================================

Volume 5

Chapter 50: Emergency

================================

Their weapons aren’t inventions… they were legendary weapons created through unknown ancient procedures using materials that perhaps only 1% have been known in the contemporary times.

It was evident from the fact that when their weapons met each other, a resonating ripple of Mana and an all-encompassing thundering explosion rattled the artificial sky dome and parted the synthetic clouds to form a ring.

The dome had large cracks upon which the light of the strengthening spell seeped out on them.

Many people were aghast and were scared especially those innocent and weak civilians who cowered at the mere might of those figures that could fly above the buildings.

But Jack and Volga remained steadfast and stolid on their stances; they were unwilling to give on each other’s demands without fighting it to the end.

One is a prince and one is a devoted leader.

With their legendary weapons in hand clashing at each other, the repelling forces of the Mana naturally surroundings their weapons blew the two to part tens of meters away.

Both men had a look of shock in their faces. None of them expected that they would be able to produce such a force they’d only seen on videos and movies.

Jack, most especially, was more shocked as the first thing he thought wasn’t those times when he had to watch other people’s video game recordings for the purpose of tutorials… but rather… he first thought of his decided nemesis, Siva, and his fight against Hagrid in the Port City of Dragona.

“Is this… a power that could rival a God’s?”

Upon murmuring, he raised his head to see an angry Volga screaming furiously. The man roared and kicked the air the booming sound of a firestone and compressed air was left where Volga used to be.

“I am a prince!” Volga declared. “How dare you push me back with your lowly hands…!! Aaaahhh!!!”

“Tsk.”

Jack clicked his tongue as he also kicked the air dashed forth towards Volga. Both gritted their teeth as they braced for impact.

They were never going to give each other a chance.

.

*****

.

Rex woke up screaming and he was panting as if he had just escaped a life and death situation.

The air conditioning was on and the room was cool but his shirt was drenched as if he had just taken a shower with clothes on.

He sat up the bed and brushed off the blanket to his lap, leaning on the bed with his once injured left arm while the other held his face as he chased his breathing.

Closing his eyes tightly, he removed his shirt and then went back to bed. He didn’t sleep he just tightly shut his eyes and tried to forget about that dream.

“How many times has it been?”

This dream… it was the dream he first saw happen in Terroa.

“Mefisto…”

In his fleeting memory of the dream, he saw a version of himself with cold eyes glaring angrily at him. This version of himself sat on a chair beside a bed in a dark room. His hair was long, longer than his in-game character Siva.

The room seemed to have the sensation of having the deepest time in the night as the light of the lamp beside a notebook atop the table beside the bed had a dim glow affected by the darkness of the room in it.

Along with that, the chilling temperature of the room reminded him of that sensation right after waking up.

After an unknown length of time glaring at him without a reason, Rex remembered that figure of himself looking at the left side of the room, attracting Rex’s attention.

He also turned his head to see the only window of the room showing a beach somewhere.

Not only was that but the view outside is of a sunny day. But as soon as he saw the window and got that fleeting image of a beach outside, his vision shifted and he was thrown into a whirlwind of events.

He was falling from an incredible height…

A burning battlefield…

Mountains and mountains of corpses…

Nine heroic shadows…

And then there was Mefisto, looking at him with eyes full of hatred and murderous desire it was suffocating to the core. And what more, that murderous desire was solely focused on Rex and this was what made him so uncomfortable that he screamed from pain until waking up.

“Just… what is that dream? Why am I seeing it over and over again? Why does that room feel so familiar?”

Rex tried to mull over it but couldn’t find any memory of ever being in that room.

Unable to dig in further, Rex sat up beside the bed and threw his shirt to the basket beside the door to the bathroom as he washed up.

In the mirror that hangs atop the faucet, he saw the time displayed there and frowned.

“The hell…?”

He swiped the air and checked his log-time. His frown deepens more as he went out of the room to check the lower floor.

“Sixteen hours?!”

