The third and last warrior we meet inside the tower is a woman called Nylian. A tall redhead with a sharp look in her eyes. She also wears similar armor to the other two but it's the bracelet on her left arm that is connected to somewhere in the middle of the tower.
In silence, we walk through the hallway, our steps echoing around the hall. Walls on each side are painted with beautiful sceneries of mountains, forests, or lakes, and are lit by lights at the ceiling that brighten the hallway reminiscent of daylight.
We reach something that I quickly identify as an elevator and step in, only for the elevator to start moving upwards, slowly but without any shake. It's to the point it almost feels as if the world around us is sinking down.
Out of nowhere, Edwal giggles but quickly stops. The other two ignore it as if it's something they've gotten used to.
“How long do you think they will last?” the tall man called Aias asks redhead Nylian.
The woman looks all over and even sends some mana toward us, “Few hundred years? The one with differently colored eyes will probably last much longer, I know his type.” She then shrugs her shoulders.
[Ethereal Battlemage - lvl ??]
“Nylian, that's quite rude to say in front of our guests,” Edwal keeps smiling and turns to me, “Apologies for my colleague, Nathaniel. She can be quite rude sometimes, however, she is a great servant of the king.”
“I guess, sorry for that. It's hard to keep my act together after all this time so I tend to slip up,” surprisingly the redhead apologizes with a sigh.
Then the tall man moves a bit closer, “It's all up to the king how we deal with them. If he says so we will kill them. If he decides to keep them we can befriend them afterward. It's useless to do anything right now.”
[Steel Sentinel - lvl ??]
“I personally hope to keep them. They are fun to watch. They spend days going through the city, collecting trinkets,” Edwal laughs a bit but quickly apologetically waves his hand at us, “Nothing against that, it's just that I find it funny, that's all.”
“Edwal, when was the last time you slept?” there is a hint of worry in Nylian´s voice. The woman's face even shows something I could describe as pity.
“You know I don't like to sleep, Nyl,” At that moment Edwal looks somewhat sad but then he quickly smiles, “Let's not talk about such things in front of our guests, there is no need to worry them with frivolous matters. Anyway, we are almost there.” The elevator finally stops and the doors open on their own revealing another hallway.
Again in silence, we follow the three warriors towards the silver door at the end of the hallway. As before, they also open by themselves and we enter a surprisingly small throne room.
There is a table made out of white wood in the middle of the room. The top of the table seems to be carved from grayish stone; at the head of the table, there is a chair that could be a throne, massive, yet somewhat comfortable looking even through all of the opulence.
Next to the throne, there is a smaller chair of similar style. On the opposite side of the table, there are three more chairs.
Five chairs, one for the king, another one for his saint, and three for the king's warriors.
Five chairs for the last remaining people from the era that started thousands of years ago.
The king is an ordinary-looking man. He is dressed in casual clothes, of average height and his hair is brown and curly. On top of his head, a simple crown rests, a crown made from silver metal with blue ornaments that is connected to someplace in the middle of the tower in a similar way to Edwal's armor, Nylian's bracelet, and Aias's sword are.
There is also a short sword on the king's waist, also connected to that place.
“We will have to kill them,” that's the first thing the king says. His voice is firm and bears no hesitation, but there is something like a hint of sadness in it.
His warriors do not even hesitate, as if they practiced it they put their right hands on their chests and bow slightly, “Yes,” they say all at once and Edwal adds a question, “Right now, Your Majesty?”
“There is no need to do it right now, we are not savages. We will offer them the last meal and then they can decide if they would like to die on their own or by our hands.” The king fully turns to us and his eyes are beautifully green as he looks us up and down.
[Harmonic Disperser - lvl ??]
“Black-haired girl with healing powers will stay alive.” As if that's all the king turns around.
The three warriors immediately replace the table with a bigger one and bring in more chairs and start setting up the table while we watch it. I don't even have to have Isabella's skill to feel how nervous the others are, surrounded by people much more powerful than them and probably insanely hard to kill.
