CHAPTER 159
THE WRAPUP BEFORE THE JUNIOR LEAGUE
Shortly after using Ingress, the proctors became certain that the boy they were tasked to stop, Hans, had not left with his team. They fanned out, thinking they might be holding him here, unaware that they were unknowingly closing in on their own doom.
Two individuals, a fifth-circle mage and a knight of the sixtieth grade, came across Hans. Upon spotting them, Hans swiftly flung himself away from the proctors, inviting them to follow him and being bad luck shining on the proctors they started following Hans at full speed. The proctors were determined to restrain Hans, preventing his qualification for Glory Wars. However, the young Parvian was not one to adhere to others' plans. As they chased him, Hans took a drastic turn, vanishing before their eyes.
“Creee!”A loud scream pierced the air, and a fist-sized object plummeted in front of them. Seeing fly past him, the mage taunted, “You missed it, brat,"
“No, I did not — pluck.” Hans retorted, and with that, the crying seed transformed into The Vegan Carnage. Its numerous spear-tipped tentacles pierced the mage, draining him dry. "That's odd," Hans mused, "it usually goes for the head."
However, unlike his curiosity, the surviving proctor held different feelings. "What is this abomination?" the knight of the sixtieth grade exclaimed, shielding himself with his aura, attempting to deflect the spear-like attacks. Nonetheless, the attacks, quick and deceptive to the naked eye, began to inflict damage. What had initially caused minor cuts was now taking significant chunks of flesh with each strike. The knight found himself in a perpetual defensive stance, yet his aura reserves were dwindling rapidly, while the crying seed continued to pick up the speed. The inevitable outcome was clear. With no other options, the knight had to conserve his aura and flee. But it was like Hans had heard those thoughts.
~VoidZone~
A hemisphere of mana, entirely under Hans's control, hindered the knight's aura regeneration, and a sudden cut from outside mana turned the situation dire for the knight. He shouted, pleading, "All we were ordered to do was stop you. We didn't mean any harm—"
"Yeah, me too.” Hans responded calmly, “All I wanted was to win. Why did you have to be on the wrong side?" Raising his head, he extended his hand and declared, "It's time for you to pay.”
~SeedBullets x3~
In a count of three, the wind-tearing metal pellets began targeting the knight. He was already overwhelmed by the presence of the strange creature, and the relentless downpour of bullets, reminiscent of dwarven machinery, only added to his impending doom. His aura shield suddenly faltered, and both the spear-like tentacles and SeedBullets tore through him, riddling him with holes.
However, an unexpected turn of events followed. The crying seed, instead of vanishing as it usually did, fell silent. It was as if it were gazing intently at Hans. "What the heck? Just go away..." Hans was genuinely confounded. While this crying seed had displayed subtle changes before, nothing was as bizarre as this. The crying seed wobbled and quivered. “What it is? Is that thing pouting?”
Before he could finish his thought, the spear-tipped tentacles retracted slightly, lifting the seed a bit. It took on the appearance of a spider with a fist-sized body and oversized legs.
“What the hell.” The eerie spider-like creature locked a chilling gaze onto Hans, rendering him uneasy. “Fuck this shit.” Hans levitated, prepared to make a hasty retreat. However, the crying seed took a step forward, wobbling and staggering like a newborn attempting to take its first steps. As Hans initiated his flight, the seed began to follow him, initially stumbling and rolling, but gradually it picked up the speed, matching Hans’s movements in a spider-like manner.
"Bloody hell, it can move now.” Hans exasperated.
The spider-like creature seemed to be crying in excitement, but Hans knew, it was not like the seed wanted to hug him and call him mama. It was clear as his speared tentacles spared no opportunity for striking him down. Frustraded Hans cried, barely avoiding the sharp slash, “Oh, come on, Just how fast is that thing.”
After the love chase, both Hans and his wanting-to-eat-him pet meet the group of proctors, providing the crying seed with a new target to play with. "No, no, bad seed. Don't kill them. I still need some of them alive." The massacre continued until every last proctor had been hunted down, and the seed eventually disappeared for good.
"Now it's even harder to control that thing alone. It wants to eat me too," Hans sighed. He glanced at the shiny stone and a smirk formed on his face. "Ho! My already inflated ego is about to burst. I must be the genius of the century... no, how does Samson used to say - yes, 'Calling me a genius is an insult.' I can say it now too." He laughed manically. "Let's return. But if I want to succeed in my plan, I should avoid checkpoints.”
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Surveying the bloody mess around him, Hans realized what a terrifying existence the crying seed was. It took Alliance elites like a midnight snack. Shuddering by the thoughts, he gathered what he could, placing it all in the Parvian space pouch, and started his departure.
"I might need to fly all the way. Heat Riddance and the Grimgar capital are a few hundred kilometres apart.” He talked to himself, planning his journey, “I might need a few pit stops to recharge this thing, but I'll reach on time."
