"Fuck…"
Vaan cursed as he held the broken artifact in his hand and a dull look appeared on his face.
"This is the fifth one…"
Elara commented with a disappointed look on her face.
The two of them had been looking for Artifacts used by Veronica and all five artifacts they found were either broken or burnt to the point where they couldn't be used anymore.
Normally, Artifacts were made out of strong materials that could easily withstand unnatural circumstances that most other materials cannot, this time, however, Vaan and Elara weren't very lucky.
The last spell Veronica used was simply too much for even the Artifacts to bear, the destructive force it contained razed kilometers of area to the ground, if a spell like this was released inside a City, even a Major City would meet the same end as the poor forest, how could human-made artifacts possibly endure such spell?
Vaan understood it as well, he knew that the only way he could get anything out of this situation was if he somehow found a Divine Artifact.
As Artifacts gifted to their believers by the Gods, they could withstand even the extreme conditions.
In Agresia, there was a saying which meant that if a person was strong enough to destroy a Divine Artifact, he was strong enough to contend against a God, and with no surprise, such a being has ever existed.
The Divine Artifacts were considered indestructible.
So only those Artifacts could survive such conditions.
However…
Divine Artifacts weren't exactly common, the number of Divine Artifacts even a Major Power has could be counted on one's fingers, for a mage who belonged to a Power that was even well known, the chances of her having a Divine Artifacts on her were… low.
Of course, it didn't mean Vaan and Elara were planning on giving up. They had been staying and hiding in this place for two whole weeks, they couldn't possibly give up just because the probability of finding something was low.
The two of them were still hoping for a lucky shot.
The two took deep breaths and started walking again.
At the same time, they looked around and couldn't help but be more and more surprised,
They had walked a few kilometers in, but despite walking so far, their eyes still couldn't see the end of the burnt ground. At the same time, they also couldn't believe just how far they were pushed away by the impact of the explosion.
The longer Vaan walked, the more he realized how their survival in this situation wasn't a lucky shot, rather, another being making a move.
A being who noticed their presence, Vaan guessed that it was the voice who talked to him before, he tried talking to it again, but again, he received no reply.
Vaan also theorized that he wasn't hurt because the world tried to protect him, as a being from the future, dying in the past might cause complications in the timeline and to prevent that, the very world made a move.
Of course, it was only his rough guess considering everything that had happened and he had no proof or a method to prove his claims but Vaan believed that the possibility of it being the truth was high.
Elara however, shook her head when she heard the theory,
"If the world wanted to protect the time travelers, then we wouldn't have received these injuries either, or it would have simply teleported us back to our Era as it does with people who are discovered by the netizens of this Era."
Hearing those words, Vaan nodded his head as well.
Elara's words made more sense.
He was protected.
Why? Or by whom? He didn't know. The voice seemed like it was interested in his Spirits and was the one who took them away, but what it wanted to do with them, Vaan had no idea.
He could only assure his heart by thinking about how it saved him, so most probably, it didn't wish to harm his Spirits.
Of course, the leap in logic was quite huge, but this was the only way for Vaan to calm his heart.
He had no clue where his little girls were, he was worried, however, even if he tried to, there was nothing he could do in a place where he couldn't even reveal his presence.
This feeling of helplessness was eating him from inside, this was also the reason why he was searching for something left by Veronica in order to divert his mind.
"Vaan…" While the two of them were walking, suddenly, Elara called out.
Vaan turned towards her and saw her pointing in a specific direction.
He glanced at the pointed direction and a frown appeared on his face.
The entire ground in front of them was charred black, there was no sign of life anywhere near them, the once tall trees that populated the forest had completely disappeared, one couldn't even tell that this place was once a bustling forest and could only guess that the land here had been barren for centuries.
However, on this barren and flat land, Vaan and Elara could see a hump. They couldn't tell what it was because of how far it was, but in a place where even the toughest of rocks had disappeared, a bump was definitely unusual.
The couple nodded at each other, then, they started walking toward the said bump. Since the bump was around a kilometer away, it took them around 10 minutes to reach the 'hump' and as they got closer and were finally able to tell what the 'hump' was, their expressions changed.
It was Veronica.
The Mage who was the cause of it all.
Vaan looked around and was greeted by the same sight of the charred ground that spanned endlessly, from the looks of it however, Vaan could guess that he now stood at the very center of the explosion, and thinking about it, he couldn't help but get goosebumps all over his body.
He and Elara had been walking around for 2 hours, they didn't change directions and continued to walk towards the center, and only now, did they finally reach it.
To think a human could cast a spell with such a huge scale of destruction… and that too after bombarding countless other strong spells.
Vaan looked around, trying to find the Swordsman, the Demon, or anyone else's body, but again, other than the cause of the destruction herself, the rest were all devoured to the point where even their bones had disappeared.
"That was a terrifying spell," Vaan commented with a solemn look on his face.
However, seeing that he didn't receive a reply, he turned towards his fiancée only to see her staring at Veronica's dead body.
Once again, Vaan was mesmerized.
Even in death, Veronica's majesty hadn't faded away.
The woman was on her two knees, her shoulders were hanging, her head however, was raised upward as if she was scared that it would fall down the moment she lost the power to control it.
Her long red hair was flowing together with the wind, most of her clothes had torn apart, unable to bear the brunt of the explosion, her naked body was revealed, but despite it being one of the most alluring bodies Vaan had ever seen, just thinking about the scale of destruction caused by this woman made him tremble in fear.
Lustful thoughts didn't even enter his mind during the entire ordeal.
"Should we bury her?"
Vaan questioned as he glanced at Elara.
He noticed the strange look on Elara's face, he believed that it was because this was Elara's first time seeing a dead body from so close, so to help his fiancée feel better and to show his respect for the grand mage in front of him, he came up with the idea.
Elara nodded as well.
Vaan was about to move, wanting to carry the body, but suddenly,
"Let me do it."
Elara spoke up.
Vaan was taken aback, he, however, didn't stop her and nodded. Elara then walked forward and gently held Veronica's dead body, she then tried to pick it up, but then,
*Thud*
A book fell.
Elara and Vaan frowned, since Elara was occupied, Vaan picked up the book and cleaning the book a little, his eyes fell on the cover,
'Magic Guidebook: Journey from a 1st Circle to the 7th
By Veronica Flameheart.'
"Wait…"
Suddenly, Vaan realized something as he glanced at the dead body in front of him, he glanced at Veronica's blistering red hair, then, his eyes fell on Elara.
S
"Elara Flameheart…"
Vaan couldn't help but call out.
Elara, who had placed the body on the ground frowned as she saw the dull look on Vaan's face, she walked towards him, and the moment she read the title of the book and Veronica's full name,
Her expression changed.
A strange silence fell over the place.
Vaan didn't know what to say and before he could even think about what to say, he was interrupted by a voice,
"Vaan…"
Little Flamey called out.
