Chapter 593 - Minor Realm
A pair of pink and golden wings emerged from the back of her tonfas as an almost angelic-like hymn could be heard echoing from within the wings of energy. But, these were not the songs of angels or spirits. This angelic-like sound was produced by the overlapping energies contained inside the wings, and when one listened to it, they were placed in a hypnotic state.
At the same time, Izroth was ready to follow up with his Second Baneful Sword: Kill; however, he paused as a voice entered his ears.
"Hold off, Captain," Aurie said as she stormed Dolos.
"Hm?"
Izroth was unsure why Aurie told him to hold off on his attack, but given her character, Izroth knew that she must have had a good reason for saying so. After all, he doubted Aurie suddenly decided to feel pity for Dolos. Not only did he side with the Shadahi, but also the Netherworld. A person like that was not someone she could afford the luxury of mercy to.
In the end, Izroth fell back several meters as he carefully observed the wings of energy with his Energy Vision Sense.
"What is this wretched noise...!?" Dolos inwardly scowled. It felt like his head was being split apart, and the closer those energy wings moved to him, the more potent the effects became.
In terms of raw destructive power, Aurie"s strongest attack was the Double-Cross: Savage Moonlit Cleave. However, if her weapon skills were to be judged based upon their level of lethality, the one to reign supreme would be her Triple-Cross: Fatal Angelic Glissade.
The wings of energy expanded before folding and converging in on Dolos. But, just as Dolos mentally embraced himself for the strike that was to come, he found that it never arrived. The wings of energy brushed right past him as if they were intangible, and for a brief moment, Dolos even felt a cool refres.h.i.+ng wave wash over him. The head-splitting noise had also vanished, and it was as though he was suddenly dragged up from the pits of the underworld and towards a place of paradise.
However, that moment was only fleeting for Dolos. Just as he was about to enter that paradise, he fell just short and rapidly plummeted to the deepest depths of the underworld, where his darkest fear awaited his return. This process repeated itself hundreds, thousands—millions of times. It was more than enough to drive even the most strong-willed of people mad.
But, what Dolos did not know was that what he was experiencing only existed in the depths of his mind. At the moment, his actual body stood frozen in place with his gaze clouded and empty.
"What a vicious skill."
Izroth deactivated his Energy Vision Sense, but not before he examined Dolos. If he were to put it in simple terms, the inside of Dolos" body resembled someone slowly pulling a rope apart with their bare hands.
Dolos" muscles, nerves, bones, tendons—everything was being slowly stretched until it gave way and snapped. The worst part was that the mana and other foul energies that circulated within Dolos seemed to be endlessly feeding this destruction.
Aurie sighed inwardly as she watched Dolos" blank expression while he stood there motionless. Due to the Triple-Cross: Fatal Angelic Glissade"s ruthless nature, it was something Aurie refrained from using even against her enemies. Therefore, to use it on a former ally left a bad taste in her mouth.
Nevertheless, Aurie did not regret her choice. Dolos had crossed a line that should not have been crossed when he betrayed his own race and the entire Mortal Realm. At that point, he was no longer a human in Aurie"s eyes—just a monster in human skin.
"I wanted to capture him for questioning, but there may not be anything left of his mind to search by the time we reach camp. There"s also that other headache to deal with regarding the Jestal family. As a Commander of the War Brigade, I know I should not say this, but he could not have picked a worse time to expose his intentions." Aurie said as she attached multiple restriction talismans to Dolos. Even though he was lost under the effects of her skill, she would not take any chances.
Izroth returned his Sword of The Storm to its sheath and stated, "Isn"t this a good thing? It shows they felt threatened enough by your plans that they were even willing to sacrifice someone like Dolos to remove you from the picture."
"I suppose that"s one way of looking at it. Still, it"s hard to believe someone from one of Proximus" top n.o.ble families has sided against humanity." Aurie remarked with furrowed brows.
"When it comes to power, no one is above its temptation, Commander. The methods or reasons may differ, but everyone craves power in their own way for their own reasons. Those who do not are destined to a life of mediocrity—forever in the shadow of those that walk before them." Izroth said calmly.
...
After making sure that Dolos was secured, Aurie quickly surveyed the area; however, she came up empty-handed in the search for a way out. At the same time, at Aurie"s request, Izroth explained how he crossed over into their area.
"The spatial restrictions placed by Dolos have been destroyed, but this place is still holding up despite his present state. I had some reservations at first, though now I"m convinced—we are within a minor realm." Aurie commented.
"That explains why the coordinates are a jumbled mess."
Izroth did not have much knowledge surrounding minor realms in RML, but he understood their importance. The Chaotic Dogma Realm was a minor realm, as well as the Imperial Peninsula Realm where the L.u.s.trum Imperial Bout would be held. Both places had two things in common outside of being minor realms. The first was that each seemed to possess its own set of unique rules, and the second involved the benefits one could receive from it.
Even though Izroth had never visited the Imperial Peninsula Realm, the Wiseman of Everpeak, Kryxelsia, briefly spoke of her past visit to the minor realm. Not to mention, anything that could cause the realms to fight over it was far from worthless.
Knowing this, Izroth was interested in whether or not it was possible to explore this minor realm. But, it did not take long for Izroth to receive the answer to his question.
"This minor realm appears to be made up of countless isolated pockets of s.p.a.ce. Every point is connected, but there is no way for one to travel through that connection unless they know the specific method of doing so. Otherwise, they risk being lost in the endless void that separates the spatial pockets." Aurie explained.
She then continued, "You were lucky to reach this place in one piece, Captain Izroth. Though I a.s.sume it had something to do with Dolos being linked to both locations simultaneously. There"s no other explanation as to how his spatial magic reached your previous location. Unfortunately, it is not a method we that can be repeated."
"Are you saying we"re trapped?" Izroth questioned.
"For now, I"m afraid so. Our only options are to either wait for this minor realm to eject us of its own accord or locate a backdoor that allows us to leave. Since minor realms usually have time limits, our best choice is to wait for it to eject us, but..." Aurie stated.
"But, we don"t have that luxury, right?" Izroth noted.
"Precisely. With that monstrosity on the loose, we cannot remain idle." Aurie added.
"The size of this minor realm is undetermined. Even if I use s.p.a.ce Defying Tread when it"s off cooldown, there"s no guarantee I can travel far enough to escape this place. There"s also the risk of being lost to the endless void."
Izroth had attempted to reach the world outside the minor realm, but communication across realms was not something the system seemed to provide. His next thought was to use a Returning Scroll; however, every time he tried to do so, the system gave him an "Out of Range" message.
This eventually led Izroth back to Zhi"s medallion. Although he did not understand its uses, perhaps someone like Aurie could provide some useful insight.
The moment Izroth revealed the medallion to Aurie, an expression of amazement surfaced on her face.
"The person who gave you this medallion—was he an old man with unfathomable strength?" Aurie inquired?"