***

===

Me: Head scnientist! We foudn a humanoid monster at the Pyriaville auction house! Requst for reinforcement!

===

Staring at the holographic phone inside my hand, I could feel rage bubbling up inside me. However, that rage was soon eaten up by [F - Emotionless].

With my emotions how fully erased once more, I scrolled up and down the chatbox, looking for the slightest mention of Glacia's name or appearance. Luckily for me, the message that I saw was all the Cultist managed to send before dying.

Thus, I crushed the phone into pieces and walked toward Glacia.

"Glacia, extend your wings."

Like an obedient pet listening to its owner, Glacia extended her wings wide with a smile.

Ignoring her smile, I held both of her wing's ends and wrapped them around her own body.

'This is how Syl does it. It should work on Glacia too.'

Then, I walked toward the nearest Cultist's body and ripped the dark robe off it. Despite the aforementioned robe being stained with blood, I still made Glacia wore it. I then took another robe and used it to strap Glacia to my back.

'Let's see... I should get her out of the auction house now and find Alicia.'

It wasn't as if finding Glacia threw all my plans down the drain. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was a good thing that she came to me first when her illusion was undone.

This incident would come to an end soon since I was sure that the securities and duke Pyrian's knight orders would arrive soon. And I could feel my Mana slowly depleting due to me having 2 Skills active at the same time.

Pausing my thoughts there, spread my Time mana out like I did before to hide my traces from Time mages.

When that was done, I softly whispered to Glacia.

'Hang on tight, it's going to be rough.'

"Don't fall off. It'll be annoying to stop and pick you up." I whispered coldly.

I then turned back to take Excalibur with me and ran.

...

As I ran through the broken remains of the auction house, slaying every Cultists that were stupid enough to attack me with excalihammer, I suddenly ran into a familiar pushover.

"Theodore? What are you doing here?" The pushover - Arthur asked as he stared at me in confusion. 

I lightly tapped Glacia's back to gesture for her not to peek her head out and answered.

"What I'm here for is none of your concerns. Let me ask you this instead. What are you doing with that slave girl?"

Arthur briefly glanced at the beastkin girl whom he was carrying and answered. "Rescuing her is the trial that Goddess Lumaria gave me!"

'What...?'

I didn't understand what he meant by that. The lightbulb wouldn't make him rescue random slave girls for nothing. Unless...

"Arthur, what's the content of the revelation specifically?"

"That? She told me to go the main stage. There a trial awaited me. Should I possess the qualification, I shall be granted power beyond imagination!"

'She's talking about Excalibur... Of course that retarded pushover would mistake it for rescuing pretty girls.'

It also meant that the 3 <D-> ranked Cultists that I killed earlier was meant to be a trial for him; And I had inadvertently completed the trial in his place. But...

'Those 3 are pathetically weak. Is it truly a trial for Arthur?'

But then I realized what kind of person Arthur was. I guessed that the slave girl would walk into the middle of the fight somehow and Arthur would have to defend her while fending off the Cultists at the same time.

This... wasn't particularly hard to do if it was me who had to go through it. However, it would have proven to be quite a challenge for Arthur since his power was more focused on duels and such.

However...

'He's destined to pass the trial anyways... should I just give him it?'

I didn't have any idea about what would make a good substitute trial for him. After all, every the Cultists were almost wiped out, and I wouldn't want to fight Arthur again so soon.

The only thing left would be the Greater black wyvern, but even that wasn't viable as its power was ranked <A>.

Thus, as my feeling of frustration was quickly eaten away by my Skill, I hurled both the sword and the stone toward Arthur.

Widening his eyes in surprise, Arthur dodged the sword by a a hair's breadth and turned around to frown at me. Before he could even say anything, however, he was distracted by the Holy aura that the sword gave off.

"Th- This... isn't this the legendary sword!?"

Arthur then turned toward me as if to confirm something.

In response, I nodded with a smile. "It's yours."

Nodding back and saluting to me, Arthur turned back toward the sword again and placed both of his hands on its handle.

Seeing this, I hurriedly rushed out of the area.

'Now that Excalibur's back to its rightful owner, I can leave without worrying about anything.'

...

It took a while, but the exit was finally in my sight. As I was about to just dash through it, however—

"ERALS! YOU'RE DEAD TO ME!"

