Chapter 117: The Core Truth (2)

"She was the most malicious force I'd ever met in my short life. I recognized her from the stories Leona told me, though I couldn't get a good look at her. I don't remember the words she said to me before the two threw me into one of 7 capsules that surrounded 1 larger capsule in the middle of the room.

Every other capsule had a black light filling it, except for mine. After that point, I blacked out. Whatever happened between then and when I awoke, I have no clue about.

But then, when I did re-awake, I saw something straight out of a nightmare. The capsule I was in was now floating high above the continent so I could see the entire thing within my view. But, it wasn't the continent I knew.

The metropolitan city of Naji, burned to the ground. The central city of Zacrozir, decimated with no trace. Aquifa, the city of sirens, sunken and flooded with water. All other cities, destroyed, dead bodies piled over each other across the vast landscape. 

I had no clue what just happened, it was almost like a curse had been unleashed upon the entire world… but the truth was much scarier than that…"

"What… What in the living hell happened..?" Core uttered as he stuck his face to the edge of the glass capsule he was being held in, gazing upon the chaos-ridden landscape under him.

"No way… why is this place floating above the continent? This is the place that woman put me in… why is it floating in the air..? Is this all my fault?" Core's mind was in a scramble as he couldn't hold his tears back, letting them drop on the glass that held him.

"Heh, so the immortal one's awake then? Perfect. He can watch as his beloved foster mother is sacrificed," Core heard a voice emerge from an elevated platform above him, looking up to see 2 white-haired women standing atop it.

"L-Leona! What are you doing here? What happened to the continent?! And you're… Melina Alister?! Where's everyone else?!" Core yelled, making the other white-haired woman start laughing hysterically.

"Oh this is too funny! It would seem Leona has already told you about me! I'm honored! Though, I can only imagine the despair that you must be feeling! To awaken after a long slumber and see such a sight? It must be a spectacularly hopeless sensation!" She exclaimed as Leona stood there with an angry expression, unable to do anything.

"Shut up you bitch! You're ugly as hell!" Core insulted, making the woman recoil in offense.

"Wha! How dare you!"

"Leona?! Why are you just standing there?! Do something! Teleport around her and kill her! And why isn't Julianne here with you?! What about the Seeking Blade?! Or the Roaring Tiger?! Where's the rest of the guild?!" Core panicked as he slammed his hand on the glass barrier.

"They're all dead…" Leona uttered to him, making his eyes widen and pupils shrink in utter despair.

"What..?"

"You didn't hear her the first time, boy? Everyone's dead. We 3 are the only ones left alive. Every other living being on this continent has been eradicated," the other white-haired woman claimed.

"And I've lost my Spring… somehow, it was stolen away…" Leona informed.

"Yes, thanks to Luther's handiwork, Drevius' annoying time hop Spring won't be an issue anymore," the woman laughed as she grabbed Leona by the hair, dragging her across the platform, making her stand on a plank extending to the middle capsule.

"Why?! Why are you even doing this?! If your goal was to kill everyone, you've already accomplished it! Why did you keep Leona alive?!" Core interrupted the woman's actions, stopping her with her leg up as she readied herself to kick Leona into the middle capsule.

The woman laughed at Core's remark, putting her foot down as her laugh turned to rage, veins beginning to pop up on her forehead.

"You are an idiot, child. Why would my goal be to kill everyone in the continent? What a shallow goal to have. I'm actually quite appalled that you suggested that. Here, I'll educate you. The population's eradication was just a prerequisite. The real show begins after one gathers all 7 cursed Springs, 3 of the 4 special Springs, and kills all living beings. Only then will my goals be fulfilled," the woman proudly explained.

"Kill all living beings? By my count, there's still 3 of us alive," Core claimed as he desperately continued to stall in vain.

"You really are a moron. Your life doesn't count you cursed mongrel. Of course, my life need not end since I am the master of this operation. And as for my niece here, she has a very special role…" She once again pulled Leona by the hair, making her squirm in pain.

"Special role..?"

"You need… a female descendant of the Alister family as a catalyst and to act as a sacrifice for the inception of the completed curse, don't you?" Leona exclaimed, which surprised both Core and her aunt.

"Oh? So you already knew? You knew about the curses and about my plan all along? That is quite concerning to find out, but it hardly matters now. And if so, then you must know what happens when it comes to fruition, yes?"

"Of course I do… but it's not like I have the power to stop it anymore… it's pointless to resist the inevitable," Leona spoke with a hopeless expression, making her aunt laugh with her chest.

"It seems you finally understand your situation! Oh, it's good to have such an obedient niece! The total opposite of that devil child of a nephew! Good girl Leona!" Her aunt happily patted her on the head as Core looked at Leona with a dreadful expression, Leona noticing his gaze, subtly winking at him from the side.

