"Hey… Why do you think we haven't met any… opposition? Aren't we supposed to fight? This test…"
Hekkeran spoke, his eyes still locked on the path ahead while he trusted his comrades to watch his back.
"Maybe… we misunderstood. Are we supposed to fight…? Or just to follow and trust in Arche's words?"
Imina suggested, similarly confused as she scratched her ears.
"Perhaps… Or maybe we are being led to the fight. We've heard screaming, who knows how many are still alive. I can only… Who can say?"
The cleric spoke, before changing his mind and simply clutched his mace tighter against his body.
Soon, they reached the four way intersection they were told of, and stopped. And a few moments later a figure appeared.
"You finally came…"
CZ's familiar, monotone voice resounded, alerting them. And all began to strengthen their grips on their weapons, not actually brandishing them, but to have it ready to defend themselves.
"Yes… Now please give us back Arche!"
Hekkeran demanded with more courage than he truly felt. Just by being before her, he could feel cold sweat dampening his already drenched shirt anew.
He just wanted to get Arche back and leave with everyone, and never come back. But to his disappointment, the maid shook her head.
"I don't have her. I'm only here to lead you to her. If you stay with me, you'll be safe until you get to the arena. After that… Well, the rest is up to you."
"...How do we know we can trust you?"
The beautiful albeit expressionless girl looked confused and replied in a deadpan tone.
"I never lie… I am created by the Supreme Beings. I have no reason to lie to you. Follow me, and you will see Arche."
She turned, and walked further into the dark halls, not waiting for them to follow suit.
Hekkeran felt his team's eyes on the back of his head, but unable to think of what else to do, he followed.
Then, they finally realized why the maid had warned them to stay close.
Monsters he had only heard of, demons of wrath, elder liches, and bizzare creatures with numerous tentacles and strange horns, all were present all along around them. They could only barley see the few that was touched by the faint torchlight as they passed, but their instincts told them that more must be lurking within the darkness.
If they hadn't obeyed… Hekkaren didn't even want to even begin to think what would've happened if they encountered these things without the maid as their escort.
It was a long walk, spent in utter silence, until a pair of maids from another hall came and fell in beside the pink-haired maid and began chatting amiably, as if Foresight was non-existent.
Each and every one of them were peerless beauties. Contradictory as it was, it was the only way Hekkeran, Roberdyck, and even Imina could think of when they saw them.
The pink haired maid treated the duo of maids very differently. While she was still expressionless, they could tell there was warmth in her voice that was absent when she was talking to them.
The trio bade farewell and parted as they saw, in a distance, a portcullis rose up to reveal a much brighter area beyond.
"Go there… You'll find what you're searching for."
CZ said, and they looked following her gaze.
Up ahead was erected a dark iron wall in the middle of the sands, and to their dark wall, was their comrade, wrapped in chains.
"Arche!"
The trio shouted and rushed past where CZ stood. Their attention was solely focused on Arche and they moved so quickly that they almost missed the two pairs of figures who stood beside their bound comrade.
One was a masked robed magic caster, and by his side was a dark-feather winged young man. On the opposite side of the wall was a devilishly handsome man- no, multi-winged devil, and to his side, a Goddess in the form of a demoness that personified a heavenly and bewitching beauty at the same time.
"Halt!"
The masked magic caster bellowed with a voice of thunder and held a gloved hand out over the forehead of their captive companion. In his other hand a golden staff of incalculable value snapped down to point at the trio in a gesture that could only be called threatening.
The waves of sand they kicked up as they ran stopped instantly, fear of what the unknown figures might do was visible on each of their faces and none of the three could even make an attempt to hide it.
The same noble voice then range out once more, the staff the mysterious caster held in his hand swept out in front of him, and the bright lights grew brighter as the flames of torches tripled in size, illuminating a vast number of stone golems serving as stand-ins for an audience.
"My name is Ainz Ooal Gown. Welcome to the Great Tomb of Nazarick; Our home."
The robbed magic caster spread his arms in a grand, welcoming gesture.
Arche's eyes widened as soon as he spoke.
"You guys… You… You came for me…Heh, I knew it… I knew you would…"
The little blonde caster said with a pride so great she was choked on the emotion.
