He freed Xin and walked past her, leaving a group of stunned youngsters behind. The Infernal King also followed behind Gabriel, leaving the kids alive.
It was only after Gabriel left that Xin dropped to her knees weakly. She could finally be assured that they had survived this calamity! She felt so weak. All the fear she felt before... Finally, she could relax.
"The Dark Mage who can use light... This going is too big to keep a secret. We should get back and inform our Elders." After Gabriel disappeared from their sight, one of the girls in the group commented.
"No! No one will say anything!" Xin clenched her fist. "That guy... He is terrifying. Even if he's a Dark Mage, I don't want him to become our Enemy. With the kind of strength he and his strength possess, we can't be sure if he'll really destroy the Empire! We should keep our promise to him!"
"But Xin, he is a Dark Mage. Can we really allow him to roam freely?"
"Who says he'll roam freely? He destroyed the Church of Light Branch in this town. He already has the Churches on his trail. Leave this matter for the Churches to handle. We shouldn't get our Empire involved in the War of Churches. No matter what, I don't want this kind of monster to become our enemy!"
Xin was usually the bravest of them all, but she wasn't stupid. She was more far-sighted than others. She had already realized that Gabriel wasn't throwing empty bluffs. That guy really meant it when he said that he was going to destroy them if they did anything stupid!
"Just the two of them are so strong. We don't even know how many people they actually possess in the Church of Darkness now. We didn't even know it existed until now! We shouldn't take the risk!" She further stated, still believing that Gabriel was part of the Church of Darkness.
She even expected a huge army to be behind him.
"What about Rong? How are we going to explain his death back home? And our entire army? What are we going to do about this? We can't keep such a thing secret, can we?" Yui asked.
That was the real problem. A son of the Duke had died. How could they explain it without mentioning a Dark Mage?
"You don't have to worry about that. I'll think of something... For now, get back. I don't want to stay at this place even a second longer..."
This was the place where Xin had seen an entire army being massacred like they were nothing. The chilly feeling still hadn't left. She wanted to get back to the Royal City as soon as she could.
****
"Do you really think she was telling the truth?" The Infernal King asked Gabriel. They had already gone far enough that they had lost sight of the group of youngsters.
"I am not sure. I couldn't sense any lies at least, but we need to verify the information from a third source," Gabriel answered.
"However, I do feel that they were telling the truth. According to them, in one month, the Spirit Tomb is going to open. And they came to the Beast Mountain for training. It looks like they were planning to train for the Spirit Tomb."
"Of course, I could be wrong as well. It's possible that they fooled me. If it comes to that, we'll handle it in a different way. But for now, I don't have many reasons to doubt them."
The Spirit Tomb was something he hadn't heard of before, so he wanted to know more about it for sure. Moreover, he had plenty of time to do that as well. There was still a month left before the Spirit Tomb opening.
That much time was enough for him to get to the Arecia Empire and retrieve the thing that could strengthen his body to the same level as his Soul. After that, he didn't have to worry about using Heavy Spells, no matter what.
"According to that girl, each Empire has two Keys to the Spirit Tomb. That also means that they have knowledge of it. In the Arecia Empire's, I'm sure we'll be easily able to verify this information from Novius' descendants."
After Gabriel was backstabbed in the past, lying at death's door, his Grimoire was the one that took him to safety, inside the mysterious place where he discovered the Ancestral Staff.
His Grimoire wanted to save his life, and so it did. But it also did something else. After being hurt, he was unconscious for close to two days, where he was constantly trapped in the same dream... A repeat of reality where he was stabbed.
The dream kept repeating again and again as if never wanting him to forget what had happened. With time, something inside him changed subconsciously until he finally let go of his extremely trusting and naive nature. No matter who it was, Gabriel never trusted anyone entirely... It was his self-preserving nature...
There was only one person he trusted completely with his life in this world... And it was the person right next to him.
"Are you still feeling uncomfortable with the Natural Energy of Earth?" he asked Raphael, who was walking right beside him.
Raphael was from the Realm of the Dead, so he was quite accustomed to the aura of death in his realm. The energy in this world was mostly filled with life, which was enough to not only make Raphael unable to use his complete strength here but also to make him uncomfortable.
Raphael nodded. "I don't think I'll ever get accustomed to it. But it's better than before."
"Do you want to go back home?" Gabriel inquired. Raphael had only come here to save him. He couldn't keep him here all the time as a guard. Raphael had a life of his own, after all.
Raphael didn't answer. He just silently walked beside Gabriel, keeping up with his pace.
"We are done with all the battles. For now, I only need to go on this journey. I doubt I'll have to fight anymore. And thanks to the ring, I don't think they'll be able to find me. If you want to go back, you really can..."
Even though Gabriel liked Raphael's company since he didn't have any other friends at the moment, he didn't want to be greedy.
Raphael eventually nodded. He had many things to do in the Realm of the Dead. He had just destroyed the Damphir Kingdom when he had to rush here to help Gabriel.
His Flaming Horse was back there as well. He didn't even know what the situation was like now.
He knew he had to deal with the aftermath there, and now that Gabriel was safe and healthy, he could leave…
