His blade still bloodred from the slaughter of Dolatians, the silver-robed man braved through the blizzard of Larian land. Standing before the minotaur dungeon, he found himself straggling for the very blood in his body was piercing his flesh from the inside. Despite it all, the smile on his face was far from fading.
"Cold, after so long…I'd forgotten what it felt like," although he'd landed in Laria with thundering magic, he made his way all the way here on foot to feel the tundra's winds brushing up against his skin.
Turning his gaze to the slumbering dragon atop the Frost castle, he was reminded of the time when he stood beside the emperor and lord Frost to take down the reign of those very creatures. Yet as he stood in the cold winds, he almost felt thankful to the maddened dragon for making him feel something after so long.
"I'll spare you for now, consider it an honor," picking those words from far away, the dragon's eyes lit up a menacing red.
Klian looked right towards Dominion, but even he knew it was better for them not to stick his leg where it wasn't needed. Caring not the least for the inhabitants of the dungeon, he lowered his neck once more and returned to his long soothing sleep.
"Good choice," said Dominion before heading straight into the minotaur dungeon.
With only a few steps, he noticed marks of carriage wheels lining the ground and an array of countless footprints marching back and forth on the path forwards. At first, he wasn't sure if the inhabitants had already left from the fear of him getting to him, but then as he ventured deeper with ripened crops and lit lanterns still hanging by the dungeon walls, he began to feel otherwise.
"It smells like goblins and other monsters in here," fanning his nose, he scanned the branching paths through his sharp silver eyes. "Which way to go now?"
Twirling the sword in his hand, he cloned his body into two other replicas of himself. Directing them to go into the opposing paths, he ventured into the path straight up ahead. It wasn't long until he encountered a faint smell of toxins showering him through the tunneled path, however, having expected such traps, he simply thundered far away from the fumes before they could have the slightest effect on his body.
But even after escaping that trap, there was no shortage of others like it. Even illusions tried to take hold of Dominion's mind by whispering into his ears to guide him right into the mouth of a deadly trap. None of it even managed to leave a scratch on him, however, for he was far more experienced in trickery than whoever had set up all the traps.
"Nothing…" Coming up to a shrine of a demon, Dominion was utterly disappointed for having not found a single living soul. "Serena, Serena, you must've been here, right?"
Having searched all other places where Serena could've gone to before killing the Dolatian, Dominion knew that she had been here recently, or at least her unconscious body had been held in this place. But to his disappointment, the inside of the shrine was just as empty as the rest of the dungeon.
Standing before the bedded platform where Serena had laid unconscious for days, he knew that he had just recently been abandoned.
"If you wish to play like this, then have at it," as those words trailed off his tongue, a magic circle resembling a ticking clock appeared in his eyes.
Taking a step away from the platform, he reversed the flow of time in the shrine to see exactly what had happened inside the place. As the needle of the magic clock began moving backward, the faint outlines of the acolytes came into his view.
'I'll find you one way or the other Haruki.' With a wide crescent smile, he watched the past unfold.
***
"The traps have triggered, but I don't think he fell for any of them," already far away from the dungeon, Moriyana turned to Haruki as they traveled in a large wagon.
His eyes shut closed, Haruki was trying to see through the demonic eyes, but as if some passive barrier from Dominion was affecting them, they'd all fallen to the ground as lifeless as starving bats.
"I can't see anything either," opening his eyes, he shifted his gaze to Riley who was directing the horses. "Keep the wagon moving, we can go after this guy once we're at a safer distance."
Glancing back with the edge of her eyes, Riley jerked the reins tight to hasten up their pace. As they continued moving forward, Haruki and his companions were all desperately trying to devise ways to get the silver-clothed man off their tail.
"You won't escape him," the voice of Asmodia whispered in Haruki's ears.
He tried to ignore her, but she kept talking to him.
"The emperor knows all about you now, and he's sent Dominion, his war general, to get you to him," despite her constant whispers, Haruki kept on ignoring her.
After all, for all he knew she might once again be trying to manipulate him, just like she'd done for the rest of his life. Wanting to do nothing with her without breaking the bonds of the contract, he kept to himself and didn't say anything in return.
'I'm gonna figure out how to deal with this myself.' He thought before busying himself by trying to come up with yet another stream of plans.
Spiraling deeper and deeper into a conflict that started way before he ever came to exist, he wanted nothing more than to just get away from it and get the people he was responsible for somewhere safe where they would be able to live their lives without any worries.
'If I have to kill Dominion or the emperor to get there I will, but I can't keep risking the lives of the people close to me on the simple whims of a demon queen.' Having already provided Asmodia with an army of demons, he wanted nothing more to do with her. Yet, even he knew that the mistress wouldn't like that idea all that much.
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