[00:58:23]
The numbers on Flame's wrist ticked slowly. His eyes looked bleak and shaky as he slowly tried to lift his head
In front of him, the battle was nearly at its end, only 4 monsters were remaining. Out of which, one was around the height of an average human being, while the remaining group of three looked around 3 meters tall.
They Chaotic creatures were weakened considerably, but none of them were dead. Madam Samantha looked rugged and finally, had her bronze armour upon her mature body. she moved her heavy mace as fresh drops of blood slowly leaked her mouth, but the Chaotic Headless before her looked way worser. both of its hands were gushing out blood and its spikes were reduced considerably.
Flame wanted to look at Javier, but his mind was occupied by something else.
"what…was that?"
"did I just imagined all that? no! it looked so real to be imagination. Then how did the numbers change in the device? Did it malfunction? That shadow…the murmurs…the Call…"
Flame felt his heart turn cold and his face losing all its colour. he fell silent for a while and then he sharply turned his head towards Lucy. he had faced many problems in expedition in his past and had almost lost his life a couple of times due to the perverse nature of Rifts, but what he experienced just now…was different.
Flame's Azure eyes peered into Lucy's and he hesitated
"don't tell me…it is related to Tyrant's Throne?"
The little snake just blankly stared at him, before shaking her head and wrapping herself around his neck.
As though she didn't care much different.
"…"
Flame knew that look.
She sighed at him.
But, how could she act so nonchalant!
A look of disbelief was still on Flame's pale face as he found hard to accept the reality. The Benevolent Tyrant was someone above the level of Arcane, a whole six ranks above Flame's pitiful title of Descendant. Someone who had attained a level of power which was impossible for pitiful humans to fathom.
And the witness was the ruined Marble city and the surrounding Dead Forest.
So, for once, it didn't sound too wrong to assume that there might be some supernatural powers tied to his belongings. Especially something like Throne.
And Flame sat on the Cursed Throne for all the time when Lucy was scouting ahead the castle. He even spouted some words under the influence of the Cursed Throne.
If it wasn't for Lucy, Flame might have been…who knows? Possessed?
And even now, if Lucy hadn't intervened who knows what could have happened.
Flame sighed and looked over his shoulder.
Though it sounded a little too scary, considering Flame's previous experience, but eventually he was inside the Rift. He had already accepted that he will face things out of his imagination.
In the end, Flame only sighed and decided to forget the harrowing incident and noted to avoid the lonely Thrones from now on.
Then, he turned to his best friend and smiled
"phew! Lucy. I don't know what should I say. You saved my life twice today. To reward you, I will find some rats from our building"
Hiss!
The little snake bared her sharp fangs and hissed.
Flame chuckled, knowing that Lucy wasn't affected by the Tyrant's Throne's in anyway.
If Something would have happened to Flame, he might have coped himself, but he couldn't imagine happening anything to Lucy. after all who was going to bring money in the house?
Surely, That would have been a catastrophe.
Flame turned to the battlefield and saw his friends alive. They had finally overnumbered the Crystal Thorns, even slaying one of the Chaotic Headless.
'hah! Thank the Queen! I survived another day' he sighed mentally and decided to wait for his friends to complete.
Everything was normal.
Suddenly, the white snake jolted awake from his shoulder and sharply turned her head.
Then she quickly slithered from his shoulder to his head and looked intently towards the battlefield.
He frowned "what happened Lucy?"
Flame was confused by Lucy's odd reaction. She would normally only stay around his shoulders and neck, never moving to an open place like his head.
The little snake's vermillion eyes towered above Flame and peered into the battlefield.
Flame frown deepened and he followed the little snake's gaze.
Soon, his eyes widened.
There, Javier and others were almost over with the monsters and were currently ganging up on the last pitiful Chaotic Headless.
But that was not where Lucy looked. Her vermillion eyes peered past the battle ground and looked at the distant forest of dead leafless trees.
It took some time for Flame to realize what she was seeing, but when he did, he couldn't help but have a smug look on his face
He saw a meagre Descendant ranked headless monster with sharp dark blue crystals protruding out of its neck. It was currently walking towards the dead forest with measured steps, leaving no traces of voice behind… fooling all the 3 Genius Awakened of the academy, including a veteran Awakened.
The pitiful creature should have thought it will just quietly sneak out and call its entire family to feast upon the fresh human blood.
"Lucy…
you are a genius"
Flame laughed in his mind and quickly strode towards the Dead Forest.
Finally, it was Flame's time to shine!