After killing Tronis, Axel's knees buckled as he fell to the ground. He didn't feel like enduring the high Gravitation of this zone anymore.
'Damn it, I want Kyrin's ability!'
Like Kyrin can turn into darkness, If he could also turn into water, Gravitation wouldn't bother him. Also, then he wouldn't have had to break his bones and squeeze his organ in order to go into Theron's armor.
'System, how do I get the ability to turn into water?'
[You will need to increase your water affinity and comprehension to a much, much higher level. At your current pace, it would take you 5 years.]
Axel frowned. Five years is too long. Just how difficult is that it would take that long?
'If it's so difficult then how does Kyrin do it? I even saw Sylthia do it.'
[They do it using their Relics. If you get the Royal Relic under your control, you will also be able to do it instantly.]
'Then say it like that from the beginning, damn it.'
Axel got up and looked at Tronis's dead body.
He clutched his head, feeling his temples aching. He had won. Against a high ranking member of Kraken. But it had left him drained. He had to take on a guy who managed to defeat one of Atlantis's strongest Relic Wielders. And that too when he had his blue markings activated.
"Those Tattoos are really a cheat." He muttered. It allows the Kraken members to get similar power as limit break, except unlike him, they can draw an obscene amount of power. Why? Because the power Axel gets through the limit break is his own power, drawn from distorting his Akashic records. On the other hand, the power these people get is borrowed from the Entity who own their asses.
Now Axel understood why reinforcing the seal is so important. This guy had already expended a lot of energy defeating Ender. And then he almost managed to kill Axel. If not for the armor, Axel would have been in huge trouble.
What's worse is that the Kraken most likely Kraken still has guys much stronger than this.
He couldn't imagine fighting them if they also borrowed the powers from the Entity.
That's why, he really HAS to reinforce the seal.
'Sigh…'
Axel looked at the corpse of Tronis. Taking out his knife, he cut down the man's armor. It parted to reveal an amulet that had multicoloured energies swirling inside it.
'So, this is it, huh?' This was the relic that had almost blasted Axel to kingdom come.
Axel took off the relic and put it in his storage space. 'That makes it three.'
Axel is starting to build up quite a collection. He still didn't know what he was going to do with these.
He also took the storage equipment of Tronis. It contained similar equipment as the ones Axel had gotten from Estris. There were also other miscellaneous things, including a few healing elixirs. One thing that caught his eyes was the portrait of a smiling woman.
Axel shook his head upon seeing that. This man also had a life. But that was it. He really didn't have the luxury to give a damn about other people's lives. He was an enemy, and he had to be eliminated. That was it. Was there a better way? Don't care.
Axel wasn't the one to think about useless stuff. When you face the hardships of life, you quickly realize that morality, sympathy, mercy… these are things that only sheltered weaklings have the luxury to care about. In the real world, it's all a game of probability. If you waste your time and energy on these things, you are only decreasing your survival probability.
Axel discarded the useless stuff from the man's storage equipment, including the portrait, and put his own essentials in it. Then he put it back in Martina's storage ring. Usually, when storage equipment get damaged, all the things contained in them are thrown out. In case that happened, at least his things would have a double protection.
Though, he still kept all the weapons and other emergency materials in the ring for immediate use.
*Cough* *Cough*
When Axel was still busy, he heard a faint coughing. It was only then he remembered the existence of the man he had just saved. Axel walked over and checked his condition.
Crushed limbs, broken bones, concussion, excessive bleeding, and more… well, nothing an elixir can't fix.
'Wait.'
There was something else. A strange yet familiar energy that was running through the man's body.
Axel put a hand on the man's lung and the energy suddenly climbed his hand!
'Shit!'
Axel shook his hand, but it just won't go away!
Pain shot through his hand and water began forming on the tips of his fingers.
'What in the world…' Axel realized what the energy was. It was filled with water element. An extremely strong and violent one. Enough to even harm Axel, who already had [Water Monarch].
After concentrating, Axel dispelled the energy with difficulty. Cold sweat formed on his forehead, getting a glimpse of the abilities of his next opponent.
Now that the energy was out of his system, Ender seemed to be able to breathe properly again. Axel gave him and Elixir and the man's injuries started to heal at a visible rate. He should be able to regain consciousness in a few hours.
Meanwhile, Axel created a bed of water and sat down. He was also dead tired. He had been flying non-stop for a few days in the gravity field and after that he ended up in a fight with that man. Even though using water affinity does not cost much magic, it still costs mental energy. He used enough of it to beat a tattoo mode Overseer in which he had to endure extreme gravitation. In short, he needs to recharge.
Axel first decided to eat. Before coming here, he had packed a ton of supplies. He has been following a strict diet made of magical ingredients for two years.
