I died. Again!
And it appeared I was dying for real now. Seriously, I would never get used to this feeling. And you know who else was dying with me? Yeriel. She was busy losing against the beast. I mean, it's a miracle she managed to keep her life so far.
Waking up, I found myself hanging on zero air with my body going pretty blue with the lack of air. The veins on my forehead popped as I likely unconsciously breathed spiritual energy instead of air on the lack of it.
That’s seriously problematic, but let's worry about that later. Now let's test out the Dominion, but first I’ll take some eyedrops. Opening the other vial that I got here, I poured out a single drop of the translucent viscous water into my eyes, using my spiritual energy to pour it out. No more than a drop for each eye.
If you ask me what this eyedrop does, I’ll say it makes your eyes burn in the short term and in the long term it makes it more magical. It lets you see ghosts and many other things. A couple of drops of Moon water to see ghosts and other stuff. Some might call it a waste, but I would call it an investment for the future. Also, it nourishes the soul-body too, though I went for the eye route for now.
Even though the Moon water couldn’t make my eyes like Dominion of Seer, it's pretty cool. As the burning cleared a little, my cognitive abilities rose to new heights. I think my perception would reach Grade - A in a week or two, but more importantly, now let's end my business here.
Yeah, let's destroy this place. Now that I take what I need, what's the point of leaving it here? Other than the two treasures I already took, there was another priceless treasure here.
I looked at the empty fountain and tilted my eyes. My eyes glowed red and the burning feeling returned as another silvery glow appeared around my pupil. I’m not entirely prepared for this, but oh well, I haven’t prepared to fight a saint beast, either, nor a warlock for all that matter.
The fountain burst open the next moment and disintegrated into pure spiritual energy. In the middle of all things, I found the Reality core, which was keeping this place intact for who knows how many centuries.
Reality cores are like the magical thing that makes weird places like this true. Without a Reality core to stabilise the place, the realm would crumble in a matter of seconds. Well, everything is done, so I’m going to destroy this place. Hope the owner didn’t become angry with this. I mean, creating a whole rift space with just complexity, with the power of dominion and other things, probably took a lot of time.
Please, Lord Hero, I’m not just being greedy, this is really necessary. I said inwardly, moving my arm carefully towards the true white reality core.
‘Oh well, future hero,’ also me, mimicking an aged voice in my head. ‘You can take it. I left it for you to take it, after all.’
Well, if you say it like that. It makes me feel guilty. I really am a bit greedy. A reality core, who wouldn’t get greedy? Anyway, thank you, Lord Hero. I'll be eternally grateful to you.
I caught the reality core and put it into my pocket with the Moonwater. Three priceless things in a single place. I guess all that was done was not for nothing.
Now it's time to get out of the place.
* * *
Meanwhile, things were getting quite rough for Yeriel.
Veins popped out of her arms and blood oozed out, spraying the floor as Yeriel was flung away, the power inside her leaving out. She hit her head first on a staircase and almost lost it.
The beast roared, finally getting what it wanted. Yeriel looked at it pitifully, blood and tears coming out of her eyes. She would lose her life soon enough. Her only consolation was that they managed to save the city.
The winterheart reindeer crept towards her on the staircase. Yeriel stared at her, unmoving. She was just too damn tired to move out of the way. She would just let the beast take her life. At least that could make her calm.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said, and the beast stopped for a second.
Did she listen to her and forgive her?
The next moment, her misconception cleared as she heard the beast scream and then it moved back, but it didn’t move at all.
The stair steps, they moved backwards on their way, moving away taking the beast with them. Oscar flew up from somewhere. He looked quite bad, like a zombie with blue veins all over his face. He flew with the help of the suit and joined her.
“Sorry,” he said, wheezing. “I didn’t know it would take this long.”
Yeriel didn’t know what to say other than thank you, but the scream and outburst of the saint beast stopped her. The beast leapt off the stairs to come at them again. Oscar looked at it again, tilting his head. The ring of white light in his eyes pulsed through more than the staircase moved back further. Though it was not a permanent solution, it could buy a couple of seconds or more.
“Well, it's time to leave,” he said and looked towards finding the unconscious body. “They haven’t returned yet. This place is about to collapse.” He rubbed his forehead and looked around. His eyes were as if they were looking through all the things here and found what he wanted to see. “Oh, they are coming. Yeriel, go near the portal. Get ready to jump.”
“Where are you going?” she asked.
He smiled, perhaps at her question or just finding her talking again. “I’m going to make sure it stays right here after we escape.”
Is that really necessary? She wanted to ask that, but she couldn't. Even though the beast was wronged, they couldn't let it rampage. In the end, it's the sacrifice of one saint beast for thousands of lives.
Yeriel moved near the bodies and cried, watching the battle.
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There has been an inconsistency about the not having air to breathe. I'll fix that in a later edit. Sorry about that.
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