Chapter 31: Chapter 31
Davida slowly opened her eyes; after hours of meditating, her mana was almost completely replenished. She looked at Duncan; his wounds were slowly healing, and his strength was almost restored. Diane, too, although Davida did not look at her, she could felt the mana spiralling near Diane.
She watched her companion recover before sighing to herself. “Where did you go, Eru…” she murmured. When she first opened her eyes, Davida found herself lying on the floor right between Duncan and Diane. She quickly got up, gripping her staff, vigilance to her surrounding. After a short while, she breathes a sigh of relief because she didn’t see the golem. Her body relaxed a bit before checking to see the condition of her comrades.
Davida took out a health potion from her pouch, rubbing it into Duncan and Diane’s wound, then feed them the rest of it. She waited for a while until eventually, Duncan’s body twitched. He opened his eyes and slowly propped his body up. He saw his young miss smiling at him and asked, “What happen?” Davida’s face was full of joy seeing one of her important people woke up before answering Duncan, “We got trashed”, said Davida with a grim expression.
“I see….” Duncan lamented, “If only I was at my prime. Maybe, just maybe, we could stand a chance”, he clenched his fist tightly, blood seeping through his palm. “The strength of my peak coupled with young miss magical abilities and Diane’s healing, plus we had that monster of a kid with us. We might, might be able to win,” Duncan frustratingly said. He then turned his head around and could not find Eru anywhere. “Where’s the kid?”
Davida shook her head, “I don’t know. When I came to, Eru has already disappeared.” Duncan hurriedly tried to stand up, “We need to find him, young miss!” However, Duncan slumped down back to the floor due to his injuries. “We will. Once we rest and recover,” Davida said, her voice firm. Duncan nodded as his mind wandered elsewhere.
A coupled of minutes later, Diane woke up, and like Duncan, she also asked where Eru was and was impatient to go and find him. Davida had to calm her down and convinced her to recover first. Looking at her two companions, Davida shook her head. ‘Those two became so attached to him in such a short time. That guy has some scary power, similar to you….’ She thought in her heart.
Davida closes her eyes. Thinking back on when she met Eru, it was an embarrassing moment for her. She was always shy when meeting someone’s new, but she’s not the type of person to ignore those in trouble near her. So, when she was looking for an inn to stay in, Davida met a young man struggling to pay for a room. She offered her help to pay for the remaining cost of the room. What she did not expect, however, was that the young man accepts immediately.
People usually pretends to refuse at first before accepting her help, but this person in front of her was different. Davida could feel it; that’s why she allowed him to accompany her for dinner that day for some strange reason. She wanted to find out what was so special about this young man. The young man introduced himself as Eru, a traveller from a small village wishing to see the world. She felt comfortable chatting to him, and when it finally ended, she felt a little bit sad.
A few days after, Davida met him again at the adventurer’s guild. Davida let out a smile, ‘He called me out loudly that time’ she chuckled. Back then, Davida’s cheek turned beet red, and she didn’t talk to him again much after that. ‘Come to think of it, he might felt bad back then. Silly me’ she shook her head. After that, they kinda went their separate ways. Davida and her company went and search for a place spoken inside a parchment her team discovered back on Sylphid Coast while Eru goes on and help Yuya rescuing Borea’s City mayor’s son.
Davida lifts her head up, ‘I hope you’re okay, Eru’
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Forcing myself to walk under the side-effects of the Dragon Force technique was maybe pushing it quite a bit. I managed to get past the huge hall and into a weird room. Like the hall before, the room’s wall is still maroon, but its floor was different. Black and white made into one by a spiral. ‘Looks like a yin and yang symbol’, I thought, sitting myself down slowly while leaning on a wall.
The black sword in my hand vibrated, telling me to get rest even for a while. “I agree”, I sighed, “It seemed so stupid, leaving them like that while my body’s like this,” I said to the black sword. The black sword in my hand replied to me by vibrating more intensely as if it was scolding me. “I know, I know. I definitely made a stupid decision. But hey? What can I do? I already made them” I shrug my shoulder.
The black sword buzzed left and right, asking me why did I do that. “I don’t know” I look up, “Pride maybe? I don’t know. I don’t like showing people when I’m weak. Well, not that it matters what I don’t like as I already showed many people plenty of my weak side”, I smiled dejectedly. The black sword flew from my hand and, using the handle, smacked me in the head.
“Ouch! What did you do that for!?” I held my head with both of my hands. The black sword spun around, waving itself left and right and vibrates more intense than before. “Are you cheering me up?” It nodded its handle, “Thank you!” I held the black sword by the handle and caressed its blade. I can sense its happy expression from just touching the blade.
“What a wonderful thing to see” a black silhouette suddenly emerged from the centre of the yin and yang symbol. “Hello, we met again”, it said, extending its greeting to me. “What do you want!?” I gripped the black sword tightly, wary of the thing in front of me. Sharing my feeling, the black sword hummed, letting out killing intent towards the black silhouette. I tried standing up, wanting to take my stance against the threat in front of me. Alas, my body’s strength hasn’t been replenished yet, so I can only slump back down to the floor.
“Careful, you still need to rest,” the black silhouette said, its mouth opened, revealing its pure white teeth. “After all, the Dragon Force Technique is a last resort technique after all. One needs to use it if they can be sure that they defeat their opponents.”
“How do you….?” Surprise, wary, but mostly confusion hit me when the black silhouette said that. The black silhouette smiled, calmly walking towards me, slowly but surely. “Of course I know. After all, I created it,” it leaned its body down, its head positioned close, right in front of me. Shocked, I blurted out, “Who are you?”
It smirked at me, pulling its head away, “Surely you must’ve figured out by now, right?” it walked back to the centre of the room, spreading its arm wide as it continues to talk to me. “After all, you’ve fought my younger self and won,” it folded its arms, “And you’ve also fought my incarnation. Sadly, you lost”, it laughs in joy. I quietly watched the black silhouette in front of me. I felt like it was way crazier than me when I was at my suicidal phase.
The black silhouette smiled, seeing that I kept quiet. It continues, “I go by many names. Some people call me a fool, some call me an ambitious fool,” the black silhouette chuckled, “Some call me benevolent while others call me a tyrant. Oh, there’s also someone that called me an innovator, a man born ahead of his time.”
The black silhouette observed me, watching my every move, which made my hair on the back of my neck stands up. It giggled before its giggles turned into laughter, “But the most famous thing and the most accepted ways to call me comes from a fool who doesn’t know his place,” it paused, intentionally creating tension in its dialogue.
“The Demon King” the smiled on its face widen so wide, revealing the inside of its mouth fully towards me. I shivered at the notion that the thing in front of me is the demon king of old. “Afraid?” the black silhouette teased, “Hahahahaha!” it laughed, “People’s reaction was always priceless when I told them who I am.”
It continued to laugh, and my face contorted even more ugly by its laugh. “Hahaha”, the black silhouette looked a bit out of breath after laughing out loud, “I always got a good laugh because of what that fool said.” It rubbed its eyes with his hand, “Although, being called a Demon King for trying to progress an era did irk me a bit” the creepy air surrounding the black silhouette suddenly vanished, replaced by an easy-going aura.
“Huh!?” both I and the black sword stood there dumbfounded. “Hahaha, even the after reactions were funny” it was elated after seeing the different faces I made. “Now, let us talk about the real stuff.” The aura around the black silhouette became serious again. It extended its hand at me and said mysteriously, “How about we made a deal?”
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