Arc | Chapter. 124: Ceremony (Part 6) (Patreon)

Chapter. 124: Ceremony (Part 6)

The Hero of Spirits screamed under my grip. I was… fed up for lack of a better word, and also in deep pain. Now, after my mind had calmed. I felt a sense of relief but also, a deep grudge for the pain I had endured. Also there was the fact that Iris had died which just made me all the more annoyed.

She had chosen to sacrifice herself fully knowing it would kill the Hero of Spirits too. Was the Hero of Spirits worth as much as her? Definitely not. I did wish I could’ve prevented the tragedy; and I did try, but in the end, she had died from the blast in spite of trying to lessen it.

Not only that, but he had been the one to push Iris into such an extreme, ruining and controlling her house. He was the reason the woman had chosen to do that to begin with.

And the fact that he had exposed my identity too.

Sure, I didn’t care all that much anymore but it should’ve been my decision. While I didn’t hate him for anything in particular it all compounded into great annoyance. Perhaps if he had stepped down from trying to take control of Draliz I would’ve let him go, but now it was far too late for me to listen to his pleas.

“Please, we can talk this out⁠—”

And I kicked, his shoulder snapped along with a splatter of blood as the spear gouged out of his flesh. He screamed in great pain.

“Too late for that.” I raised my head looking down on him. “It’s far too late.”

“Far too late?!” he screeched. “What did I even do to you aside from almost killing you? You already killed me mind you! It’s eye for an eye at best!”

I shook my head. “We both know that you have to die in order for this Draliz conflict to be resolved.”

He bit his lip. “And what if I make the ceremony play out in your favor?”

“Well, I suppose I could let you live, but…” I tilted my head. “Wouldn’t the Hero of Flames come after you right after and kill you? I’d guess he has a skill to burn souls just like Regis’karr.”

He sneered. “As if he could kill me.”

“Still, nothing guarantees the ceremony will go well; what if you turn on me as soon as we meet the Hero of Flames?” I asked, raising my brow. He shuffled. “What if decades from now you decide you want to be my enemy? What if you decide to take possession of Ceylon and hold her life over me to control her?”

“I’d never do that!”

My eyes narrowed, now annoyed. “I’m sure you would; that’s what you did to Iris after all.”

He paused. “That’s different⁠—”

And I hit his head with my spear shaft, he rocked back hitting frozen ground with a bloody splatter. There was a brief silence as he groaned from the concussion, all while I just watched.

I was holding Iris over his head, but I was no saint. In fact, I didn’t want to explain my reasoning for wanting to kill him because even though I had a bunch of logical reasons, none of them actually weighed in my mind. I just knew I had to get rid of him for one reason or another; for the future I wanted.

I did lament Iris’ death, but I wasn’t doing things out of vengeance, and I wasn’t doing things to explicitly protect Ceylon either, or to prevent betrayal, instead I was doing it because I knew I had to. But beating him like this brought me no satisfaction, in fact it made me feel like shit to beat someone who didn’t want to fight anymore since my resentment or anger hadn’t reached a high enough point yet.

If it was the Hero of Flames however…

I shook my head as the Hero of Spirits slowly stood up, gritting his teeth.

“You…” He bit his lip. “I won’t let you kill me!”

And he pounced with surprising speed, swinging his right hook at me. I easily dodged as he went for a left punch.

“I don’t understand how you became such a monster!” He tried to kick only for me to dodge again. “How your mana, endurance, strength or agility are so ridiculously high!”

He stomped, breaking the dirt ground as rocks flew.

“I do not understand what you even are!” He punched and I side-stepped. “How could someone so strong come out of nowhere!”

And this time, I caught his fist with my hand as it made a dry clapping noise. “You know, your skills are terrifyingly and stupidly strong, so I could say the same thing. As for where I came from?” I tilted my head. “Well I was an art major before all of this shit happened so; college I suppose.”

There was a second of silence before his head recoiled back.

“How did a fucking artist survive training?” He blinked in confusion.

“Beats me.”

And I punched.

