-Chapter Twenty-Five-
The Hamadian Queen
“The lady was abducted!” the hysterical maid exclaimed and shocking silence took over the small, gathered crowd.
Aelius’ red eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion, as he looked to Damien, and then back to the edge of the forest.
Oh… that’s interesting, he thought.
While one group at the tree line had quickly retreated, there were several small groups of hidden assailants around them, waiting to ambush their encampment.
Why would they throw in a smoke bomb, then run away, but leave different men behind? Aelius wondered, but his train of thought was interrupted when Lord Daniesvich shouted out.
“What!?”
Aelius’ head snapped back to reality at the man’s booming voice. “Kara, what do you mean she was kidnapped!?” he worriedly demanded from the maid as she fell to her knees before him in tears.
“F-father-!” Damien uttered from the ground as his father spun around.
“Earlier, we heard a loud bang and smoke drifted in through the entry to her tent. I was tending to her when a group of cloaked attackers stormed into the tent and took her by force before my very eyes! They were gone in a flash and I immediately came out to tell you!” she gave her story and Aelius frowned.
Something is suspicious, he thought doubtfully when Aria stepped back from Damien, lowering her staff and harshly clicking her tongue.
“Why didn’t they silence the maid, if she witnessed the abduction?” she muttered under her breath and Aelius’ eyes widened.
Because they wanted her to report the abduction.
He glared back to the tree line.
“Alright,” he sighed, taking a step forward.
“Lius, you have to find my daughter back!” Lord Daniesvich ran forward and pleaded, planting both hands on his shoulders.
“They could’ve taken anything on the wagons, but not my precious daughter! Please!”
Aelius clenched his fists. Something about the man’s words invoked something with him.
Not my daughter, please- he felt a stinging pain hit him square in the brain again and shook himself out of the sudden shock.
Fuck!
“Lius?” The Daniesvich Lord asked, his tone almost tender as it was timid.
Though I don’t know the aim of these kidnappers, they took Jessica Daniesvich because they knew it would have the greatest impact. Well, whatever their goal is, it’ll all be solved once I kill them.
Aelius glanced back to Asura, her eyes thirsting for blood and he took a sharp breath.
“This is a bit of extra work unforeseen. I’ll appreciate a bit of compensation, but we can discuss that when I return with Lady Jessica.”
Aelius glanced to Damien on the ground with cold, apathetic eyes.
“Ria, I’ll leave you to maintain the defence with the other Mercenaries. And, do something about this asshole.”
He turned away when he heard a voice call out.
“Are you going on your own!?”
It was Laura who spoke, looking at him with worry and he simply nodded.
Would it be considered arrogant if I went alone, or would it be arrogant if I brought someone along?
“I’m going alone. I don’t have the leisure to protect other people in this.”
I want to expose Aria and Lia to as little harm as possible, he thought to himself. I have enough innocent blood on my hands.
With those words in his mind, he withdrew from the centre encampment.
“Does he even know where he’s going?” the remaining Mercenaries wondered to each other.
Aelius paid them no heed as he disappeared off into the trees.
—-----------------------
Through the jungle greenery, he was able to see the red silhouettes of the ambushers and where they were hiding.
Several small groups encircled the encampment, and he zero’d in one single squad.
“You ready, Asura?” he asked as he summoned his revolver from his storage portal.
“Yes,” she calmly nodded to him, her red eyes glowing.
“Alright.” Aelius raised his free hand in front of him. “Sixth Tier, Sound Space.”
User has activated the skill Reawakened One.
The user’s Mana Rings will triple.
User has activated the skill Sound Space.
Isolate a single area from its surroundings and prevent any incoming and outgoing sound.
Though he was certain the small group could see him, he was not close enough for them to make a move yet.
Their plan was quite smart.
By abducting Jessica, they will force the convoy to separate their forces.
One portion will go chase after Jessica.
If the Mercenaries were inexperienced, they might leave camp completely undefended.
What they unfortunately failed to account for, was Aelius’ presence.
