Early Afternoon - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut

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"Now, I would like to present the world's most powerful artifact! The Eye of Bahamut!"

*VWOOM* Feeling the oppressive gaze descend on me again, my instincts took control of my mind and dedicated every ounce of brainpower to my senses.

At that moment, nothing could escape me, not even singular electrons zipping through the air.

But after unleashing my aura, the gaze's oppressiveness eased, and with it, my mind let a single thought flow forth. -W..what.. is.. that...-

Noticing my aura explode out of me, Krystallo stared at me with wide eyes.

But I couldn't pull my eyes off the artifact or even speak to comfort her. My instinct told me I could die if I did.

But after a moment of staring at the artifact in complete silence, Ilios gently set his paw on the side of my leg.

His demeanor was completely different from normal, wearing a dark expression aimed at the artifact, and controlling his aura to an unfathomably perfect extent, enough to make my control look like child's play.

But before I could think anything of it, my thoughts started to warp, and my urge to acquire the orb suddenly grew exponentially, quickly nearing the point of a craze. Something in my mind told me I had to acquire it under any circumstance, and while it felt truly unnatural, somehow, not even my gut could make me doubt it.

I was simply.. hypnotized.

"The starting bid is 150,000, and the minimum bid is 50,000!"

*t-t-t-t-tap* Hearing the people in the other rooms starting to bid, I glanced at Krystallo. "Feel free to have fun with this one, don't worry about the cost."

Her look of concern immediately shifted to excitement.

"Three hundred thousand! Three hundred fifty! Four hundred thousand! Five hundred thousand!" Even without our bids, the price was already skyrocketing, but their bids were irrelevant to me at that point. "Eight hundred thousand! Nine hundred thousand!"

Standing up from my seat, I walked over to the glass with my hands behind my back and looked over the people below, watching the auctioneer in awe.

"One million gold!" *t-t-t-t-tap* Krystallo tapped the artifact on the chair eight times instantly. "One million, four hundred thousand! One million, five hundred thousand!" *t-t-t-t-tap* "We have two million! Two million, one hundred thousand!" *t-t-t-t-tap* "Two million, five hundred thousand!!"

Each of her bids pumped the price higher and higher, but while they were simply numbers to me, that wasn't the case for others.

-Two hundred Royal Gold...- It was a colossal sum of money, so much so that I couldn't even begin to fathom it. -But someone is still bidding... Just who...-

Questioning who was still bidding, I scanned through all the VIP rooms but only found the disappointed or shocked expressions of those inside until I finally reached the smallest room at the very end.

Inside was a familiar woman with two sets of large wings, bidding with a slightly anxious expression. But while she seemed familiar, her name was hidden behind the fog that filled my mind.

But once again, my mind didn't even question it. "Stop bidding. You can't win."

Hearing my voice through my space mana, the woman twitched slightly, but as she looked in my direction, she placed another bid.

"Two million, six hundred thousand!" *t-t-t-t-tap* "Th-three million!!" Even the auctioneer was beginning to get antsy when he announced the bids.

-Is she lying, knowing I will bid higher, or...- "Do you perhaps know something special about the artifact?"

She immediately hesitated before letting out a heavy sigh. "Haah..."

"Going once!" She started standing up as the auctioneer counted down. "Going twice!" But a moment later, the auctioneer's face almost entirely lost its color. "E-Eight million!"

As the woman stood up, she placed one last bid before dropping the artifact into the chair and casually walking out of the room.

But Krystallo bid again immediately.

*tap* "E-EIGHT MILLION AND ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND!!" The auctioneer looked like a ghost as he announced the final bid. "Going once! Going twice! Sold to booth One for eight million and one hundred thousand gold!!" He yelled out like he couldn't believe it.

But, at the same time, neither could I.

The moment he announced it, Ilios pulled his paw off me, and the fog clouding my mind disappeared. -W..why did I just...-

Looking down at Ilios, I quickly noticed his demeanor had returned to normal, and with it, so did his aura. -What did he...-

But I didn't have time to sort out my confusion. *knock-knock* "Sir Vasilias, a guest has arrived." The butler outside sounded slightly nervous as he spoke.

-A guest?- *Vwoom* Rushing my aura through the door, I went to see who it was but was instantly met with an aura I couldn't mistake. -Amphitrite?!-

In an instant, my priorities changed, and my confusion was buried. -She was the one bidding against me?!-

She was the person I needed to speak with under any circumstance, specifically about Myles, but after what I had just experienced, I had to truly question whether I was in the right state of mind for it. -Fuck...- But at the end of the day, I couldn't let the opportunity slip by. "Please let her in."

*Click* As the door opened, Krystallo hopped onto her knees and looked over the back of her chair while I straightened my demeanor.

But rather than seeing a boastful and confident dragon walk through the door, I saw Amphitrite wearing a look of defeat.

"I can't say I ever expected to be in a battle of money against the Ragnaroks for their own artifact... I can see how I never would have won now..." She sounded like she had lost all hope.

