Chapter 523 A big piece of the puzzle (part 1)
While the survivors of the human army cleaned the battlefield under old Ben's watching, Daimon and the girls travelled through the portal created by Rita, strangely the dimensional tunnel in which they were was different than the ones created through Space Shift, which Daimon has seen before.
Here not only space laws existed like normally, there were darkness laws lingering through it as well, which was rather strange, the only thing Daimon could think of, was that Rita's Space Shift was altered due to her strong shadow affinity.
As a proof of it, the portal for them to leave, appeared on the ground in an area covered by shadows, inside of the Valleris's mansion, so they literally emerged from the shadows, of course Rita chose one of the places in which Daimon has been, so there weren't guards here as it was the area that was assigned to Jeanne.
Speaking of which, Daimon felt a bit curious about those white metal boxes those two were holding, he knew what was inside of them, but he didn't know what they were planning to do with them.
Feeling Daimon's gaze on them, Emily turned to see him before saying.
"We aren't going to eat it or something like that… the biggest part of my father's heart blood was absorbed by them and infused in their hearts, so we'll use a little ritual to separate it".
"Reyne you also come, let them properly catch up", said Jeanne to her daughter, who was looking at Sarah play with that purple mist next to Jasmine.
"Mm", Reyne nodded and then followed her mother and Emily to their room, leaving behind Daimon, Jasmine, Sarah and Freya.
"Let's go too, we have a lot of things to discuss", said Daimon as he gazed at Freya, before he left to the room which he shared with Sarah previously.
On the way Daimon felt Jasmine's happy gaze on him, which was caused by the fact that they were "allowed" to be present for the conversation he was about to have with Freya.
Daimon hadn't specifically explained to them about his system, he has only done that for his soulmates, per Evangeline's suggestion, but even if he didn't explain about his, those two had been too involved with Adam to leave them in the dark at this point.
They even killed Adam, so they aren't "normal" people anymore, Evangeline didn't explain much cause restrictions, but she did say that they are now able to clash against system users, to a certain extent, despite not being directly linked to him, like Aisha and the other soulmates.
Sarah could see through Adam's tricks even before all this, but she was unable to truly wound him, but now she should be able to, even if she didn't have items from a system, that was the biggest difference.
As for Jeanne, Emily and Reyne, they were surprisingly immune to Adam's "Hero Charisma" as Ariel called it, apparently Adam's skill had a certain possibility to fail, when the target were women with extreme negative affinities, which is why it didn't work with Sarah.
Though Jasmine was also part Nethereal which should have helped her resist Adam's skill, her Nethereal side has been suppressed by the lineage of the Light Palace and their extreme positive light affinity, while Sarah was born with dual negative affinities, namely darkness and poison.
And now she has obtained an even more extreme negative one, in the form of Nether, speaking of that, Daimon needed to have a small talk with the crazy girl, to see what was the effect of her recently obtained nether, the restrictions and so on, not only because he was genuinely curious about it, but because he might have to deal with the Nethereal that tricked her mother, which is supposed to be her father.
Soon, the three girls entered the room and then Daimon closed the door behind of him, the crazy girl was wild as ever, she just took off her shoes and jumped on the bed, Jasmine on the other hand slightly closed her eyes as she noticed that this room only had a single bed and it was quite a big one, in other words she and Daimon had shared a bed… alone.
Not to mention, she saw Daimon not avoiding her like the plague for a change, which meant that while she was gone, Sarah and Daimon had gotten "closer" for sure, how much, that was the question she was making to herself.
But that could wait for later, since there was an "outsider" among them currently, in the form of Freya, who remained standing while Daimon and those two sat on the edge of the bed.
"First of all, who are you and be as specific as you "can", if there is something you can't say out loud, just give me a signal and I don't think I have to remind you, but lying is meaningless in front of me", he said as he gazed at Freya.
The silver armored woman nodded and then snapped her fingers to create a metal chair for her to sit.
"For starters my name is Freya, since you killed that lame excuse of a hero, then you must know at this point that there are "extraordinary" existences, even among geniuses, I used to be the companion of someone like that and so was Karla too".
"I guess that my personal matters are of no interest for you, so I'll keep that out as it won't affect the answers you seek", said Freya before continuing.
"I honestly don't remember how many years ago it was, just like you and that girl with a "peculiar" affinity, my companion and Karla's one got mission, which led us to this planet, the difference is that back then, both humans and Ghouls were way stronger than now, the Archdukes were all Stellar ranks and the Blood King of back then had managed to… set a foot into the next realm", she said as she pointed at Sarah.
