Ivonriel continent … Nelgeorgia city outskirts.
Aiden tightened his grip on the hilt of his longsword.
Before him was Loki, grinning like a mischievous child while taunting Cassie, who seemed ready to attack her at a moment's notice.
A flicker of movement in Aiden's peripheral vision made his eyes narrow.
Northeast of the outskirts, where the vessel of the moon goddess and the monarch of the witches clashed, an oppressive weight descended.
It lasted nothing more than a second, yet every nerve in his body screamed danger.
'That Aura... Did the moon goddess descend using her vessel? Or did the vessel use transcendence? She seemed like a cautious person, using transcendence would, without a doubt inform the monarchs' of her presence which would get her killed, either way... This situation is quite bothersome.'
Well of course it was, Aiden wasn't one who deemed it necessary to battle and waste his strength on simple conflicts, if it was a full blown war, then he would have been able to run wild without a care but it wasn't.
Not to mention the movement he sensed was a barrier which concealed one's presence, erasing their very existence for the duration of the barrier but of course it had its flaws as well, the barrier was more effective on people from a longer distance as well as people who are weaker than the caster.
Aiden was deeply troubled though; a deity descending would spell trouble for them, and he was painfully aware of his limit, besides that, his lord Damian's grandchild was currently in the witch monarch's possession which made things more disturbing than it should be.
While he could get rid of the goddess in her mortal vessel's body, it wasn't without its cons.
To kill the deity, he'd need to use above half his strength in a single engagement, which could be quite disastrous, considering he couldn't actually handle the aftermath without involving his monarch, and interrupting the monarch at such a crucial time was the last thing he wanted to do.
Normally Aiden wouldn't have been so bothered since the monarch of the witches was present but that wasn't the case currently, something about the monarch worried him so.
The Eren Von Michaelson he remembered wasn't weak in the slightest.
The monarch he knew was capable of destroying the entire Ivonriel continent with a single spell. Eren was someone whom his lord, the vampire monarch, said to be the strongest monarch of all time, acknowledged, yet at the moment, he was barely stronger than a ninth-tier mage.
'What foe was able to reduce that monarch to this current state?' Aiden couldn't help but wonder; however, he wasn't able to dwell on that thought because Cassie and Loki were about to pounce on each other.
Seeing this, he couldn't help but sigh.
"I take it that you're either here to take what's remaining of these guys or you're here to finish what they started."
He lingered for a moment before speaking once again, his voice took on a darker tone.
"Depending on your answer Loki, we could settle this without needless battles."
Loki grinned.
"Quite the pacifist you are, it's rather pleasant when compared to your accomplice." She spoke, letting her gaze settle on Cassie." This one seems rather wild."
Cassie's frown deepened but surprisingly she remained still, rather she tapped her finger rapidly on her cigarette.
This made Loki's grin deepen further.
"Well would you look at that; it seems like you do have some restraint after all."
She clasped both hands together as her tone took on a cheerful pitch.
"Hmmm, you could say I'm here to retrieve the worthless puppets who couldn't even kill one single kid, but then who's to say that I'm not here to kill the child as well?"
"You need to get rid of the child; he's dangerous." Gregor chimed, but his words only caused Loki to stare at him in disgust while earning a brutal reaction from Aiden, who dug his sword deeper into his neck.
With a scowl, she replied.
"Shut it, you incompetent thing, one more word and you'll join the dead lizard."
For a second, her facial expression became twisted, but she quickly reverted to her usual mischievous façade.
"Like you said, there's no point in wasting spells and attacks; there's simply no benefit to it at the moment, just hand over the remaining vessels and I'll be on my way."
Aiden nodded calmly.
"Very well, you can have them."
Loki didn't react, rather a dusty brown bandage materialized around the desolate land which bore witness to the previous battles before her arrival.
It didn't take long before the bandages found the remains of the space god's marionette.
As strange as it may sound, the vessel of the space god wasn't dead but he wasn't in a great condition. Far from it even, his limbs were detached from his body, his bones protruded in wrong angles while his blood spilled like crimson wine over the muddy earth.
The dusty bandage quickly held his frame together, at least enough for Loki to be able to hold him.
At the same time Aiden tossed the haggard body of the beast god's marionette, clearly Gregor didn't like whatever was going on but he knew better than to blurt out useless thoughts, after all the one who was sent to retrieve them was someone who does things out of the expected so he was certain she meant every word about killing him should he utter a sound.
While the exchange was going on, the barrier erasing the vessel of the moon goddess and the monarch of the witches from existence came undone.
Cassie was the first person to react and her crimson eyes narrowed with frightening intent.
"Where is my liege's descendant?"
She tried to ask in a restrained manner but her tone betrayed her barely contained emotions.
Losing the child to the gods' lackeys meant failure and that was something she couldn't tolerate, a mission given to her by her monarch was something she had to complete at all costs.
Aiden shared the same thoughts with his female partner, however he still had the same detached expression as he had previously... No. If one looked closer they'd notice the tension from his lower jaw, he was furious as well as shamed.
The reason?
Well that was because in the place where the vessel of the moon goddess and Eren battled, he could no longer find the child or the witch monarch Eren Von Michælson.
He was about to move when he suddenly froze in his tracks whilst his crimson eyes grew pitch black.
He remained that way for a few seconds without moving, making Cassie anxious in the process.
On the other hand Loki had manifested a shimmering portal which engulfed the vessel of the moon goddess who barely had any strength to stay conscious.
By the time she was done, Aiden was already jolted out of his strange reverie, the crimson returning to his eyes as the darkness faded.
He exhaled softly as his gaze fell on Cassie.
"He's in safe hands, the child I mean, he's currently with the princess."
Cassie's expression faltered slightly, but she was quick to gather herself as she took a long drag of her cigarette.
"Well, at least his location is known, even though that place is one where we cannot come and go as we please." She exhaled, releasing a cloud of smoke from her puff.
"Well bloodsuckers, I enjoyed our little confrontation, mayhap we'll meet in a more desirable place next time." Loki spoke with a subtle smile.
Her fingers lit with warm mana as a large crack in the atmosphere shimmered into existence.
She took a few steps forward then stopped abruptly as if forgetting something.
"Ah... Lest I forget, do address me as Lucinda and not Loki, Loki is a shared name between me and the trickster god, it's rather unpleasant to be addressed as such"
She spoke softly, before stepping into the crack.
Right until the very end the mischievous smile never left her face.
"Farewell then, servants of the blood lord."
Aiden and Cassie stared at the dimension crack which began repairing itself as soon as Loki's figure vanished.
Sheathing his blade, Aiden's gaze fell on the place where he last sensed Eren's presence.
"Let's depart."