Over the years, his diet has also gone through some changes.
In the beginning, it was just boiling the ingredients and eating them. Then he got a few potion recipes, to be consumed with the diet. Since he couldn't make them himself due to his unstable hands, he used to have them made by Daphne or her mother. After he got healed, the diet also changed. Now it comprises complicated recipes of dishes made from various magical ingredients. But with his dexterity as is, Axel can make them with ease.
The reason he is fighting, and winning against such dangerous opponents is not just because of his talent or training. His diet has also played an important role in it.
Axel took out the ingredient, cauldron and portable magic burner and quickly fixed himself a meal.
[Cooking Lv 5]
Axel didn't have this skill. The system was just trolling him. If it showed up for all the basic skills, then Axel would have had too many skills. Besides, cooking is not even remotely related to the Arcane Thief class.
Axel tasted the meal and nodded in satisfaction. If he had a cooking skill, it would definitely be high level.
Then, after setting up wards all around him, he comfortably laid down on his bed and closed his eyes.
[Axel]
Axel hadn't closed his eyes for 10 minutes before he got woken up by a system alarm.
'What?'
[You need to be prepared. The Wielder of Royal Relic is rapidly approaching your location]
Instantly, sleepiness was gone from Axel's eyes. 'What?! How?!'
[He can sense your water affinity]
'He can?'
Axel cursed under his breath. He is in no condition to fight right now. After witnessing the water affinity of that guy? He was even beginning to consider borrowing Kyrin and other relic wielders' help to defeat that guy.
So, how is he supposed to beat someone like that in his current state?
Axel got up and looked at Ender. The man still didn't seem to be in a condition to be of any help in a battle.
'Looks like I'll have to do it myself,' he thought, covering Ender's body and Tronis's dead body in stealth magic.
Water quickly engulfed Axel and he started flying. Last time, Ender survived because Tronis also wanted to keep him alive for torture. If he is caught up in another fight, he definitely won't survive.
Axel flew for a while as he gathered his energy. Soon, he started to sense it too. How to say it? It felt like a disturbance in his connection with water. And it was getting close at an alarming rate.
Splash—
Water started to fall from the sky, attacking him.
'Dog barking at its owner?' The Water Monarch was under attack by water. Axel had a bizarre feeling upon seeing that. He stopped flying and raised his hand. The incoming water swirled around him, getting deflected.
But in that time, his pursuer had finally caught up, as Axel could tell by the loss in control of the water around.
"Wait, you aren't Antilla."
Axel heard a raspy murmur. He turned around, but couldn't see the face of his pursuer. All he saw was a mass of water gathering around.
"Tell me, boy. How do you have my family's bloodline?"
Axel raised his eyebrows. "Your family's bloodline?"
He heard a chuckle. "Ah, I slipped. The surprise really made me lose my composure."
"Show yourself first." Said Axel.
The opponent seemed to think for a moment. But then, the water clumped together to form the body of an old man with graying hair. "I didn't think the first person to know of my return would be someone like you. But then again, this is an extremely unexpected chance."
The old man looked at Axel, as if waiting for him to react. Axel scratched the back of his head. "Uh… am I supposed to know you?"
'...'
The wrinkles got pronounced on the old man's face. "What are they teaching the kids these days? Aslot Regius Varnox. That's my name."
If Axel said he still did not know, he was sure that the old man's feelings would be hurt. Fortunately, he remembered now. This is the bastard brother of the previous king. Through trickery, he killed the previous queen and almost succeeded in killing the king too. Even though the king survived, it is believed that the aftermath has left him weak.
The first day at job, Axel had gathered a lot of common knowledge on Kyrin's orders. So he knows this much.
"Ah... I remember now. You are that bastard who got killed in a rebellion." As a bastard himself, Axel felt quite hypocritical calling someone else a bastard.
Veins popped out on the man's forehead. But he quickly calmed down. He fixed Axel with a scrutinizing gaze.
"That personality... And that water affinity... You are… Atlana and Tristan's son, aren't you?"
Axel's smile froze for a moment. Currently, he was in his Chris disguise. And since people here have seen his father, he also had a mask on just in case. But, it seems like he was still found out. Well, it might not be that difficult to figure out for someone who personally knows his parents.
"Axel Hunt… was it? Tell me, boy. How in the name of ancestors, did you awaken the bloodline to that extent?"
...
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"Hello, Rita." With wand in hand, Bellatrix walked towards towards Skeeter.
"I had thought you'd learnt your lesson after our last session. I didn't think you'd need another one."
