Advent of the Three Calamities - Chapter 727: Outer Beings [3]

Chapter 727: Outer Beings [3]

“Do you trust me?”

That was all I said when I saw the confusion and shock in Leon’s face.

“It’s a complicated situation, and explaining how I know you have the Chalice would take too long. It would be best if I showed you.”

The shock on Leon’s face wound down upon hearing my words. He still looked shocked, but seeing my expression, he finally managed to calm down.

I could tell from his expression that he had a lot of things to say.

“You can ask if you want.”

It wasn’t like we were running out of time.

He opened his mouth, but then shook his head.

Instead, he brought his hand towards his chest, and blue veins suddenly manifested around his body. His face contorted with pain as his hand entered his chest and he started to pull something out of it.

I watched the scene in silence until…

“H-here.”

Leon held the Chalice before me.

“You asked me if I trust you…”

He was struggling with his words as his chest heaved up and down unevenly. Taking several deep breaths, he handed it to me.

“This is my answer.”

“….”

It’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t a little bit moved.

Staring at Leon and seeing his gaze, I could tell that he really trusted me.

I had even prepared a long speech to summarize the entire situation and how I was in need of the Chalice, but… things turned out a lot easier than I expected.

’Is this stupidity, or do I really have that much of his trust?’

“Alright.”

Nonetheless, I didn’t reject his offer and reached for the Chalice.

However, right before I could grasp it, Leon pulled it back a little.

“Hm?”

So he really wasn’t going to give it to me for nothing…

“If you want me to—”

“That’s not it.”

Leon shook his head, staring at me with his deep gray eyes.

“I’m going to give it to you. I just want you to remember something.”

“Yes…?”

“Whether you like it or not, I’m your knight.”

“That’s…”

“I’m on your side.”

He shoved the Chalice to me right after that, leaving me stunned on the spot. For a moment, I didn’t know how to react, but as I looked into his eyes, I smiled.

“…That’s a given.”

I almost laughed as I felt the cold touch of the Chalice in my hands.

“Whether you like it or not, you are my knight.”

Did he really think I was going to let go of 50 million Rend for free?

He was an idiot if he really thought that.

Leon smiled too.

He seemed to want to say something, but I spoke before he could.

“Guard me for a few minutes.”

“Just a few minutes…?”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know.”

It could be a few minutes or it could be more.

I wasn’t actually sure.

The book didn’t really say anything about how long it was going to take. I didn’t think it was going to take a long time, but there was no guarantee.

“…Okay.”

Leon’s face turned serious, and so did mine as I focused all of my attention on the Chalice before me.

Then, activating my ring, the Chalice vanished from out of thin air.

I sank my consciousness into the ring not long after.

Thud!

A white palace greeted my view not long after.

I walked into the palace and made my way towards the backroom where all the items were stored.

As I walked, I couldn’t help but look around the place.

It was relatively empty and lacked any real decoration.

’Maybe it’s about time that I start decorating this place.’

But then again, it would waste quite a bit of my mana. In that regard, I wasn’t so sure if it was going to be a good thing.

“It’s a pity that I can’t bring anyone inside.”

Things would be so much easier if I could. I had a feeling that the Outer Beings couldn’t see through the ring.

Noel also seemed to have a way to speak about them without getting noticed.

Was it because he was a god? …Or did he have a special item too?

’Maybe this is also the reason why I have the ring…?’

It was something that I had planned in the past?

Maybe

I wasn’t really sure if this was true. If it were, I’d feel a little bad about the book, since I could’ve read it in the ring, but it wasn’t like I knew back then.

Clank—!

Opening the door of the backroom, the first thing I noticed was Pebble. The cat lay down on the floor without any expression. It just curled up there with an egg, not far from it, staring at it with a blank expression.

I thought about saying something, but decided against it.

I had been trying to speak with Pebble ever since the incident, but it would only give me brief and short nods before going back to daydreaming.

I thought things would improve with time, but… that didn’t appear to be the case.

The cat was still dwelling on its failure.

I shook my head and focused my attention on the wooden case that rested by the nearby desk. Next to it was a mirror as well.

