CHAPTER 245: SHE WOULD
Erica, in her small room in Ice City, sitting on her couch, looked at her companions over the video call projection.
“How have you been?” Érica asked, sensing the difficult atmosphere.
It had only been New Year’s two days ago, and they were already in the early days of January 2049.
Leslie looked tired, something normal, when she agreed to increase the military training and make it heavier.
Nicole wore a serious expression as her body slowly regenerated from the minor cuts, burns, and bruises on her face.
It was likely that, before her companion’s eyes, she herself looked pale... And that was because a moment ago she had just spent all her magical energy practicing her spells.
Speed to cast it, power and accuracy.
There were several natural dungeons in this place, so they could train in them frequently.
Creatures appeared periodically and if she needed practical experience, she would go to those dungeons, practice her spells and sometimes get into complicated battles when facing A-ranked creatures.
“Depressed. I still don’t feel like I’ve moved up in rank and while the physical training helps my condition, I’m not getting what I need.” Leslie revealed with an overwhelmed and stressed expression.
Moving up to Rank A... Erica knew that Leslie had a high level of attack thanks to her weapons, but her failure to achieve rank advancement was making her stressed.
Her Weapon Mastery talent upon promotion would manage to give her more understanding of her weapon and certain ‘supernatural abilities’ such as guiding shots.
It wasn’t something referring to magical or psionic energy, so it wasn’t guided by ‘normal’ rules.
“Stressing yourself out won’t help you at all.” Erica said earnestly.
She wasn’t good at comforting other people and all she could say was....
“You still haven’t ordered and drank your elixir that can help you rise in rank. If you want to drink it by being an A Rank, then the only thing left is to keep improving,” Erica said, and giving a long sigh, she added. “Besides, you’ve only had physical training so far and it hasn’t been too long.”
Nicole and Aurora had drunk their elixir, but the others had not yet received it or had not asked for it.
The latter case was Leslie, who did not ask for her elixir, as she wanted to drink it when she was already an A rank.
Erica, was waiting to receive it and while it would help if she drank it, as an A rank it would not change much.
She was stagnant with regards to knowledge and it was hard to speed up that process. and all she could do was study hard to read the ice magic books.
Something that was nice, since in this city there was a library that stored ice magic books.
Being a place where they trained ice mages, it was common to have this kind of books, but since it was a classified place, very few knew about it.
In Leslie’s case, she tried to procrastinate, but if she was stuck, she could always order the elixir and then drink it... Success in moving up from Rank B to Rank A was absolute.
“I know,” Leslie replied with a rueful half-smile.
Her words may not have been perfect for cheering her up, but she was just informing her that she was getting ahead of herself.
As a mage who had to study, she understood perfectly well that there were prior steps to becoming strong first.
While in this world, one rose through the ranks through understanding, experience, and even strong emotions... Training and study for a mage was vital.
It was useless to be a mage with a great source of magical energy if one did not know how to cast high level spells.
Silence descended on the group again.
“I heard news about the rift. They say the frequency the creatures are coming out has dwindled. It’s possible that the operation to close it will begin soon,” Nicole said, and in a low voice, muttered. “I was told that the low frequency is because of movement of the gods.”
The first news everyone had heard.
The rift and the abyssal portal were releasing creatures from time to time, with the rift causing the most trouble.
Those creatures and monsters would appear in the area and then move around Constanta City, reaching the defense line where they would be shot down by the allied forces.
However, the second words were in themselves quite surprising to hear.
No newscast had ever reported or given that news, and for Nicole to know it pointed to Emperor Victor.
The rift had to be closed and for that, the humans would perform a ritual... No, perhaps for supreme entities like the Primordial Gods, such things would not be needed, but none of those gods would move just like that.
The God of Time and Space was known to stand silently for thousands of years on Terra nova without lifting a finger and, on the other hand, the Goddess of Order was not someone who moved completely, maintaining a ‘balance’.
That was what Erica had read in some theological reports from renowned mages.
Both gods were only expected to move when they performed a ritual on her, as was normally the case, which would settle the idea that they were no longer children in her care.
Of course, those opinions were of those archmages who were not believers in such entities.
Erica had been inclined to those opinions, so now she was surprised to hear those words.
