Norman apologized for his idiotic comment and coughed. Auclair shook his head in disapproval.
"But how do you know it's going to be dangerous in there?"
Norman asked with an inquisitive look.
"Because." Auclair replied simply.
"Because…?" Norman urged him to continue on.
"Because where else would an entitled, self-absorbed king go besides that super pretentious room." Auclair pointed to the fancy door with the paintings.
"That's a good point." Norman admitted.
"Uh-huh!" Connie nodded her head as if she understood.
"Hmm."
Auclair looked at the Regret with some interest before deciding to head down the hall. Once he began walking, Norman and Connie quickly followed behind him.
With each step however, Auclair grew more aggravated.
'The outer god's influence is stronger than I thought it'd be. Even if it is a weakling compared to us, it's probably trying to descend. Although I guess I'm probably the weakest god around at the moment.'
The growing distortion on his threads of fate gave rise to concern. He even doubted how safe he would be in a fight as well as Norman despite having the Regret lingering around him.
Auclair stopped walking and briefly checked Norman's thread of fate. He saw it continuing into the room so it seemed he'd be safe, at least temporarily.
Auclair let out a heavy sigh and prepared himself. With renewed vigor, he stood himself before the fancy door that gave out an ominous and foreboding aura. Auclair's eyes grew heavy and his hand slowly reached out to open the door.
He gripped the doorknob that was embellished with fancy gems and slowly pulled it open.
He peered into a dimly lit room and saw dozens of people kneeling on the floor in prayer with their heads low and their hands raised high. At the end of the room was a large eye that had concentrated lighting on it, as if the humans inside only cared for the eye and nothing else.
The eye seemed to be rooted deeply into the stone wall. It slowly flickered open.
The frail king that had previously ran away was kneeling directly before the eye and had his hands just before it. Upon noticing the eye open, he raised himself quickly and grabbed an astonishingly beautiful cup and held it under the eye's eyelid.
A shockingly red liquid started forming at the edge of the eye and fell like a tear. As quickly as it began, it ended, and the eye slowly closed itself.
The king stared into the cup with greedy eyes. He turned to the rest of the people in the room which was comprised solely of giants. Every single giant in the room was a crimson soldier with their helmet laying on the floor in front of them.
They were the best of the best.
Auclair's eyes drew to a slit and he watched the king in silence.
"I-I have finally been blessed! Watch me brothers and sister as I take the plunge and join our supreme father in the beyond!"
The king yelled as he raised his trembling hand which housed the tear-filled cup. He placed it before his lips without a shred of hesitation and started gulping down the fluid.
After finishing the drink, he ripped the glass away from his mouth and looked around the room. His eyes eventually made their way to the cup in confusion, then to himself.
"I-I… what… I don't understand." His head tilted slightly.
The king coughed a mouthful of blood and fell to the floor. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as blood started dripping out of the pores on his face.
"Shit!" Auclair cursed and burst into the room.
The eye instantly opened and everyone in the room looked back in shock. The crimson giants quickly grabbed their helmets and threw them on. However Auclair ignored them and quickly reached the king.
He threw his foot down onto the king's head crushing it instantly. The rest of the giants finally managed to get up and began running after Auclair.
"Enough!"
Auclair heard another voice, not from the king, nor from the giants. It was the eye.
"My kin, stay yourselves…"
The eye telepathically conveyed to everyone before widening itself and scrutinizing Auclair's bloodstained appearance. The room grew silent as the giants looked at each other in confusion.
After a moment, the eye distorted into a crescent shape showing off its glee.
"Such a weak little god appearing before me? How delightful!"
The eye rolled around between its eyelids with giddiness.
"You've all abandoned your domain and now I can see why! How rather embarrassing! But I don't mind the meal."
'Abandoned our domain?' Auclair caught onto what the eye had said in passing.
The eye narrowed and glared at Auclair.
The king's headless body started twitching freakishly and rose after a bit of struggle.
It ceased its movement before it raised its hand and pointed at Auclair. Its muscle began rapidly expanding and then showed significant mass, far removed from its previous frail self.
[Take the ring from the fraudulent king.]
Just as Auclair was getting prepared to fight, his broken system shoved itself into his face with a reminder. Auclair frowned slightly and quickly tried to look at the threads of fate but they were completely corrupted.
He looked at the ring on the king's finger and felt a strange feeling. His eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed in confusion.
