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AGE OF EMPYREAN (III)

Lino jolted off his seat, his brows furrowing deeply as he sensed a talisman burning inside his void world . Looking through it, he quickly realized it was Ion’s, surprising him -- not only because it was quicker than he expected, but also that it was Ion rather than Jack who sent him the alarm .

Getting up on his feet rapidly, he didn’t dare dally around; a bad feeling surged inside his heart as he leaped out of the window and the fortress itself, using his Will rather than his Wings to fly . He knew that he couldn’t rip the space open and arrive there as it was most-likely locked, so he had to do it the old-fashioned way .

He quickly whipped out a talisman of his own and burned it, an image forming in front of his eyes shortly after, morphing into a figure . Ella appeared to be alone, slightly surprised when she saw his serious expression .

" . . . already?" she mumbled, frowning .

"Yeah . " he replied .

"Something’s wrong . "

" . . . yeah . "

" . . . burn a talisman just before you’re trapped," she said . "I’ll arrive right after . "

"Tell Val to cease phasing back in for as long as possible," he added quickly before they cut the conversation . "Something’s really off about this . . . "

" . . . be careful . " Ella added with a worrisome expression as the image of her in front of his eyes vanished into smoke .

Focusing, he entirely ignored the blurring world beneath him that he sped above, cleaving right through the clouds yet not getting wet in the slightest . Myriad of thoughts cascaded through his mind at that moment, each trying to take precedence over another, making it all merely a jumbled mess .

" . . . you have to calm down . " a voice of a stranger, by this point, suddenly echoed inside his mind, startling him faintly .

"You’re alive?!" he exclaimed flamboyantly, shrugging right after . "This isn’t the time to calm down . "

"It is," Ataxia said in the same, robotic voice as always . "You are walking straight into their den . Being overconfident can doom you . "

" . . . I’m not overconfident," Lino said . "Just worried . "

"You’ve planned it all too loosely, leaving far too many variables in the playing field," Ataxia said, causing Lino to ponder why he was so chatty today . "There was no need to rush it; though better if they fall earlier, it won’t doom us if they fall a bit later . "

"I had to rush it," Lino sighed . "You know that . Exactly because there are too many variables at play . "

"You could have been a bit more patient and entirely removed the Descent as a variable," Ataxia added . "Now, however, they will be your main problem . "

" . . . I know," Lino said, frowning faintly . "That’s one of the reasons I’m not overconfident . At the very least, I hope they underestimate me . If not . . . haii, it’s gonna be a bitch of a battle to win . "

"Don’t burn yourself out," Ataxia said . "You can’t afford any more respites and slumbers . The world can’t afford it . "

" . . . curious of you to suddenly be worried about the world," Lino shrugged, realizing he’d reached the halfway point to his destination . "Don’t worry . I don’t have any intentions of crippling myself anytime soon . At most, I’ll just use the Crown to disengage if things get really hairy . "

" . . . no, you can’t flee today," Ataxia suddenly said, surprising him . "Just as you rushed it, so did Gaia; this is a crucial period for them, I imagine . They’re doing this entirely to hinder your progress so you won’t be an obstacle for the foreseeable future . If you flee, you are practically giving them a green light . "

" . . . " Lino didn’t reply, growing silent . Ataxia followed suit, withdrawing back into whatever dark corners he inhabited inside of Lino .

The latter pondered on his words for a long while; it wasn’t merely the factor of him escaping that would play a role there, he knew, but also the factor of them surviving . A chance like today probably won’t come a second time, which is why he rushed into it in the first place . But, as Ataxia said, there were far too many variables at play . As a way to not expose his plans, he didn’t even properly scout their numbers or players they chose to employ . In effect, he was rushing in entirely blind .

The rest of the journey was spent in somber silence and, soon enough, he could see the distant city of D’or slowly growing larger in his eyes . Bit by bit he approached it with a heavy heart, as the feeling that something was wrong only grew stronger the closer he was to it . He saw the formation almost immediately, as it was simply too large to miss . They either banked on him not caring or being entirely empty of knowledge when it came to them, but Lino didn’t care .