Coupled with the eye and the Chalice in my hands, I now had all four artifacts in my possession.

I looked around before grabbing the mirror and the wooden case.

I then headed out of the room.

But just as I did—

“Where are you going?”

The cat finally spoke, making me pause.

This was unexpected.

I turned around slowly before nudging the items in my hand with my chin.

“I’m going to do something pretty big. Do you want to watch?”

“How big?”

“…Pretty big.”

The cat paused and then looked at the egg. In the end, Pebble began to stretch its body as it started to follow me.

I didn’t say anything and walked alongside the cat towards the space outside the palace before laying everything down.

Opening up the case and laying out the sword as well, I paused before reaching for my eye and carefully removing the artifact lodged in my socket.

Immediately, my vision shrank.

’I can really feel the difference.’

The eye was relatively heavy in my hand, and it was also quite slimy.

I set it down next to the other relics, then sat on the ground and stared at the items laid out before me.

I took a deep breath, glanced at the cat, then recalled the instructions I’d read in the book and hovered my hands over the items.

Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!

I could feel the sound of my own heartbeat drumming loudly against my mind as I started to circulate the mana around my body.

While it was true that I was nervous, I was more excited than nervous.

I wanted nothing more than to restore all my memories and no longer be in the dark about everything.

I… wanted to see exactly what turned me so mad.

Swooosh!

As soon as I circulated my mana, the four relics began to glow simultaneously, releasing a powerful wave of pressure. The force was overwhelming, and Pebble bolted in shock.

“Human!?”

I clenched my teeth and ignored the cat while focusing all of my attention on the relics before me.

The area near the relics felt as though it was radiating magma.

My skin felt like it was melting, and I struggled to remain composed as the pressure only grew with each passing second.

“Haaa…”

Steam rose out from my body as my vision grew hazier and hazier.

Woom!

A powerful humming sound echoed across the entire space. The four relics were resonating with each other. I remained on the spot, feeling beads of sweat falling down the side of my face as the heat before me grew even more scorching.

Despite the heat, I remained where I was.

I could take the heat.

I had gone through much worse, and Lazarus’s experiences were still fresh in my mind. This was nothing compared to what he had experienced.

Pain was now something of the past.

“Hoo.”

Taking steady, audible breaths, I closed my eyes and focused on channeling my mana into the four relics. With each passing second, their resonance deepened, and the humming sound grew louder and more intense.

It drowned all the noise around me.

I took the opportunity to close my eyes and focus all my attention on them.

Four balls of light appeared in the darkness of my vision.

They began as four dim orbs, but with each passing second, they grew brighter and brighter until they overwhelmed my closed eyes with blinding light.

’It’s ready!’

My eyes snapped open, but a searing pain instantly blinded me.

The light tore through my iris and sank into my eyes. I didn’t even have the time to scream before I felt myself lose my other eye.

I went completely blind from that moment.

The only thing I saw was darkness.

The darkness was accompanied by a scorching heat that seemed to burn down every part of my body. Although I couldn’t see it, I could feel it.

I was being burnt alive.

My body trembled on its own as I ignored the pain.

The destructive power that came from the four relics was something that I had already been aware of from the start.

But… what I didn’t expect was the intensity of it.

Rattle! Rattle—!

Before I knew it, the surroundings had started to shake.

While I couldn’t see, I could still hear.

“What’s going on? The palace is shaking!? It’s… breaking apart!”

Pebble’s panicked voice also helped me better understand what was going on around me.

My heart sank.

The last thing I wanted was for the ring to break.

But it quickly became clear that I had severely underestimated the power of the four relics; the rattling grew louder, and sharp cracking sounds began to echo inside my mind.

I wanted to quickly stop the situation.

The ring was not something that I could do without.

However, it was too late.

“Human! Human…!!!”

There was no going back.

The scorching heat became even more unbearable, and so did the rattling. The pain that I managed to ignore started to finally have an effect on me as I struggled to keep myself composed.

I tried to resist, but realized too late that I couldn’t.

’No, no, no, no…!’

I clenched my teeth. However, there was nothing for me to clench.

My body…

It was gone.

It had completely evaporated.

And then—

BANG!

Everything exploded.