“Would they be Earth Gods?” Leslie doubted curiously.
They were the only deities that would move to protect the Earth and that was because their ancient duty was to maintain the ‘dimensional barrier’ and repair it in the various cases.
“Victor guesses that a church prayed to their god to speed up the process to take the abyssal portal and close the rift,” Nicole replied, and with a low tone, muttered. “I believe it’s the Church of Time and Space, after all their god reported on the matter.”
Those words made them fall silent again.
They were very worried, there was no doubt about it.
The worldwide rift caused a great stir that shocked many individuals and generated quite a bit of panic, greater than the abyssal portals.
The abyssal portals were unknown, and they knew nothing about them, but on the other hand, the information of the rift and the dimensional barrier was normal.
Terra nova made all that information, which ordinary people in that other world would not know about, normal here.
In its time, when everything was believed to be a game, there were forums that talked about the ‘lore’ of the ‘game’ and many fans loved to get information on the subject by ‘playing’... They talked to some archmage, interacted with some sage or simply fulfilled tasks for some demons, all in order to get knowledge.
By different methods, the players managed to get a lot of information that at the time seemed too unbelievable to believe it was true.
The ‘dimensional barrier’, the rifts and the ‘void’ outside where Chaos was located was one such piece of knowledge that was revealed with some ease over the internet.
As it was impossible to verify it in this world at that time because of the level of technology and that no one could use magic, they could not verify it until after the Great Cataclysm, where magical energy began to appear.
It was thanks to those forums, which were now removed and deleted, that information of such a level was free to the world.
So everyone knew the danger that could come if things were not controlled.
Even so, the group was still surprised that the God of Time and Space reported the ‘missing’.
That deity that had remained silent during the abyssal portals and during the first expedition had now spoken... It gave much to think about and much of it generated complex questions.
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Maybe on the other side, something was going on?
Thinking about the reasons for a God was something Erica did not like... After all, she felt the answers were not at all pleasant.
The God of Time and Space was silent at first and now intervened... Yes, she didn’t like it, but the deity they were talking about was the same one that had created a game that turned out to be real.
It was hard to understand his goals.
“Maybe it’s about Cardinal Brousseau... She seems to be worried about Aurora and Alice,” Leslie commented and with a half smile, added. “Or maybe it’s the parents of both of them.”
Cardinal Brousseau was important in Zerzura City, but neither of them knew at what level she was in the Church of Time and Space.
On the other hand, Aurora or Alice did not talk about their parents and when they investigated long ago, the information they found was scarce and very average... To the point that they seemed mere strangers.
Everything was average and insignificant, but both had made it clear that they were hiding their personal and family information, the latter being done by the church.
“Maybe,” Erica replied without giving it too much unnecessary thought and giving a sigh, asked. “You guys haven’t heard from Clémentine?”
They usually talked to Andrés, and he was too pressed with his work to the point where he could only eat and rest.
With two partial jobs, it was clear he was on the edge and while he did talk from time to time, he was noticeably very busy with his stuff.
Which meant he had less time to worry and especially unlike them, who were alarmed and agitated to hear that their former ‘bosses’ were missing, he was calmer, understanding that there wasn’t much he could do.
Clémentine, on the other hand, since taking leave to enter her training, has been completely disconnected from the world.
“No, I haven’t heard anything. It’s quite possible that she can’t read the messages, and she’s not aware of the news either,” Nicole surmised, and giving a long sigh, muttered. “It’s better this way, so she won’t worry.”
Leslie nodded, and Erica couldn’t help but agree.
She knew that everyone had been overly concerned when they heard about the disappearance and even though they knew at this point that they were safe thanks to Cardinal Najjar’s words, their concern hadn’t gone away.
That she wasn’t aware in the end might be a good thing, as she could concentrate on her duties and her training... Of course, the group had sent her messages calmly informing her of the situation, so she wasn’t worried.
However, that depended on whether she could use her holographic watch and connect to the networks.
“I hope they’re okay...” Leslie muttered with a long sigh.
Perhaps speaking on the subject caused her concern to drift to her former bosses and current missing friends.
It was true that Cardinal Najjar’s words relaxed them, but they couldn’t deny that they were worried.
