-Chapter Forty-
Village Ancestry - Part One
Everyone could feel the unrest.
Under the bright moonlight, the deserted village was eerily patrolled by groups and groups of guards. Both of the village and of the Noble entourage from the neighbouring Kingdom.
“What the hell do you think that was earlier?” One of the knights asked with grievance in his tone.
“The blood moon?” his comrade beside him answered, as they peeked down a nearby alleyway.
“Yeah,” the first knight nodded.
Behind them, the group heard a set of heavy footsteps marching down the road and glanced over their shoulders.
They sighed in relief to see it was just another patrol group, crossing their path and then disappearing off again around the corner.
“No idea but I think we should get out of this village straight away. Miss Sophia is already… dead,” the second knight spoke begrudgingly.
“I still can’t believe it,” the first knight said with woe when the second knight stopped dead in his tracks.
“Hey… where’s Theo?” he suddenly asked, and the first knight raised an eyebrow, spinning around.
“What the?” He glanced around a corner and down an alleyway. “He was just with us a second ago!”
Confused, the first knight looked back to his comrade.
“Theo!” The second knight called out, going back down the direction they came.
“Where have you gone, yer bastard!”
The first knight followed, looking down each street they passed.
“Theo!”
The first knight rounded a corner, coming into a narrow corridor between two buildings and raised his firelit torch.
“Oh Goddess…”
His eyes widened when he saw a fellow fallen knight on the ground before him, sharing his uniform.
As he stepped closer in urgency, he noticed the ground drowned in the knight’s blood.
“Theo!” the first knight exclaimed, kneeling down to see his comrade was dead.
“Oh Goddess… Oh Goddess!” his voice shook in panic as he rose to his feet and spun around.
“Jay! Where are you? Jay!”
He ran back to the main road where he had left the second knight, but as soon as he stepped out, he found his friend dead on the ground as well, lying face down in a puddle of crimson.
“N-no!” the first knight shouted, his eyes darting all around him, examining the shadows.
But he could not see any movement or sense any presence.
Swallowing down a ball of saliva nervously, he promptly spun around and broke into a full sprint back to the other patrol group he had just seen.
“I need to tell someone!”
He closed in toward the exit of the side road, coming close to a more populated street, when his heart froze in his chest.
A dozen metres ahead of him, a long-haired shadow dropped down from one of the rooftops, blocking the exit to the road.
The first knight came skidding to a stop, his arms trembling uncontrollably as he fumbled his blade into his grasp.
“Oh Goddess.” He gasped for breath, feeling wheezy and nauseous.
This will be a fight with his life on the lin- before he could react, he felt his throat open and looked down to see blood bursting out.
A gurgled scream followed from the man and he turned his eyes back to the shadow in front of him. It was… the Devil.
Before his fading vision completely left him, he saw a horrifying aura emerge from the crimson shadow, and then his strength disappeared and he collapsed into a pool of his own blood.
—-----------------------
“Captain Marcus, I’ve got bad news,” the captain heard and turned to see one of his underlings panting harshly, having just caught up to their patrol at the wing of the village.
“What is it?” the captain asked with a furrowed brow.
“We’ve found several knight patrols wiped out. All dead, in a path leading to the infirmary.”
“Oh Goddess…” the captain growled in frustration, looking back to the village.
Is it a diversion? Or is it the enemy’s true movements?
He grit his teeth as he turned to his group of men.
“We’re headed back to the infirmary!”
They ran back to the infirmary as fast as they could, but it took them a few minutes.
To the captain’s shock, when he arrived, all the village guards were dead on the ground at the entrance.
And upon entering, the captain grimaced to find the other victim of the attack was no longer on the bed.
What was her name? Raphie?
There was no sign of her unconscious body to be seen anywhere.
“What is going on?”
He clenched his fists in frustration.
None of this makes any sense. I can understand if they target the woman named Raphie, because if she recovers, the killer’s identity is entirely exposed.
But then, we should’ve found her dead body here because all they need to do is silence her.
Why would they abduct her?
He could no longer tell what was going on.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by the ground shaking violently beneath his feet, and he ran out of the infirmary in shock to see the magic tower across the village collapsing.
What exactly was happening?
—-----------------------
After Asura easily but brutally murdered the village guards standing outside the infirmary, Aelius looked at the bodies with disdain.
Part of him didn’t feel pleasant about taking lives like this, but another part of him was impatient and no longer tolerant.
He’s sick of showing mercy, after all that’s happened.
It was just a few days ago where he recalled Aria’s memories of the past life. It was like a slap in the face to him.
That, he cannot be complacent; he cannot be careless, because his foes were simply that formidable.
And he can’t let his guard down just because he doesn’t think Devils are involved.
