Awkward. That was how Davis felt. He’d chosen to sit in the corner of the room and observe the unusual situation in front of him, and it seemed like Tora followed his example, considering she shared the same sofa and expression as him.
In the middle of the room stood a woman named Frea, she waved spell after spell, each aimed at Veles who was unconscious and bound to the chair by a few ropes. It was a total overkill, the amount of colorful magical circles around Veles made Davis dizzy just looking at them…
Why this much caution? Davis had no idea. Frea was definitely above the Seventh stage, and as far as his knowledge goes, a person of that caliber was basically invulnerable against someone who was in the Sixth stage or lower. Yes, Veles was an old monster, but the differences in stages were just too much to justify her current behavior. Perhaps… there was something else that Davis was missing?
Nonetheless, Davis kept watching as Frea performed another spell he’d seen already. Her golden book was open as a couple of tiny runic circles escaped its page and flew directly at Veles’s finger holding his storage ring. This was the third time she’d performed the same thing, and Davis watched as an already familiar result played out…
The circles stuck to Veles’s storage ring slowly pushed it from his finger. The ring floated through the air until it landed on Frea’s palm. But then, its silverish frame burst into the white flame, disintegrating itself, and yet again, in the form of said flame, flew back to Veles and left behind a brand-new ring on his finger.
David had wanted nothing more than for her to stop doing that, each time she tried to mess with Veles’s storage ring and failed, her stoic face would form a small frown, which at this moment wasn’t welcomed at all. He’d barely escaped her fierce questioning and he wasn’t ready for another round with her mood even worse…
Still, what did she expect? That ring was the same artifact that held Veles imprisoned for who knew how long—not that she knew that detail, and neither did Davis have some expertise on it. Still, nobody knew what that mysterious artifact was, and Davis had this feeling in his gut that Veles was also blind to some of its uses…
Just as he was about to turn his attention to something else because the circle was to repeat itself, Davis saw Veles twitch. Like someone would wake up from a deep sleep, Veles’s eyes slowly opened, and that combination of silver and blue scanned the surroundings groggily.
It took him a moment before everything had sunk in. After it did, Veles let out a somewhat bored sigh as he leaned back deeper into the chair he was bound in.
“It’s getting really frustrating. I wanted something to keep me going, not this mess.” As Veles was saying that, his demeanor drastically changed. He appeared genuinely annoyed, entirely different than his usual uncaring attitude.
Just as Frea was about to speak, Veles interrupted while quickly scanning her. “You must be Zunna’s master.” He then jerked his arms, and the ropes he was bound with tightened. “She talked very positively about you. But I can’t help but notice how her words weren’t really truthful.”
“Master? I don’t like that title. I’m her teacher,” Frea corrected. “And don’t take her words for granted. Zunna is just a young and foolish girl, not understanding that the helpful hand from a stranger could very well be the same hand that would stab her in the back.”
Davis knew very well what she was pointing at. Their first encounter with Zunna, Fagor, and the rest wasn’t some coincidence. Veles had deliberately chosen to engage them under the pretense of ‘helping’ and Davis had to agree with that choice because honestly, at the time, it sounded as the most obvious one…
“So, Sir Veles,” Frea said, then her hand held a tiny piece of what Davis could discern as some crude metal that even from this far had managed to release a strong wave of heat. “Mind telling me what your goal is? I refuse to believe that you gave my student a Tenth stage material out of the goodness of your heart.”
“Would you believe me if I said it was to get your attention?” Veles replied. He leaned back in the chair—totally unbothered by numerous magical circles surrounding him.
Frea placed the material back inside the book… Davis had no idea how it worked. He only saw her tossing it back on the open page before it disappeared.
She then said, “I guessed as much. So, now that you gained my attention, give me a good reason why I shouldn’t just erase you and be done with all this nonsense.”
“Because you are aware we can benefit from each other,” Veles grinned. “And more importantly, you are curious, aren’t you? This idiot probably told you enough to stir your drive for knowledge.”
