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Chapter 386: Her Glow in the Darkness
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‘Cortana…’
[Lady Gaia, the boss intends to not let Pistareen know about him now since there might be events later on that might force him to reveal his identity on his own. It’s troublesome to explain things and he feels lazy to —ah he wants me to shut up now so I’ll be… yes… yes… I’m shutting up.]
—kisama…!!
(AN: “damn it” in Japanese)
Siva, “…”
As a ‘universe spirit’, only those of the same kind can see and hear each other.
Edward Newgate, Rafaela’s boytoy cum Admiral of her Miranda Fleet, was also included on this although he had yet to gain the honor of actually personally meeting both Cortana and Gaia.
Thus, only Maki, Galatea, and Gaia are the only ones who heard her.
Gaia nodded. Siva then tossed a ‘mark’ towards the tall dark-skinned sexy knight standing behind Pistareen, “This is for you.”
Brea was startled and the ‘mark’ bounced off her hands twice before she held it firmly in panic of actually breaking it when it fell off her hands.
“This is one of those Marks of Qualifications!”
A prompt on her panel window told her of the name of the item in her grip.
“At least with that, you don’t have to join the mess in the streets outside the Mansion.” Siva did not try to hide the unofficial moniker for the Enchantment Temples.
Pistareen didn’t even mind since there wasn’t a least bit wrong to that anyways. Only some old people who’re unwilling to let go of their ego are offended by such simple moniker to the outward appearance of the Temples.
“Rather…” When Siva continued, he looked at the window and to the skies outside. “…I am still a bit concerned about this King’s goals here. If he’s still sane, why would he try to create chaos on his country where he should be focusing the efforts instead on their defense?”
Siva looked at Pistareen who sighed heavily, “I also tried to contact the boy. As a friend of that rascal, I can only make a sigh. The boy is a lonely kid since I met him. The people in the Castle treated him like an object of power, trying to get close to him for the sake of greed. Ever since the Queen died, that lad had treated the throne as something like a burden and so, it didn’t even take him that long before he decided to give it away and went out on an adventure with The Teacher.”
What is there to hide this information about? All of them here are adults and all of them are people of power that wasn’t weaker than him.
Besides, it wasn’t even a deeply hidden secret of the Kingdom. If you have eyes and ears, and as well as an observant skin, it wasn’t hard for one to actually patch all information to land on this assumption… especially when looking at the current status of Jeremiah.
Also, Lady Brea knew that this White Knight that sits beside Her Eminence, the Lady Oracle, Gaia, is the infamous Siva whom she had met back then in Alexandria.
He killed a dragon alone, caused the moon to be eternally fractured, stirred the world and initiated waves of hunters vying for his head. Just with his reputation alone, Lady Brea felt it overwhelming that this very man himself was actually going to be her protector during this year’s King Test.
—it was even the last of this generation!
“So you mean to say he’s the unbridled type?”
For some reason, Siva had a hard time saying that second last word.
“You can say that he is.” Pistareen nodded a bit helplessly, glancing over at Brea then back to the two most important people in the room, “Do you recall the reason why I wanted to join this year’s King Test?”
“Because of the Council of Elders?” Siva said as Gaia still remained silent. Supposedly, these are things not related to her and her purpose but for some reason, Pistareen found it a must to inform everybody of his goal, especially Volt, “Earlier, I noticed Altair looking at the castle’s direction with an unabashed anger. I think he was aware of the reason why until now, there was yet a King to be chosen in the past King Tests…”
Gaia sipped on the tea served by Brea and then said apathetically with a raised right brow which only made her look like an Ice Queen with a cold and indifferent-kind of irresistible beauty, “So it’s all about their greed, then?”
Pistareen blushed, nodding, and glancing over at Siva, “You all may already know this but Jeremiah does have the strongest military might in Terroa, or at least to all of the countries on the Surface Continents. To be able to control this power and deter the other countries and act as a tyrant is a big boon. These are all reasons enough for the Council of Elders, who had always been the ones in power even before the reestablishment of the long-lost Royal Family, to hold on the harnesses as much as they can.”
There was a pause and Gaia sipped another one before she spoke with an indifferent comment.
