-Chapter Fifty-Five-

The Holy Capital - Part One

In Aelius’ first life, the Holy Empire eventually collapsed and was overtaken by the Imperial Empire.

The reason was because of the Spectre Crisis Incident, but somehow, Aelius stopped it from happening this time around.

Now, the Holy Empire will persist, unless some other disaster unforeseen falls upon it.

As Aelius followed the threads of Saki’s existence through Awakening Arts, they led him further and further south-east of the Imperial Empire, until eventually, he found himself passing through the borders of the Holy Empire.

They made good distance for a single day, and after finding a small village, he and Asura settled down at a modest inn for the night.

Aelius just finished showering up as he returned to him and Asura’s room, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, revealing his chiselled and toned chest, before he entered and found his blonde, blue-eyed mistress laying seductively and nude on the bed.

As he entered, he met her eyes and she gave him a coy smirk.

“Come hither, my warrior,” she gestured sensually, and Aelius failed to hide his grin as he locked the door behind him, and slowly approached the bed.

Upon reaching the edge, she shuffled closer to him and his towel fell, before the two met with their lips she rolled him onto his back.

Sitting above him, she licked her lips, her hair rapidly turning crimson together with her glowing eyes, and they spent the night enveloped in each other’s affection.

—-----------------------

Aelius woke up with Asura clinging tightly to his chest. As merciless, coy and unapproachable as she seemed at times, this was a solemn moment of her appearing vulnerable and defenceless, like any other woman.

No crazy crimson hair or crimson eyes. Just blonde now.

He laid still without moving, gazing at her face and recalling all their memories together.

At least, in this world that has harmed him so much, he was lucky enough to meet her, and have her at his side.

Instinctively, he found himself reaching forward to tuck her hair behind her ear, admiring his lover.

Such a beautiful person he was undeserving of.

Despite the grudges and insanity she carries, he couldn’t help but think of her as beautiful.

In the last life, she did not hesitate to sacrifice her life so as to defeat the Devil Patriarch. In this life, Aelius will become strong enough to prevent her from having to go to such lengths.

He vows it determinedly.

—-----------------------

Eventually, Aelius and Asura arrived at the Holy Empire’s Capital, hot on the trail of Saki’s presence. Thankfully, she was closer rather than farther away.

It was a land where belief in Stecia was holding strong, unlike the Imperial Capital that was shifting its focus to magic. Yet the two Empires remained prominent nonetheless, and were invaded by the Devils together nonetheless.

Just like how the Imperial Empire had its Royal Family that stood at the top as the absolute authority, so did the Holy Empire.

The Church of Light had strong authority in the Holy Empire, but the Holy Emperor was above even them.

Currently, the Holy Royal Family has an Emperor, an Empress, a Prince and two Princesses. Beneath them, serving them was the Church of Light, which consisted of a powerful combative force.

They had a dozen senior Holy Knights available at their beck and call at any second.

Of course, that was only in the heart of the city where the Palace resided, isolated in its own little aristocratic bubble.

The rest of the city’s bustling of commoners was in a way, its own world.

Aelius entered the borders with no problem by sneaking himself and Asura through, before Saki’s trail led him into the city.

He arrived at a suburb that was both far from the outskirts of the Capital, but also far from the centre of the City. It was a somewhat prominent area with a fair share of Nobles residing there, and a bustling market.

On the corner of a particular street, Aelius and Asura, hand-in-hand, came walking up to an inn. It was fairly large, possessed security on the outsides, and had a somewhat fancy interior.

It was one of the better inns around the place.

Before Aelius was able to enter, he found a dark blue-haired figure waiting for him at the doors.

His brown eyes met her glowing pink eyes as he approached her.

Of course she would be waiting. If he could sense her, obviously she could sense him as he drew ever closer.

She was expressionless until he stepped up to her, after which the corners of her lips turned up into a smile and she shyly looked away.

“This is awkward…”

Aelius was in no mood for jokes, knowing that the woman standing before him, though the object of his adoration, was also potentially responsible for ending the world he had vowed to save.

“You left me abruptly six months ago, but here we are again,” he responded, raising his hand to her.

