Phase 3…
Princess Ling ended up stopping at a village to rest her new pet kitty for a few days. The giant tiger turned into pure energy, absorbing back into her upon deactivating the summon. It wasn’t long before she heard talk of this man called Raider, a rising star among the people. Even after using her charms on the villagers to get answers, no one seemed to know the specifics of his accomplishments, as if they were intentionally kept secret. All she knew that he was quite strong, but no one seemed to speak of anything worth investigating. At least she would’ve thought that in a lazier mood. She didn’t know every magician in the land, but a rogue rising star of a magician going by an alias in her own kingdom set off her inner alarm. Could this be an Astral assassin?
Princess Ling still believed in keeping Astral Empire nobles out of her kingdom, as they posed much too high a security risk. What if they secretly built an army inside the kingdom and no one powerful enough could arrive on time to stop them? Her methods may be bloody, considered cruel to most, but that Astral Duke was bad news, after all.
She laid back in her somewhat adequate room prepared by the innkeepers who treated her properly after she flashed the gold. The chair was quite comfortable and clean too.
Soon, the throne would be hers and all would bow before her. The destiny of the kingdom. However, she knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Her brothers were ambitious too. Really, the only disappointment in their family was her big sister, but that same cowardice saved her life. She’d be spared the politics, assassination attempts, or other trials and tribulations, married off to that handsome dark elf man.
Ling’s thoughts returned to Raider. Friend or enemy to crush into pulp? Seeing everyone’s positive outlook on him, the answer laid in between. Just someone to keep an eye on for now. Perhaps after taking the throne, she’d pay a visit to see what was special about him. If only the villagers actually knew where he lived. He appeared in Wingston.
Wait… What did he actually do to gain this kind of popularity? She sighed. Perhaps she’d find out sooner or later.
She jumped to her feet. “Wait! He has to be the hero. Who else?”
Ecstatic, Ling quickly tossed on trousers and a light shirt, leapt out of the window, and took off into the air. Destination Wingston. It shouldn’t take long at all to find someone to cough up Raider’s location. A little gold and the greed would move the lips. It worked every time.
The hero would also answer for the disappearance of the Black Cross.
In a lab in a dimension of darkness, an alchemist examined his newly acquired fragment of the Philosopher’s Stone. A ghost of a smile curled across his face, or what would be his face in a human form. Currently, he wore that of a humanoid demon made of darkness itself, almost like a hallow. The only features that never changed, regardless of his form, were his glowing red eyes.
With two of the six fragments, Ares planned his next move. Every alchemist wanted the chance to manifest the Philosopher’s Stone, after all. This, of course, served as a side interest to his greatest plans.
He turned his magical gaze on the cult that committed atrocities in his name. The man that led it was a crafty one, Ares would give him that much credit. Fanatics were not only a nuisance to approach, but downright dangerous. Anything he said or did could be misinterpreted by them.
Still, they had their own uses and for the first time, Ares would see if they were actually capable of being more than idiots that lived in a secluded dimension just because they believed that the Peace Spawner would want that.
In truth, Ares never acknowledged the cult’s existence, never approached them, nor so much as glanced in their direction to avoid any potential traps.
But now he held many traps of his own and the cult might be the strings to push the web. However… for some reason, Ares felt that the universe spawned something capable of slowing down or even stopping his plans. Perhaps it was a warning from the Dao tattoo or just a premonition. The thought of it felt… hysterical. Life would become more interesting if someone capable of challenging Ares emerged. It’d provide him the chance to finally cross his bottleneck.
