As I lightly tugged at Frila's leather arm pads I felt some unexpected resistance from her end.
An uneasy expression had grown on her face and even her white-grey hair seemed to be blowing backward.
I was left muddled and confused.
What was wrong?
Red Dragon too noticed this anomaly in our opinions.
Frila realized the atmosphere and lightly removed my hand.
Her mouth opened in a strain as she met Red Dragon right in the eyes.
Her voice was that of a priest as she sent out strong words.
"Have you not considered that this could be another type of Barrier? Have you not even thought of this as a trap? Do you not realize that it is common knowledge that all -S- Rank Beasts gain sentience? This could be playing with food for monsters within the -Hollow- Rank. We can't take it at face value. We need to take the safe route or we'll be up there by dawn."
Frila's hands surfed upwards, inviting the white-wilted sky. Heaven was what I assumed she pointed to.
Red Dragon, who seemed to be extremely hooked on his own idea shot back swiftly. There was no anger in his voice but rather, determination and grit.
"Girl. You don't possess my experience or connections. I've met adventurers of all kinds who have walked upon Legacies. It always starts with an invisible barrier that requires all life forms to connect to it to function. It always does. I've never even heard of a Legacy that didn't use a barrier like this. I may not have studied great explorers' journals but I have heard from great explorers themselves. So what right do you have to make bland and false assumptions? Beasts are sentient. That is why legacies exist. Your own argument goes against you."
I let out a small pant of relief.
It wasn't a heated argument.
But more like a structured debate.
Red Dragon seemed to be relying on his experience as an -S- Rank Adventurer and Frila seemed to be relying on facts and reasonable assumptions.
Currently, I was currently siding with Red Dragon.
But that was mostly due to my timeframe, a bit of greed, and a synonymous desire to leave the Crow Kingdom as soon as possible.
Frila had very courteous points but it didn't sit right with me.
Playing with food?
Although I still wasn't 100% dead-set on the strength of the -Hollow- Rank that we had encountered just a few days ago. I was sure that after seeing Red Dragon's strength they wouldn't dare play with him.
Not after he had slayed 2 -S- Rank Beasts in a matter of days.
Most Dungeons in the -S- Rank had 1-3 S Rank Beasts. The anomaly of a Hollow was unperturbed according to Frila.
Whittling their numbers to 1 -S- Rank Beast at most should've engraved a harsh message.
Frila acknowledged Red Dragon and his experience before trying to swiftly dampen and end the discussion. Her frustration seeped through her curved words. Her eyebrows were at a subtle irritated angle during her entire action.
"Barrier Type EX4 EL."
She crouched down and placed a rosy hand in the snow.
Slowly drawing out smooth and artistic lines and boxes that intertwined and formed a half-symmetrical image. There was an error here or there but once could notice what she was aiming at.
There were 3 dots, representing us, and in front of 'us' was a rectangle. The barrier.
The Barrier connected to 5 different barriers.
Behind those 5 barriers were the treasure trove, the egg hive, the agriculture point, the exit, and the center.
Different parts of the dungeon I just had to assume.
Frila's voice seethed through the light air.
"Theoretically, we could get sent to the treasure trove. But even if we did get sent to the treasure trove, I highly doubt treasure would be what awaits us. And if a legacy is present, I'm 100% confident that -Hollow- Rank Legacies must be kept a secret at all costs. Meaning, that 2 of 'us' will have to be silenced. That is if we aren't all immediately silenced or sent to the center which will consist of the -Hollow- Rank's resting point anyways."
I had almost swept my legs upwards and downright fell hearing this.
So the heritage part, would be at the cost of 2 lives?
My hopes crumbed wildly. Soon becoming a dusty mess.
Every good point that had come from Red Dragon's plan seemed to have faltered and ultimately died out.
I turned my head left abruptly, hoping to see a disgruntled and accepting Red Dragon.
Yet I only saw two emotions creased onto Red Dragon's bloodied face.
Confusion. Audacity.
Red Dragon's words seemed to gaslight Frila as uncanniness was laced into his words.
"This barrier... you just made it up. There are only two barriers of the EX variant and neither of them possesses an EL at the end. If this was your creation, then good work. But it doesn't change anything here. How do you even know that this barrier exists outside your mind?"
I expected hard emotions and structured thinking from each side. But Frila responded too fast for any of that. It was as if the answer had been implanted into her mind. Ready to burst out at a moment's notice.
"Because my bloodline created the barrier. And my bloodline introduced it to the beasts."
Red Dragon couldn't hold back a scoff.
"Hmm."
My voice crept into the conversation before lurking down.
I could actually... see that happening.
Wasn't her bloodline a necromancy bloodline? Then it would only make sense for it to have connections with beasts pre-death.
Right?
Red Dragon's voice came out impending and untolerating.
"Don't makeup stories. If your bloodline created unheard of -S- Rank Barriers then my shoe invented shoelaces."
