After Anna vanished as a ghost, Leo lifelessly lied on the bed staring at the ceiling. He would’ve loved to cry, but unfortunately instead of sadness all he felt was deep hate towards the empire, the Southern kingdom and even for the Dreadlands for turning the most beautiful being in the world into a monster. The friendly, cheerful and lively girl he once considered his own goddess was no more … she was killed by this god damned realm.
In all honesty, after spending almost a year alongside her, Leo considered Anna to be one of his closest people and even though her older sister was killed, he felt happy the kind girl got away safely knowing she could somewhere lead a peaceful life and not run around forests killing others. Unfortunately meeting her now made him feel almost like he did when witnessing Lyam’s death, but just like back then – it stung deeply, but he didn’t fall in apathy or depression.
The next morning Leo stepped out the door with a plan in mind. In one aspect Anna was correct – currently in Dreadlands there was only a handful of people who could keep up with him if he decided to flee, but catching was close to being impossible. Of course, that would be if he was trying to escape empty handed, but there was no way Leo would leave his treasured weapon behind and, in addition, he kind of hoped to grab the iron crown along as a souvenir – according to what Dalina mentioned, the empress stored the big snake inside of it and after one day he’ll learn how to use the thing, he could have a decent feast for himself and Jack.
Leo would’ve loved to grab a few dark-crimson horned beetles along, but unfortunately to this day he had no clue where they were bred. Dalina was tight lipped and unfortunately he had no contact with any other people who could’ve known anything. Obviously asking the empress was out of question.
When they arrived at the Mausoleum, Leo once again verified the distance between the stone slate and the altar by counting steps, even though he long had memorized it, and played out the planned scenario in his mind few more times. Initially he wanted to go through with the escape plan right in the morning, but the members of the Vidas family had the annoying habit to work through the night and usually were still there when he came to pick up the Cleaver. And while it was fine if he intended to escape as he was, if he wanted to grab the iron crown there was a high chance he could die under the barrage of throwing knives from those experts, even if they were old and tired.
The daily routine went as usual, but Leo did his best to skip any unnecessary heavy lifting or other exercises that could tire him out. During the sparring part he ‘accidentally’ slightly injured all three Dalina’s guards, but it was nothing major and nothing that hadn’t happened before, except this time all three were slightly limping, although they tried not to show it.
Another thing that went Leo’s way was that the empress didn’t show up for lunch, thus even if Anna was observing him from somewhere, she had to know he was not to be blamed for not poisoning the imperial majesty right away. He knew that the escape plan highly depended on only him and the guards being present in the underground hall and there was always a chance he’ll have to postpone it.
Either the stars were properly aligned or the plan turned out to be fool proof, when in the evening Leo and the three guards entered the Mausoleum there was no one else there. As usual they went towards the altar and Leo took off the weapon, then slightly bowed and mumbled ‘You asked for it, bitch! Fire claw!’ while the guards did the same.
Afterwards they proceeded towards the exit in a more relaxed manner, but right at the door Leo suddenly elbowed the closest guard right in the chin and, before the other two managed to react, slammed their heads in the wall. All three lifelessly dropped to the ground and during the whole event the loudest sound was the muffled bump of the two heads meeting the marble wall, but it was highly unlikely anyone upstairs could’ve heard that.
Surprised by how easily he managed to knock out the three elites, Leo smiled and said, “Sorry girls! If we’ve met under different circumstances I would’ve loved to offer you a towel! You know …”
He wanted to say few more sweet things before leaving, but suddenly felt someone’s stare burning his back.
As it turns out, there was someone else in the hall after all. The old lady the others called ‘madam Vesta’ had fallen asleep at one of the tables and woke up right when Leo neutralized the guards. It took a moment for her to process what just transpired, but after she did, she reacted faster than a rabbit meeting a wolf.
Without saying or shouting out anything, madam Vesta dashed towards the altar. She correctly guessed that Leo anticipated she would scream and try to get past him to the staircase in order to call for help, but just like Leo she knew it was futile. Even if the male-slave was young, he was stronger than the imperial elites thus going against him was simply silly, therefore the experienced lady quickly calculated the best way of action and before Leo could react, with a bright flash of light vanished behind the altar.
