Chapter 99: Chapter 99: The Beginning After the End [2]
Bam!
The door was kicked open, and from the outside, Kael casually walked in.
"You’re back, my friend?"
Erza slowly raised his head from the pile of papers, then gave him a small smile.
"...!"
Apparently, Kael was stunned when he witnessed that smile.
Then, his eyes flashed, as if he had realized something wonderful.
"Oh, you’ve finally changed your mind? It seems like you’ve grown quite a bit after I wasn’t here for a few days."
The prince curled his lips, stopping his work.
Then, he leaned back.
"Not counting my previous life, I’m even older than you, Kael."
How fortunate.
Kael smiled.
To tell the truth, he was really worried that because of that thing called conscience, Erza would stop the plan.
If that happened, wouldn’t all the choices and sweat that Kael had poured out be for nothing?
So, during that waiting time, he had come up with many brilliant ideas.
But thankfully, it seemed that now, Kael didn’t have to use them anymore.
Slowly, he approached Erza’s desk.
"So, what’s the next material we need?"
"Aether Core."
It seemed that the prince had memorized everything.
+
The material to revive the demon king:
Aether Core.
A gift from the angels, but cursed by the demons.
+
***
That was an abandoned city, not a single living being dared to live there.
And in the middle of the city was a giant theater.
It was once hailed as the world’s number one theater.
It had been many years since the last person left.
And now, this city, or rather this theater, welcomed the appearance of four strangers.
Kael Draven.
Hans Varun.
Alaric Valthor.
And Kaede Shirayuki.
"This place gives me an unpleasantly gloomy feeling."
Indeed, Kaede’s comment was completely correct.
And it wasn’t just her who felt that way, even Kael was feeling a chill down his spine right now.
"A bunch of cowards."
Leaving that mockery behind, Alaric calmly walked into the theater.
It was as if it was The King’s home.
"Huh? What did you just say, you bastard?"
Kaede frowned, then followed Alaric inside.
"Haha..."
Hans laughed helplessly.
"How do you feel about this place, Kael?"
He raised his head, looked at the dark clouds that were blocking the sunlight from this city, and opened his mouth:
"I feel quite scared."
It felt like he was watching an A-class horror movie.
...
And just like every other time, it seemed that this time, Kael had guessed correctly once again.
"..."
The deeper they went inside, the more they felt that something was wrong.
— Hehehehe! Hahahaha! Hihihihi!
The sound of children giggling wildly.
"...!"
The feeling of tightness in the chest and suffocation sometimes came without warning.
And finally, the desperate cry for help from a woman with an extremely beautiful voice:
— Please... Save me...
For some reason, the woman’s cry for help was clearer than the others.
As the seconds passed, the distance between Kael’s group and the auditorium was getting shorter and shorter.
Finally, Alaric was the first to reach there.
"...Are you kidding me?"
That was the first thing The King said after witnessing the auditorium with his own eyes.
His voice sounded helpless, and there was an emotion that Kael couldn’t make out.
"..."
Next was Kaede.
Although she didn’t say anything like Alaric, in just a moment, her footfalls changed.
The third person was Hans.
"..."
Since he had been informed beforehand by The King and the guildmaster of the Shadow Viper guild, he did not show any surprise.
And the last one, was Kael.
"...!"
The moment he saw that, Kael was so shocked that he almost backed away.
After all, that was a normal person’s natural reaction.
Right now, on the stage, was a woman.
Even though there was no music, no audience, and no props, she was still dancing passionately.
As if that was the sole purpose of her existence.
It was a truly magical scene.
However, that was not the reason why Kael was shocked.
Right now, she was not wearing any clothes.
Completely naked.
And what was even more horrifying was that her face was covered by a cloud, looking extremely strange.
— This world might have demons, but there are no ghosts.
That was what Erza had said.
So, Kael was almost certain that the reason she was existing was because of that so-called Aether Core.
"Everyone, please help me capture that girl!"
Drawing his sword, he charged forward like the wind.
Following closely behind him were Kael’s three trusted comrades.
"...!"
As if sensing someone was trying to disrupt the show, the girl’s dance movements suddenly stopped.
Her attention was drawn to the four of them.
"Everyone! Scatter!"
The next moment, invisible tentacles charged towards the four of them.
If they were hit by one of them, or even caught, death would be guaranteed.
Whoosh!
One of them lunged at Kael.
But luckily, his reflexes caught up with him as he dodged to the side in time.
But...
Swish!
"Argh!"
Kael couldn’t completely dodge it.
A long scratch appeared on his arm.
"You’re too weak, Kael Draven! Learn from me!"
Meanwhile, Alaric didn’t look tired at all.
He was being attacked continuously by three invisible tentacles, but strangely enough, not a single wound appeared on The King’s body.
His clothes weren’t even torn.
"You’re embarrassing your master, Kael!"
Kaede was even better than Alaric, as she didn’t even break a sweat.
Her movements were extremely graceful.
Many tentacles rushed towards the guildmaster of the Shadow Viper guild, but none of them had the chance to touch her body.
Because they were all cut into small pieces.
In just 1 second.
"Hahahaha!"
Hans was even more leisurely.
All the protagonist needed to do was swing a slash.
And they would all be blown away right after.
"...I’m really the weakest in this group."
Kael sighed.
The closer he got to that girl, the higher the difficulty became.
But, no matter how strong they became, against monsters like those three, they had no chance.
"Everyone, please clear the way for me!"
"Of course!"
Hans swung his sword.
Successfully blowing away all the tentacles that were in front of Kael.
[1000 Slashes.]
[High Level Aura.]
"Don’t let us down."
All the tentacles around were neatly handled by Kaede and Alaric.
"Thank you!"
He felt truly grateful.
These three comrades of his were amazing!
And he couldn’t let down their trust.
"...!"
With a jump, Kael successfully approached the faceless girl.
"Got you!"