The idiot in question was Davis himself. And sure enough, he had to answer Frea’s questions. He might have dodged a few crucial things, nonetheless, she knew that he and Veles came from Osvalen, or rather, he told her that they came from beyond the Forest Of The Forgotten. All other details, he kept for himself while giving her some bullshit answers…
“As every Sage ever, I too strive to engrave more knowledge inside my grimoire, but that doesn’t mean I would put myself or my student in danger,” Frea said. She then snapped her fingers, activating the few spells that were circling Veles.
Davis knew what those spells did, she used those on him too. However, the difference in the result was vastly different than his.
Veles’s seated body began glowing blindingly blue, and the sheer amount of mana inside the room increased tenfold as it began going toward his body in a maddening rush…
“What the fuck…”
It was Tora who commented speechlessly, and her slack-jawed expression matched Davis’s. Even Frea wasn’t far from sharing the same expression as them, her stoic bearing cracked long ago, revealing two raised eyebrows, reeling in shock.
The reason for their astonishment was the revelation as the blue light receded. Veles who was in the middle of it, just sat there in a rather magical state. His whole body was almost transparent as it revealed millions of thin lines coursing through it, while five specific places shone brightly blue.
Davis knew very well what this spell was supposed to do. Frea had used it on him and was generous enough to explain its purpose. Apparently, it was supposed to illuminate mana in the person's body, making it glow in florescent blue light, thus showcasing the person's mana cores, mana pathways, and mana purity depending on how pure the blue light was…
When Davis experienced the spell on himself, the first thing he saw was seven mana pathways coursing through his forearms and reaching the end of his hand, they appeared like shining blue veins flowing under his skin. It was creepy in a way, especially so when he’d seen his cores shining through his body…
But Veles was an entirely different story…
Five specific places on his body released such a strong blue light that it almost hid those millions of mana pathways stacked on top of each other. Hell, he could barely see Veles himself amidst all that glowing mess.
“Are you done checking me out?” Veles asked. Then the core in his solar plexus pulsated, bringing forth a wave through those mana pathways and dispelling the spell Frea had cast. His visage was slowly brought back to normal.
While everyone was still in shock, Veles added, “Hmm, that spell was interesting. It looks like an ultraviolet light but for detecting mana. Interesting… would like to check it out myself.”
“You are not human…” Frea commented. Her expression somehow morphed back into her previous stoic as she fixed her glasses with a side nudge. “Five cores… Millions of mana pathways… Are you a plant creature?”
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“What? No.” Veles quickly denied it. He sounded genuinely offended by her question.
“What the hell are you then?” Frea asked threateningly. “You are neither living spirit nor mana construct…”
Veles looked at her and after a few seconds of musing over it, he replied, “You can say I’m a magical human. I don’t think there is a better way to describe it.”
“As long as you aren’t a demon or eldritch being possessing someone’s body, I’m fine with that,” Frea said. She surprisingly wasn’t pushy about it…
Davis was familiar with the taboo surrounding asking someone’s class or race—even if it was plain obvious most of the time—it was strange in its own way, but he’d guessed there must’ve been a good reason for avoiding such topics.
“Oh,” Veles raised his eyebrow, “don’t even compare me to those disgusting things. I’ve killed more of their kind than I can count.”
“I can see that you aren’t possessed or controlled in any way,” Frea snapped her finger and two magic circles surrounding Veles disappeared, “Your mana perfectly matches your body, and your undulation is unbelievably balanced. What a rare specimen you are…”
Veles slightly frowned when she said the word specimen, “How about you get to the point? Your probing is getting annoying and I’m already in a bad mood.”
“Very well,” Frea took a deep breath and asked. “Then answer me. Are you one responsible for putting Paladin Lucius in a near-dead state?”
“Ah,” Veles smiled widely, “So that’s why you are scared of me!”