Even if they were confident in taking on a mere A-rank, Aelius was already realms beyond them in terms of both skill and strength.
Worse yet, Asura was by his side.
But really, it all worked out perfectly, he thought with a smug smirk to himself.
Just as he was contemplating how to construct Asura’s flesh, sacrifices offered themselves up to him.
As soon as Aelius disappeared into the trees, he knew it was the time to strike.
Raising his revolver, Aelius let out a shot towards the head of the nearest tree-percher.
The bang was thunderous, but no one beyond thirty metres away would have been able to hear it, thanks to his sound barrier.
He watched as the red silhouette of his victim faded into nothingness, something heavy plomp onto the ground into the bush, and felt his link to the exposed blood connect.
“Crimson Queen’s Blood Blade,” Aelius raised his hand and the corpse quickly dried up, all of its life essence being drawn into Aelius’ hand instead.
It consolidated into an elegantly curved claymore, glowing with a purple, crimson energy.
The remaining members of the squad quickly swooped down from the trees overhead, silently trying to get the drop on him, well trained and coordinated.
But they proved to be no match.
The first one that reached Aelius flashed down upon him with a gleaming blade outstretched but the teenager easily parried the blow.
The force from his block knocked his attacker off their balance, leaving their side completely open and Aelius reached forward to grip them by the neck.
Though he had yet to cultivate his body at all, the fact that he was at the Sixth Mana Ring made up for it, contributing to his strength.
With that monstrous strength, Aelius lifted the attacker into the air and used them as a meat shield from the other four.
The second attacker that reached him couldn’t pull their blade back in time, sending their blade into their comrade instead and the man in Aelius’ grasp gurgled before falling limp and he tossed him aside, turning to face the remaining members with a smug smile.
It was time for a massacre.
—-----------------------
Aelius’ plan proved to be effective.
There were six separate groups dotted around the trees, waiting for the Mercenaries in the camp to chase after Jessica’s abductors, unaware Aelius was the only one who had slipped out.
With his sound barrier, he was able to take out the first group without alerting any of the others when he fired off his revolver.
After killing the first group of six, he absorbed their Blood Essence for Asura and immediately chained on to the next, closest group.
Without too much time going by, he had completely wiped out the ambushers hiding in the forests and even all the way up to the final group, they had never seen it coming.
As he clapped his hands to wipe off the dust, Aelius glanced in the general direction the group that infiltrated their camp had run off to.
He was hoping there were more of them. This was the perfect chance to complete Asura’s summoning. People he could kill without any repercussions, as well as no witnesses to see such a horrific sight.
It was the perfect set up they’ve given him, delivered right into his hands.
—-----------------------
For the longest time, there was only silence and darkness, until gradually, what started out to be a quiet and soft, occasional dripping of water began to grow louder and louder.
Finally, Jessica’s eyes softly opened and she found herself awake, though no light reached her eyes.
Beside her laid down body on the ground, she could feel what was a wet puddle with a small, gleaming drop of water occasionally dripping down from overhead.
The last thing she remembered was a group of assailants storming into her section of the tent and putting a bag over her. She quickly fell unconscious from the impact and struggle, and next she knew, here she was.
Was I abducted? she asked herself, her heart pounding in her chest, as she summoned the strength in her legs and pulled herself to her feet.
Her green eyes shot around the room as her pupils adapted to the low-light and she found a small ray of candle light coming in from the wall in front of her, through a grated window in an iron bolted door.
Stepping up to it, she found it rusty but upon peeking out the small opening, she quickly caught her breath to fall deathly quiet.
In the dimly lit room outside the door, a group of people were seated in the room.
Some of the men bulky and some of the women fit, they all held ominous weapons of exotic nature.
A few archers, a scythe-wielder, and a dozen Sorcerers.
She sneakily observed, trying to stay quiet, hoping none of them would notice she had woken up.
She could only pray that some of the Mercenaries would come save her, when she heard them begin to speak.
“How close are we?” one of the men asked another, and Jessica’s eyes landed on who appeared to be the ringleader.