Hans opened his Command Centre, connecting with the only person he knew how to, Eugene. He asked him to pass another message that he had taken care of everything and not to make a mess before he arrived.
GLORY WARS COLOSSEUM, GRIMGAR CAPITAL
Upon receiving the message, Eugene hurried to Delimira. She seemed to know her prince well, so he wanted her to be informed. However, there was another reason too, a prominent one, the only place where non-participants were allowed was the infirmary, where she was recovering.
The day after tomorrow, she was to take part in the main event, and Sierra was sparing no effort to make her top-notch again. But after she relayed what had actually happened in the Heat Riddance, Rudolf had to physically hold his wife back from blasting off to the capital
Sierra was a world mage, an eighth-circle and there were several people stronger than her, but she possessed a spell called "God's Wrath," a one-time-use spell capable of even killing Ancients. This made her a truly dangerous adversary because no one knew when she might snap and decide to erase everything around her.
She was in the middle of balancing the dead mana and pure mana inside her, which had gone rampant after she was seriously injured. It required more precision than power, so it was taking an awful lot of time. Eugene's sudden intrusion disturbed her. Holding her temper, she asked the reason. When Eugene relayed Hans's words, her worries vanished.
"He must have cooked up something good. I can't wait to hear it," she commented, sending Eugene away.
As the seventh day arrived, Hans’s absence started to make Walter concerned more than anyone, “He’ll be on time, don’t worry.” Rudolf tried to calm him but Walter’s pacing did not cease. Meanwhile, there was an annoying guest who was as agitated as Walter, Dijkstra. He was loitering around Delimira since she came back.
“Just when are you planning to leave? You loony bastard.”
“Give it a rest Alastor, this is what, fifth time you’ve asked me. I already told you, I can’t defy Arat’s orders. He wanted me to be here so I'm here.”
“Why?” Delimira curios for a long time, finally asked him.
“You don’t know what you are to Parv, don’t you —”
“Oye, lunatic. Shut your trap.” Rudolf came gaging him which made him spill more. He dodged Rudolf with his weird Warping steps and continued, “You are special, at least until we decode ‘Book of the Heroes’ completely….ooh.. this was supposed to be secret.”
“That’s why I was trying to stop you. You bastard. Why are you dragging that child in your war.” Rudolf shouted, almost fuming But Dijkstra, shrugged him off, retorting, “Calm down, it's not like I told her she is somewhat related to reviving our dead king, right?”
“Oh, you moronic bastard. You are doing this intentionally. Aren't you?”
“opssies…” Dijkstra closed his mouth with one hand but there was no hint in his expression that it came out as an accident. Shrugging off he stated, “Who knows? Life is fun when there is chaos.”
“Please, Shut up!” Walter interrupted, coming between the two grumpy oldies, ignoring the baffled Delimira who had info dumped suddenly. He was nervous and mumbling, “Concordia didn't secure the first position in the Higher League,"
“They came second, jeez… what is up your ass. Calm down” Dijkstra interrupted, teasing Rudolf with his eyes, which only made him more frustrated. But Walter seemed lost in his own thoughts as he continued mumbling, "We lost so miserably in the senior league against those upstarts, what they call themselves - Devildom. We couldn’t even manage to get second position…”
“Yeah, those were some scary bastards, they completed preliminaries with just six members. Even when little Sam gave that guy, what was his name? Ezekiel, a permanent trauma, I thought it would weaken their forces. But when you see all three of their members at the top, it makes you wonder, doesn't it?”
“What?” Rudolf asked.
“Just how strong these toddlers become when they reach our level. That would be a fun fight.” Dijkstra mused.
"Haa..." Walter sighed. Conversing with Dijkstra was always a one-way street, while Rudolf was a simpleton who didn't grasp the complex power struggles. "If none of our teams scored a victory, the world we represent—a non-noble power, a place where talent matters more than lineage—can't afford to let them down. People can't lose their faith in Concordia.”
"Funny, isn't it?" Dijkstra interrupted.
"What?" Walter asked, curiosity in his eyes.
"You say Concordia doesn't represent noble lineage but talents. But what is your team made of? A Parvian prince, an excommunicated commander's son, the daughter of the richest woman in this land, and who knows how many people from high society”
The room fell silent, not because Dijkstra had pointed out something they didn't know, but because they were taken aback by the witty argument he had just used —Not like Dijkstra at all.
“Don’t worry, professor.” Delimira who was silently struck for a while, finally spoke, “Even if Hans doesn’t come. Concordia will win. You see I’m quite the vengeful person myself.” She stated, her cyan eyes gleaming and her pupils turning vertically slit. It was clear that Hans wasn't the only one preparing aces; she was exploring her traits from her father's side.
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