“With the existence of the [Unbreakable Vow], it’s not hard to imagine that these noble factions have long since been aware of the corruption of the Council of Elders. But because they have a vow to be loyal to the throne, as long as the integrity of the country called [Jeremiah] remains, they are all bound by their oaths.” Her hard hitting words made the Grand Elder Mage sigh again.
Siva concluded, “And as such, they have no other choice but to play their game legally. Is that it?”
Pistareen nodded, “It was already confirmed that ever since these Noble Families threw their lots with Lady Lunette, they have already cut off their ties with their countries of origins. They have no other place to go to even if they tried to detach themselves from the kingdom so they are left with no choice but to put up with the act and continue the play.”
Siva made a dry laugh, a snort of disdain, before he stood up and walked over the window to look at the chaos in the far distance… some was even bordering to enter the airspace above the Grand Temple but was ultimately stopped by Scarlet and her security troops.
They are in an emergency and yet as much as he wanted the situation to go more favourable to the overall readiness, Siva knew that with the threat of Baal’s sheer size, they are indeed left with no choice but to go on a defensive.
Because the demon armada are still around them; and it’s because Baal is yet to show even one of his best cards.
Thus, or even… perhaps, that king chose to do this to use this chance to sort out the people he must be protecting.
—if so, then he should have some sort of trump card that can go against Baal, right?
Siva wished it dearly but expected the worst. It’s better to expect the worst than to be disappointed when things go south from expected outcome of the plans.
And so he could only analyze the situation as they waited for the defense to stabilize their positions.
“It’s simply cruel yet it’s very effective. Even after knowing that their methods have been exposed, the Council of Elders is also bound by the vow so they, too, are forced to play the game. This is the reason why even if they all had a candidate who had managed to pass the King Tests, there will always be the existence of threats in and out of the shadows. Even the candidates favored by the Council of Elders will be targeted by the ploy of the noble factions… leading to an impasse of not having a real heir for this long.”
Pistareen’s explanation told everyone everything they needed to know in regards to this event.
Should they continue?
Why would Pistareen even tell them this?
Is he intending to re-check their resolve to go on in this farce? What if they get targeted later? The worst part is if they do get chosen as King, will the Council of Elders or the other noble factions move against them or will they honor the vow?
Even if Altair personally oversees this, there was no telling that he himself won’t be targeted by the external factors not part of but contracted outside of the noble factions’ vow.
Volt was Pistareen’s card in this game and so he asked, “Just to make sure, if they know that I am your bet in this game, will they be afraid to move against me?”
Pistareen smiled wryly, “Only for a bit. I have too many reasons to believe that The Council or the Nobles will coerce you to favor them, if not force you to defect to their side. If you stay firm to be on the side of the Enchantment Temple, then it will be a matter of discontent, with the worse-case scenario being war.”
“They wouldn’t dare.” Gaia said in between. “The [Seats] in The Alliance wouldn’t allow them to, at the very least, or they will know my wrath.”
“You heard it.” Siva said, not looking back at them.
Everyone went silent.
Volt had long heard this so he wasn’t that much very surprised. Still, he inhaled a cold air. How much more is Brea who didn’t really have even a bit of inclination to be in this King Test?
Pistareen knows of her worries and then looked at Siva, “I implore you, at least make it so that she passes this first test and then you can quit.”
Brea knitted her brows and although she wasn’t that pretty, a tall knight with a sexy body like hers was still something to behold. For her to make a girly face like that was attractive in its own rights.
“It was so that at least the Knight Order would not see anything wrong with her actions.”
Pistareen finished, wearing an imploring look on his face. Siva, however, remained apathetic to it.
At least, while he still wore his mask, the mere fact that not a muscle on his body moved after he heard Pistareen speak was indicating it.
“Rex…” Scion stood up, tugging on his arm. Ah, this girl was one of his weaknesses. It’s also one of the reasons why Pistareen had gone his way to explain this. “At least, let’s protect her until that time.”
Scion do understand that in this virtual world, and most especially in the real world, people have the tendency to be driven by their greed and egos to doing things that can be justified by self-interest and natural way of modern life. But that doesn’t mean that there would be no people who’d go all blind-eyed and pretend they didn’t see anything.
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Scion was sheltered in a family full of love. She’s the type who sees the bright side of things, and as much as she can, she wanted to share that warmth to everybody —no matter how unrealistic it may seem— she knew this now.
