Arcane Era-Chapter 53: At Crossroads (Part 2)

It was only after Theo was long gone that Fae shattered the rising tension with a clap.

"Alright, break it up."

At this point, Damon was wrestling with the teddy bear, already having the upper hand, while the three opposing him stood stunned by the sight. Upon being awoken by Fae’s voice, their bodies suddenly snapped from their daze and they looked in her direction.

"W-what have we—?"

"You were under the control of my Armament, though you probably thought your body was moving on its own and in accordance with your desires to help your friend." She revealed, slightly shaking her head. "And, of course, Damon isn’t taking this confrontation seriously at all... or you’d all be down by now."

The three were stunned by this revelation, but out of the three, only Arlet could muster words to speak. And the words came in the form of a question.

"Why?"

"It’s a long story, but let’s just say it’s in his best interest if he believes his friends managed to hold us off while he runs to save Shen. I can’t have the rest of you join him on such a deadly mission, so I brought you out of it." Fae replied promptly. "Now, you guys will help us rescue the prisoners and take back the Outer Court."

"But what of Theo?" Liyah asked.

"No need to concern yourself with him." Fae snapped, frowning disapprovingly at Liyah.

"But, sis..."

"You will follow orders from your superior and do as you’re told." She said, "I could easily make you obey with my Armament, but I’d rather not. Either way, you’re coming with us."

"Please lead the way." Arlet stepped forward instantly.

"Arlet!"

"What? You still think we have a choice in the matter?" He frowned at Kaycee and Liyah, almost exasperated by their reaction. "The Zenith clearly operate for the good of the Guild, so not only would it be safer to go with them, but it would also be more productive to do so."

"Finally someone who has some sense.... Ow!" Damon nodded and smiled, until he was promptly jerked at the side by Fae.

"But what of Theo? We don’t know if he’s safe yet."

"Not my problem." Arlet sighed. "In the first place, we were only allies out of convenience and a common goal. We aren’t friends or anything like that."

Kaycee and Liyah froze as they heard this.

"Don’t look at me like that. It’s the truth." He groaned. "You guys are just wasting time by being stubborn like this. Theo made his choice, but you don’t even have any choice, since they can just control us. Are you really going to risk innocent lives, who could be in danger at this very minute, because you feel conflicted about abandoning your friend?"

At that moment, Liyah thought about Miriam—the woman who saved her.

She was an innocent.

’I... could have helped her, saved her, if I wasn’t so hesitant and unsure...’ Her thoughts trailed as she clutched the whistle-like gem that dangled on her necklace.

After a few moments of silence, Liyah finally cracked.

"Okay... I’ll go with you." Hanging her head low, she walked forward, holding Kaycee’s hand as she did so.

"What of Theo?" He asked.

"He’ll be fine." She replied coldly.

"And how sure are you about that?"

"I’m not..." She whimpered softly. "But he’s Theo... so he has to be fine."

Kaycee could see Liyah tremble, hiding her sobs. Even her hand that weakly held his was shaking, a clear display of the conflicted emotions that swirled within her at the moment. The choice couldn’t have come easy for her, but it was what she decided.

It was now his turn to make a decision.

"Okay... let’s go."

The group packaged all the Armaments they plundered from the room, walking in the opposite direction that Theo ran in. Liyah and Kaycee looked back a few times, hoping their friend would run back to them, but that never happened.

Arlet’s cold and focused eyes remained ahead, undeterred by the plethora of emotions that swarmed him; both internally and externally.

As for Theo—

"Ack, urgh... gahhh....!"

Theo collapsed on the ground, his body paralyzed by the pain that assailed his body as his back rested on the wall behind him.

Blood oozed from his lips, and poured from the top of his head, as he raised his eyes to look at the adversary. The man’s face was blurry, but one thing that remained glaring to Theo’s eyes was the heart symbol and the number that stood right next to it.

Number 1.

’How unlucky...’ His thoughts trailed as he felt himself pulled into unconsciousness.

The plan was to find a way to get rid of the Supreme Grade Armament that had trapped Shen within its barrier, and to do that he figured he would have to somehow sneak into the Event Hall and get close to the elevated platform.

He had to do all of that without getting caught by the Mercenary Crew, and most importantly... by the Mercenary King.

But, everything went south very quickly.

He had managed to sneak past the Mercenary Crew Members—even some Intermediaries here and there—with relative ease. By exercising patience and relying on his heightened perception, he could detect incoming enemies and make necessary preparations before they spotted him.

The necessary preparations usually included hiding, though he had to kill those who stood in his way if he had no choice in the matter.

He went about their execution in the swiftest way possible, too.

No sound... no evidence.

Like a ghost.

But, right when he was so close to his target, his flawless strategy came crashing down in the face of sheer power. And, without having the time to properly prepare, everything quickly went south.

"Haa... haaa..."

How did he manage to run into a Head Intermediary as soon as he made his way out of the underground paths and climbed to the surface? How could he have known that he would encounter such a powerful foe in the medical center, which was supposed to be abandoned?

... And how was he supposed to know that the man would be so strong?!

’Damnit...’ Theo smiled bitterly. ’I’m going to lose my life over this.’