any doubt or remorse in him.
Only now, I realized that he said that implying that he had figured out how the gods did it.
He told me that he wasn't going to answer my questions at that moment.
That didn't mean that he was never going to tell me or that he was averse to it.
A slight jolt of hope coursed through my body.
I had to talk to him again.
To not turn into a monster.
To do the right thing.
Even if I was abandoning justice, and simply lashing out against the people who killed my familia.
I had to do it right.
I wasn't going to turn into a monster.