Chapter 531 Treasures that complement each other (part 3)
While Jeanne, Emily and Reyne were installing themselves at the main residence with Aurora's guidance, and Sylvie and Bell were still in shock over the revelation that Jessica was technically still alive.
But they refrained from pressuring Jeanne and Emily, since they heard Daimon mention that they don't have Jessica's memories, it was easy to notice since they lacked the closeness to Jasmine that they would expect from their sister.
"We have a pending conversation with those three", said Bell, referring to Daimon, Sarah and Jasmine.
"As much as I want to talk with those little girls, especially Jasmine since sister Jessica is still… alive, there is someone else I want to talk to "talk" to", said Sylvie as she clenched her hands a couple of times with a sharp gaze.
"Heh, our little Syl has become quite violent with the years, I still remember how you used to cry and hide behind of me back then when we first ventured without permission", jokingly said Bell, to which Sylvie's face slightly reddened.
"You don't have to specifically remember that, besides it was Jess the one that was more scared of that magic beast!", she exclaimed, the two of them then softly laughed, even if Sylvie was away keeping things in order at the Light Palace, while Aurora remained at the cave waiting for Daimon and the girls to return, they started talking to each other through their communication devices.
After all, they have been seen each other without talking for a long time, so there was a lot of catch up they had to do, and now they have started to treat each other like before Jessica died, as sisters.
"I guess we have to talk with those two too, regardless of the case, they are part of Jessica, so at the very least they can't be bad, not to mention he wouldn't have brought them with him if that was the case", said Bell.
"Mm, I don't want to see my sister from afar without approaching, ever again…", mumbled Sylvie, to which Bell softly smiled.
…
Leaving that aside for the time being, Daimon and those two made their way towards the artificial lake that was placed at the recreative area of the inner part of the citadel, after having being in a rush for the past days, for a change they weren't moving with spells or martial arts, nor using spatial type abilities, but simply walking, it's not like the lake was too far from the main residence anyway.
"Daimon", Jasmine who had a slightly hesitant voice called for Daimon, on the way.
"Mm?", Daimon turned to see Jasmine as she called for him, he more or less knew what she was going to ask, but he didn't say anything and instead waited for her to ask by herself.
"Was grandfather involved in what happened to mom…", she mumbled after a moment of contemplation.
Naturally, the suspicions on Abaris's family have gone through the roof, now that the real relation between the hero and the Light Palace has been revealed, Aurora might be looking calm on the surface, but the truth is that she was furious at the same thought that has appeared in Jasmine's mind.
On the other hand, she just "recovered" another daughter, this time the one that was actually "death", so as angry as she felt, she couldn't help but ignore it for the time being, there is so much she wanted to discuss with Jeanne and Emily, not to mention Reyne, which is why Daimon left to give them some time, he had to deal with the Flying Citadel first anyway, so it was a win-win situation.
"To be honest, I'm not sure, descending from that hero guy doesn't mean to be on his side, the fact that the core of the Black Fortress was impossible for them to obtain, is a proof of it", said Daimon which made Jasmine nod, only for her to hear him saying.
"However, none of that change anything, from the very beginning he wasn't my ally and now he openly declared me his enemy, so I will destroy him with all my might, since he is a threat to my friends and family".
Jasmine felt conflictive, on one hand Abaris is her grandfather, and even now, he has never tried to harm her nor Aurora, maybe they discussed and all that, but their fights were never serious, they simply saw things in a different way.
But, now, it is true that Abaris has started being more aggressive with Aurora, ever since Adam appeared, so from Daimon's point of view, there was more than what met the eye behind the Shaman.
Jasmine nodded and then went ahead of them a bit, which made the crazy girl gaze at Daimon.
"I didn't expect you to say "I'll let him live for you" or something like that, but I thought you'll say it in a different way", she said, to which Daimon shook his head.
"There is no point in sweetening it, it won't change what I have to do, besides, the Jasmine I know isn't weak, she can't start hating Abaris all of a sudden, but when the times comes, she'll understand it", he said.
Sarah nodded in response, despite she technically also being related to Abaris, as he was something like a granduncle for her, neither her mother nor her were close to the Shaman, and the crazy girl lacked "empathy" when it came to people, she wasn't close with, if they died then that was it.
Of course, it's not like she was deprived of emotions, but her wild nature made her like that, as proof of the previous she was now looking at Daimon as she licked her lips, "seductively".
"As expected of my fated one, you are quite blunt~", she said as she went after Jasmine, making Daimon shake his head.
"One is too "good" of a girl and the other is… well she is just crazy", concluded Daimon.