"Huh? She winked at me? Whenever she does that, it always means that she has the situation under control… but what control does she have here? No Spring, no allies… what hope is there in such a desperate position?!"

"Well, it pains me to do this to my beloved niece, but down you go!" She said as she pushed Leona into the large capsule in the middle, dropping her into a glass cage in the center of all the other capsules, now eye level with Core.

"I've no means to kill you myself up here, so I'll let you die from the presence of the curses. As soon as a woman of the Alister family dies in these conditions, the curse will finally be complete!" Leona's aunt furiously laughed as she turned around and walked back through the plank and sat on the large couch that resided on the larger floating platform, waiting for Leona's slow death to come.

"You have a plan, don't you Leona? Please, let me hear it," Core whispered to the capsule in the middle, the waning Leona replying weakly.

"You're not going to like it, but it's our only option," she whispered back, Core sternly nodding at her words.

He didn't care what the plan was at that point. The world was in shambles, everything he knew had been destroyed. Whatever Leona had come up with would have to do.

"I'm going to use the curse," Leona stated, Core raising an eyebrow, but not reacting loudly so the other woman wouldn't hear.

"Use the curse? Melina Alister mentioned something about you knowing the outcome… but is that really true? And how will you use it if you're the sacrifice?"

"If my theory is correct, if I use the curse, you, Core, could fix everything that has happened so far… and I won't be the sacrifice, she will," Leona explained as Core's confusion continued to grow.

"She will? So you're going to kill her? But how? You don't have your Spring anymore."

"I know. There's no point in explaining it to you right now. You don't need to understand what's about to happen. To put it simply, the technique I'm about to use doesn't require a Spring. It's a special Alister family technique. It is the same thing my father, the Timeless Blitz, used in the Elven forest 40 years ago. After that, my attack will not only kill my aunt, but it will also destroy everything else around me and bring this floating platform to the ground. You will be the only survivor Core," Leona explained, Core choking on his breath to stop himself from reacting with a loud voice.

"The same attack the Timeless Blitz used?! But wouldn't that kill you as well?! Are you going to leave me alone in this world..?" He cried, Leona warmly smiling at him.

"I'm sorry kid… this is quite literally the only way. Before I die, I'll use the curse's power to open a hole in time 34 years back. Saphrilla and I have already planned this. Once the hole opens, you are not to go through until you're fully prepared. Go down to the Hasbin Gulf, in the SX company building, we've prepared a safe with equipment inside of it. Take that equipment, along with a slip of paper that has 'Voron's inter-dimensional ticket' written on it.

Once you have those, come back to the hole in time and go through. You will likely reappear 34 years in the past, at the very center of the continent, just north of Lifah. Once you arrive, the first thing you should do is bring the slip of paper you took with you to the Elven Forest. In the center of the forest, you will find the elves dwelling. There, you'll find an old man living with his 4-year-old daughter. That daughter would be Saphrilla Xilris, and the old man would be Voron Xilris, the legendary mechanic. That slip was something he gave his daughter for her 3rd birthday. It was so if she ever time traveled, he could have proof with a replica of the slip.

If you give him that slip, he'll take you in. Tell him about your situation and befriend him, but don't stay with him for too long. You still need to do something else. Back in that time, the Ranger guild had just lost contact with a mercenary agency that had just turned rogue. The guild used to work with them, but then they cut ties with them suddenly. Today, they're known as the 'inexplicable mercenaries'. The same ones that were hired by my aunt to attack my father in the Elven forest. They were called 'Checkmate'. They had just lost their master, their most important piece at the hands of my father.

We now know where they were hiding back then. In the northern Econican region, the town of Loyogo, in a large cavern near the shore of the gulf. Head there and become their new master.

Once you do that, wait until the year 1200. That was when Crypt attacked my village. You're to intercept their mission and destroy their encampment directly northwest of the town using Checkmate's power. After that, you can steal the request by talking to my aunt in Kanirah. She'd be glad another mercenary group had taken the request instead of the useless Crypt, and will happily accept.

Then comes your most important role. This will determine the future of the entire continent. You must fulfill this one task so that the future of mankind will be guaranteed," Leona's voice became stern, furrowing her eyebrows as she stood up and assumed a fighting stance, which would be the last fighting stance she would ever assume.

"And what's that..? What's my ultimate mission? What do I have to do to ensure the future of humanity?" Core eagerly asked as the worry in his heart began to overflow, the heavy burden placed on his teenage shoulders enough to kill anyone who wasn't immortal.

Summoning her swords, a white light began emanating around Leona as her hair blended in with the blinding glow, turning around to utter 5 final words to Core before the atmosphere became engulfed in a luminous flash.

"Kill me. That is all."