It was quite dark. Actually, really dark. I could not see anything at all. I can't even feel anything. I do however heard a voice calling for me...
"White...get up..." It was a voice I know so well.
I wasn't even able to speak back to her. But she kept on calling for me.
"Get up, White...get up..." she continues.
I felt a warm sensation all over my body. There's like a warm feeling on my lips.
My thoughts begins to fade away once I heard, "Get...the fuck up, White." That's not Zenith.
My vision finally returned as I continuously blinked my eyes until my vision gets clearer. Two person were looking at me, one of them was way closer. It came to my realization that it was Izzy Nova Crystalist.
"White..." she sounded like she was about to cry.
I slowly woke up, "Izzy...? What happened?" Then I saw Azreal and asked him, "What just happened, Az?"
Azreal was not looking at me. In fact, he looked a bit irritated.
He simply shakes his head and told me, "Lucky bastard..."
"What...?" I was confused.
I looked at myself and noticed that I was completely wet. I look next to me and saw a river. I finally remembered that the three of just took a long dive from the Queen's castle. But what exactly does Azreal mean by being lucky? Hold on, don't tell me.
But before I was able to say anything, Izzy proceeds to hug me, "Thank, The Great Will. You're alright." Tears started to drop from her eyes.
At the end of the day, I decided its best not to question it at all and move on. I should just let her calm herself for now. I'm sure I've already hurt her enough but there is still other important matters to attend to.
I looked at Azreal and asked, "Are we safe yet, Az?"
He shakes his head, "Not yet. We're not even remotely out of the kingdom. We got a bad news though."
"What is it?" I wondered while Izzy was still hugging me.
He told me, "All AIs have become too crazy. They've started to attack anything except their AI buddies with no remorse. The kingdom is in flames."
"What of the commanders and Pantheons?" I asked.
"I can't say for sure what happened with The Goblin Gang and Sam. But I saw the other commander escaping the kingdom. They've probably on their way back to their own city considering what is happening right now."
"So even the other city is affected..." I looked down.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here." Azreal began to prepare himself.
I nodded, "Yeah, sure."
I looked at Izzy who remained stationary. I assured her by gently tapping her back. Then I slowly and carefully pushed her away from me. After letting go of the hug, I see that her makeup was falling apart thanks to her weeping as well as jumping down into the water.
"Maybe it's time to let go of that makeup." I told her. "You've never worn makeup back in high school, yeah?"
She wipes her tears as she slightly laughed, "Oh shut up, Player 2." She bashfully punched my chest.
"You done cheating yet, White?" Azreal interrupts.
"Wha-Wait. No! It's a misunderstanding!" I tried to find an excuse.
"Sure, whatever. Come on. We still gotta get out of this place." Azreal brought out his scythe from his Dimensional Inventory.
Izzy and I finally got up as both of us also brought out our own weapons.
I asked Izzy just in case, 'Where's Danielle? Isn't he supposed to be looking out for you?"
"He'll find me eventually. In the meantime..." all of sudden, she took advantage of the situation, "...you should be looking out for me."
I reluctantly replied, "As long as there is no more touching...that's enough, right?"
"Well..." She reconsiders, "I think I've had enough already. So I can handle this."
A bunch of swords and blades started to appear behind Izzy. If I have to recall, Izzy is able to form a bunch of magical swords and control it on her own while still holding onto one sword. A cool ability.
We then looked at the road that was filled with AIs that have been out of control. We stretched out our legs and arms as the three of us charges to the chaotic road. Azreal cut through all of the AIs in front of him without any remorse. Izzy jumps and reigned in a rain of swords to oncoming AIs. Meanwhile, I carefully cut through the AIs throat using my prized dagger as I continued to remain at running speed.
The three of us continued to fight against the current as we made our way to the exit of the kingdom. Moments later, we've finally reached the gateway. However, more AIs have started to surround us from both side. To make matters worse, apparently even the animals and monsters have started to become the AIs allies.
"Isn't this great?" Azreal yelled.
"Great? This is horrible." I shouted back as the three of us backed off.
"Are you two this useless?" Izzy mocked us.
She then arranged her swords to spin around and form a tornado motion. It was a tornado made out of swords. I decided to help her out by combining it with my wind elemental magic. The two combining magic have started to cause the swords to shine brighter.
Izzy and I then unanimously shouted, "Fusion Reactor!"
Izzy executes the fusion reactor, "Winds of Annihilation!"
The tornado got bigger as it envelop our surroundings. The swords shredded through all of the surrounding AIs. Before we know it, the AIs as well as the fires have subsided thanks to us.
"Did we do it?" asked Izzy.
Unfortunately, I had to tell them the bad news, "Not enough, apparently."
We looked outside of the kingdom and saw hundreds of ravenous AIs and monsters were running towards us. Izzy and I had already used up a lot of our energies. We barely can try to do any other spectacle after this. It was then Azreal's time to step in.
"What are you doing, Azreal?" Izzy wondered.
"Hey, White. I'm sure you've been wondering and waiting all this time." Azreal was being cryptic.
"Explain, Az."
"Well...let me tell you something..." He smiled.
Black fiery auras started to envelop him. The grounds around us started to exert out black miasma from it.
Izzy covered her nose from the smell, "Urgh, this smells like...death bodies."
Azreal continued, "You see...I came across this thing during the conquest at our academy in our 1st semester. You weren't there because you were busy at Gemhold, right?"
"What did you find...?" I asked
The ground began to rumble and then it came, a bone arm started to raise from the ground. The arm then proceeds dig up further as finally reveals a skeletal figure raised from the ground. More of them have started to appear all around us as the black miasma continues to flow all over us.
Azreal finally told me his secret, "I found a Dragon Infinitum Crystal. And I ate it of course..." He smirked.
So from what I can understand, Azreal has the ability to raise a skeletal army because he was able to find a Dragon Infinitum Crystal. And he found and ate it way back during the 1st semester. I guess telling him my secrets very early on kinda motivates him to do the same thing especially when the item is right in front of you.
"Godamned, Azreal...What kind of dragon is helping you..." I wondered.
He shrugs, "I'm not sure. But I was able to remember a skeletal dragon. It had no flesh at all but it talked to me in my dreams. And this ability? Thanatology."
Thanatology...derived from the word Thanatos which is the personification of death. That's a nice name you got there. Here I thought this magnificent loser would continue to disappoint me, but here I am now being saved by him. With that being said, six ancient dragon incarnations have been revealed. Only one remains...until then, we look to the future and await for what is to come.
TO BE CONTINUED