I told them before, but the healing aura is much stronger for them thanks to the connection their equipment has to that place in the tower. Place or a person, the Saint.
"So Miss Saint was the Absolute of your planet?" I ask as I sit down, and at that moment, everyone freezes. My group, warriors, even the king.
Yet, I continue, still the only one sitting and already reaching out for sweets on the table, "I think it's unfortunate that she died," I ignore the king's aura that starts pushing on me, "You know, I have a really funny theory," I say as the steps sound in the room; it's the king moving towards where I sit, mana already moving through his body.
"I will make it quick. Ms. Saint died. Mr. King didn't want to die yet, so he kept it secret and somehow kept her body alive to keep generating a healing field. Then the Decay appeared, twisted mana that started radiating from her body after her death together with her healing aura. Am I close?" I ask.
The king stops, and I move my hand, throwing one of the glasses off the table. The sound of shattering glass deafeningly resonates in the eerily quiet room, "Oh my bad! Silly me. Anyway, you said we could have dinner before you kill us, right? A king wouldn't go back on his word, right?"
I'm calm, so calm it nearly scares me. My body is heating up, my mind is sharp as always when I fight, and my heart is beating wildly. I also feel the intense heat from the orb full of thermal energy that is at the point it's starting to leak some, and constant heat burns my insides, only to be healed by the regenerative aura of the Saint.
My hand is not shaking at all when I grab the glass and pour myself some drink from the table.
The king's oppressive pressure disappears, and he smiles at me; it's a gentle, understanding smile as if he is dealing with a silly child, "Obviously, I won't go back on my word," then he gestures, and with a flash of golden lightning, Edwal appears next to him, pulling out a chair and seating the king.
Three warriors then start moving around, seating others as well before disappearing outside, probably to prepare some food.
The king stays alone with us in the room, yet there is no worry at all; he is smiling gently and totally ignoring others, his eyes fixed on me, "Nathaniel, I guess?" he asks, and like everyone else, he doesn't touch any sweets on the table nor takes any drink, but I guess his reason is different from the remaining members of group 4.
"Edwal did mention you, and I have to agree with him; you are really something else," the king laughs again. It's the fakest laugh I ever heard; there isn't even a hint of honesty in it. It's the learned and thousands of times practiced laugh, a laugh that lost its meaning a long time ago.
It's as if a programmed machine does that, not knowing why, but knowing that it should laugh. The king is the same. An empty shell of the man who once was powerful enough to lead the entire kingdom.
"So, Nathaniel, it's as you said. Miss Saint is dead, and she has been dead for a long time, and trust me when I say a long time, it really is a long time," he pauses, and when I do not react, he continues, "You are using the word 'Absolute' freely, but I can hear in your tone that you do not understand its meaning fully. Absolute is a title that isn't lightly given and nor should be mentioned flippantly. I would like to say that you will learn about that more in the future, but that's not the case," He then adjusts his already perfect clothes and slightly shifts his sword and crown on his head.
"Ms. Saint was such a person. An Absolute. She was thousands of years old before I was even born. Powerful and eternally beautiful," For the first time, his eyes seem a bit alive, yet that hint of life doesn't reach his face, "You should have seen her back then. I never met a more regal person in my life and never will."
At that moment, the warriors, Edwal, Nylian, and Aias enter the room, all of them holding silver plates full of food. Even as they barely enter, I can smell the amazing aroma of it all.
They move nimbly as if they have gotten used to it and serve it all on the table.
First for the king, who also patiently waits as they do so. They are silent the entire time, and their movements are machine-like.
For me, all of them look like empty shells pretending to be humans and waiting to die. Minds broken and twisted after thousands of years of near solitude with just the four of them around. Unable or unwilling to befriend surviving natives.
"One day Miss Saint died. I still don't know if she took her life or if some old enemy found a way to kill her. Yet even then, her body stayed alive; there were no wounds visible, all healed by her powers. Her heart, her skills keeping her body in perfect state even after her consciousness disappeared." King's eyes become distant.
