=====> ("Back to present")The day after the h.e.l.l gate formed, in the morning. Ofia was in the castle completely repaired by Chulainn and who had also left the moment he finished.
Ofia joined with her sister and headed to the kitchen of the castle. Her family always took lunches and dinner there. After all, going to the official dining hall was too much for lunch with the family.
When the two sisters arrived in the kitchen, they sat down at the table. That big kitchen was filled with some old tools, at least from a modern person"s view, but at the same time, there were many useful magic tools that could make boil and prepare ingredients in a particular way easily. There were also some special ingredients coming from beasts and particular creatures.
It was only after a few minutes that the king and the queen joined their daughters. The older brothers were absent today.
"Where are Kyle and Jerio?" Lena asked her father.
The latter sighed as he started digging in the breakfast the maids were giving him "Your brothers went to a scout basically" He answered.
"Scout? What?" Ofia inquired, she was a bit confused.
"The one who hired that man, Ojure Karez, in the first place was the king of Heriz, of the next continent" The kind said "Kyle and Jerio are currently meeting with that king probably. Kyle teleported along with a hundred soldiers to Heriz" He explained.
"Isn"t that a bit dangerous?" Ofia frowned and remarked.
"It should be fine. Kyle is himself at the tenth level, Jerio isn"t weak and of course, I sent Elion and Gand also went with them" The king tried to rea.s.sure her.
Ofia started pondering. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about this. Elion and Gand are respectively the strongest knight and mage in Central City. Normally, they should have no problem getting away is something ever happens.
Ofia sighed, she finished her meal quickly then bowed to her parents "I will go now. I"m a bit worried" She declared and left. Lena looked blankly at her then started eating her breakfast at high speed. She followed her sister just after.
"Don"t tell me she is going to ask that guy…" The king muttered and the queen chuckled.
"They seem to have a good teacher, don"t you think?" She smiled and said. The king grunted and silently continued his meal.
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Ofia directly went to the FDA with Lena. When they arrived there, they stumbled upon Melody and Balan who were training together. Those two were pretty close since the "spar" with Arima. They also made the best combo. One used gravity and the other protected her and attacked at the same time with s.p.a.ce, they were the strongest duo.
"Do you know where teacher is?" Ofia asked them.
"Yes, I saw him earlier, he went with Miss Velvet to the teachers" reunion" Balan responded and mused "They should be almost done, it was twenty minutes ago"
"Thank you" Ofia bowed then headed toward the teacher"s hall. When she arrived, the teachers were already leaving the reunion and Arima got out with Velvet talking to him.
Ofia and Lena silently waited until Velvet left. Arima sighed in relief then walked to the two sisters "That woman is annoying, I don"t know if she"s trying to get close to me or just being nice. But her way of talking makes me feel like I would be the bad person if I pushed her away. And she"s a teacher, I"m bad when it concerns them…" He suddenly started complaining.
"Why don"t you just accept her as a friend?" Chulainn, who still was on his shoulder, asked.
"It"s not like I can"t…but I don"t wanna" He said and Chulainn raised an eyebrow.
"Have you ever dated a woman?" He suddenly inquired and Arima stared at him.
"Yes, I have" He simply answered "I had someone I love"
"Sorry" Chulainn shrugged after hearing the response and apologized.
The two sisters listened awkwardly but they were also very curious about what Arima just said. "So, why are you here?" The latter finally addressed them and began walking in the corridors while listening to Ofia.
"My father sent Kyle and Jerio, along with escorts, to Heriz. To meet the king who hired Ojure Karez, and to find out his motives. But my father didn"t send them there to officialize a conflict but to stop it before it begins" She explained as she followed Arima around the school.
"I see" Arima nodded "Now that I think about it, I still don"t know why that guy had to be hired to create a gate. Do you have an idea?" The last part was directed at Chulainn.
"I don"t know. Maybe he needed time to master the power he stole from h.e.l.l and just took the right occasion to use the resources of a kingdom" The h.e.l.lhound responded.
"Then? Why are you telling me this?" Arima hummed and focused once again on the two sisters.
"I actually have a bad feeling about this. I know it"s only personal. But I can"t cast that thought away. I wanted to ask teacher for help. I can"t teleport until Heriz by myself" She seriously said and Arima stared at her for a moment.
He stopped just in front of his cla.s.sroom and looked at her for a moment. He then stepped inside and looked around "Hey, Arister, stop flirting and come here for a second" He then spoke toward Arister who was talking with Ferzia.
When he heard Arima calling him, Arister froze and awkwardly separated from Ferzia. He went to Arima with a bitter smile "What is it?"
"The king who hired you to kill her and her brother, do you remember him?" Arima went straight to the point.
Arister"s eyes widened a bit and glanced at Ofia who was apparently not moved by what Arima just said. She apparently knew that the man Arima had let go before was him "Yes, I remember him" He shrugged and said.
Arima nodded in response "Then, do you think he"s someone who would backstab two princes who came to talk with him while they were accompanied by escorts which are most likely pretty strong?" He asked in one breath and Arister was stunned at first.
