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Volume 4

Chapter 35: Henna's Return

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ARCHANGEL: The Lounge

The wind outside kept on beating. The sound of that invisible wall breaking apart from the tens of meters of wideness of the [Archangel] was like the calming wind on the turbulent thoughts that's currently running through her mind.

Scion--or Amanda to the friend whose been silently watching her sighs from behind--held her hand to the wide window, her eyes looking further ahead from the thick clouds that draped the entire view.

FLowerLord could only stand there, completely powerless to even utter a word of encouragement, as the expression that the Fairy of the Lake was showing is like a giant barrier that pushes off everything, including the thought of even comforting her. She was both fairly enticing--a serene view of an angel, painted in a way so unimaginably beautiful that she melted all forms joyous thoughts to the people that watches from afar.

Only those whose priorities are too high, or those whose unaffected by this rare emotional display can stand around her, waiting for the right moment to chime in a word or even just a sigh.

Yet, she remained affixed to the window, the tears in her eyes bidding to fall any second.

Men of various ranks started to gather on every corner, like a scene that could only be imagined in dreams, the sight of her was the spotlight of all climax of any drama movie. Again, for the umpteenth time, she uttered a heavy sigh. The crew, both NPCs and players, who took a short break every now and then to get a glance of her seem to have been hurt from that short act that some of them even clenched their hearts as if to feel something invisible stabbed within.

Unable to bear the sight of her, FLowerLord finally pulled all her courage and gently stretched out her right hand on Scion's left shoulder.

"Mandy..." She called softly.

Turning towards her, Scion's wet eyes lightly reflected the light that came from the outside. She bit her lower lip and her expression almost broke into sobs but she held on to her strength as she lowered her glance and wiped her tears with her hands.

FlowerLord hugged her, tucking her sobs into her bosom. And with it, Scion's sobs broke into silent cries, her shoulders trembling, hugging her friend as tight as she could.

"I really can't understand it, Alice, this is just a game...right?"

Looking around her, FlowerLord summoned ten spheres of black orbs, forming it into distorted forms of long sharp objects until finally taking the form of her signature move.

The black spheres took in the form of hooks and pointed its sharp ends towards the men who wanted to have a piece of the hug. Scattering like rats the men run on all directions leaving Kathleen and Cassiopeia and her team on one corner; Cramer, Loni, and Thorn on another; and Volt and his group sitting on the sofa on the other end.

Though the latter did not mind the last act, the rest of them were all watching the scene in the wide spacious room unfold. At that, Volt and Thorn seemed to have magnetically looked at each other at which the former frowned and cross-armed averted his glare towards the vacant corner of the room.

And to that, Thorn approached the women, walking towards the wide window showing the unmoving clouds as it was displayed a view of a white puffy sea miles away.

"Answering that question would... take more than a day." With the pause taking longer than ordinary, the hand that he stretched to touch the window clenched into a fist that he stared at and opened again. "---or to be precise, the answer to that question is hard to explain."

Stopping her sobs, Scion turned towards him, eyes red with tears, but instead of a pained expression, she showed curiosity instead.

"What do you mean?"

Thorn did not look at her. Instead, he continued to stare at the vast white sea of unmoving clouds. Even though they were moving at a speed that only a few specialized ships could achieve, the clouds displayed outside showed the exact science of visual angularity where something moving at great speeds around or within plain vicinity of "something" more than a hundred times its size would appear to be still.

In simple explanation, this phenomena pertains to the fact that even though the Archangel is moving very fast, the fact that they were flying above the vastness of the North Pacific Ocean make the whole view seemed to not moving at all, making it look like they were not moving from where they are.

Just thinking about the science behind this fact filled Thorn's thoughts of the shortest, most accurate answer to her question.

And even though he knew that it was a question not meant to be answered logically, their current situation and the reason she asked that particular question in itself made him think of how to properly give her the answer.

"It's because... this place is also a reality in itself... at some point."

"Is it because it's a virtual reality?" Tightening her hand over Scion's shoulders, FlowerLord gave Thorn a scorning look, her brows knitted together so much that those few brave crews of the ship who stayed behind swallowed their wits.

But Thorn replied without batting an eyelid. "Yes... and perhaps, no."

"What the f*ck is that reply?! You're so full of shits!"

