When Cermin woke up, he was in a royal carriage being hitched off along with a sleeping Ronin by his side.
His parents huddled in a corner. They looked terrified and shocked.
“Mother….. Father….. What happened?” He blinked groggily. “Where are we going?”
“Oh, Cermin! My baby!” The Queen hugged him. “We need to get out of Celestus Realm fast before the Daemons take over. Everything is going to ruins!”
Cermin blinked, but as he looked out into the window….
Thunder rumbled non-stop, and lightning flashed every second. Somewhere, a person would get hit and die, or a house would burn in flames. And the sky looked as much as a mess as the land beneath it.
It was scorching hot and cold at the same time, with gusts of wind blowing at random. He even caught sight of tornados appearing out of nowhere, and tsunamis flooding at random.
The way of the world had been put astray.
There was no logic to it. The only logic was pain, suffering and fear. Over and over.
He now understood what they meant about needing to get out of here.
He remembered his last memories before waking up. He was at the exhibit with Ronin.
Suddenly, his former friends appeared, and caused havoc. Killing and hurting many.
Then….
“Your Majesty…” He muttered, looking at the sleeping Ronin by his side.
“Yes, son?” His parents answered.
He shook his head. “No… Not you, guys. Wait, what about our people?”
“How can we have time to care about the people when our lives are at stake here!?” His father exclaimed. “Everyone is not safe, whether it’s the Nobles or the Commoners!”
“The gods have forsaken us!” His mother yelled. “Even our powers are no match to all this, and the Daemons stole them too!”
Cermin felt at his heart, and he could tell his powers were still there. The sense of warmth of Aurion’s blessing was still within him.
“How did all this happened so fast?” He clenched his fist. “It’s not right…. None of us deserved this…..”
The villain.
The one lurking in the shadows, that daemon Zeriav warned him about. They must be the cause of all this sudden chaos.
“We managed to save you and your friend on time.” His parents said. “Luckily, the daemons have not harmed you much. But there’s something wrong with Ronin…..”
He looked, and there really was. Ronin was scalding hot, like he had a high fever. He convulsed from time to time, and…
And there were cracks in his skin.
They were very faint, but Cermin could notice them. Crisscrossing like….. Like…
“Lichtenburg figures.” He heard a familiar voice in his head say. ” That’s the answer to problem No. 42. They are sometimes called ‘lightning flowers’. They can appear in our bodies and on rocks that lightning has hit.”
His gege had been reviewing with him one time when they were kids, and told him about it. And somehow, he can still remember it.
“You really are smart, gege!” He would always say.
These Lichtenburg figures spread and continued to spread all the way towards smart Ronin’s neck. He was shaking pitifully, and Cermin had a feeling…
That the lines began from his chest, where his heart was.
“The Daemons must have strucked him and injured him.” He thought, trying to hold Ronin still and covering his head from the bumpy ride. “Poor Ronin… They didn’t give him mercy despite being a Commoner at all.”
“He was just an innocent soul that would hurt no one.”
Meanwhile, Ronin watched the world fall into chaos as a soul in the Other Side.
“I wonder what happens if I turn this one….. Ah, yes.”
He can see everything and anything from here. However…
He can feel the Light fighting back. And he knows that it were the gods, trying to join forces to stop him.
They were approaching him, trying to reach him in this plane.
But Ronin did not care. He twirled the Core in his hands, and changed his appearance…
Something all these gods would be familiar with.
“Stop this at once, whoever you are! You are throwing the balance of Magecia far too much!”
He heard the pompous voice of Vesuvius behind him.
He was standing in space, and so too were they. Beyond the physical realm.
But they were all able to control physics and reality of this realm out of their realm. Before Ronin did not know and could only swim awkwardly…..
But now, he can stand upright, and turn towards them normally.
He flashed a smile. That was all it took for them to be terrified.
They had long been dreading about this, but still could not believe it.
“My, the amusing little circus clowns are here.” He spoke with so much mockery towards them.
There were 11 in total. The Highest Order gods.
Pallas’ blue lower lip shook. “That can’t be….. This must be an illusion!”