Frila remained neutral and refused to back down.
Red Dragon's figure was still planted onto the barrier.
"I haven't made up a thing. Centuries ago, the Lucius bloodline made a contract with cataclysmic beasts across the globe. Introducing improvements for their homes before their untimely deaths in return for service and alliances. It was terrible long ago, but I'm sure that it is somewhat historically relevant to you."
Frila's eyes swiped around Red Dragon's awkwardly twisted figure.
Red Dragon once again sighed.
"I haven't a clue of the Lucius Bloodline. I don't even know if half of what you see is indeed truthful. Explain to me what the Lucius Bloodline is, and how I ought to know that you are derived from it."
His voice was now inexplicably tired and impatient.
Our figures were all in quite awkward positions. The only oddities in the flawless white.
My figure rocked from side to side, unsure of which to lean to. Frila was backing away whilst occasionally stepping forward. Red Dragon was currently somewhat uncomfortably twisting his body so he could keep his eye contact with Frila.
Frila cleared her throat before attempting to give her best performance.
"Let's remain blissfully ignorant of the intensive information that I know. The fact that I know more about this world than you shall ever imagine. Let's stray from my specific information clauses that far outmatch your experience. Just let me show you something. Something exclusive to the Lucius bloodline. One of the very things that the Crow Kingdom begs for."
Her voice carried bitter spite as she lifted her middle finger.
Expecting Red Dragon to get horridly offended, I was wrong.
It seemed as if 'that' didn't exist here.
Soon, a tiny and obsolete black flame furrowed within itself from the tip of her middle finger.
It was just a normal raging fire, but black and slightly more volatile. Although it may have had offensive capabilities, it seemed to have quite a short lifespan when used as such.
Red Dragon shared my curiosity as his head leaned in to get a better view.
As our eyes scanned this miscellaneous flame, Frila's now somewhat prideful voice broke into the atmosphere.
"The flame that all undead crave. This flame can make even the strongest undead fall to their knees. The card of the Lucius Bloodline that led to its own demise. The flame that can send a boned man to heaven. The flame only capable of being produced by the Lucius Family. Specter of Vade. An unfitting name for what it actually is. Nevertheless, you won't ever find another person with this black flame."
Her throat clogged at the end of her speech.
Red Dragon, though slightly mesmerized still allowed some rough words to slide out from his mouth.
"And why is that?"
Frila looked at him blankly.
"Because I am the Last of the Lucius Bloodline."
Red Dragon's aggression shrunk slightly.
Giving a slow-pitying gaze that soon dissipated he nodded calmly.
"I see."
Frila took it as the normal reaction.
But the two now had to come to a decision.
Would they trust experience and a sprinkle of golden luck for their endeavors?
Or would they rely on ancient teachings, history , and an almost guaranteed safety net to get back without more injury, death, or treasure?
I found the two's eyes wandering toward me.
Distancing themselves from their heated clash.
Eh?
My body attempted to shrivel up but I stood strong.
Why me, however?
Red Dragon spoke solemnly.
"The choice is yours, Brala. As neither of us will shift. I wholeheartedly swear that I will abide by the decision you make. Be it in my best interests or not."
Frila joined his parade.
"I'm with him. I will join the endeavor that may lead to certain death rather than leave 2 to die."
I felt my back against a formless mental wall.
Potential Death but I could end this journey right here.
Or to just take the easy route and get a rewardless mission.
I needed time to think.
But the -S- Rank mission abortion option would be any minute.
If I decided too late, an option would be forced upon us.
I didn't enjoy the legacy part, the idea that 2 must die. However, Red Dragon hadn't experienced of anything of the such happening.
Could Frila's Lucius Bloodlines knowledge be not entirely accurate?
It had been centuries.
My body shifted to and fro.
Unsure of what to do, I felt the need to flip a coin.
"Got anything with two sides?"
My voice came out rather sullenly.
I sounded like quite the bafoon in their knowledgeable debate.
Frila handed me a piece of paper from her book.
It was from the end pages. The blank ones.
On one side, was a mindless scribble.
On the other side, was an empty beige page.
I ramped up my right arm and prepared to throw it. Thanking Frila subtly.
"Thanks."
Announcing my decision to the bumbled Red Dragon and Frila, I gave them no time to react.
"If it's scribbles, we seek treasure. If it's empty we seek home. 3.2.1."
My arms threw themselves upward.
The beige paper flipped in the air disastrously.
As it came to a close, wavering from side to side my eyes widened.
Red Dragon's voice cut by me.
"Oh?"
The Dusty and unfinished stages of the docks were once again bumbling with -S- Rank monsters.
They were 7. To their behind, stood the Black Emperor. But his mysteriously shifting darkness was the least of their worries.
Hearing of the defeat of the tanky Behemoth had frightened some of the weaker beasts. The beasts who knew they didn't hold a candle to the behemoth's tenaciousness. The beasts who had been slightly fearful since the death of Salem, the Yeti.