Amanda knew that everyone is tainted by the light of self-interest and that they do things in justified by the excuse of “good intentions” and defense.
But she has a mission and she had also made her vow in her heart.
Even if it’s impossible, even if it seems unrealistic, even if it’s contradictory, even if it’s hypocritical to everyone’s eyes, even if she disregarded the fact that she was also doing it for her own self-interest and personal goals… and even if she had to pay a price equivalent to her own life… she had already made her decision.
Rex is trapped in the quagmire of darkness and in this darkness, his only light and the only threads of support that keeps his sanity intact, were his concern for Baron’s safety and as well as all those deep-seated memories of her… of Samantha.
Is she jealous? Yes.
Des it hurt? Yes.
But she accepted it. These may be hypocritically true but it is in fact the only truth about it… about all of it.
It, being the reason why she accepted Janus’s ridiculous mission; It, being the fact that she’s just another woman in love.
Stupid…
Simpleminded…
Naïve…
Moron…
Unsophisticatedly innocent…
She was living in the 22nd century so she wasn’t ignorant to the fact that she was one of those names in the credits that people might hate for all her stupidity when it came to matters of the heart.
And yet she readily accepted it. She selflessly bid all logic out of her mind and wholeheartedly put all of her heart into supporting Siva.
Janus’s mission was just a small part of it.
The main reason is the fact that for Rex Kingsley, she would even receive a bullet to the heart for him… that’s how she was in love.
In the darkness of the world, to find a light like her was a miracle and yet, as mock-worthy as she and her actions may be, someone had to do it.
Someone, at least, had to receive and cleanse all of Siva’s negative emotions and purify them, even if it means sacrificing herself.
If she can do something about it, she’d do it… all to make the people around her happy —all for the sake of making Siva smile.
Siva knew it. He could only sigh.
Although reality was cruel and her aspirations are all just products of optimistic objectives from the imaginations of writers and authors, it was still a fact that within this world full of darkness and all kinds of greed-rooted actions, her being a single ray of light was enough to be a comfort to those who are victimized and was caught in between the fires of the involved parties.
These victims are the ones she will try to save.
Because she knew that Siva wouldn’t care about them, she then had to take a step forward.
At least she had to remind Siva that any altruistic and selfless acts of [help] was enough reason to create positive karma that might be of help to him in the future.
He knew that this was Scion’s goal for coming and for some reason he also loved her just like that.
Scion was weak, no, she doesn’t have an ounce of any battle sense, but she has Siva and he is really strong. She can just make that request and make him act on her behalf. She knew he’d do it.
“Don’t worry about it.” He said unhurriedly, “I will protect her until the right time to bail out.”
“Thank you.” Pistareen sincerely thanked.
Brea bit her lips, clenching on the hem of her uniform, her hands shaking, both from happiness and at the fact that right at this moment, she felt really… insignificantly... small.
She was the one they were talking about and yet she hasn’t even spoken a word that meant a real meaning in this conference.
In front of these people, she was nothing more than air… even Volt was given the chance to say a few words in regards to the matter, but not her.
To be treated like an insignificant speck of dust hurts more than being treated as an object to be controlled by The Council or by The Order.
Strength!
It boils down to personal strength!
She felt it when she was rendered immobile by a single touch by Volt. And when she met him once more, including Siva and Scion, most especially the Lady Oracle —the rumoured founder of the Enchantment Temple— whom actually looked like she is placing herself beneath Siva, this only put her confidence to herself to rock bottom.
All of these people in front of her right now all had that intimidating feeling of oppression she’d had only felt when in the presence of Pistareen.
This invisible pressure… it was strength.
Her instincts as a warrior and a fighter were all screaming at her… they are all strong people that can defeat her with a single slap.
In fact, Scion’s and Gaia’s presences, as women just like her, made her feel more insignificant to that of her earlier comparison, a speck of dust.
Just how can their differences be that huge?
It almost made Brea cry.
She bowed down and excused herself in their presence as she walked hurriedly towards the building’s training grounds, swinging her sword and sharpening her swordsmanship as much as she can.
*****
Siva, through the help of his [Passive Scan], saw and even heard the cries of the female knight as she vented her feelings into tempering her heart and putting them all on to her sword swings.
