"What about you? You didn't like it being there? I thought you enjoyed killing all those students?" Maruti asks, slightly confused, tilting her head to the side.
"Not really," Esdeath answers, her face devoid of emotions, like she was just stating a fact. "Lortell wasn't there, and I couldn't meet her most of the time because of all the things going on. I hate the academy. Trash place, just like that trash game." She said it with a finality that left no room for argument, her voice cold and distant.
Maruti didn't say anything at first. She reorganized her words, trying to find a way to say what she was thinking without making Esdeath angry. Then she says.
"But wasn't Lortell the student council president and later became the vice principal of the academy? So you are saying that the academy was trash. Then does that mean...." She didn't finish her sentence, but her intentions were clear to Esdeath. She was implying that Lortell was a part of the 'trash place.'
At that moment, Esdeath lightly nods, a small, almost imperceptible movement. "I changed my mind. I love the academy," she says, not showing any emotions at all. But that's what made it even more hilarious, the way she could so easily change her mind.
After that, none of them really had any conversation. The carriage just continued to move, the rhythmic clatter of the wheels on the road a soothing sound. It only stopped at late night, when the moon was high in the sky.
They again did a campfire, the flames dancing in the darkness, and cooked some meat, the smell filling the air. They slept inside the carriage while sitting down, their bodies tired from the long journey.
The carriage moved once again at early morning, the sun just beginning to rise. It only stopped three times between the journey, and it was only for short rests, to stretch their legs and eat a quick meal.
Finally, after hours of continuous journey, in the early night of around 9 PM, they were finally at the border of the awakened kingdom. Even the border of the church kingdom was not so far away, maybe at just half an hour distance.
Since the other side of the area was under M.A.L.I.C.E, there was no way anyone would dare to go inside.
Maruti and Esdeath slip out of the carriage and look at the empty border. There were black soil everywhere, definitely burned. Metal chunks and body parts of robots were laying around, indicating all the battles that happened here. It was a graveyard of machines.
"It smells like smoke," Maruti sniffs the air as she says, her nose wrinkling in disgust. The smell was acrid and unpleasant, a reminder of the destruction.
"It'll take a few more hours to go by foot. Let's just fly instead," Esdeath suggests, her voice calm and practical. She was already scanning the area, her eyes sharp and alert.
"Wait a second, I suddenly remembered something," Maruti exclaims, a wide grin on her face. She immediately takes out something from her storage type essence stone, her hands moving with excitement.
"TADAA!..." she shows, holding up her prize like a trophy. It was a pair of mechanical boots, sleek and black, with glowing red lights on the sides. Its name was flying gear boots.
"Maddie gave me. It can make you fly," she explains, her eyes shining with pride.
Esdeath immediately gives her that disappointed look, the one that said 'why are you so childish?'
"Just why? Can't you just fly using magic?" she asks, her voice a low sigh.
"Vibe. It's all about vibe," Maruti replies, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She takes off her shoes and immediately puts on the boots, the metal cold against her skin.
"Whatever, I'm not gonna stop for you," Esdeath says. The wind blows beneath her feet, hovering her in the air. Before Maruti could even react, she smoothly starts gliding in the air without an issue.
Maruti also clicks the red button on the right boot, and fire and smoke starts coming from beneath, hovering her in the air with a loud whoosh.
"Whoa... whoa..." she tries to maintain the balance, her arms flailing a little. It was much harder than it looked.
"Center of gravity should be forward. Half a meter of gap between legs. Hands can be adjusted to maintain the balance," Maruti starts chanting all the instructions for a smooth flight, her voice a little shaky as she tried to remember everything Maddie had told her.
But soon enough, after just flying for a few meters of distance, her balance goes off and she turns upside down, like hanging from a tall tree. Her hair fell down, and she could feel the blood rushing to her head.
"W-wait for me, I'm coming!" she shouts from behind, her voice a little panicked.
Esdeath had already made a big gap between them. She casually turns around, her expression a mixture of annoyance and disappointment. With another look, she turns her head back, speeding up once again without stopping, leaving Maruti to fend for herself.
After a few moments of struggling, Maruti had no choice but to fly using magic, the familiar energy lifting her up smoothly. She caught up to Esdeath somehow.
