As I entered the room, I took note of everything I could inside and the handful of people there were. The place itself was big with a lot of empty space. The walls all around, save for the ones behind me from where I came from, were all just glass, giving a wide view of the whole city. The floor had an elegant blue carpet that led to a large round table in the middle and then a large desk at the back, where one person was sitting behind. In the middle of the room, only two people were sitting next to the round table, and at the right side of the room, one man was desperately trying to open a glass door that led outside to what appeared to be a helicopter landing pad.
The people themselves were of different appearances. First, the man sitting behind the desk at the back. He looked no different than one of the Holy Knights of Leyfall with his golden hair and irises; and judging by the frown and glare he was throwing this way, he was the man in charge of everything here. I remembered him from the pictures that Salrak showed us when we started this whole thing.
At the side of the room, desperately trying to open a glass door that wouldn’t budge was a man with similar features to the people of this country, only that he was wearing a full white suit, and his hair was of the same blonde color as the man in the large desk.
In the middle, by the round table, there were two beings that I wasn’t expecting to see. One of them was a horned skeleton, whose bright white eye-like glow in the eye sockets were turned to look at me. There was, of course, no expression in his skeletal face, but just the fact that he was sitting while looking this way was enough to let me know that he was probably in the same state as the man at the large desk.
And finally, sitting by this same large round table at the other side and looking this way was an ogre. I was surprised to see him, since I was certain I’d seen him before… and it didn’t take long for me to recognize his face, especially after taking note of the clothes he was wearing, which were similar to the suits everyone was wearing, only that he had a small pin on the chest with words engraved on it.
“Come on!” shouted the man by the glass door, apparently not realizing that I was here. “Why won’t this door open!?” He looked beyond the glass door and to the helicopter landing pad. “And where’s our extraction!?”
“Will you settle down already?” Said the man behind the large desk with a calm tone and a frown. “It’s clear that they’re not coming—besides… we have a guest here.”
“Huh!?” exclaimed the man by the glass door, quickly turning to look at me. “You! How dare you intrude into our base of operations! The government will have your head!”
I ignored that noisy man and focused my attention on the ogre. “Aren’t you… Grul? The one that I saved from a Followers of Leyfall base? What are you doing here? Are they holding you here against your will?”
Despite asking that, I knew just by looking at his calm expression, clean clothes, and the way he was sitting that… It seemed like he was expected to be here… Same as the horned skeleton sitting at the other side.
Grul shook his head. “Grul here because Grul work here.”
“What? I was certain that you worked for Global Magic Technologies… Does that mean that you’re aiding the Followers of Leyfall? The same people that had you imprisoned?”
“Yes. Me work on technology. They help with technology. Me help,” was all he said in his strange way of speaking.
“Then… all of these protections, and all of their weaponry…? Is that all your doing?” I asked with a deep frown in my face.
He nodded with a calm expression. I was going to press him about it more, but the horned skeleton next to him shook his head, before his ethereal deep voice sounded as he said, “I understand how that might look to you. But we’re more interested in the advancement of technology and magic—even if a few people have to suffer in the process.”
“Haven’t you seen what they do to you!? To people like you and people that don’t want to be a part of this?!” I shouted, “It’s just a matter of time before they use them against you as well!”
“That wouldn’t happen,” the man behind the large desk at the back said, “We made a deal with Doctor Grul and Doctor Oz’galoth. As long as they keep developing new technologies, then they wouldn’t be harmed in any way.”
“Then why would you be in a cage the last time I saw you?” I asked back, raising my chin and frowning as I looked down at Grul.
“Accident,” Grul replied. “You punish bad guys for that.”
“So you’ve been working for them the whole time…” I said, with a low tone of voice.
It was quite surprising, when looking at those two, that there would be demons and the like working for a group that has been doing horrible things to their kinds of people in particular. Didn’t they know what had been going on in most of the bases that we destroyed? Though, just hearing their answers, it was clear that they likely knew but didn’t care as long as they got to work on more technology and magic…
I wasn’t sure about what to do about them, since so far, we had been saving their people from these sorts of things…
A powerful kick at the glass door caused us all to turn our eyes to the man that was still desperately trying to open it. The man behind the desk frowned and sighed. “Will you stop that already? Wang Kai, can’t you see that it’s pointless to keep fighting?”
“What?!” the man shouted, harshly turning around to glance at me and then glare at the man at the desk. “Mister Bertran, you expect me to just wait here to be killed? When you came here, speaking about those Holy Gods and how by now they were going to come to us, rewarding me with all the money and power that I could ever dream, I expected that at least there would be some return on the investment! Not only did you take control of my branch and my position, but now it looks like none of us will be alive to even cry about it!”
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Bertran calmly shook his head. “The powers of darkness were much more powerful than I expected. It’s because of that half-faith that you have in the Holy Gods that something like this happened. Perhaps if your people believed in Them with all their hearts, They would’ve come here sooner than later.”
“You expect me to just believe that?! Do you know how many religions there are—and were—in this world?! If you were just expecting to pray and hope for the best, then you’re just as delusional as the people who think they can win the lottery just by believing it so,” Wang Kai shouted in return, then sharply turned to look my way. “Listen, I know that this is bad, and I agree with you that there were terrible things that were done, but this is just business. If I could’ve gotten ahead without any of this happening, then I would’ve done so.”
“And yet, you still did it…” I said with a cold look of my own.
“How about we cut a deal?” He said, taking a step closer to me. “I’ll give you anything that you want if you just let me go and forget that I was ever here. I still have a lot of money and properties, so if you just say so, I’ll hand over anything that you like. And I even promise, right here and now, that I won’t do anything like this ever again.”