Rita shook in her chair, trying to back away. "Minister... I... I'm really sorry. If you'd just hear me out, I'm sure you'd understand—"
Bellatrix casually sent a cruciatus curse toward Skeeter. Rita let out a shriek so high that it made Daphne and Martina flinch. "Noisy." muttered Bellatrix, waving her wand and sealing Skeeter's mouth shut. She then proceeded to continue the torture.
"So, have you heard from Axel yet?" She asked, turning to Daphne and Martina.
Even though Daphne and Martina had never tortured anyone, they had witnessed it multiple times due to their family. So, they were able to regain their composure despite Bellatrix's brutality.
"Uh… there's no news." replied Martina.
Bellatrix frowned. "What about that girl? Akio? No, Akiko. Did she tell you something?"
The girls were confused by that question. "No. How would she even know anything?"
Bellatrix looked at the two clueless girls and burst out laughing. "You guys don't know?"
"Don't you what?" Asked Daphne.
"Akiko is in Atlantis too. Did she not tell you?"
?????????
"....What….?"
"Is… Is that true?!"
"Of course. Atlantis is under a state of war. Her grandfather has been worried sick about her."
Daphne and Martina looked at each other, their mouths agape.
"...Traitor…"
"That BITCH!"
Then, both of them exploded together.
Both Martina and Daphne were blown away by this revelation. As far as they were aware, Akiko had just returned to Japan with the Japanese Delegation.
Just yesterday, while talking about how much they miss Axel, the girls had also admitted to missing Akiko a little bit as well. The duo had also talked about how innocent and cute Akiko is.
"It is always the quiet ones that are most dangerous." murmured Daphne, gritting her teeth. Right now, Akiko was alone with Axel in Atlantis, while they are stuck here, twiddling their thumbs.
Never in her wildest dreams had Daphne imagined that Akiko would backstab them like this. Thinking back, Akiko was awfully casual about Axel leaving for Atlantis. As if she didn't care at all.
And when they discussed ways to help Axel or go together with him, Akiko was always silent. Now she understood why. The bitch was already set to accompany Axel. While they were agonizing, she must be looking down at them from her high throne, secretly mocking them.
Meanwhile, looking at the distorted expressions of Daphne and Martina, Bellatrix chuckled, shaking her head. "You girls remind me so much of me."
She turned her attention back to Skeeter, who was a mess by now after 20 seconds of Cruciatus. Bellatrix removed the silencing charm. Then, she took out a vial of veritaserum for her pocket and made Skeeter choke on it.
As expected of Bellatrix, the torture was just for fun. The interrogation was going to be done through the truth potion.
"Now, start talking. How the hell did you find out all those things? You need to tell me everything. Don't leave anything out. I'll search your mind to confirm later," she said, pocketing the vial.
This was a new variety of the truth potion. It doesn't complete make the consumer out of focus. Instead, it has a compulsion that makes them think it is alright to speak their true thoughts and reveal their deepest secrets.
"Everything? Asked Skeeter, looking up at Bellatrix. Her eyes had gone foggy due to the potion.
"Yes, everything. Start from the beginning" Answered Daphne in her stead. The amount of information Skeeter had was truly creepy. To gather it just after Axel's disappearance seems too impossible. They needed to know how she found out so much and if there were other people working with her.
Skeeter launched into her explanation, her voice monotone.
"There are two reasons I love my work. One is learning secrets. And the second is to reveal them… at the right time. There are two types of targets I report on. One, small term targets, the ones I report as soon as I learn their secrets, second, long term. These people have multiple juicy secrets. So, instead of revealing what I learn right away, I wait until I've found everything. Axel Hunt…" A hint of passion appeared in Skeeters eyes. "He was in the third category."
"The third Category?" Asked Martina.
"The people I get personally interested in."
"What does that mean?" Asked Daphne sharply.
Rita looked lost. "I'm not sure either. Axel is the first person to appear in this category. The first time I saw him was in Diagon Alley. Shopping with Andromeda Tonks, of all people. I was instantly interested. Who was this handsome boy? And why is the minister's sister personally bringing him around? A love child? Why was he walking like that? Is he injured? So I turned into my animagus form, a fly, and followed them around. I followed them until I saw the whole Black family at the New Cauldron." At this point, Bellatrix's face stiffened.
"I didn't go in because I was scared of the minister. But I waited outside. After a while, I saw Axel come out. Not long after, I saw the minister come out as well. Then—"
"Wait."
Bellatrix interrupted Skeeter before she could talk further.
….
Meanwhile, in the Trench, Axel looked at Aslot, who had already found out about his identity.
"Axel Hunt... was it? Don't be so shocked. I knew both of your parents. You have the same annoying traits like them. Honestly, they were annoying till their deaths."
Axel wanted to pretend that Aslot had guessed wrong, but his eyes narrowed when he heard those word. 'Annoying till their deaths?'
