Chapter 13: Helping?
When they were about to leave the hotel, they bumped into Artrus who was about to enter.
"Helloo!"
Ertex waved at him, throwing a hand around his neck.
"How are you?"
Artrus pushed his hand aside.
"I'm fine."
Ertex looked at him, seeing that he had new equipment. A necklace, a bracelet, and a new sword, all of Legendary rarity.
'He was quite busy, wasn't he?'
"Were you acknowledged?"
Hearing Ertex's question, Artrus raised an eyebrow. Why would he ask him that? Not even 3 full days had passed, there's no way Ertex, who had no knowledge of how things were running here, was acknowledged, right?
But then he thought of something.
'Kleiss.. Kleiss.'
It sounded familiar. He must have heard that name sometimes in the past... he just can't put his finger on it.
"... I wasn't."
"..."
"Too bad... Well, I'll let you do your thing then. Bye!"
Ertex left and approached the women who were already outside. The rain has eased up.
Artrus sighed, renting a room.
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"You had a sword, didn't you?"
Arga's question made Ertex check himself.
"A sword? A sword! Yeah, I did. I think I forgot it in the room. I'll go get it."
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"You know..."
Artrus glanced at Ertex once he heard him talk. He just got his keys and was about to enter the elevator when he saw Ertex doing the same. Not they both are in the elevator, going to the same floor.
"It kinda feel like I'm following you, doesn't it?"
"...A little bit."
"It was just a coincidence."
Artrus nodded, closing his eyes.
"Were you?"
It was Ertex's turn to look at Artrus.
"Hmm?"
"Acknowledged."
"...I wasn't."
"Are you lying?"
"Should I ask you the same?"
Artrus opened his eyes, looking at the opening doors.
"Touché."
They got out, going to their rooms. Ertex saw that Artrus' room wasn't too far from his own. He retrieved his sword, which was near the bed, and left the building, following Edna.
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They arrived in the same place the trials were, but kept on walking until they have reached a huge door.
That's all there was to it, just a door attached to nothing. When Edna opened it, all Ertex saw was... nothing.
Nothing. Literally nothing.
Just... complete nothingness.
"Is there any chance we'll be placed in different places?"
Edna glanced towards Ertex and shrugged.
"I doubt it."
He nodded and stepped inside. After he did that, the same nothingness began to react to him. It began morphing and moving, as if trying to distance itself from Ertex.
"What's happening?"
"How would I know? You're my guide, you should tell me."
Edna had no response. Admittedly, she only did this once, but this didn't happen back then.
However, she was glad that nothing happened once everyone stepped in, successfully arriving where she knew they would.
She was about to say something, but paused after looking around.
She only saw Mary.
"..."
"Ha.. Ha.."
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" 'I doubt' she said.. Well, at least this place looks good."
Arga could only nod.
If the previous place could be considered a town, this was an enormous city that only kept expending.
The architecture was on a whole new level, with luxurious mansions, castles, immense skyscrapers that seemed to reach the stars above.
Everything was immaculate, with nothing to tarnish the image of this city.
The sun that lights up this place is way bigger and way closer than what Ertex was used to.
Looking up, he saw that even with the sun up, the extremely numerous stars were still visible, being way brighter than the sun was.
'Pretty cool.'
While still looking up, Ertex squinted his eyes.
Something was watching him from above, it seemed.
"Wait for me here, mom."
"Huh? Where are you-?"
She didn't have the time to finish as Ertex was already gone.
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[Teleportation (Error)
You are able to teleport wherever you want.]
Ertex reached a very dark place. It was similar to the previous nothingness, but nothing happened there. So maybe there were things that, right now, he couldn't see.
All he saw was himself.
And a figure.
"Quite lonely in here, isn't it?"
The figure was quite short and seemed to be a woman.
She began laughing.
The laugh...
'It sounds weird..'
"You are really scary, Kleiss. You really are."
"What did I do?"
"You were able to get here. And I didn't feel anything. No one can do that."
"You don't seem that scared, you know?"
"I heard what you said to Arga."
"You've got quite the hearing then, eh?"
"I can hear everyone. I can do many things. I can even kill everyone."
The woman turned around and with a step, she was right in front of Ertex. That only made him snicker, using a hand to hide his mouth.
"Kill everyone? Pfft.."
The snicker soon transformed into a full blown laughter, echoing throughout that space.
"Rich coming from someone wounded.."
She didn't like at all the look in Ertex's eyes.
Was she being looked down upon? What gives? With what right?
This has never happened before.
"... How did you know?"
"You must be the reason why I'm here and not with Edna, right? What do you want?"
Ertex completely ignored her question. She laughed once again, clapping her hands.
"Of course, of course. You wouldn't be Ertex if you weren't like that. But you are quite wrong, darling. I am not the sole reason you are here. Everyone wants you here. While I may need something from you, to say I'll be so desperate and just make you come here as soon as possible would be quite a stretch. Last time I checked, you invaded my place on your own accord, not forced by me."
Even though Ertex couldn't fully see her, he knew she was smirking right now. It wasn't a problem for him, however.
He always liked women like her. Too bad she wasn't completely honest. He smiled at her.
"Well, aren't you something? Keep it up like that and I might really fall for you."
"I'm trying, you know? I am glad to see my efforts are not in vain."
She looked to the right, feeling something.
"Don't you wanna know who I am? You know, before falling too much for me."
"Nope, I don't really care. Just tell me what do you need from me."
"Really? For free?"
"Of course not, honey."
"Fine, fine. I just need you to... distract someone for a while. Killing her would be perfect, but I don't think it's possible even for you. Simple, right?"
"Distract someone?"
"Yeah. I just need some time to do my thing. A year should be enough."
"Who is she?"
"Hazelia Annora. You most likely don't know who she is, but you'll know when you find her, right?"
She looked him in the eyes, smiling.
"Don't think so if you say she's that strong... I feel like this system is making me weaker."
"Most likely. You are... a complicated case."
She then thought of something.
"I'll help you destroy it if you help me."
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Ertex left, leaving the woman alone.
"Of all people, you choosed him? Are you sure he can be trusted?"
Or not.
"... One can dream... One can dream."
A single tear fell from the woman's eye as she clenched her hands.
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Important note.
I'll say it now: Ertex is not a goody two shoes.
What I want to write is a novel with morally evil characters, not just Ertex. I don't want only the mc to be evil, I want every character around him to be. Whether because they already were before meeting Ertex, or because he made them become evil.
You know that trope where the mc is evil but he acts righteous in front of other characters so that he gains something?
My mc is evil but will not act righteous because one, he doesn't care, and two, the other characters are evil too.
I know that right now he doesn't seem like much, but he can and will kill someone that doesn't do what he wants or simply annoys him.
Right now he only has one goal. Even though you may already know what that goal is, I won't say it now. I have an idea for a second goal, but I'm still thinking about it.
For the romance part, yes, he will love his women. But do not expect him to just say it again and again or act like a teenager in front of them, because as said in a previous chapter, he has his own way of showing his love.
Everything said in the synopsis about the tags is true, especially the 'No yuri' part, because Ertex is homophobic. He'll encounter a couple of lesbians, and let me tell you, he will not praise them. Before you begin to send threats, no, I, the author, do not feel the same. Everyone can do whatever they want as long as the intentions are good and well, it's legal, but as said in the beginning, I want to write a novel with morally evil characters.
Also, this novel has nothing to do with any religion from the real world or anything like that.
Consider yourself warned and kind of spoiled. To those that choose to not read this anymore, thank you that you took your time to read until now. To those that choose to continue, all I can say is enjoy!
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