Clang! Cling!
As the figure collapsed, Waldo realized that it was only a flame that had taken on a human form. At its core was the Replicated Frakarian Sword.
Waldo turned around and looked up again, only to see that the figure in the sky had now reached attack range. The figure that he had once thought was fake turned out to be real. Even worse, the sword was also the real Frakarian sword. It stabbed into the middle of his chest, and black flames erupted from the fatal wound, spreading so quickly that they covered Waldo's face as he roared in pain.
Waldo cast an ice spell on himself, hoping it would counteract the black flames, but it didn't work. The flames continued to spread all over his body.
...I can stop it...I can stop it…
His survival instinct kicked in. Waldo evaluated his chances with the remaining two swords and guessed that the dark-elemental flames might defeat the light-elemental flames of the Holy Sword. He used the power of the Glacius Sword and the Flenirus Sword on himself.
It worked! The black flames were quickly extinguished, and Waldo survived, dazed.
Chop! Chop!
Devan did not give him time to recover. The next sword slashed at Waldo's hand, causing Flenirus to fly away. Glacius was still attached to his almost torn hand, and flames were forming from the wounds.
Waldo prepared to use the same method to stop the black flames, but this time, he was not just defending himself. Another sword was already prepared to hit Devan from a blind spot.
But the new flame that was ignited could not be extinguished with holy magic. It was not a dark elemental fire, as he had expected.
"Holy Flame," Devan muttered.
The sound of the sword slashing in the other direction summoned a small amount of Devan's blood.
Devan stared at the burning figure with mixed feelings of gratitude, resentment, and promises made to many people that were fading away at the same time. Even though Waldo was a treacherous atheist, Devan could not say that he was delighted with his death.
He collected every sword, including the broken replicated Frakarian , to bring them back into the hands of its inventor. The former paladin who had turned into a Dark Knight waited until the crematorium had gone out before turning away. Now, the heavy burden that he had carried on both shoulders had been lifted.
"The rest is just fulfilling the promise made to Sir Dogma"
**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**
"As I told you, If you get the key from Revarent you'll also get the key from Prewood Forest. Then we can open the door," Sonata replied in a cold tone.
"To steal the keys, we wait for them to fight each other until they're exhausted. But there's no guarantee that collecting all the keys will allow us to return to the future. What if we lose our fighting force and get nothing in return?"
"It's the only lead we have," Sonata replied flatly, concealing Shockwave's story out of fear that it would complicate matters even further. Even though he lied, his voice remained unchanged.
"What are you hiding? The ship repairs should have been completed long ago," said Erith, but Sonata was unperturbed by his attitude.
"Be careful with your words. Do I need to remind you that I'm still in charge here?" Sonata reiterated his position.
Erith stormed off in a rage, and Sonata sank into his favorite armchair. Dealing with Silencers together was daunting. Erith was careful, quick-witted, and highly skilled. A confrontation with him would result in a serious loss.
After a moment's respite, Sonata pushed himself to his feet. There were matters that needed to be attended to.
"You're going to wake them up?" said Alto as soon as Sonata entered.
"We can't delay any longer,"
Sonata kept thinking alone quietly.
"If we act now, we have more Silencers on our side. But if we wake everyone up, Erith..."
"There are people we need. The strength that exists at this moment is too close. No matter how you look at it, the battle with Erith is a future affair. Shouldn't we be interested in eliminating Revarents first?"
"I intend to help the people here. Are you not concerned about them?"
"..." Sonata fell silent for a moment before answering, "Cerise...no, Hermit, Vanay Genevieve, and many others here trust me."
"Don't make me laugh," Alto shook his head. "Seriously?"
"You're right. How's it going with Vanay?" Sonata's mood shifted so suddenly that Alto could not keep up. His sly tone left his best friend unsure of whether he was joking or not.
"With that girl, why?"
"Don't act like I'm blind. You two argued all the time, but these days you seem to get along well."
"It's nothing," Alto sneered. "Genevieve turned into a vampire? How would you take responsibility for her?"
"Don't act as if I turned her into that thing," Sonata argued, but he felt a twinge of responsibility in his heart.
**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**
Sonata, Alto, Erith, Dogma, and several other agents had gathered in the high-ranking officer's cold sleep room. As they looked across the dozens of capsule-shaped beds, they noticed that only eight machines had a human form hibernating inside them.
"High-ranking officer Eva Barnes, in perfect condition," AI Angie announced, sorting out the names.
"High-ranking officer Alina Ambery, in perfect condition."
"High-ranking officer Jelrul Baliardo, in perfect condition."
"High-ranking officer William Spencer, in perfect condition."
"High-ranking officer Kestrel Fortis, in perfect condition."
"High-ranking Officer Rob Oldd, in perfect condition."
"High-ranking officer Garen Kings, in perfect condition."
"High-ranking officer Bajil Clauder, in perfect condition." And this was the last.
Sonata did not change his facial expression, but he saw the list and felt stressed. Of these eight silencers, only three belonged to him, an unpredictable person. The other four definitely fit Erith.
...No, that's too optimistic. For those who still cannot guess, think about it just in case you were next to Erith. We only have three of us...
Dogma cast a quick, furtive glance in Sonata's direction. This might be their final opportunity to break away from the Empire and awaken their latent powers to engage in an all-out battle against Erith. The thought of making a stand right here and now was beginning to seem like the best course of action.
...Not yet, we can still use them… Sonata secretly gave a hand signal, causing Dogma to let go of everything. The Cold Sleep Machine, which had been claimed to have been broken all along, was waking up the eight bodies once more.
"This is... where are we?" Eva and Alina's voices rang out at the same time. They were still confused and understood that the ship was still floating in space.
"Separate and finish personal errands. In ten minutes, gather in the bridge room," Sonata ordered. Half of them turned to Erith, and when the vice-commander nodded with the other, everyone obeyed without showing any frustration.
Ten minutes passed, and the high-ranking members gathered in the control tower at the same time. The tense atmosphere was caused by Sonata and Erith, and everyone could feel it. No one was surprised, and everyone was ready. Sonata and Erith had a chance to start smearing each other's blood at any moment.
"Angie," Sonata called AI.
She began to tell everything that was kept in the journal. It started with the Zerrians' attack, the matter that other sectors were ordered to separate, the story of Sector One being stuck in this planet's past, and the war in which Sonata was engaged.
"No contact from other sectors?" Alina, the beautiful dark-haired girl, was the first to ask. She was one of the three on Sonata's side, as well as being a close friend of his and Alto's.