Unfortunately, their worry was useless, as they could do nothing to change anything or help.
“We have to trust Cithrel. She said she would take care of everything, as for us... We just have to keep training as much as possible,” Erica said, giving a long, exhausted sigh.
Training was their only way to prevent this from happening again in the future, and it was the only way to avoid being worried.
It was best to let Cithrel, who was attentive to the issue, take care of everything.
******
Cithrel was waving a letter in her hand while drinking a cup whose liquid was blood red.
She was watching the news where Emperor Victor was giving his speech talking about the Queen of the North.
The leader of the mob, the SS rank archer, the Queen of the North, Eva Santos, had joined the allied forces.
“Joining the allied forces to protect the Earth from Chaos is better than being locked up in a prison rotting for her crimes. She is now under my command and she has agreed to pay for her crimes and I will personally see to it that she lives up to her words.,” Emperor Victor announced in a voice that made everyone tremble.
His speech was on a personal and methodical level.
Fighting the Chaos that could corrupt life, nature, and the planet itself was something everyone had to do.
And no one could deny that having an SS Rank fighting monsters was better than being in prison.
However, he also made several points clear.
Eva was under his command, so it meant that another SS Rank was serving him and that she agreed to pay for her crimes marked that it was a personal decision that they did not force her to accept.
That he would see to it that she kept her word was signaling that no one could mess with this ‘punishment’ that he himself was giving.
“‘She has willingly placed herself at my command and since she is already by my side only I can punish her’,” Cithrel muttered, taking a drink from her cup, letting the true words of that speech show.
The red liquid stained her lips, and the aroma made her eyes sparkle brightly.
Emperor Victor was one of the most troubled individuals she had ever encountered, coming to have quite a few different facets... And now he was just taking on the one that gave him his title, Tyrant.
He did not employ the name of the South American Empire, but made it look as if it was all arranged by himself and to his own desires.
Giving the image of a tyrant who did as he wished.
“Is it to your liking, Your Highness?” Duke Kristoph asked, pouring her another glass of that delicious red liquid.
Cithrel turned off the television and, looking at the blood in her cup, she went back to reading the letter in her hands to play with it.
The missing are alive on the other side... That was what Cardinal Najjar said, an SS rank in the Church of Time and Space that could make use of not only ‘space’ but also ‘time’.
It was clear that she was a great and very devout woman to whom her ‘God’ lent her ‘power’ more freely.
Still... Cithrel did not feel relaxed.
She had heard from Liam that Cardinal Brousseau had approached the church to find the answer, but she still had trouble feeling relaxed.
Unlike the Earthlings, who had the intervention of the God of Time and Space and were greatly helped, on Terra nova, it was different.
While he gave notice when the earthlings were about to arrive on Terra nova, after that he remained silent without acting.
Empires fell and millions died... The werewolves in their kingdom suffered an attack by the Vampire Empire at the hands of the one the earthlings called the enemy of humanity.
It was a genocide that shocked this world, but what was truly shocking was that Gods ended up dying.
Entities that were worshipped in huge empires, that had great power, ended up being killed and replaced.
The old Demon God was replaced by the new one, the God of the Werewolves was killed and even the Vampire God Cain was struck down.
Cithrel did not regret those events. At first, they too were moved and that was because such a highly feared and hated individual in this world was the master of her aunt... The former Empress Rodwen Falion, who put the current Falion Empire on top with the help of her master.
The same Falion Empire had started a war with another empire that ended in the death of the ‘Goddess of War’ who was the major religion of that place... Maybe common people didn’t understand the complexity of the matter, but Cithrel understood it perfectly.
Thanks to those events, they were now considered the most powerful empire in Terra nova and at that time many interests of powerful entities were at stake.
However, even with that chaos and turmoil, the God of Time and Space was completely and utterly silent.
Millions died in the great wars in which calamities and enormous armies along with millions of players fought, but such an entity was silent... No, according to what she had heard upon arriving in this world, that entity was in this world.
She could not understand it, but what she knew was that with his indifference and attitude throughout the history of Terra nova, there was no need to depend on such a god.
How could they depend on an entity that could possibly see the future with all its possibilities and still stand still?