And now, seeing the… beings before them, Hekkeran truly had no idea what to do. To fight the beings who had a servant that could crush him at a moment's notice was simply unthinkable.
Especially the multi-winged devil… It felt like he was looking straight into the darkest nights, a bottomless abyss, and an end to the infinite. A glance was enough to make it feel like the air was pushing him to the ground.
Imina came to the idea first and knelt, laying her bow beside her, bending one knee while the other bent back, and lowered her head.
"Lord Ainz… What do we have to do to get her back? Please… Whatever she has done to offend your mightiness and your friends… There must be some way to make it right."
Following her lead, Hekkeran and Roberdyck similarly laid their weapons in the sands while bowing their heads.
"Please, great lord… She has sisters that need her care. They've done nothing to you."
Hekkeran asked with the greatest humility he could muster.
"Her sisters are here as well, for the same reason she is."
Their eyes widened in shock at the revelation.
With the Furt's household burned down, they thought her sisters would've been engulfed in the flames as well.
The chains that bound Arche to the iron wall went taut and rattled as she yanked herself against them.
"Please! Just leave! Leave me be! Saying goodbye to you was my final request! You're my friends! My only friends! I don't want you to pay for my mistakes! Just be content with a goodbye! Stand up! Walk out of here! Our lives are over! Don't give up yours!"
"No."
Hekkerane replied with certainty, glaring at Arche through teary eyes, and the two others showed the same conviction.
'So you're a rich girl… Why would you be in a place like this?'
'Because I want to be an adventurer!'
"This place is for workers, little girl. Go use your daddy's pull to get you in there.'
'My father is who got me blacklisted from there… so it's either working or nothing, and I'm not just going to do nothing. Just give me a chance… ANd my name is not little girl. It's Arche. I'll be useful, I promise.'
"...Screw it."
Hekkeran snapped to the present and reached slowly for his sword.
"... To my understanding, if we could do well in a fight, you might let someone go."
"Hekkeran! Just… Why don't you listen to me one last time?! You don't have to do this!"
Arche shouted to where she was secured.
Then, from her side, Ainz raised his head to look past the trio.
"... Yuri, is there anyone left alive amongst the invaders?"
"No, my lord. Besides the three before you, everyone else has perished or wishing they were."
Ainz then turned his masked face back at the trio in the sands.
"Do you think you can win? Do you think you can even… entertain me?"
Ainz asked as if an ant had challenged him to an arm wrestle.
Then, from the side, the multi-winged devil stepped forward, the bell-like clinking of his jet-black and crimson armor resounding with every step. From his hand, a beautiful, celestial sword appeared, glowing in heavenly starlight, juxtaposing the darkness that he seemed to embody.
It was as if he was looking at not only death, but the eternal darkness that would welcome him soon after in its pitiless, bottomless eyes.
"No… But my comrade is over there. Her sisters are there. It doesn't matter. I can't simply walk away with them in danger! Whatever she did… even if she were to suffer from it… even if I can't fight… Let her walk out! And let me take her place!"
His every word, his promise was ripped out of his throat as if by hooks as he shot from his kneeling position to a stand to fight his adversary.
"If a fight is worthless, then take me instead! I'll make my goodbyes! Just let Arche and her sisters leave! Please… you've shown your power… Powers beyond mortal imagination. I beg you… Please show grace…"
"You wish to trade your one life for their three? I'm no merchant, but I know my numbers. One life is worth only that… One I will permit. Arche may leave and you may take her place, but her sisters…"
""I'll stay too!""
Imina and Roberdyck shot up in unison as they made their declaration.
"My Hekkeran is staying, so I would've stayed anyway. But if it could save my comrade's little sisters, fair trade… I was probably nearing the end of the road anyway."
"I am a priest, who would listen to a priest that would leave a child in merciless hands?"
Roberdyk asked rhetorically.
"There… you have your three lives. We will be substitutes for them. Whatever punishment she and her sisters were to suffer, we'll take for them. One life, for one life. That is what you said, isn't it, Mighty Lord?"
Hekkeran asked, words tumbled out in a frantic rush,
"Please… it costs you nothing. Play god with our lives and hers, alter their fates, I… I beg you."
