Zane was nowhere to be found on the battlefield. He had entrusted the crucial task of holding off Ascendant Ezio to Cecilia for a few minutes.
Underground, with his berserk skill activated, Zane zoomed past the rooms, using his identification skill to search for anything related to the Runes. Soon, he was left with only the two final rooms.
One of the rooms he stood before was quite large, featuring a bronze door. Zane knew that it must be Ascendant Ezio's chamber. The next room was an unknown, as its door also protected by glowing Runes.
Without waisting time, Zane went inside the large chamber and saw the large bed and very noble room. There was also an imposing fireplace with finely crafted furnitures along the place. He was also drawn to the decorated walls and ceiling.
However, Zane had no time to indulge in admiring the opulence. A peculiar bookshelf caught his eye with a single glance, prompting a slight click of his tongue.
"Of course! One must have a secret room, right?"
Without a doubt, he found what he was looking for – a seemingly ordinary book.
'Identify'
'Remote Room Activation Lever'
Upon pulling the lever, the entire bookshelf shifted to the side, revealing a new room. Zane entered and discovered a large floating crystal at its center. The purple crystal emitted a gentle, pulsating light that illuminated the room. Rune characters within the crystal rotated in a circular pattern.
'Identify'
Dual Rune Core Crystal: Stores and powers two runes. Drawn from the very fabric of mystical realms, the gem bestows upon the user the ability to intertwine and harmonize energies from embedded runes, creating new effects. Embedded runes provide...
Before Zane could finish reading the information, the ceiling shook, and the screams of Ascendant Ezio from above echoed through the chamber. The battle above had clearly escalated significantly.
Without wasting any further time, Zane used his sword to slash at the floating Crystal. As the crystal shattered, a small shockwave was released. Zane quickly collected the broken pieces that resulted from the destruction.
In addition to the crystal fragments, Zane collected various materials strewn around the room – metals of different colors, rocks, books, and charts.
Without hesitating, Zane also started sweeping everything inside the room including the high end furnitures. Even the floor rags and carpets were not spared.
Not forgetting everything, Zane went to the next door. When he destroyed the rune, the runes that was protecting the next door also stoped.
When Zane saw the inside, his eyes widened.
"BINGO!"
Inside the organized room, Zane found crates upon crates of assorted materials. A large pile of gold coins and precious gemstones was situated on one side. Rows of jars containing potent herbs emitted a powerful presence. Books encased in chains and special leather, along with glistening weapons neatly hung on the walls, completed the room's contents.
Zane took them all without hesitation. Even the containers used for storing items were also sucked in to his inventory. Upon checking his interface, he realized that he was now 95% full.
Zane heard another of Ezio's scream that rocked the ceiling once more.
"NOOO!!!"
---
Few moments ago.
When Cecilia was pushed to the ground, she saw the silhouette of Barret, the spearman. But before she can utter anything, Barret was no longer alive but became ashes.
Goz screamed, "No! Barret!"
Meanwhile, Ascendant Ezio was shocked when he saw the Aura Blade wielded by the bandaged man.
He recalled what had just transpired.
'AURA BLADE!'
'Many may become Master Swordsmen, but mastering the Aura Blade? Only one in a million can control Sword Aura to such precision.'
'How can a mere slave understand the concept of the Aura Blade? Even in the capital, no Master Swordsman can achieve it.'
Staring at his badly damaged hands, he thought to himself, 'If the person had been more experienced with Sword Aura, what might have occurred?'
Then, fear crawled up his back, and sweat began to show. 'Not just my hands – even at my peak, I might have been sliced in two!'
'I MUST ELIMINATE THIS PERSON!'
---
Goz, on the other hand, stood in front of Cecilia, trying to shield her from Ezio's gaze. He remembered what Zane had told him before they arrived – Zane had specifically stated that without Cecilia, they would all be annihilated in no time.
Looking at Ezio's mangled hands while he was astonished by Cecilia's actions. Furthermore, he saw that Ezio was forced to be more vigilant that before not striking right away.