No, it would be better to say... How could they trust a deity that had surely seen the end of millions of worlds and infinite lives since the beginning of time?
Such an entity was that ‘God’.
One they could not totally depend on.
‘The missing are alive on the other side’... For such an entity may be only two individuals that Cithrel didn’t care about or even know.
She would not depend on such an entity, and more so when the life of her friend and her close one was at stake.
Fiddling with the letter in her hand, Cithrel took another drink from her cup.
“Do you think if you entered the portal in its current state, you would survive?” Cithrel asked, looking at Duke Kristoph.
That Vampire Duke, who had lived for a thousand years, knelt on the ground solemnly.
“Yes, Your Highness...” Duke Kristoph replied.
His tone showed loyalty without fear or trepidation... An SS Rank, whose strength when transformed into his vampiric form reached SSS Rank, was kneeling without hesitation in front of her.
No fear or dread, there was only absolute loyalty.
“During my thousand years of life I had a time in my youth that I have gone to demonic planes and among them some corrupted by Chaos... I have experience,” Duke Kristoph replied in a serious tone.
Cithrel looked at him carefully and then asked. “Would you bring her to me alive?”
“...”
Silence.
He hadn’t answered, and that wasn’t because of his lack of confidence about whether Aurora and Alice were alive on the other side, but that he didn’t have the capabilities to pull it off.
“Though I can’t guarantee it... I will risk my life to try.” Duke Kristoph announced with a grave tone.
These were not false words.
It was even likely that in his mind he was not thinking of betraying her or was mentally insulting her for giving him such a mission that in the eyes of others, would seem suicidal.
He had been here for a time where many ideas of freedom hovered, but the reason why someone like Duke Kristoph was left in this place was because of his restraint and his extreme loyalty.
The Falion Empire was an absolute monarchy... Cithrel knew this better than anyone. Her control was total and utterly absolute.
She waved the letter again.
Cardinal Brousseau had informed her through Liam that Aurora and Alice were among those living members.
She had mentioned to the Supreme Pontiff that she may have received a clearer answer, all to try to get her to relax.
Still...
“Do you think if the Falion Empire truly moves, we’ll manage to bring her in?” Cithrel asked earnestly.
Her expression made Duke Kristoph take on a unique seriousness.
“Reinforcements will arrive after what the allied forces move and control the portal and even in such a situation, regardless of whether our calamities may come, it will not be favorable on a political level and others may not let us intervene in full,” Duke Kristoph detailed and giving a glance, he muttered. “At least by diplomatic means.”
In this world, the earthlings only had a few official calamities and while Cithrel supposed that there were other hidden individuals with great strength... It was possible that they would not let her intervene as she should.
After all, the difference between strength levels on both worlds was abysmal and Terra nova was a world where gods were common, had the advantage and would be seen as dangerous.
Those words didn’t sit well with Cithrel, and she played the card again.
“May I know what this is about, Your Highness?” Duke Kristoph asked, looking at the letter.
Part curiosity and part seriousness... That seriousness came from the reason she asked so many questions today.
“My rival in love.” Cithrel joked with an amused chuckle.
Inwardly, she was thinking that Aurora would surely blush because of her answer.
After all, the individual who had just introduced himself as Kairos Cosmos in the letter and was offering a hand in allying himself to secure the portal was, in a way, a suitor of Aurora’s.
She had seen him at the Cosmos Enterprise and the other time she had seen him was at the final party of the international tournament, where he had asked her about Aurora.
She didn’t know him well enough, but it was clear that this young man was a suitor of her friend.
Duke Kristoph’s expression remained solemn, but Cithrel could sense curiosity, which made her smile grow.
Was that man her rival in love?
Right now, Cithrel was thinking that she would be, if it led to Aurora’s embarrassment.
Burning the letter with a smile on her face, she stood up.
“Be ready with the allied forces. I don’t want any submissive attitude. We are the Falion Empire and now we want to secure the portal and rescue the people important to us,” Cithrel announced solemnly and giving Duke Kristoph a look, she added. “No one will stop us.”
To embarrass her friend, she needed her present and if she needed to use the power of the empire to do so, she would.
It was why she didn’t mind allying herself with a stranger to secure her goal.