Once they finished their preparations, the group began to climb the stairs, and the tension was sky-high since they were almost at their final destination when it came to the journey. All of them should have some experience dealing with tension, but they couldn't be completely resistant about it… as for Aion, he just wondered about what he was going to hear.
When they reached the next floor, they noticed that not only was the place big, but it was also different from the others. The usual scenario of the gray walls changed to one that was a lot darker… it felt like the walls had been covered by some shadow…
Before long, a single person appeared in the middle of the room, and Aion couldn't help but frown since he saw a man wearing a dark cape sitting on the ground with his back against him. When Aion frowned, the man turned his head to the side, and Aion felt his eyes on him… then he got up.
The man turned around and then showed that he was wearing full plate red armor and with a longsword on his right side and ready to be drawn. Despite his appearance and obvious presence as a warrior, the man looked a bit weird… kind of depressed. He resembled Laxus in many aspects, but he had blonde hair and blue eyes and a dark expression on his face… like he was fed up with everything.
"You have her blood," The man said. "Despite that, she can't even begin to trust you with her final task. Do you really want to follow her goal to the grave?"
"Finally, someone who wants to talk a bit," Aion said. "Whether I want to or not, it is the best option to avoid future problems. Anyway, do you have anything to say to those two?"
"I don't know, am I supposed to know them?" The man asked.
"I see… it seems that you are still alive," Sauros said. "However, the current you that is here is a copy of the original you that left this world after saving it. So, you don't know your legacy."
"It seems like I did something to you and many others… I hope that I didn't cause you too much trouble," the man said. "Regardless, it is useless for me to hear what the original me has done. I am interested in confirming if her descendants truly want to follow in her footsteps."
"I told you, I am not following anyone, and I am just…" Aion said.
"You still are doing what she wants, and in the end, that will come to haunt you," the blond man said.
"How so?" Aion asked.
"You are collecting the seals that beings across thousands of years want… they will find ways to target you, and when they learn that they can't kill you, they will target those close to you," the man replied. "They did the same thing to us, and they targeted our family and friends one after the other. They tried to interfere with our quest time and time again…"
"How are they?" Aion asked.
"You will come to learn soon enough… if you get the final relic," The man replied. "Do you have the confidence to protect all the people that you care about all the time until the day of your death?"
That was a tough question… if Aion keeps using the guardian class and uses Devotion on his family, perhaps… However, the enemies weren't only people interested in harming them, and they were sickos who would do much worse since they didn't care about distorting time to suit their needs.
"If you can't answer that, the path ahead will be difficult for you… still, it isn't too late," The man said. "Fall back now. As long as I am here, the enemies will never get the final relic, and they will never be able to travel through time with absolute control. It isn't too late."
It seemed that the Swordsman still was worried about the world, even though he still looked full of doubts. The current him was probably the one that was about to save the world with his friends. So, he couldn't abandon his mission…
That being said, Aion didn't feel like stopping now. Now completing the journey after reaching this point seemed like a massive waste. Aion was worried about what the swordsman said… he would be targeted by enemies that existed in other periods of time, and they would target those close to him once they confirmed that they couldn't take him down that easily…
Aion didn't want that, and he didn't have the confidence that he could protect everyone all the time… the current him certainly couldn't do that. Still, running away wasn't an option, and the relics could help Aion with that… instead of running away, he would bring the battles to the enemies.
"I will use the relics to kill all of them, so not to worry," Aion said. "I won't give them a chance to target anyone close to me."
"... We will defeat all of them. We will protect everyone… we won't lose anyone," The swordsman said. "Those were our words, and we said then left and right and whenever possible. Thanks to that, a lot of people began to trust us and call us heroes after we accomplished a few things. However, we began to lose our allies, our families… one after the other, until even our closest friends were killed. Meaningless confidence and big words will only come to haunt you later."
"I am sorry for your losses, but we don't live in this world to let fear control us," Aion said. "In one way or the other, I will accomplish my goals… and if I fail, I will go down first before failing, but I will know that I did my best."
"... You really are like her…" The man said and then sighed while drawing his sword. "I suppose I will have to test your resolve then."
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