He already knew all too well just how brutal humans could be, especially to their own species.
Truth be told, if he had a choice, he would’ve simply rathered flatten this entire village and be on his way to his destination.
And he could leave this entire village in a bloodbath, now that Asura had successfully descended.
He could do it with ease, but there was still a part of him that didn’t want to do things that way.
It would mean he’s no different than the very demons he was waging war against.
And so, he will try to solve this strange problem taking place in this village in an orthodox manner.
With a sigh, Aelius followed Asura into the infirmary.
Now, there’s no one to stop him from waking Raphie up and hearing the truth from the victim herself.
But as soon as he entered, his face twisted into a foul scorn.
Instead of finding Raphie on the bed, the entire infirmary was empty.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“What the fuck…” Aelius spun around and peeked back out the infirmary, finding the dead guards on the ground.
“Were you pricks just decoys? Simulated smoke with no fire?” he wondered aloud as he turned back to the infirmary.
“What are we looking for here?” Asura asked, looking around the room.
“Just give me a moment,” Aelius sighed, stepping back up to the bed where Raphie was.
Taking a deep breath and gathering his energy, he closed his eyes for a moment.
Following quickly was the sensation of an intangible energy that shot around his body, hitting his brain and then travelling to his eyes.
Having summoned his spiritual energy, he opened his glowing eyes again, now using the Mind’s Eye to track any traces of Raphie.
As usual, he inspected the threads around him, but was confused to see that something was strange, different to usual.
In the past, his Spiritual Eye had no problems perceiving his surroundings, but right now, whatever reason, it felt as though something was obstructing his power.
Just like earlier when Grayalla had blocked his Awakening Arts with some sort of barrier spell, right this very instant, the threads before him were all distorted and cut up.
“What’s going on?...” Aelius muttered under his breath, looking for Raphie when he found the trace of a familiar thread.
“Could that be…?”
Reaching out, Aelius grabbed hold onto the familiar thread and he felt a zing run through his brain.
+Intimacy Points
+Intimacy Points
+Intimacy Points
+Intimacy Points
+Intimacy Points
+Intimacy Points
Source: Saki
Ae-li-us…? C-n -ou h-he-r m-me? Aelius heard Saki’s voice in his head, cut up and static-like.
“Saki!?” he called back.
T-hank g-g-oodness.
He heard relief in her voice.
“Saki, where are you right now?” he asked back, listening out intently for her response.
T-tower. A-g-g-ic t-wer and then her voice was gone.
“Magic tower.”
Aelius turned to look out the infirmary at the spiralling tower with a glare. “Asura, come on, let’s go,” he called over his shoulder and broke into a run off to the edge of the village.
How come Awakening Arts are being blocked? How is that possible?
—-----------------------
Upon arriving, Aelius looked to the top of the tower, feeling an ominous sense.
Just an hour ago, he was in here unwittingly chatting away while this storm was brewing.
Clenching his fists in frustration, he approached the door and found it was locked.
“Huh…” he inhaled sharply, amplifying his legs with Mana before pulling back and giving the door a masterful kick.
The heavy and thick wooden doors repelled him as he saw the force of his blow dispel and absorb into a barrier around the entire tower.
“Damn,” Aelius muttered, observing the tower.
It appeared that Grayalla had already covered the magic tower in a barrier of Sixth Tier magic.
“She moves quick,” Aelius growled.
“How are we going to get in?” Asura wondered, forming a small blood dagger in her hand and stabbing it into the barrier.
As expected, it had no effect on the invisible, attributeless magic protecting the tower.
“So she specialises in barriers,” Aelius contemplated aloud, looking down at his hands.
And I don’t have any good Sixth Tier offensive spells. My Grand Origin Hyperactive is a Seventh Tier spell.
The teenager sighed deeply, looking back to the tower.
“She’s pissing me off.”
“Sorry, I can’t do anything about this one,” Asura spoke calmly as she took a step back, crossing her arms.
“It’s okay. There’s gotta be a way.”
He started circling the tower, wondering if there were any uncovered areas, but Grayalla’s barrier appeared to simply be perfect.
“Generations upon generations of perfecting barrier magic. Wow.”
Aelius admired it for a moment, looking down at the base of the tower that was built on top of the hardened soil.
“Oh. Hah! There’s no way, right?”
He spun around and ran back to Asura who gave him a blink.
“Did you figure something out?” she asked.
“We’ll see.”
His smile turned into a stern line drawn across his face as he knelt down before the front gate, focusing on the scene before him.
From his observation, he could see that the barrier stretched all over the tower. It would be impossible to break in from the wall, or the door.
Anything above the ground was thoroughly protected.