"Well" He raised his voice after a few seconds "He totally would do it" He casually answered and the two princesses trembled and paled. When Arister saw that he slightly panicked "Wait, you were talking about an actual situation?"
"Kinda" Arima said and Arister expression twitched "Anyway, for my student, I"ll go there really quick. Take care of the first period. It shouldn"t take that much time to finish this" Arima said and closed his eyes for a moment "Heriz…where was that again?" He mumbled inaudibly.
He had actually recorded the map of the entire planet while he was in another dimension. If he just uses that record along with the map of this planet. He could easily mark the emplacement.
"Cool, I found the auras of your brothers, they"re still alive at least" Arima declared and Ofia could only smile wryly but Lena was still anxious. Arima snapped his fingers and he instantly teleported along with Ofia and Lena.
Arister stared at the empty s.p.a.ce with an expressionless face "What am I supposed to teach them?" He muttered.
"What are you talking about? And why do I feel Arima"s presence tens of thousands of miles away?" Night entered the cla.s.sroom with Karma and Lanya and asked Arister when he heard him.
Arister looked at Night for a moment and his expression brightened for some reason. Night frowned, it was really rare to see this kind of expression on this gloomy guy.
Ten minutes later, Arister was sitting beside Ferzia while Night was in front of everyone, apparently, to hold the lecture. He was so frustrated that his fangs grew a bit and his eyes glowed. The students were absolutely silent as they felt the temperature rise. Meanwhile, Karma was laughing and even Lanya was holding her laugher back.
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Kyle and Jerio were talking with the king of Heriz in a private room. The latter actually looked amiable and spoke to them calmly. But at some point, Elion suddenly appeared in the room and went in front of the princes to protect them "What"s wrong?" Kyle frowned and asked.
"I can"t teleport away and my connection with Gand was severed, it"s the same thing with magic circuits. Please, check it by yourself, it was so faint that I almost failed to realize it" Elion explained without looking away from the king.
Kyle and Jerio both tried to gather mana but failed to do so. They both stood up and stared at the king "What did you do?"
The king took out a grey orb and placed it on a table "Haven"t you heard about the lectures of your city"s star?" He smirked and said "This is a device capable of cutting the link with magic circuits. Of course, it only works when the targets within range cannot prepare themselves for it"
Kyle clicked his tongue and tried to teleport away, but as expected, he couldn"t leave this place. Even if they tried to leave the room, they most likely would fail to do so.
"Your majesty, we"re in a parallel dimension, and a very restrictive one at that" Elion answered to everyone"s doubts.
The king chuckled "Karez didn"t cooperate with me in the end, but he left me something when I asked for it" He raised a sort of black staff "I can create this kind of dimension once a day, for two hours"
A cold light flashed past Elion"s eyes as his aura destroyed the room and pushed the king on the floor "What do you think you can do to us with your strength?"
The king grinned "I don"t need to fight you" He declared and gripped the staff, the latter started glowing with a dark light and the king"s body began to phase as some parts of his body became transparent.
But surprisingly, the light suddenly dimmed down and the kind"s body returned to normal. The king looked in shock at his body and the staff. He couldn"t use it anymore and it even cracked just after.
"Seriously, what is this dimension?" A voice resounded strongly in the room and the princes froze and Elion trembled. Only the king there didn"t recognize the voice.
He looked at where the voice came from and saw a man casually sitting on one of the chairs in the room. Behind him were two girls who rushed beside their brothers, behind Elion.
"Who are you?" The king asked with a grave voice.
"Haven"t you heard of me? I"m Arimane" He presented himself as he stood up. He slowly walked toward the king, step by step.
The king trembled in fear and pointed the staff at Arima. The latter smiled and waved his hand. The staff snapped in two and fell on the ground "Do you think Karez would give you something strong enough to beat me?" Arima uttered "That staff"s main use is most likely to bring someone in another dimension then destroy it along with the people in it while saving the caster"
"But that thing has no control over me and your little orb isn"t enough to sever my link with magic circuits" Arima declared as he grabbed the king"s head.
"Wait!" Kyle shouted but it was too late.
"[Fifth Black Art, Penitentia conspiciunt]" Arima chanted and the king started screaming from the top of his lungs. When Arima released him, he had fainted and fell limp on the ground. But he wasn"t dead. Arima looked through the memories and shook his head "Pathetic" He just said and crushed the rest of the staff and snapped his fingers.
The dimension instantly broke down and an old man barged inside the room at the same moment. He looked around and became extremely confused because of the situation.
Arima shrugged and turned toward Ofia "Your intuition is good, or you could say that it"s your luck" Arima remarked.
"Yeah, yeah…why are we here?" Chulainn"s voice resounded in the room and everyone looked down and saw a small pup walking there. He actually had jumped off Arima"s shoulder and no one noticed him until now.
"Let"s go then. Ofia, Lena, come back to the FDA after you finished your business" He said while pointing at the king laying on the floor. He then activated his sigil and teleported away with Chulainn.
"Who was that?" The old man, Gand, asked and everyone just sighed.