With peculiar affinity she obviously meant the strange purple nether that Sarah became able to control, after absorbing all the dark energy that Karla bestowed to the Ghouls.
Daimon's eyes glowed behind his mask, this is the first time he hears about anyone surpassing the limits of the Stellar ranks, even Maximum ranked were still Stellar ranks after all.
"Leaving aside the ventures that those two had together when they first arrived, in one of their missions, they met a native of Kerrol who managed to escape the living hell of a human farm, though his own means and also awakened as a "chosen one", and that's where things changed".
"That native started at a really low point, but this planet was his stage so he sky-rocketed through the ranks quite fast, and so with three people leading the humanity, the victories started to increase, until only the major areas controlled by the Ghouls remained".
"If you wonder why the Blood King didn't simply come to crush them, the missions and the appearance of a native chosen one was perfectly "timed", the Blood King had isolated himself to attempt an advance, so he wasn't aware that a fire had been lit up in his backyard".
"As for the Archdukes, they were all only early stage Stellars, so with those three at the peak of the Arch rank, they were able to repel them, also a couple of Ghouls were brought to our side, all in all with some loses on battles, the war was going to be won…".
Freya took a moment to clench her hands and then sighed with a frustrated voice.
"But then the "balance" between those three broke, the native got a lucky encounter and broke through to the early stage of the Stella rank, while my companion and the other guy only reached the half Stellar state".
"The mission had taken around five years up to that point, and during the previous four years, the native and my companion got closer and for a good reason, as you can see my affinity is metal, and that guy was lightning, they pretty much were perfect for each other, in comparison the other guy had water affinity one of the worst affinities for someone with metal affinity, but he was a… hero".
Daion frowned behind his mask, he could already tell where all this was going, there was something that didn't match for him, but he remained silent for now, if Freya didn't mention what he wanted, he will directly ask after she finishes her explanation.
"Those deemed as "heroes", might not be the strongest in a group, but one of its special qualities is the ability to gather people to their side, the human army became complacent after winning so many times in a row, that they gave themselves the luxury to have inner conflict".
"And slowly but surely breaches appeared between the alliance, but besides some discussions here and there nothing really serious happened, it was then when things soured, the Blood King failed his advance, but managed to obtain a partial trait of what he would have attained in the next realm".
"The skies painted red and the brightest star that appears at night in this place, which the natives consider the moon, turned black, from that point onwards, the Ghouls suddenly became stronger whenever night came".
"Oh?", something suddenly made "click" in Daimon's mind, back when he met Dimas, he called the realm in which he as "Planetary Subjugation" realm, instead of Emperor or Stellar realm.
If the boosting effect in Kerrol's atmosphere was caused by the Blood King's failed advance, that explained the reason behind the name Planetary Subjugation, the ability to boost other people's realms, at a planetary level, under certain circumstances is enough to rule said planet after all.
"So not only the ones he wanted were allowed to get the boost, but anyone with an affinity in a similar side of the specter, as a proof that he failed, right?", asked Daimon, to which Freya answered with a surprised voice.
"How did you know that, wait… are there Star Lord's in your galaxy of origin!", she exclaimed, which made Daimon inwardly smirk, since she bit the bait.
"Heh, so that's what the realm after the Stellar rank is called, quite presumptuous if you ask me", said Daimon.
"…", Freya remained silent for a second, baffled at the fact that a member of the younger generation, just made her speak more than what she pretended, still she didn't affirm nor deny Daimon's supposition and instead continued with her story.
Daimon didn't mind, though information was a weapon for him thanks to Erin's teachings, he still needed the reward from the Global Raid, "Road to the Stellar rank", since there seemed to be many misconceptions about what came after the Arch rank, probably because there hasn't been a proper Stellar rank in either the four galaxies, Neptune or Kerrol, in a long time.
Well, there was Dimas, but he is a magic beast and he isn't the most trustable due to the strange circumstances behind of him, not to mention he shouldn't be stronger than Erin or Aura, despite them being "only" half Emperors, meaning he is lacking something too.
Leaving that aside, Daimon focused on Freya once again.
"Ahem, as I was saying, with the Blood King joining the war, things took a turn for the worse, the human alliance started losing quite a bit, but they were able to survive to fight another day, thanks to the native from Kerrol, which with my companion's help managed to hold that guy down for the rest to escape".
"That continued until in one of those battles, a few Archdukes sacrificed themselves to stop my companion and Kerrol's native from interfering with the Blood King, as a result around a third of the whole alliance was exterminated, and the hero guy stood out to block the Blood King, so that the rest could escape".
