“You did well today. If you keep it up then you’ll be ready to go into the abyss soon enough. The tower leader said that he has personally selected your team members. You should be honored and make us proud.”
“You’ll get to be in the same team as the tower leader’s son and Lady Clove. How lucky for you to be chosen. I think we did a good job raising her.”
“Of course. After all, Lady Rita is a genius summoner and the best one in her generation. But for now, she needs more practice. But of course, we will make sure she does”
The eight years old Rita looked up at the faces of her caretakers. The ladies were busy talking among themselves, ignoring the eight years old.
The young girl was bitter but not surprised at the turn of events.
From a third person’s perspective, it looked like these ladies were praising Rita. But all they were doing was stroking their ego.
They were not even looking at Rita when they were talking to her. And they’ll ignore her if she talked back to them.
This was a rule Rita had come to understand early on in her life.
After all, even her mother chose to ignore her existence unless Rita was needed for her talent. If Rita could not win her father’s favor with her abilities, then she was useless.
But her father was a minor god and did not care about her mother. It had been a political marriage that produced Rita with minor divine powers.
Not nearly enough to make her a god or goddess but enough to make her stand above regular humanity. That small traces of divinity were also the reason Rita was able to summon the divine beast and contract them.
She was a goldmine for her family.
She endured it for years. She did all that was asked of her and did not look at the consequences of what she was doing. All she had wanted was to be loved.
It all lasted until the day she heard someone go against the tower master’s wishes when she was sixteen.
The figure inside the room was so dazzling and shining that Rita had been unable to look away.
When that dazzling figure had left, Rita had wanted to follow after her. But her caretakers had not allowed Rita to do so.
So Rita had taken the first big risk of her life and decided to run away.
And then she had seen her ‘hero’ trying to make sense of their magic in the park. Curiosity had led to longing and Rita had gathered enough courage to finally talk with that dazzling being.
She had expected to be turned away and be rejected. She had been ready to run away but the creature had smiled at her and taken Rita’s hand.
Rita had so many experiences since that day but the most memorable was the night she spent together with Aurora and that unforgivable trail she had gone through.
The joy of seeing Aurora inside that trail room had faded away to form a dream when Rita had seen that golden-blond hair near Aurora’s face.
Could Aurora not see what kind of devil her ‘lover’ was? Was she blinded by love? Or had Aurora been enchanted by the devil?
Everyone seemed to be happy with Clove and Aurora being a couple in that trial but Rita could feel a sense of uneasiness. Looking at Clove gave Rita goosebumps.
There was something not right about her and her soul. There was darkness and corruption all over it.
But Aurora seemed not to see it. She looked happy and content.
And that was when Rita found herself jealous and longing for power. She wanted, no, she needed that scene not to come true.
It would end in Aurora’s unhappiness. And that was something Rita could not allow.
That’s what lead Rita to gather more power.
That’s why she had come as far as she had. And that’s why she had formed a divine contract and aged herself.
It was all for that one person who had shown Rita the light.
Even if the divining lightning burned her now, Rita would not stand back and allow Aurora to destroy herself.
“You damn machine. Don’t you dare stand in my way any longer. You should just die now.”
Rita’s right side was bleeding from the scratch she had received from dodging the metallic claw.
It did not hurt but the blood was making her side messy.
But the blood had also gotten into the Mecha’s joints and interfered with its seals. It would no longer be able to use its magic properly.
“Good night.”
Rita brought her sword down. The black metal drenched in her blood caused her to crack with lightning and pierced the Mecha.
There should not have been a need for Rita to go so overboard. She could have dealt with that Mecha more gently. But it would have taken her precious time she could be using to look for Aurora.
The machine finally went quiet and the traces of other life forms were gone from the chambers.
“It looks like Natasha and Alexander managed to get out of here safely. I should get going as well.”
Rita’s body did not feel tired even after going through such an ordeal. The special constitution of her divine form made Rita’s senses go numb.
She would be feeling it all once this problem was over.
The core of the Mecha exploded and the head rolled hear Rita’s feet. The head had something white and transparent shining inside it so she decided to pick it up.
“Huh? What’s this? An absorbing crystal? Whatever, I should take it with me as well.”
Rita did not know then that her small and careless action of picking up the absorption crystal would become the cornerstone of the northern empire.
For now, all that was on her mind was to reach Aurora and get her out of this mess.
As soon as Rita exited the chamber, she felt the magic on the seals start acting up. The chamber vibrated before finally disappearing from behind Rita.
The so-called ’emergency evacuation’ had finally been activated. And the chamber of research had gone toward a safer destination.
And just as that happened, a huge blast of fire cracked open the secret passage’s top. The mixture of blue and green enveloped the icy castle and it began melting.
The Palace of Northern Republic, the cornerstone of the nobility was burning away without anything left behind to spare.
It was a tragic event that would be remembered in everyone’s memories.
But all Rita could think of was one thing.
‘How beautiful. It looks like a dream.’
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)