Every single beast was to an extent, wary. The phoenix, in human form, let his Azure hair roll down his shoulders calmly.
His face was strict and controlled as he eyed the barrier.
His mouth was irked as he shouted to the one behind him.
"When will they arrive, Crowned One."
The Black Emperor met faces with the Phoenix. For his eyes lurked in the darkness.
"Soon. They are not fools who cannot see a barrier through touch."
His voice felt clunky and uncaring.
The Phoenix grew tired of the timid and silent atmosphere. In a strong effort to reinstate confidence in his fellow beasts, he allowed a royal and majestic influx of blue-yellow flames to swarm his right arm.
As vicious and elegant flames coated his right arm, swirling and mixing to become dense and crazed the dirty colors were brightened significantly.
The other beasts gazed in brilliance and with newfound grit, began preparing their own powers.
A small and slowly expanding sea of a multitude of affinities soon grew. From blazing fire to whining tides. From spiritual-dragon's to bone bolts.
The Phoenix held his right hand out in the gesture of a flick.
Once his finger was released, a storm of blue and yellow would thrash and scorch those before it.
The already weakened adventurers wouldn't last 2 seconds.
Despite the sea of natural abilities and affinities that had begun booming, bursting, and riling. No enemy came through.
The only sound was that of snapping vines and crumbling earth.
The Phoenix could no longer turn his head back, as he controlled the blazing mess on his right arm. He spoke with more irritation than before.
"Crowned One. Are you confident that they WILL indeed arrive?"
The Black Emperor silently scoffed.
"Time will tell. And I shall know."
The Phoenix stubbornly staled at this reply.
The morale of the beasts of supreme peaks weakened.
They, who would've been considered a calamity in every other dungeon...
Were being ignored?
They could not allow anger to engulf them, forced to weakly restrain their powers they seethed with rage internally. Their faces going a multitude of shades to show their humiliation.
As the beasts questioned the situation, they all soon dispersed with a meek hand swayed by the Black Emperor.
They had no ideals to waste their time and continue accepting disrespect from mere humans.
Fortunately, it was past the little girl's bedtime. Allowing the Black Emperor to take on the more serious matters.
Only the Phoenix and the Black Emperor remained.
The Phoenix sighed silently as the brandishing flames on his right arm were washed away by stale and lucid air.
The Phoenix did not interact with the Black Emperor, whose crown was being sucked into his head but merely watched as the Black Emperor completely ignored his surroundings.
With a hand on his chin, his rusted and aged voice caused the surroundings to stumble.
"Interesting."
"To find such a flame here..."
The Phoenix gave him two distasteful glances before pridefully strolling out.
The Black Emperor could not care less.
For he had found something far better than an unusually powerful human.
He had found remnants of the old age.
The Specter of Vade.
El Lucius.
Memories cast like curses strapped his mind down.
Placing a heavy grip on the front of his head the Black Emperor calmed.
The Old Age had passed.
It was gone.
But it had left a little behind.
He grimaced mouthlessly.
And as his figure blended into darkness, two silver eyes spread ripples across the dungeon.
Shining in the palpable black like radiant white-blazing fireflies squashed and molded.
"A Lucius."
A faint hiss rang out.
"You're all supposed to be dead."
His eyes crossed the Dungeon swiftly.
Directly blasting to the last known location of the Lucius by the barrier.
He scanned for any signs of recent life.
He saw trails and sunken footsteps but nothing more.
He saw an oddity in the color variants but was only met with more crippling disappointment
Finding only an empty beige sheet of paper lying face down on the snow he sighed, closing his eternal eyes.
He had taken too long and the group had vanished.
"But still..."
His figure's natural darkness affinity pranced in the abrupt halt of light.
"It's still here. The Old Age is still here."
A strong idea stagnated in the Black Emperor's mind.
"Then... could he still be-?"
The Black Emperor's figure was instantly consumed by a warping spatial rift, a distorting sound formed and cursed his figure down into the snow.
A strong magnetic pull dragged his deathly and haunting figure out of the rift, and into the snow.
A miniture burst of snow ensued.
As the last of the snow spluttered onto the ground his eyes had released themselves from their binds once more.
He did not cough or splutter but simply gazed intently down.
His hands grasped an empty beige sheet tightly, holding it to his chest.
Like an old love, he muttered the following words.
Like the thing, he wanted most.
It was all he needed to die. All he needed to return.
His eyes shut firmly, the silence only made the spikes flowing across his face eerier.
Darkness wrapped around his figure, putting both him and the sheet of paper in a well-rounded cocoon of luminous black.
"Old... Age."
"Wait for me."
The Old Age could return.
That was all the Black Emperor needed to settle into a short rest. A rest that would be followed through with blood and blades.
A follow-through that would return the thing he wanted most. Loved most. Needed most.
The Old Age could return.
And so could the rest of the Black Emperor.