Floating in space, Shiro furrowed her brows as she sensed that there was a battle breaking out near Asharia.
“What the hell’s happening, the relic shouldn’t be appearing for another hour or so.” Shiro muttered quietly.
“Nan Tian, take over for me. I’m going back to check up on something.” Shiro called out but Nan Tian shook his head.
“Is it not better that I go have a look? Save your energy for this weapon since without you we won’t be able to make it.” Nan Tian replied as Shiro furrowed her brows before nodding.
“Alright, I’ll open a portal for you. Asharia can’t see anything right now but it’s detecting spikes of mana nearby. Once you spot anything, come back and tell me what happened.” Shiro said as Nan Tian nodded his head.
Watching the portal open in front of him, he walked through it and landed on the roof of the tower located in the centre of the city.
Pulling out his phone, he sent a message to the rest of the party.
“Let’s see… that’s everyone. Do you lot know what’s been going on?” Nan Tian asked as everyone had teleported to the command centre using Shiro’s teleport modules.
“Not yet. There’s been a few signs of combat but we weren’t able to see anything either. I’m afraid that if we were to go out now the location of Asharia might be compromised.” Lyrica replied as Nan Tian furrowed his brows.
“That’s true. In that case I’ll teleport Asharia away first. It won’t be too far away but far enough so that it won’t be dragging in combat. Once that’s done, I want Chen Yu to come with me. We’ll be scouting things out since he’s proficient in stealth.”
“What about the rest of us?” Silvia asked.
“You’re on stand by for now since our enemies are potentially Queens.” Nan Tian replied.
“Understood.”
“Good, Chen Yu, come with me.” Nan Tian said as Chen Yu flickered beside him.
Opening up a hologram in front of him, Nan Tian started to teleport the city roughly half a day’s journey from this spot before dashing into the forest with Chen Yu.
Activating one of his skills, Chen Yu was able to include Nan Tian into his stealth.
Looking at the panic stricken faces of the monsters surrounding this place, Nan Tian had a bad feeling.
*BANG!!!!
Hearing an explosion in the distance, the two looked at each other and nodded.
Slowing down their pace, Nan Tian crouched out a branch and wanted to peak out when a presence appeared behind them.
“I suggest you don’t look at the one causing this damage since she’s quite sensitive to people looking at her.”
Hearing a voice behind them, Chen Yu immediately flickered from his spot and pulled out a dagger while Nan Tian summoned his sword.
“Ah don’t be hostile, I’m actually a big fan. You’re the one who posted the video of that Queen reviving everyone with her spell aren’t you?” The woman raised her hands as her eyes flickered with interest.
Furrowing his brows, Nan Tian looked at the woman in front of him.
She had long black hair and green eyes along with a black dress.
“Are you perhaps Misu, the Undead Queen?” He asked since he remembered Shiro telling him about her and how they met in the future. She was one of the few ‘good’ Queens in this era.
“Oh? You know of me?” Misu tilted her head as Nan Tian nodded.
“We’ve heard a few rumours.” Nan Tian smiled, dismissing his sword as Chen Yu did the same.
“If you don’t mind can you tell us what happened?” Nan Tian asked as Misu nodded her head.
“Of course. Let’s leave this place first since I don’t know if that crazy Empress will be able to spot us.” Misu nodded.
“Follow me, I’ll take you to our temporary camp.”
Looking at each other, Nan Tian and Chen Yu nodded their heads and followed after her.
###
“Right then, what do you want to know?” Misu asked with a smile.
She was currently sitting on a boulder since their camp was in a cave. Looking at the runes around the place, Nan Tian couldn’t help but feel as though they were a bit familiar but set it aside for now.
“What happened? We were busy at the time so we didn’t see anything. All we know is that a fight has broken out.” Nan Tian replied.
“Mn, well it seems like the Dragon Empress has gotten a little restless and decided to fight the Queens before the relic appears. If anything, I’d say it’s good for us. Though if you don’t mind me asking, what’s Shiro’s goal in looking for this relic?” MIsu asked.
“What’s your goal for coming here when a rainbow relic is spawning?” Nan Tian smiled, not telling her about their goals just yet.
“Me? Well I was just here to look for Shiro. I want to make an alliance with her. I think she’s trustworthy from the things I’ve seen so far. If you’re doubtful I can make a vow right now and prove it to you.” Misu smiled as Nan Tian shook his head.
“No it’s fine. We’re not exactly going for the relic anymore.”
“Oh? Did something happen?” Misu asked. Since they weren’t interested, they must have gotten more information about this relic.
“Yes, the relic is a danger to everyone so our goal is to destroy it.”
“Destroy it? Can you even destroy something as powerful as a rainbow relic?” Misu raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“You’ll see. But you really aren’t bothered about the relic are you?” Nan Tian chuckled.
“Nope. Honestly this might be the best outcome. The power of a rainbow relic would throw the balance in disarray. If a Queen obtains this, she’ll become a target and the others will team up to kill them. Once she is killed, the cycle repeats so it might be best that a relic like this is destroyed.” Misu shook her head.
“Mn, well this is how you can contact me. I need to report this information back to Shiro. As for the current fight, I think we’ll watch for a bit longer. Making ourselves known will be quite dangerous.” Nan Tian smiled as Misu nodded her head.
Watching the two leave, she turned towards her subordinate.
“Why so tense? She was just observing us.” Misu smiled.
During that entire conversation, they could feel the gaze of a powerful Queen watching them and she could guess that it was probably Shiro since it only appeared after they made themselves known. Plus, this cave was supposed to filter out gazes like that unless they have matching runes so it proved that Shiro knew the runes from her world.
It was strange but Misu guessed that she probably found something in a dungeon.
“Anyways, let’s survey the area some more. I’m surprised that we found Shiro’s companions so soon. Hopefully we’ll be able to see her in person later.” Misu smiled.
###
“Keep an eye on the city with everyone else, I’ll go to Shiro and tell her about what’s happening.” Nan Tian said before opening a portal back to space.
Activating the suit once more, he stepped through the portal.
Seeing Shiro creating the weapon with sweat dripping from her face, Nan Tian was about to say something when Shiro opened her mouth.
“I saw what happened. I must say, I’m surprised that Misu is a fan of me. In the future I saw, we were nothing but business partners with me acting as the weapons dealer.” Shiro said as Nan Tian nodded.
“With her having no interest in the relic, that’s one less Queen for us to worry about. The main problem is the Dragon Empress.” Nan Tian frowned.
“Mn, I know. The Ice Queen warned me about her in the past. Unless we can distract her when I fire my weapon, I think she’ll try to block most of the power or perhaps even absorb it if she has a skill with a similar nature. Regardless, I want to make sure nothing blocks this weapon when it fires.” Shiro sighed.
“If you want, when you fire the weapon, I can enter combat for a short while and stop her from leaving.”
“That’s quite dangerous. I was injured to this extent because I underestimated a subordinate. Your enemy is an Empress, I’m afraid that even if I gave you some power, it’ll be useless. Plus, I’m working on this weapon too.” Shiro frowned.
“Don’t worry, I won’t fight if I don’t have to. She’s currently fighting other Queens so I’m hoping that if I do have to fight her, she’ll be severely weakened.” Nan Tian replied as Shiro thought about it for a moment before nodding.
“True. Setting that aside for now, help me with this component, it’s a bit hard to balance out.”
“Sure.”
###
Meanwhile, there was a lone figure in the void. A small portal of sorts was slowly opening but the speed was slow.
Looking through the portal, it could see the Queens fighting one another as it narrowed its eyes and smiled.
