Bab 60: The Hero of Prophecy [3]
Tring- Tring-
Leon rang the bell outside Nathan's room again and again. The place the black cat led them to was Nathan's room.
"Maybe he is busy?"
Leon himself didn't believe his words.
The Nathan he had seen was a hardworking person who would either always be training or studying in the library.
It was worrisome why Nathan wasn't opening the door when he was present inside.
Meow-
Besides him the cat kept scratching at the door.
"We should break it."
"Hmm"
Leon stood in front of the door.
Every door in the dorm was made of very durable metals. They would have to attack seriously to break the door.
Lilith would have to use her stigma if she wanted to break it. With her firepower, it was entirely plausible that the explosion would heavily damage the corridor.
Thus Leon had to be the one to cut the door.
Leon raised the sword with his bruised hands.
For the past week, he had been training rigorously. Not to mention using his stigma had drained him. Even he wasn't sure if he could cut the door in his current condition.
"Move"
A beautiful and mesmerizing voice entered Leon and Lilith's ears.
Turning back, only now did they realize that the silver-haired girl had followed them.
Hesitatingly, Leon stood back and left the girl in front of the door.
A scythe appeared in her hands. Holding the scythe with both hands she slashed downwards.
Swish-!
-Thud!
With her single swing, the door was cleanly cut in half.
Immediately all three of them sensed something unusual and rushed into the room.
In the living room lay a young man on the ground with his upper body naked. His damp hairs stuck to his forehead and his eyes despite being open were out of focus.
Black smoke filled the entire room.
Glancing around, they quickly found the source of the murky energy. His left arm.
It was no longer producing a sizzling sound but the smoke coming out of it only slightly lessened.
"Nathan!"
Leon and Lilith took a single step and started coughing. The black smoke went inside their nostrils and made them weak.
Their eyes widened as they realized the identity of smoke. It was Nether.
They didn't understand what was happening, only that Nathan was in danger. Covering his mouth Leon started moving forward.
Snap-
Suddenly, the sound of a snap rang out.
Fwoosh-
Within a blink, the entire room was engulfed with white flames. The flames, seemingly holy, started devouring the smoke without mercy.
Leon and Lilith's eyes widened in alarm only to realize that the flame wasn't hurting them.
"Susan"
Leon looked back at the silver-haired girl. It had been only a few minutes that he saw her abilities and what Leon saw now wasn't a thin, beautiful girl but an insurmountable mountain.
"We need to take him to the infirmary."
Susan spoke while picking Nathan in a princess carry.
A thin layer of white flames was covering Nathan's left arm, stopping the black smoke from spreading again.
"What!?"
Leon and Lilith didn't bother with how Nathan was being carried in this urgent situation. But even their mouth hung open when Susan, opening the window, directly jumped down.
In a panic, they ran to the window.
Even though Nathan had a low rank his room was still on the 5th floor!
"Eh?"
Lilith let out a weird sound when she saw Susan carrying Nathan in one hand and using her other hand to dig her scythe into the wall, slowing her descent.
***
"Wh..at happe..ned?"
Slowly, my eyes were regaining clarity.
(You took your sweet time to come here, didn't you?)
"Heik!"
Hearing someone suddenly from behind I jumped in fright and instantly regained clarity.
(It's me you scaredy cat.)
I found Eth looking at me with an exasperated expression.
Wait, what was with that expression saying 'are you for real?'
Anyone would get scared if someone suddenly speak from behind!
(Let's meet him.)
My face turned solemn when Eth looked towards the darkest place in the void. I understood what he was talking about.
VUP-
A single step was enough for me to stand next to the veil.
VUP-
Eth also appeared beside me.
Both of us were avoiding bringing up the topic of our quarrel. It was the exact reason why I hadn't come inside my soul immediately after reaching Proficient Mastery.
Since that day both of us had talked drastically less.
"What happened to me?"
(We'll know after some time. Presently, you are being diagnosed in Ward's infirmary.)
"I see."
So, I wasn't wrong. That cat had a high level of intelligence. It should have been the one to bring help.
