Instantly, Reginn lunged toward the flower to destroy its core. Even in his weakened state, he was able to empower his fists with mana the same way. The flower disintegrated within the realm of the shadow, but Reginn knew that its soul was not destroyed, but only its connection of Attila’s body. He would need to destroy the cross to defeat Kyriekaos fully.
The hero then turned to the prisoner.
“...I’ll save you. I don’t know exactly what you did to deserve this punishment, but no one deserves to be tortured,” said Reginn, “but beware, there will still be consequences.”
Reginn put his hand against the prisoner’s face, and she too disintegrated into naught.
As soon as Attila regained complete control over her body, the mindscape began to change once again. Both of their physical bodies began to dissolve as the mindscape took a similar style to Sivrit’s — a theatre of mind.
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…Thank you. I assume you’re a hero, could I ask for your name?
…It’s Reginn. The hero… of Avangarden.
Heh, it’s surprising that Sivrit personally knew a great hero like you. I knew she was acting a bit fishy with strange company, but I suppose it was the nervousness or something.
A great hero… I suppose I can be.
…You know, I want to be a hero someday too, and Sivrit too. Do you have any advice?
…If there’s anything I’ve learnt as a hero, it’s that you need to see, hear and feel more. You need to understand the world and the people, because in the end, that’s the only thing, isn’t it?
…Well, I wish you fortune in catching the bad guy.
Thanks. When Sivrit wakes up, thank her for me, would you?
Thank her yourself! I’m sure she would appreciate those words from a hero’s mouth a thousand times more.
…Heh, then I suppose I’ll be back.
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This was the first time Reginn was ever thanked for being a hero. Neither the Goddess nor the humans he protected ever told him such things, but it felt good to know he was stepping in the correct direction.
After entering the real world once again, Reginn turned to face the cross, which moved to the center of the Colosseum during his time within Attila’s theatre. If an intense battle were to begin with all these unconscious civilians around, the casualties would be unacceptable. The hero instead grabbed the casket, and then flew toward the vacant forest where he first resurrected.
During his flight toward the forest, the casket suddenly flung open and from within extended dozens of spinal tentacles, all attempting to attack and destabilize the hero. However, he simply resisted by creating armour plating around his skin wherever the tentacles struck. Eventually, the flower began to utilize its talent-skill, which posed a serious threat to Reginn’s life. While he was confident he could survive most things, perhaps bisection was the limit, a limit he would never like to test. For safety, he was forced to drop Kyriekaos in a shroud of trees nearby.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
After dropoff, Reginn quickly followed up with a barrage of lightning-based attacks against the casket, but the cross seemed indestructible as the tentacles returned to the depths of the darkness. Perhaps this was another divine relic as well.
The hero knew that any external attacks would be useless, and the darkness of the casket slowly tempted him to enter, the soft whispers alluring him. They almost sounded that of the Goddess and the Caretaker, and Reginn knew this was a trap, but he continued forth believing that risks must be taken for success.
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Within the casket was the familiar realm of the shadow, but as it was not connected to a singular brain, it was impossible for Reginn to manipulate this space. In addition, this specific pocket dimension was true, meaning that it wasn’t some illusion of the mind like a theatre. Every damage inflicted here was true and reflected in reality. However, he never feared for his own sake. As a weapon, it would be foolish to do so. During his short decade — technically being biologically younger than both Sivrit and Attila — he had experienced so much, and each encounter sharpened his edge. The only thing different now, was that he finally knew the right person to meet the blade.
The flower announced its presence with a barrage of tentacle strikes, raining down from above like a hail storm of arrows. Then, it ambushed from the shadows, Reginn casually dodging its petals used like jaws. He attempted to retaliate by focusing on its core, but within its own domain, it was like trying to pierce a fly with a needle, as it simply returned its mass to near naught, floating away like a leaf.
Reginn was used to battling within his domain — within Alsland, but it seemed that today was his first time in a foreign land. The flower continued its attacks by planting its tentacles deep within the floor of the realm, which then shattered the entire surface into a myriad of cubes upon cubes, lifting Reginn into the air. The entire planet crumbled as it revealed a massive flower — the size of the world — beneath Reginn’s feat. However, this was merely a welcome invitation to the hero, who took the initiative to attack the colossal flower’s core with a drop kick as he reentered the imaginary atmosphere. The enemy then disintegrated into even more cubes. It seemed that all of this had been an illusion.
From this battle, he knew that the flower had some capability to manipulate the mindscape like he could. However, at this rate, neither of them would be able to land any hits due to Reginn’s superior speed and the flower’s manipulation of himself and the environment. The only way to win would be through either attrition or…
A brilliant idea then struck Reginn. He absolutely loved moments like these, when he felt everything was meant to be. The hero began running past the flower, dodging its attempts to attack his back. He just needed to find someone — the prisoner. They seemed to have a deep connection with the flower, and surely they could defeat it with his help. The outcome was 50:50, and if they could increase his chance of success to 51%, the battle would be over as it would exponentially fall to his side.
It seemed that the flower had gotten the wind of his plan as well, as it began to construct a maze made of cubes all around him. This did not slow him very much, as he simply pulverized them like air. The true problem was in locating the girl, if only he knew her name…
No. Perhaps not only her name, but he could learn everything by stealing the memories directly from the flower. It seemed to have a brain in its core, surrounded by glass. Perhaps he could enter their mind, and retrieve the information regarding her position.
Reginn immediately put this idea into action by grabbing the flower by its core, then instantly casting ⌈Sixth Path Retireval⌋ on contact. He was soon within the flower’s mind, but something was extremely wrong with this place.
It was not simple darkness or void.
It was the amalgamation of flesh, blood and bones creating the claustrophobic walls, and it stenched of sulfur and iron, as if was the deepest depth of hell. The heat of the area would be enough to boil the blood of any ordinary human, and the lights were blinding to the point of torture.
This was the true mind of Kyriekaos or the flower.
The Fleuganstrad.