544 Time

Grunting at his exerted what little strength was left in him, his arms aching, his fingers sore, the golden great sword slowly slipped out from the ground as it accepted the human who wished to wield it.

"There!"

With no time to spare, he swung the blessed weapon in a full 360 arc, pivoting upon his toes as a golden flower bloomed with the grace of a ballerina, but with sharpness on par with a tungsten needle. His earlier impulses were answered as aquatic beast, ice, water, dwarven architecture, stone and the goblin farm in its entirety was obliterated. With such levels of devastation, the dungeon shook and rumbled as its miniature world broke down. As if they were suspended in zero-gravity, like astronauts upon the surface of the moon, their feet hovered away as everything shook like an earthquake.

"W-what in goddess' name did you do!?" Prince Victor almost pissed himself, but with the dignity and willpower of a prince, he held it all in.

[Song of Einhoren] having accomplished its task, successfully answering the call and slaughtered both dungeon boss and dungeon-dimension, began to break into particles of divinity. If Asai were to focus and listen intently, amidst the shaking, roaring and destruction, hymns depicting heaven were sang. Seeing the over-powered weapon leave the realm, and his grasp, he felt somewhat said that such a majestic weapon wouldn't be joining his deadly arsenal.

Having been thrown off the ground, and with the world turning into one big cluster fuck of atoms both wet and dry, the light faded within a single snap, as if someone had merely flipped the switch.

Blackness, quietness and deafening silence assaulted the two humans who lingered freely within the void. Whilst the prince was entirely alert, heart pounding, hands sweaty, and constantly observing his surroundings. Asai's limp body hovered towards him as if they were two magnets, the duke's eyes closed once more as his body became deadly pale. Having no mana to expend, to utilize as payment to cast such devastation, the heavenly-weapon had consumed his HP instead.

Catching the duke, holding and ensuring he didn't float away into the endless abyss, Prince Victor stoically gazed into the man he had always desired to become. A man of high honour, dignity, prestige, strength and willingness to pay the ultimate price for the greater good of humanity.

"If I ever met a hero, it would be you... Duke." There was no jealousy or envy within his voice, only respect of the highest regards.

His gaze shifted away from the slumbering man, meeting the gaze of a being so large, Victor was unable to visually see anything else but his two overwhelming eyes that seemed like it could see through his skin and bone, and into his soul.

Out of curiosity, as to why one of his pocket-dimensions was collapsing and closing when he had left no such configuration, and whilst he could simply will the dungeon into reverting to its prime once more, Chronos, the god of time, was already bored once more as he left as fast as he had arrived. However, whilst it was a mere few seconds for the human prince, for Chronos, he had lingered around for weeks, reading and analysing the flow of time, spectating the events that had occurred.

"Heavens... Was that a God!?" Within his mind, he tried to recall Chronos' appearance but failed, leading him to wonder as to how Loha or Marea, the known goddesses that governed the southern world would look.

With Chronos gone, the void resumed as the darkness flooded back into the space like waves. Feeling a sharp tug, a gravitational pull, the two humans were spat out of the dungeon portal, expelled like bacteria.

"Oh, welcome back humans! I see that you were successful in your rescue mission." Hebi smiled delightfully, whilst Victor almost swung a fist at the woman, having noticed her serpent-eyes, evidently not human. But his arms were still mostly numb, allowing him to only weakly clutch onto the duke's clothing, and shrugging a shoulder. "Is that how you humans greet each other?" Hebi imitated the awkward shoulder-punch.

"Who are you and where are my men?"

"I'm Hebi, a friend of the man you're hugging. Your men are elsewhere, but there's not many of them left... I can lead you to them, if you want?" Staring at the two men in close-embrace, with Asai's body limply laying into Victor's chest, she wondered if she failed to seduce the man because he wasn't exactly normal in preferences.

"Hebi, as you're friends with this man, that makes us friends, as we're brothers in actuality." Victor solemnly gazed down, relieved to find Asai snoring and breathing heavily. Having seen the man wield [Song of Einhoren] a divine weapon that only heeded members of Del Lagos' bloodline, within the prince's mind, the two were already brothers, perhaps Asai had already performed a marriage ceremonial with his sister in secret, he theorized. "Help me carry him, and lead us. Please."

Imitating the human prince by throwing Asai's other arm around her neck, Hebi now wondered whether the humans were into incest, which would explain why she failed to charm the man.

And whilst the woman was diving into a daydream filled with madness, Victor ignored the sheering pain and numbness that inflicted his arms, as his mana still refused to answer his summons, resulting in the prior toxins still burning away at his nerves. Soldiering on like a man should, he gritted his teeth and refused to show any reflection of pain upon his face.

"Rest well Asai, You've done your part, now let me take over... Humanity's future, let us shoulder that burden together."

kophzi