{[ April 24, 102 A.A. ]}
News of the Thiroe Household housing Exiled had been what many citizens of Avina had woken up to.
If not for the deepening floods, such news would've shaken many of the common folk. But right now, it was clear that what was more important to them was staying dry. More people had migrated out of the lower areas of Avina and were all squeezed together in livable areas higher up.
The Undead Remnants had also multiplied the night before, causing a few casualties among the defending knights and guards. Rumours of Undead Remnants appearing inside Avina's walls had also caused a great amount of panic among the eastern residents.
'Can they move around during the day?' Lotus Weizhe mulled over such a thought thoroughly, 'We just can't interact with them under sunlight? Is that it?'
The man had bags under his eyes after two sleepless nights, and his eyes were red. But he still refused to rest as he had to figure out what kind of abominations were stepping into his city's walls.
To the west of Avina, Lady Karire and Sir Xiu were back on the frontlines. They were battling the newest waves of sea beasts and raking in loads of beast-borne materials for the production workers to process. Despite their efforts though, the one-floor houses by the docks were now completely submerged.
The buildings by the former seashore were now the new corals for the sea-beasts. The life-filled sea was also spurring the growth of algae, kelp, and phytoplankton. Many aquatic plants were sprouting in the nutrition-rich waters where many a beast's carcasses had served as magical fertilizers.
As for Athelei, he continued to study the books in his room's mini-library, growing his vocabulary and refining his handwriting. When night came, he flew out to the Undead Remnants and ran experiments as he tried to figure out how to isolate the black crystal with his own abilities.
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{[ April 25, 102 A.A. ]}
The execution of the Thiroe family had been announced to the people, and many felt conflicted about things. There were a few voices claiming that the Banishers should help deal with the beast tide and the undead and not busy themselves with politics instead. But those voices were drowned out by the roars of beasts, as well as the subsequent announcement made.
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"The Thiroe family might have been an important contributor to the sudden beast tide."
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Athelei heard of this and guessed that Ivan Thiroe had likely confessed. The Banishers had obviously searched the ruins and found the traces of his treachery, making their questioning more targetted. From how the nobleman had been trembling in fear during the entire fight between the Banishers and the Exiled, it made sense that he broke so easily.
'I wonder... Could they be searching for the missing Seed of Atlantis now that Ivan Thiroe has confessed?' Athelei let out a mischievous laugh as he played with the white-blue marble egg in his hands. 'What can I do with this little item?'
Irene hadn't summoned him recently, and Athelei wasn't sure what exactly the powerful Rank 3 Dictator was doing. Thus, he took it upon himself to learn Acivis.
He had asked Lady Karire if she had any books on the topic, and he was given permission to visit her office to read.
That was where he stayed for most of the day, and it had helped him a lot. He learned that the document that had come with the Seed of Atlantis were things related to the item's use. It included the proper preparations and the required environment.
Then, when night fell, fog-Athelei was looming around Lotus Weizhe as the man faced a huge problem.
The rumours had been proven true, and worse than the stories had alluded.
With every day that passed, the Undead Remnants appeared deeper and deeper inside Avina's walls. Now, Lotus Weizhe had to lead several squads to patrol throughout the city, searching for the Undead Remnants that had seeped through their defences.
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{[ April 26, 102 A.A. ]}
The newborn underwater world was thriving. The murky waters had suddenly cleared by the time the morning of the 26th came. The floodwaters were now truly becoming a part of the sea as they lost their dirty colours.
Lady Karire had discovered a variety of beasts that she had never seen before, filtering the water and helping to rid it of filth. She also knew of their peaceful and less threatening animal counterparts and thus, she was quite shocked to see a mass mutation occurring, creating all of these weird beasts.
Ivan Thiroe had been questioned on the mass mutation issue, and he said he had no idea why that was happening. All he knew was that the beast tide was the first step in the plans he had been involved in. And the plan had a requirement to be fulfilled,
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"The land must return to the sea."
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This requirement reached Athelei when Sir Xiu had come by for lunch and a chat. He wanted to talk with him and Aria to share the stories of what was happening outside the Arthime mansion. Now, the young boy was wondering why there was a mass mutation too.
Thus, he had split his night in half. One half for his undead research and Boon of Longevity meals, and the other was using Inspect on the never before seen beasts.
When Athelei desired information on the beasts' origins, he was given a screen that he did not initially expect,
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- Born through [Rebirth].
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Those three words were cryptic, and Athelei wished for the next day to arrive faster. He had already used Inspect on the Seed of Atlantis three more times since owning it and thus, he had a better idea of what Ivan Thiroe had been roped into doing.
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Weird Object
[ "Seed of Atlantis" ]
Mana: 890/1000
- [Active Effect: City Generator] Must be used near a great body of water. Creates a magnificent underwater city, and serves as the city's future control centre.
- Recreates the lost city of Atlantis, the sanctuary for those who care not for God.
- "Through this, perhaps, we may rise once more."
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{[ April 27, 102 A.A. ]}
There were three days until the execution of the Thiroe family when another discovery disturbed the noble circle of Avina.
The two other small noble families, Cast and Fawnro had been involved in the plan to flood the Great City of Avina.
