Bab 243: Rewards And Punishments.
"Unn~nnn~ Ga~brie~lle."
Loki heard stray murmurings that sounded more like a cat than a human and woke up.
He pushed himself off of his bed before looking around the area to orient himself with his position.
'Where am I?'
'The Flamel's home?' Loki concluded after he noticed several objects with small spirit bodies in his spirit vision.
Loki's gaze finally rested on the girl who was sleeping a little away from him on a different bed and narrowed slightly.
'So she's alright…'
'Well, at least my plan worked…'
A sudden shadow extended from the door of the room and landed on Loki's face causing him to look around at the person patiently looking at him from afar.
Loki's spirit vision automatically turned off as he looked at the person but-
"Ah…"
- he didn't know what to say when he saw Nicolas standing at the door with an annoyed smile.
"You finally woke up…"
"How long have I been out?"
"Not long, only a few hours."
Loki nodded as things started to straighten out in his mind.
Now that he was out of the endless corridors he felt his head clear up and time was no longer an issue that he had to constantly deal with.
That was when he noticed Fleur's body twitch a little before it went completely still again, causing an unprompted thought to come up in his mind that made him smirk a little.
"By the way…who won the test?" Loki asked randomly.
Nicolas frowned for a second but then he saw Fleur had awoken too and winked at Loki before answering him, "Well normally there wouldn't have been a clear winner since not all the participants were allowed into the competition. But…considering the extenuating circumstances-…"
"-I must say, you adapted to the situation cleverly Loki. I would have to say, you surprised us all with your methods and techniques-"
"-Before I reveal the winner, could you explain to me what your idea was to capture the demon Minotaur?"
Loki nodded quickly and explained-
"I knew we couldn't fight him off easily, so I made sure that the second he would even partially step out of the door portal it would blow up like an explosive."
Nicolas looked a little annoyed after he was forced to remember the event but he asked again-
"And how did you blow up the door portal?"
"I recognised that we were in the spirit world once I saw the runes on the door frame. They were acting as an anchor to connect a place in the real world to the corresponding place in the spirit world."
"So what? Why was that crucial in your plan?"
"Well, the thing is I had an idea after I saw the runes on the device that kept us invisible. The runes on the device although not very recognisable even to advanced enthusiasts, I recognised it since I know about various pathways from the Black Family records and since I'm a Beyonder-"
"-the symbol etched on the device was what represented the Savant pathway in mysticism.-"
"You are right." Nicholas nodded to confirm Loki's explanation.
"My idea was that since the God of Steam and Machinery can interfere in this part of the spirit world, I assumed other gods could too if I gave them an anchor in it. So I carved out the runes of three different gods into the door frame-"
Nicolas's brows twitched and Loki saw Fleur halting her breath.
"-I carved into the door the symbol for the God of Combat, the God of Steam and Machinery, and the Primordial Demoness. Normally you'd need to perform a ritual to form a charm out of their symbols but I didn't want a charm, I just wanted chaos so that I could escape while killing whatever was inside the door."
There was a tense silence as Loki said those words but he continued as if he hadn't said anything crazy.
"And so when the door activated, it also charged up all the other symbols resulting in their domains clashing before the door exploded in chaos due to their reactions. Killing the Minotaur demon in the process."
Nicolas looked at Loki with annoyance for a few seconds before he sighed and nodded before revealing what he had planned to say all along-
"And so because of your clever use of the resources you had to finish the task of defeating the Minotaur Demon in spite of lacking the other people, I say that you've clearly taken the cake. You win."
Loki laughed creepily when he heard that but just as he was about to tease Fleur about it he suddenly saw her bolt up straight and look at Nicolas with a profound sense of sorrow and sadness.
"But…no!"
Nicolas looked at her with a small scowl before responding softly, "You must reflect on your actions. We will be suspending the final stage of the competition to accept and teach everyone else during the next thirty days, but you will not be one of them."
Fleur looked heartbroken.
"But monsieur…I need the elixir of life…for my sister…"
Nicolas looked at her with an even deeper frown before shaking his head and turning away.
"Come to the other room once you are ready Loki. I have a few things planned for you separately. People with your skill shouldn't waste their time. You've got a lot to learn."
Loki's eyes lit up and he nodded quickly but then he heard a soft sob from beside himself.
He looked at Nicolas's fading back with a slight sense of guilt before turning to Fleur.
"Erm…"
'Would it be alright to give her one drop from my own stash?'
Loki looked at Nicolas again and shook his head.
'No. 'He' knows what 'He' is doing. I shouldn't go against his wishes so easily.'
'But if something happened to Elane…sigh I don't know what I'd do if that was the case…I probably wouldn't even remain sane.'
Loki pushed himself out of the bed and rushed to Nicolas, following him, leaving Fleur to continue crying. He didn't even tease her for being a loser since she looked so terrible. But he did notice the strange ring on her finger.
'Who made that thing? Why is it so valuable?'
Nicolas looked at Loki when he walked beside him and spoke quickly, "If you had given your stash of the elixir to her, I would've tossed you out."
Loki nearly felt his heart skip a beat.
"You knew I had some?"
'How? I put all of mine above the grey fog! In the Sefirah Castle!'
"Albus told me." Nicolas said nonchalantly.
'Ah…makes sense.' Loki nodded.
But before Loki could think about it further, Nicolas suddenly spoke with a little bit of fear.
"Good luck. I hope you can remain alive and come out of this with your body intact…"
"Huh?"
Before Loki could think further, they stepped out into the large hall that Loki had seen on the first day when he was there. Inside the hall, there was a single figure glaring at him like he'd killed their closest family member.
It was Prenelle, she looked at Loki with fuming anger. Loki shivered as soon as he met her gaze.
Almost immediately, he felt her gaze touch his soul for a few seconds before it stopped as she looked at him with even more anger.
Before Loki could even react, he found Prenelle beside himself, holding his ear and pinching it between her fingers as she spoke directly into it. Like she was making sure that by widening his ear hole she could get her words into his brain faster.
"Do you know how risky it is to attract the attention of another deity in the spirit world!? What are you? A child!? If you have so much knowledge about the different pathways, don't you know the first prerequisite that comes with all of it!? To respect Gods!?-"
"-Do you know how many rituals I had to conduct to explain to the various Gods that you were just being foolish and weren't seriously disrespecting them!?-"
"-Boy I will make sure to extract from you the price of each of those rituals!! The precious materials that I had to expend just because of your stupidity!!! I'll make sure you work every bone in your body to pay them off!!!"
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! It hurts!!!!!!"
"It better!!!!"
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A/N : We crossed a hundred powerstones!!!! Expect and extra chapter!!! Let's goo!!!!
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Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone