The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 103

Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Peculiar Congregation

ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

There was an expression of ever-so-slight amus.e.m.e.nt reaching the raised brow of Windsom’s sharp eyes. The asura, still donning a military-esque uniform paired with a trim, side-swept hairstyle to match, held out my bond.

“Sylvie!” I exclaimed. I bolted up from my seat but was extra careful in picking her up out of Windsom’s hand. Upon careful inspection, there were no visible wounds on her body, and by the rhythmic breathing, it seemed that she was simply asleep.

Letting out a relieved sigh, I carefully placed my sleeping dragon on my head before regarding the asura standing before me.

“Thank you.” I gave him a meaningful nod to which he responded with a look a parent would give to one’s child after he or she had misbehaved.

“I had known you were rash, but to think you would get yourself and Lady Sylvie caught so soon, and by the ones involved with the Vritra no less,” he reprimanded.

“To be fair, I was saving the academy from the Vritra,” I half shrugged, as if that would validate my actions.

“You need to understand that you and Lady Sylvie’s safety should take the most precedence as of now.”

“Windsom, there were people inside that academy whose life I considered more important than my own.” My face grew stern, reflecting the resolve in my voice.

Windsom regarded me for a moment before speaking again. “Was it for the Elf Princess?” he asked as if he already knew the answer.

“It-it wasn’t just for her,” I defended, my voice coming out a lot more unconfident than I had wanted.

“No matter,” the asura sighed. “What’s done is done. Speaking of this, what I do not understand is why the perpetrator of the incident took your friend, Elijah, with him.”

“I don’t know either...” I was at a loss as well, and no matter how many times I pondered about it inside my cell, I couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation.

“I don’t know,” I repeated. “But I need you to help us out of here, Windsom. I need to find out where they took Elijah and—”

“And what? Save him?” the asura cut in, his deep-set eyes cold and penetrating. “You can’t even escape from this place but you think you have the ability to save him?”

After letting out a deep breath, he lowered his voice and continued. “Besides, I know roughly where the man named Draneeve took your friend.”

“Really? Where?” I unknowingly grabbed onto his sleeve as I said this.

“After investigating the artifact left at Xyrus Academy, I suspect it was a teleportation device that Draneeve had used to escape, along with your friend Elijah... as well as the device he had used to...”

“... to get here,” I finished the sentence, a feeling of dread growing inside me. “They took Elijah back to Alacrya, didn’t they?”

“Most likely,” he replied, his voice cold.

I slumped back against the wall, staring at my feet as neither of us spoke for a while.

“Windsom, following my train of thought, I was going to suggest that I follow Elijah to Alacrya in the hopes that he would still be alive so that I can save him. You would then probably going to respond by telling me that I shouldn’t even dream of it since I’d get killed as soon as I step foot...” I looked back at him and a truly rare moment dawned on me where I had no answer. “So what do I do?”

“Well I wouldn’t say you’d die as soon as you stepped foot,” the asura smiled slightly, hints of empathy evident in his usually cold voice. “But yes, it would be suicide. Luckily, the p.a.w.n the Vritra Clan had sent left before you arrived, otherwise they would be much more wary of you. As of now, they hold an interest in you enough for them to want you in their possession, alive, but if they find out that you actually have Lady Sylvia’s innate will as well as her daughter, then I’m afraid even the asuras will have a hard time keeping the two of you safe.”

“What am I to do then? Just give up on my best friend?” I countered. “I calculated the possibility of receiving aid from the Elf King and I also knew you’d help us escape, but even thus, there wouldn’t be a safe place for us to stay. Considering that the Council is working for the Vritra, I would either have to stay where my family is hiding, or burrow somewhere deep within the Beast Glades.

“Staying hidden with my family, I wouldn’t be able to train without revealing my mana signature to the lances, endangering my family and Tessia’s. If I choose to go to the Beast Glades, I most likely wouldn’t survive long enough to get any reasonable training done.” I thought of the echoes of the giant mana beasts that we pa.s.sed on our way here, and how even the lances were cautious enough not to brazenly mow through.

“You seem to have quite a good grasp on the situation at hand,” the asura acknowledged, giving me a terse nod. “How much have you managed to connect the Vritra with the Council?”

“Enough to reasonably suspect that the ones most closely connected to the Vritra were the Greysunders. The humans seemed to be favoring the opinion of the dwarves as well, but I have a hunch that they are reluctant,” I thought aloud.

“Impressive,” Windsom admitted. Sliding back his left sleeve, the asura looked at his watch. “Arthur it is about time we—”

“Who are you.” a voice interrupted.

Both Windsom and I turned our heads to see that it was Bairon.

“It seems he has finished taking care of things,” Windsom muttered softly to himself.

‘How did you get in here?” The lance’s eyes narrowed as his glance flickered between the asura next to me and the supposedly locked up dragon on top of my head. Despite how rash Bairon had acted with me, I realized that he was actually very cautious and level-headed under normal circ.u.mstance. He regarded Windsom with caution, not leaving any openings in his stance even when they were separated by a reinforced cage.

“I asked how you got in here,” Bairon growled, his eyes glued on the mysterious visitor. “Are you with the other intruder?”

“Yes,” Windsom replied indifferently, taking a step toward the lance.

“Then an explanation is no longer necessary.” Bairon raised his fist like a loaded cannon as the gathered electricity crackled and popped around his arm.

[Flash Ray]

I frantically jumped out of the way, upon knowing what was coming. Windsom had forgotten to remove the artifact strapped to my chest, disabling my mana flow. If I were to get hit with that spell, there wouldn’t even be ashes left to bury.

A condensed sphere of electricity shot out from the lance’s fist, disintegrating the reinforced metal bars as if it were tissue. However, Windsom stayed glued to his position as the spell rapidly approached him.

I braced myself for when the ball of lightning would collide with the asura, but as Bairon high-level magic reached Windsom, the asura simply reached up and caught the spell as if were a rubber ball.

I knew, undoubtedly, that Windsom would be able to handle the attack, but even I didn’t expect it to be done so easily.

Crushing the orb of condensed lightning in his palm, he turned to me, gesturing with a flick of his head. “Looks like we have our way out.”

I let out a snort of laughter, but before we could say anything else, Bairon had already reached Windsom.

“Child. There is no longer a reason for you to fight me,” Windsom said coolly as he easily dodged the barrage of strikes and kicks imbued with lightning. Unlike me, Bairon’s lightning magic seemed to mostly consist of external spells.

[Thunder Lance]

Bairon activated a spell in the midst of his attacks, conjuring five spears made of lightning to stab down at Windsom.

I had moved in the cell to avoid the brunt of their fight, but as I continued observing, it looked to me like Windsom was actually... bored.