Chapter 40: Chapter. 40: The Emperor

“You must be that Great Warrior the human spoke of.” His golden eyes stared deeply at me, regarding me for a brief moment before he continued. “A fine specimen, yes? Last of your kind and the works. And from the looks of it, you’re more than just a great warrior.”

I frowned, inquiring, I felt sickly.

[???. Lvl. 9]

Glim bobbed to my side seemingly waiting for something, but it decided against speaking. Meanwhile I simply didn’t know how to react, it was the first time I had seen question-marks from an inquiry. At the same time, he was way lower level than me, but for some reason I felt wary of him.

“Who are you?” My frown did not vanish, nor did my wariness from the man.

“I will kill you!” The demon commander quickly got up as I prepared myself to fire an arrow. “How dare you speak to his majesty that way, moreover sneak attacking me? You lack honor!” he hissed.

The blue-skinned demon ⁠— His Majesty for now ⁠— rose his hand in response. Stopping the demon commander in his tracks. His Majesty shook his head in disapproval and returned to meeting my eyes. His gaze shifted ever so slightly to my side before returning back to me.

“Warrior, how about we have a chat? Face to face, of course.”

What was with these people never giving options? “What if I refuse?”

The demon frowned ever so slightly before gazing deep in the forest, way behind me. “Then I am afraid I might need to kill your Human friends.”

He knew they were there from a glance? I pondered as I realized the dire situation, looking around there were about six demons alive, the commander and the so-called Majesty demon. My mana wasn’t looking good, it was practically empty. That said, he never said he would kill me explicitly, so perhaps I had some haggle room.

“I see you’re on edge,” he sighed. “Would giving you some mana potions suffice? I see you’re quite low on that.” I had a brief moment of pause. His eyes seemed to wander from time to time, what was he looking at?

He could see things I couldn’t. Just like I had Penumbral Sense, just maybe and just maybe he could sense⁠—

[Blair…] Glim interrupted in a whisper. [I suspected it, but this guy⁠—this guy can see mana!]

I rolled my eyes. No shit.

He continued as I struggled to make a decision. “I can at least promise you will come unharmed from this encounter, you’re too…” he pondered. “Precious, to be killed for now.”

The situation told me that it was better to try to drag things out. I had no mana to make a run for it, not a meaningful attempt anyway, and there was no guarantee the demon didn’t have something up his sleeve. If the demon commander called him majesty, while he himself had a Prophecy, then wouldn’t the boss be stronger? And the commander was:

[Daem Demon. Lvl. 10]

Higher level.

“I’ll agree to your conditions, however, I have a request.”

“What kind of request?” He asked quizzingly, his interest piqued.

At this point I could’ve said to let the Humans go, but I felt a much more immediate need. Just looking at the bloodied battlefield and the fallen husks, there was only one thing in my mind.

“I would like to be able to loot the elves.”

The demon commander held his sword ready to kill me should the order be given, but the demon pondered. At this point I expected him to lash out and order his soldiers to attack me, but instead he solemnly nodded.

“Consider it granted. Ar’ken, give her a mana potion.”

The commander huffed, and reached underneath his cloak to the back of his waist, he was bloodied but did nothing, even while completely injured and dripping blood he stood like a monolith. He brought a vial and tossed it towards me at incredible speeds. I had a brief moment of surprise before extending my hand to catch it. Struggling to not lose my foothold, the glass vial struck my gloved palm with burning pain.

“Lucky one,” he clicked his tongue and walked away after giving the demons some commands. Soon they began to leave. The commander staggered every few steps but strode at the same pace as others. I turned to the potion.

I inquired it to make sure it was actually what it was supposed to be, and to my surprise it was. A bit of the skepticism I was feeling vanished. I uncorked the vial in the meantime and quickly drank it before disposing of it. And then, there was silence. The only thing was the echo of the distant footsteps that indicated the parting of the demons. The majesty demon looked in the direction of the commander until they became nothing but a distant echo. And soon, we were alone.

“I’ll begin, even though we are not completely alone.” He smiled. “I am the emperor of the world of Ragna.” He then looked at me expectantly.