* * * * *

The Hero of Flames felt angry; and more than anything he felt that time was running out. Even though the ceremony was rapidly approaching, having less than ten minutes for the results to be announced to the whole city. He was sure that soon the fireworks would begin to explode at any moment and he was stuck here.

“[Fire Wave],” he swung his arm.

A ripple of flames engulfed the room, destroying the shadows and opponents' flames alike; everything was full of steam due to the water in the room. And he was exhausted. Completely bloodied; he had a skill that he didn’t want to use but perhaps he’d have to in order to make his goals come to completion.

The Dragon of Flames and the Dragon of Shadows had already used their SS Tier skills, so all that remained was the Dragon of Water.

He just had to survive this and⁠—

“[Supreme Water Control]”

He vomited blood as it was taken out of his body against his will.

* * * * *

He rocked back as his nose became bloodied. And a moment later, the sky exploded. I blinked as I saw a beautiful sight; a single firework had gone off like a beautiful star. It was a sea-like blue at the ends with a beautiful white at the center, like a supernova.

“Are you sure you don’t want to negotiate?” the Hero of Spirits asked. “There is still a few minutes before the ceremony.”

“There is nothing to negotiate.”

And I twisted his palm, breaking his wrist and then I pressed; bending his arm in an awkward angle as he let out a grunt of pain and was quickly forced into a submissive position, kneeling before me in pain.

“You know, if you had backed off from this whole ordeal as soon as you realized I wasn’t going to budge you wouldn’t be in this condition right now.”

He spoke through gritted teeth, the pain evident in his voice. “So you wanted me to be a cowardly dog? To back off as soon as I met another hero.”

“I suppose so.” I twisted harder as  he suppressed a scream. “But it was to back off from me more specifically; I assume a lot of heroes heard of what happened with the dragons right? I don’t mean the recent movements but what happened just over a month ago.”

“The… frost dragon’s death?” He grunted. “What about it?”

“Yeah; that was all me. I killed him and his shitty arcane magic, all because he had the delusional idea of trying to make me submit.”

His eyes widened for a moment before I pressed harder making him unable to speak in pain.

* * * * *

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

That was all his mind was processing.

FUCK.

The Hero of Spirits didn’t understand, he couldn’t fathom how he had run into such a hero. It was the equivalent of randomly meeting the Heroine of Water and having no clue who they were. If he had known the Heroine of Frost was someone of that caliber he would’ve immediately backed off.

She was an artist too?! He couldn’t believe any of the information thrown at him, but reality was different.

And now, he was biding his time, hoping that the Hero of Flames would come rescue him. As for the keeper of order coming? It was ridiculous, that person would never show up. Even during normal multi hero conflicts he’d take inaction. The Hero of Flames always warned against his presence, but from the looks of it, there was nothing to be afraid of ⁠— or hopeful of.

The Hero of Spirits gritted his teeth, thankfully the ceremony hadn’t been interrupted for he still had control over the relevant people; but that would all end as soon as he died. The Hero of Spirits felt like crying as he realized he had only one choice and one choice only. It was… humiliating.

“Break this if you’re ever in trouble.”

That was what the Hero of Flames, Jaye had said back then, handing him an orange bead. At the time he had laughed saying he’d never need it, but now. He needed it. He reached into his pocket much to the Heroine of Frost’s amusement and grabbed the fiery marble.

And tightening his fist; he broke it.

Now he just had to keep the ceremony going.

At that moment a myriad of fireworks exploded in the sky as the Heroine of Frost looked up, admiring them. There was a brief silence before she turned back to him.

“It seems that I’ll have to kill you now,” she said as an ice dagger formed on her hand and pressed it against his neck.

And all the Hero of Spirits could do was gulp and pray that the Hero of Flames would make it in time.

* * * * *

The Hero of Flames kicked the Dragon of Water away and looked through the vision in his mind. The ceremony was going smoothly, none of the possessed individuals seemed to be doing anything but their job. However, the same couldn’t be said about the other nobles who were too afraid and fearful to do anything.

Had he underestimated the Hero of Spirits?

Arc was strong, much stronger than he would’ve liked to the point he was sure he was going to have to use his strongest skill. A skill with an incredibly long cooldown, but perhaps; he didn’t need to do it. He turned back to the present, evading a beam of death from the Dragon of Flames.