"Though those two didn't want to leave him behind, they were dragged by what was left of the alliance and escaped, everyone thought that hero guy was dead, but he actually managed to escape after successfully blocking the Blood King for around thirty minutes, unfortunately what he expected to happen which was my companion to be impressed with his heroic "sacrifice", didn't happen, though they did receive him like a hero, and also he gained the support of almost all what was left of the alliance".
Daimon softly snorted, those guys from the alliance thought that it was an obligation for Freya's host and the native of Kerrol to win, so the moment they suffered the slightest setback, they moved onto the side of the hero.
Sure, that hero probably had something similar but more advanced that Adam's skill, but it's not like they had mind of their own, especially if what he was thinking, was what happened next.
"The hero guy not was received with welcoming arms, but he also raised a wave when he returned, since my companion and the native had received some wounds due to the Archdukes literally using their lives as weapons, so he took over and then the next battles were miraculously won with the hero fighting on the vanguard".
"Th thing about heroes is that they gain momentum with people's support, and as if to respond to humanity's desires, the hero also managed to enter the Stellar realm and in the middle of a tough battle on top of that".
Listening to Freya's ironic voice, Daimon inwardly chuckled.
'Well, one of the requirements of the mission I got from the opportunity I stole from Adam, was gain public recognition and make a flashy entrance, so I guess being an attention seeking idiot is part of a hero's path', he thought.
"Then the final battle came, with a newly gained confidence the whole army launched an assault on the royal capital of the Ghouls, the battle was going surprisingly well, almost all the Ghoul enemies were killed and then the palace of the Blood King was besieged, but then… a giant scaled array appeared on the capital, that crazy bastard allowed almost all his kind to be slaughtered to use them as sacrifices to attempt a second try to advance".
"Needless to say, but the three leaders joined hands to stop him once and for all, but the reinforced Blood King was too strong, and they could only wound him after my companion created a breach in his defenses".
"Then the hero came up with an attack plan, the three were supposed to use their strongest attacks at the same time, onto a small crack that had been created on the blood armor of the King, it probably would have worked if it wasn't for the fact that, the hero piece of trash, instead aimed his attack at the native of Kerrol".
"That trident which you took possession of, was used to pierce the heart of the native of Kerrol and then hero who used to be fully water oriented, gained a new affinity, you see for chosen ones obtaining a second affinity isn't as simple as for others, because doing so will alter their "concept", it's a huge change in their paths".
"You saw Karla's two forms right, well the light blue haired one was
her original appearance, and the monstrous one was the one she attained after that guy betrayed us, with that change he also became able to face the Blood King, and so while those two were clashing on the sky, my companion was crying on the ground at the sight of her loved one dying to become a stepping stone for the hero bastard".
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavy, it's obvious that Freya was angry at what happened next.
"I'm not sweetening what happened, I certainly failed to fulfill my duty to protect my friend, but that for me both of them caused her death… she used something she shouldn't have and cut both the Blood King bastard who died on the spot and the trash hero who managed to escape, not without losing something important for him".
"Karla was forcefully stripped away from him and I personally cut his arm before everything went blank… the ability that my companion obtained by forcefully pushing herself to the limit was "Sever", so she split the body of the Blood King into countless threads of blood and the hero bastard was split of what he treasured the most, the source of his power".
"But that wasn't all, she also… cut the connection between her and me, there are different types of agreements between us and our companions, that angel girl mentioned to you right, well, mine was supposed to be a permanent contract meaning that when she died I would too, but she changed it so that I could live since she took the decision to avenge her loved one even if it costed her life".
Daimon nodded, he was ready to die back when he fought the manticore, after Aisha died, whoever preached about forgiving someone that killed a precious person for you, didn't know what the hell it was talking about.
That being said, now Daimon realized that he was too immature, he was able to win because Aisha half killed the manticore and because his instincts took over, after that, even if he didn't die, he would have ended up shortening his lifespan quite a lot.
Obtaining the system changed his perspective, if he would have awakened the system before he saw the manticore was still alive, he might have chosen to hide and then look for a way to revive Aisha, ironically enough, it was his reckless abandon to kill the manticore what allowed him to bring her back.
After a moment of silence, Freya then said.
"As much as I would have liked that to be the end, I ended up obtaining a second chance, call it fate, luck or some idiot pulling the strings behind scenes, the younger sister of my late companion became a chosen one after getting news of the death of her only family and I was chosen to be her companion…".
