Chapter 28: The Rogue Slayer P4
~28.4~
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A cloud of silver mana suddenly appeared and formed into a portal.
"Hi!" Kye said in singsong as she stepped through.
There was a blond woman and a blonde man standing with a young man around an engraving of a magic circle on the floor. The young man stepped back and held his staff at the ready while the pair of blondes stood there stupefied, their jaws agape.
"Oh, I interrupted something. My apologies." She waved at the young man. "Hello! Sorry for interrupting yo-"
"I know not who you are, woman, but you are trespassing on sacred ground in the presence of the exalted High Mages of the Tower. Surrender!"
Kye raised an eyebrow. "Uh..." She glanced over at the blondes, who were still standing there stupefied. "Okay..."
"Surrender, and you will be judged with mercy."
Kye sighed. "Alright, alright, settle down. I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I teleported in from... kind of far away, so I couldn't see what was going on first. Is this realm at the point where people don't even ask another person's name? Shouldn't you be a little more welcoming than that?" She turned back to Eliana and Elias. "Stop standing there like a couple of bug catchers. What's going on? Speak!"
"You dare address the High Mages of the Tower so casually?!" The young man quickly chanted and casted a fire spell that engulfed Kye, leaving Eliana and Elias with mouths open even wider.
Kye was wholly unaffected. She merely swatted the flames away and snapped her fingers. Bands of white mana appeared around the other three in the room, and they were soon forced to sit at a table made purely of mana and sit upon chairs also made purely of mana. First, she looked at the young man. "You, chill." Then she looked at the blondes. "You two, speak."
"L-l-l-lady E-E-Elysi-sia," muttered the male blonde. Eliana was still struggling to form words.
The young man immediately changed his tone upon hearing Kye's name. "Lady Elysia? As in...?"
Kye reached over and thumped Eliana. "Hey, wake up!"
"Eek!"
"Words?"
"My apologies." Eliana clapped her hands on her cheeks and took a deep breath. She broke free of the white mana and curtsied. "I greet the King of Elysium, Lady Elysia Athas."
Finally out of his stupor, Elias followed suit. He broke free of the white mana and bowed. "I greet the King of Elysium, Lady Elysia Athas."
Kye smiled. "Much better!" She glanced at the young man, who now had the stupefied look. "Greetings. I am Elysia Athas."
Kye released the bindings on the young man and he immediately stood up and bowed. "I greet the King of Elysium, Lady Elysia Athas. I am Lanrathor, a Mage of the Tower."
"Pleasure to meet you!" Kye smiled again and turned back to Eliana and Elias. "So, how have you been? It's been a little while."
"Elysia, should we not speak in private?" Elias asked, his eyes glancing at Lanrathor as if telling him to leave. Lanrathor stood, but Elysia waved him off.
"It's fine. I don't mind people knowing things."
Elias nodded and shrugged at Lanrathor. While the two men weren't terribly worried, Eliana's face betrayed her concern. "Are you certain? You being awake and moving around is enough of a mystery."
"Hmm? What do you mean? I've been transmigrating all this time."
"No, I mean your real body. I can tell plain as day that this is the real you. What happened? How are you even here with your real body to begin with? Your mana is far too monstrous for any mortal worlds."
Kye shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I... had an incident. You heard the world's voice, right? When I enabled the system in full? Everyone in all ten realms should have."
"Yes, and I questioned that immediately, but I did not know how to contact you to get answers, or where your soul was."
Kye looked away. "Yes, well. For the past couple of decades, I've been living in the Atlantis Empire as the Crown Princess of Nippon Sekai, Kye Akari. I have... a family I care about there, both blood related and not. You no doubt heard the part where the system detected a foreign agent. The system was tampered with and mistook me for an intruder. It... was the second time I've gone through the pain of having my soul torn from my body. You know of the first. Before it could happen this time, I shut the system down, but the damage was done. My body deteriorated quickly, and... well..."
Eliana and Elias nodded.
"Anyway, in a dream-like state, I found myself in front of my real body. I didn't know at first, but... I allowed my soul to return to it, and then I... sort of absorbed the dying body of Kye Akari. With me having my body back, you understand what that means for Elysium."
"Yes. The barrier is the first thing to come to mind."
Kye grimaced and nodded. "Yes. And there were already intruders. It'll only be easier now. But, I'm working on a solution. It will take some time to come to fruition, but it will undoubtedly help. Before that, though, I wanted to speak with everyone first. The Court of Athas."
"And that's why you're here?" Elias asked.
"Partially. I also just wanted to see you and catch up. It's been a while, after all."
The blondes smiled, and they started reminiscing.
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"And we talked for a while. It was nice seeing them. Luma, want to go with me to visit them next time?"
Luma was instantly excited. "YES! I haven't seen them in so long... I miss the old days." She looked down for a moment, sullen, then up at Kye. "Elysia, will we ever return to Athas proper? Or... Alexandria?"
"If everything works out like I'm planning..." She sighed. "We should be able to go home eventually. I need time to sort everything out and... deal with the problem. But for now, this rogue slayer must be dealt with."
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Revision: 2024-9-9