At his touch on her cheek, the young woman in her twenties sighed heavily.

“I never expected you to cultivate your Awakening Arts to the next stage without my help. Had you not, you would’ve never been able to track me back down.”

“Had you given me a choice instead of running off on your own, I would have liked for us to at least discuss things,” he spoke sternly as he stepped past her, Asura following him closely.

Saki unsurely turned into the inn to guide him.

“At least, it’s nice to see your face again. And perhaps it’s a good thing you’re here now.”

They wandered up the steps, Saki remaining oddly silent.

Asura’s eyes darted between her and Aelius, unsure of what to make of it between them, until they arrived at her room.

She paused outside the door, before turning to Aelius with a determined gaze.

“Aelius… I’m sorry about leaving six months ago. But I still feel the way I did at the time. I didn’t want to jeopardise your own mission, but I still wanted to pursue my revenge-” he put a finger to her lips.

“We’ll talk about it once we sit down properly. I understand the way you feel, but… we may be connected by fate in more ways than you think,” he softly answered her.

Her cheeks rapidly flushed up and she quickly looked away.

“In this room is someone crucial to my goal, but… well, you’ll see. I only ask that you keep your voice quiet so we don’t disturb him.”

Aelius, intrigued, nodded as he waited for Saki to gently push open the door, revealing a dark room inside. The curtains were drawn all the way with the windows kept shut, as she led him in.

They saw a bed by the window side, lying in it a small figure. Saki approached the bedside together with Aelius, wearing a grim expression on her face.

Aelius immediately could tell that the young child was incredibly sick, as Saki pulled over three chairs with a fling of her hand and gestured for Aelius and Asura to sit.

As they did so, Aelius crossed his arms, waiting for Saki to explain.

Pale skin. Dark circles under his eyes. Body freezing cold to the touch, and yet covered in hot sweat. Skinny to the bone.

“This young boy is named Gregory. I met him during my travels. I’ve been looking after him for some few months now. His illness is only ever getting worse…” She fell silent for a brief moment, before she took a breath and continued.

“Gregory is the last remaining survivor of his clan, but unfortunately he is a very sickly child. I believe he was born this way. My objective is located in a temple that is completely closed off. It can only be accessed by Gregory and those of his lineage.”

She must be referring to a seal. I didn’t know people of our continent would erect a temple around one. Is that coincidence? Aelius wondered with a raised brow.

“But he’s unable to open the door because he’s too weak to even stand. The temple is something that I cannot enter even if I blast everything I have at it… and Gregory’s condition gets worse by the day.” Saki unsurely twiddled with her thumbs as Aelius listened.

But hold on… something’s strange. In my past life, Saki successfully unsealed all six seals. How was she able to do so? In the erased timeline, Saki resurrected several years from now, because I didn’t interfere in her ritual. In theory, this Gregory child should have died already by the time her body was reconstructed.

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“Where’s this temple located?” Aelius asked.

“It’s the Stega Temple located near a small town in the Kingdom of Polier,” Saki answered.

Ahh… that sounds familiar. Aelius recalled a story in his past life, around about when he had turned twenty-three, seven years from now.

A group of archaeologists had discovered the ‘Stega Temple’ and, together with Saint technology, namely C4, blasted their way into it through the mountain.

The door was indestructible, but the surrounding mountain walls had not been.

Saki must have slipped into the temple through that same entrance once the excavation team left.

But in this life, she met up with Gregory somehow before he passed away from his illness.

“So…” Saki continued, catching Aelius’ attention. “I brought him here in search of doctors. We consulted a lot of doctors but they all say it’s impossible to cure him. However, multiple of them mentioned, perhaps the Sacred Continent’s best doctor may have a clue.”

At the mention ‘the best doctor’, Aelius’ ears perked up.

“So Gregory and I set off to travel in search of the world’s best doctor, and my search led us here. The Holy Capital.” Saki looked to the window that was obscured by black-out curtains.

“The world’s best doctor…” Aelius mumbled with a frown. “Any leads?” he asked.

“There’s a lot of conflicting information,” Saki shrugged her shoulders. “Some stories tell of the ‘Divine Saint’, an old man with a long white beard who looks like a beggar, but has Goddess-like skills. He can even bring back the dead if he treats them in time. Apparently, he simply wanders the nations with no specific aim.”

Saki exhaled deeply.

“Some other stories speak of numerous other, old men. Lastly, a final story, speaks of an equally elusive existence.” Saki twiddled her thumbs. “A clan of Immortals that possess the secret to life. Among them in particular, is their Heiress, a young girl. But no one has ever seen her before, so this information is uncertain.”

Aelius felt his heart skip a beat. A clan of Immortals? Could that be…?

“Even though the story of the clan of immortals seem absurd at first, it actually ended up being the most plausible,” Saki sighed. “It had more leads than anything else, and eventually led Gregory and I to this city.” She pursed her lips. “They apparently live in this city somewhere, but I’ve spent the last few days searching and I’ve found nothing in the sea of threads. They must be concealing their presence very well.”

Aelius looked to Gregory, and then back to Saki.

Damn… though I really want to look into this story, it might end up actively helping Saki undo yet another seal.

He clenched his hand unsurely.

“Alright, I understand your objective now,” he finally answered as he gave a breath releasing all of his tension.

“But there’s something I have to discuss with you first, before we move forward.”

As he spoke, his tone turned grave and serious,

“Saki, I’m going to be upfront with you.”

She suddenly sat up straight, at attention, looking at him with nervous eyes.

“O-okay…”

Aelius took a deep breath, his gaze unwavering as he looked into her pink irises.

“What happens if you succeed in undoing all the seals?”

“Umm…” she tilted her head. “I’m not entirely sure but I believe I’d just reopen the rift through dimensions to return to my homeworld.”

“Saki… the place you died used to be a Desert. It became an Oasis of life from your corpse.”

Saki nodded, her mood suddenly dropping at the mention of her death.

“The person who killed you did so with a flick of their hand. The strongest people in your world as opposed to ours are like heaven and earth. It’s like me fighting a child. Do you understand where I’m going with this?” Aelius asked.

“I’m… not sure,” Saki said.

Aelius was about to continue when they were interrupted by Saki’s stomach grumbling and she embarrassedly covered her face.

“Oh my Goddess! I’m sorry, I haven’t eaten today, yet.”

Aelius looked to Asura for a moment, before sighing heavily.

“Alright, let’s take this talk down to the bar. Will Gregory be okay alone in this room?” he asked.

“I constantly monitor him even when I’m not present, so yes, as long as we don’t stray too far,” Saki answered, and the group of three vacated the room.

—-----------------------

The group of three sat themselves down in the rowdy inn, and Aelius scowled at the loud noise around him, but continued the conversation regardless.

For, though it was hard to hear each other, he did not want to delay discussion on this topic any longer.

Saki nervously sat opposite him, fidgeting with her fingers at the seriousness in his voice.

“As I was saying…” Aelius gave a deep breath. “And I do want to aid you in your revenge, I really do. But don’t you think that undoing the seals and connecting our realms is going to put my world in jeopardy?”

Saki blinked.

“What do you mean?”

“A single person can come through from the other side and wipe out entire nations. And your realm has numerous people capable of that. What would you do if you reopened the seals, just to destroy my world?”

Saki’s eyes widened as she understood the graveness of his concern, and she dropped her head to her plate of half-eaten food.

“T-that’s… a very understandable concern, but I doubt it will come to pass.” She mustered her courage as she returned a firm look. “I understand what you’re worried about now. You’re worried we’ll become enemies, isn’t that right? If my revenge ends up becoming a threat to this world, you’ll have to kill me in order to save it. Isn’t that so?”

Saki saw Aelius’ eyes soften before her, and she knew this man cared for her.

“Aelius… my love…” she reached forward and took his hand. “My love and my saviour. So strong-willed.” She gave him a warm smile.

“There are hundreds of clans in my realm - a vast realm full of experts, capable of wiping out the nations of this world with their breath. That is true. But there are also common people in my realm. Small villages of ordinary people that are separate to the world of other-worldly cultivators. How do they survive you? You may be wondering. Well, that is because chivalry is still strong in my world.”

Aelius frowned.

