"That's quite good looking." Jason commented as he was back at the arena with his family.
Since it was the last day, the arena was fully packed and seemed even more crowded than it was one the fighting days.
The crowd was strangely quiet as well, the reason for which was not known by Jason.
He was instead looking at an sacrificial altar with the rest of his family and the people present in the glass box.
The sacrificial altar had been made in the middle of the arena floor or was probably dragged from some place.
[ Its more of a worshiping altar than a sacrificial one considering that the structure is just another statue of the Ash Phoenix. ] The system pointed out.
'Yeah, just another statue with an miniature altar present at the bottom. Got it.' Jason replied sarcastically as Zilan suddenly walked out on to the arena floor.
Jason watched the prime minister from the glass box with an interested expression as he remembered how the Zilan had helped the Kerwin as well a demon commander in kidnapping Jason and Nora.
'It turned out to be a fluke in the end but if Zilan had really wanted to help them, they might have been successful in their plan.' Jason thought silently as he noticed that the prime minister was wearing bright orange robes.
'They are definitely ceremonial or sacred robes.' Jason thought silently and soon enough, he was proved correct.
"Those are sacred robes that are worn by the one leading the worship." Risa explained from the side as she saw Jason curiously staring at Zilan.
'Is he going yo make a blood sacrifice?' Jason wondered silently as he saw Zilan approaching the small altar.
"The embrace of the Phoenix's flames have protected us since the beginning of our kingdom and its cries have protected us from great peril. Today, we offer the Phoenix a small portion of our mana while hoping that the future remains safe." Zilan chanted.
The prime minister had a neutral expression on his face as he lifted his right hand high in the air and closed his eyes.
An orange window opened in front of Jason as well as everyone else present in the arena.
---
Would you like to offer 100 mana to worship the Phoenix?
Yes
---
'What happened to the 'no' option…' Jason thought with a judging look as he pressed the yes option.
Though he wasn't a fan of donating things randomly, there hadn't been much of an choice for him.
A small marble sized sphere of white light exited Jason's body alongside countless others present inside the arena.
Even those on duty around the city had a bit of their mana deserting them as the white spheres of light gathered right above the Phoenix statue.
All of the energy started gathering together which reminded Jason of a certain spirit move he had seen on Earth.
'That's a huge amount of mana now that I look at it.' Jason thought in awe as he saw a gigantic sphere forming at the top of the Phoenix statue.
A hundred mana from nearly a million people was an absurdly huge amount of mana for anyone.
[ A normal human wouldn't be able to hold this much mana. ] The system commented.
Zilan placed his hands on the small altar and started chanting under his breath. The mana gathered above the Phoenix slowly started descending towards the altar.
Zilan continued to chant words under his breath while occasionally glancing at the sphere from time to time.
"What…" Jason's jaw dropped down when he saw the mana vanishing right into the altar.
He even used his vision control to make sure that he wasn't imagining things yet the result was the same.
The mana simply vanished inside the altar and was never seen again. Jason looked around the glass box to notice that none of the adults looked surprised by this.
'Does the Ash Phoenix actually exist?' Jason couldn't help but wonder.
"Aeterna Flamma!" Zilan suddenly shouted as the altar lit up with bright orange flames.
The flames lunged towards the sky and started growing. They kept on rising until they had reached the top of the arena.
Jason could see the flames directly in front of the glass box. They took the shape of a bird, a Phoenix to be specific.
"Watch carefully. You might not get another chance to see this." Risa whispered from the side as Jason closely stared at the flames.
The Phoenix formed by the flames gracefully shot towards the sky and did a twirl there. It then plunged towards the ground and settled on top of the Phoenix statue.
Jason noticed that most people in the arena had either joined their hands together or had their eyes shut close. They seemed to be praying to the Phoenix.
"That creature of flames was created by all of our mana. It represents unity in a way." Issac commented.
Jason continued to look at the flame Phoenix in fascination while wondering whether he could create such a bird with the help of his elements.
'That's another task added to the 'to do' list.' He thought silently.
The flame Phoenix slowly started submerging into the statue as Jason's eyes kept track of it. In another five minutes, only a tiny wisp of flames was visible on top of the Phoenix's head.
Jason saw that at this point, most of the people had started leaving the arena, including those present in the arena below as well as the glass box.
"Reeeee!"
'Huh?' Jason looked around with a confused expression as a strange screech had echoed inside his ears.
"Is something wrong?" Risa inquired while looking around with a wary expression.
"I think I just…" Jason had just began saying the words when the screech echoed inside his head again.
"Reeeee!"
Jason whirled around in a confused manner as his somehow found Amber. Her eyes found his too and at the same time, both of them clutched their heads.
"REEEE!"
The cry echoed inside the head twice as loudly, making both children feel disoriented.
All those present in the glass box noticed the two children kneeling on the floor and looked at them closely.
Suddenly, Flamey appeared right in front of Amber. The salamander immediately climbed her body and wrapped around her neck tightly.
A bright red barrier appeared around Amber.
[ Jason… ] Hestia's voice echoed inside Jason's head as a wolf cub suddenly appeared in front of his feet.
The cub didn't look too old as it moved and sat down near Jason's feet. A gray barrier appeared around Jason as Feta rested her head on Jason's body.
'It was the cry of a bird…' Jason suddenly realized as he felt something warm surrounding him.
He slowly opened his eyes to see flames surrounding his body completely yet he didn't feel his skin being burnt off.
It was as though the flames had wrapped around him like an armor and were protecting him from the outside world.
"Remember, in the future only trust those you are close to and never trust the anomaly. The moment you trust the anomaly, everything is over." A voice echoed inside Jason's head.
He felt the presence of another being nearby but it went away at the same speed it had come near him.
In front of everyone, the flames surrounding Jason's body receded, the same thing happened with Amber.
Flamey and Hestia removed the barriers at the same time, having realized that the strange presence they had felt had vanished.
The two children shakily stood up on their feet and exchanged a look. Jason and Amber could tell that the other had went through something similar that they had experienced.
"Jason, what happened?" Risa slowly asked while carefully approaching Jason.
'Should I reveal the truth or not…' Jason wondered silently as he realized that everyone present inside the glass box was staring at him.
He could tell them all about what he had heard or just tell his family about it.
But before he could make his decision, Jason felt his consciousness slip away. He had experienced this so many times that he could even tell that he was going to fall unconscious.
'I definitely gotta do something about this.' He thought at the last moment before he hit the ground, his body lying against Hecate's animal form.
Amber soon followed his example as Flamey manipulated the floor to give her a soft landing. The two unconscious children had no idea that all eyes in the room were staring at them with different emotions hidden behind their pupils.
Some looked curious, some worried while some looked wary. There were a chosen few who looked afraid as well.
Many of them would remember the events of that day in the future and would sigh at their past selves for not trying to find more information on it.
After all, none of them currently knew what had happened to the two children or what changes they would make in the future.
***
End of Volume 1
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