He stood with his back to them, his arms tucked behind his back as he gazed at a large wall.
Jessica’s eyes squinted as she caught glimpses of colours and images on the wall, like some form of mural.
“It’s unlikely that there’s enough of them in the camp, but every little bit helps.” The man spun around, his face lighting up at his comrades.
“My clan! Do you realise that the fulfilling of our ancestors’ dreams and the purpose of our lives is right on the verge of happening? The pit has almost reached the mark. How many more people do we need now? After hundreds of years of sacrifices, now we only need… what? Thirty? Forty more people? Are you not excited?”
At his words, the room began to cheer and clap.
“To the dreams of our ancestors!” the leader raised a fist in the air. “Any moment now, some of the forces from our prey will arrive, and our ambushers will raid whoever remains in their camp. By the time they return with the rest of the sacrifices, we will have already prepared the red carpet for them. Let’s move-”
Jessica flinched as the door at the end of the room was thrown open and a member of their group came stumbling up to the leader.
“Clanhead, it’s bad!” he cried, blood covering half of his face. “We’re being attacked!”
“Well, what could the problem be then?” the clanhead grabbed his greatsword and looked over his shoulder at the rest of the party. “The time has come-”
“No! We’re being annihilated! They’re too strong!” the reporter interjected and the clanhead looked down with a frown at him.
“What? Who could be stronger than us? We’re not fighting the General of some sort of nation. It’s just a merchant and some Mercenaries. What are you all worked up over?” he asked but before the man could explain further, they heard a heavy footstep come stomping to a stop at the door and all froze.
“Me, of course,” a voice smugly said. “What else would he be worked up over?”
Jessica gasped to see Lius appear at the doorway, clutching a glowing, purple blade.
“Did he come alone?” the clanhead asked and the messenger nodded.
“It’s just him.”
“Hah!” the clanhead scoffed hilariously. “You’re telling me this kid broke through our outer forces?” he asked and the messenger nodded with a gulp.
Stolen story; please report.
“I really need to give those guys a good beating then. They can’t even stop a teenager. Have we gotten weak?”
The clanhead looked oever to Lius with a narrowed gaze.
“You’ve dug your own grave,” he dismissively waved his hand. “Fari and Gera, go take care of this fool.”
Jessica watched in suspense as two of the fighters stepped forward
.
“N-no! You don’t understand! He’s a monster!” the messenger frantically called out but the two fighters were already charging Lius down.
“Huh? Monster?” the clanhead wondered with a raised brow when there was an eruption of energy and the limp bodies of Fari and Gera splattered into the nearby wall.
A sickening crunch thundered through the room as the impact was so strong their flesh was torn into pieces upon hitting the wall, and Lius took a confident step forward.
“I’m in a hurry so… don’t take it personally,” he smiled and then raised his blade.
The entire room of fighters realised the danger and all rose to their feet to charge him down, but even Jessica could feel the force that anchored them in place.
An overwhelming aura of red blasted off Lius’ body into his opponents.
Half of them fell unconscious and before the rest could react, Lius used his sword like a whip to absorb the blood from the now deceased Fari and Gera, and then dashed forward.
He quickly sliced through three men before the clanhead let out a thunderous roar, enraged at the sight of his clansmen dying without even a chance to fight back, and he broke out of the spell.
Raising his great sword, he charged toward Lius and swung his blade down.
“Leader!!!” the clansmen still alive cried out as he met Lius head on, but in a split second, his head was lopped off and his headless blood-spewing corpse collapsed over onto the ground, leaving Lius covered in a curtain of red before them all, his red glowing eyes staring them down.
“P-please… spare us…” the one closest to him fell to their knees, putting their hands together in prayer before him. “The clanhead is dead now… please… spare us-”
Jessica gasped as Lius sliced the begging man across the throat and he went down with horrid gurgling noises.
She wanted to pull away in horror and hide, but some sort of curiosity welled up within her and she found herself stuck in place, watching on, mesmerised as her saviour sliced through her captors like sheets of paper.