Then the king suddenly twitched and Auclair found himself getting flung across the room in severe pain. He crashed to the floor and the giants who stood above him watched with hostile gazes.
However they didn't start attacking him due to their god's previous command.
Auclair quickly rose and found his nose was bleeding and his mouth was filled with blood.
"Hah- My blood tastes like shit. Guess that means I'm a hypocrite." Auclair smiled at the large eye in the wall and spit blood onto the floor.
The king seemingly teleported in front of Auclair and struck him in the stomach. Auclair was launched into the air, but quickly grabbed the king's arm and twisted it.
Contrary to his expectations, the emotionless reanimated corpse didn't care about the pain that the original king might've felt. When Auclair realized that, he clicked his tongue in annoyance before getting hit again.
Auclair was laid out onto the floor with a groan. He forced himself up and suddenly saw Connie climbing onto the king's body and tearing into it in rage.
Auclair's eyes widened and he quickly made his way over as Connie was finally hit away by the king. The king stumbled back and inspected its headless body.
It had deep cuts all over its arms which it had received when it defended itself. It proceeded to ignore Auclair and angrily turned its body towards Connie and practically teleported to her.
In actuality, the king wasn't teleporting, just moving with blinding speed. Auclair tackled Connie to the ground and shielded her with his body.
"Protect your brother." He whispered to her before getting hit in the side.
Auclair was send crashing into the wall with a dull thud. Dust fell from the ceiling as he gritted his teeth. He sat up and immediately realized his side was bleeding heavily.
'When was the last time I was beaten up like this I wonder…?' He thought as he placed pressure on his wound.
The king appeared before Auclair, forgetting about Connie immediately.
Auclair gave the partially possessed corpse a toothy grin. Its body twitched and bent over, grabbing Auclair by the neck and raising him high.
Its grip quickly began tightening but Auclair didn't bother defending himself. He kept his shit-eating grin adorned on his face even with his slowly fading consciousness as he watched two people sneaking around the room.
The king suddenly let go of Auclair causing him to fall to the floor with a gasp and a cough.
The king turned its body and saw Norman stabbing the large eye that had been distracted with watching Auclair.
Before the king could go defend the eye, Auclair grabbed the king's arm with all of his might.
The king didn't bother looking back and tried urgently tugging its arm away while watching the two youngsters stab its master's eye. Connie started cutting deep into the eye causing the king to force out even more might in its muscles.
When it found itself unable to move despite its fierce struggle, it looked back at Auclair and found his face even more bloody than before.
He blew a little kiss towards the king before opening his mouth. The king took a step back and looked at its hand which was now missing a finger and a ring.
Auclair spit the finger out but kept the ring in his mouth.
The king froze and looked back and forth between the two humanoids stabbing its master and the man with its ring. It clenched its fist and slammed it towards Auclair's face in anger and desperation.
Auclair took a blind bet and dodged the attack with pure instinct.
"What are you doing you fool!" The eye shrieked out telepathically to its puppet. The king ignored its master and started trying its hardest to kill Auclair.
Auclair was hit into the giants with such a force that two giants died on impact. Auclair leaned over and threw up a bucket worth of blood before laughing.
"Can't even have a puppet work properly? You little shits disgust me." Auclair said with vehement revolt directed towards the eye.
"Stay your wicked tongue!" The eye snapped back before focusing onto its rampant puppet.
Auclair looked back at all his blood that laid upon the cold floor and lifted himself up. He looked towards the king that was stumbling around in agony back and forth between the eye and Auclair.
It wanted to ignore its master and kill Auclair but what kind of master would allow a servant to do such a thing.
Auclair spit the ring out onto his hand and eyed it with suspicion.
'It's a Memory… but why do I feel like its so much more than that?'
Auclair contemplated for a moment before looking back at the state of the room.
The human and the Regret were currently stabbing the outer god which was currently taking the form of an eye. It wouldn't be enough to kill the god, but since they're a lesser god it would at least injure them.
The giants weren't allowed to do anything by the god's decree. They must've also drunken the tear which practically makes them property of the god, but also gives them strength.
Then there was the king who for some reason was resisting the god's will simply for the ring.
Auclair closed his eye and came to a decision.
"My kin, go! Kill the wretched trespassers!"
Just as the god shouted, the giants sprung into action and Auclair threw the ring onto his finger.