A heavy silence. Then, the similarly heavy voice resounded once more.
"You have no idea what she has done. What tortures and horrible viles my servants may subject them to. And who knows how long they might go on? A day, a month, a year, perhaps even more than a lifetime."
"I… I understand. But still… my offer stands."
Hekkeran said, closing his eyes and bowing his head, both in conviction and surrender.
The twin swords fell into the sands from nerveless fingers.
"Hekkeran!"
Arche shouted.
"Imina… Roberdyck… You… dummies…"
She slumped her head to sob.
Their eyes were closed, those of Foresight's free members, waiting for the inevitable.
Which was why they heard the noise first."
A slow, but steady clapping sound. Two pairs.
Hekkeran's eyes fluttered open.
The source was… the magic caster and a multi-winged angel who stood where the devil of darkness was.
There was confusion. And just then, the bewitching demoness snapped her fingers, and the heavy iron chains dropped to the ground like heavy lead.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So it is said in the Gospel of Mark."
"What… I… I don't understand…"
Arche stepped down from the stand and rushed as fast as she could, diving into Hekkeran's arms and giving him a tight embrace around his neck.
"You did it!!! I told my masters that you would! I knew it!!!"
Arche shouted in an excitement that completely stunned the trio, her feet dangling just above the grounds as she held onto the still dazed and confused Hekkeran before planting a kiss on his cheek and dropping down to the sands again.
"I… Arche…?"
"W-What in the world is going on?!"
"It was a test."
Arche said and stepped back from Hekkeran so she could see her friends.
Then, she began explaining everything to them. Her father and mother's debts. The danger that was coming. The arrival of Sebas. The sale of her sisters into slavery that instead had them delivered to her now masters' hands, and her own vow of loyalty to the one who had saved them all.
"But… the fire? Your mansion…"
Hekkeran stammered, and Arche looked behind her to her masters.
"I didn't set a fire… Lords and mistress?"
"Nor did we."
Ainz answered on behalf of Yuuji, Aika, and Lelouch.
Arche bowed her head in silence for a moment.
"Then… it was probably my mother. She had her faults, but she loved my sisters. The thought of them being sold as slaves must've been too much for her. She probably burned down the house with herself inside to punish… her husband."
"Damn…"
Hekkeran whispered.
Arche then explained her training, the experiments that greatly increased her body and magical ability, and finally, the Supreme Beings' desire for loyal servants that were driven by more than personal gain.
"A talent can always be raised. Abilities, be nurtured. And experiences built. But ones loyalty and their nature, which has been molded since the beginning, would be much harder to change. And we wish to find those who think alike. Those who would choose their friends, their family, over any material gains in the world."
The multi-winged angel spoke, his golden eyes gleaming with brilliant stars and his hair shining with a divine halo. He waved his hands, and a refreshing summer breeze blew past them and their bodies glowed in golden light.
"This is…"
"Amazing…"
"A divine blessing…"
Hekkeran, Imina, and Roberdyck all looked around their bodies, and found all of their injuries, scars, illness, fatigue, old and new, all disappeared like it never existed, and rejuvenated their energies.
The cleric's eyes shone with a look of reverence as he beheld the holiness before him, and unconsciously held onto his holy symbol. This was the first time he had ever looked at a true God of Light, Healing, and Mercy in the eyes.
Meanwhile, Hekkeran and Imina looked at the angel in shock. They recalled the figure of the devil that seemed like a bottomless abyss before in his place.
"A-Aren't you… A devil?"
The angel simply smiled.
"I am. But I am also an angel. It's… a bit complicated. But I am both. And I am just like you."
As uneducated as they were in religion and those stuff compared to Roberdyck, Hekkeran and Imina could barely interpret the profoundness of his words. However, they still got the gist of it.
He's an angel, and at the same time, a devil. The embodiment of good, and the symbol of evil. And he's the same as them.
Perhaps, what he was trying to say was that humans could be an angel or a devil themselves. Everything depended on their thoughts and their actions.
Just then, the beautiful, celestial sword in his hand glowed brightly, momentarily blinding them. Then in its place, a small, beautiful, white-haired girl appeared hugging the angel by his waist.
"Master… Are we done…?"
