"Where the hell did he go?"
Dorian narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of his surroundings. This section of the arena seemed to be much more dimly lit than the others, cloaked in partial darkness.
While he was tempted to turn on his flashlight, doing something like that was against the rules of the Dark Arena.
After all, that was the point of its name in the first place.
How unnerving.
He felt cheated, like someone who had prey slide out of his grasp. And nothing ever slid out of his grasp, ever.
"Coward! Can't believe your mother thought that she gave birth to a man!"
The moment he spoke, he was already altering his position just in case that guy was stalking him, hiding himself between stacks of adjoining partitions.
He waited, yet there was no movement after him, nor could he pick out the constant rush of voices that he had constantly grown familiar with.
'Wait, why is it so quiet?'
He squinted his eyes.
The towering walls lay just a few meters beyond him, dim neon lights running across their length in thin strands. But his eyes were fixed instead on the partly open door, a faint breeze wheezing through the doorway from the world outside.
"I am at the end of the arena?"
He sounded annoyed.
"Truly a coward, ran away like a rat. Tch."
He was just about to turn away when he stopped. And that was because his ears had picked up a sound like that of a pained whimper.
His head snapped towards the door, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.
He could hear it clearly now. A girl was sobbing on the other side of the door, her cries tearing out of her throat in sharp, agonized gasps.
"Help... someone... help."
Dorian couldn't help but rub his chin now, one of his eyebrows raised.
Did that guy hurt her while he was fleeing through the door? If that was so, then he wasn't only a coward, but also a heartless brute.
What a despicable person.
He walked towards the door, only stopping in front of it without taking a step outside.
Widening the door, the lingering backdrop of the city slowly came into view. Towering spires extended upwards as if trying to pierce the night sky, constantly alive with the flashing of hovercars, rows of magnificent buildings stretching far into the distance, their surfaces gleaming with opulent light.
But Dorian's face wasn't fixed on any of that, rather on the outline of a girl leaning against the walls of the building while rubbing her right shoulder, her head snapping towards him the moment he stepped into her awareness.
But he couldn't make out her face because it was hidden behind a clown mask.
Dorian ran a hand through his hair, mumbling irritably under his breath.
"How troublesome..."
The situation presented two possibilities. The first was the fact that she might be some kind of cosplayer with a weird fetish for clowns, and the other possibility—
Which was more likely, considering the fact that his Innate Trait, [Intuition], had been blaring out warning signals every moment he spent standing by the door.
Which meant that he had probably fallen into some kind of trap.
'Not yet, at least.'
Since fighting wasn't permitted within the Dark Arena, she would try to draw him out to the courtyard right outside.
His fists couldn't help but clench now, his eyes narrowing intensely. Smiling coldly, a spark of irritation lit up in his chest.
'This charade. Who has the guts to pull this charade.'
He was still an Aragus, you know? To be brazen enough to put him in this situation...
He could bet that there were a whole bunch of them hiding out in the courtyard, waiting to gang up on him the moment he took the bait.
Well, jokes on these suckers.
The girl's palm tightened around her stomach, her voice hoarse.
"Help. It hurts, it hurts so much."
Dorian rolled his eyes, grasping the doorknob.
"I am curious. Wasn't it your shoulder that was hurting seconds ago, or did you forget?"
She froze.
In the same moment, Dorian was already making to shut the door, only for it to be violently flung open.
Then he felt a powerful kick right at his back.
"Ouch!"
He landed on the floor gracelessly, wincing under his breath. The door shut with a shot, and the same boy he had been searching for emerged from the shadows, his blue helmet gleaming under the city lights.
Dorian stood on his feet, letting out a sigh.
'Shit! Shit! Shit!'
Two more figures, another boy and girl, began to step out of the space between the trees and underbrush, their faces hidden by clown masks. The four of them held weapons in hand, spreading outward to surround him in a rough formation.
They looked at each other, as if coming to a silent agreement. Then they all manifested their Resonance Strings at the same time.
The sound of songs rang outward from the vibrating Strings, slowly increasing in intensity till the layered sounds were just as sharp as the rumble of thunder in the distant skies.
For a moment, they all stood still, almost as if they were still hesitating to make the first move. The tension kept boiling over until—
Dorian let out an exasperated sigh, his voice mocking.
