242 Despair [4]
"…."
Delilah's body gently hovered over a large forest. Her face was expressionless as she scanned the surroundings.
"….Nothing."
And it was much to her disappointment that she saw nothing. As if all the students had disappeared, there were hardly any traces of them.
She felt her head throb at the thought.
'Why does this keep happening?'
She had entertained the thought before, but now it was clearer to her than ever.
Julien.
He shouldn't be allowed to leave the Academy. He was a walking disaster. Whenever he was present, trouble occurred. The fact that the last five months had been the most peaceful she had had over the past year was the perfect proof of this. Delilah closed her eyes and sighed.
She was just about to leave when her expression changed slightly as her gaze flicked back.
"Oh."
A powerful aura burst forth from the distance, heading straight towards her.
Looking at it, Delilah felt her heart sink but she remained firm on the spot without making any rash movements.
"You….!"
A figure soon stopped in front of her. With a rough, muscular body covered in scars, fiery red hair that seemed to crackle like flames, and piercing yellow eyes that burned with intensity, he looked at her with a menacing glare.
"What are you doing here?"
His tone was anything but friendly as he addressed her, and Delilah could only lower her head slightly.
"One of the Seven Monarchs, Delilah Vahe Rosenberg greets the Royal Guard, Joseph Megrail."
Despite her actions, her tone was anything but subservient as the man before her frowned.
Although he was a member of the branch family, he was still a member of the Megrail family. He knew all about Delilah's deeds and what she had done on 'that' day.
There was no one from the Megrail family that didn't know about her.
It was for that reason that he didn't look kindly upon her.
"Let me repeat myself."
His deep voice echoed quietly throughout the surroundings as the air around him stirred.
"….What are you doing here?"
Delilah wasn't necessarily banned from Bremmer, but she knew better than to come here.
Unless called for, nobody wanted to deal with her.
Her appearance usually required her to send a letter in advance to call upon the presence of another Monarch. Only then would the Royal family feel better about her appearance. No one knew what this crazy bitch would do.
"…."
Delilah stood still, her face unmoved. Looking down, she raised her head slightly.
"Are you going to pretend like you don't know why I'm here?"
"That's not something that should be concerning you."
"Is it?"
Delilah's eyes narrowed, and her inky black irises darkened further, becoming an abyssal black color. Staring into those eyes, Joseph felt his mind sink into them, and for a moment, he almost did. But it was only brief as he was quick to free himself.
"Hoo." He proceeded to glare at Delilah.
"We have everything sorted. Do not poke your nose into our business. You of all people should understand this best."
The situation was extremely delicate at the moment. Not only were the students from Haven missing, but so were the people from the Aurora Empire.
News of the situation had still not made its way out to the other Empires, and things were still somewhat calm, but Joseph knew that it was only a matter of time.
….This was merely the calm before the storm.
Once everything was revealed, the situation would turn into a diplomatic disaster.
And if that wasn't all, the princess was missing as well. A large portion of the Royal Guard Unit had been sent to the forest to look for any clues.
These were the elites of the elites of the Empire.
"…..Please return from where you came from. I will only say it once, you are not welcome here. If you have a problem with it, you can directly head to the main family."
"….."
Delilah's expression remained unmoved at his words, and the pressure that came out of her body rose several notches. In spite of that, Joseph remained firm.
He could hardly breathe, but he didn't let it show.
"Fine."
Eventually, Delilah gave in and nodded her head.
'Good.'
Joseph sighed in relief once he saw her give in, and he was just about to speak again when Delilah's figure started to fade.
"I'll do as you say. I'll go meet the royal family."
"….!"
Joseph's expression changed drastically upon hearing his words.
"Wait…!"
He reached out to stop her but it was already too late as her figure blurred and disappeared from the spot.
"Ah!!!"
Joseph felt like ripping his hair out. He had only said those words to deter her from staying, but who would've thought that she would actually take them at face value?
"Oh, no…"
Joseph looked around in anxiety.
"I'm fucked. I'm done for."
He knew…
He knew that he had just invited a walking disaster to the Royal family.
"Argh!!" ***
The walls had crumbled, the mosaics lay shattered, and the glow surrounding the altar had dimmed.
What once made up the church had long been broken, leaving behind the remains of the once glorious sanctuary the Archbishop had built.
Leon stared at his surroundings without saying a single word.
"…."
No, it was more like he couldn't say anything.
Pain shot through his body as his hands and feet were nailed to the wooden rows.
Looking around him, he could see that the others were in a similar predicament as everyone woke up to find themselves in a similar state.
With a gag in their mouths, nobody was able to utter a single word.
In the end, the only thing they could do was stare at the front where a man stood.
"Have you all woken up?"
His back was turned against theirs as he stared at the altar that was in front of him.
"….I'm sorry that the circumstances have forced me to do this, but after everything that you've done, I had no choice but to do this."