"Let's get closer."
VUP- VUP-
"What the fu.."
I finally understood why Eth previously said that I won't believe him.
I wasn't able to believe what I was seeing myself!
Through the black veil, which even light couldn't escape from, came five golden chains and bounded a shadowy figure.
Every single chain held unimaginable power, strong enough to obliterate every awakener I had seen in this life.
Being cuffed for far too long black blood trickled from the figure's wrists and ankles.
Through his disheveled hairs, which once shined like a black night, I could see the last chain bound around his neck.
His horns were broken and his wings bent. The clothes he wore were torn and he didn't even have the strength to lift his head.
The demon that once felt omnipotent was now reduced to rubble.
'What happened to him?'
Before Eth could answer the demon spoke in a horse and broken voice.
-Oh, hero. Are you fin..ally here? Will you finally grant my wish after this end..less wait?
Similar to mine, Eth's expression turned strange.
'Did he lose his mind? His demeanor took a straight 180 along with his appearance.'
Eth spoke in my mind.
(I don't know. When he first came he was acting normally but with each day he became more worn out until.. Well, he became like this.)
'He isn't lying.'
The way Caim was speaking was similar to a prisoner who had lost all hope after years of confinement with no stimulus.
My brows creased and I focused on what both of them said.
'Can it be?'
With a certain theory in my mind, I spoke to Caim.
"Endless wait? It's only been a month since you were here?"
-What!?
Caim whose voice was broken and tired suddenly turned sharp. His body quivered and he started muttering to himself.
-It can't be…. It can't be… Only one month. One month?..... It can't be
The few words I could understand from his incomprehensible muttering cleared my doubts.
'Time is distorted here.'
This would explain why Caim felt like he had been trapped here for an endless time and why he was broken like this.
Even for a Royal demon like him, time wasn't something that he could win against.
'So, what I felt when I first came here wasn't an illusion.'
Maybe I did spend years walking here.
(What about me, then? I feel like time flows here normally, though.)
I stared at Eth.
Indeed, if my theory was correct then Eth should have already spent countless years here. Yet, it didn't seem like he had spent much time here.
In the novel, the topic of souls was touched on very briefly. It was entirely plausible that I was wrong or maybe something was different about my soul.
'Do you remember that our senses are connected?'
(Ah!)
It seems like Eth understood me.
Someone couldn't perceive two different flows of time at once.
If Eth's senses were connected to me as he had said then the flow of time he perceived must have been from my perspective.
Before Eth was about to speak I raised my hand.
There was one more thing I needed to confirm.
"What do you mean by Hero?"
For the first time, the demon raised his head.
I flinched when I met his dull eyes. Now, I was sure that he had spent uncountable amount of time here.
Those dull eyes had lost any light and wore by staring endlessly at the same void.
It seemed Caim's mental health had deteriorated to the point he didn't even doubt my question.
Without any hesitance, he answered.
-Aren't you the hero? The Hero who had been prophesied since the Dark Ages.
"Prophecy?"
Caim opened and closed his mouth a few times until he started speaking.
-The past has drowned in the sorrows and the present will devour the future.
- Bound by the chains of misery only ashes remain of once splendorous world.
-There is not but one way for the end to arrive. The warrior of the beginning.
-The monarch that rules over the beginning and the end.
What was this prophecy? This wasn't something I've ever read.
I massaged my forehead. With every passing day, new things that weren't mentioned in the novel kept popping up.
But it seemed Caim wasn't done.
-Only the sacrifice of the hero that has defeated time itself can bring a peaceful end.
This time it was the end of the prophecy.
"How do you know that this warrior is me? I don't think it mentioned anything related to me."
-The energy you command. Isn't it Aether? The source of beginning and creation itself.
My eyes widened.
Caim was talking about Ether, wasn't he? In the novel, Ether was said to be the second Aether.
From how it was shown I don't think Ether and Aether were much different.
But Ether wasn't supposed to belong to me.
The rightful inheritor of Ether was Leon.
At this point, my brows creased.
'Did I fuck up by stealing Ether?'
Hadiah
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