“He’s crazy!” the remaining clansmen broke out into a riot of chaos as soon as the man who had surrendered went down.
“Kill him!” One of them shouted as they all picked up their weapons again and rushed at him.
He wasn’t even fazed as in the time it took for Jessica to blink, the entire room was cleaned out.
Only two people remained alive in the vicinity, and Jessica fell backwards onto her rear, exhaling harshly.
He’s the real deal, she thought in deathly silence before there was the sound of a loud bolt cranking and the iron door screeched as it was pushed open.
Covered in blood, Lius stood at the doorway and offered his hand out to her.
“Glad to see you’re safe.”
—-----------------------
Aelius took a step back toward the exit of the clan’s secret base, when a gleam in the corner of the room caught his eye.
He came to a stop and glanced at the side wall, his eyes widening at the colours splattered over the rock.
With creases and cracks in the paint, the images he saw had to have been hundreds of years old.
Taking a step forward, Aelius instinctively reached out to put his hand on the cold rock, skimming over it in fascination.
Behind him, Jessica stood a few metres away, clutching her arm, uncomfortably looking off to the side of the room.
Aelius paid her no mind, narrowing his eyes at the depictions.
User has activated the skill Abstergo.
Enhanced vision which allows perception of the unseen and invisible.
Glowing words lit up on the wall before him, behind the flaking paint.
Art of boundless sand, an angel with wings and a clawed demon chained away in the earthen rock.
Countless bloodied bodies being thrown into a large pit in the ground where the demon lay.
It gradually filled into a bucket of red and the demon broke out of its chains.
The words were short and brief, simply reading, “The Red Queen will rise in a shower of blood.”
Asura, are you seeing this? Aelius asked and his red-haired companion dropped down next to him, putting a hand on her curvy waist, gazing at the mural.
“I can feel a strange power in this space. It’s similar to mine, but also completely different. Familiar, but incomprehensive. That demon…” she took a step forward and narrowed her eyes. “It resembles a long lost legend I heard when I was younger.”
Aelius looked to her with surprise.
When you were younger? he asked with a raised brow and she gave him a confused gaze.
“Yes. It’s a folktale among my people.”
She took a soft breath and placed a finger on the demon chained in the ground, in a pit of blood.
“It could be referring to a Fallen Angel - a Datenshi.”
Aelius gulped as a small chill ran down his spine, as he looked into the glowing, fiery eyes of the mural.
“They are fearsome creatures mere mortals cannot resist. They hail from the realm of Immortals.”
Aelius pursed his lips at her words, and turned away.
“Follow me,” he gestured to Jessica and stepped out the room into the catacomb tunnels that led him to her.
—-----------------------
The clan’s base was located within a mountain, with years and years of history of architecture.
Following the crude signs and markings in the rocks, he went deeper into the mountain, away from where he had entered from.
“Make sure to stay behind me, and a few metres away. But don’t get lost,” he told Jessica and she silently nodded.
As Aelius stepped further into the mountain, he felt a strange oppression press down on him.
With each foot forward, it grew heavier, until he finally saw light at the end of the tunnelway.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of it into a wide clearing within the mountain.
Natural sunlight fell from the top where no rocks covered the solstice.
Instead, a gigantic tree ran up to touch the sky before him.
Aelius looked up the trunk in awe at the vast canopy overhead, and then turned his eyes back down again.
Before their feet on the ground was a large pit, the circumference of a large building that cannot be crossed without a bridge.
Aelius could feel something pulling him toward it, and he took a step forward to sneak a glance over the edge.
It was an endless black into the depths of Vertex, no doubt. He swallowed yet another nervous gulp and turned back to Asura.
Something’s down there, he told her but noticed she was looking at something else.
Behind her, Jessica gasped in shock and fell onto her rear, looking in the same direction as Asura with terror in her eyes.
Wearing a frown, Aelius turned his head around to follow their gazes before his eyes widened in shock.
Upon looking up, he found thousands of bodies attached to the ceiling overhead, hanging by a single rope.