With the wild mouth flaring off curses and swears, Loni, unable to hold her anger, swiftly pulled an arrow and released it. The arrow flew towards FlowerLord's left cheek, and only within 7/10th of a second did the precise shot made the impression to FlowerLord as she felt the annoying tingling sensation of her life being decreased by a few notch.

It was a clear sign that the Archangel is not a safe zone.

"Watch your mouth, outsider!" From the corner of the lounge where they gathered, watching, Loni's voice bellowed an angry roar. 

Touching her cheek and then retaliating with a glare, FlowerLord clenched her right hand into a fist and a large black orb appeared in front of her, immediately taking the form of a giant black spear pointed at the Elf.

"You bitch! I'm gonna fuckin' mince you! "

"Try it!"

Loni pulled another arrow but this time, her hands and entire half of her arms glowed a red and black design like that of a lava as a very strong high ranking spell was imbued to that one shot.

As their attacks formed and complete themselves, the two seconds of preparation were exhausted and they both released their attacks at the same time. At the point where their attacks should've met, an explosion drove the two back and the people that was closest to them withstood the impact as they cowered and clung behind the attackers.

With the clouds dissipating and the anti-fire system kicking in faster than anyone could blink, a voice came out of the midst of the clouds, calm and soft spoken, heavy yet also mild.

"Loni, stand down. It is my fault."

"But captain!"

"I said stand down. Please. It's my fault."

"No! This is not okay, she treats you like a commoner!"

"Loni. I said stand down. It's my fault."

"..."

The last words, though repeated the same way as he said it before, bore a much heavier presence with it the second time. Loni wasn't the only one who came to understand its intent as FlowerLord also felt the sincerity on the command.

"I apologize for what my subordinate did. Also, I apologize for not clearly explaining what I said regarding your question earlier."

As they all became wet from the anti-fire alarm, the clouds of the explosion that filled the lounge dissipated, revealing Thorn standing there unscathed and unharmed.

This made Volt and the others almost show their surprise behind their poker faces as they all knew that he just went and neutralized two high-ranking spells from two high-ranking players. This simple deed was almost nothing to the ignorant Scion but to those whose been into the game longer than they could remember knew that Thorn had just displayed how he was recognized as one of the strongest name in Terroa worldwide.

And with this, too, Volt clicked his tongue.

But the short period of surprise was broken, Thorn spoke once again.

"...but like I said, this world is, at one point, not just a game."

"Why?" Scion said as she took a firm step forward.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Hoping to get a clear answer, Scion brought a hand to her chest and prepared her heart to hear an answer that might give reason as to why this world is so painful to be in... more so if people had to play this violent game.

But then, when Thorn shook his head, "I'm sorry. As much as I wanted to explain it to you all, I myself is not confident enough to put it into the right words as I myself lacks the ability to believe it."

"Believe in what?" 

Thorn looked at Scion as her hopeful expression finally broke into the sincerest of his intent to inform her of what he knew. He spent two seconds finding the right words to tell her.

"Though I am one of the VIP in our Organization, I am only a mere child compared to those who my father stood with in the council. And in one of the papers I saw in my father's office a few years ago, I saw two subjects that put doubts in me regarding the release of this game."

"Stop beating the bush already!" With FLowerLord's hard stomp, Loni put her best effort to restrain herself from releasing another arrow.

"The first was [Project Salvation], pertaining to this game. And the second was..." 

As he was about to say the second one, the shower that continuously poured from the ceiling stopped and the wide sliding door to the lunge opened with a rather small and timid-sounding voice coming from there.

"What in the world happened here?"

As all of the eyes from that room went to his direction, along with the dissipating white clouds, Fuma's thin figure became even more diminutive as he shrunk in place.

"What is it, Fuma?" Thorn asked and that's when Fuma remembered why he came there.

"That's right. Captain, I have good news. I managed to pull Henna back to us."

With that news, Loni was the first to get out of the room and went to Fuma.

"Where is she?!"

But right after she said that, her eyes turned towards the left side of the hall and she ran and jumped to embrace someone.

"Ugh! Loni, you're heavy!"

"Owww... Henna, I missed you!"

"Henna?" Hearing the name for the first time, Scion asked behind her and FLowerLord took the step and closed the gap between her friend.

"She's also a member of this guy's legion of followers." She relied indifferently.

Cramer and the other members of the TOS Guild that was in the room followed Loni as soon as they heard the voice that came from outside the lounge. With their happy cries and congratulating voices, they all grouped around her until they centered on her inside the room.