"We started all over again, she knew about me so she naturally asked about her sister's death, so step by step we became strong once again, but we couldn't find that piece of trash, until she reached the Arch rank, she got a mission to a planet that was accessible through a ruin, similar to how my previous companion and me ended up in Kerrol".
"But this time we arrived at Neptune where the stage was different, that mission was shared with other three guys, and among them there was another damn hero, but as much as I hated them, he wasn't the one we were looking for, or so we thought".
"Turns out, that guy had some kind of encounter, though he lost his administrator, he gained the support of one of those guys who controls an energy similar to that girl's one, and his overall aura and even affinity changed completely, so I couldn't recognize him until it was too late".
"After defeating our respective opponents, we were sent in a "bonus" mission, which took us back to Kerrol, but while I couldn't recognize that bastard, he did know about my new companion, because her sister had mentioned her and they resembled quite a bit, with the difference that she had light affinity instead of metal".
"So, we were ambushed by the guys of this place that had been controlled by Karla, waiting for that bastard's return, but the Ghouls who all those years back supported my companion saw the resemblance and actually helped us resist, this time I took the initiative to use a part of my existence, and cut the new source of power that bastard got".
"Also, my new companion killed the hero bastard but died together with him, since neither I or Karla died, but I was weakened, she imprisoned me into that star and made up the history that the natives of Kerrol know about".
"As for the source of the curse that kept Karla at her wit's end, since she couldn't escape unless he killed all the humans and Ghouls or me using the same trident with which he killed the chosen one of Kerrol, that guy apparently had made some kind of deal with someone powerful enough to suppress us and even those guys who controlled that dark energy, and since he betrayed it, both him and Karla paid the price".
"Luckily, with the last bit of my energy I sent what I severed from that guy and from my second companion, away, back to Neptune, those two didn't have any other family, but the younger sister had a friend who she considered her sister, so I made sure that her lineage was received by her so those two's will could continue, and that was the last thing I could do, before I was sealed away".
"Through the years, Karla tried to get me to tell her where the hero's things were, but not only I didn't know, even if I did, I wouldn't have told her, and she couldn't kill me nor damage me too much, unless she recovered the trident of the hero, so she created a fake mission to bring people here".
"My second companion as well as the trash guy didn't complete their mission, so the passage to Kerrol remained opened, after a lot of work, Karla managed to distort it so that only the ones she needed to escape this place could enter through the passage left by us".
"You can guess the rest, that guy who you crushed, was also a hero, so he probably used some sort of reward to enter, I was wondering why were you brought here id you weren't one, but now all makes sense, you were brought because you are one too", concluded Freya.
Only to see Daimon shaking his head, he stole the opportunity from Adam, but more importantly, the one who was kidnapped was Jasmine, the passage was in the territory of the Light Palace, and the second host of Freya was a light affinity system user, who died here without anyone knowing the truth.
And there was another light system user that died in similar circumstances, which he knew about… the Matriarch of the Light Palace, and Jasmine's ancestor, also now things made sense, the cross bow was what didn't match for him, though it was made of some kind of metal, it was clearly a magic weapon that was specifically used by someone with light affinity, so at first Freya's host didn't match for that, but the second one did.
Daimon turned to see Jasmine who was in awe at the story she just heard, to then say.
"It's okay, deactivate the effect of the bracelet".
"Mm", Jasmine had her doubts, but she didn't hesitate even for a second after listening to Daimon's words, with a single thought, the bracelet of the god of mischief stopped changing the nature of her light element.
"You!", Freya almost fell from her chair the moment she felt Jasmine's aura, and she stood up from her chair when she saw the white halos appearing in her pupils.
Daimon then decided to test something out, light vertical lines of light appeared in his eyes as he took off the mask of the Hollow Suit, to reveal his face.
Freya's body trembled, her murderous intent flowed out of her body, but Daimon didn't care, because it lasted for a single second, before it became confusion.
"You, what are you?", she mumbled, and the surprised kept coming, Daimon took out a beast pouch from the inventory, and then retrieved the object he was keeping inside of it, a large vase which was full to the brim with a semi-dark liquid.
With a snap of Daimon's fingers, a gray sphere was retrieved from within the liquid and shown to Freya.
"I guess, I should thank you for this then", he said as he played with the hollow gray sphere that when submerged in water, produced the liquid that was turned into the liqueur that the Blackfin family treasured so much, as it enhanced their lineage.
But for Daimon had a different use, since he obtained the Black Armored Shark lineage from it, and earned the Dracolevia lineage thanks to him overscoring during the trial of the Lineage Temple.
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