The corpses were shrivelled and dried of their blood, with their arms hanging in the air loosely.
“Jesus Christ…” Aelius cursed when Asura spoke up.
“They were offering blood to the pit- no, the Datenshi, for who knows how long. It’s fed on so much blood that it’s gotten strong enough to recover some of its awareness.”
Asura placed her hand on her chest.
“It can feel all of the Blood Essence within us.”
“Shit…” Aelius looked at the pit with a glare. We can’t just leave this thing down there. Even if we wipe out the clan for now, it doesn’t stop people from coming in later and continuing this accursed ritual.
“You could steal the blood for me,” Asura turned to him with a serious gaze. “It’ll be centuries of build up, and will completely delay the Datenshi’s awakening.”
Aelius narrowed his eyes.
Is there no way to get rid of it completely? he asked.
“It will remain in that pit for all of eternity unless it reawakens. Nothing more, nothing less,” she told him firmly.
The problem is if we reset all of its progress, and someone discovers these ruins, they could start up this nefarious plan again, and more centuries of sacrifices could get dumped into it.
“So what do you suggest? To do nothing and walk away?” Asura asked him with a head tilt.
“...”
Aelius finally sighed after a long moment of silence and raised his hand over the pit.
I feel bad about this but… it’s the only way I guess.
“Yes, so just do it. Just focus on the blood in the pit and pull it up,” Asura assured him.
With a deep breath, he did as she instructed, reaching his consciousness into the pit.
It went for hundreds of kilometres deep before he finally reached a crimson sea hiding in the bottom, and connected to it.
There, he thought, with his tongue sticking out in concentration as he tried to begin pulling it up.
“Please save me,” he heard a woman’s voice cry in his ears and he froze, before his eyes darted around him.
But the cavern was empty save for him, Asura and Jessica.
“Aelius? What’s wrong?” Asura asked.
Did you hear that? he asked her and she shook her head.
“Hear what?” she asked.
Blinking in disarray, Aelius turned back to the blood, momentarily hesitating.
No voice called out to him while he waited, so he shifted his focus and began to draw the blood back up again.
“I’m in so much pain,” her distorted voice sobbed in his mind and his eyes widened.
“...Hello?” he hesitantly called out.
“I just want it to end. It’s been so long. I hate this. What did I do to deserve this?”
“Can you hear me?” Aelius called out louder.
“Aelius, what are you doing?” Asura asked him, her eyes flaring up.
“Please… just kill me. I don’t want to suffer anymore. I don’t want anyone to suffer for me anymore.”
Aelius felt an overwhelming guilt stab at his chest, and looked to Asura with puppy-eyes.
She’s crying, he told her, and Asura looked back at him in bewilderment for a long moment.
“Oh Aelius…” she finally sighed and took a step forward to join him. “You’ve always been weak to women,” she shook her head disapprovingly and took his hand into her’s, and then shut her eyes in focus.
“Yes, I can hear her now,” Asura said with her eyes still closed. “Well, from the realm of Immortals or not, she is just another living being trapped in a seal for centuries, at minimum. All the while,” Asura looked up at the sacrifices from the ceiling. “People who she didn’t know kept trying to resurrect her, and now she’s in this state, suffering from something she never wanted.”
Asura clicked her tongue.
“So what do you want to do then, Aelius? Huh? Do you want to save her? Play the shining knight in armour again?” she asked and Aelius pursed his lips at her mockery.
“You know I can’t be a knight in shining armour. The fact that I’m chosen by you as your master is proof of that.”
He looked down the pit again with a soft sadness within him.
“If we take all the blood, she’s going to be stuck down there for centuries to repeat all the pain she’s been going through.”
“Yeah, and?” Asura asked, and he looked back to her with a determined gaze.
“If you’re willing, can we top up the pool with what we’ve collected so far?” he requested.
“Are you kidding me?” Asura whacked him over the head. “That’s all for my body, not for some random crying wench in a hole!” she angrily answered.
“Look! We’ll always have the chance to complete your flesh, but this is the only time we’ll be passing through this region!” Aelius exclaimed back.
