Sophie grabbed Lone's left hand and held it against her face as she wept. This was the very first time that she had seen Lone take serious damage which didn't instantly heal ever since Lone's fight with George Leston the Second, and it scared her. "Lone... Lone... don't die... please... don't die," Sophie mumbled as she put her free hand on Lone's wound, unsure of what to do.
"Stupid girl. Can't you see he's trying to tell you to do something? His mouth is full of blood so he can't speak," Eolande said with a huge amount of annoyance in her voice. She quickly grabbed Sophie's hand that was blocking Lone's open chest before she picked up Lone's right hand and placed it there instead.
Instantly following that, Lone's muscles, blood vessels and organs began reforming, almost as if they were regenerating. Clearly, Lone had started to use his Mana Creation to heal himself. "You're such a fool, Sophie. Try to control your emotions and see the bigger picture. Lone has more than one way to heal himself," Eolande said with a disapproving scoff.
More moments later, Lone's body jerked up and he began vomiting violently. It was hard to tell if there was actually any food mixed in since all that Breena, Swind, Sophie and Eolande could see, was a mixture of black and red blood.
Suddenly, Lone's fist smashed onto the solid ground, startling Sophie and Breena somewhat, as his expression darkened. "Leave me. Eolande, take everyone into your Glade. I need to be alone," Lone growled.
"Sure, sure, Husband. Just try not to hurt yourself," Eolande replied before she opened the pathway to her Glade. Swind didn't hesitate and he walked right through. Breena faltered for a moment before she followed suit. Sophie, on the other hand, was fixed in place, staring at Lone with her tear-stained eyes.
Eolande put a hand on Sophie's shoulder and sighed. "Leave him. He needs to cool down. Clicker just embarrassed him in front of us, so cheer him up all you want later, okay?" Eolande said softly enough for Lone to not be able to hear her.
Sophie looked at Lone for a moment longer before she turned around and walked towards the pathway that led to Eolande's Glade. Just before she entered it, she turned her head and called out to Lone, "Lone, I love you." With that, she left the throne room with Eolande.
"I love you too," Lone muttered as he lay there on his knees and hands in shame.
He stayed still for several minutes, simply trying his best to control his emotions. He was angry, very angry. However, he couldn't bring himself to direct his anger at Clicker. The God of Games was actually right. If he had to choose a target for his rage, it would have to be himself.
"I should have known that it was possible to ignore the skills and titles Vihaan gave me... I'm so stupid..." Lone said self-mockingly.
He then stood up and wobbled slightly from the blood loss, but he managed to steady himself. He walked over to the throne that had appeared with Clicker and he inspected it. It looked archaic. "This must be at least, what, four-thousand years old? Could be older since its made of a metal I've never seen before... maybe Eolande knows more," Lone mumbled before he stored the throne in its entirety.
What Lone could immediately see after storing the throne, was the promised reward left by Clicker for finishing the dungeon. Lone bent down and picked it up. It was a small wooden box that reeked of magic.
"I probably shouldn't open this without getting Eolande's opinion first, it could kill me... hahaha... to think I actually have to be scared of death. Clicker wasn't even stopped by my Lord of Possibility title so either I had a chance to beat him, or he could completely ignore its effects... or maybe something else happened?" Lone started muttering before he took out his swordspear, Dawn.
Lone kept thinking of possibilities for what the reward could be and for why his title didn't stop Clicker. He was also considering that Clicker might have been lying about people being weaker than him but still able to do similar things to Lone as he had done. While he was busy pondering over these matters in peace, he was cutting down the jewel-covered pillars and replacing then with simple stone ones to support the ceiling since he still wanted the precious jewels and marble.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
It didn't take him long to finish collecting the pillars, and despite there being a door labelled as 'Exit' just behind where the throne used to be, Lone decided to sit on the floor and cross his legs.
Suddenly, a large Golden and fluffy creature appeared in front of Lone. It looked around lazily before it crept up onto Lone's lap and curled around him. "You keep getting bigger every day, Kyuubi. I wonder when you'll decide to show me your human form?" Lone whispered as he cuddled his adoptive daughter.
