Kagito soon arrives too. He nods at all of us and the pauses as he arrives at the caskets.
His expression looks melancholic as he touches them one besides the other.
He then looks at the Barbarians, Zenith, and me.
"Prepared?"
"Yes!"
All of us answer as we step toward him and put one of our hands in his shoulders.
We look at everyone else and they nod back at us. Tyrfing shrugs her shoulder and says, "Go, your stuff seems to be quite urgent"
Kagito nods and then activates his skill.
"Teleport!"
The space around us changes as now I can feel slightly the distortion of the spatial element.
'My affinities towards the elements have increased even more. Wait, I haven't checked on Dei'
I put the thought on checking on Dei behind as we appear almost instantly outside of Gardan Village. We decided to come here first for Zenith and to sort things out with Azalea and the Barbarians. We already gave words of our arrival to Hellish Town too as they are preparing for the news we are going to give later.
The Barbarian guard gets surprised at our sudden appearance, but soon relax himself as he realizes who we are.
Sadness appears in his eyes as he looks at his fellow Barbarian warriors on caskets, but soon pride replaces it as he deeply bows at us.
"Thank you"
I feel pressure on my chest as we receive his thanks. But it wasn't only to us, it was to those warriors that gave their life for their people.
Luer and Faicen step forward and grab the shoulder of their fellow Barbarian.
"Thank you for keeping the village safe. Let's call Azalea to give the welcome that our warriors deserve"
The Barbarian straighten his back, nods, and turns around to seek for Azalea.
Soon enough she appears with more Barbarians, Eliana, Arthur, and finally, Peko.
Peko as soon as she sees Zenith stomps forward and rushes towards him.
Zenith opens his arms subconsciously.
But Peko stops just before his body and punches him right in his solar plexus.
Zenith deflates a bit as he looks at Peko surprised.
"You seem to be okay, so why do you look so miserable?"
Zenith's eyes widen as he stares at Peko, who is watching him with her beautiful green eyes.
"You are milord, Zenith. My husband and the father of our soon to be child. Straighten your back, chin up and look with pride, that's what they would have wanted, that's what everyone feels. You have won!"
My body shudders as I look at Peko blankly. Zenith's body trembles a bit as he barely open his mouth.
"…but-"
"Peko is right"
We both turn to look at Azalea walking besides the Barbarians. Her previous gentle expression is replaced with a sharp one as her entire body emanates a valiant aura. The right side of her face with burn marks reaching all the way down to her neck, and maybe even more inside her body. But despite that, her beauty wasn't affected by that as she steps forward firmly.
"It would be a great displeasure for Aren to see you right now"
Her sharp words feel like knives cutting at us. Zenith gulps as he stares at Azalea, and he grips his fist. He looks downward with an anguish covering his face.
"But he died be-"
"He gave his life for his people."
Zenith stops at that.
"He gave his life for his friends."
He lifts his face and stare at Azalea's eyes as her gentle expression comes back, and finally, she stares at the caskets where Aren, Zair and Trien are.
"He gave his life for the people he loved. And finally, he gave his life as a warrior of Gardan, with pride and honor!"
Her lasts words firm as she walks forward and puts her hand on Zenith's shoulder.
"For him, for the people that gave their life valiantly, straighten your back with pride, as you now represent them"
Feeling as if the weights come of Zenith, his shoulders relax. I feel my chest relaxing as my back straightens.
Kagito steps forward with me and we stand side by side of Zenith.
Zenith eyes changes as he looks straight at Azalea, and he firmly nods.
"We are back!"
Azalea smiles warmly at us as she bows.
"Thank you, warriors, for all your effort and bringing our people back. Gardan will forever be grateful to you"
All the Barbarians bow at us as this time we take it without shame.
- You have completed the Quest, The Cold Race!
- Because of your heroical victory despite the adversities, the People of Gardan now deeply trust you and would give their life for your sake. The Barbarian God is moved by this fact as he bestows upon you, his blessing.
- You have acquired the Blessing of the Barbarian God. You are now able to use the Ironblood Aura. It increases your physical abilities drastically in exchange of burning up your blood.
- You have Leveled Up!
- Your Charisma, Endurance, Strength, Agility, Vitality has increased!
Multiple windows appear again as the quest has finally reached a close.
Peko steps forward and hugs Zenith this time.
"Welcome back" her soft words make Zenith tremble as he hugs her back.
Azalea and the Barbarians straighten themselves and step forward to carry the caskets to their memorial grounds.
Once there, they realize their ceremony for their fallen as we all respectfully step aside.
But Azalea comes to us and stands in front of Zenith.
"You seem to have finally awakened"
"Yes, just barely"
Azalea nods and then asks, "Would you bestow us your blessing?"
Zenith eyes widen in surprise as we stare at Azalea with a questioning look.
Azalea smiles as she seemed to have thought we would react that way.
"Nothing would make us gladder than to be blessed by our saviors"
Zenith shakes his head, "Even if I want to, I don't think I am able to"
He then stares at Azalea as she smiles wryly, "But I can at least try"
Joy shows in her eyes as she leads Zenith to the center of the ceremony.
Zenith stands at the center between the fallen warriors and the people of Gardan. He takes out his sword, it shines with gorgeous dark purplish light.
Everyone silently watches him as he cleaves his sword on the ground.
"I, the one who will become Death, hereby promise for those who gave their life, to grant my protection to this place."
"For I am the successor of the cursed surname, I will bring Death to those that wish to harm this place."
"Because my name is Zenith Hex!"
A powerful shockwave sweeps the entire place as a runic mark appears where Zenith cleaved his sword. Droplets of sweat comes down from his forehead as he heaves with ragged breaths.
"Ultima…"
I hear the voice of Dei besides me, and I hurriedly take him out. But he feels strangely heavy this time.
"Forget it, kid. You won't be able to use me until you manage to increase your power and ascend"
I look at Dei surprised as I can't even see his status window.
"I will be able to soon enough" I smile at my sword companion and put him in his scabbard.
Zenith soon takes his sword out as the Barbarians bow at him again.
"Thank you, Zenith, it really is an honor for us for you to do this"
Zenith waves his hand as he says, "This is the least I can do"
He then firmly looks at Kagito, Eliana, Peko and me.
Kagito nods as he turns to Azalea.
Azalea smiles and says, "Thank you again for all you have done for us, I hope we can see each other again soon"
"We will be back soon enough to help with reparations," says Kagito with a smile as we put our hands on him.
Azalea nods with a smile and turns around to the ceremony.
"Aren said… he wished for you to smile more"
Just as Kagito is going to teleport us to Hellish Town, Zenith says those words.
Azalea's body shudders as she hears him and turns her head slightly with a small smile.
"Thank you" her words sound softly, as she begins to walk firmly to where her people are.
Kagito nods at us and activates his skill.
"Teleport!"
Soon enough, we appear outside of Hellish Town.
A cruel sight appear in front of us as many parts of the town were destroyed because of that fight.
Many people walked around with somber expression as they repaired all the wreckage.
I clench my fist hard as I stomp forward. The guard at the entrance rapidly come to us as he shouts.
"Guildmaster! You have arrived!"
Kagito nods at him and all of us walk into Hellish town.
The first step of our plan starts today.