I sit in the middle of the table, and to my right are all of the warriors, with members of group four sitting in between me and the last king.
"I see her every morning. She lies on her bed, looking as if she is about to wake up at any moment, her heart beating even after she died and radiating all of this beautiful power. At first, after her death, we left her like that; hoping that she would heal. Then, after years of mourning and waiting, my court suggested keeping her body alive so that we and everyone in the city could live longer, as none of us have attained such a level of longevity." The silence that ensues feels full of shame, and the king smiles again, so fakely, "Then the Decay came, and we finally tried to destroy her body, but we were unable to do so. Unsurprisingly, someone hired assassins to kill all the people who might be capable of overpowering her healing or possessing skills at a high enough level to counter it."
He fills his glass and gestures at me, "But it doesn't matter now; we won't ever try to hurt her again. No one other than me will ever look at her. Forever she will be mine, and I will guard her and defend her until she heals her own mind." The king's eyes shine with a crazy light as he says so, "But now, then, Nathaniel and your friends, let's start dinner! The last dinner of your lives, as I promised. And after it's done, we will kill you."
"I see," I say. I use [Resonance] and dig my hand into my belly and pull out the orb. I lift up my hand with the orb and point it at the three warriors on my right side. Expressions on their faces quickly change from confused to dangerous, yet they move slowly, not worried and relying on their healing they got used to over the millennia. Only Edwal seems to feel the danger.
I release all the thermal energy I was collecting while reducing the area they affect to make the flames much more concentrated. A blaze of golden flames envelops part of the room in front of me and the three warriors, burning and melting everything in its path without even leaving ash behind.
[You have defeated the Ethereal Battlemage - lvl 183]
[You have defeated the Steel Sentinel - lvl 179]
[Lvl 124 > Lvl 127]
[Redistribution - lvl 35 > Redistribution - lvl 36]
I then stand up; the orb from my hand is gone, depleted of all thermal energy in a single brilliant blast of golden flames.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass," I say to the king.
The third and last warrior we meet inside the tower is a woman called Nylian. A tall redhead with a sharp look in her eyes. She also wears similar armor to the other two but it's the bracelet on her left arm that is connected to somewhere in the middle of the tower.
In silence, we walk through the hallway, our steps echoing around the hall. Walls on each side are painted with beautiful sceneries of mountains, forests, or lakes, and are lit by lights at the ceiling that brighten the hallway reminiscent of daylight.
We reach something that I quickly identify as an elevator and step in, only for the elevator to start moving upwards, slowly but without any shake. It's to the point it almost feels as if the world around us is sinking down.
Out of nowhere, Edwal giggles but quickly stops. The other two ignore it as if it's something they've gotten used to.
“How long do you think they will last?” the tall man called Aias asks redhead Nylian.
The woman looks all over and even sends some mana toward us, “Few hundred years? The one with differently colored eyes will probably last much longer, I know his type.” She then shrugs her shoulders.
[Ethereal Battlemage - lvl ??]
“Nylian, that's quite rude to say in front of our guests,” Edwal keeps smiling and turns to me, “Apologies for my colleague, Nathaniel. She can be quite rude sometimes, however, she is a great servant of the king.”
“I guess, sorry for that. It's hard to keep my act together after all this time so I tend to slip up,” surprisingly the redhead apologizes with a sigh.
Then the tall man moves a bit closer, “It's all up to the king how we deal with them. If he says so we will kill them. If he decides to keep them we can befriend them afterward. It's useless to do anything right now.”
[Steel Sentinel - lvl ??]
“I personally hope to keep them. They are fun to watch. They spend days going through the city, collecting trinkets,” Edwal laughs a bit but quickly apologetically waves his hand at us, “Nothing against that, it's just that I find it funny, that's all.”
“Edwal, when was the last time you slept?” there is a hint of worry in Nylian´s voice. The woman's face even shows something I could describe as pity.