Rex remembered sleeping around 5am after logging out but now it was clearly past 9pm, three more hours until the next day.

“How did..?!” Just as he was about to go back to his room, he heard something that alarmed him.

“…ex!”

“What?”

“Dex!” Someone was calling him from the gate and a muffled banging sound could be heard from the clanging of the metal braces.

It was clear that whoever it was banging on the gate was putting in a lot of effort to create as loud a noise as he could possibly do.

Curious, Rex rushed down the stairs and then opened the door to see people’s heads behind his gate. Lights on and the banging on the gates stopping, Rex turned on the lights on the garage garden when he heard a familiar voice.

“Dex! Finally!”

“Matt?” opening the gate, Rex was frowning. As soon as he opened the gate, not only Matt, there was also Rio and a few alarmed neighbors who were frowning at Matt’s inability to notice the time of the night.

“Now he’s out,” One of the annoyed neighbors yelled at Matt. “you can stop banging the doors and let us sleep! I’m really going to tell your mother about this.”

Ignoring the yells of the irritated crowd off neighbors, Matt went on and ignored the angry scowl plastered on Rex’s face.

“Matt. I thought we talked about this?” Rex said as he attempted to close the gate.

Matt was surprised to see Rex not having any metal braces in his body with that cast in his left arm. This surprise had somewhat made him pause, buying more time, and seemingly making Rex more angry.

But before he could recover…

“Dex, you have to log in fast. Something is happening in Alexandria!”

Rio, who was still wearing her school uniform, was the first to tell him instead of Matt and from the tone of her voice and the look of urgency on her, Rex instantly assumed that Matt had told her everything.

But her words just now made all hairs on Rex’s body stood on end as a foreboding feeling hugged his heart and shortened his breath.

He didn’t even have time to close the gate and the door as he rushed back to his room.

Rex didn’t even care if he felt hungry because right at this moment, his greatest fear had filled his reasoning and his mind.

“Please be safe. Please be safe.” Rex muttered as he fixed the NLD on his head, saying in urgency. “Game Start.”

.

*****

.

Rex logged in on the spherical room. Darkness was covering the icy planes of The North and nine floating pieces of land ––territories, hovered around him like a star with its heavenly bodies.

There was a light coming from the rotating orb on the gigantic idol’s crown and this light was giving forth a sensation of an endless day to these nine territories.

Of course, these nine territories were those he took from Warjillis.

“Rex!” a voice rung from behind him and Thorn was already there, seemingly waiting for him to log back in.

“Thorn. What happened to Alexandria?” Rex didn’t even ask for any trivialities as he directed the very question that’s bugging his heart.

But the answer he heard only worsened his fears. The expression on Thorn’s face proved the grave omen he feared to not be true.

“Alexandria is under attack.”

“Wh-What did you…”

“Rex, as of yesterday, the Blue Card Legion led by their commander, Kladis “The Blonde Knight”, or most commonly known to those who are wary of him as the Harem King, had decided to attack Alexandria all for the purpose of getting their hands on this so called Providence.”

“Did you just say Providence…?”

Even if he tried to suppress this dark sense of fear in his heart, when he heard these words from Thorn, a certain lump of bitter memory resurfaced in his mind.

He recalled that book he lent Senior Dante, Clemente’s Demise and the H-Rank Information that was connected to it; a personal message made by the very author who wrote that book.

.

.

.

“Find The Providence.”

.

.

.

What is the providence? No one knew. Unless you get to unlock certain information about it from certain events or people, then perhaps one wouldn’t even be able to hear what this ‘providence’ was.

And yet, of all the people, of all the things, of all the possible out-of-this-world circumstance that might happen… he just had to hear those words from them.

Blue Card Legion.

Hagrid is a member of the Blue Card Legion, that, Siva knew very clearly because of the information he received before going to Dragona.