“You can call it hypocrisy, but whenever one of the Clans step out of line, all the other Clans will step up to restrain them. They have these forms of agreements in order to preserve order. If one expert tries to harm Vertex, a dozen will arrive to stop them.”

Aelius’ brow twitched at her explanation.

“Then what if all of them agree they want to destroy Vertex? They won’t stop each other then.”

Saki shook her head.

“They have no reason to. At most, they will try to ‘colonise’ Vertex, or farm it for resources. It’s just like discovering a village of ordinary men and settling down in it to develop it.”

Aelius pursed his lips.

“So we can avoid the world being destroyed, but I’m sorry, Saki. I can’t be satisfied with just that.” He pulled his hand back, and she looked dejectly at him.

“I don’t feel good about leaving the fate of this world up to some invaders. And besides, what if some bigshot comes down and sets his eyes on my Aria?” His fists clenched. “Would the others step up to protect her free will? I don’t think so. What do I do then?”

Silence rang out between them for a long moment as Aelius considered how to word his next sentence. “...For a man to force himself onto a woman, that’s a fate worse than death. If such a horrible thing happened to any of the people by my side… What would I even save this world for? To me, you are all more important than the fate of this world. It’s pointless if the world is protected but my loved ones aren’t.”

At his words, Saki felt her heart flutter.

“I see… But I suspect if you were to fight with one of them, you wouldn’t lose.”

Aelius raised an eyebrow.

“I’m afraid I’m not like them. I’m restrained by the principles of Vertex. The woman who turned a death-desert into a bloody rainforest that spans the distance of ten thousand kilometres? I can’t come even close to that!”

Saki shook her head.

“The power that lies within you, Aelius, is something from beyond even my realm. Whoever it is - no, whatever it is, is capable of guaranteeing your victory. This Goddess of yours named Stecia… her power is unfathomable, even to me. I can tell the origins of your powers are not simple.” Saki reached out to rest a firm hand on his chest. “But there is also something else mixed into her power, within you. Something alternative to her. I can only faintly sense it. I can’t tell whether it is a benevolent or malevolent force… but what is true is that… it feels as though it solely belongs to you.”

Aelius took a deep breath, clenching his fist.

Is that true? he wondered. So far, I have succeeded in changing the fates of my loved ones, but it’s not certain until I defeat the Devils for good. Only then can I rest assured that my first life won’t repeat. Would this power carry me through to the very end?

“Tch…” Aelius grit his teeth. “Fine. I’ll help you out with Gregory before he dies, and I’ll search with you for the girl from the Immortal Clan. Since you think I’m so strong I can fight someone from your Realm, let’s see, shall we?”

Saki’s eyes lit up.

“But I have one condition, and I would appreciate it if you abide by it, even if you refuse my help.”

Saki took a gulp.

“A-A condition?”

“After we dissolve this Seal, I want you to slow down. I need more time before I can face your realm. You can leave all Seals but one, if you want, but either way, I need more time. I have to cultivate at least to the Ninth Tier before I feel comfortable taking a big risk like this.”

Saki nodded, a look of realison her face.

“Oh… this is a very reasonable condition. But how long should I wait?” she asked.

“It won’t take me longer than five years. Perhaps less, if things go according to plan.” Aelius narrowed his eyes at the ceiling overhead. “I still have to save a lot of people important to me.”

Saki nodded.

“Okay. I agree. With this, we won’t be enemies, right?” she hesitantly asked and Aelius felt a smile form on his face.

“You’ve been put in a difficult position, Saki. I’m sorry. Even with revenge weighing on your mind, you still care so deeply for me.” He reached forward to caress her hand. “Since you’ve agreed, we won’t be enemies. We can both rest at ease now.”

Saki shyly looked downwards with a blush, as her hand was taken into his and he lifted it up and left a soft kiss on the back of it.

“Thanks for being so agreeable. I’m glad it didn’t end up sour between us,” he smiled.

“I would never… though my revenge is important, you are on an equal pedestal, Aelius.” Saki’s fingers intertwined his, clutching his hand tightly as she gave him a heartfelt smile, her eyes narrowing as her lips parted. “I am willing to do anything for you.”