I raised my brow. Was it introduction time? “I am Blair, a dark elf, the last dark elf.”

He nodded in satisfaction. “Very well, Blair. I see you’re a worthy warrior, one that was born for this. Want to become my left-hand? With your help, the New World too shall fall under my hands.”

I had a moment of pause before answering. “Don’t you think that if I wanted to join hands with someone I would’ve gotten a Prophecy already? Besides, why should I even trust you?”

He paused. “You have no Prophecy?” His smile widened. “That is just amazing, you never cease to surprise me. Truly. Regarding trust? Well I could’ve killed you already.” Ha? Its voice sounded as sincere as it could get. He looked to my side. “What is the little one’s name.”

Following his gaze I looked at Glim, who seemed to freeze. Didn’t Glim say it couldn’t be seen?

“The System Assistant,” he added to confirm.

[Blair…] Glim called trembling. [He can…]

Was Glim panicking?

[He can see me!] It bubbled and circled around me. [He can see me! Me! A little ball of mana!] It went towards the emperor and circled him too. [Hey, hey! I am Glim! I am Glim! What is your name? Oh, by the way I am System Generated Assistant number⁠— No too long. I am Glim, and you are that one guy I spoke to Blair about! But I never expected anyone in the Skirmish to be able to sense mana!]

The emperor chuckled. “It’s quite lively, but unfortunately I cannot hear it.”

Glim froze. [Nooo! How could this be!]

“Its name is Glim,” I said with a sigh, seeing Glim’s stupidity. The moment Glim should’ve been useful was the moment it was the most useless.

“Odd name,” he commented. “Now tell me, Blair. Why are you the last one of your race?”

He spoke casually, but it bothered me⁠. Why did he want to know that? Did it even matter if he knew? It didn’t. And it could serve as an excuse for butting into the battle with the demons, maybe even, he would hold no grudge about hurting his commander after the explanation.

“The Woodland elves. They declared war on my race, and by allying themselves with other elves eventually all of us were wiped.”

He raised his brow. “How did you survive?”

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I looked into his eyes. “I hid in the forest.”

He tilted his head looking into the distance. “Weird, if one wanted to wipe a race there would be no better way than to dedicate decades to search the world. Did they let you live, perhaps?”

I scoffed in an instant. “Then they made a mistake by letting me live.”

“Perhaps,” he laughed. “I like your confidence, reminds me of my younger days.” I stared at his face, he had a symmetrical and strong face, one that would befit the ideal man. That said, he didn’t look particularly old. “Blair, I’ll cut you the details, you should come under my wing.”

There was a brief pause before I shook my head. I did not understand the person in front of me, I did not even understand if they were trustworthy but the fact that their eyes held no hostility was an indicator of something. “I simply want revenge,” I said. “I need my freedom for that.”

The emperor shook his head. “Just join me in name and go kill those elves. I will give you resources. I will support your growth…” His voice deepened. “I will give you the world.”

It all sounded sweet and good, but there was a problem. “Why?”

He did not change his demeanor. “Simply put, the fact that you have a System Assistant is a testament to your strength. At the same time a human under my wing informed me. And moreover, you fought an incredibly strong Guardian. One that had discovered the entirety of its Prophecy.”

Having Glim made me strong? I frowned. “The bird was strong. I am assuming you had visions too, but still. Discover the entirety of its Prophecy?”

“Isn’t it strange that my commander and the elves fought yet they only used the same move?” he asked back, making me nod. “That is because Prophecies must be learnt. Acquiring a Prophecy does not make you strong on its own. Give your life to Arkaram, and I shall share all of the secrets that I know of.” He smiled. “Voting Interference, The Great Beyond, The Rifts. I shall tell you everything as my left-hand!”

I frowned, pondering. It was almost enticing, but still. I didn’t want to be with the demons. Hell, I barely even knew the emperor. I didn’t want to be with anybody. I did not want to serve under anybody’s wing or be underneath anyone. I wanted my own freedom, true freedom, I wanted to have the capacity to make my own choices. Ultimately I shook my head.

