"Why?!" A rarely heard shout from Rakna resounded in his territory. He stood in front of the TV of his house, his eyes twitching as he watched the news report about leaks from Plateau Zero.
One such leak was the footage of 'Ranka Valcroft' unfurling her silver-black wings and ascending in the air with great majesty while she fought a Nine-Tailed Scorpion.
Theories were already being thrown around about how she was either Rakna's sister or perhaps even lover due to the fact that she obviously seemed to have been involved in the retrieval of the Plateau, yet the System had told everyone that it was Rakna whose help they received.
"That doesn't even make sense," the therian grumbled as he gripped the edges of the screen while his friends watched him wryly.
Only Ceresta, having woken up perfectly healthy in the morning, was a bit absent-minded as she marveled at a tablet she was holding, navigating the net from a user perspective for the first time in her life.
"Um, wolfy…?" Kaelith called out hesitantly as she tilted her head next to him.
Rakna sighed and stepped away from the TV with a deadpan expression, "I hate the media."
"Oh!" As if on cue, Ceresta exclaimed cutely. "Rakna, look," she said with a small cheerful smile and everyone looked at her as she turned the tablet toward them. "People are praising you."
The tablet showed a social media thread that started with a close-up picture of 'Ranka' and then unrolled into a bunch of comments with very… enthusiastic wording.
Everybody in the room sweatdropped. "That's not praising… that's thirsting," Allan remarked with a twitching smile and Ceres blinked in confusion.
"What does that mean?" She asked innocently.
The blond coughed nervously and looked away. "Oh, it's nothing…" He mumbled. "I suppose slang isn't something an AI would know…" He added under his breath.
Meanwhile, Ceresta did her own research. Though she was not connected to the System servers anymore, her current physiology did include computing properties. Now, she had to rely on basic wireless networks but it was plenty for her to do quick searches.
As such, she swiftly got her answer. "Oh…" She blinked. "Ooh…" She repeated with a small blush creeping up to her cheeks. "I see… that is an interesting… sentiment..."
Rakna couldn't even be mad after seeing her like that. There was something so disarming about someone who seemed to be truly enjoying freedom.
"Still, devourer, aren't you more concerned about the announcement itself?" Higure chimed in as she pointed at thin air, hinting at the Global Missive. "And correct me if I'm wrong but… isn't this the first time the System has revealed The Broken Depths' existence?"
"That's true," Kaelith nodded with narrowed eyes. "Only the more involved Hosts know about the fact that Phantasms are at the origin of the System…" She muttered. "But far fewer know the name of their organization. Even I only learned it from the Wisdom of Ariv together with all of you."
Rakna sighed and sat back down on the couch. "It's probably meant to give even more weight to their threat against the Abyss Empress… they don't seem to care about Hosts knowing who made the System in the first place," he said and turned toward Flavia. "Speaking of that stupid hat, isn't it about time he's done recharging?"
The Chaos Witch nodded with a pensive expression. "He should. He said he would be away for a few weeks last time because we asked him too many questions, but I can confirm through our soul contract that he's ready again. But I have no way to know when exactly he'll pop up," she said with a wry smile. "It's honestly embarrassing to imagine him appearing on my head in public…"
"Nah, it's fine," Allan laughed. "You rock the witch hat like a pro."
Flavia rolled her eyes a bit. "Of course, I do… Though, in the same vein, I suppose I can try to predict his emergence with my Sub-Path. Divination belongs to the domain of sorcery, after all. I'll go out later to buy some materials from Trafford and the Pavilion."
"Hopefully, it'll be around the time of the Council Meeting," Rakna muttered.
"Or that event I told you about," Kara chimed in whilst swirling her wine.
"…what are you doing drinking in the early morning?"
"Please, Rara," the vixen droned. "You should know by now."
"Sure…" Rakna snorted. "Also, what do you mean? Wasn't that event just some party thrown by a few nobles in my honor, supposedly?"
"'Supposedly' is the important word here," she retorted with a chuckle. "The aristocrats of Atlantis aren't the brightest or finest of bunches. It's a low-level city, after all. Old Eden is better from that aspect because of its much higher standards of strength. If you were in the 500th Plateau instead of the 100th, then a personal celebration like that would have been plausible."
"But in Atlantis, nobles would never throw a party in the honor of a single individual purely out of conceit," Kara shrugged. "Especially when said individual has no guarantee of participating."
"But, what's that event then? If I want the truth about the Jill family to get heard and judged, I need to have support from important figures like the Council members," Rakna remarked and Evelyn quietly clenched her fists to the side.
"And that's what you'll get," Kara nodded. "The event you're invited to is essentially a get-together for a bigger one; the Arena Games."
The therian scowled. "You mean… the big one docked to the city spire, right?" He mused. "Sorry, but if it's anything like Arena Zero, I don't feel like going at all," he half-joked.
Kara smiled wryly. "Well, I do hope it is not as crude as a killing game, yes. Shortly said, every six months, a small competition is carried out by Atlantis. Hosts that have reached the 100th Plateau for less than half a year are eligible to participate. They are put through different kinds of arduous trials in the Arena until there are only two left, who subsequently duel to win the prize."
"I see, the bar of entry is to give a stage for newer Hosts to shine," Marie commented with a curious tone.
"Precisely," Kara acquiesced. "In fact, it's used sometimes by Guilds to popularize their new talents or by powerful families to similarly direct the spotlight to their children. Incidentally, I believe one of Throne of Glory's members did that on their own accord once," she added and Rakna hummed in interest.