Daimon didn't accelerate his pace, and left those two have some time alone, he took advantage of this to recover a bit, there was still more things he had to tend to, but after that he was going to drop dead on his bed, since he was rather tired.
Still, they soon arrived at the entrance of the lake and Daimon took a moment to condense a drop of that black water affinity he obtained, as always it took him some time to do so, but the result was worth it, as the water of the lake parted to give way for Daimon and those two as they descended to the bottom of the lake.
Jasmine had put the previous matter at the back of her head and returned to her usual cheerful self, she was still marveled at the ability that the water affinity of Daimon had.
And she wasn't the only one, Sarah was too, she observed the sphere that formed around them, keeping the water of the lake away from them, and also allowing Daimon to freely move through water ignoring the pressure even at the bottom of the lake.
It didn't take long for them to reach the area where Jasmine had discovered the most recent new thing about the citadel, or more accurately, the citadel allowed her to do so, but that is something that Daimon didn't know back then.
He discovered many things after obtaining his own fortress, like why the hero tasked Karla to retrieve the cores of the Black Fortress and the Flying Citadel, before he died, the thing was surely a treasure that couldn't be bought on the store of the system, and its rank wasn't fixed.
Though it wasn't a promise level treasure, as it lacked the ability to grow along its owner indefinitely, but in exchange it was something that could cross realms to help its owner defend itself against way stronger opponents, like members of previous generations.
Even System users, weren't expected to be able to win against someone that much stronger, in a fight head on, otherwise Daimon killing the manticore even if it was already wounded, wouldn't have awarded him with the highest ranked achievement attainable as of current, according to Evangeline.
And with a good reason, fortresses like the Flying Citadel had simplified version of a system, similar to what Karla did in Kerrol, it was obviously degraded, but still, it was something with an artificial system integrated, that's what the cores of the fortresses were, the "IA" of the fortress resided there.
Currently the Flying Citadel lacked that, which is why many aspects of the citadel where restrained, it was only a mobile city with a decent defense, instead of a Fortress, but that will be changing soon.
Daimon saw Sarah's eyes sparkling and he chuckled.
"So did it appear?", he asked.
"Mm, I see message like the ones that appeared back at Kerrol", enthusiastically said the crazy girl, the white orb which was floating around her, has shown her a notification.
[The requirements had been fulfilled; do you wish to open the passage to the heart of the Flying Citadel Y/N]
Sarah naturally selected "yes" and the floor of the lake trembled a bit, as a large piece of it separated to show an entrance covered with a layer of white light that kept the water away.
"We can enter now", said Sarah, Daimon nodded and then the three of them jumped into the entrance that appeared for them.
What lied at the other side was a large corridor that ended in large white room, similar to the cave where the black cube was, this place was covered in a white unknown metallic material.
"So, the original color of the citadel was white instead of silver, I guess it makes sense since Freya's second host was a light affinity mage", said Daimon as he observed the "heart" of the Flying Citadel.
The whole place was empty, with the only exception of a white sphere full of cracks, which was floating in the middle of the room.
Let alone Daimon whose infinity eyes immediately recognized what that spherical object was, even Sarah and Jasmine showed some reaction to it, but for a different reason, they felt some… familiarity coming from it.
"That is…", Jasmine turned to see Daimon to seek confirmation, only to see him nodding at her.
"Yeah, that is a magic core, the one of a Maximum Stellar ranked mage with light affinity to be more accurate", he said.
Just as Daimon finished speaking, the magic core shone and a wave of mana flooded the whole area, the white orb that was orbiting Sarah until now, went ahead and covered the three of them from that wave of mana.
It was a similar process as the huge discharge of mana that came from the cave where the black cube was sealed, because that light mana wasn't the supporting type, but the offensive one.
As a proof of it, the protection casted by the white orb was being burned away by the wave of light, slowly but surely, still, Daimon remained calm, if anyone interfered, they will fail the process and though the magic core which was powering the citadel was full of cracks, the amount of mana that Daimon could feel from it was, amazingly superior to even Vincent or the other Maximum Stellar ranks he has met so far.
Only after a certain amount of time, the wave of light mana stopped and then it was time for the "inspections" part of the process, Daimon immediately erased his presence with the effect of the hollow suit as well as the bracelet, as for Jasmine and Sarah they were both inspected and approved by the magic core.
And now it was time for the last part of the process, and this time, it was Jasmine's turn, the magic core reacted to her, while ignoring Sarah.
"Let a few drops of your blood fall on it, that magic core has to be replaced with the core, but a part of the security measures only allows the designated people to do something like that", said Daimon.
"Mm", Jasmine nodded and then approached the core, to then cut her finger to leave some of her blood to fall on it.
magic core shone in a dim white light.
