"So we have a new member? Who is it?" Helio asked when he noticed that Aefia had come along with another person. In fact, that person was the first one to appear before Aefia, so he had a doubt that it was possible that Aefia had recruited a new member. Seeing this, he just wanted Aefia to confirm it, otherwise, she would have the person come along for other reasons.
"Yes. She is a pretty powerful woman herself, so you have to respect her role as the mother of a missing royalty. Not really royalty at this point, more preferably, her son is said to be the missing queen. He went missing, actually, kidnapped on his coronation day. I thought that since she was already working on the mission we are currently working on, maybe we could join forces and pursue the mission together." Aefia replied.
"Didn't she ask for anything else in return? A woman from the royal family like her are always greedy and always wants slaves in return for favours they are having done. Did you offer your soul to her for that by chance?"
"I am not dumb. If she asked me for such things, I would be sure to end her life that instant. Besides, she already knows my identity as the King of Tyrants or what-so-ever everyone else knows me as."
"So she fears you? Maybe she thinks of you as an enemy already, that's why she plans on pursuing this mission along with us. Are you sure taking her in as a member was a wise thing to do?"
"Even when it's not, I think I have an idea how to handle that situation already. In fact, I have had it all predicted what she might do or not do regarding the matter. The least she can do is kill me and try to become a leader. As the sayings go, almost all Kings and Queens or royal families choose the path of violence for whatever they need. They always want to be the one to rule, not the one to be ruled over. And yes, I will take your warning into more consideration now that you mention it. I respect your opinion, but you shouldn't anger her since she probably thinks of you as my slave like she thinks of hers."
"Do you have any ideas on how your predictions could be wrong? Because at this point, I think you are reading your future from some unknown source on a continuous basis. Is that how you are able to predict what is about to happen in the future?"
Aefia got slightly annoyed. "I think we should continue this conversation in the future when the correct time arrives. Right now, nothing will make sense. And also, I have multiple skills that allow me to see the outcomes of what I have already done in the future and alter it, that is one way I am predicting the future. So I don't think that fact should bother you for the time being. Forget it, everyone has unique skills that the others don't have."
"Are you sure you are depending on your skills only?" Helio asked with a suspicious tone. "Otherwise, how were you able to predict that you will die in the near future due to some circumstances?"
"..." Aefia looked at Helio with a shocked face. "I told you to continue this conversation in the future, did I not say my words clear?! Otherwise, I will have to warn you the hard way. Right now isn't the time to discuss such confidential things. Remember that we are in a mission to destroy a huge group against Nikoan in order to head back to our respective homes back on Earth."
With that said, she turned away and walked towards the elderly demon who was currently being seen by the Queen's mother. "How is he? I don't expect him to still be a demonic entity." Aefia asked. Helio came running a short while after.
"He is doing well, but his weak healing capabilities are causing him to stay unconscious for a long time. May I ask? How did you stitch up such deep wound without really needing much help with equipments?"
"Is it a necessary question? If not, leave the matter to no one's hand. I believe we have certain other matters to deal with. For instance, the demons who were supposed to be dead and on the ground, I believe they couldn't have vanished into thin air."
"That's true, but why not you ask the neighbouring demons instead? They are probably the ones who moved the bodies away. Besides, I believe a few demons have already turned into humans. I can get a weird amount of human stance coming from that direction." She said while pointing at the collapsed palace. "It seems that they are disappearing into different dimensions in their worlds."
"Yes, before I left, I made sure to stab a few in their hearts before leaving them in the hands of the other demons whom I have successfully converted into spies who are willing to sell me information in return for becoming humans."
"Are you sure the demon king won't find out?"
"Are you questioning my choices?" Aefia gave the same angry expression she had shown to Helio. "I don't think I have done the wrong thing. Besides, if the demon king finds out, it will frighten him further. He will begin asking for help from the Torture Cell and that will allow us to get rid of a very small amount of their men, that will in return, give us a small hint of how they fight.
"Now if you don't mind, I will have to go finish off my last work before leaving this dimension." She looked at Helio and held out her hand. Helio dropped a key onto her palm and she walked away to the direction of the mansion.
When she was far from the hearing range, the queen's mother spoke. "Is she always like this? She took a look at an empty chamber and she started acting all mad."
Helio thought about the matter before replying. "I am not really sure about her elemental magic, but one thing that I am sure of is that her strictness is the reason why she has become such a powerful person, both mentally and physically. She uses this strictness of hers to gather a team of people, including demons who are willing to work for her. She may seem like a villain, but if you notice, villains are the better rulers when it comes to leading a population. That's because they know what the population wants and provides them in alternative ways."
"I see. I guess I have miscalculated a lot of things about her. I will take that information into account for future use. Although, is it actually true that she is trying her best to slowly take down the Torture Cell?"
"About that, yes I can confirm. But currently, she is focused on stoping the descend of the Torture Cell. That descend is happening in the world we are currently residing in, so she is looking forward to acquiring the resources she needs to do so. That is the reason why she claimed that key. So you aren't really going to do much work for now."