I quickly motioned her to the table as I moved some drinks onto it. "I didn't know that was my family's artifact, actually. I bought it for myself."

Her expression immediately warped. "You, a dragon under 20 years old, have eight million gold without touching family money? [1]" She looked like she couldn't believe it. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised..."

As she sat down, I used my aura to grab another drink for Krystallo and myself and sat down as well. "Don't worry about it too much... In any case, I feel I must ask, why are you here?"

Her wings unfolded slightly as her expression darkened. "I needed that artifact you just bought."

"You were willing to spend 8 million gold to see a part of the future?" I didn't buy it.

But she just shook her head. "A few hundred years ago, a certain friend of mine told me it could be used to ensure my survival through my final sleep, but it would come at the cost of me losing my sense of who I am, so I never had interest..." She fell silent as she drank straight from the bottle. "But now that Myles has been forced into his sleep and we have been exposed to what has been going on behind our backs, I have been made aware that Bahamut is in desperate need of a divine leader..."

My expression quickly darkened as well. "Would that be enough to bring people together?"

"You need divinity to fight divinity.. and with the human gods making a return, we are no longer the iron fist of the world."

Krystallo quickly came up to the table with a confused expression. "But brother has killed two gods already and is also partially a god, himself. Couldn't the people group beneath him?"

Amphitrite's slightly conflicted look quickly shifted to me.

But I could only nod. "I have killed Tyr and Magni, and, as far as I know, am one of this generation's Ancient Fenrir, but I still don't know who killed Hel... Was it you and Myles?"

Her eyes immediately drifted toward Ilios before her whole body tensed up, and her demeanor changed. "I-I was the one to land the final blow, but she, unfortunately, had already done a number on Myles at that point... Regardless, what I meant by a divine leader is a demigod stage dragon. A figure that could regain our standing as the strongest beings in the world."

She looked a little anxious as she spoke, but I assumed it was because of guilt or fear and promptly looked past it. "So you were looking to use this artifact to make yourself that figure?"

She immediately shook her head. "I was going to use it on Myles in order to speed up his sleep. We don't exactly have fifty to a hundred years to spare at this point..."

I couldn't help but agree, but at the same time, no matter how conflicted I felt about what Ilios did to my mind earlier, I was sure there had to have been a reason. -I can't just give up the artifact...-

And that was when I remembered my dragon sleep in Kaelallan.

-Oh...- "What if I found a different way to speed it up?" Although I hadn't even begun to hypothesize how it worked, all I needed was to know it was possible and be given enough time.

But Amphitrite was skeptical. "Rushing a final sleep would certainly result in death."

"Well, as long as he would already survive the sleep under normal circumstances, it would be fine... Do you think he could survive without the artifact?"

Her expression immediately turned conflicted. "I don't know. I want to believe he could, especially since his body has already been mostly destroyed, but there is no such thing as certainty with things like this..."

We both fell silent right away as we fell into thought.

But after just a few minutes, there was another knock on the door. *knock-knock* "Sir Vasilias, Lady Krystallo, your items have been prepared; however, Miss Chalastís has asked for you to retrieve the Eye of Bahamut yourself."

-Ah, it's time...- I quickly turned back to Amphitrite. "How about this, then. If you give me some time to try and figure out what this artifact really is, I may be able to recreate it or possibly mimic its effect on Myles, but if not, I will work to speed up his sleep with my own methods."

She gave me an odd look before finally letting out a deep breath and leaning back in her chair. "Haah... If you were anyone else.. I'd say you're insane..." Her gaze slowly turned up to the ceiling before a conflicted smile came to her face. "I feel like I'm getting deja vu.. letting go of an artifact I wanted in return for an insane favor..." Her gaze quickly lowered back to me. "But maybe you can pull off another miracle."

*Click* As the door behind us opened, Amphitrite finally stood up and finished the bottle of alcohol in front of her with a single gulp.

"Since you have earned 'her' faith, I might as well give you mine. Just make sure you don't sacrifice yourself." *Clunk* Setting down the empty glass of alcohol, she walked past the butler in the doorway and quickly disappeared down the hallway, leaving me to my thoughts.

But after a moment, Krystallo spoke up. "What if you use the artifact on yourself?"

I immediately shot her a questioning look before speaking in a sarcastic tone. "Do you want me to lose my sense of self?"

"But you can't lose! So it will be alright!"

I wanted to laugh seeing her confidence in me, but after a moment of silence, I simply stood up. "Well, let's see what the artifact really is before we jump to any conclusions, alright?"

Her smile quickly widened. "Okay!"

But while she was cheerful, I couldn't deny that I was nervous. -If that gaze I felt was truly coming from that artifact.. I may be juggling dynamite next to a fire...-

But little did my ignorant self know.. that was a grave understatement.

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[1] - 8 Million gold is 800 royal gold coins. Equivalent to about $80,000,000,000 (eighty billion)

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