Parting a space in the middle, the girl with a blue hair and slim figure, with an aura that gave off the feeling of both an esteemed Archer like Loni and the rugged demure version of FlowreLord, bowed to Thorn as a greeting.

"Hello, sir. It's nice to see you again."

"Henna."

"Sorry that I suddenly disappeared without saying a word."

"About that, why did you even do that?"

"It's because..." At that moment, Henna's eyes came to the pair at the back. But more specifically, she fixed her gaze to Scion... or something invisible behind her. "How... beautiful."

Looking at her, Thorn smiled warmly and tried to introduce her.

But before he could even speak a word, Henna already closed their distance and stretched a hand that seemed to be inviting Scion. But the hand that should've been meant for her went passed her shoulder, to something that was supposed to be standing behind her.

Their faces distorted into curiosity that even Thorn was lost in words.

"Henna?"

But instead of a reply, what she did was to kneel seemed to touch the ground. A large circle appeared on her feet, extending around five meters and with it were runes and symbols that formed the lines and the circle itself.

And to everyone's surprise, a bright shining figure appeared behind Scion.

Dressed in light that reflected and engulfed the room, brighter than the or even those lights that comes and goes whenever a player summoned an equipment or an item, the being of light had a face of a woman and her dress of light fluttered from an invisible wind. On her back are wings also made of light and her golden hair flowed like water in the air.

"Aah..." The men's voice could be heard escaping their mouths.

Such was the beauty of that ethereal entity.

But to those at the back, to Volt, to Loni and the others, and especially to FlowerLord whose closest to the one that the figure of light came upon, such phenomena, not only was unheard of, was also both heart racing and calming at the same time.

"Who could have thought..." Thorn said with a smile.

The figure's hand was stretched down towards Henna and she was kneeling down as she accepted the hand and kissed it. When she stood again, she faced Scion and smiled at her.

"Everyone in Terroa, player or not, has a guardian, like an angel, that came with them when they first breathe the air of this world."

When Scion couldn't answer, the frowning FlowerLord hissed.

"Damn this Guild. All of them are showoffs."

"But Alice... what, what is this? And who is this girl? Who is this giant figure?"

"Her name," Henna took Scion's hand and they both looked up. The figure glanced down at them and her warm smile also somewhat made Scion smile. "...is Terra."

"Terra, you say?" Scion displayed honest bewilderment with the name. She looked at her friend who shook her shoulders and then to Thorn who only smiled, then to Henna who firmed her grip on her hand with a short reply.

"This is the that I received after a difficult mission. Aside from the name and the ability to see Guardian Spirits of all that is worthy of its gaze, I couldn't know who or what these spirits are."

As if hearing something important, Thorn approached her and said, "Speaking of that MOD, isn't it the one you received right before we went to stop the War of the Two Powers?"

From that moment on, Henna's expression shifted into a look of fear as if hearing something.

She collapsed and held her arms, she was trembling as if she had remembered something that put a trauma into her sanity. With her falling to her knees, the guardian spirit disappeared into particles of lights behind Scion.

And with that, Scion had no choice but to embrace her as the girl kept on whispering the words "Evil Destroyer" over and over again. At that, when Thorn came in to tend to her, he then looked at Scion and wore the look as if he remembered something.

"Now that I remembered it, I was about to tell you something awhile ago, right?"

"About that second [thing] that you mentioned?"

"Yes. As I was saying..." Thorn glanced over at Henna and then back to her. "Aside form the project that meant nothing to me, I also remembered seeing [Mefisto Program Exraction Experiment] in the papers and the name written the description."

"And what's Rex got to do with this?"

To FlowerLord's question, Thorn had a pained expression when he let go of a deep sigh.

"I honestly don't know. That's why when I first met Rex Kingsley back then as he introduced himself as to us, I immediately gave the order to never make contact with him just to be sure."

Hearing those words, a bulky man at the back side slowly took steps back but he was too late to notice that Thorn was already looking at him straight in the eye.

****

Rex got up of the bed and sat at the bedside.

"I..."

Regret and everything else in between. He asked himself how he was defeated. Why he was even thinking that he was unbeatable. All the battle he had thus far had been hard but none of them had been the same with the last battle experience.

Still, instead of wondering how he was actually defeated, he was wondering why he felt that there was something else lacking on his last fight.

"Why do I feel... weak?"