The battle was not in his favor, and he was in fact losing; he was considering using his skill to get to the Hero of Spirits but it seemed like that wouldn’t be necessary⁠—

And something in his mind broke.

The Hero of Spirits had a revelation as he saw a scene within the icy lake outside, or what remained of it. There, the Hero of Spirits lay; defeated and at death’s door completely bruised and unable to move, and Arc held a glinting dagger within her hand already in the motion of stabbing it.

He had to use his skill: Now.

“[Use My Life to Unleash Hell].”

* * * * *

Karin was in a deep haze, aware of her actions but not able to control them. She didn’t know if it was a dream or real life, but it didn’t matter. Ever since she was young, she had wanted to be someone important, and today she’d be broadcasting the results of the election of the new king of Draliz.

There were very few people that were more important than that, even amongst the nobles. And yet, here she was; from a middle class citizen to the apex of the social ladder. She felt excited, thrilled even if it was just a dream. Though, soon it wouldn’t be a dream. She had landed that role and that’s when she had entered this haze.

It was such a long but wonderful dream that told her she’d see it to completion. She strode through the long halls, ignoring the ruckus that was down below and soon, she reached the door to the announcing platform.

The amplifying magic was already set up, and now all that remained was to begin the announcement.

With an elegant gesture, she opened the door in spite of the fact that nobody was watching. She held an envelope in her hand that mentioned which family would now rule Draliz; all to keep the suspense even for her.

She smiled, standing to the cold wind; and a moment later the last of the three sets of fireworks went off. A brilliant spectacle of eclectic colors adorned the sky and she began to speak.

“Today, a new ruler will be selected by the rules of our sovereign nation: Draliz. This has been a tradition for hundreds of years and today it shall be no different.”

Her voice echoed for every citizen to hear.

“As is tradition, let us hope for another prosperous era with our new rulers!”

There was a silence as she opened the envelope, but she knew that far away all of the citizens were cheering. She couldn’t read the words, but somehow she already knew which family had won.

With a smile she opened her mouth.

“Let us welcome our new rulers⁠, the Or⁠—”

And the entire building rocked. Karin blinked as the haze cleared and she looked down at the envelope; she felt the wind surrounding her and she realized⁠—

This was reality…

No⁠— nothing made sense.

She pinched her arm only to wince in pain, as she realized; it really was reality.

But the winners?!

She looked down back at the envelope only to see a completely different name from the one she was about to say.

She almost made an incredible mistake.

Quickly she collected herself and spoke once more.

“The Arlow family shall be our new rulers! Having acquired the identity of Grand Dukes just mere days ago, they have surpassed every other family in wealth; if that’s not a symbol of economic prosperity I don’t know what is!”

Her voice echoed across the land and finally; fireworks exploded in different parts of the city signaling the end of the ceremony.

She had finally done her job and fulfilled her dream.

* * * * *

Blood splattered into the cold dirty ground as the Hero of Spirits fell to the ground.

And at that moment, the wall behind me exploded; bursting into flames as the entire rear of the castle became a fiery red. I turned only to see the Hero of Flames standing mere meters away from me, his expression awfully ugly.

“You have done it! You’ve ruined all of my fucking plans!” He stomped as a raging inferno exploded all around the lake, melting all of the remaining ice. “And now I shall kill you and your companions will be next; I’ll kill all of your companions!”

I raised my brow. “I haven’t ruined them yet⁠—”

And a system notification rang in my mind.

[ You have vanquished the: Hero of Spirits, from the world. Tier: SS. ]

[ You have leveled up. ]

[ You have leveled up. ]

…

“Now I've ruined them,” I corrected myself.

A moment later, a much anticipated new skill notification came. Though, I couldn’t so much as revel in it because my mana was non-existent and now: I had to fight the Hero of Flames who seemed much more powerful than ever.

I frowned.

From the looks of it, I’ll probably die for the first time in my life.

Then he screamed, my heart skipping a beat along with it.

“I’ll make sure to give you a slow and painful death!”

And he clapped his hands as my surroundings exploded like an active volcano