YM778.TV Chapter 43: The Heart Oath
"Not to mention, she is showing interest, it shocks me that she does but if she wants to play along then how could I take that from her?" He added, and Sara looked at him wierdly.
"Play?" She repeated his words with an air of intolerance. "Is this some kind of game to you?" Sara asked, and Sol took another bite of his apple and turned to her.
"No, this is a serious matter that I simply have no interest in," He chuckled. "If the world is ending, it\'s not my business, if war breaks out it\'s none of my business, I never wanted to be here." He sat forward.
"Something like a holy war is far more interesting, if Arkadia decided to revolt against the gods, that would be fun for me, I would enjoy that, but a fight to prevent the fate of the world from falling into the hands of demons... Heh, I\'m not interested at all." Sol admitted and the yellow system windows started popping up all over his field of view.
[The goddess of war is in a fit of laughter]
[The god of destruction is chuckling at the thought of a holy war]
[The god of goats thinks very lowly of himself now]
[The god of order is appalled at your suggestion]
[The pantheon is divided against this opinion]
[The god of gambling is giddy at the prospect of a holy war]
"I think a majority of the gods themselves would go for my preference too," Sol closed an eye.
[Divinity active]
[The tarnished scowls at the gods of Arkadia who refuse to raise a finger in the aid of their people who are being overrun by demons]
"It doesn\'t make any sense to me though," Sol looked at Sara with one eye slightly glowing blue.
[The Tarnished is disappointed]
He stood and smiled at the confused maid. "Let\'s go for a walk and return later,"
"I was sure you would still be exhausted after this morning," Sara stood with him and straightened her uniform with a sigh and a small smile. "Have you already recovered?"
"I\'m all good," Sol flexed his muscles.
A few hours later and the meeting had almost reached midnight with no sign of ending.
"Master is having fun without me again," Ikaris dropped her forehead on the table, drowning out General Grim\'s explanation to the queen with a loud groan and sigh. "Why are we having a war council now?" She asked turning her gaze to the General, and he cleared his throat and tapped his fingers on the table before her.
"It\'s boring~" Ikaris sat up and slumped in her seat, conjuring a small flame in her palm and making it dance around to a tune in her head.
"Ikaris, you\'re being disrespectful again," Eris poked her shoulder, but Ikaris grunted and shrugged off Eris\'s touch.
"I have long recovered, send me out, let me fight, I have had enough of this constant talking, no wonder no progress has been made in a hundred years, while the demons constantly advance and chip away at your borders you sit in the comfort of your castle chatting away, this is the kind of war that has to be won by overwhelming power and constant progression, not pointless war tactics, the demon army is a horde of billions who will ignore all your formations and overwhelm you with numbers, you need to constantly reduce those numbers to have even a slight chance of winning!" Ikaris stood and slammed her hands on the table causing the fire to spread and fade.
"Hero!" The Queen stood and slammed her hands on the table as well. "How dare-"
"I\'ve had it up to my last nerve ending with your attitude little Queen Vermon, I\'ve never seen a more indecisive leader of a country, it\'s like you\'re inviting the demons yourself.
"Watch your tongue!" One member of nobility that had joined the meeting stood in the queen\'s defence. "How dare you accuse her Highness of-"
"Pipe down you little shitstick, I\'m having a woman to woman conversation here as a former leader myself!" Ikaris turned her eyes to the man clenching her fist and Renia grabbed her hand when Ikaris\'s divinity started showing through her eyes.
"Lady Ikaris, please-"
"I wonder if this is how Sol felt from my passive attitude all those years ago, there are countless people still escaping demon territory on a daily basis, the gates can\'t even close because there is a constant influx of refugees, and yet you sit in your comfortable chairs talking about nonesense like monetary distribution amongst your factions, countless people die every single day!" Ikaris slapped her forehead and kicked her chair out.
"Summon me when there are demons to be slain, I will be in with my master until then," Ikaris grabbed Renia\'s hand and dragged her out of the meeting room, leaving everyone shocked speechless and the queen seething with her teeth ground.
"Y-your Highness-"
"Shut up!" Misty snapped at the man who had come to her defence. "That woman...
How in the hell did she become a hero, her and that bastard she calls master have been nothing but a stain on my name ever since they arrived here!" She pushed her chair away and turned to the wall, breathing fire from her mouth into the ceiling with a roar and then covering her mouth and looking around at everyone who had witnessed it.
"Mother!" The princess stood to approach her but she held out her hand and shook her head.
Her right eye had changed from blue to yellow, and her gloved right hand had burn marks across it after she had forced the fire back down.
"This meeting is postponed, all of you get out of my sight," She turned her back again and coughed up sut and smoke, as if a furnace burned inside of her.
"That was crazy, what the hell is she?" Dina asked as soon as her and the other female heroes were in the privacy of their shared room, but before anyone could answer someone knocked on the door.
"Can we come in?" Bruce called, and Usami went and let him and Han in, gesturing to their usual spots on the opposite side of the table where they usually sat while Eris went and sat next to Dina.
"A-" Dina opened her mouth to speak again, but someone interrupted her with a knock once more, this time it was General Grim, Ladies Arla, Idria, and Lyra, followed by Sir Morn and then Bruce\'s teacher, Kris Ravenmar.
"Is it time already?" Eris asked, when she heard the flap of wings and Ikaris shot through the window as she usually would, landing skillfully in the far side of the room and then turning to them.
"Now all that remains is-" Dina started again, but shut up a third time when Sol came through their window next while Sara used the door, asking for a pardon from her Intrusion and bowing respectfully to everyone, and finally, Renia appeared through a black and crimson gate and walked behind Ikaris as they all converged.
"Thank you for coming," Grim clasped his hands toward Sol, missing the part where Ikaris cast a dampening spell that blocked every scrying magic that had been pre-set in that room before they even got there, blocking their conversation from the outside and even the other gods.
"First I have to ask you all to make a heart oath-" Sol spoke up, and all of the Arkadians in the room stared at him shocked.
[Heart oath: A mana-bound pact that ties directly to one\'s heart, if anyone breaks the promise that bound the oath to them then their mana will converge and overload their blood vessels causing their heart explode from their chest killing them instantly, before they even finish spilling their secret]
"-What is said in this room will stay in here, if you ever repeat it out to anyone else, you will die immediately, not by signs nor by clues, not by writing, so long as you try to reveal it you\'re gonna die a painful death." Sol added.
"That is an extreme-"
"If I\'m telling you my secrets I need to know that I can trust you, and since I don\'t trust a single one of you, this is absolutely necessary." He interrupted Arla before she could get her complaint off the ground. "Here,"
Simultaneously a window appeared before all of them.
[Sol Vestic has initiated the terms and conditions of a heart oath contract, whatever is mentioned for the next hour can only ever be discussed between those who have accepted the contract, will you accept these terms?]
"Me too?" Renia looked at the window confused. "This cant-"
"All of you." Ikaris looked at Renia.
Reluctantly, everyone accepted the oath and signed the contract with their mana.
"Then, from the begining," Sol closed his eyes and took a seat with Ikaris next to him while the rest took seats on the opposite side.
"Approximately two months ago back on earth, I died..."