Kirk sat in front of him, fully clothed, while eating breakfast. Arthur has taken this meal out of his subspace for his prisoner, who seems to have grown quite used to his new home. The silver head bobbed up and down, munching, but Arthur did not have the time.
“Tell me who controls the corpses,” said Arthur with impatience. “And tell me the identity of the Ghost Ruler.”
“First answer is I have no idea. The second answer is I have no idea,” replied Kirk while pointing his knife at Arthur. “We don’t need to know a lot about our targets to kill them, and none of our targets remained alive.”
“Berilo must have some intel to keep standing in this world. I have no issue breaking you and healing you every day for the rest of your stay. I can even make a rune to do that without my interference, just a rigid process that shows no mercy.”
Kirk was silent as he glared at Arthur and then went back to look at his sunny eggs. His appetite seemed to disappear in the face of torture, but his mouth was not moving. Arthur knew that he needed to push further, and his finger swayed.
“You left me no choice but this, Kirk Berilo,” said Arthur as countless ethereal restraints rushed to hold Kirk’s arm. The prince made no resistance as his arm was pulled to the side. “I want answers.”
“I told you what I know, Arthur Silvera,” said Kirk as he raised his head. “I understand your reasons to hold me captive, but it seems that there are other things that changed you. You were weak and naive before, and how I liked it back then.”
The ethereal restraints tightened around his arm, and it made several cracks. Kirk did not attempt to resist even now, which made Arthur frown. Finally, the intangible binds released him, and his arm dangled to the side before he raised it and picked his knife again.
“I am trying to survive, that is all,” said Arthur with a stone-cold face. “I would never harm anyone without a just cause. Berilo and Runera should be my sole ally against the families, but you have turned into nothing but a pain in the ass.”
“Has it occurred to you that we don’t trust you too?” said Kirk while stabbing the knife to the table. “We lived for thousands of years in fear of being found. Our founding ancestor split the world in two and left us to defend ourselves all for the sake of an outsider.”
“My sake?” laughed Arthur while shaking his head. “I am nothing but a sacrifice chosen to suffer. I have never demanded to be the outsider or whatever godforsaken role.”
“You are still the reason that many of us were killed. Of course, you expect our full cooperation, but what benefit does that bring us? Most of Berilo resent the outsider for the massacres we had to suffer for him.”
Arthur paused, and his eyes looked away from the silver-eyed man. It was true that he was being too harsh on Berilo, but it was the only method to keep his identity hidden. Unfortunately, however, it did not make his relationship with them any better.
“We have all suffered the mistakes of our gods,” said Arthur with sadness. “I vowed to bring them down and let this world lives without any fighting, but what if the world never asked for that like I never asked to save it?”
“Like hell I know about that,” spat Kirk as he pulled the knife out and cleaned it. “We are, like you, trying to survive this messed-up struggle. We are on the brink of war, and the spark to ignite it is none other than the outsider,” Kirk pointed at him.
“There is no need to point out fingers,” said Arthur while rising to his feet. “I have to go now. There are meals prepared behind that door, so help yourself.”
“Are you not going to demand the truth out of me?” asked Kirk with surprise. “This should be the final method, so where are you going?”
“You already know better than lying to me,” said Arthur with a smile. “If I find out that you are lying, you know I won’t be merciful. There is no need to force the truth out of a man reeking with fear.”
Then, Arthur opened his eyes. Julia was standing beside him while staring ahead. After following her gaze, Arthur saw an ancient-brick gate rising from the ground. The entrance had a staircase going underground, and its outlines were spiraling with lights.
“Welcome to the Sacred Ruins of Runera,” said Grandmaster Casca, standing on the far end of the vessel. “Be careful about where you place your feet because even a single mistake can kill everyone in Runera.”
His words made the two visitors stare with awe. Arthur rose to his feet while staring at the gate, knowing fully well that whoever created Runera in this timeline left this for him. The grandmaster jumped down to land in front of the giant gate, and the two followed after him.
“This is the research phase of the ruins. We are tasked with creating a clearance method and cracking the encryption. The other runemasters will join us after the investigation ends, and their task is to tackle the different routes inside the ruins.”
“There are different routes?” frowned Arthur, and Julia was the one to answer him.
“These ruins seem to pose challenges to be opened, and there are different routes to take, each with a different element. The challenges to reach the encryption depend on that element, which forces us to divide our runemasters into groups.”
“It makes things easier, actually,” interjected Grandmaster Casca while staring at the gate. “We can assign the runemasters to their best-understood element. This is truly a quest of knowledge.”
Arthur did not know much about that, but he knew something was waiting for him inside the ruins. Furthermore, the faster he goes inside, the less time he needs to understand the mess his merge has caused.
***
The communication device rang again, but Sier did not answer. Instead, his hands gripped the railing tightly as he stared at the Runic Guards searching through the city for suspects. His violet eyes squinted before he turned to walk into the bar behind him.
“Is it still ongoing?” asked Hua with a frown. Zas and Sier nodded simultaneously, and this proved that teleportation was still prohibited inside Runera.
This mission has proved more difficult than any of them imagined, and the reason behind this was Runera and its countless arrays. The security here was stricter than in any city in the world, and this made Runera stand firm againstgiant nations.
Sier pulled the chair and sat down before pouring himself another cup. Zas and Hua stared at the glass in his hand with worry because it was the seventh that he had so far.
Spiritual alcohol did not have a lot of effect on those with high perception, or the Omniscient Vessel, to be specific. However, the slight daze that it gave him made Sier appreciate the brief quietness of the voices.
As the alcohol reached his empty stomach, the daze struck him stronger than usual because of the amount he consumed. His eyes closed, and his ears stopped hearing every voice in this district. In that moment of peace, Sier remembered the first time he met the outsider.
Master Ronin was his sole support after his father disowned him and his mother died. His relation to the Yalen Family made Master Ronin the best teacher for Sier to learn from, but it also came at the cost of being influenced by his prophecies.
As much as Sier knew how powerful the outsider was, he never wanted to meet him. It was one thing to feel threatened, but that was just one of the reasons. Sier did not want to be consumed.
A person who gave Master Ronin visions for three years and stood alone against seven guardians was bound to consume him. Sier was already struggling to keep himself against the Seer Guardian, and he did not want to meet his enemy.
“The person who can save you from what lives within you is the person who once defeated it.”
Those were the words that Master Ronin said and convinced him to meet Arthur Silvera inside an arcade. Sier sat down alone that day, lighting a cigarette to ease his nervousness. He then heard someone walk behind him, but Sier failed to read his mind.
There cannot be anyone other than the vessel. Sier found it quite laughable that he met the person who would change his life inside an arcade, but when he looked at Arthur Silvera, Sier knew that Master Ronin was right again.
His golden eyes carried the sun inside them, and even as a flower bud that had yet to bloom, Arthur Silvera was a gravitating character.
Sier knew at that time that this was his chance to survive. All he needed to do was help Arthur Silvera grow and protect him. In return, Arthur Silvera would help him when the time came.
It did not feel well to deceive the man who would turn the world upside down, but the outsider was someone who repaid his debts well.
The effect of the alcohol ended, and Sier was back to reality. The voices appeared in his mind again, and he could not turn them off. Reality brought back the realization that Arthur Silvera was hunting down vessels to kill them.