Hekkeran, Imina, and Roberdyck could not even begin to comprehend what just happen. A sword turning into a… human? No… it's definitely not human. But even then, they've never heard of such a thing. They didn't even know such a thing could exist.
The angel smiled softly at the little girl, rubbed her head gently, and nodded.
"We're almost done. Wait just a bit more, okay?"
She nodded, and buried her face against his waist in a tighter hug before he turned towards the trio once again.
"Any questions?"
"W-What about… your sisters?"
Hekkeran asked.
"They're doing great. They're probably on the sixth floor playing in the lake. We got a little cabin there."
Arche said, and couldn't help but laugh when their jaws dropped when she casually mentioned the lake.
"And… What about us…? We're… not going to die or anything, really?"
Imina pressed.
"No. My masters want to offer you work, permanent work. Give them your oath, your absolute loyalty… and everything you feared will become a distant memory, while everything you ever hoped for will be in reach."
Arche said with an almost motherly warmth.
"...Why don't you just hire us? Why the theatrics? Why the "Arche the prisoner" routine?"
Hekkeran asked, his entire body felt completely drained of the will to even move, and he slowly sank to his knees again.
"To see if you were worth it. The rest of your counterparts wanted nothing but to steal, several even abandoned their own team members to die. If you had touched even one single coin… you would have joined them."
Ainz answered, and rapped his golden staff to the ground once.
"This precious tomb's wealth is more than just wealth. It is the many memories I built with my precious friends. It's one thing to use that wealth to bring greater glory to it. It is another to let thieves dirty my home with their footsteps and rob it blind."
Ainz took up his floating staff again and approached the kneeling leader, standing beside Arche, he removed his glove and held out his hand.
"I see… Well, Arche will still owe us a drink after all of this."
"So… you're… you're going to accept my masters' offer?"
Arche's voice went up a few notches in pitch and she clutched her staff like it was the only thing keeping her afloat after a shipwreck.
"Yes… we came all this way. If your masters value loyalty so much, value you so much… It's… we've traded worse odds. And if Erya died here, that is just further proof that this is the right choice."
Hekkeran replied,and looked over his shoulder.
"You with me?"
"Anywhere."
"Always."
The pair replied.
Hekkeran took Ainz's hand at the fingers and raised his face up to meet the mask the caster wore and spoke.
"Foresight, mighty lord, has always found its strength in mutual trust. More times than I can count, my comrades are why I lived, and each of us can say the same of the others. The words you recited a little while ago perfectly say what we've always held in our hearts, even if we didn't have a way to say them. Arche would never have gone this far, if it wasn't worthwhile many times over."
Hekkeran stopped for a moment, thinking of what to say best to voice his vow. But in the end, he chose to not use any flowery words he knew he wasn't eloquent enough to use, and simply spoke his mind and heart.
"I promise I mean every word… I vow myself, Foresight pledges itself, to your mighty names. We shall carry out your will until our bodies break and we can no longer move. Together."
Hekkeran kissed the ring of the Lord of the Tomb after his oath.
"Very well. The oath is made. Now, begin to prove you truly mean every word."
Ainz looked down at Arche, who immedialtey fell to one knee.
"Take your companions and… have a drink. Then, go to "the room" for their elevation. Lelouch, can I leave them to you?"
"At once, master."
"Yes. I'll oversee their elevation.
Then, with CZ leading them out of the Amphitheatre, Foresight left for the first drink they've had in a while.
"Yuuji, Aika, I think it's time for us to return to Re-Estize."
Yuuji and Aika nodded.
"Sure. We'll go first thing tomorrow, as planned."
"Okay~"
Ainz then used "Message" to contact Lupusregina.
["Lupusregina, see about the prisoners' fates and report back to me before we return to Re-Estize."]
["Yes, my lord. But… forgive me for asking, my lord. Re-Estize, is it? Not Carne?"]
["We will revisit the matters in Carne when things have progressed further. For now, we'll inform our "Ally" that the Kingdom of Nazarick had just been given its justification for war."]
AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please comment your thoughts~! I would love to hear what you think about it~!!!!
Also, if you'd like to read additional chapters ahead and get a pdf version (Light & Dark), please feel free to check out my at patr_eon.com/verglasx ~!
Thank you~!