The Archbishop's voice was extremely brittle as he continued to stare at the altar in front of him.
Leon swallowed nervously as he looked ahead, and his mind froze when he noticed a presence behind him.
"….!"
His eyes widened at the sight of multiple people in white standing behind him. But that wasn't the part that shook him, no, it was the state they were in.
Some were missing limbs, while others had ghastly voids where parts of their faces should have been. They remained standing behind him, their grotesque forms casting eerie shadows that flickered in the dim, failing light of the church. Their muddled eyes focused on him as Leon felt his entire body stiffen.
It was at this moment that he understood something.
'I can't run.'
He couldn't pull the same thing he had done before.
His mana was completely empty, and any action from him would spell his death. It was... over for him. Leon felt his heart sink at the thought and despair finally started to claw up from deep within him.
'No, not like this…!'
Leon wanted to do something, and his mind raced as he tried to think of all sorts of possibilities, but regardless of what he tried, nothing… His mind was blank.
He couldn't think of a single solution at all.
'No.'
Despair had truly started to gnaw at his heart.
'What do I do? What do I do? What do I do…?'
Leon's mind continued to race as he tried to think of all sorts of ways to get out of the situation, but his thoughts were soon broken by the Archbishop who yet again spoke.
"I wanted to take my time with all of you. I wanted the blood to enter your body naturally so that it would be diluted with your blood, but time and time again, you have all defied my wishes."
Finally, the Archbishop turned around, revealing his muddled white eyes, void of any sanity. "I should've done this from the very start. I only gave you a taste of it before since it takes several tries for it to truly be effective, but that no longer is an option."
The Archbishop turned around again, and this time his gaze fell towards a certain person who sat by the corner with a tired look.
Leon recognized him in an instant.
It was the mysterious cadet. His heart sank at the sight of him. '….I was wrong about him.'
Leon's first mistake was ever thinking that the mysterious cadet was strong. The reality was that he was no different than the others. He had been tricked by his appearance back then due to his sensitivity over Julien's possible return, but he was wrong.
So wrong.
"Let's start with you. I want all of you to see what will happen to all of you shortly."
The Archbishop went on to grab Emmet by the hair, dragging him forward in front of everyone.
"Ugh...!" "Look!"
He shouted, his gaze falling in front of everyone.
"Ukh…!"
In his grasp, the cadet struggled with all his might as he tried to free himself from the Archbishop's grip, but it was no use. No matter how much he struggled, the Arcbihsop's grip remained firm.
Kiera, Aoife, Evelyn, Aiden, Jessica, and everyone presented stared at the scene as despair slowly started to crawl up into their hearts.
'It's over.'
'….How can we escape this?'
'Will this be me?'
'I don't want to die like this.'
'Help.'
The Archbishop spoke as if he knew exactly what they were thinking about, relishing their expression as he pressed his hand over the cadets.
Immediately, his hand glowed and the Emmet stopped struggling.
His body limped over and a projection soon appeared for everyone to see.
"Look!"
The Archbishop shouted in a fanatical manner.
"….This is what happens when you cross me! Repent for what you've done! Pay for your sins!"
He soon started to laugh in a maniacal manner.
"Repent!"
The Archbishop's words echoed throughout. Meanwhile, everyone's attention focused on Emmet who found himself standing before a familiar white world.
'This is…?'
He looked around him and his heart started to sink. '….It's this place again.'
Instantly, Emmet understood the gravity of his situation and his mouth went dry.
The Ring of Nothingness.
He had fallen under its power.
"Soon! Soon you will completely lose sense of yourself."
14:46
Indeed, the more Emmet walked, the more his eyes became muddled. To everyone watching they could see him slowly start to lose sight of himself.
"So, after all that... I still failed." No longer did he have any life as his blood was gone, and even if he did, once this was over, all that would be left of him would be nothing. 'It's over.' He slowly started to lose his expression. No, it was more like he couldn't make an expression at all.
He understood that it was over.
How could he get out?
Emmet raised his head and looked at the white world. Unknowingly, he took a step forward and the floor beneath him rippled. Tak—
"Good, good…! Keep going!"
Outside, the Archbishop shouted, his expression twisting with glee.
"Soon! Soon you will completely lose sense of yourself."
Indeed, the more Emmet walked, the more his eyes became muddled. To everyone watching they could see him slowly start to lose sight of himself.
The worst part…? He could do nothing but continue forward. Slowly, and carefully, he continued to move. In the endless world of white, he walked.
But despite how far he walked, Emmet didn't completely lose sight of himself.
Mainly because this wasn't the first time he had felt like this.
"This familiar sense of despair… I've felt it before."
Back on earth, when he was stuck in his home with the cancer slowly eating away at his mind.
Back then, he had endured the pain.
And the same was true at this moment.
Be it past, present, or future.
Nothing had changed.