Elur turned to Freya. “Bezirze was right….. But how… We saw him…”
The gods were all in fear, and Ronin took this opportunity of confusion to do one last thing with the Core…..
He plunged his fingers in it, and ate it.
The gods immediately felt a pain in their hearts, as if he had bitten in their hearts instead.
Not just to gods, but the Hero Mages as well.
Everyone except Cermin, who was still in the carriage with Ronin, deep in thought.
“Father, Mother….. The world is in danger.” He said. “I can’t let more innocent people suffer like Ronin right now, or experience worse. Let’s stop the carriage and help as much as we can, stop these Daemons.”
His parents could not believe him.
His mother asked shrilly. “Son, have you gone insane!?”
His father was aghast. “Befriending the help is one thing, but sacrificing your life for them!? That is too far, Cermin! Too far!”
“We never should have let you befriend this dirty, filthy boy in the first place!”
As they said that, something struck with Cermin. His forehead vein pulsed and throbbed, as well as those in his neck.
“Your friend is dirty. We don’t want to play with him.”
“Why is he so dark!? It’s disgusting!”
“You shouldn’t be friends with someone like that! It will ruin you!”
These whispers along with his parent’s constant belittling and insulting of Ronin made him snap—
“FINE! If you would not help those in need, then I will by myself!”
He took Ronin in his arms—-
And jumped out of the moving carriage!
“Cermin!” His parents yelled, but the coachman kept going as a lightning nearly struck them!
After the sizzle was gone and the dust has cleared, they couldn’t find the two boys anymore.
Cermin had carried the still feverish Ronin, running for cover from all the natural calamities surrounding them. He found a nearby small group of rocks, and soon realized…
That this was a tiny temple of Aurion, where Commoner people pray to for protection.
He does not really believe in gods, even in fictional ones, but he closed his eyes as he hid with Ronin.
“Please make it stop. Aurion….. Whoever’s listening….. Make it stop and let me and my friend survive safely.”
Right on time—
Ronin had disappeared from the god’s sight after eating a piece of the Core, and went back to his physical body.
His physical body stopped convulsing, and he woke up in Cermin’s arms.
He soon heard Kai’s unenthusiastic voice.
[Congratulations. You have gained 45,000,000+ EXP and a massive level up;
Level 48 >>>>> Level 54 ]
[Achievement Unlocked: Anthracite]
[Your Heartstone is now Anthracite Coal. Your body is stronger and more resilient towards attacks.]
[You have gained a new skill: Magmatic Rage—]
‘Give me all the gaming stuff later. I want to know what the hell Cermin’s doing hugging me tightly like his favorite body pillow first.’
Kai scoffed. [Whatever. Call me when you’re done cuddling.]
Ronin snapped back ‘We are not cuddling—- Well, I didn’t consent to it at least. Never will.’
But Kai did not care nor responded, so Ronin just made the praying Cermin aware that he was awake by tapping his shoulded.
“Cermin…. Can you let go of me?”
Cermin’s eyes widened, and hugged him even closer. “Ronin! Thank the fucking gods, you’re awake!”
And soon enough, they also did hear the thunder rumblings subside. There were no more random calamities appearing within a matter of seconds.
But the darkness never disappeared, along with the irrevocable damage that was done.
Ronin looked at his handiwork outside the small temple and grinned. It really was thanks to those fucking gods that he was awake and the first wave of despair was over.
He had only begun.
“I am glad too. But let’s get out of here first before you explain to me what just happened while I was asleep.”
Cermin was on top of him and he shoved him off, though gently to not show how much he despised being hugged by him, and lifted himself up. They went out, and the world seemed to be taking in a huge breath of relief after the danger subsided for now.
Cermin looked at him. “Your skin… I really hate that I got knocked out before you. This shouldn’t have happened if I was there to protect you.”
Ronin looked at his skin, and it reminded him of his skin when he was at Level 100.
He was half-way there. It was so close and he can taste it, that endless power that allowed him to swim in lava itself.
Power above all gods and the world itself.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om