The moment he stepped through -- nay, even before it -- the bounds of the city, he felt the world around him collapse unto itself, closing . However, he had no time to question it or inspect it -- all his attention was sucked away to the small smithy in the corner where, through the Divine Sense, he saw the bloody scene as though it was in front of him . The only, faint thread of life hung from Ion . . . while the rest lay cold and dead, buried in pools of blood .

His eyes widened into saucers, his heart beating madly -- he had miscalculated . . . gravely . He had underestimated, once again, the cruelty of the world, the absolute madness that it operates by . He couldn’t even be bothered to look for his opponents, entirely ignoring the world around him and focusing entirely on that small building in the middle of nowhere .

Through the corners of his eyes, he soon saw a sea of people emerging on the streets and looking up curiously and fearfully -- that was when it hit him . . . that was when he realized everything . His gaze slowly veered off and up, where he saw a small army of about thirty floating, encircling a single figure in their midst . She had a lofty, yet amiable expression on her face, her eyes exuding the holy sheen no one else could replicate .

However, he was hardly moved by her facade . All he saw was a corpse floating there, yet to be slaughtered, surrounded by coffins and tombs of everyone else . His expression was void of emotion, his black eyes cold and frigid like the far North . He merely stared at the entourage in silence, inwardly bitterly admitting to the fact that he had been played .

" . . . you think they will change something?" he was the first one to break the silence, speaking out calmly whilst pointing at the ever-growing sea of people down below .

"What do you mean?" Freya replied calmly, tilting her head in confusion .

" . . . ’s that so?" he chuckled bitterly, gazing over the sea of people once more before focusing back onto the smithy . "Even into my fourth decade, I remain as naive as I was when I was a young boy . "

" . . . " Lino realized they wouldn’t say anything, and would merely wait for him to attack . This caused him to suddenly burst out into free laughter, startling the sea down below for a moment .

"You win today," he said, calming down slightly . "Aye, you really win today . It will cost you an arm and a leg and quite a few heads, but you won today . Be proud, you spineless cunt . This is the first and the last time I’ll ever let you take an inch off of me," his voice grew deeper and hoarser, expression distorting into a wicked smile . "You wanted the world to remember?! The world will fucking remember!!"

His roar bellowed out like beast’s, the world itself shaking as hundreds of buildings down below suddenly toppled over, with thousands of people fleeing while screaming in fear and terror . The small entourage around Freya seemed rather unprepared for it, as they didn’t know exactly what to do, remaining frozen in place .

"It will remember," Lino’s Will exploded out of him, enshrouding the world and everyone present . Save for a few, most felt their souls freeze twice over, having already believed to have died by the time they came to . Looking at him in terror, they all took a step back . "And I will ensure," he added as he suddenly took out a massive, toothed sword, flipping it a few times in his hand . "It never fucking forgets it . "

"What are you doing?!" Freya suddenly stepped forward in front of her entourage, spreading her arm wide . "Cease this madness immediately! Calm down and we can just talk!"

"---" instead of a reply, however, all she got was a massive sword spearing right through her heart, catching her and everyone else completely unaware . She glanced sideways in shock and horror only to meet a pair of eyes she could not recognize; those were not Lino’s eyes . . . those were not the eyes of a human being . Beneath them lay a massive grin, corners of his mouth spitting out black smoke . "One down," he whispered directly into her ear, shoving the sword further in . "Six more to go . I will fucking erase you, you cowardly, soulless whore . I will erase every trace you ever existed . I will ensure not a single soul, living or dead, will ever dare utter your fucking name . Remember today -- remember it well," he added just before life escaped her lungs . "’Cause you’ve ignited the flame that will burn down the fucking world . . . " her heart and soul couldn’t calm as the last breath escaped her; she was gravely mistaken -- mistaken about so many things it was too difficult to list . Number one, however, stood far above the rest -- she underestimated Lino . . . and his complete indifference to being seen as the root evil of it all . Rather, he readily embraced it, immediately killing her before the battle itself even began .