Nemma was sitting leaned on her chair. She just finished reading a 250 page book about ghouls and goblins. She knew everything already but she had to kill time somehow.
" When the stars align.. " man wasn't even aware he was singing the melody again.
She looked at Lori, he was sitting on opposite side of the table; " It really means a lot to you, doesn't it? "
" Hm? "
" The melody.. The song you're singing "
" Oh.. haven't we talked about it already? "
" I mean, we did yeah. I'm just fascinated at how much you cling to it. "
Lori raised an eyebrow.
" No no I didn't mean it in a b-bad way or anything or-or like- "
" It's okay, don't worry. But yes, like I said, it's the only thing left from my childhood, my family.. "
" I'm sorry I really didn't mean to- "
" Okay. Not offended, don't apologize. "
She looked aside and waited for couple of seconds; " So.. your goal is, the Golden Emperor? "
Lori sipped some tea; " Mhm. I won't stop until I send that golden bastard straight to hell. That's my one and only goal. "
Nemma nodded and tapped her fingers on table few times; "So, weren't Lucas and Santiago ones supposed to stay here? "
He sipped some tea and looked at her; " Yeah, that was initial idea. Santiago was confident I can stay alone, or something like that. He took some sugar packs and left a note saying he and Lucas are taking a mission as well. It's our primary goal to find Theo. If we start enough riots and/or liberate enough villages, Theo, the Master of Hunters, will have to come find us. Then we'll get our answers on why he's targeting us. "
" And you don't care about his power? Or Golden Emperors? "
" We know they are powerful, but as you said, one Royal and one Erttem isn't necessarily mission impossible you know? "
" ... "
" Still doubt us? "
" It's not that I doubt you.. "
" But you do. Just think about it though. Noirre is the strongest human-monster hybrid known to us, Santiago is a former Royal not to mention he was a member of
" So Santiago didn't fight alone? "
" No, two of them did. They weren't friends at that time though, it was pure coincidence back then. Santiago was still a Royal and Lucas was training nearby, they ran at each other when the battle began. Long story. "
Nemma nodded; " So.. Lucas is stronger than him? "
Lori smiled and raised his eyebrows; " Everyone says that, dont they? Imagine both of them as EQUALS, but there is a problem, Santi is a Hunter, Lucas is a regular warrior. That puts Santi at a disadvantage, as much as I remember, Lucas won almost all training matches. "
" That's impressive to say the le- "
[ WOOSH ]
Bright light and dust from the outside filled the room, buzzing from the explosion made ears and head hurt.
...
[ Liān, now ]
Marin's old body was going cold. His opened eyes still looked as if they were asking for mercy. Rhao was barely standing from the pressure.
" Egh-! " he tried to talk but it was hard.
All the emotions that gathered in Sion for years, rage, sadness, despair... it all got released in a moment.
Rune is a high SS Class item, Sion holds stunning amounts of energy even for a Xioerttem.. combine those two to their absolute fullest and energy that rivals that of Royals is born.
" You keep.. calling yourself weak, to hell with that! Egh-... This energy is.. " Rhao was trying to increase his aura enough to nullify the effect of Sion's aura.
[ Runes voice: You are now using my AND yours energy to it's fullest. Adding a single drop of energy to your body would likely cause you to die, or worse. ]
~I have to kill him now..
[ Runes voice: You're becoming too accustomed to murder, take it easy. ]
~Doesn't he deserve it?
[ Runes voice: Maybe he does deserve to be killed.. in your current state, you're 100% capable of doing so. But having power comes with a task; knowing when to use it.. ]
In that moment Sion remembered Rune's past host. This power led him to insanity.
Sion opened his mouth slightly, and stopped like that, as if he was deciding what to do now.
"
[ Ability Aura Freeze activated ]
It all stopped, Rhao, Zhao and Noirre.
He approached Rhao and raised his dagger in the air. He decided. Dagger was moving through the air, quickly approaching Rhao's neck. Sion decided to turn this battle into an execution.
And so it reaches an inch from Rhao's blade... and stopped there. Sion was now frozen himself. He gulped and relaxed.
He was felling a hand touching his shoulder. Rune? No, he would recognise Runes energy immediately. There was one more thing.. this energy was exponentially more dense and overall more powerful.
Sion's aura was gone, he was left with only a small portion of his energy.. was it all absorbed?
" I-.. believe-.. you wanted-.. to talk to me-..? " voice was breathing heavily.
World started to move again as
" You-.. ought to-... hurry-... back home-.. " man said and made a sound that sounded like giggling, though his heavy breathes covered it up.
" Killing you now-... would be-... merciful-.. " he raised his arm from Sion's shoulder and gotten closer with to him. Their heads were inches apart, as they stared into each others eyes.
" There are things-... far worse-... than death-... " he slightly bent his head to side; " you are-.. soon to find out-... one of them-.. "
Sion's eyes were wide open. His energy levels were ridiculously low. He never felt this way. Even back in Ravensborrow, they never depleted his energy this much. He felt, empty.
While barely standing on his legs, facing Golden Emperor, he slightly felt the tingling energy of Noire and brothers. They were not moving despite
" I-.. left you a-... gift-... " he placed his cold golden hand on Sion's chest; " next time-... I'll take it-... all-... and make sure-... you don't-.. stick your nose-... where it doesn't belong. " he finished saying and vanished, leaving only small particles of gold in the air.
Seconds passed, no one moved nor made a sound.
First thing heard was Rhao's gulp, followed by all of them breathing out heavily. They all collapsed.
Noirre was the first one to get up. His ability ran out since too much time went by, it was no longer useful in this fight.
Zhao jumped to Rhao and raised one arm above his head, as if wanting to protect him from Sion, not realizing Sion's energy was lower than his own.
Sion looked left, and right.. then slowly looked down upon Marin. He walked to him with slow steps and places kneeled down. Marin's eyes were still open... but he was no longer breathing. He layer his hand on old man's forehead and closed Marin's eyes.
" I-.. I want to go home. " he said heavily.
Noirre walked up to him and firmly squeezed his shoulder. Sion looked at him.
Noirre pointed at the town's gate. Few people were still there, waving at some other people running towards them.. they were running from the village.
" It seems, villagers used us as distraction to run away. In a way.. we succeeded. " he tapped his shoulder twice.
Sion swiftly turned his head back at Zhao and Rhao. They were barely standing, neither of them planned on fighting any longer.
" The once proud 2nd Classes. Now stand before us as cowards. That's all you people are, the so called The Government. You hold yourself in a rather high esteem, don't you think? " Noirre said with a disgusted face.
Sion stood up and looked at them.
~ Should I-... no, can I fight them?
[ Runes voice: I... he even drained my energy.. you have no strength to proceed fighting. Be glad you're alive right now. ]
~ No..
[ Runes voice: No? ]
~ No... he said... killing me would be merciful. A gift? What else did he say?
[ Runes voice: He said... to- ]
~ To go home... there's no way
" Noirre! " he looked at him.
" We need to go back, now! "
Noirre looked at him with a face that showed trust, but also concern; " Are you sure about this? Letting them live? ".
Sion nodded. Noirre looked at the brothers once more before throwing a TP to Sion; " Don't mess it up this time. ".
[ WOOSH ]
They were gone. Back to the village gate from where they left. Or to say, that's where they were supposed to teleport...
Flame and smoke threw them both of guard. The entire village was almost completely leveled.
" What the-... " Noirre stepped back. He looked around. As soon as he saw Sion here as well, he knew he didn't teleport to the wrong place; " There ain't no way... LORI! " he screamed and ran into the piles of wood, ash.