A smile crept up his lips and he asked Pistareen.
“I remember you speaking of your apprentice as someone with a fanatical attachment to the way of the sword. Why is it that you’re her Master and not a Knight or any Swordsman?”
Pistareen was caught off guard by the change of topic and he smiled wryly, “About that, it may be a long story but to cut it short… she really do have a bit of talent in magic when I first met her. With her unusual dedication to both magic and sword, I decided to take her in and train her to be the next successor to my seat. Alas, her love with the sword was greater and this led her to be chosen as a member of the Wall of Jeremiah. Eventually, it led to her being chosen as a King Candidate.”
Gaia spoke curiously, a slight change that made Pistareen surprised, “The throne does not pick a candidate that doesn’t have the right qualities. It is safe to say that perhaps this ‘pure’ quality of hers is what attracted the approval of the throne.”
Everyone thought for a moment and recalled the silent girl standing there with them just now.
He wondered why Siva suddenly asked him about her and inquired, “Do you have something in mid in regards to her swordsmanship?”
Siva hesitated but ultimately said, “It’s about the legacy of an Immortal that’s in my possession.”
Gaia gasped, “Alexander’s Legacy? Resplendent Guardian Sword…”
Siva nodded. Even the rest of his team found it a bit complexing since they, with Siva’s instigation, all tried to connect with that giant sword in Sword-God District yet nobody got any reaction from it.
However, as much as they can feel that there was a special pressure radiating from it, they were still unable to make the sword react in any way.
Gaia spoke with seriousness, “Alexander can be considered a reclusive individual. Even I am not aware of when and where he ascended but all I know is that not until he showed himself that I’ve become aware that there was an Immortal who’s still in this material plane who survived the final Dusk of the Gods… 56 years ago.”
For those in the know, the so called ‘final’ Dusk of the Gods referred to one person’s rampage here.
“I have a vague memory of it.” Siva said… coolly.
Now that he had recalled everything, he can also recall some things he found insignificant at those times back then.
One such bunch of random information is about a few weaklings who chose to remain neutral even at the time of Ragnarok.
“The [Resplendent Guardian Sword] is a Sword Art legacy that belonged to a world once called the ‘Sword Emperor World’. That world had once held six supreme [Sword Arts] that earned them their reputation across the universe…”
Everyone was dumbfounded aside from a few ones who already knew of Siva’s background.
Pistareen’s jaws were agape, “How did you…”
Siva seemed to realize his mistake and made the awkward ‘cough’ and an excuse, “I’ve read it in the Book of Legends.”
Pistareen wasn’t convinced, “Eh? But I’ve seen the Book of Legends multiple times and there are no mentions of any world outside of Terroa and a few references to unnamed worlds out there that were now destroyed by the Demons.”
“I’ve read a different kind of Book of Legends.”
Siva’s reply came like a carbine in auto-fire mode.
Pistareen’s eyes grew bright, “Where!” he was curious because this was history he doesn’t know about.
And for all there was to any great and even small wizards, all of them are hungry for the truth that’s unspoken in this world.
Siva is about to be cornered when Gaia spoke, “I know of a place where the true Book of Legends is located.”
When she spoke about this, even Siva is caught in a surprise. He was just making things up but he didn’t know that there was really a book like that.
All he knew was the same ‘Book’ available in all the walled cities.
“Where?” Pistareen asked. Everyone held their breaths, also curious.
“In the Magus Archive.”
“““…”””
EH?!!
Now, everyone’s attention was piqued. Who in all of them had not heard about that mysterious place where only a select few had actually been?
Even Heller, who was usually quiet, had a look of anticipation and reverence to the mention of that sacred place for Magicians.
Legends told of books upon books of spells, and world histories, details, and even accounts of the things that had happened in Terroa that can help Magicians increase their affinity and use of Mana.
To some, hasn’t Eleanor already introduced them to the very Magus of that archive already?
Thus, Volt and all of them who were there back then in Alexandria, looked at Siva with narrowed pairs eyes, provoking him an answer.
—these guys…
“Oh, uh, t-that’s right. It was there.” His voice broke but only Volt and Thorn, FlowerLord, and even Kathleen Brew knew that he was making up a pretense. He hasn’t actually been there. They began to snicker secretly in front of Siva.