“To think that all of it was connected…” Siva murmured under his breath as he slightly shivered and held his head for around three seconds before looking at Thorn and trying to compose his faculties. “What about Alexandria? How are the citizens? How is the evacuation?”

“The battle had been going on for more than a day now and although the shield of the city still holds firm, there have been media reports of explosions even inside the city.”

Upon hearing this, the kingly appearance of Siva as of this moment trembled as he stared off into the distance, to the west, and without warning roared to the sky to release his fury.

.

*****

.

Outside, Akhenaton was just simply standing there, radiating light that turned the nine floating territories engulfed in an endless day.

On the nine territories, there was no night and all of them are in a perpetual morning with the temperature randomly changing from a calm breezy summer into a cool autumn wind tinged with the ticklish cold.

But… although there were no sol to tell time, there is the light coming from Akhenaton that served as the territories’ source of energy.

Akhenaton is, in all respect, a warship. And not just an ordinary warship either… it was a Flagship!

Flagships, in general, are specialized warships that carry the Flag of the Commander of a fleet. A Flagship cannot become one without a fleet. Akhenaton, just like any other Flagship Warship Series, had the ability to lead an entire fleet and boost these ships’ abilities when in formation.

The Archangel is also a Flagship but aside from being one, it cannot display its grand might with it leading an entire fleet.

In this case, the fleet is the nine territories.

Adapting to the history of Akhenaton, he was a ruler of an Empire cursed by the Gods to eternally put everything below his rule in an eternal night. But the territories of Akhenaton, as a Flagship, is not under this condition and such, the creators of this weapon created the territories concept to serve as its fleet to thus better attune to the history that entrails the legend of the Cursed King, Akhenaton.

The Akhenaton cannot lead any other warship and could only take in ‘territories’ as its fleet. Since he was a [ruler], the fleet he controls must also be the [lands], and the dwellers of these lands are the units that fight his battles for him.

In hindsight, Akhenaton’s battle potential as a warship is dependent on who the commander of the fleet is.

Everyone in the nine territories, right now, were either drinking, training, or doing something to pass the time they are online to not be bored.

Training improves one’s basic stats while any other activities are all just there for anti-boredom purposes.

But could it be helped?

“Well, being a follower of that Dilim ain’t bad.”

“This must be paradise…”

“Heh. I don’t regret agreeing to that contract if it means I’d be able to spend my days in this kind of place…”

“Such beautiful flowers…”

“The scenery is really beautiful.”

As the players saw it, the nine territories are indeed small and lacking to even just a single player to enjoy the game as it is. But…

Two of these nine territories measured at least 800m in diameter, with the biggest ones even as large of a size of up to more than a kilometer large!

These big chunks of lands are the “Hangars” and the “Training Grounds” respectively.

There are two hangar territories serving as the outer layers of the fleet’s formation. The training grounds along with the not-too-smaller-sized quarters islands where just some of the other smaller-than-the-hangar islands that floats around Akhenaton.

Also, two small mountains dug up from their bases served as breeding grounds for whatever it was possible to breed for this fleet.

In one look, outside of the 5km wide area-of-authority used by these islands for The Akhenaton, one could see that these islands served as a sort of heavenly decoration to the one at their midst. The Akhenaton looked more like a deity surrounded by paradise than a warship with his fleet that served as both carriers and deplorable projectiles.

Two hangars…

One training grounds…

Two breeding/farm mountains…

Two quarters (residential) islands…

And two pieces of flatlands as the other landmasses…

Clouds float in between these territories with the giant head of The Akhenaton peeking out to and fro the drifting haze. The perpetual day wasn’t hot nor is it too cold. Sleep was still possible, and within the buildings were shaded windows to provide the feeling of having a night.

If an adventurer were to see these buildings and then come back to Warjillis, he would certainly recognize these structures as the ones that used to belong to the large holes in the lands back in that place.

Warjillis paid the sacrifice to provide these lands in exchange for Rentaw accompanying The Akhenaton on its journey.