“You know I don't like to sleep, Nyl,” At that moment Edwal looks somewhat sad but then he quickly smiles, “Let's not talk about such things in front of our guests, there is no need to worry them with frivolous matters. Anyway, we are almost there.” The elevator finally stops and the doors open on their own revealing another hallway.
Again in silence, we follow the three warriors towards the silver door at the end of the hallway. As before, they also open by themselves and we enter a surprisingly small throne room.
There is a table made out of white wood in the middle of the room. The top of the table seems to be carved from grayish stone; at the head of the table, there is a chair that could be a throne, massive, yet somewhat comfortable looking even through all of the opulence.
Next to the throne, there is a smaller chair of similar style. On the opposite side of the table, there are three more chairs.
Five chairs, one for the king, another one for his saint, and three for the king's warriors.
Five chairs for the last remaining people from the era that started thousands of years ago.
The king is an ordinary-looking man. He is dressed in casual clothes, of average height and his hair is brown and curly. On top of his head, a simple crown rests, a crown made from silver metal with blue ornaments that is connected to someplace in the middle of the tower in a similar way to Edwal's armor, Nylian's bracelet, and Aias's sword are.
There is also a short sword on the king's waist, also connected to that place.
“We will have to kill them,” that's the first thing the king says. His voice is firm and bears no hesitation, but there is something like a hint of sadness in it.
His warriors do not even hesitate, as if they practiced it they put their right hands on their chests and bow slightly, “Yes,” they say all at once and Edwal adds a question, “Right now, Your Majesty?”
“There is no need to do it right now, we are not savages. We will offer them the last meal and then they can decide if they would like to die on their own or by our hands.” The king fully turns to us and his eyes are beautifully green as he looks us up and down.
[Harmonic Disperser - lvl ??]
“Black-haired girl with healing powers will stay alive.” As if that's all the king turns around.
The three warriors immediately replace the table with a bigger one and bring in more chairs and start setting up the table while we watch it. I don't even have to have Isabella's skill to feel how nervous the others are, surrounded by people much more powerful than them and probably insanely hard to kill.
I told them before, but the healing aura is much stronger for them thanks to the connection their equipment has to that place in the tower. Place or a person, the Saint.
"So Miss Saint was the Absolute of your planet?" I ask as I sit down, and at that moment, everyone freezes. My group, warriors, even the king.
Yet, I continue, still the only one sitting and already reaching out for sweets on the table, "I think it's unfortunate that she died," I ignore the king's aura that starts pushing on me, "You know, I have a really funny theory," I say as the steps sound in the room; it's the king moving towards where I sit, mana already moving through his body.
"I will make it quick. Ms. Saint died. Mr. King didn't want to die yet, so he kept it secret and somehow kept her body alive to keep generating a healing field. Then the Decay appeared, twisted mana that started radiating from her body after her death together with her healing aura. Am I close?" I ask.
The king stops, and I move my hand, throwing one of the glasses off the table. The sound of shattering glass deafeningly resonates in the eerily quiet room, "Oh my bad! Silly me. Anyway, you said we could have dinner before you kill us, right? A king wouldn't go back on his word, right?"
I'm calm, so calm it nearly scares me. My body is heating up, my mind is sharp as always when I fight, and my heart is beating wildly. I also feel the intense heat from the orb full of thermal energy that is at the point it's starting to leak some, and constant heat burns my insides, only to be healed by the regenerative aura of the Saint.
My hand is not shaking at all when I grab the glass and pour myself some drink from the table.
The king's oppressive pressure disappears, and he smiles at me; it's a gentle, understanding smile as if he is dealing with a silly child, "Obviously, I won't go back on my word," then he gestures, and with a flash of golden lightning, Edwal appears next to him, pulling out a chair and seating the king.
Three warriors then start moving around, seating others as well before disappearing outside, probably to prepare some food.
The king stays alone with us in the room, yet there is no worry at all; he is smiling gently and totally ignoring others, his eyes fixed on me, "Nathaniel, I guess?" he asks, and like everyone else, he doesn't touch any sweets on the table nor takes any drink, but I guess his reason is different from the remaining members of group 4.
