Chapter 187 - 187)Sacrifice

"My Lord!"

"My Lord!!!"

Shade looked at Night who was slowly regaining his consciousness, Noctis was just as worried as Shade, if not more. When Night was taken away into the other realm of the ancestors, it was only his mind. His physical body remained here and when he randomly collapsed, he did so with Noctis still sleeping on his head, which just made the little one even more worried.

"Urhhh that fckin hurt....." Night groaned as he turned around and hugged himself. He was in a fetal position, which was the only thing that reduced the pain at the moment. Watching His Lord suffering in such a way, so much so that he had to resort to regression was painful, but at the same time, he was grateful that Night was still alive.

It was only after a few minutes of rolling around in pain and discomfort did Night finally sit up straight, even then he could feel his body burning slightly. However, compared to what he felt before, it was nothing. If this was like touching a cup filled with hot water, then the feeling he felt previously was like keeping your hand into the fire for at least 5 seconds.

[You have acquired the symbol of The Ancestors!]

'Is that it??? What was the point of all this then? Was all that pain for nothing? That talk?'

He was slightly furious, he didn't exactly want a reward but at least a little more on what exactly the symbol did or who they were, anything. Since the beginning of the game, very rarely did Night get answers to what impacted him or the others around him. It started off with Nyx's curse, although, he did get some kind of an answer later on.

Night ran his fingers up his top and could feel the symbol on his chest. It was a line, a thick line and once he looked at it, he realized it was dark in color. However, the odd part is that it was a semi-circle, almost as if it was missing one half.

'That's weird...is this all? Is this the entire symbol?.....looks unusual....'

"My Lord!" Shade knelt next to Night and awaited His Lord's response.

"Oh, I'm sorry for constantly worrying you like that, I'm not sure what happened but I can tell you that I feel exactly the same, unusually so..." Night said as he patted Shade's head and at the same time his other hand gentle caressed Noctis' face.

"Let's get going then? We have places we need to be at...." Night said as he got up and dusted himself. The anger in him still hadn't subsided, instead, he was waiting for the moment he began training, all those feelings of grief, hatred, anger, everything, was going directly into his growth.

'You destroyed the place I shared with my Senior.....I hope you're ready for what's going to come your way,'

He thought as he looked back at the broken-down dojo, it was painful. After a loved one's death, we tend to embrace the things shared between us, and taking such a thing away or even destroying it, would be heart-shattering. 

Night and the others continued to walk, they spent a good amount of time getting familiar with the entire place. After all, the Kingdom of Aeternum was still a Kingdom, regardless of how small. Night didn't even know which city or district he currently was in.

'As expected of the beginner zone, it's lively. Even now, Players are flooding in,'

Once again, what Night failed to recognize was that, just as he looked at the new players logging and running around, everyone else was looking at him. It was obvious that they would recognize him, after all, he was literally the most famous player and according to the tournament, the strongest as well.

"Is that Player Night?? Who is that next to him? Is that his brother? They look somewhat similar, and what is that cute owl creature on top of Night?"

"That definitely is Player Night, you would be foolish to think otherwise hmph! And how should I know that boy next to him, it clearly isn't Nate so it's probably some new member in The Primordials, it's obvious that even he is absurdly strong. As for the pet, I think, it belongs to the new face there, or who knows? It might just be player Night's ahah,"

"Hey now that you say it, I've seen that new guy somewhere, and recently as well, I just can't seem to remember where or when, hmm."

Night could very easily hear all the comments, dozens of speculations and questions were thrown at him from afar, but he casually walked past and looked around with a fascinated expression. In truth, it wasn't as if he wanted to do that, it was just that he genuinely wasn't paying any attention at all.

"My Lord....where is it that we're going?" Shade asked as he looked around to hear the sounds of metal and wood. It seemed as if they were near an arena of some sort, but as far as Shade knew, His Lord wasn't someone who would voluntarily look for a fight. He was a battle addict, someone who would next to never turn down a fight but at the same time, Night had better things to do than go to an arena and show off.

"Hmmm, you'll see," Night chuckled as he still maintained the surprise, it was the first step towards winning against his enemy, Neo Thallius. This part couldn't be rushed, it was important, it was change and growth. As an otaku, he knew how important these solo training arcs were, especially after something drastic takes place.

He had to work carefully and slowly, regardless of how out of style that was, it was important. He needed time to assimilate the large amounts of experience and information he was soon going to get, although, compared to the others, for Night, it would simply take a few days at the max.

"Ah finally, we're here!" Night exclaimed as he stood outside a huge building built in the shape of a cave, and there was only one entrance, which was a giant hole in the center. Red banners and pieces of cloth were thrown around and blade marks were very visible all over the building. He took a deep breath and realized that there were more than 10 people watching him, somewhere from the darkness of the cave. Instead of being creeped out he simply sighed and exclaimed,

"The Assassin's Den!"

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"How do you feel," Pythia said as she picked up a piece and placed it in another square, "Rook takes Knight," she smiled at her opponent.

"What do you think? You're the Great Oracle no? I think you should be able to divine that much," Noel replied with a dry smile as he looked at the board, "Queen takes Rook. You know for someone who taught me how to play the game, you're not very good at it,"

"Hoh? is that so? Queen takes Queen," Pythia smiled snarkily, "Still not very good?"

"I stand by my words. I would probably have more fun playing with Night," Noel replied as he picked up his rook and moved it, "Checkmate. It seems that you have failed to realize, that sometimes to win a battle, you should be willing to sacrifice something," he had a sad smile as he realized what he said. While it was true, it was still too close to home. "I'll be off then..."