Akhenaton had a 15km territorial sphere as it floated in a 3km height within the night sky. Anything, be it a place or an object, that enters this area will think that the night had suddenly turned into day and they will be detected almost immediately.

It was a peaceful day for the denizens of the nine territories and while everyone was trying to pass the time by training or doing something, the Akhenaton who silently stood there within the clouds suddenly roared towards the heavens.

The sound was like the grating of metals, a muffled roar of a large monster from some video game back in the early 90s.

But this roar definitely surprised the denizens of the floating islands as they saw Akhenaton moved like it was in a fury.

The islands trembled and shook, the perpetual day vibrated and the sky dimmed as Akhenaton took a step.

BOOM!

It’s like an atomic bomb had exploded and destroyed every ear in the vicinity. The black sphere that rotated silently above the crown stopped moving, creating a bizarre exploding sensation in the ears. Then, with that one step, the light of day that surrounded every building dimmed again and the extent of its effect was reduced by at least 20 meters!

“What’s going on?”

“The Elder God is controlling it, right?”

“But what’s with that roar earlier?”

“I just imagined the Eder God glaring at me.”

“J-Just do what you have to do to not incite his anger.”

Every step the Akhenaton make is a giant leap of distance even for any ordinary warship.

It’s like taking a leisurely walk. From how the citizen of the territories see it, Akhenaton’s every step was as unhurried and relaxed like a real monarch taking a stroll on his domain. And yet with every step, they all feel the urgency of the Elder God.

.

*****

.

Inside, Thorn was looking at the back of the royally dressed Siva. He could feel the wrath and the agony in his shoulders and as well as the anxiety and fear that seeped out his body.

The silence inside the sphere was broken when a flash of light created the sound of forming specks of glasses that eventually became the shape of a man.

“Volt.” Thorn greeted him but there was no smile on his face. Instead, there was only a frown as Thorn directed his gaze at Siva.

The newly arrived volt then walked forward and with a swipe of his finger, he projected a call that was in the middle of being dialed.

Siva didn’t stop him while Thorn had a look of trepidation on his face as he thought of how Volt had told him of Siva’s circumstances and why Siva never contacted anyone and never asked helped with how urgent and important his mission was.

Thorn thought to himself: “Those guys must be one of the Ruling Families.”

When the call connected, an anxious Samara with tears in her eyes spoke, “Reeex…”she was crying and sniffing and her current appearance was like a little girl who was crying for her oni-san not to leave her.

“Rex, we know your circumstances. That’s why we are here for you.” After Volt spoke, Siva turned his head to the video call and he saw Samara and the rest of Volt’s adventure team, the crew of the Archangel, Kathleen Brew, Cassiopeia, FlowerLord, and a new face that Siva had never seen before.

That girl… was surrounded by attendants and all of them wore the same hooded cloak. But the cloak had been hung like a cape on her shoulders and the dress underneath made Siva recall that Mage that brought him to the cold plains of The North.

But instead of making an issue about it, Rex just took a glance at them as his masked lower face faced the floating holographic window.

“Master!” Cassiopeia yelled teary-eyed. Rex nodded at her and this gesture made Cassiopeia happy. It was here that he noticed the look on one of the crew members of the Archangel.

“Loni.” He whispered but it was not on a low volume that it wouldn’t be heard on the other line.

Upon being called, instead of frowning, Loni walked to the front, ignoring the confused people in the bridge, and gave a nod at Siva.

“Rex Kingsley.”

“Did you just say Kingsley?” Kathleen on the back was surprised. She knew Siva’s name was Rex and that she had her own doubts but she never knew he was actually ‘the’ Rex Kingsley. “You are that young man in the accident?”

Ignoring Kathleen, Rex looked intently at Loni but he didn’t say anything and Loni didn’t say a thing as well.

Siva drew his eyes at Samara and Agatha while Thorn spoke from behind. “How far are you from Alexandria?”

