God From The Abyss

Chapter 15: Chapter 015: An Old Friend.

Two heads dropped before her.

She staggered back in shock.

Those were the other Master Rank knights in her guard. Just in the short moments she had stopped to catch her breath!

" Despite how young you look, you’re quite...What’s the word? Oh well, shall we continue or do I have to end you all and be on my merry way?"

Isabella was still panting heavily. While having been trained, it could not compare to real fights.

And Mikael seemed serious, the clouds of killing intent that rolled off of him were testament to that fact.

He was ready to cut everyone down. Then again, he wasn’t in the best of condition either. A stab wound, and probably backlash from whatever spell he was using had slowly deteriorated him such that she could keep up with him more.

"What to do..."

The latter part of her thoughts, she didn’t know, was also Mikael’s own thoughts. Limits pushed and grounds of average strength of the mortals now almost fully gauged, it would be foolhardy to continue to his possible peril. And so he dropped a bombshell.

" On second thought, take me to your home, child."

"Excuse me?"

Was this guy being serious right now?

" I said take me to your home, girl. You are from a ’noble’ family, no? I’d like to meet the leader of your family."

If there was anything else Adrian’s memories told the former Sovereign, it was that the world of men was pecuniary- their ’money’ would help him a lot. At least until he found a source of channeling celestial essence. And what other place to better get this money without wasting as much of what he had left than the home of these ’nobles’.

"Why do you think I will take a bandit like you, to my home?" Isabell fumed,glaring daggers at him.

"After murdering MY knights? Are you delusional?!"

’This bastard clearly takes me for a grand fool if he thinks I’ll ever lead him to my home.’

Mikael shrugged, dropping the daggers as he picked up his cloak. By now, the remaining knights had gathered courage to go down with the villain if need be. The mage however was nowhere to be seen.

"Enough fighting. I’m beat, my loss. I am bleeding and I need somewhere to rest." His eyes darted around the camp again.

" You and I, we set off now. Maybe after my rest. I still haven’t gotten used to flesh." He sighed.

" The escorts can do as they please."

Isabell’s face turned sour, her expression locked between doubt and rage. "You kill my men and you just think I’ll take you to my house?"

She felt the coldness of steel on her neck.

The voice was like death. "That wasn’t a request."

Her body immediately stilled, instinctively recognizing the danger behind her. ’Just how fast was this guy?’

Mikael walked up to her face, the same big smile plastered on his face. However, it being a bloodied mess made his smile a bit horrible.

He threw the sword at her feet.

Reassurance?

"Lead the way," he said, still smiling gently. "Since you humans seem to care for your kind so well, if you don’t move or try to deceive me I shall kill your subordinates."

To all in that small camp, that wasn’t a threat, no it wasn’t. It was merely a promise of what would happen. And so gazes of plea fell on the young lady.

Isabella knew there was no use fighting his demand.He was too strong for her alone and she couldn’t risk the lives of the family’s knights.

But his going to her home had two implications: either he overpowered her family, or they overpowered him. She, though, had much more faith in the latter happening.

Chanting a spell on the bracelet on her, she sent a message to her father. Danger was following her home!

"Let’s go, you fiendish villain," she declared moments later.

" I believe young nobles should mind their tongues, child." Mikael was now on his feet. His body screamed in pain and fatigue but he cared not about it. This was a phase he needed to get past, achieve his goal.

Young lady, I shall be coming with you. For protection." One of the knights had insisted when the Duke had approved of the visit. Others tried to buy Mikael stared them all down.

" Let’s be on our way then. Lead the way." And so the old lady and her knights watched the trio walk into the darkness of the forest.

As soon as they had gone out of sight, the highest ranking knight in the group barked out orders.

"Men!! Pack up camp, those of you who are free, we are heading back immediately!"

"Sir, yes,sir!!!"

***

The trio stepped into the Flaming City. Mikael was somewhat amazed at the sheer size of the city. It was surrounded by towering stone walls, glowing faintly with runic energy.

Civilization had grown to an astonishing level in a few thousand years.

"Defensive runes... right?"

Silence.

The streets were wide and rather clean—pristine even—filled with stalls and people.

Knights parading around, nobles in fancy carriages, and some strange robed figures moved about the streets, cloaked in mystery. Down an alley, a group of seemingly devouts prayed to a statue of the Goddess, seeking for blessings on the duchy. Seeing the statue made Mikael wonder whether the Goddess finally ever saw her true face since his being sealed away. And that stirred up a bit of sadness in his soul.

And to Mikael’s not so surprise, they all recognized the girl beside him, their gazes lingering with questioning eyes.

"The ruler of this city is my father." Isabella said after the boy had bore holes through her with his stares.

"I see. Let’s get a carriage. I’m tired of walking."

"Definitely."

The carriage raced toward the heart of the city, where the Flaming Ducal Palace stood.

