"Erik is in grave danger, but we have a way to get him out."
In the middle of the conference room of the half-destroyed ship outside the ruins, Ignis materialized and announced in a solemn voice. On the verge of panic, Sigrún asked while looking at the unusually serious expression of her contracted spirit.
"What happened to Erik?!!! How is he?!! Can you communicate with Ebonique?!"
"…" Seeing the desperation on Sigrún's face, Ignis couldn't help but fall into a thoughtful silence, which only frightened the beautiful blonde more, who quickly asked urgently.
"Please, Ignis, tell me what happened! What happened to my Erik?!!"
"Please, Ignis."
Eleonora rose from her seat and bowed deeply to the spirit, speaking with a lump in her throat. At the same time, the discreet shadow in a corner of the room faded, and Seraphina, revealing her face, stepped forward and bowed in the same manner.
"Please."
Seeing the trio of beautiful women like that, and even the others present looking at her solemnly, Ignis let out a deep sigh before speaking in a heavy voice.
"…Erik broke his contract with Ebonique and his health was precarious, practically on the brink of death. He used too much mana and his mana system was practically shattered; we have to get him out as soon as possible. Furthermore, there is a significant temporal discrepancy between inside and outside the ruins; although only a couple of days have passed here, months have passed inside."
""What?!!""
"Why did he do that?!!!"
While an exclamation of disbelief filled the room, Sigrún asked, staggering backward, at which moment Ignis commented with a dark and regretful expression.
"It was a combination of factors, but essentially, the original culprit was me…" Ignis again let out a heavy sigh but quickly shook his head and announced in a serious voice.
"But now is not the time for that. Right now, we have to get our Erik out of there as soon as possible. With Ebonique, we will create a breach to enter, but it's difficult for us to extract him, so we need help."
"Leave the extraction part to me."
At that moment, a female voice filled with authority resonated in the room, causing everyone to look toward the entrance. There stood a beautiful woman quite similar to Thalia, with deep crimson hair and bright orange eyes, holding a spear with a black shaft and a tip the same color as her hair.
"Grandmother!" Seeing the woman, Thalia exclaimed in surprise, while the others quickly bowed respectfully to the woman who exuded absolute authority.
"It's just what we were waiting for." For her part, Ignis nodded toward Brigid and commented in a calm voice, but at that moment, she looked up, her expression sharpened, and she added.
"Everything is ready now. You have one hour to prepare."
After speaking, Ignis vanished into swirls of blue fire, at which moment Brigid nodded seriously before turning on her heel and starting to walk, ordering in a tone full of authority.
"Let's move. We have little time to prepare."
With Brigid's words, the Director nodded before rising from his place and following his wife, something the other Master-levels did. Meanwhile, Jessica Roa, the Master-level without affinities who had just entered the Arcane Order, couldn't help but look seriously at Brigid, trying to commit the appearance of the Order's secret weapon to memory.
[Did you arrive long ago?] Upon reaching his wife's side, the Director asked through telepathy.
[Not long. I made a bit of an effort to hurry, so I'll have to isolate myself for a while afterward. But I took the opportunity to examine those ruins a bit.]
Brigid shook her head and commented while subtly looking over her shoulder at Eleonora, Sigrún, and Seraphina, who were clenching their fists tightly, holding back their overwhelming emotions. Then, the impressive woman explained as she turned her head to look forward.
[Those ruins are strange; they have a very strict set of their own laws, so it's likely they are a primordial relic that some ancient civilizations discovered and began to study. Infiltrating would be complicated even for me. It's lucky their excellencies are willing to lend a hand.]
[A primordial relic?!] the Director asked back, his eyes sharpening. Brigid replied solemnly.
[Most likely. I estimate that the so-called 'garden' is the primordial relic, and the entrances and such are things created later by a group trying to study it and uncover its secrets. So it's hard to know what secrets that place hides or how many civilizations have been there.]
[Who would dare use a primordial relic as bait?] the Director commented with a sharp and dangerous expression. Brigid let out a small sigh and replied.
[Someone who has no idea what a treasure it is. Nothing they could achieve by killing the young people can even compare to the value of a place like that…]
[Should we seize it?] the Director asked seriously, a dangerous light shining in his eyes.
[First, we have to confirm it really is a primordial relic. It's just speculation for now. But if it turns out to be one, I will secure it personally.] Brigid replied in an even more dangerous voice, a light shining in her eyes, at which moment the spear in her hand trembled slightly, almost as if it were excited.
…
…
…
Shortly after, in the void of space, Sigrún, Seraphina, and Eleonora, along with 12 other Master-levels, were arranged in a circular formation around what remained of the fortress covering the ruin's entrance. Above the rest hovered a simple spear with a black wooden shaft and a crimson-colored metal tip pointing upward.
Outside the ring created by the Master-levels stood the 4 Legend-levels with their weapons in hand, looking solemnly at the spear. Meanwhile, kilometers above the spear was a dark, blurry humanoid figure, which seemed to be sitting in a lotus position.