—Celi and Erals suddenly jumped out from seemingly nowhere and fought each other right in front of the exit.

Although I should probably help her with the battle, I knew better not to.

'Securing Glacia's safety comes first. Who knows what would happen if she slips out of my back during the fight and Erals sees her? That Cultist bastard would surely escape right then and there and report back to his superiors.'

As I was moving very discreetly toward the exit, however, Erals suddenly snapped his head toward me and threw a heavy piece of rubble at me. 

Although I managed to dodge it, the exit was now blocked with the rubble.

"Mister Cultist!" I shouted. "Please let me go! You're fighting that girl, right? I have nothing to do with this!"

"You're not fooling me, heretic inquisitor."

'How did he know?'

As if to answer my question, Erals smirked. "You can change your appearance with illusion magic however you want, but you can't erase the smell of the aphrodisiac on you."

'Ah, he got me good.'

Staring at him with my now-cold face, I moved beside Celi and took out a sword from [Alternate storage].

"Araceli, listen up. Aryl is busy right now so I was taking her place before. I need you to—"

"For fuck's sake! Just stop it already, Theodor— no, I should call you Aryl."

"What—"

"This is no time for your deceit!" She shouted angrily. "I already knew that you were Aryl as soon as I met you and whatever person that was posing as Aryl a few days ago. And really? You're still wearing the same clothes! You expected me to believe you lies again? Just shut up and help me!"

"..." I stared wordlessly at Celi.

I've never seen her this angry before. Well, maybe I did, but that was when I first met her and tried to use a dungeon to kill her. But like Celi said, this was no time to play around with such thoughts. As such, I quickly gave her my command.

"Celi, you attack him from the flank. Don't try to use your shovel to block anything. Instead use your barrier. And I will att—"

"This is getting boring. I'll just end it now." Erals suddenly yawned.

He then took out a black crystal and crushed it to bits in his palm.

"CELI!" I shouted. My emotions were surging up so fast that my Skill didn't have time to eat them all. "RUN—"

"Too late now hehahahah!"

<[Void vacuum]>

Instantly after Erals' chant, everything became so... peaceful. I couldn't hear the sound of the screaming bidders, nor could I feel the wet sensation of rain on my face.

However, I knew better than to trust this seemingly tranquil space.

'NO!' I screamed, but I couldn't hear my own voice.

I picked a direction and desperately ran toward it. As I felt that I was close to getting out of Erals' spell, however, some sort of invisible barrier made out of Void mana stopped me.

'LET ME OUT!'

I screamed as I kicked the barrier. However, I shouldn't have done that, as it only served to push the air out of my body. With [F - Emotionless] now catching up to my panic and fear, I quickly calmed down and clamped my mouth shut. But... it was already too late. The effects of oxygen deprivation had caught up to me.

My vision turned blurry and my sense of balance was messed up. Falling on all fours, I could feel my muscles spasming, threatening to give out at any moment.

As the world around me was about to turn black, however, a rush of fresh air was suddenly pumped into my lungs. Shooting my eyes open and coughing for a few moments, I quickly scanned my surrounding to see what had just happened.

'What...? Erals' spell is cancelled?'

As if to answer my question, Void mana suddenly surged to my side in great amount. 

I hurriedly snapped my head toward the direction of the Void mana, only to find Celi slightly floating above the ground with her sclerae all blackened. 

"Hahaha! Finally! I welcome you, 58th Void lord - [Distance]!" Erals said as he knelt down on one knee.

In response to Erals' greetings, Celi merely pointed a finger toward him and chanted.

<[SS - Absolute distance]: Active>

Instantly, all four limbs was severed from Erals' body. Erals screamed in pain as he realized what had just happened and rolled around on the ground in his own blood.

Despite the fact that she had just given Erals the worst pain he had ever suffered in his like, it didn't seem like that Celi was satisfied with it.

Before she could mutilate him even more, however, I knocked her unconscious with a strike to the back of her neck. Since her Skill had changed to its [Active] state, I could catch her body as it fell.

'Warm', was what I thought as soon as I came into contact with her.

However, Celi didn't share the same sentiments. Staring at me with her right eye, which had just been reverted to its normal color, she muttered.

"Why?"

"It will only hasten your corruption."

"Why did you not let me have my revenge?"

It didn't seem that Celi managed to hear me since she continued to mutter on and on until she fell unconscious.