“Answer me!” Frea demanded, this time more seriously.
“Of course, I did. Anyone who covets something that is mine meets that fate.”
Davis briefly recalled the mushroom of destructive flame released from the metal cylinder he’d helped Veles carry, just the thought of getting in contact with such a device made him shudder. However, just as he was about to scratch his forearm to distract himself from unnecessary memory, he noticed a glaring problem… Tora was next to him, listening to the conversation…
Meanwhile, Frea continued. “You brought a Tenth Stage Paladin known for his defenses to a pitiful state… Heads of theocracy were both terrified and curious that they even called Sages from different nations to examine Lucius.”
She then leaned forward while glaring at Veles, “I was one of them, examining his body. When suddenly, my student broke her emergency artifact… And after I spent almost all my mana to reach her, what did I see?” She paused for a moment, “I see two scales of a Tenth Stage beast that shared the same mana that kept burning Lucius’s body from the inside out. I hope that this gives you a valid reason why I’m reacting like this.”
However, instead of giving her some uncanny answer, Veles stayed quiet, his gaze unfocusedly looking through the window.
“Hmm, I meant to bait someone powerful and get their support. But this situation… It’s too much of a coincidence…” He quietly mumbled.
Frea too, stood there, deeply considering his words.
“They knew perfectly well where to appear the moment I was released, and they were fully geared with a goal in mind… Olivia’s appearance… My dreams… Shimmering rabbit in Koria. The girl with possibly Mutable Plananic bloodline,” he quickly side-eyed Tora before looking back at Frea, “And now this?”
“Am I being manipulated?” Veles quietly asked himself. His eyes were distant as he kept pondering to himself, “Is it the mother’s doing? She always loved pulling my strings…”
“No… I wouldn’t have suspected anything if she did,” He denied his own speculation, his face slowly turning into an unsettling grin, “This is different…”
As he said that, a very bad premonition assaulted Davis’s whole being, he felt the instinct deep inside warning him to flee. However, he was unable to do anything. The scene of Veles effortlessly removing the ropes binding him was the only thing he could focus on…
“Oh, Veles you idiot…” Veles chuckled to himself, his free hand covering his mouth briefly, “You get rid of your curse and then you think to wash everything away and live normally… What a stupid thing to delude yourself with.”
Then he cocked his head to the side, his expression slowly morphing back to his usual smile. “But this kind of string-pulling? Hah, how long has it been?”
The more he kept talking to himself, the atmosphere grew heavier. Davis found it hard to breathe and the others in this room were the same, Frea included.
“How long has this lasted? Ever since I woke up in this place or even before?” Veles kept talking to himself. “It makes sense though, the west of the forest knew perfectly well not to let anyone wander inside of it. If they did, I would’ve been armed with more knowledge about this world and more prepared…”
“Fascinating! If someone was capable of planning for this much, how much do they know about me? Or perhaps the one responsible is this thing called Heaven? It could be…”
Veles crossed his legs and leaned further in the chair, his smile growing wider with every word he said, “How interesting. How infuriating! Someone dared to underestimate me? To use me for their ploys?”
He then burst out laughing, “Me? Hahahaha how amusing!”
The last Davis heard was the echo of Veles’s laughter. His vision had long been lost, replaced with a curtain of red as his mind kept sinking deeper into this dreadful feeling. His body felt like it was surrounded by murky water with the pressure increasing each second. He was certain that his mind was playing tricks on him, that everything he felt was fake or an illusion. However, the grime caressing his body, the taste of iron on his lips, the inability to breathe, everything felt too real.
Which forced him to take action…
He first tried to move his hands and immediately succeeded. The first motion he instinctively made was trying to propel himself into a sitting position because he’d felt a solid ground pressing against his back. And indeed, he was right, he felt he was seated on the ground as the thick liquid reached the middle of his chest. Then intending to see what was going on, he took his hand and shook the liquid that his whole body was covered with. Then with a simple motion, the hand he cleared, swiped the liquid off his face to regain his vision. But… he regrated it instantly.