Everyone was blinded for a moment and then, the core was covered Slowly but surely, the magic core was dyed red by Jasmine's blood and then some of the cracks that it had started fading away, as the magic core shone in a dim white light.
Everyone was blinded for a moment and then, the core was covered in a large amount of mana that took humanoid form.
Daimon recovered his sight before those two and he was surprised at what he was seeing right now.
'Now that is something I didn't expect, I guess that if the hero can play tricks so can other people', thought Daimon as he tried to communicate with Freya.
What appeared in front of them was a floating ethereal person, a woman to be more accurate.
"It sure does bring joy to my heart, seeing that the Light Palace has prospered in my absence, to think such talented members from the two main branches of my Ivory family", said the ghost-looking woman.
The woman appeared to be in her late twenties, had a mix of white and black hair and was wearing clothes of the same color and her eyes were closed.
Jasmine and Sarah who had recovered from the blinding light, got closer to Daimon and raised their guards, which didn't escape the "eyes" of the woman.
"What do you two not recognize your ancestor, after leaving behind such a big inheritance, what in the name of mana did that daughter of mine taught her children", casually said the woman.
"It's not their fault, no one in the present knows about the real first Matriarch of the Light Palace", said Daimon.
The woman frowned as she changed her focus to Daimon.
"And who might you be, you seem to possess darkness affinity but that's not the darkness of my family, not to mention the descendants of the royal lineage are always girls, wait a moment, how come I can't see through a member of the young generation, the only time this happened was when…", the woman stopped midway and then her overall vibe changed as her mana pressure flooded the area.
Daimon felt the sudden pull caused by her pressure, but he didn't show any reaction as he expected this to happen, in fact he added fuel to the fire with his next words.
"I'm someone that has obtained the Black Armored Shark's lineage…", before Daimon could finish speaking, the woman was already punching at him, but she was forced to stop in cold when Sarah and Jasmine stood in front of him.
"You two, how can you defend him, do you truly not know what those like him do!", the woman exclaimed, only to see Jasmine shaking her head as she said.
"Regardless of lineage, Daimon is my friend, if you want to attack him, you'll also be my enemy", bravely said the princess of the Light Palace
"Mm, what kind of woman would I be, if I let you attack my fated one and simply stand aside, bring it on", added the crazy girl.
The woman's eyes seemed to have seen red, but before she started scolding those two descendants of hers, she heard a familiar voice scolding her.
"You haven't changed at all even after so many years, acting first and thinking after was your bad habit back then too, Joanna".
The woman froze on the spot, before she started looking in every direction as if she was trying to find something in specific.
"Older Sister Freya, where are you, I followed your last will and took Alicia's lineage as mine to allow her will to live on", she said after not being able to find Freya.
Then she felt a fluctuation coming from the masked youth that she was about to attack earlier, an ethereal silver armor appeared on top of him, one that the woman could perfectly recognize.
"T-That is sister Freya's protection!", she exclaimed, her figure which was of a giant eight meters of size, shrank to around two meters and also stopped floating, as she approached Daimon to inspect him from head to toe.
"I'm sorry, but are you really a girl, for some reason I can't tell by using mana sense, I can personally verify it though", said the woman called Joanna, making Daimon's right eyebrow twitch.
'Yup, she is definitely related to Sarah', thought Daimon before saying.
"Our contract is of a different nature, so there is no gender restriction, also you can stop trying to see through me, unless I allow you to, you'll only be able to see what I want you to see".
Joanna kept observing Daimon for a few moments more, before she changed her focus to Jasmine and Sarah, before a knowing smile appeared on her face.
"I see… well if you have sister Freya's approval, then you have my blessing, someone that can get the attention of members of the two branches of my family, who are said to be as different as night and day, can't be average after all".
Daimon cleared his throat and then changed the subject.
"How come you, someone from a few dozens of generations ago, is not only alive but so young-looking?", he asked.
"Oh, do you perhaps prefer older women, unfortunately not only I do not have a body anymore, but I'm happily married, well more accurately I was", jokingly said Joanna, which only supported the fact that she was both Sarah and Jasmine's ancestor.
Still, she also stopped joking and then snapped her fingers, her appearance changed to that of an old woman, in her fifties, she didn't lose her beauty though, but it was noticeable that she has lived quite a bit, she looked slightly similar to Aurora.
But the previous only lasted for a second, before she returned to her young self.
"There, that's how I looked when I became the core temporary core for the Flying Citadel, what woman would choose to look old instead of young if it could choose, I guess sweet talking wasn't what those two saw in you", she said.
Daimon could hear Freya sighing from within the ethereal armor.
"Sorry, I had forgot how much of an airhead she was, after so many years", she mumbled.
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