He recalled what Tronis had said in his fight against Ender.
What did he say? 'She didn't know that 'that man' was on also our side. We managed to separate the relic from her.'
Axel looked at Aslot.
"You... you were there, weren't you? You were there when they died."
This must be was the man due to whom his parents lost the final fight. They must have expected that he was still alive.
Aslot sighed.
"You're right. Unfortunately, I was there. And I regret it. Not because we had to kill them. But because of what I lost." As he said that, his body distorted and began to change. Until now, he looked like a handsome old man with white hair and blue eyes. But now, his body rapidly shrivelled down, and gruesome scars appeared all over it, overlapped with excessive blue markings of Kraken which seemed to be permanently active.
"Your parents destroyed the Key, also destroying our plans." said Aslot, hatred dripping from his voice.
"It caused a Dimensional storm. The Royal Relic tried to follow your mother into it. In order to prevent that, I almost ended up losing my life for the second time. As you can see, thanks to your parents, it took more than a decade for me to return. And that too in this condition, barely alive due to the power of Entity. So," Aslot paused his rant as The water around him compressed to form a shining silver Trident, which also had the Kraken's blue marking all over it.
"So, You'd have to forgive me if I project some of that hatred onto you." With that, he pointed the Trident at Axel.
"Well, I'm not exactly thankful that you killed my parents." Axel also mobilized all the water around him. This oldie had a really twisted nature. The fucker could have fled, but ended up almost killing himself because of his greed for the Royal Relic. And then he thinks its justified to take it out on Axel, who was completely unrelated to the incident.
With his anger fueling his bloodline, Axel invoked all the water elemental energy in nature he could muster and sent it towards the incoming tidal wave.
The result? It was a complete L for Axel. Somehow, the water under Aslot's control was much faster, heavier, and destructive. It completely overpowered Axel's attack, proceeding to come towards him in the form of a water dragon.
[Water Monarch + Unshackle]
Before getting engulfed, Axel barely managed to stop the water by combining his water affinity with his special skill to free the water from Aslot's control, thus managing to survive.
???
Aslot stopped and looked at Axel like looking at some rare animal. "Such high mastery…. how?"
'What the fuck?'
On the other hand, Axel clenched his molars, trying to hide his shock. What happened just now was not a casual clash. It was a clash between the affinities of the two water rulers. And Axel had lost. Even before he had the chance to resist.
'What… in the actual fuck?' Axel was shaken. To lose in terms of water affinity… and to lose with such an overwhelming difference…
[Axel, use Teleportation.]
The amount of outrage that line gave Axel could not be expressed in words. The system was telling him to run away.
'Son of a—! Then why the fuck did you give me this mission?!'
If the opponent was so strong, then why issue the mission in the first place?
The System's missions are usually within the realm of common sense. But how is he supposed to beat this guy? Axel had just thought it was some small fry using the power of the relic, but it turned out to be a legit villain with Royal Bloodline.
[It was meant to be completed by borrowing the help of the rest of the relic wielders. You should have guessed you couldn't beat him alone when it was revealed that a whole team of Relic Wielders couldn't beat him.]
The System doused cold water on his anger. He thought he could win, because… come on! This is water! Axel couldn't imagine someone beating him in this field. But faced with the reality, Axel realized that he had to make a choice. Run away or fight.
[Now that you have learnt your lesson, you can still leave. Aslot has locked the space through his water territory, but it's not enough to stop Arcane Travel]
Seeing Axel's frozen appearance, Aslot chuckled. "You know, you can't run, right? We have a lot to talk about."
Axel slowly shook his head. Facing stronger opponents is something Axel has done his whole life. He won't run away just because the opponent is stronger. A fight is not decided based on strength alone.
[Occlumency Max]
The gears of Axel's mind began spinning at a rapid speed as he thought of a million ways to win. "No… I'm not going to run," he finally said, making his decision. He was NOT going to run away.
Hearing that, the corner of Aslot's wrinkled mouth lifted. "Good. Because you need to tell me how you managed to awaken your affinity to that extent."
Axel sneered.
'By doing a 30-day 'Awaken your Bloodline' course.'
Or. 'By minding my own goddamn business.'
That's how Axel would have replied if he wasn't at such a disadvantage right now.
So, he just shrugged. "Well, if you really want to know, you'd have to beat it out of me."
Aslot grinned. "Well, I like the spirit. It's just too bad you don't have the qualifications to back it up."
Aslot was completely confident he would easily break the kid into a crying mess very soon. But still, that confidence made Aslot look forward to that time. Not more than 14, and that level of Water Control? If he knew how, he would be able to finally become more powerful.
With the Royal Trident in hand, Aslot began walking towards Axel.
...
A..N. Powerstones
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