What his eyes saw was nothing but red, the liquid he’d been submerged and covered in was the blood of numerous things. Yes, things, because it was hard to describe and comprehend what he was witnessing right now…
They were everywhere. The ocean of blood in front of him and the air covered in red clouds was filled with bodies. All ranging from humans to gigantic monstrosities that hurt his mind just by looking at them. However, they all shared the same fate… each of them was brutally disfigured, and from what was left, he saw the faces of pure horror of disbelief…
Davis instinctively moved his head to the biggest object in his vision which floated powerlessly in the air. It was a creature of an extremely deformed shape—best described as a mixture of octopus and goat. Its gigantic body was hard to measure, the only way to get its size was by comparing the small humanoid figure floating probably beside it, which was merely a speck of dust to its size. However, the rivers of black and foul blood were Davis’s main focus, they tainted the ocean of red with their nastiness and gave Davis the feeling that just the smell of that black liquid would have serious consequences.
Fortunately, just as Davis was pushing his senses and picking up on what this place was, his mind finally connected all the dots, and in sheer shock at its discovery, it shut itself down…
He didn’t know how long his consciousness was shut, but he managed to open his eyes again, only to see the same image before he was pulled into that bloody space—however this time with a small difference.
The first thing that bugged him was the wetness pouring down his nose and chin, which he promptly wiped only to notice that he was bleeding both from his nose and lips—the taste of iron only proved it. Next, he noticed Tora, she lay collapsed in front of the sofa, with blood pouring from her eyes...
Even Frea wasn’t left unharmed. She somehow managed to keep her stoic expression while standing, but a redness in her eyes said that she wasn’t faring any better.
“To think there is something out there still capable of stirring my killing intent,” Veles said, a smile still coloring his face. “Sorry, you had to take a blunt of it.”
Frea, barely able to contain her expression, quietly asked “How many things have you killed…”
“Apparently, not enough,” Veles replied without a shred of hesitation. He stood out from the chair that used to keep him in place. All the magic circles that surrounded him had long disappeared. “Strange, it has been a long time since something aggregated me this much.”
He then switched his focus toward Davis, “I wasn’t planning on taking any drastic measures, but that changes now. I’ve had enough. From this point forward, we are taking a different approach.”
Davis could only nod in confirmation, his mind still trying to keep his sanity in check after he’d experienced the assault of Veles’s killing intent…
“And you Lady,” Veles turned to Frea, “You not killing me immediately leads me to believe you wanted to make some kind of deal.” He then pointed at the chair he was sitting in. “So, let us drop this unnecessary tough act and talk like two civilized parties. What do you say?”
She stared at him, her face back to normal, “I’m starting to regret not squashing your head with my grimoire… However, I cannot deny the allure of sharing knowledge with you and the possible acquisition of a Tenth stage materials. So, yes. I’m willing to talk...” She paused thoughtfully, “But firstly, I need to make sure of something before we proceed.”
Without any explanation, she touched the golden book. The blue portal manifested instantaneously and without missing a beat, she stepped through it, vanishing from the room they were in…
This left Veles, unconscious Tora, and Davis himself in the room. It would be a lie if Davis said he wasn’t scared shitless due to Veles’s display of killing intent. Worse, he found it hard to match his gaze. The world of red had reminded him yet again that despite his somehow ‘normal’ behavior, Veles was still an ancient monster. The previous events had just cemented it…
“What now?” Davis asked. He noticed that Veles was looking at him yet wasn’t truly focused—like his mind was on something else.
“Now I will show this world what the real magic is,” Veles replied, his eyes slowly shifting toward Tora. “Bring her to the meeting room on the second floor and wait for me there.”
Veles simply left through the door. And Davis could only listen to his words. He slowly picked Tora from the ground and carried her to the ordered destination…