“A shame,” he lamented. “Perhaps you might change your mind if we meet again.” He turned around, beginning to walk.

I wasn’t done here, though. There was still something I wanted to talk about ⁠— and no one was better than the emperor of the demons⁠. If he could be called that anyway/

“Wait!” I got his attention, making the emperor stop on his tracks. “The humans, I have a deal with them.”

He turned to me, curiosity more than obvious in his face. “Deal?”

“The deal states to make the demons leave them alone.” I gestured behind me. “They’ve been following me around for close to a day now.”

I pondered for a second. “It could be said so?” I did lose quite some time due to their limited stamina. He muttered to himself.

"Preventing someone from attaining peak strength is less than desirable... Especially for a future warrior..."

He nodded.

“Very well, you can count this as a favor from me. I hope you can repay it in the future.” I owe him now? A favor? I frowned. “Another tip for you, Blair. Prophecies now are not really worth it. Too much trash among the treasure. Wait for the Selection Process, the second round, the second day, if you don’t you might regret it.”

I paused.

[He might, just miighht, be saying information that could get me deleted off this earth. Just might.] Glim confirmed in a roundabout way.

With that, he turned once more, walking into the forest. I felt mixed feelings about receiving such advice from a supposed enemy. Kindness with gratitude, and pain with vengeance? I remembered an idiom at that moment, one fitting the situation.

“Emperor!” I called once more. He faced me with just a glance, his expression neutral. “Thank you.” I felt odd, the demons did not seem as initially bad as I imagined, but I was unsure.

He smiled and waved. “May we see each other, Blair. Enemy or ally, I welcome it either way. Second advice: you might want to hurry looting the elves, the ground will become unstable soon.”

With those parting words, silence echoed once more.

The ground will become unstable? I looked around but everything seemed normal. Penumbral Sense remained in the quiet, not activating either. I waited a minute before finally descending my tree, and hurriedly moving my way to the elves. It was a gruesome sight. Amputated limbs, injuries that went through the heart, shoulders⁠—head, fallen hands.

As I went through the cold bodies, I found broken potions and others intact, no items to be found. Inquiries just told me it was the basic gear provided by The System. I got closer and closer to the elder⁠—where the grass was missing, where most of the elves had died, where the explosion had occurred⁠—charred grass, missing body parts, and at the center there was the elder. His head was still pierced by the arrow, while everything that surrounded him was nothing more than chunks of elves. None with complete bodies.

I quickly removed the arrow from his head. It came off with some kind of semi-grey pink meat, but the arrow was pristine. Flipping the body around I found a pouch at his back. I dug through it just like the previous ones. I found five potions there, as well as something else. It was a tear-drop shaped crystal with a minute amount of liquid in it. I smiled.

[Guidance Of The Stars: 30 seconds (Rare item) ⁠— Seek the guidance of the stars themselves to show you the path of your Prophecy.]

I quickly stashed everything in my yellow bag, in the end I counted about thirteen potions, with eight of them being health potions, and the other five being mana ones. I finally had potions once more. I smiled to myself before heading towards the forest, where the humans waited. It was time to bring Matt the news.

◇ ◇ ◇

Matt laid low, visually shaking as I reached their spot. He jumped hearing movement, that was until he realized it was me.

“Holy shit,” he sighed. “What kind of hell happened out there?”

“The elves and demons decided to go at it between themselves,” I answered before turning to Matt. “I also spoke with the so-called emperor of the demons.”

He raised his brow. “And what did he say?”

“He will leave you people alone.”

Matt solemnly nodded, letting go of a sigh. “I suppose this is the end, then?”

I nodded.

“Thank you, Blair,” he said with gratitude, giving me pause. Wasn’t he supposed to be whiny?

As I was about to answer, a low rumble entered my ears. The air whispered with ghastly howls, it was screaming⁠—the howling turned into rumbling as the tree tops shook. And soon from the near-clear sky, a pillar of light fell. The entire forest rumbled, and with an explosion the nearby trees set themselves ablaze as an incandescent color filled the background.

[A nearby Prophecy calls to you.]

The ground will become unstable soon… Did he predict the Prophecy falling?

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