The surroundings looked similar to the last time when Esdeath came here with Lortell and others, although it was still a new thing for Maruti.
The narrow alleys were created by long yet flattened buildings built into each other. It didn't look like a sign of backwardness, but it felt quite advanced, like it was made to sustain a high level of population on a small piece of land, like those sci-fi movies she used to watch.
The infrastructure was really moving towards that future, but now they were all empty, desolate buildings, their windows like vacant eyes staring out into the darkness.
"It feels like an after-apocalyptic era," Maruti says, looking below from high up in the air. The silence was deafening, a stark contrast to the bustling city it must have once been.
Esdeath's main goal was to head to the headquarters of M.A.L.I.C.E. And she could already see that tall structure in front of her. The upper roof was round like a half circle, meanwhile the building was also very wide with multiple small buildings attached to it, like a metal fortress.
She also spotted many drones flying in the air, their red lights blinking like evil eyes in the darkness.
Although she knew no one would actually attack them. Because before attacking, the enemy's face and data goes to M.A.L.I.C.E. And after processing, he gives the order to attack and also chooses what level of attack should be done. It was a system, but it only took less than a second to process.
Still, going directly via air felt like they were sneaking in, like they were breaking into a place they weren't supposed to be.
"Let's walk by foot from here on," she says, gracefully landing on the ground, her feet making no sound.
Maruti also does the same, her landing a little less graceful, and then starts following her.
There were several robotic figures everywhere, some even over eight meters tall, having advanced guns in their hands almost as big as Esdeath herself. They stood like silent sentinels, their metal bodies gleaming in the dim light.
But none of them did anything. They just stood there, their eyes glowing with a faint, blue or red light.
They both casually walk inside, the main door and walls had dust and spider webs in every corner, felt like neglected and abandoned area without any human interference.
"Can't machines do maintenance or cleanliness?" Maruti says, slightly confused. She thought machines were supposed to be efficient, to keep things clean and orderly.
"They might not have enough time to do it. Most are focused on the war. It's not like dirt or pollution have any effect on them," Esdeath answers lightly, her voice calm and matter-of-fact.
"Why do you always disagree with me?" Maruti sighs, a little frustrated.
But Esdeath didn't reply. She just walks at front and opens the big iron door in one go, the metal groaning in protest.
The inside hall was fully dark, a cavernous space that seemed to go on forever. But as they took the first step inside, the whole place starts to lit up one by one, a row of lights flickering to life, illuminating the path ahead.
And then—BEEP!..BEEEP!...BEEP!...
Sirens start screaming, their high-pitched sound piercing the silence. The whole light turns red, bathing the hall in a sinister glow, and the clanking sounds of machines immediately start coming from the front.
Yet despite that, there were no attacks from behind at all. Those who were outside just stayed outside like nothing was going on, their duty forgotten.
Esdeath and Maruti both understood what was going on. This was a test. A welcome party, of a sort.
"Let's go inside," Esdeath says with a faint smile on her face, a predator's smile.
Her hands were behind her back, as she moves carefree in the hall, her steps light and confident. There were several other pathways linked to it, but they were all dark, who knows what might come out of them.
Woshhh!...
With a leap in the air, something actually comes from Esdeath's left. It was a flying robotic machine, made like a mosquito but almost the same size as a horse. It directly rushed at her, its sharp, metallic sting poised to cut her into pieces.
Yet despite that, Esdeath doesn't move an inch. She just stands there, She lets the mosquito robot directly hit her.
But the moment it collides with Esdeath's body, no voice came out. Instead, sparks of fire come out of it as the mosquito robot's body cleanly cuts into two pieces, as if it had hit an invisible, sharp blade. It fell to the ground with a loud clang, Becoming a heap of useless metal.
The moment it got defeated, two more robots come from the front. One was a chubby orc-like body, almost ten meters tall, its metal bulk a testament to its strength. The other one was shaped like a hybrid between a bull and a rhinoceros, but its height was even taller than its subordinate, almost twelve meters.
Without a doubt, they both were one of the toughest robots, with great resistance to magic and elements.
Esdeath points at the chubby orc one. "I'll face this one," she says, her voice calm and steady.
"I'll be taking on this one then," Maruti replied, clenching her knuckles and looking at the animal-type robot, a fire of excitement in her eyes.