“You don’t even know if it’d be enough to revive her!” Asura countered.
“But the fact that she can feel pain and communicate should indicate that she’s close, and we have a fair bit of blood stocked up for a margin of error!” Aelius answered.
“Grrr…” Asura stomped on the ground, folded her arms and shot off into the sky. “Do as you like! You’re the master, anyways!”
“I’ll make this up to you,” Aelius called out to her.
“Umm… are you okay, Lius?” he suddenly heard and looked down to Jessica.
“Ah… forgot about you. Just stay quiet for a bit,” he growled in frustration and the young Noblewoman froze.
Turning away, Aelius looked to the pit and a moment of doubt came over him.
“Hey! If she turns out to be a danger, do you think we could take her out?” he called up to Asura, who deliberately turned away from him.
“No! We’d all be dead, obviously! It’s a Datenshi. What the hell do you think Datenshi are?”
Aelius sighed, looking back to the pit.
Often, sympathy, kindness and mercy are weaknesses in a world like this. I know all too well that trying to save every soul is a naive ideal.
He clenched his fists.
But, she sounded so miserable. Maybe I’m just being selfish, but I want to help someone like that. It doesn’t matter whether I’m rewarded or not. At the end of the day, I’m just doing this for self satisfaction, I guess.
“It’s a she by the way, not an it,” he added as he raised his hand again.
“Of course it is! If it was a he, you would have stolen the blood and high-tailed it outta here!” Asura answered with a huff.
“You don’t know that,” Aelius chuckled.
“Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.”
The two didn’t converse further as Aelius shut his eyes.
“I’m starting now,” he announced but no response came from his flying companion.
He felt the Blood Essence they had absorbed until now begin to gather in his palm.
Blood from the forest wolves, blood from the ogres they faced, and lastly, all the blood from the hundred men of the Hamadian clan he had killed and absorbed.
Lastly, as much of his own blood as he could add into the mixture before his consciousness would feel woozy, and a small orb of red crystalised in his hand.
“Wow…” Aelius remarked, looking at it with a small smile. “My very first own bloodbead. Haha.” Asura returned next to him and looked at the bead longingly.
“You better make it up to me,” she grumpily glared at him.
“I promise,” he gave her a wink and then dropped the bead, watching as it disappeared into the endless darkness.
For a long moment, nothing happened, until he heard a small ‘plop’ from the bottom of it, and took a step back, looking at the pit with wide eyes.
His hand at his waist, he was ready to unsheath his blood blade had he needed to.
But instead, a small white light floated out of the pit.
Blinking in surprise, Aelius relaxed his tension and gazed at it, before it hovered over to him and came to a stop in his palm.
“Hmm…” he raised a perplexed brow, but before he had time to think further, a strong, overwhelming wind suddenly picked up around them.
“Ah!” Jessica cried, raising an arm to block the sudden wind.
Aelius was staring at the pit in awe as suddenly, millions of small fragments of light flooded out of the pit into the air before them and began to group together.
It took a few minutes of morphing and shifting until it finally came to a stop in the rest of a humanoid woman, its glow then becoming so strong it blinded them all in the room.
Aelius’ vision was the first to return with the aid of Asbtergo, and he gasped at the woman floating in the air before him, slowly descending to the ground.
Her eyes were shut, he quickly realised and took a step forward to catch her.
As soon as she reached the ground, the wind disappeared and her unconscious, barren body fell over to her side.
Aelius quickly caught the dark-blue-haired beauty in his arms and fell to his knees, looking over her unconscious face with surprise and curiosity.
“Holy shit…” he muttered, looking back up at Asura who was also gazing at the woman curiously.
“She’s… human? I think?” Asura wondered.
“We’ll figure it out later-” before Aelius could do anything else, her wide, gleaming pink eyes opening before him, and he found himself staring back down at her in firm eye contact.
“Ahahaha… well…” he looked nervously around him and then back to the beauty in his arms.
“Welcome back to the land of the living?”