—I’m gonna find a way to punish these guys…
Pistareen wore a look of envy as he gazed at his direction, “Ah, how good would it be to actually be able to visit that place even just once before I beat the dust?”
Siva sincerely advised, “If you can tolerate that guy’s temper and sharp tongue, or even actually make him bring you in his abode, I will sincerely applaud you.”
He sounded like he really knows the “Magus” of the Magus Archive and this made Pistareen’s eyes shone brighter with envy.
The atmosphere in the room fervently rose to a certain degree of comfort—
—only to be broken by Maki’s next report.
“He’s almost done charging energy.”
The mood suddenly plummeted and they looked at a projection he displayed. A label was attached to the core of the spear on the giant monster’s hand and in it was an [89%] label which indicated how much it had charged for an attack.
By now, they could see that the fall of the giant humanoid mothership had halted to a height of around 25km above Jeremiah.
Considering that the barrier dome had extended up to 10km up and the mothership’s 15km–size, there are only a few sets of kilometers of distance between it and the point of contact with the city.
“The rest of the fleets escorting it had broken off to many directions of Terroa.” Maki glanced over Siva, “What you said was correct. The way I see it, Baal will try to divide the forces in Terroa so as to impede the support Jeremiah will get from the rest of the Alliance.”
Siva’s voice was grave, “If those bastards back in the War Council Meeting had dallied for a minute more, they wouldn’t have had enough allowance to properly prepare their defenses.”
The Terrans had seen a mothership before and they thought that this one was the same; a large, round, giant warship that can shoot plasma bursts in all directions, destroying their cities with every volley it released.
With additional research pertaining to Light Rock Ores that used to be some common material that lights up their nights, the Light Towers got a new added feature which is to act as a dome of shield from the demons’ Plasma Bursts.
Those Terrans had put their trust to their Light Towers and became complacent. They thought that with their knights and soldiers all having the protection of armors embedded by Light Rock Ore, they wouldn’t have to worry about being in a disadvantage.
But now, this is different.
The mothership was humanoid in shape and it’s also holding a lance-type weapon.
What more, the threat it posed was different than the past since a humanoid-shaped mothership is capable of delivering physical attack with focused weight and power distribution, in addition to the angle of attack.
What if a deadly strike hits the barrier dome on a vulnerable angle?
It was a thought enough to make the Global War Council move their asses and take this invasion seriously. They thought that dispatching warships to handle the Colossal Warship fleets of those demons are enough to counter them.
Siva’s anger came from this naivety.
Even if the two has the same size and the power output, just the humanoid design of the mothership alone is enough to be wary of it, not to mention it was escorted by fleets upon fleets of Colossal Warships —some even of Supreme-Grade which are naturally commandeered by the Supreme Demon Commanders.
Even someone with stats of flat 300 wouldn’t win against it one on one in just a few hours of a fight; not to mention the fact that in all of Terroa, only the Asgardians are the ones that had those stats embedded on their avatars.
Isn’t that the reason why each and every time a Supreme Demon Commander is spotted, players will try to conduct an Ocean Wave Tactic against it in order to have a chance to bring it down?
One could only imagine how much contract fees it would be worth for the players... not to mention that only one person will benefit after killing one Demon Commander, regardless of cost.
The label on [Baal] ticked to 91%.
“Three minutes into the attack.” Maki reported.
Siva looked at him, “What’s the Council of Elders doing now?”
“I just called them and I was rejected.”
“What?” Siva raised a brow.
“Now I can’t spy inside. I am now being blocked by a high-tiered isolation spell.”
‘Cortana.’
[Local Network controls established; unable to connect to auxiliary units. Just like what he said, it’s isolated by magic and not by programming.]
‘Contact the Gran Matador and Sakura Vanguard, and tell them to prepare for a hyper jump at any second since we are unsure where the target of the attack will be until the moment Baal decided to fire it.’
[Message Sent.]
Siva’s mental commands and Cortana’s prompts came in the speed of thought.
“Maki, prepare your Odyssey for Hyper Jump at any moment. Calculate point of attack and expect a follow up descent of the main body.”
“Already done. I’m ready any time.”
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Baal is a giant menace!!
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Next Chapter: Siva’s counterplan unleashed…
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