"Edwal did mention you, and I have to agree with him; you are really something else," the king laughs again. It's the fakest laugh I ever heard; there isn't even a hint of honesty in it. It's the learned and thousands of times practiced laugh, a laugh that lost its meaning a long time ago.
It's as if a programmed machine does that, not knowing why, but knowing that it should laugh. The king is the same. An empty shell of the man who once was powerful enough to lead the entire kingdom.
"So, Nathaniel, it's as you said. Miss Saint is dead, and she has been dead for a long time, and trust me when I say a long time, it really is a long time," he pauses, and when I do not react, he continues, "You are using the word 'Absolute' freely, but I can hear in your tone that you do not understand its meaning fully. Absolute is a title that isn't lightly given and nor should be mentioned flippantly. I would like to say that you will learn about that more in the future, but that's not the case," He then adjusts his already perfect clothes and slightly shifts his sword and crown on his head.
"Ms. Saint was such a person. An Absolute. She was thousands of years old before I was even born. Powerful and eternally beautiful," For the first time, his eyes seem a bit alive, yet that hint of life doesn't reach his face, "You should have seen her back then. I never met a more regal person in my life and never will."
At that moment, the warriors, Edwal, Nylian, and Aias enter the room, all of them holding silver plates full of food. Even as they barely enter, I can smell the amazing aroma of it all.
They move nimbly as if they have gotten used to it and serve it all on the table.
First for the king, who also patiently waits as they do so. They are silent the entire time, and their movements are machine-like.
For me, all of them look like empty shells pretending to be humans and waiting to die. Minds broken and twisted after thousands of years of near solitude with just the four of them around. Unable or unwilling to befriend surviving natives.
"One day Miss Saint died. I still don't know if she took her life or if some old enemy found a way to kill her. Yet even then, her body stayed alive; there were no wounds visible, all healed by her powers. Her heart, her skills keeping her body in perfect state even after her consciousness disappeared." King's eyes become distant.
I sit in the middle of the table, and to my right are all of the warriors, with members of group four sitting in between me and the last king.
"I see her every morning. She lies on her bed, looking as if she is about to wake up at any moment, her heart beating even after she died and radiating all of this beautiful power. At first, after her death, we left her like that; hoping that she would heal. Then, after years of mourning and waiting, my court suggested keeping her body alive so that we and everyone in the city could live longer, as none of us have attained such a level of longevity." The silence that ensues feels full of shame, and the king smiles again, so fakely, "Then the Decay came, and we finally tried to destroy her body, but we were unable to do so. Unsurprisingly, someone hired assassins to kill all the people who might be capable of overpowering her healing or possessing skills at a high enough level to counter it."
He fills his glass and gestures at me, "But it doesn't matter now; we won't ever try to hurt her again. No one other than me will ever look at her. Forever she will be mine, and I will guard her and defend her until she heals her own mind." The king's eyes shine with a crazy light as he says so, "But now, then, Nathaniel and your friends, let's start dinner! The last dinner of your lives, as I promised. And after it's done, we will kill you."
"I see," I say. I use [Resonance] and dig my hand into my belly and pull out the orb. I lift up my hand with the orb and point it at the three warriors on my right side. Expressions on their faces quickly change from confused to dangerous, yet they move slowly, not worried and relying on their healing they got used to over the millennia. Only Edwal seems to feel the danger.
I release all the thermal energy I was collecting while reducing the area they affect to make the flames much more concentrated. A blaze of golden flames envelops part of the room in front of me and the three warriors, burning and melting everything in its path without even leaving ash behind.
[You have defeated the Ethereal Battlemage - lvl 183]
[You have defeated the Steel Sentinel - lvl 179]
[Lvl 124 > Lvl 127]
[Redistribution - lvl 35 > Redistribution - lvl 36]
I then stand up; the orb from my hand is gone, depleted of all thermal energy in a single brilliant blast of golden flames.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass," I say to the king.
