They reached a great wall. The duo was blown away again as cherry blossom petals came out of the room.
Kissenn had awakened first, but she was in the infirmary, and then in the room where Ellianor slept, she hadn't time to see all the pretty rooms.
As for Ellianor, his eyes were filled with wonder. The wood-like floor, the traditional oriental tables and kotatsus, as well as cherry blossoms growing from the walls.
Artificial light meant to emulate the daylight came from every direction in the room. It was filled with people.
Fifteen as far as he could see. Some were sleeping, while one lonely sharpened his blade over a secluded corner.
Others used computers or played games on a floating television.
A large tank was on one end of the room, some sort of translucent egg encased by liquid, a humanoid form lingered against the glass.
She was humanoid but lacked any sort of hair or even external organs beyond a vaguely womanly shape.
She did not have hair, but a strange cloud of tissue on her head emulated it pretty well.
She moved her hand aggressively against the glass, while a guy rested against it with a television floating before them.
They were playing a racing game with spaceships.
Others were more chill, sleeping in the kotatsu or just using laptops to do their things.
"Oh? It seems the old man has returned with them… So?" One man jumped from a bench, he walked towards them with a smile.
His hair was green and his eyes red. Contrary to the conservative outfit of Urien, he wore something out of a cyberpunk story, or a cosplay.
Baggy pants with a black t-shirt that revealed his navel, a cropped jacket, and a belt with gadgets and tools Ellianor failed to recognize. "Oh, I see that those guys survived. So, how are you? I was the guy on the radio. By the way, what we will do with them?"
"They will be staying. Consider them our new recruits. I will be overseeing their first… field mission before returning to my usual missions." The duo stared at Urien with surprise since there was nothing said about field missions.
Everyone, save those sleeping, and the guy playing with the woman in the tank, stopped to watch them.
"I see." Said the man sharpening his blade, his purple-red gaze on them, fierce and intense, but with a closer inspection, Ellianor could say that he was not directly looking at them, but at Urien in specific.
"It ramps us to what now?" The cyberpunkish man chirped while Urien threw his suit in the air, letting it vanish into particles.
"Thirty." The duo was taken by surprise. It was a big space station, how could only thirty people live in it? It made no sense with how big it was, and they just went through some rooms and corridors.
"Oh well, that's good. Hey, my name is Sylas, codename Vulture. Nice to meetcha!" Urien was shoved out of the way by Sylas, almost flying to the ceiling as the man eagerly held his hand forward.
Kissenn stepped forward and grabbed his hand in a handshake. "Nice to meet you too, I am Kissenn." She smiled sweetly.
"Thank you for your good intentions back on the other space station."
The one who felt awkward was Ellianor, her wording left nothing to be desired. 'You tried to help us but failed in the end.' It was a roundabout and pretty way of saying that the way to hell was paved with good intentions.
Even Sylas noticed it, his face turning a shade of green similar to his hair as he recalled what happened back in the space station.
She dropped his hand and made way for Ellianor to grab the cyberpunkish man's hand, and so he did.
"I am Ellianor, I am glad for the support you offered back there." While it did nothing on the best take and sent them to a death trap they were unaware of the worst take, he was glad for the help that the man tried to give.
"Heh, you two were brave out there." Brave was a great flattering, at best they had blind luck, and a bunch of circumstances aligning their way.
'Like Testament's bloody ripper mode, and the strange fire Kissenn used.' The "super" mode she achieved was a lifesaver, he doubted they could have survived without that, and even with it, they almost died.
'The eclipse doing whatever it did was the last bit of luck we had in that combat.' That said much about how bad things went south back there. 'We are damn lucky for surviving. Besides… what happened to Testament?'
He had yet to see what happened to it. Ellianor opened his inventory with a thought.
[ITEMS:
TESTAMENT (??? - CURREN STATUS: UNKNOWN): A STONE BLADE…]
That would be a problem. "Hey. I had a sword back in the Space Station, do any of you know what happened to it?" Everyone's gaze turned to Urien, who arched an eyebrow.
Ellianor looked at him with expectancy to see the stone blade back. "Don't luck at me like that. I am not hoarding. It was sent to Kingdom Come by the space rift opened by Magnamonte."
The blow was big, and Ellianor felt a bit sad about losing the sword he was handed. His face almost looked astray.
"Damn it." Urien sighed before a portal opened, and he tossed the black blade for the black-haired man.
The black-haired man was almost taken down by the blade. "It is not Testament, but it will suffice…"
Urien muttered under his breath. "That blade used to be mine before it was stolen by the architect. Take good care of it and don't lose it like Testament, or leave it be stolen by her since you two know each other.."
It a distraught sigh, the blond went for one of the kotatsu, hiding underneath it, a strange noise, almost like a shriek came from the kotatsu. Sylas facepalmed.
"Pardon the old man, he is a bit protective of his property. Anyway, it is good to see that blade again." Sylas smiled, as the black sword turned its edge to him.
He backed down immediately.
'Who the hell is the architect?'