‘…where is it from?’ Ryuk inquired, understanding the importance of the matter due to the system warning him about it.
[The gaze is directed from Malevolia.]
‘…This?’ Ryuk felt slightly confused due to information regarding the surveillance coming from Malevolia, focused on him which shouldn’t be the case due to everything turned towards Drishti’s direction.
Now, the question remained: who was that person and why look at him?
‘Who is it?’, Ryuk inquired, his eyes glancing at the demon beside him, looking back at him with sharp white-streaked pupils.
[Host, the surveillance occurred when your ability was active, creating it hard to identify the energy signatures]
System informed about the difficulty to pinpoint the energy signatures due to Ryuk’s ability nullifying it, due to the instantaneous withdrawal of gaze and subsequently Nullification, it became harder to identify that individual.
[Though, it is confirmed that the individual was a Male demon]
‘…at least this is reassuring,’ Not to the extent where he felt carefree but still, at least it confirmed that the Demon Queen wasn’t the one who had seen through things and identified him as the crucial target.
It was definitely not fear but caution; he needed to deal with her and also the system possessed by her without letting his guard down or letting his ego inflate, which could cause complications.
“What happened?” Esme inquired, seeing him lost somewhere, causing him to glance at her before shaking his head and then turning it towards the demon.
“So, it will take some time for us to arrive in the Central Kingdom. Until then, why don’t we have a conversation, Belial?”
‘Baster is again on sobething,’ Belial glanced at the woman who appeared the same as always, completely unrecognizable, except for those golden eyes revealing a way to recognize her till now.
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knock knock
“Liege, we have arrived,” a man knocked on the room’s door where three individuals were talking inside.
“Understood,” Esme opened the door, leaving first followed by Ryuk, without a trace of the third individual, who was a demon.
‘Where did it go?’ a cloaked figure observed the now-empty room, turning towards the young man’s back before moving as well, prioritizing their task instead of concerning themselves with a demon.
“How much more time will it take?” Ryuk inquired with the others inside the control room, his eyes looking at the vast rubble scattered beneath the land mass visible from the ship’s large transparent window.
“But we have already arrived, Liege,” the cloaked figures glanced at each other, understanding the reason for the young man to inquire this after all; they had already witnessed the transition of a beautiful city into rubble.
“…was it Lady Drishti?” Ryuk could clearly guess that the hands behind all this could only be that woman.
But, wasn’t it just yesterday he triggered the other system and the Demon Queen? How does this battle even occur?
“No, exactly it was the Commander who did all this,” the cloaked figure slightly averted his eyes after feeling the young man’s gaze, understanding that it was indeed confusing, prompting him to continue, “A Dariant claiming himself as the founding ancestor of Titanora popped up and attacked Lady Drishti, but before the battle started, she got bored…”
“And then Regina stepped forward, am I correct?” Ryuk continued, understanding that this was indeed something unexpected, and then what happened next?
‘…A founder,’ Ryuk wasn’t surprised to learn that someone that old was hiding inside this place, given that he already knew of two other ancient beings, Amrantha Tenebri and Drishti Devereaux.
Though he had not met one of them, it was clear these old beings were on another level. If not for Drishti’s easy-going personality, she could have been a catastrophe.
“What was the name of that man?” Ryuk inquired, realizing he couldn’t gather information without any prior contact with the individual.
“It was Valhale—?!” Before the cloaked figure could finish speaking, something prompted his pupils to instantly turn towards the woman standing beside the young man.
‘What was that?’ The man, at Middle Imperfect Legendary Rank with only Energy stats, could sense any anomaly occurring around him. The first thing he felt right now was a sharp chill inside his body, as if something had just passed through his brain without harming it.
With his veteran experience, he realized it was a mind attack.
‘…Did she just?’ Not only the man, even Ryuk sensed something amiss. Though his strength wasn’t enough to sense anything directly, when his body nullified something with his mind in a focused state, he could detect it.
Right now, he sensed the use of a mind attack.
Soul attack, Mind attack, Psychic attack, Energy attack, and Temporal attack—there are many forms of attacks that can be made by utilizing unknown energies.
For Temporal attack, where one can freeze time and manipulate it, the question remains: does mana stop time?
The answer is unknown.