“At our current speed, if nothing goes wrong, we’re about six more days away.” Loni answered.

Siva clenched his fist and stared ahead into the icy plains in his vision. “If I use the gathered energy into the crown and solely focus on travel speed without any rest, we will be able to save five days’ worth of travel time but… we’re also still 6 days away.”

Thorn summoned a map of The North and this map also displayed on the other side of the call. He said, “In the event that we do meet up along the way, we just have to rendezvous along the Xinjiang Mountains.”

“The Xinjiang Mountains is 50km east of Alexandria and if we are taking into consideration the amount of time before the shield of the wall of Alexandria fall, then it might be better to contact someone from inside The Legion and stop the attack immediately.”

When Volt spoke, Siva felt the urgency on his voice and he was secretly delighted that Volt was on his team.

But when he looks at Loni, with that short greeting earlier, Siva knew immediately that Loni was indeed connected to that underground Goldwyn City.

Hell, she might even be an ally of Augustus Laniary.

Siva’s current circumstances where he was directly disregarding the rules of the deal with AG could warrant a direct call from him. But in regards to the events in Alexandria right now, he could give AG an excuse to be sent from Loni.

In fact, Siva could even promise anything! Right now, he needed all the help he can get. He could tell AG that he never had any choice on the matter and since AG also knew the urgency on saving Baron first before he could proceed with the deal, then perhaps Siva can rely on the chance that AG will be considerate enough of his circumstances.

But in regards to that consideration, “Heh… who am I trying to fool here?” Siva shook his head and wore a pained helpless smile to reply.

“The question there is who are we for them to listen to us?” Siva’s sentence made Volt realize the main point of this argument.

“It doesn’t mean that we can’t use that though.” It was Thorn who spoke and he looked at Siva with a smile of a plan. “Don’t forget, you are Elder God Donar as of the moment.”

Siva tried to process his words but his mind was so full of the fears and anxiety that he gave up trying to focus his mind on what Thorn meant.

“Do you have a plan?” he asked.

Thorn nodded, “We still have Ren with us, right?”

“Ren?” The people from the Archangel were puzzled while Volt had a sudden realization and he nodded.

“That might work.”

“What might work?”

“Master?”

“Since he wanted to come with us, then he must be prepared to pay the fare.”

“Right.”

“Let’s call him in.

“““““?_?”””””

The people of the Archangel were all confused while the trio inside Akhenaton was given hope at the moment.

Siva then turned his gaze on the Hangar Island on the left side of Akhenaton.

At this action, the head of Akhenaton also turned that way that surprised the people who were currently in there.

Rentaw, who was luckily online, felt like that blank face of the giant humanoid weapon, was actually directly looking at him. This kind of sensation can even cause someone with a weak heart to jump in fright.

He could only secretly utter, “What is it this time?”

Remembering how Siva in his Elder God persona had [requested] a few lands on Warjillis, he couldn’t help but sigh on his deviousness.

He had a reputation to preserve so why would Rentaw decline an Elder God’s request?

“Not only did he monopolized all the weapons on the bets in the arena but I also have to share 10% of the dead pool income on the bets with him. This guy is a real devil I tell you!”

Helpless and with a strong feeling of being called, Ren could only sigh as he was surrounded by rays of light and vanished in the next instant.

Inside the spherical room…

“Mister Ren.” Siva spoke and his tone did not contain any hint of playfulness in it. Not only that, the two men beside him and the faces on the video call also carried a serious expression that immediately drove away all his initial expectations.

“What do you want with me?”

Siva exhaled and then said, “I need you to contact any person you know from the Blue Card Legion.”

Ren, upon hearing it, immediately thought of the war between The Union and the Blue Card Legion. He then thought, “This isn’t going to be easy.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t know anyone from the Blue Card Legion.”

“Then what about someone from Alexandria?”

.

===================

They are in a hurry but they should still have a plan…!!

===================

.

.

Next week: An Elder God declares to the mortals!