"Bunch of pussies, didn't your mummies teach you that violence is never the answer—"
BOOM
Like bullets from a rail gun, they shot forward.
***
Belle snorted. "Ridding an Echoling of corruption is impossible. If, by some miracle, you manage, their minds are already damaged beyond repair. Even if the corruption is gone, the madness will always remain."
Elias rubbed his chin in thought. She wasn't particularly wrong, after all. If someone got struck by an ailment that wore down the body, getting the ailment treated doesn't mean that the unpleasant effects it had wreaked on the body vanish.
But he doubted that there was anything impossible in this world, even bringing someone back from madness. The fact that she had no idea simply meant that this was the limit of her knowledge.
But for now, getting rid of the corruption from his parents was already a win. He would think of the rest later.
"You definitely know more than you let on, don't you? Belle, if you want some answers from me, you have to be completely honest. Are there truly no methods to remove human corruption?"
She hesitated this time before speaking through gritted teeth.
"There is one."
Elias let out a sigh of relief. 'Finally.'
"Which is?"
"I don't know of it exactly. But a method is rumored to exist in the Holy Land that floats above the city of the Choir of Dawn."
The Holy Land...
It was a giant island, known to possess treasures and opportunities that any Chordbearer would literally kill for. The entire island was an Artifact, obtained by the Choir Saintess of the past as a gift from one of the dynasties in the Forgotten Civilization of Vymora.
If he remembered right, the name of that Dynasty was Everaine...
The Holy Land only opened up once in a dozen years, and geniuses constantly competed just for a chance to enter the island for opportunities. It's been ten years since the last opening, which meant that there were only two years left before the barrier was lifted.
Two years... was more than enough.
"Thank you."
He didn't know if this information was true, but at the very least, he had a lead now. Of course, he would look for ways to confirm it himself before eventually setting off for the Holy Land at the City of Solveil.
She waved it off, her eyes narrowing curiously at him.
"My turn now. I am skeptical about many things, but... your Class Rank, what exactly is it?"
Elias had no idea why she was asking. Did she, by any chance, notice anything about him?
Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to actually give the real answer.
"I have an Epic Class."
She tilted her head at him, almost as if she was checking for any trace of a lie.
She nodded. "That's very impressive. Epic, Legendary... Divine, you are just two shots away from the ultimate, I guess. Very few people can boast of having the talent to reach the A Rank. You should be proud."
Elias understood what she meant. Class Rank dictated just how far one could advance in Level. Anyone with Common-Ranked Strings was destined to only ever touch the Apprentice Stage, and that was if they got lucky.
People that awakened with Uncommon-Ranked Strings could become Adepts (D) with enough hard work, maybe even reach the next stage, becoming a Symphonist Stage (C).
Having Rare-Ranked Strings might enable you to become a Virtuoso (B), but that was the furthest you could reach.
This was particularly why it was very difficult for commoners to become nobles, after all. The least qualification for a Baron, the lowest noble rank, was to become a Symphonist.
And how many commoners could boast of having at least a Rare-Ranked String? There were very few of them, far less than ten percent of the awakened population.
"Does your String have the ability to cloak you from external probing?"
Elias didn't deny it. "Yeah, it does. That's a question from you, so I guess it's my turn now."
She let out an amused chuckle. "Stingy..."
"Tell me more about the concept of innate traits. Something like your eyes."
He could choose to ask Nova for answers, but he would rather hear the answer from her instead.
"Don't complicate it. It's not that much different from a Title."
Elias raised an eyebrow. "A Title?"
Of course, he had obtained the titles Boneslayer and Songborn as rewards from the Song, so he wasn't unfamiliar with the topic.
But yet there had to be a reason it's called a trait, right—
"Unlike Titles, though, an innate trait is tightly bound to the Resonance String one awakens with. It manifests itself the moment your Resonance String is awakened, and it works passively just like most titles. Of course, very few Resonance Strings come with an innate trait. I suppose mine is one of the exceptions."
"I see."
Now that certainly put a lot of things into perspective. While Elias half wondered why he didn't awaken a innate trait of his own, he didn't particularly feel like he had any use for it.
His Class was already broken enough.
"Well, I get that it—"
Elias barely finished before his device beeped.
He raised it to his face, looking at the message that came in red letters.
[Dorian Aragus sends you a distress signal! Dorian Aragus sends you a distress signal!]