As it came into view, Mikael was struck by the sheer scale of the structure. It reminded him of the Celestial Realm — an imposing fortress with towering spires that overlooked the entire city, majestic walls that seemed to be made of the same stone as the wall surrounding the city.

They pulled up before its massive, pearl-embedded gates, guarded by knights, standing tall in gleaming armor and flowing white capes, insignias of golden scales boldly emblazoned on them.

" The young lady has returned, open the gates!!"

As they walked up to the entrance, Mikael unconsciously smiled, a disturbing one that made the knight and Isabella almost disgusted.

"Whatever it is you’re planning, devil, I’ll not allow it," she warned, her hand already on her sword’s hilt. " Or rather there are a few people who wouldn’t allow it."

He already noticed the subtle formation of the knights, ready to apprehend him as soon they received an order.

As they passed through the gates, ripples of magic shimmered around them.

Suddenly, the defense runes were activated, and the gates were completely shut tight!

Alarms blared through the night air and it didn’t take long for the knights to gather around Mikael.

"Impressive. The runes actually picked up that my ’mana’ signature wasn’t exactly human," he mused.

" Secure the young lady. Boy, who are you?" one of the knights demanded.

"Hmm. A few Grandmaster Rank knights," Mikael muttered, turning around. The least among them was a Master rank who didn’t even have an opening in case he wanted to attack. This was going to be somewhat difficult.

The girl had already been whisked inside, alongside a few knights.

"And we were getting to know each other well," he sighed.

A blast of fire shot toward him. He sighed.

"This is going to be very troublesome."

He sneezed at the attack. The celestial essence would be very crucial if he was to make it out of this place, and so it was flowing. Mikael even began thinking he had made a mistake to visit a noble in the first place.

The knights gasped while the commander’s face tightened. He drew his sword. "Bind him!"

The guards moved at astonishing speed, tossing out magic-dampening chains at the white-haired young man. The defense runes flared, locking onto his core and releasing anti-magic sigils.

A single vein popped at Mikael’s forehead as he released all his bloodlust and aura, startling the guards.

He started absorbing the chains.

"He’s absorbing the mana in the chains!"

"How’s that even possible?!"

Mikael’s head tilted. His lips curled in the faintest ghost of amusement.

"Cut him down!" the leader of the knights had ordered.

Mikael grinned widely. The commander felt his warrior’s instincts become alert! There was nothing normal about the boy.

The knights drew their swords and charged at full speed, the usual glow enveloping their bodies

"Come."

Mikael kept on smiling. To survive here, he needed to go a little beyond and so with quite a lot of essence, he pushed his will into reality!

However, before the first sword could reach him, a black portal opened up behind him—more like an unstable tear in space—and something from the darkness seemed to answer his call.

A scythe! The scythe!

Mikael smiled, genuine happiness branded on his face. "Good to see you again,old friend."

Its handle was pure black, carved with runes humming with otherworldly energy. Its blade shimmered with darkness, a crescent of nothingness that seemed to consume even light around it. The moment it appeared, the palace grounds darkened, as the world recognized its very presence.

Mikael himself never expected it to still react to his summons, after all the eons passed. He even thought the Heavens would have locked it away!

Since entering the mortal realm, his memories of the Celestial were fuzzy and incomplete so he couldn’t remember how or where he kept the scythe after fighting the other Sovereigns.

He smiled inwardly knowing had this attempt not paid off, whatever happened here would great impede him.

In the mind of his opponents, one thought rang out. "Space-Time affinity! The rarest and most precious affinity! Delivered to their doorstep!

Mikael caught the weapon with one casual grab.

The once-stunned knights charged forward, containing the lad came first.

"Wonderful. Now, shall we begin this dance anew!" Mikael charged headfirst. The thrill of battle in mortal flesh was becoming addicting, having fought three times in less than 10 hours and the feeling of nearing death was a bit intoxicating!

The first knight fell, his head barely a few feet away from his body. Then a second. Third and a few more fell as the rest pulled back.

He tried to absorb their cores.

"Seems these rank cores have an effect on my celestial essence," Mikael muttered. "Then I might gladly kill everyone here and replenish."

He laughed—a deep, unnatural laugh that sent fear through some of the knights.

"He’s consuming their cores!" one knight shouted, stepping back in horror. His head flew off the next instant.

"That’s true," Mikael smiled, licking his lips.

There was one thing though, Mikael dreaded with every fiber of his being. The amount of backlash he would receive for all his use of celestial elements!

The remaining knights panicked. Surely, they had fought wars with other races, faced Ravagers and demons even—but this man? This lad?

This man was something far more dangerous, far worse than Ravagers, and somehow similar to the high-ranked demons. If he wasn’t one!?

They all turned to the commander—who had finally moved.

"I will be your opponent, boy."