"Alright, I have gotten whatever information I need to keep track of, thank you." Her lady continued to work on her patient, who was the elderly demon. She took out a small test tube with a yellow liquid inside, and dropped the content into the patients mouth. Slowly enough, the elderly woke up and his face returned to a normal human-like tone.
"Are you some kind of doctor?" Helio asked when he saw what was happening.
"No, I am an underground scientist." Her lady replied while putting away the empty test tube. "Nice bag." Helio said.
"Thanks, your teammate bought it for me to fit all my stuff into it."
"She bought it? From where?"
"From her system."
"System?" Helio asked with a curious tone.
***
Where did that beast run off to? I swear on this key I had seen it escape.
Aefia searched the entire of the completely destroyed building. It looked as if a bomb went off inside it. The swinging chandelier still had the candles lit and the patterns drawn in the ground was covered with dust. Ever since she had first appeared in this dimension, she noticed that it was a tradition to have such an intricate mosaic design plastered to the ground. Walking inside the building itself felt like disrespecting the hard-work the workers had put into this piece of art.
Although it didn't feel safe to go head to head with such a monster, Aefia felt that it was worth giving a shot to even when it meant losing. In her screen, she could clearly see that she was nearing Phase two of her element and once she had achieved that level of power, she was going to work on having the others leveled up.
Her system had already been updated to the point where she could interact with the universe as if it were a game. She could see a red bar on top of the enemy she was facing, then she could see which level they were in, their names and their attack type. There was more, she could level herself up if she had enough resources.
The resources needed to be a huge amount of star dust she could collect after she completed a battle and a few exotic bones from some magical animals she hunted. It was like she was the main character in her own game. Unfortunately, in her game, reaching the end of the green bar meant a real death was going to take place.
I just didn't think that the glowing thing around the key would be a monster. If I knew of it earlier, I would have tried another method to extract it. At least I have the key, that should be the most I need to defeat it too. I guess that's why they say that the orb is a dangerous object.
She moved around without caution until she knocked into an invisible barrier. She looked to see if it were her screen. But there were no red light flashing any sort of notification or anything. She looked up to see if it were part of a glass wall, but still nothing.
Hey! Was it you? Did you flash the screen once to knock me into it? A few seconds later, the screen replied.
[What makes you think that? Do you think I am pulling some sort of prank on you?🧐]
Then how did I suddenly come across a barrier like this?
[If you were a pure genius, why not try to use one of your amazing skills on it?🤓]
Like her system told her, Aefia used her 'X-Ray Vision' skill to see through the barrier that was blocking her way. The thing on the other side wasn't really visible, but whatever she saw left her in deep shock. "Is this supposed to be something I should have come across?" She accidentally said out loud.
Hearing this, the invisible beast on the other side spun around to see who was talking. It let out a roar when it saw Aefia staring at it with disbelieve. "I am sorry for disturbing you in whatever you were doing, I have no intention to fight." Aefia lied while standing with her hands in a surrendering position.
[If I were you, I would break out in a run by now. That's a Phase six orange-flamed Chimera Dragon. And you though you could take on it by yourself. Well, good luck I guess.😂]
Aefia gulped and spun on her feet in an attempt to run away from the already angered dragon. The dragon flew into the air and dropped right in front of Aefia to stop her from getting away. It seemed to have already found itself a weak opponent who was still willing to fight. Look, I seriously didn't know that it was a Phase six Chimera.
[Too late to turn back now!😂]
Are you seriously laughing at me?!
[Are you seriously saying that I am not supposed to laugh at you when you are already at your weakest?!😂]
Aefia smacked the screen and it pounced backwards.
[Ouch.🤕What is wrong with you! I can't help you in a fight against a Phase six, understand it already.😐]
Well at least you can do something.
[No hope. Good luck. I don't know how you are going to escape but best of luck. Look at it as an exam. I can only provide you with motivation. 😐]
Aefia raised her hand to smack it again.
[No wait. Actually, I can momentarily increase your power. Do you want that?🙂]
Do it. But what are the consequences?
[I will go off for that time frame.😐]
Alright. Increase my power. By the way, what phase will I be then?
The screen flashed off and Aefia's pulse increased. She tried to view her system, yet, it didn't interact back. That's when she knew that she had to deal with whatever that was in front of her, alone.
She unshealded her knife and pointed at the chimera. The knife didn't transform or do anything, it was still a kitchen knife. She reached for her pistol but then remembered she had emptied out all the bullets she had. I may have been a bit dumb for this. But why did I intersect with this chimera a bit too early on? Isn't it supposed to be a little time later? She stood still at her place while taking in every detail she could find about the Chimera dragon in flames.
The creature was a skeleton of a large chimera dragon. Its body was only bones, featuring large ram horns on its skull. The skeleton glow faintly on the inside. The dragon's wings, feet and tail were covered in orange flames. The large wing membranes were unique as they contained patterns of stars, resembling a night sky. This gave the skeletal beast a cosmic appearance mixed with fire.
The dragon leaped into the air one more time and stayed there until it plunged back down straight at Aefia. In panic, she held out the knife in front of her as a protest.