For the first time ever since he had entered the world of Terroa, for the first time ever since he had experienced first hand how battle was like, how to lose yourself to the joy of violence, how to be free of the restriction of rules, how to be able to kill people and still be free after that...

"Terroa..."

Whispering that world, it was just here that Rex started to ponder on what had happened to his last battle, to his last fight after just a short while in that village.

He traced his mind, back to the time when he had first entered that world.

Back then he was already ready for anything. He was ready to forget everything and just focus on the things in front him having only his goal in his mind. But now, what had changed? 

What made him this weak?

Clenching his fists, he forgot a sort of annoying pain coming from his right arm. Not even three weeks ago, this arm had been in cast. What made it heal this fast? Or is it already been healed or is just on the point doctors call "adjustment" where the muscles and bones are still 50% healed though it doesn't seem to display anything wrong?

Rex pondered and massaged his arm and it was there that he felt his leg hurt. More than how it hurt before, it hurt a lot now. 

Like it's been hurting all along and he only noticed it now, he felt his knee, leg, thigh, and even his hips hurt like never before. He was sweating. Rex's body started trembling and he lay on the bed, legs straight, and only his upper body trying to minimize the agonizing pain by biting anything he could.

From his clothes, he shifted on biting his pillow, then he turned to his blanket, to his bed sheet, and back to his pillow. When all of them had been reduced to shreds of cloth and cotton, he shifted his teeth on biting his hand until it was bleeding. Then Rex bit his arm as it started to become painful too and then he felt his body aching everywhere as if he had just been on some sort of training where he had used all the muscles in his body.

"Aaaaaaaargh....!!"

Unable to hold in the scream, Rex cried in pain.

"What's happening to me?!!"

Then, when Rex's mind had stopped worrying about the pain, after the agonizing minutes became hours of screaming alone due to the unimaginable pain, he lay there flat on his distorted, messed up bed, panting and sweating, drenching everything wet.

Feeling tired and impossibly exhausted for some reason, Rex decided to call for help when he realized the bitter truth of what had happened.

"I was... defeated."

Time was wasted and he spent those hours for nothing.

"Fuck!"

Hurrying back to that world, Rex lay there on his wrecked bed.

"Game Start!"

"Huh?"

"Game Start! Game Start!" 

"What the..."

"Game Start, god damn it!!!" 

Wondering why he was still not being logged back in, when his room did not disappear into that tunnel of colors, when his senses did not merge with his virtual clone, Rex removed his Head Gear only to see a dark room.

And in that room, he saw a large mirror. And in the mirror, he saw himself smiling.

His reflection was like that person. Except that this time, it was the same exact him as he last remembered. Then, his reflection in the mirror pointed a finger at him, his mouth opened, and the voice that spoke the words he heard bade Rex to feel fear for the second time.

"Weak." His reflection said and he laughed.

After that, the tunnel of colors came and Rex was teleported into an unfamiliar ceiling of Lightstones as the primary source of light. He got up and looked around him, seeing bricks and stones stacked together to make a wall. The color of the wall spoke of time as it had moss and cracks, even a few scratches here and there that formed into a deformed painting of different graffiti from different tenants of that room.

Or should they even be called tenants?

Siva wasn't stupid to know that he was in some sort of dungeon cell. He was even thankful that there was still a light source in the large room, though small and could only lit up into a limited space of up to tens of meters.

"Where..."

"Oh, ain't ya lucky one, mate? You can speak?"

Turning his head towards the direction of the sound, he saw a group of munching, dirty dressed people, gathered around a tray of what looked like food for pigs.

"What is this place?" Siva asked as he visually checked for his surroundings.

"Oh, you stupid?" The same voice replied and a shadow from the far back of the group stood, walking briskly towards him. When the person got close to Siva, his first impression of the man was not that of a prisoner but rather of a warrior at the level, or at least close, to that of the man who put him on his current demise.

But Siva wasn't someone who can easily be intimidated so he fixed himself upright and glared back to the man, noticing too late that all his limbs were, even his body, was tied by chains.

"This?!!"

"Heh, so much for a newbie!" A different, huskier voice came from the group.

"You're new so let me do the greeting." 

At the man's words, Siva saw a mark on the man's left chest. It was a mark that made the impression of an insignia made for a specific purpose. He had read before in an article online that there are certain slave traders that brands their [goods] as to portray where the owner/master had purchased his goods.

On that note, Siva's mind already deduced what the man's next words would be.

"...this is the Arena, mate. And you're the newest attraction."