Chapter 133 - Summoning

It was late afternoon already; the sun was beginning to set down. Yin was upset because the Serpent Summoner still had not told him what the big idea was. Zach was not saying anything as well. Both of them were just exchanging glances.

"You still have not told me why sir Artorias thought I was in with the Angels and chased me around with his sword!" Yin exclaimed at Gavin for good reason.

"Is now a good time, Gavin?" Zachary asked the Serpent Summoner. "No. Not yet." Gavin replied.

An hour later, their window was covered pitch black by the Basilisk Slayer's dragon, Amara. Her wings flapped and covered the skies behind them.

Gavin got up and opened the window only to see that the Specter, Vale Ashford was riding with his brother. "Did you read the note already?" She asked Gavin. The Serpent Summoner responded with a nod.

"Sorry for what had happened earlier, Yin. Get on. We will explain everything to you." The Specter told the white haired Slayer. Yin was still upset but if he did not come with them, he was not going to know why what happened earlier transpired in of itself.

"Get on, quick. While I still have them distracted." Artorias said to the three of them in the room. Zachary's eyebrows raised up. "Them? Does that mean we do not have the eyes of the High Council hot on our tail now?" He asked himself before climbing up the window and getting on Amara.

Gavin followed shortly after and motioned Yin to do the same. "Come, Yin, we are going to tell you the truth behind what just happened in the courtyard. But if you choose not to do as we say, we would still understand – after what Art did to you, that is." Gavin said while looking grim. 

"It is fine. I will come with you." Yin made his decision and hopped on top of Amara. 

"I would assume this is the first time most of you have had the chance to ride on a dragon, right?" The Basilisk Slayer asked them as if the courtyard incident had not happened at all.

Amara flew up to the sky and snuffed the candles in the room out, leaving the Grand Castle by breaking sound barriers flying upwards.

"You should be the one to tell Yin, Art. After what you had just made him go through." Gavin said sternly. "Both you and Vale should both tell him now."

The Specter took Yin's hand. "I am sorry for what happened, Yin Sohaya. I truly am. Keep in mind that I have only ever doubted you for a second and have never felt that way afterwards. I am going to leave the important details to Artorias here, since he was the one the High Council gave the instructions to first, only after then did they call me into their halls." The Basilisk Slayer cleared his throat and asked Yin to sit next to him. "First of all, you did a good job dodging my half assed strikes back there!" He said casually.

Yin clicked his tongue in anger, he was not in the mood for jokes. He rarely got mad but this time, Yin was exactly exuding those emotions. "Relax, Yin lad, I am joking. Anyway, about those old cretins in the High Council, what really happened was…"

Artorias Khalil – The Basilisk Slayer's perspective a few hours after Yin Sohaya, Zachary Lancaster, and Vale Ashford got back from their mission.

"We have decided to summon you in front of us for a reason that you probably know as to why already." Willis Zafron, the High Council's leader said from up above his seat. "Our scouts have reported seeing the Emerald Dragon, Amara up in the skies scouting over the Specter's group. Is it safe to assume that you went with them despite having no orders to deploy yourself outside the Gates for a mission?" He asked.

"Hey, I just wanted to go outside for some fresh air. The atmosphere in the Grand Castle is suffocating, with you being here and all." The Basilisk Slayer said with a smirk on his face. Chatters were heard among the High Council's members as they whispered words in each other, just not audible enough to be heard by Artorias Khalil. "Alright, I knew Vale Ashford's mission was going to be to dispatch of a Seraphim on her own. I followed her and noticed that the unranked Fire Slayer, Zachary Lancaster and the C Rank Lightning Slayer Yin Sohaya was with her, I did not intervene in their fight against the Water Seraphim at all. Although if they were in a situation hanging between the fine line of life and death, I am sure I would have swooped down and helped them, but I didn't."

"So, you watched the whole thing unfold? You are not the only one who has eyes on those Slayers. Specifically, Yin Sohaya…"

"Yeah, his powers might be weird and all, it is pretty unorthodox, but hey, as long as they work, right?" Artorias was troubled. "Did they hear the Seraphim call him 'Thanatos' already?" The Basilisk Slayer asked himself.

Wilhelm laughed at the Basilisk Slayer. "We heard it, Artorias, we heard it well and clear. There was a time when we could have killed that boy right where he stood when they first got back from the Outer Gates. Tch. If only Luken Regalia and Gavin Khalil had not interfered, maybe then we could have killed the boy just before the Emperor himself walked in!" The High Council's leader got worked up but soon found his composure.

"Shit. Since when did these fools find the time of the day to send in their scouts that far?" Artorias "The High Council does not know of this 'Thanatos' fellow. But it is clear that the Seraphim called him that, whether it is by mistake or if the Archangel really was familiar with Yin Sohaya, he is far too dangerous and unpredictable to be left alive."

"What are you suggesting, Wilhelm? That we kill the kid?!" The Basilisk Slayer raised his voice while asking the question.

"You said it yourself, Artorias. Perhaps it is best to deal with these types of problems before it is actually revealed that the boy is in fact a sleeper agent for the Angels and Seraphims outside. Take the root out from the soil before it begins to grow." Wilhelm said with a sinister tone.

"Our knowledge and information about him are still not concise enough to come up with a conclusion. Do you want to put a kid to death because of the possibility he might or might not be something that you fear he is?!" Artorias Khalil was enraged. "I will not allow it. Either we come up with a compromise or I am hanging my mantle up as the Basilisk Slayer and telling everyone just how sick you fossils are." 

"How foolish you are to oppose us and our decisions, Artorias. It would seem that you have forgotten who it is that continues to power the red barriers of the Outer Gates. It is us, the High Council!" Wilhelm exclaimed.

"Let me intimidate him and try to get him to admit your allegations. That is the extent of what I am willing to do. If you wish to get your hands dirtied by spilling the kid's blood. I will personally come back here and show you the same hostility as you did to him. Mark my words." After saying that, the Basilisk Slayer left the halls without looking back. He knew that his strength as absolute. His renown is a bit chipped but he was the real deal, if he were to leave the Slayer Corps, the army would be in shambles. And the High Council knew that as well, so they did not oppose the Basilisk Slayer when he threatened to quit.

Artorias Khalil came across Vale Ashford on his way out. "Did you get summoned by them as well?" He asked her. "Yeah. Let us talk about it afterwards, meet me in the city's entrance after I am through here. It would seem as though I am summoned for the same reason as you. Whatever it might be." The Specter said. "Very well."

Thirty minutes after the Specter's summons by the High Council, Artorias Khalil was already by the entrance, waiting for her. "Hey, so what was that about?" He asked her.

"I guess I was right, though I definitely wish I was not. I was summoned to talk about the Seraphim calling out to Yin by the word 'Thanatos.' They already told me that you opposed in the plan to kill him plainly, I am grateful for that. She bowed her head at the Basilisk Slayer. "We should just pretend to interrogate him, do not tell anyone of this, I will write a note in order to inform the others of it. We can tell Yin after we are safe from the eyes and ears of the High Council.. Be careful, they are everywhere."