“So, in the end, you betray the Holy Gods…” Bertran said with a low tone as he gathered Holy Magic to his hand and launched a Holy Spear at Wang Kai.
The man was surprised as he took a step back with his eyes widened, but I acted even faster than the spear could hit Wang Kai, lifting my left hand and creating a darkness barrier where the spear crashed with an explosion of golden light. The barrier stood without even trembling in the air, causing Bertran to look at me with raised eyebrows, same as Grul, but unknown for Oz’galoth’s skeletal face.
“Why are you—”
“Salrak?” I interrupted.
“Wang Kai… just a Global Magic Technologies branch executive… nothing of note besides the shady deals with the Followers of Leyfall, and a strange fanaticism with the people of the Empire… up to you what you want to do with him,” Salrak replied with a calm tone of voice.
“Salrak… So you really have turned to the dark side,” Bertran said with a frown and a shake of his head. “There had been rumors that the Hero of the Holy Gods was corrupted in this world… but to see it with my own eyes… It truly makes our efforts even more important. The Holy Gods should be here to clear away all these… filth, and give the perfect peaceful world that we deserve.”
I returned a frown back at Bertran, but I quickly turned my gaze to both Grul and Oz’galoth. “So you still wish to aid him? Even after hearing him talk like that?”
“We know that there are no Holy Gods in this world, and—like we said before—as long as I get to advance our magic, then I wouldn’t mind dying for it,” Oz’galoth said, the light in his eyes dimming a couple of times as if he was blinking while shrugging.
“What about them?” I asked, while keeping my eyes on them.
“‘Them?’” Asked Oz’galoth while tilting his head to the side. “Are you talking about the people that—”
“I’m talking to Salrak,” I interrupted once more.
But there was just a moment of silence.
“Hm? Salrak?” I asked after the silence. Usually, He answered right away.
“There’s no information about them besides what the public records state. They’re supposed to be just normal Global Magic Technologies researchers but… nothing that could place them so high up… That’s all I can tell you about them. Again, up to you what you wish to do here,” He replied, His tone making me think that He was somewhat frustrated.
“So, one shameless merchant and a couple of unscrupulous scholars…” I said with a low tone of voice as I looked at the three people, finally settling my eyes on the only one left. “What about that one?”
“A fugitive Holy Knight. Wanted by the Empire precisely for taking the secrets of Holy Magic outside of the Holy Order. He’s been killing almost everything that can connect to Me or dark beings. He’s supposed to be one of the people at the top chain of command of the Followers of Leyfall,” Salrak said.
I paused for a moment to consider what to do with the people here. Safe for that knight, Bertran, the other people hadn’t done anything wrong directly to someone—at least as far as I could tell—but just the fact that they enabled the horrible things that I’ve seen in other bases makes it impossible for them to be let go…
“Hmph,” Bertran suddenly exclaimed, causing me to look at him. “I can tell by that look and the fact that you’ve killed so many of my people that you’re just going to kill us.”
“Speak for yourself. Her act of protecting me says that I’m saved,” Wang Kai said with a smile. “I’ll remember this and give you anything you want. Can I go now?”
I turned a fierce glare to him, causing him to back away. “I never agreed to anything.”
“But—”
“Stop time waste,” Grul said, standing up from his chair. “If we stay here, we die. We leave.”
“No, you won’t,” Bertran said, standing up from his chair as well and walking to the glass walls that overlooked the city as he looked out. “It’s already too late. The Hero of the Holy Gods will come to finish this.”
“Huh!?” Oz’galoth exclaimed, quickly standing up from his place and causing the chair to fall down as he turned to look at Bertran. “What do you mean? No, if she sees us here, then there’s no hope to”—he suddenly stopped as he looked at Grul—“did you know about this?”
Grul nodded. “Grul had feeling. Grul look at data. Grul quickly understood. Only hope, someone strong.”
Oz’galoth quickly turned to look at Bertran, who was just standing with his arms behind his back. “This wasn’t part of the deal! We-we can’t stay here!” saying that, Oz’galoth turned to look at me. “You must let us go, please, otherwise, there won’t be anything that even you can do! At least we can go out and do great things with our minds, but you—”
“If you think you’re getting away from this, then you’re just a stupid skeleton,” Bertran interrupted. “Really. All of your weapons turned out to be a failure. The best way to fix our world is with faith and power alone, something that she has. And…” He turned to look at both Grul and Oz’galoth with a smirk. “It’s better if you ugly things were gone.”
“Kgh!” Oz’galoth exclaimed, turning to me and taking a small stick from within his black suit. “I’ll make my way out then!”
I readied myself to deal with whatever he was doing, but it was at that moment that I felt something strange. A powerful presence was getting closer. It felt much stronger than Luo Jin, and unlike Asteora, it wasn’t being suppressed at all. Whoever was getting closer, wanted everyone to know about it.
The people in the room soon felt it as well, causing Oz’galoth to freeze in his movement, Grul to close his eyes and sit back down, Wang Kai to widen his eyes, and Bertran to just widely smile.
“What is that—?! Althea you should get out of here, fast!” Salrak exclaimed, an unusual tone of urgency in his voice.
But it was too late. Whoever was coming was already here, and as if to make it clear, a few sparks of golden particles started appearing in the air around us, centered mostly in the middle of the room.
Holy Power. Real Holy Power was being pointed to this place.
I quickly gathered as much Darkness and Hellfire Power in a shroud as I could, compacting layer after layer on top of each other, and even going as far as using my own mana to build walls of rocks, water, air, and anything I could to prepare for what was coming.
And sure enough, after a couple of seconds…
A blinding golden light engulfed everything around me.