The entire terrifying group waited in complete silence with their mana vibrating powerfully, causing the space around them to bend slightly. This created a gravitational lensing effect, bending light. But then suddenly, from an impossible distance, the light from the stars distorted to take the shape of a colossal Eastern dragon.
The colossal dragon approached, traveling several times faster than light, arriving mere instants later at the fortress and impacting it directly. With the dragon's impact, a colossal gravitational wave expanded in all directions, at which moment the mysterious figure at the top ordered.
"Now."
As space deformed like plasticine, a heavy, dark voice, almost impossible to identify, suddenly resonated in the mind of every person present. Without losing a moment, all those present unleashed their mana at full throttle, causing the void to fill with light and color, while space itself bent dangerously.
Soon, all the Myst in the area reorganized into a colossal formation with the spear at its center, which began to release a strange crimson fire that seemed to melt into the dark space. The fire began to flutter strangely but soon ended up lighting up like a cosmic beacon, and moments later, it disappeared into nothingness.
…
Sigrún, who was mobilizing every ounce of her mana without reserve, looked with a contained expression at the empty space left by the spear's disappearance. But, although her expression didn't show it, her heart was beating at full power, while her limbs felt weak. She could vaguely feel that her Erik was slipping through her fingers. But even so, she clenched her fists tightly, pushing those thoughts away and concentrating on her hope.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop an infinite feeling of regret and pain from overwhelming her. Because Erik practically had no social life, the three of them had come up with the idea of convincing him to go to the ruins. There, he could meet people and have experiences that would serve him in the future. But not in her worst nightmare had she imagined that this seemingly safe place would end in such a disaster.
Her Erik, that boy she met on her master's tomb island, that child with whom she empathized wholeheartedly upon learning they shared a similar story. An absolute piece of garbage as a father and a mother who did what she could to give them a chance at life. That same child who grew and matured at an impressive speed to become a man capable of making her fall in love was about to disappear because of her stupidity.
That stupid idea that the man of her life had to be even more impressive than her, that he had to be someone to admire, had led her to this disaster. Because she knew it, Erik, of his own free will, would never have gone to that damn ruin. In fact, he probably wouldn't even have noticed it. But she, because she wanted the world to know her beloved, to know of his genius, of how impressive he was, to venerate him as the greatest genius of all time, induced him to go.
Now, facing the disaster, she was finally able to see that socializing and all that was just a simple excuse. Deep down, she wanted him to make a name for himself with that ruin, for the galaxy to know that he wasn't just an academic genius, but an absolute genius. But at the same time, deep down, she wanted to avoid the criticism of starting a relationship with her disciple.
She wanted the entire galaxy to realize that they were destined to be together. The greatest geniuses in history deserved each other; it was inconceivable that they wouldn't be together. Only Erik was worthy of having her and Eleonora by his side. She wanted everyone to understand that, in the face of love and destiny, the fact that they were master and disciple was a minor and unimportant thing. But now all that remained was infinite regret.
(Why the hell couldn't I be satisfied...? Erik surpassed me in almost every way! He evolves faster than I do, has a superior connection to the Myst, achieves incredible things in the academic world, and his name already resonates throughout the galaxy. Besides, I'm a damn Master-level, the youngest in history. What do other people's opinions matter? Why was I so stupid?!)
As images of Erik's life-sign tracker tearing apart flashed, Sigrún couldn't help but bite her lower lip until it bled. Guilt and remorse gnawed at her to the point where holding back her tears was becoming almost impossible. But as she wiped the blood from her chin, Sigrún looked at the center of all her attention at the empty space left by the spear while making a solemn vow inside.
(Please, Erik, forgive me and come back. Don't leave me… I swear I will never do something like this again… What does it matter if you're the best or not? What does the world's opinion matter? I'm a depraved woman in love with her first disciple, so what? I love you, Erik. I'm in love with you. I no longer care if you're the greatest genius or a useless person; I just want you by my side and to be happy… So please… Don't leave me… Don't leave us… We are waiting for you…)
With her heart on edge, Sigrún joined her hands in silent prayer, until, after a time, the fire reappeared. The sight filled Sigrún, Eleonora, and Seraphina with equal parts hope and apprehension, and soon the spear reappeared inside a dome of fire.
[Xiuwen.]
The Director called through telepathy while concentrating the Myst in the surroundings, which seemed incredibly dangerous to his senses. The leader of the Jade Lotus Union nodded, then manipulated the formation disk in his hands.
Instantly, the Myst reorganized again, and around the sphere of fire appeared an almost illusory sphere in which mountains full of trees and rivers could be seen, like a paradise in the middle of the void. At that moment, the sphere of fire disappeared, and the spear shot toward the blurry figure, which vanished like a trail of smoke. In that instant, everyone could feel the presences of the young people.
"""Erik!!!"""
At that instant, space nearly exploded as colossal amounts of mana erupted in all directions, churning the void as if it were thin cloth. To the point that, defying all physical laws, everyone could hear three desperate female voices resonating in unison as three figures shot out at a terrifying speed toward the space where the unconscious youths lay.
***
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