Aria

The Crimson family is famous across the entire continent for everyone in it having Category 5 abilities, no matter what. My parents, my uncle, myself, and even my older brother. Everyone had Category 5 abilities.

We were the most powerful family in what was left of the world.

But no one really knew where we came from, and my parents never told me where we came from either. Just said that they’d tell me about it when I got old enough.

Something that never happened before their deaths.

They couldn’t have been otherworlders, because the System would’ve initialized if they were… unless there’s some special clause that made it not initialize? Maybe because they weren’t trying to conquer the world? Or maybe… no, if they were a part of the System, then the emperor’s men would never have been able to kill them.

I’m not even sure how he managed to kill them, since I wasn’t home when it happened. And Uncle Jake’s ability is mostly for healing.

Doesn’t help that I was taken out the moment we arrived, so I didn’t even see Uncle Jake fight.

“Please, just tell me everything you can about the jewel when you’ve confirmed it,” I tell the Void Priest, making the man nod his head.

And the silence returns again as we both just listen to the discussions down below. An act that is made a little awkward with the man leading the discussions technically standing right next to me staring directly at me like he’s waiting for another question.

I purse my lips as I try to think before eventually coming up with something and asking, “Do you know anything about what my class could give me?”

The Void Priest shakes his head and answers evenly, “I apologize, but all I can offer you is some of the public details about what the other Horsemen can do. Would that be alright?”

“That’s fine,” I tell him with a nod. Because I’m sure we probably have a lot of similarities. At least, in some ways.

“Very well then,” he continues with one last nod. “The Black Horseman of the Apocalypse, Famine, is able to grow stronger the more he starves others. The more famine and hunger that’s around him. Not only is he able to pull on the energy of pure Gluttony from those around him to enhance his body and perform magic, but his purpose is to bring famine unto others.”

So basically the same as me, but with hunger instead of death. Although I am curious about this mention of performing magic with the energy, since I only know how to enhance my body with it.

“The majority of the Black Horseman’s skills are unknown to the public, however, there is one that is very well known,” the Void Priest pauses for a second as he looks down at the group below who are starting to finish up. “He is able to directly sap twenty percent of the magical energy within every single being around him, enhancing his own power with it and thereby making forcing him down with numbers an impossible feat.”

Oh, wow. That’s… kinda terrifying.

“My apologies, Lady Death, but we are out of time,” the Void Priest suddenly says with another bow. “Unless you care not for your identity being exposed to those down below, the esteemed Greater Void Spirit will return us to the others now.”

Already? Guess they were in a rush to negotiate.

“Alright,” I state with a nod, and immediately after, I find myself back down below as we and the rest of the officers and generals make our way out of the Void Temple.

Fortunately I was able to hear everything going on from where I was standing. And from what I heard, it sounds like we got a good deal going. The ability to revive anyone capable of revival within one year of their deaths at the price of a mansion’s worth of gold.

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Looks like the Void Spirit really is keeping silent about how I’m the only reason they’re even willing to work with our world in the first place.

Although considering that the Greater Void Spirit didn’t even show itself to the generals… I get the feeling it really doesn’t view them as anything more than ants or something. The type of thing that you just instinctively ignore without even realizing it’s there.

No arrogance, no pride, no none of that. Just a blatant ‘you’re so small that I didn’t know you existed’ sort of thing.

Honestly a little frightening.

And the void spirits aren’t even the strongest of spirits. The death spirits apparently have them beat by quite a large margin.

Terrifying.

Oh, shit, I forgot to ask about that ‘beloved of the Spirits of Death’ thing…

I purse my lips as we step through the doors – once again without them opening – and outside of the temple. Then I just give a mental shrug, deciding that I can ask about it the next time I visit.

For now I just need to figure out how to visit them, since it’d probably look weird if I just visited them for no reason out of the blue. Especially since I’m sure the temple will be highly monitored by the generals to make sure none of our soldiers mess with them and piss them off.

And an officer, regardless of my rank or ability, constantly visiting for no reason would definitely set off warnings in their minds.

I spend our trip to the meeting room mentally debating on any sort of excuse I can think of. But nothing really comes to mind, all the way till the post-negotiation meeting begins.

Then again, I end up spending the meeting continuing my inner brainstorming since the meeting actually doesn’t affect me at all. I do still pay attention though.

Eventually the meeting comes to a close, with me still not having found a good excuse to visit.

Immediately after the meeting, the First General pulls us from the Predator Division back into the previous meeting room we were using before continuing the briefing she was giving us.

“To start where we left off, since the Grand Roan Empire is no longer able to revive themselves, we likely don’t have to worry about them sending any forces through the Gate until after the three year System restriction period,” she begins while standing at the front of the room. “However, just in case that assumption turns out false, we will always have forces assigned to watch over the Gate.”

The lieutenant colonel raises his hand, and after getting a nod from the First General, he asks, “Ma’am, is there a reason why we can’t simply destroy the Gate entirely?”

She frowns at that and purses her lips as she answers, “Yes. We have already tried, but nothing we’ve come up with so much as scratches the Gate.”

Which leaves war as the only alternative.

“Now, as you all should know, the best method of growing our military might in this new reality of ours is through war, as most of our soldiers have a combat related class and purpose,” the First General continues while looking at each of our faces. “And we had assumed that the war would resume soon after we pushed the invaders back out of our world.” Her eyes narrow. “But it didn’t. We haven’t heard so much as a single word from the empire, nor any of our remaining spies amongst their ranks.”

That’s… ominous.

Also, I knew we still had spies in their Empire. Even though the orders at the start of this System Initialization thing said for even the spies to return.

Must’ve been a ploy for the Empire’s own spies, since I’m sure they have some too.

“After some attempts to figure out what was going on, each of which failed without any hint of intel, we decided to send in the only team we were certain could infiltrate the Empire and return safely,” she finishes while meeting my eyes with a look that says pretty much exactly what I’m thinking.

While the Republic would never want to sacrifice the six of us, they know at the very least that I cannot die. So all they would have to do is figure out where I am and rescue me if I were to be captured. Then I could tell them everything they want to know.

The fact that they’re resorting to this means there must be something bigger going on here that we don’t know about. Something so threatening that it would make them risk their biggest weapons on.

After a few seconds of consideration, my eyes widen in shock as a possibility comes to mind.

I raise my hand, and the First General immediately nods at me with the others turning to look in my way as well.

“Do you suspect another Gate opened up within the Empire?” I ask, my voice echoing out into the room, making it go completely silent in a single instant.

No one says anything for several seconds, instead just staring at the First General. And when she finally nods her head and answers, “It’s possible,” everyone sucks in a breath, feeling shocked by this information.

“We need you six to go find out what is going on,” she repeats. “Your orders are to enter the Arterian Empire and to discover whether or not another Gate has opened up, and if one has, find the location of the Gate and the identity of the organization behind it. If one hasn’t opened up, discover what has caused the change in the Empire’s behavior. You’re to leave in the morning.” She clicks her boots together and finishes, “Dismissed.”

“Yes, ma’am!” we all declare before leaving the meeting room.

This… is going to be an interesting mission.

Guess I better get used to having sand in my clothes.