"That shithead was right. To be able to gravely damage an Ascendant! But it seems that it is my turn."
Goz gripped his large axe tightly, noticing Ezio's intense focus on Cecilia. The remaining Blood Warriors drew closer to her as she consumed flask after flask of restorative potion. Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever she was consuming had little effect on her current condition.
"This will be our last stand. Regardless of the outcome, we need to buy the bandaged man a bit more time," Goz exclaimed to the group.
He roared, "Do not fear! It will be an honorable death, succumbing to an Ascendant! No one can extinguish our unwavering will to fight to the bitter end!"
Ezio has conjured multiple fire ball behind him and was ready to attack but then he noticed the rune amulet in his neck was flickering. He stopped.
Soon its its light died out.
Realizing what just happened, he roared angrily with the walls even quaking, "NOOOOO!!"
"THE RUNES!"
He ignored everyone in front of him and dashed towards the underground passage with all his might, using all his mana using the Flame Dash!
Everyone was stupefied what just happened, they thought they were about to die.
Cecilia chuckled weakly, "Zane has done it, he destroyed the runes!"
When they heard Cecilia's words, they looked at her for a minute, then, it was their turn to dash out away from the castle.
Even Goz didn't bother looking back to Cecilia.
When Cecilia saw these people's action, she was shocked! They were just talking about honor a moment ago.
---
Zane hearing the rage from upstairs, 'Oh shit, he is coming! I guess, I better prepare too..'
'I guess the fun is over'
...
Ezio's flame-propelled dash pushed his limits, driven by intense fear. If the Runes were eliminated, slaves could leave from any part of the wall – there were millions of slaves from Capricia.
The runes were not only for the city walls but it was also a way to control the various beasts restricted at the underground of the city. Now, all those hundreds of Awakened beings are free to roam and wreck havoc in the city.
Ginding his teeth, Ezio was really cursing who ever destroyed the runes, he was thinking thousands of ways how torture the person.
His greatest fear, however, was the punishment from the Vermilions. He didn't own Capricia; he had only been appointed as an overseer. The Vermillions' income would undoubtedly plummet. He understood that him being alive would probably be a short of miracle from the high noble.
Arriving in his room, he was breathing heavily; his mana was nearly depleted, and he had expended much of his blood.
But when he arrived at his room he found it empty. He even checked if he was in the right room and came out from the door a couple of times. The only thing remaining was his tiles in his room and some immovable furnitures such as his fireplace that was stuck in the wall.
'What the heck happened here!? Where are my belongings?'
However, he chose to ignore his possessions, as his attention was drawn to his hidden room, which was now wide open.
Filled with a fierce gaze, he felt a presence at the far end of the room. Despite being battered and exhausted, his anger was flaring up to the heavens.
When he saw the man responsible for everything that had happened. It was the same person who knew his wounded status. Next to him were craters with blood colored refined rocks.
Ezio looking at the situation was no longer curious who the person was or what the person was doing with crater of rocks, but rather he was ready to deliver a killing blow right away.
"WAIT!"
Ezio did not stop walking. He slowly conjured a flame on his fingers.
But Zane spouted something that halted him,"Everything that happened was all the plan of the Vermilions."
"WHAT? WHYYYY"
Zane's words made Ezio think a lot of things. His face contorted to a wretched state as he formulated hundreds of theory and conspiracy against him.
Then Zane looked back at his interface, he saw the timer ending and smiled at him. Then, a golden shield suddenly came out of nowhere in front of Zane, which even surprised Ezio.
"Oh I am just kidding," he chuckled.
Ezio's expression grew even more wretched, and his hand clenched into a claw-like shape.
He poured everything in, as he screamed on top of his lunges, "WRAAAAAA"
But before he could take another step...
Explosions after explosions occurred simultaneously in the room, engulfing him.
"BOOOOOOM" "BOOOOOOM" "BOOOOOOM"
...