( Rocky's POV )
As the True Elites group crossed the broken outer wall of the palace and entered the inner area, Rocky suddenly felt like he was hit with a dejavu.
The scenes of the once chaotic battlefield around him forced a memory that was hidden deep within his brain to re-surface, as his heart began to beat louder and louder.
The setting reminded him precisely of the future that he saw within the Snakeman Ancestral Chamber, only the circumstances surrounding it seemed to be slightly different from what he had seen back then.
Instead of him charging in here alongside Erin, Buhara and Sophia, like the vision showed him... Rocky charged in here with only Erin and Buhara, with Sophia having become his captive.
In his vision, Riva was being held captive here on a wooden archers base, however, as he looked towards the spot where the Archer base was supposed to be standing erect, he could only see it's ashes remain as the Archer Tower was seemingly burnt down by the Coward armies inferno beam.
"Strange..." Rocky murmured, as on one hand he knew for sure that he had managed to change the predestined future through his own actions, however, on the other hand, he still felt uneasy for some inexplicable reason.
"Erin, I'll be right back–" Rocky said, as he first rushed into the tent where Riva was sleeping to ensure that his sister was still inside and had not been abducted without his knowledge.
Without understanding where his uneasiness was coming from, Rocky decided to check-in on both his sister and Sophia for peace of mind, as something deep within his gut seemed to be warning him of impending danger.
However, thankfully, as Rocky reached Riva's tent, his sister was still inside, sleeping soundly which brought some relief to Rocky's heart.
"So Riva is here.... What about Sophia?" Rocky questioned as he silently left Riva's tent and bolted towards the area where Sophia was being held captive.
After reading Escanor's letter, Rocky's mind had been thrown in shambles, however, if there was any silver lining to his misery, it was the fact that he believed in the bargain power of Sophia. Enjoy exclusive chapters from m-v l'e|-novelhall.net
With him holding Sophia captive, Rocky hoped to trade Sophia for his sister's drug formula, as he genuinely believed that Olympus would be ready to pay an arm and a leg for their Champion.
This made Sophia an important strategic asset for him, who Rocky could not afford to lose under any circumstance.
However, much to Rocky's absolut dismay, when he reached the part of the entourage where Sophia was supposed to be held captive by two of the True Elites's most reliable tier4 mages, he only found three unconscious men instead, with the kidnapper having seemingly knocked out both the guards and Buhara who had made his way towards Sophia not too long ago.
"Fuck–" Rocky cursed, as at that particular moment. He felt a blackhole open inside his gut, while his heart threatened to explode.
Panic took over Rocky, as after the emotional day that he had experienced, having his only silver lining being stolen from him felt extremely gutting, however, thankfully, as he looked around in a hurry, in the distant corner of his eye he did spot Sophia, who was being carried over the shoulder of a hooded man, while still in bounds.
"STOP!" Rocky shouted, chasing right after the kidnapped at top speed, as at that moment, Rocky ran faster than he had ever ran before, with him shattering his physical limitations due to the surge of adrenaline in his body.
Planting his sword within and using it as climbing support Rocky climbed up the tree like a desperate fool, however, his speed of ascent was unfortunately too slow.
Unfortunately, by the time that he reached the top, the enemy had already escaped by activating a teleportation spell, which Rocky was unable to block off since he had previously used the move to restrict spatial teleportation within the area around the tree's base.
Had Rocky been slightly more patient and not instinctive, he would have chosen the right area to restrict the enemy in, however, by trusting his instincts too much, he unfortunately made the wrong decision this time around.
"No! No! No! N–" Rocky mumbled, his heart beating out of his chest as for a second he forgot even how to breathe properly.
Sophia was gone!
Stolen from right under his nose and alongside her, the opportunity to bargain with Escanor on level terms was also lost forever.
"This can't be happening..... why is this happening?
I did everything right.... I did everything right.
I saved Riva, I did not fall for Sophia's schemes.... I somehow made it out of the underground prison alive.
But despite doing everything right, why is it that I still lost everything that matters?
Why am I coming out of this war a loser when everyone else is a winner?" Rocky questioned, as he felt genuinely depressed and anxious at this moment.
The Elites had won the control over Floor 21, the different alliance partners of the Elites and the Church Of Cowards would get their share of the spoils from it, however, Rocky won nothing.
His sister was broken by the enemy and he had lost the only way to bargain for her good health, which meant that he was most likely going to be forced to walk into a forced discussion with Escanor empty handed.
A discussion where Escanor could get away with asking any price because he knew Rocky was going to pay it.
"This can't be happening..... I just want to save my sister....." Rocky mumbled, tears forming in his eyes as he laid flat on his back on the giant beanstalk plant, with no idea on what his future held for him.
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End Of Volume 2 :- Birth Of A Villain.
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/// A/N - That's it from my side guys for volume two. Thank you for all your support so far, and I hope to see you in volume three where Rocky goes deeper down the rabbit hole of what's right and wrong, turning towards the dark side for the sake of his family. ///