“F*ck!” Leo loudly cursed, but it was still fine. So what if there was a witness? He never intended to return anyway.
Unfortunately a moment later his mood turned sour – upon approaching the altar, Leo realized that the only thing that still lie on it was the oversized weapon.
Turns out that the old, cheeky lady before vanishing grabbed the crown along, cleverly securing one of the empire’s greatest treasures. Leo knew she didn’t disappear in a thin air and the only teleportation tablet was still at its usual place. That and the fact that earlier Leo heard something like a stone moving could only mean there was some kind of a hidden door and mechanism that opened it. Also the flash of light indicated that either there was a brightly lit room on the other side or one could directly get outside and what Leo saw was the sunlight.
After thinking for a moment he discarded the second option and grabbed the Cleaver intending to leave, but then a muffled sound of someone angrily cursing forced the boy to stop in his tracks.
“You’ll pay for it, bastard!”
There was no doubt the old lady was still there! And it could only mean that behind the wall there was a closed room and not a passage otherwise the old hag would’ve had ran off to call for help.
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‘Alright!’ Leo widely grinned, ‘Three breaths before the guards arrive.’
Yes, he had the rule number five – under no circumstances it is allowed to take too much of the other people’s stuff, but the crown was only one item and he already considered it his own. It should serve as a compensation for everything he suffered in this realm, right?
With this thought Leo made a wide side swing with the Cleaver and smashed it at the wall behind the altar which immediately crumbled rising, a small cloud of dust. Neither he had time or interest to look for the hidden mechanism and ‘the direct approach’ turned out to be the most effective. The wall was no thicker than half a foot and Leo’s heavy weapon crushed through it as if it was made of clay.
He didn’t have much time though – this time the commotion was definitely too loud and the guards were surely on their way down. Also his decisive action surely surprised madam Vesta and Leo didn’t intend to let her catch him off-guard again, therefore after the wall behind the altar crumbled, he immediately jumped over ready to smack her unconscious.
Unfortunately he was not prepared for the sight on the other side.
While it was brighter compared to the previous hall, the light was not blinding. Turns out the whole wall on the left was made of the shiny stone and at it stood at least a couple dozen people. On the other hand the right side was comparatively dark and, while Leo instinctively prepared to defend from the people at the shining wall or to retreat, the small, but nimble madam Vesta’s figure jumped on his back.
“Die!” She hissed and sunk a sharp and thin, seven inch long dagger in Leo’s right shoulder.
She didn’t managed to hit any major arteries, but because of the piercing pain the Cleaver still slipped from Leo’s hand and with a loud bang landed on the floor while the boy staggered towards the wall with the many people at it.
‘F*ck!’ Leo cursed to himself.
Luckily Dalina’s arduous training immediately showed results. He grabbed behind with the left hand and managed to clench the old witch’s collar. Then with a wide motion threw her at the shining wall and the moment she hit it, kicked her in the face a couple of times either knocking her out or maybe killing her.
“F*****ck!” Leo cursed, but this time out loud.
The fishy smell coming from his right shoulder clearly indicated the dagger had been poisoned and with how deep it sunk there was no way for him to survive … except … if the old hag had an antidote on her!
With this desperate thought Leo directly tore off her jacket, but the pockets turned out to be empty. Then he squatted to check her trouser pockets, but also with no results. The only thing he could take from her was the iron crown she had clenched in her left hand so he did that and thanked the lady with another kick in the already bloodied face.
But right at that moment he froze in shock. The pain in the right shoulder and the numbed hand proved he was still conscious and not hallucinating, but it was hard to believe what he saw was real.
Only now he noticed that the closest person ‘standing’ at the shining wall was not actually standing, but was slanted at it, all wrapped up in weird bandages and over their body crawled tens if not hundreds reddish walnut sized beetles. And after throwing a quick glance at the rest of the people at the wall, Leo saw they were in a similar condition – slanted at the wall and wrapped in bandages, hands crossed on their chests.