How exactly had the Banishers figured this out? The details had been left out, but the evidence had been delivered professionally and without any problems. Thus, the rest of the noble families had been placed under scrutiny as well.
The Banishers were harbouring doubts, suspecting that Avina was plotting against the Holy Nation of Illyas, but they did not let such suspicions be known.
"Miss Hana of the Banishers?" Athelei had been behind the Arthime family's mansion doors when said doors let in a gust of outdoor air.
The young boy was the first person Hana had spotted upon being escorted by the servants. And when she heard her name called out so politely, she couldn't help but tilt her head.
"You..." Hana felt like she had met the boy somewhere before, but she could not put her finger on where. Her dominant hand had found itself on the pommel of her sword as if she felt threatened. But how could she feel threatened by a young child?
Hana was dealing with her conflicting emotions when the young boy spoke to her again,
"Uhm, Ma'am, if you're looking for Lady Karire or Sir Xiu, they should be fighting the beast tide... Is there anything this young squire can help you with?" Athelei mirrored Hana's head tilt, meeting her confused gaze with a pair of curious eyes.
When their eyes met, Hana froze, still bugged by that sense of familiarity and deja vu she could not shake off. Luckily the arrival of the butler had broken their brief moment of eye contact.
"Ah, there is nothing you need to worry about, Orien." The Arthime family butler broke the frozen atmosphere with his pleasant voice, "Run along now, I shall be attending to Miss Hana here."
Athelei obediently nodded and retreated from the reception hall.
And through a few tufts of grey fog that he left behind, he eavesdropped and learned about the Banishers' request for cooperation with Lady Karire. It seemed that, among all the nobles of Avina, the Banishers could safely trust a proven Blessed, and thus the Arthime family had been the family to turn to.
'Curious,' Athelei nearly couldn't control his giggles as he imagined the reasons for Hana's request for collaboration.
The Banishers likely lacked the manpower to deal with the three small noble family's treachery. They were probably also searching high and low for the Seed of Atlantis which now rested in his hands.
'I wonder what kind of sanctuary this little egg could create?' Athelei's curiosities were growing the more desperate those Banishers seemed to get.
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{[ April 28, 102 A.A. ]}
Two days until the execution, but this time, three noble families were going to be thrown into the flames.
A few commoners who had suffered under the Thiroe, Cast, and Fawnro families were happily waiting to hear their screams. The leaders of the other two families had joined Ivan Thiroe in the torture chamber and had confessed all their plans under the bloody threats.
Unfortunately for Athelei, he had been unable to hear exactly what those plans had been. He had only heard bits and pieces from rumours and the chatty Sir Xiu.
Avina was now half-submerged underwater. The tides had risen by a terrifying sixteen metres. It was like a permanent storm surge that kept growing.
The sea was taking a bite out of Oxhor's only known continent and the beasts were already making the human buildings their homes.
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{[ April 29, 102 A.A. ]}
The day before the execution.
The tides were now at eighteen metres above the normal levels, and the Undead Remnants were turning the other half of Avina into a wasteland.
Lotus Weizhe was about to give up. He had lost many knights to the monstrosities that were those Undead Remnants. There were even higher level undead that had been born from the deaths of Avina's civilians.
It was clear that the more the undead killed, the greater their forces would become.
"Libra... I don't know what to do anymore," Lotus Weizhe stared at the ashen earth beneath his feet. His sigh was deep and ragged.
He felt a pain erupt from his left hand, and when he clutched his wrist, he remembered that his familiar hand had all but disappeared.
It had been phantom pains the had plagued his stub.
Lotus Weizhe had to cut his hand off due to the Manic Undeath finding its way under his skin. He had been ambushed by an Undead Remnant suddenly materializing right beside him the moment the sun had set, earning him a dreadful wound.
A healer had squeezed themselves dry trying to deal with the wound, but that healer died even before they could do much. No other healer had been nearby as the knight squads had all spread out to desperately deal with the problem at hand. Thus, Lotus Weizhe was faced with a choice: die or lose a hand.
"Those fuckers!" Lotus Weizhe's empty expression suddenly turned into rage when those thoughts returned to him.
The nobles of Avina were all being suspected of treason against the Holy King and Queen, and thus the reinforcements once promised to them no longer arrived. They claimed that their current plight was their duly deserved punishment.
"Guilty by association? My fault for not properly controlling the nobles under me?!" Lotus Weizhe slammed his badge of nobility into the dirt. "The Lotus family had been loyal for years upon years! And this is what we get?!"
"And to think they still fancy an execution in the midst of Avina's demise? Shameless!"
Blood dripped for Lotus Weizhe's lips and nostrils as his rage became palpable. His entire body trembled in rage and veins were bulging on his head.
It was then that a carefree voice rang in Lotus Weizhe's ears.
"Hello, Sir Weizhe..."
The voice spoke of many things, but in his rage, it had all been a blur. The voice had come from a Nightwalker with wings, and it sang a lullaby that sounded like heaven in his rage-filled ears.
"Retaliate." Lotus Weizhe knew that that was what the winged Nightwalker said.
Weizhe then remembered accepting something from that voice, and when he looked at his remaining hand, there was a marble egg of white and blue. A little note was stuck to it.
The marble egg just sat there, lying calmly on his palm with a mystical presence Weizhe could not ignore.
"I will not be abandoned."