'D-divine…?'
Aurora could not deny what she was looking at. If there was any word to describe it, that would indeed be the word.
Divine!
A massive willow tree stood before Aurora, its height at least a thousand meters. Its leaves formed a canopy that completely blocked the evening sun, casting a shadow of inescapable darkness on her.
Compared to her willow tree that was barely fifty meters tall, the massive epitome of nature that stood before her quenched any vestige of defiance he had left.
'Ahh…'
All her sisters had slumped to the ground, instantly rendered unconscious, merely due to the presence of the Tree.
Her own Willow Tree shuddered, its branches shivering as they fell to the ground in defeat. It recognized the one before it as unquestionably superior.
Before her very eyes, the Willow Tree fell asleep.
Aurora found herself on her knees, viewing the flowers that painted the air, not just the ground with their amazing colors. The petals created a three-dimensional canvas of astonishing beauty.
A beauty she could not dream of replicating.
Then, she saw the man of darkness. He stood directly in front of her. She hadn't even noticed when he closed their distance.
As she gazed upon him, viewing his amazing work of nature in the background, she felt into a reverie.
'Who is he? A Divine Being? Im-Impossible!'
The Oracle was one who spoke on behalf of Nature, and they considered them divine. If this man was on the same level, then…
'No… THAT IS BLASPHEMY!'
But, it was impossible to think of him as anything else as she stood before his magnificent presence.
'It makes sense why he was able to break the defenses of The Ashen Staff and he wasn't affected by my [Sleepy Garden]... if he is indeed, but…'
Aurora felt her mind getting fried, just thinking about the man before her. She felt her body grow weak in his presence, and as she inhaled deeply, she smelled the sweetest, most potent aroma she had ever taken in.
She was… overwhelmed.
'T-This… IT'S TOO MUCH!'
She felt like she was going insane, just from processing the sweet and intense flavor that came from Ralyks.
Drool fell from her mouth, and snot dripped from her nose. Tears streamed down her face and she felt her vision grow dull.
Aurora was falling unconscious, and she knew it instantly.
'... O' Oracle… why did you not tell us of this being?' Her thoughts flowed as she closed her eyes and fell into the soft embrace of flowers.
She could not smell the aroma of the flowers, or anything else for that matter. Only the man's scent filled her senses.
It completely overrode her mind.
'I have transgressed… against a Divine One…'
***********
Rey felt a little guilty as he stared down at Aurora's completely broken face.
'Did I go too far?' He wondered to himself. 'I only activated the Spell. I didn't even do anything yet.'
To think the mere manifestation of his Spell would cause everyone to fall asleep…
'I just wanted to flex a little. Now that they're unconscious, I can't just leave them like this.'
As much as he wanted to, he thought against it.
'They're all Lawful Good, so it would be irresponsible for me to do something like this to them.'
Rey didn't know why they had such a deep-rooted animosity towards Esme, and immense disregard for humans, but he knew that Aurora didn't attack him directly even though she could have.
'Those branches would have restrained me, and her [Sleepy Garden] Spell would have put me to sleep.'
In essence, they weren't going to harm him.
'It seems like their target was just Esme. Must be due to some Elf stuff that I can't understand.'
Even after thinking all of this, Rey still would have left them be. However, he saw something in their Status Window that made him second-guess his decision.
~... Help Them.~
'The System is telling me to help them. Just like Esme…'
Rey genuinely just wanted to take his prize and withdraw from the scene, but he didn't know what would happen if he ignored the System.
Plus, by choosing to help Esme, it brought some good things to him.
'I'm still expecting some kind of proper Side Quest Reward, but I don't know when it's going to come.'
After all, the System still told Rey to help Esme.
"Sigh… this is so annoying!" Rey mumbled to himself as he looked at Aurora.
He dispelled his Spell upon seeing that her own Spell had shriveled way and vanished.
"What is the issue, Sir Ralyks?" Aldred came close and asked with a confident smile on his face.
He joined Rey in looking at the fallen body of Aurora, reaching for her staff.
'You don't need to call me that now, you know?' Rey thought to himself as he watched Aldred reach for the Ashen Staff.
~BZZZTTZZ!~
As soon as he touched it, a pulse of energy shot from it, instantly repelling Aldred's hand.
"Ow… that stung." Aldred gazed at his burned hand, watching as smoke rose from its surface.
Despite saying this, there was no look of pain on his face. Instead, he was still smiling. Within a few seconds, he recovered from the injury, so his relaxed attitude made more sense.
"That's what you get for touching what's not yours." Rey shook his head and made a mock sigh.
"It wouldn't have been a problem if I—"
"Yeah, I know. In any case, can I leave you to handle the rest from here?" Rey asked, staring straight at Aldred.
For a moment, there was silence between them.
Aldred slowly looked in Esme's direction, and then noticed that Rey was already doing the same—perhaps a few seconds before he did.
"I understand." He bowed his head and smiled. "Leave the rest to me."
"Thanks." Rey smiled.
He was looking at Aldred's face, and Aldre's physique, but the one he addressed wasn't the Broker from the KariBlanc Group, neither was he the son of Rebal.
He was something else entirely.
"Till we meet again, Ater." Rey tapped the shoulder of the bowing man and softly stroked his hair before walking away.
"I expect to see good results."
The bowed head went even lower, and a deeper voice replaced the timid tone from earlier.
"I will not disappoint you… Master."