Staring at her limp body for a while, I was about to carry her out of the auction house when I suddenly saw a huge shadow cast over me. Slowly turning around, I was met with...

"Fuck my life. Why does it have to be the Wyvern..."

***

<[Void vacuum]>

Sylph noticed something was wrong as soon as she heard those words. She could feel Wind mana rushing away from the area around Theodore.

'Is that guy creating a vacuum?'

Whatever the case was, it was dangerous for her little Cia. As such, she created a little bubble of air around Glacia as soon as she finished her thoughts. Fortunately, she did it just in time, as she could feel that the whole area around Theodore was devoid of air as soon as she did so. Peeking out of the robe that doubled as a backpack and a strap, Sylph watched as Theodore convulsed on the ground in agony.

'Is he going to die?'

With the area now devoid of air, even a Wind spirit like herself couldn't cast another Wind spell, let alone someone as pathetic as Theodore.

Then, Sylph suddenly saw something strange happen. 

The black-haired Phoenix from before suddenly stood up and marched toward the thin membrane of Void mana.

"It's useless!" The Cultist who was responsible for the vacuum spell smirked. "It's made from a high-grade Void crystal! You can't hope to break it!"

As if to prove the Cultist wrong, the Phoenix clenched her fist and punched the membrane. Instantly, the Void membrane that was ejecting the air out and keeping everything else in was shattered like glass.

Seeing that the danger was now gone, Sylph lost all interest and floated back inside the robe to stay with the sleeping Glacia. That was, until...

"Fuck my life. Why does it have to be the Wyvern..."

"KRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

An ear-piercing scream that sounded like it came straight from Hell made both Glacia and Sylph jolt up from surprise. Before they could do anything, they suddenly felt a strong impact.

Peeking out of the robe again, Sylph widened her eyes in surprise upon seeing that... Theodore and the Phoenix was sent flying through the air. It seemed that the Wyvern had tackled them away with its tough head.

Their flight was cut short by a wall which Theodore ended up crashing into. The Phoenix, however, was more lucky since Theodore's body softened her crash.

Now on the ground, lying in a pool of his own blood, Theodore mustered up all of his remaining strength to will Time mana for whatever reasons. Then, he fell unconscious, the thin thread that was his life right now threatening to snap at any moment.

Then, Sylph could feel another impact. This time, it was the ground shaking as the Wyvern descended onto the ground from the air. 

As the dust settled, the Wyvern opened its maul wide, exposing its sharp white teeth. As it was about to swallow Theodore whole, Glacia suddenly emerged from the robe and scolded it.

"No! Bad friend!"

The wyvern slowly turned its ridged reptilian head toward Glacia. It then breathed out of its nostrils as if laughing at the little before before it.

"Bad friend! You played too hard! Daddy's hurt!"

However, it seemed that the wyvern's amusement had now turned into annoyance. As such, it changed its target from Theodore to Glacia and attempted to swallow her whole. However... it soon groveled in confusion as it realized that it couldn't inflict harm on Glacia no matter what.

Unaware of the confusion that she had just caused to the wyvern, Glacia shouted.

"Get down!"

As if hypnotized, the Wyvern brought its head down to Glacia's level.

Patting the Wyvern's scaly head, Glacia used Sylph's Wind magic to carry Theodore, the Phoenix, and herself on top of the wyvern's head. Now sitting on top of the Wyvern, Glacia finally realized the extent of Theodore's injuries. Although she was a child, she knew that Theodore would die if he wasn't treated immediately!

Thus, she pleaded. Desperately.

"Sylph please! Save him!"

Hearing the sudden mention of her name, Sylph jolted in surprise. After calming down, she briefly considered letting the trash before her die but she eventually decided against it.

'It would be better if that guy died but... I can't let him die in front of little Cia!'

As such, Sylph hurriedly answered. |Little Cia, I can't. But—|

"PLEASE SYLPH! I- I WON'T EAT MEAT ANYMORE IF YOU HELP HIM! Y- YOU CAN NOT BE MY FRIEND ANYMORE BUT PLEASE SAVE HIM!"

'What determination!'

With the image of this regression's Glacia now changed in her mind, Sylph spoke with a soothing voice.

|Little Cia, only you can save him.|

"...?"

|Your blood, let him drink it.|