"I wish I didn't have to do this." Baldur walked into his room with a sigh and pulled out a crystal with pulsing green light.
The gift of Miss Calamity wasn't as low as a regent post. This was the actual gift.
A life saving energy.
It could replace Baldur in a crisis with an artifical body and fake his death. Its a priceless with no market—every single time this treasure—the creation of a very powerful life force expert appeared, the powerhouses would fight for it like shrews.
If it's made by Miss Calamity herself, it'd be the kings fighting, not the powerhouses. Using it for anything other than life saving could only be described as waste.
Yet, Baldur didn't have any hesitation as he broke the crystal and let the green light envelop him.
A few moments alter, a Baldur—almost identical to him appeared.
"You want me to replace you while you're gone searching for her and her treasure?"
Baldur almost jumped in fright when the puppet spoke out of nowhere.
"Y-Yeah," He keenly observed the puppet and felt his heart calm down.
The puppet's eyes were bright, gleaming with wisdom and stability. If he hadn't know its real identity, Baldur would've treated it as a person like any other.
"I know you know that I know what you know, but I'll say it again, there's little chance she's alive. But the treasure is definitely there. Be careful." The puppet patted his shoulder.
"Err, okay, I'll be careful." Baldur gave an awkward chuckle at being advised by himself.
"I'll try to stall Azalea as long as I can. But I wouldn't be surprised if she's already on way to that new civilization. Your reaction did give away more than you should. So, hurry."
Baldur's smile vanished and he nodded with a grave expression. He took out a sleek silver cube and tapped on it in a certain pattern.
A few seconds later, a spaceship rushed towards solar system.
A few more seconds later, another spaceship followed.
— — — — —
One of the forbidden grounds of Hortus, the Forbidden Land of Order and Chaos.
Darkness flared like a flame, fluctuating violently, soaring to a point where it could devour entire cities and then shrinking to a state where it couldn't even cover a shadow.
It was as if someone was pouring petrol into the flames once and then truck loads of CO2 next, pushing it between the two extremes, never letting it end.
"I can't…"
"Me too, I…I'm sorry, I can't help any longer…"
The woman sitting in the center of the darkness fluctuated between Sia and Enigma, their faces equally pale and exhausted.
'Hmmm,'
A hum sounded in their mind from a feminine but cold voice.
'Did I succeed?' Her tone was regal and overbearing, like the natural queen of everyone.
'You didn't. If you're—'
'So I got the fragment of the slivers in my body. I did succeed after all.' Not caring about Sia's words, she chuckled to herself with satisfaction.
But her words alarmed the two.
'What do you mean fragments? What did you do?!'
The voice went silent for a moment and Enigma thought she was falling asleep again. But what replied was a cold chuckle.
'Don't play dumb. I have the power of four slivers. Two are missing and have become the cause of instability ever since I opened my eyes.
That boy gave the potion and solved my problem. I'll now have no issues hitting the divine rank. It won't end there, with this uniqueness, I can even hit the realm no one has ever reached before.'
'Y-You mean the reason I appeared here, met him was—'
'All my plan. I might be asleep but my subconscious can take care of trivial things like that.' She replied to Sia in confident and prideful tone.
'Then the wolf that attacked him and me waking up—'
'I didn't do it. That incident was strange now that you mention it. The beast managed to get out of the dungeon, past the security, into the neighborhood and attacked your house which is around the center.' The woman's voice was solemn and contemplative.
'Maybe it's a coincidence. I don't know, I don't care.' She dismissed it quickly though.
'W-What do you want to do now?' Enigma asked, unable to find proper words.
'Oh, you finally gathered the courage, huh.' The voice laughter in a sweet voice that could shake hearts and steal souls. 'What else am I gonna do? I'll take back my body from the thieves.'
"Arghh!"
"Ugh!"
Darkness flared around them and their bodies began to shift, turning into a more mature woman.
"S-Sia, d-do it!" Enigma bit her tongue and transformed into Sia.
Sia pressed her wedding ring. Its single most important function was to provide vitality to the owner in case of serious injury and keep them alive. And the secondary functionw as to teleport them in case of emergencies.
With Enigma fully blocking off the woman, Sia managed to activated the ring.
Everything turned dark and the next moment, Sia collapsed in a large hall.
"S-Sia?"
Sarah stood up from the platform and ran to her. "What happened?"
"Another Primal Union body…" Hearing the unfamiliar voice, a chill shot up Sarah's spine but pushing down her fear, she activated the link between her and Sia.
It was formed because of the Synergy with Varian, creating strong links between the man and woman. But the connection between them was also useful.
Feeling the soothing support entering her, Enigma and Sia slowly managed to push back. "S-She's going to return."
Without another word, Enigma fainted.
The white dress Sarah was flickered with golden lights as the Queen of Radiants knelt beside Sia and looked at her with teary eyes.
"What should I do? What can I do?" She just reached mid rank 2, a few weeks after breakthrough.
It's an incredible speed, enough to crush any genius, but ironically, Sarah found herself too weak to do anything.
She couldn't imagine never seeing Sia and Enigma again. Varian or not, she wanted to protect them at all costs.
"If he only returned…" Sarah bit her lip but quickly suppressed that line of thinking.
Varian had a lot on his plate already. It's unrealistic to expect him to solve every single problem they faced.
Besides, Varian should've sensed Sia's wedding ring activation. With Hortus, he could appear here in minutes. But he didn't make it.
That told Sarah enough. He must be in a restricted area, doing something dangerous.
"Just be safe, I'll take care of it." Sarah picked up the lady in her arms and placed her in a special formation.
Blue, green, red, yellow—dozens of lines lit up in the formation and enveloped Enigma. Her pain eased and her breathing grew less laborious.
"Oob,"
"Y-Yes, Scion?" The wings manifested in the ancient hall.
"If I grow stronger, I can help her, right?" She stroked Enigma's hair and sighed softly. "Show me the way to legacy."
"B-But…" Oob stuttered.
The reason why Varian hadn't picked the legacy was that there's no legacy. To be precise, there was no legacy here.
Devas spent all their fortune at the end to seal the slivers and lost everything really valuable.
"The legacy has a special aura mass that you can easily digest since it's attuned to Scion." Oob muttered. "You can easily reach help you reach high ranks if you take the legacy."
"But there's a problem, right?" Sarah asked.
"Yes. It's not here. None of the legacy to speak of is here. When destruction finally came, Devas realized they couldn't survive. They didn't want their legacies to fall in the hands of outsiders. They sent it back to their ancestral lands.
But in case someone did and a scion appeared, they left a way out to retrieve that legacy."
Sparks flew in the hall and a purple portal began to take shape.
"It's dangerous, right?" Sarah sighed.
"It's very dangerous." Oob admitted. "But you aren't going to back off...and since you're Scion, if you order me, I can't resist. Rather, I'm trying to be honest and warn you about the danger."
Sarah patted the wings with a wry smile. "Sorry, even if it's dangeorus, I can't lose my friend."
"It's the ancestral lands of devas, lies in what is today the region of Nexus Empire. It's a restrictive space and I don't know much about it. But if you succeed, you can return much stronger."
Sarah walked into the portal leaving the words. "If I don't come back…please tell him not to blame himself."