'Not now, soon, Papa,' a very clear and high-pitched voice rang out in Lone's mind. It was clearly the voice of a young girl no older than a few years, yet her pronunciation was perfect. Lone looked around in confusion before his eyes settled on Kyuubi.
"Kyuubi? Was that you just now? You can talk?" Lone asked in surprise as he stroked the back on her neck. She was roughly a meter and a half long now, so she was very large, but it was still quite easy to tell how young Kyuubi was.
'She's grown so much over the last year... when did she learn how to talk?' Lone thought.
Kyuubi looked up at Lone's face and licked it before she nested back into his embrace and went to sleep. It would seem that speaking mentally had used up a lot of the Foxkin's energy, either that or she was just being too lazy like usual. Either way, this short interaction had helped in lifting Lone's spirits a lot, so he decided to telepathically contact Sophie and told her to come back to the throne room with everyone.
With all four of his companions back in the throne room, Lone cleared his throat with a cough. "I'm sorry for chasing all of you out like that. I was upset at what Clicker did to me. I'll make sure to pay him back one day, that's for sure," Lone said with determination in his voice. At this point, Sophie had walked right up to Lone and she hugged him. Lone smiled and gently rubbed her back before he continued.
"But to do that, I need to get stronger, we all need to get stronger. However, he was right. I was too arrogant. I checked the skill and title that he said he affected, and it seems I can't regenerate or use any spare lives for a total of six months. I intend to be more conservative regarding the powers I have in the future, but besides that, I don't think I'll change our plans much. Thoughts?" Lone asked after his hefty apology and explanation.
Eolande carefully approached Kyuubi and began petting the fox that was only slightly smaller than herself, with care. Kyuubi closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of Eolande's small fingers running through her fur. "I have no idea how powerful Clicker is. I could barely breathe when I was in his presence, so don't worry about it. I was always under the impression that he was one of the weaker members of the council, but I guess that was a false rumour. No matter what you decide, I'll always support you, Husband," Eolande said with a wink.
Sophie looked up at Lone's face while she hugged him, her eyes were still puffy from her earlier crying. "As long as you never get hurt like that again... then... then I'm okay with whatever you do," she murmured before she buried her face back into his chest.
"Master's planning to fight the God's now? I'll need better daggers if you want me to be helpful in that fight, Master," Breena said with a happy smile as her three tails swished about gleefully. 'He saved my life, so I don't really have a choice but to help. Besides, what're a few Gods compared to Master? I'm sure they won't be a match for him in a few years,' Breena thought confidently. If there was one thing she didn't doubt, it was Lone's ability.
"I will follow you no matter what you do, Mr Immortus-ss. This is how I will atone-ss. There is no need to apologise to this one-ss," Swind said in a confused manner, almost as if he didn't understand why Lone was trying to apologise to them.
Lone couldn't hold back his smile and he said, "Thank you, everyone, I know I'm a really selfish dick half the time, but thanks for going along with my selfishness, regardless."
"Sometimes?" came the muffled voice of Sophie. "More like selfish all the time," she continued with a small giggle. Soon, everyone else was laughing at this quip.
Meanwhile, in an expansive cave network, at the heart of it, in a glowing city of magic and wonder, Clicker sat on the floor dressed as a beggar in this magical haven with a small wooden cup placed in front of him. A well-dressed nobleman of some sort with a mechanical left eye tossed a copper coin into his cup.
"Many thanks, kind Sir! May the Gods bless ye in all yer travels!" Clicker said happily before he took the copper coin out of the cup and stuffed it into his pocket. The man looked down at him and scoffed before walking off.
"Hmm... so Lone didn't flip out and kill himself with another awakening? Maybe he does have potential... I should have set the seal to last for two-years instead of six-months... oh well, plenty more like him to play with, hehehehehehe," Clicker chuckled as he lay there in the street.