Orphen gasped and inadvertently said, “Tish!”
The final figure he saw, his sister in her combat gear, stood apart from both the priestesses and the Thirteen Apostles. She must have heard his exclamation. Her eyes turned his way. Irgitte’s voice went through his head then.
“Your family will come together...”
He leaped out reflexively. As soon as he entered the room, he felt bloodlust and his head swiveled up.
He’d forgotten the ominous flames—the signal of a battle. What he’d seen must have been a heat ray. One of the Red Dragons was up against the wall above the entrance to the room. The upper half of its body was fine, but the lower half was a smoldering wreck burned to the wall, and the upper half was now attacking Orphen with its whiplike arms.
Tch!
There was no time to defend himself with sorcery and he didn’t have any equipment to protect him. All Orphen could do was thrust out his arms to protect his head. His combat gear wouldn’t do much against a Red Dragon’s might, but as long as he survived the first hit, he’d be able to make his next move. Either way, there were no more enemies to face that he had to be in top condition for like Jack.
He wasn’t thinking all this through in the moment, he was just instinctively prolonging his death somewhat. Relying entirely on his self-control, he waited for the blow to come.
And the Red Dragon’s arm was repelled, soundlessly.
Then it vanished, as if...as if it had never even been there in the first place.
And a moment later, he saw someone in midair, curled up almost teasingly, as if they were dancing.
Black, wavy hair, brown, round eyes. She didn’t look all that much like her cousin, but they acted like real sisters, so no one questioned their relationship. She appeared in midair and, with a wave of her hand, fixed herself there.
She opened her mouth and Orphen heard in his mind a voice that sounded just like her real one.
“Come on, you can’t let something like that kill you...”
There was no mirth in her eyes. Maybe she would never smile again. The grim light cast by her gaze gave Orphen that impression.
“I thought so. You can see me too...”
In fourteen days, his family would come together in the sanctuary.
There were still three days until then, but...
Orphen finally took a breath after the Red Dragon’s attack.
“Krylancelo!” Isabella shouted. Orphen looked over at her and raised a hand to show her that he was fine.
Then he turned back to Azalie in the air, but she was gone, as if she was hiding now. It was like she’d only been a hallucination. He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm, and looked around the hall. All the Thirteen Apostles and priestesses had been startled by his sudden intrusion. As he surveyed the room, he noticed immobilized Red Dragons and wounded priestesses and sorcerers behind chairs and in hallways that he hadn’t seen on his first look.
Claiomh was nowhere to be seen.
In the silence, Orphen asked, “Is there family of Ryan Spoon here?” He had been asking the priestesses on the platform, but he didn’t care if he got an answer. He went on, shouting, “He’s dead. You know that, right? He killed a ton of people and eventually died himself. As did Helpart and Jack Frisbee! Do you even understand what you’re doing? Cut it out already!”
“You come out of nowhere in your assassin’s garb and speak that way to us? Who do you think you—” What looked like the leader of the priestesses began arrogantly, but Orphen ignored her, annoyed, and turned to Pluto instead this time.
“Did you hear from Isabella yet? The rest of your people were wiped out!”
Pluto remained facing away from Orphen, responding without so much as a tremble in his voice. “It was bad timing. Doppel X’s main force must have attacked there without realizing we had already advanced into the sanctuary.”
Even though there was no emotion in his voice, however, the muscles on his neck were tense and bulging. “As a result, we managed to infiltrate the sanctuary without much resistance... If this incident is left behind in the history books, I suppose this will be called my strategy. So be it. If this continent has a next generation, if it has a future, then I don’t mind going down in history as a villain!”
“That’s all well and good, but those priestesses don’t even control the sanctuary anymore, Pluto. Scaring them will do you no good.” The cold response to Pluto’s dramatics came from Almagest. He strolled into the room and cast a cold look across the scene before continuing, “Your work here is done. I appreciate it.”
Pluto turned around and stared the lord down emotionlessly. Orphen felt like he might even throw a lethal spell in Almagest’s direction.
But the Demon sighed instead. “I know.” There was no fervor or emotion in his voice. He just shook his head with an exhausted sigh and said, “Ultimately, we have engaged in an utterly pointless conflict, but you youngsters don’t need to lecture us about it. It may have been foolish, but it was for your survival that we did it.” Pluto sighed, looking at Orphen.
The Demon raised his hand and commanded his subordinates, loud enough to be easily heard in this large room. “We will take control of the sanctuary, using this as our temporary base! Tie up those priestesses and question them about the way to control this facility!”
“They won’t speak under simple threat of death. They’ve ruled the sanctuary for two hundred years with their authority alone—”
Pluto interrupted the lord. “Quiet, monster. How did you reattach that broken leg of yours?”