‘So that’s why this is called ‘Mausoleum’!’ Leo finally realized, but distant, fast approaching footsteps brought him back to reality.
Without thinking much he once again grabbed madam Vesta’s jacket and using it as a bag swept in few dozens of the dark-crimson horned beetles. Then he clumsily wrapped it up and together with the iron crown put it in his right armpit and dashed towards the Cleaver.
A split moment later the first guard already stepped through the opening in the broken wall and together with her mate that followed were immediately cleaved in two. Obviously these were the two elites who usually guarded outside and it was unclear if they called for help before rushing down here.
While this time Leo’s reaction was swift, this one move took all his remaining strength. Because of the poison spreading through his body it was even hard to stand, to not speak about running towards the tablet which at already this point was his only way out.
Suddenly he got an idea. He grabbed a couple of beetles who somehow managed to crawl out from the wrapped jacket and put them in mouth. Ignoring the disgusting sensation, he chewed a couple of times and swallowed, and not waiting for the boost to kick in, rushed towards the tablet. Leo knew they either held a lot of natural Qi or were some kind of local steroids, but either way these things should be able to provide him with enough energy to get out of here.
Before his foot landed on the tablet Leo heard someone rushing down the stairs, but he didn’t intend to wait. The bright flash of light that followed proved that the Golden Hand society was worthy of its name – even though many centuries had passed, the moment the tablet was broken, Leo found himself somewhere else.
Because of the darkness he had no clue where exactly, but currently any place was better than the imperial grounds.
He squatted down and with the only working hand fished out a small leather pouch from his pocket. There he had an ‘emergency’ piece of flint, iron and charred cloth, but it took him some time and effort to light a small fire.
Leo was already getting dizzy either from the poison or exhaustion, but when he tore off one of the pant legs and lit it up, he actually loudly cheered. Right in front of him, partially hidden in the darkness was the familiar teleportation platform he hadn’t seen in years.
“Of course! Hahaha! Of course … ‘Break here to transport to safety’ … those bastards actually provided the imperial family with actual means to escape this damned realm!” Leo loudly laughed, “I wonder if they knew how to activate this …”
Feeling he’s going to faint any moment, Leo chewed on three more dark-crimson horned beetles, then took a couple of deep breaths and got up. Afterwards he began to inspect the columns around the teleportation platform and at the bottom of the third managed to open a hidden compartment and fished out a dusty box.
Because of his current condition he had no strength to pick it up, but he didn’t care – he directly stomped on it few times in order to get it open. Inside he found a dozen shiny stones in a size of a large man’s fist and without batting and eye one after another stuffed them in openings of a fitting size around the platform. Of course, all were filled with dirt, but since he knew what he was looking for, Leo didn’t have too hard time finishing the job.
During the process in order to have some lighting he burned the second pant leg and his shirt, and didn’t even pause before using the dozen priceless treasures in the form of newly acquired beetles, that could easily be used to buy a kingdom or two in a regular mortal realm.
When he was done, once again completely out of strength, Leo crawled over where his beloved weapon lie, swallowed another beetle, stuck the wrapped jacket with the beetles in his armpit again and put the oversized iron crown on his head. Afterwards he pulled the Cleaver on the teleportation platform, verified he had gotten everything and set the last immortal rank spirit stone in its place. A few heartbeats later Leo was blinded with the familiar light, but before he could verify he arrived at the correct destination, he passed out.
Leo didn’t know a few days after he left Dreadlands a great war began that shook the whole continent. He also didn’t know the imperial army charged forth while thousands of female warriors shouted in one voice ‘You asked for it, bitch! Fire claw!’ in his native language.
He also had no clue that while the two sides were fighting an angel of death performed a massacre in the imperial palace eradicating most of the Vidas family members basically erasing the ancient dynasty from the face of the world. This was not the way the Southern queen fought, but Anna didn’t care – she paid back for the death of her sister with interest.