Chapter 75 Volume 2: Prologue

Volume 2: Battle at the Iredale Castle

....

"So it wasn't you who gave the quest?" I ask Amon as I once again find myself back in the white dimension. I have already helped out over a dozen people, yet, there seems to be no stoppage in people coming here.

Further still, at least once in a while, the people give me a chance to talk to Amon and Elle, despite their own urgency, so it's fine.

[Nope. Quests are given for the benefit of a race as a whole in general, along with a logical path that doesn't cause a lack of common sense. Like the organisation belonged to Vampires and Demons in a way, so to get the best outcome for humans was to get rid of that particular organisation.]

"Couldn't it have been done before I interfered or something? Why exactly at the same time when I was killing them?" I inquired a bit confused as I recall whatever happened back then and the answer came was…

[Because it involved Demitri and the First Vampire Queen. If people had fought the organisation before, they might have lost brutally and even if by some stroke of luck they had defeated Demitri, it would have set Rosaline free, and that would have created chaos, and the whole of Bryxton could have ended up under her control, which all in all was detrimental to the humans]

"So, you are telling me that all the quests are not given as individual quests, but over cumulative group quests that are aimed towards the betterment of an entire race?" I asked again to confirm as my eyes widened with the sudden realisation behind the workings of the system.

Now that I think about it, it does make sense, especially when compared with what happened after the second Cataclysm, when the parasites invaded.

If I remember correctly, people did have a lot of quests all related to one city at a time rather than being scattered all over the place. It was as if the System wanted them to work together. Guess this was the reason…

"Though it makes me even more curious. Why does the System work like this? What do you want to do exactly?" I ask Amon with a really curious expression and the answer I get is

[I can't tell you, yet. You are not ready]

-Sigh

After that, I asked a few more minor questions related to the event that had transpired to make sure everything checked out and once I was sure that everything was fine, I moved towards Elle.

"Why did you allow Lucia to come with you?" She asked me glaringly. After hearing what Lucia did with me, she was really angry with her and I yawned before speaking.

"If I don't do it. Lucia will kill both Cristine and Eliza long before I could do anything. She has this habit of keeping her people close to her and anyone who strays too far dies. Though, it's not all bad since William too will be joining us and I can use him to safeguard my life against Mark Leeway's family when I will be in that castle."

Elle looks at me with an analysing gaze before speaking,"was it necessary to save Cristine and Eliza? One or two less people should not change your plans by much, won't they?"

I observed her eyes, which seemed confused and irritated. Looked like she didn't want me to take Lucia at all. I can more or less understand her behavior as I personally would have either killed Lucia or totally avoided her but…

"Cristine had an ability called Soul Needle Darts, which she unlocked just a few months before dying. That ability was practically useless until the third Cataclysm came. After the third Cataclysm, some people could capture souls and trade them for money and other stuff.

​ While I personally hunted those bastards, there was a certain person that had a special ability to cancel off the effects of soul capturing. It is more of a gamble, but if I am not wrong, the ability of Cristine, which she would unlock, will have a similar effect if not the same and I won't give up on that ability no matter what."

I told her my reasons, and she looked at me with a slightly shocked face. While I did tell her about the future, I skipped out a lot of information and hence her reaction was normal.

-Sigh

She sighs before she sits on the floor with her feet spread and then falls on her back as she closes her eyes. I look at her exhausted face as she asks,"Tell me Zero. What do you think about Lucia right now?"

For a few moments I pondered over that question as I recalled whatever happened in the past and then a burning sensation creeped up from the inside and I said,"I think I hate her more than anything in my entire life."

"I am not talking about that Lucia, but this Lucia. The current timeline, Lucia, has nothing to do with what the past Lucia did. How do you see this situation?" she asked again without opening her eyes and I came face to face with the question which I was trying to avoid ever since I came here.

I hated the previous Lucia… If I see her again, I will kill her even if it costs me my life maybe… but this one… I don't know.

"I hate her too and I will never get along with her… but do I hate her enough to kill her brutally on the spot? I don't know. Personally, I would like to keep her as a stranger and only use her when I can… else, I would just prefer to be strangers. If she ends up meddling with my business too much, I won't hesitate to kill her, I suppose. All this might sound confusing but… this is what I feel about the Lucia of this timeline," I tell her my feelings honestly and Elle opens her eyes and she moves closer to me as she speaks,

"Don't worry. I will make sure you don't end up with that manipulating bitch ever. How does that sound?"

I looked at her determined face and chuckled a bit as I answered,"all right, partner. As you say."

"All right, so before you leave again. Look at this," Elle spoke as she creates distance between us and then took out her sword and spoke out loud,

"[MOON GOD'S FIRST DANCE: SWORDLESS]"

And then swords began forming all around her and started swirling in a rapid circular motion. At the centre of the sword dance, there was Elle standing there as she spoke,"Half of the swords are created from skill bursts which cost stamina while the other half from mana."

'Hmmm.. a mana effective sword attack, huh? Not bad but still… with the amount of stamina I have, it would still not be feasible to make this attack work,' I thought and Elle nodded before speaking.

"Rather than concentrating on stamina, I would like you to practise this move with regards to mana. Later on you can use these forms with blood sacrifice and stuff," she spoke and my eyes turned a bit wide as I looked at her with surprise in my eyes.

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"So it's an escape move rather than a combat one, huh?" I spoke, and she nodded before speaking,"Amon, can I ask you for something?"

[Sure. Go ahead!]

"Can you create an exact copy of someone? And can you make it so it can be a training partner for either me or Zero?" She asks again and understanding where she was going, my eyes turn wide open as I look at her smartness… or maybe I was just an idiot to not realise it earlier.

[There will be some minor limitations, but I guess I can. As long as it does not disturb the energies of this dimension]

Looking at that message, a bright smile forms on Elizabeth's face as she looks at me and says,"while it may not be exactly helpful in many real time situations, I think it will be helpful in more than one way."

And hearing her words, all I answered was,"yeah. I understand it completely. In fact, I think I can exploit this feature way more than you can imagine, Elle."

My eyes then turn at the small kid of about 10 years old, sleeping a bit away from here. It was him who brought me this time to the white dimension and his desire was simple… he wanted to see his helper, one of the SSS-classes who coincidentally saved him a long time ago, and also pass on a thank-you message to him.

Before him, there were a few more women with similar conditions and a few old men with their small yet fierce desires. Though, rather than letting me stay here, they pushed me out of the white dimension immediately without giving me a chance to communicate with Amon or Elle.

I then turn back to Elle, who seemed to be waiting for my command, and I nodded at her before speaking.

"Amon, summon a clone of Mark Leeway at his prime power level."