But the sensation accompanied by them was etched into Ryuk’s mind, prompting him to distinguish between these attacks only if he paid attention to them.
‘That idiot old man!’ Esme clenched her fist with a visible twitch on her face, which was obviously only visible to Ryuk but not to others, as she allowed it.
“Can you tell me where that old man is now?” Esme approached the cloaked figure and inquired, her eyes fixed on him. His eyes seemed to widen, a visible twitch in his nerves proving his mental state.
He was a powerhouse of such a level that could easily supress this woman on the ground by only using pressure emanating from his body, but at that moment, his mind was numb.
It was as if he couldn’t think straight; to put it simply in veteran terms, it was like a situation where things just occurred and left his brain in a trance state.
“…He is fanning Lady Drishti using a hand fan,” the cloaked figure felt his own mouth opening and answering whatever was in his mind. In that instant, he could have attacked her, but the young man standing beside the woman looked at him intensely, as if warning him not to make a move.
‘…..’ Esme ignored the chance of the man attacking her since she knew the young man beside her would handle that, or else she would have increased her control. Now, after hearing what came out of her grandpa, her eyes turned towards the young man, inquiring, “Who is she?”
“…Just an acquaintance,” Ryuk calmly replied.
[You sound like a typical husband lying to his wif—ERROR!]
“So, she was the one who supported me as a Flagbearer,” though not necessary, he should at least tell her about the woman in question to avoid confusing her.
“I understand,” Esme nodded, not doubting anything, since the young man referred to that woman as “lady” instead of by her clear name.
“Ship is landing,” a savant informed as he moved the ship downwards to land on a wide area where another onyx black ship stood, with several black cloaked figures standing around it, some even on the roof.
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“But isn’t the capital city supposed to be the most beautiful in Titanora?” Mae emerged from the ship, ignoring the lined-up men focused on the outside place, which seemed no better than the town she was in, except for a huge palace at the center, making her slightly disappointed.
After all, there weren’t any expensive things in her sight.
“It is,” Ryuk calmly informed as he passed beside her, moving towards the palace with Esme calmly following beside him, accompanied by both twins, leaving behind the now-disappeared demon, who was doing some work for Ryuk.
___
“This way, Liege,” one of the cloaked figures guided, aware that anyone with strength could easily detect the energy signature and find the way but still kept his formalities.
Krieeek
The large stone-carved door opened with a loud sound, light blinding their sight before slowly fading away and revealing a sight in front of them.
“It’s only been a few months,” Ryuk thought, looking at the head of the huge hall room. Several cloaked figures stood around the corners, all with their eyes fixed straight. Ignoring them, he looked at the three individuals at the head. “Nothing seems to change.”
“Lady Drishti, I see you are still the same,” Ryuk stated as he moved inside the hall, causing the woman seated on the throne to open her eyes, revealing deep amber pupils as she looked back at him.
“Indeed, I am, but you seem to have changed, Ryuk,” Drishti’s eyes observed the people accompanying the young man, shifting her gaze from the twins to a woman standing calmly in white attire with two golden pupils looking back at Drishti.
Drishti narrowed her gaze, noticing things slightly deviating from her pre-decided plan.
Her plan was simply to get the young man to meet that young woman and learn about the thesis. If, by chance, Drishti herself wasn’t enough to get one, then plan B was to take that young woman as a hostage and force Valhale to provide his training methods.
However, seeing the young man who should have just befriended that woman now bringing her here as a partner made Drishti feel slightly confused.
There were only two conclusions she could draw.
Either the well-known Esme Valhale had charmed Ryuk Devereaux using her illusion, or it was just another ploy orchestrated by that young man to use Esme in the future.
Drishti didn’t know exactly what happened since she wanted to provide some time for the young man to grow. Though typically she observed, she got bored after only two days of observation, especially since she wasn’t able to see both of them.
Even after seeing Ryuk’s ability to hide his strength, Drishti didn’t feel surprised. At times, it was due to this young woman, who could also hide her strength from her.
Not only her, but there were other individuals Drishti had encountered who had abilities similar to Ryuk’s.
So, it was clear why she would feel interested in just some upgraded version of those abilities in a single person.
Esme’s golden pupils were fixed on the woman with visible confusion as she inquired of the woman seated on the throne, “Aren’t you the troublesome friend Grandma always referred to?”