But while Grayalla was a unique mage in that she solely refined her Arcane abilities, her lack of real world knowledge concerning Mana will be her defeat.
Just as how she was unaware that mages grew stronger by refining Mana Rings, only reaching her level of prowess through sheer genius and the previous generation’s lacking teachings, she is also entirely unaware of the elemental reaction equations.
Perhaps she had an inkling that each mage could only excel in one element, but she did not know that Aelius was an outlier.
Just as how Aria was an incredible genius due to being a Master of four elements, Aelius was even more fearsome. His talent had incredibly blossomed after years of being unable to use magic in his past life, and within only a few years of training, he reached the pinnacle level of all elemental magic.
He was one of the sole mages in history capable of using all seven elements to a master’s level.
Gathering energy at his fingertips, Aelius knelt down to make contact with the sandy dirt on the palm of his hands.
“Fifth Tier… Fortress Siege.”
For a moment, the ground steadily began to shake, gradually building up until a wave of fearsome energy surged forward in the ground.
The hardened soil cracked and parted from Aelius’ fingertips, rushing forward and decimating the ground entirely up to the tower and when it struck, there was a thunderous roar as the tower was hauled up.
Being tilted by the ground itself, Aelius watched as a part of the tower’s underbase became exposed.
The entire building was barely standing upright, leaning at a dangerous angle backward.
Rising from the ground, Aelius stepped up to the exposed base and placed his hand on it.
“Sixth Tier… Momentum Puncture.”
A wave of white energy shot from his hand into the solid matter in front of him and it collapsed into a large sized opening.
Dim light shone out from within and Aelius looked over his shoulder to Asura, who was giving him an impressed look.
“Let’s go,” he suggested and turned away again, stepping forward into the newly made entrance.
—-----------------------
Even though he was just here a few hours ago, this time, the interior of the tower looked completely different.
Perhaps it was due to the lack of proper lighting, but everything appeared dark and grim upon entering.
The walls were eerie and half of the objects on the desk suddenly appeared unsettling in the poor visibility.
As they stepped in, Aelius found the first floor where Grayalla had entertained him was empty.
He recalled when he taught her how to raise her Mana Tier and grit his teeth.
Idiot, he told himself as he continued onward, feeling frustration.
It’s arrogance. Complacency! He berated himself, recalling even just how the other day, he had witnessed Aria’s future and her horrific fate.
What are you doing, Aelius? Get it together.
He clenched his fists.
If it meant protecting his loved ones, he’ll mercilessly kill whoever he has to.
No hesitation.
He thought this could easily be solved if he just woke up Raphie, but it appears there was some sort of conspiracy that went far deeper than just the random murder of a coincidentally passing-by Noble in the night.
They soon arrived at the second floor where Asura curiously gazed at the various desks and the different half-finished magic artefacts decorating them.
There was still no sign of any life so they continued up further.
When they reached the third floor, it had gotten far more difficult to see, for no light was filtering in from the moon outside.
Raising his hand in the darkness, he felt Asura nudge up against him, grabbing his arm.
“You okay?” he asked over his shoulder but she didn’t answer. He frowned, finding it odd, but turned his attention back to the room.
“Torch.”
A dozen small balls of flame manifested in the air around him and shot to the various corners of the room, providing them sight on what awaited them.
This time as well, there were merely shelves and desks of oddities, but the low light of the subtle flames gave the room an ominous atmosphere.
“Hmm…” Asura frowned, looking towards the shelves.
“Those shelves are filled with remains.”
She pointed across the room and Aelius approached the shelves, squinting in the low light.
He waved his hand and called one of the ball of flames to his side as he inspected the shelves.
Beaming in the light were dozens upon dozens of jars, more than that could easily be counted in a moment.
There were at least a hundred.
Each of the jars were filled with preservative liquid, but what were they preserving?
Aelius grimaced at the translucent, glittering biological matter reflecting the light in his face.
Dozens upon dozens of small pairs of wings were in the jars.
“Those are…?” Asura joined him at the side, clutching her stomach in a sickening manner.
“Pixie wings…” he breathed out a deep exhale. “Over a hundred of them.”
He turned away back to the desk, wearing a cold glare. He could feel through his bond with Asura that she found the sight revolting.
“They’re quite valuable as an alchemic material, but… Pixies die as soon as you tear their wings off. It’s a vital organ to them, and yet… there are dozens here. Pixies are already few in number. This is almost like the genocide of an entire tribe.”
Looking over the desks, Aelius couldn’t find anything that appeared to be related to the use of the Pixie wings.
“Just what the fuck has she been doing here?” he muttered, looking up at the higher floors waiting for him.
“We need to hurry. God knows what a psycho-bitch like her is gonna do to Saki and Lia.”