"So, what?" He raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "I go and just watch the games while socializing?"
"Pretty much," the vixen huffed. "But I recommend you go even further," she smirked.
Kaelith sighed when she heard that. She knew where this was going.
"Of course, you can't participate in the contest itself anymore; the reservations are long gone. But what you can do is participate in the exhibition trial at the end," Kara grinned. "I'll personally talk to the Arena's owners, and have them make you the showcase for this time. It won't take me more than today to spread the word and then you can be sure; everybody will flock to see you. It might even attract more influence than the Council meeting itself. You're wildly popular, after all."
Rakna stared at her, struggling to decide if he should be annoyed, dumbfounded, impressed… or downright depressed. "…fine…" He croaked out. "Do whatever."
Everyone chuckled at the dryness of his tone while Kara happily clapped. "All right! It's settled! I will have every media talk about you by tomorrow."
"…thrilling," the therian blankly said.
And as Kara was happily thinking about her plans for the day, she received a System notification and she blinked at it for a while. She opened it in confusion and quickly let out a small sound with her lips parted, "Ah…"
Kaelith raised an eyebrow. "Mom? Something wrong?"
"Um… well," the older vixen scratched her cheek nervously. "Your father messaged me…"
"Dad?" Her daughter tilted her head in response. "What is it about? If it's about meeting Rakna in person, I already told him he could come whenever as long as he didn't do something stupid like testing him with a surprise attack."
The therian almost choked when he heard that casual statement.
On the other hand, Kara pursed her lips. "It's not about that," she retorted and looked at Rakna. "We have a guest on their way…" She said and when he returned her a confused look, she added, "Quite an unhappy one."
As soon as she said that, everyone in the room froze as they sensed a powerful aura coming from above the underground territory. Rakna stood up instantly and his eyes became branded with two shining golden crosses.
"…it's one of the wolves, isn't it?" He uttered coldly, and his companions shuddered. It seemed that he could seamlessly switch from casual to serious with this new state of mind he possessed. It felt far less disturbing than how Obsidian Blood used to feel. Now, it was just daunting. Anyone could tell he had perfect control over himself… and in a sense, it was scarier than ever.
"Lucrecia Alt Lupus," Kara also stood up, and everyone followed. "She's the Wolf Matriarch."
"Hah," Rakna huffed. "I can tell from here," he uttered calmly. With his senses, he could estimate the intensity of the aura that was approaching. 'Stronger than Zasha. But… weaker than Roias.'
"What is she thinking?" Kaelith scoffed. "Did they find out about Fen?"
Kara nodded. "That's what your father sent me," she said and lowered her head apologetically at Rakna. "I'm sorry, she's tracking me through the friend list. I didn't expect this."
"It's fine," the therian shook his head. "I'll go and—"
"Oh, no you don't!" Kaelith immediately interrupted him and stepped forward. "I will go. You can't fight her. I'm the strongest in the Clan after my father; I can deal with her."
"You can," Rakna acquiesced. "But you won't."
"Uh? What are you on about? You can't win against a high ranker!"
"Who said I had to win?" He retorted and she blinked. "It's a matter between wolves," he uttered and before anyone could react, he unfurled his wings and flew up. When he reached the artificial sky of the cave, he used Enthymio Step and teleported through.
Kaelith was left gawking on the ground and her expression twitched. "…he has some gall. That idiot almost died yesterday and he's already on his way again," she uttered, but at the same time, there was something that caught her attention. 'The speed at which he flew up… counting his wings; that was close to a 500 Speed attribute. Even with mana flight, he shouldn't be anywhere that. That only means his base attribute is at least around 300 to 400… but that's not possible.'
"Hm, how high are his attributes?" Kara asked out loud what her daughter had been thinking.
"It should be around 150, no?" Allan answered first. "Last time I asked him, he said all his attributes were around 120, but that he had a decent number of points left to assign. And he hasn't reached his Second Ascent yet, right?"
"Correct," Ceresta's soft voice echoed and they looked at her. She was looking up at the fake sky with a serene face, her hands idly folded over her stomach. "Before I was disconnected from his status, his base attributes were 134;121;144;118; 120."
"He capped his Intelligence to increase his mana pool afterward," Nyx provided. "He also leveled up a few times beforehand."
"Eh…" Higure mused with an unusually stoic smile. "That doesn't add up, does it?"
"Um, excuse me," Flavia raised her hand with a wry expression. "Shouldn't we go help him instead of speculating his abilities, so that we can ask him ourselves?"
"…good point," Kaelith nodded with a blush. "But… well," she sighed in exasperation. "I don't think he's going to be in much danger. Lucrecia should know when to stop, and wolfy… he's a cockroach at this point. Who cares," she deadpanned and the others chuckled.
"I trust him," Ceresta suddenly declared and redirected a few eyes toward herself. "I think… he's learned that he has things to lose," she stated and glanced at both Kaelith and Nyx, who widened their eyes at her words. "I trust him to never leave us."
Natsu silently watched them display their faith in his Lord, and he couldn't help but think, 'Am I the only one who thinks he just did that to look cool?'
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"…in retrospect," Rakna cleared his throat. "That was dumb," he said as he watched a silver aura in the distance approaching at terrifying speeds, simultaneously causing dozens of tornadoes to form by just existing. He knew that any of them could fatally injure him.
"{Do not tell that to your lovebirds, they might just murder you,}" Fray remarked equally dryly.
Then, one of the tornadoes abruptly drilled the ground and created a circular hollow mountain of nowhere.
"…yep."