YM778.TV Chapter 68: A strong foe appears.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Han sneered at her while she turned again and put on her medic jacket carefully.
"Come on dude, is your mind that shallow?" Bruce spoke up, undoing the roof of the carriage by pulling on the lever by the door.
"It hasn\'t even been two days yet, I know we haven\'t known her for long, but Ikaris has never shown fear, not even once, she\'s always been confident, she\'s always been assertive, but the other day, she was a mess, she was scared for his safety, she fainted, she was vulnerable, did you think she would just dismiss him after having such a scare?" Bruce asked, and Usami nodded and gestured to Bruce.
"See, even the class idiot gets it, how can you have less sense than this rock?" Usami continued gesturing to Bruce while he made gestures of choking her to death for the accurate insults.
"Honestly," Dina shook her head at Han. "You make a great leader, Han, but somehow you\'re still a shallow man, it\'s incredible... if I got scared like that, I\'d never let him out of my sight again."
"You\'re all exaggerating it, we have no idea where he was, and have you forgotten what happened with her, just how much of their secrets are we going to ignore before something bad happens because of them?" Han looked ahead of the carriage where they could see smoke rising on the horizon.
"Ikaris will perform her duties as she always does." Eris defended. "You don\'t need to be privy of her and Sol\'s secrets, knowing changes nothing, she\'s a hero and she always pulls through, that\'s that."
"I\'m telling you-"
"For fuck\'s sake Han, drop it already!" Eris snapped at him before he could start again. "It\'s none of your business."
"Oh my gosh she cussed," Dina held her hand to her mouth with a fake shocked reaction.
"We already confronted them, have you forgotten?" Dina added, and Han frowned again and looked further ahead where Sol and Ikaris was as cuddly as usual as they rode next to Arla. "Just focus on yourself and stop stuffing your fat nose where it doesn\'t belong."
"It\'s real nice how you\'re all ganging up on me." Han turned his back to them and rested his elbows on the driver\'s seat, taking a deep breath. "Whatever."
"Now\'s as good a time as any to ask then," Ikaris sat forward and braced herself on Sol, and then looked across at Arla who had been conversing with Sol about casual nonsense she had no interest in. "Little elf-ling," Ikaris raised her hand, and in an instant their space was isolated as her true appearance was revealed.
"Ah..." Arla stared at Ikaris while Sol held a passive expression, watching the road having already heard from Ikaris what happened in his absence.
"You remember who I am." Ikaris stated, and Arla nodded nervously. "You remember everything we told you and the others." She stated, and again Arla nodded as a trickle of sweat rolled down her cheek.
"Um..." Arla tried calming her raging heart by placing her hand on her chest, but nothing she could think of would work; Ikaris\'s presence was suffocating to even be near much less look at. "Are you going to kill me?" She asked, and Ikaris responded with silence, as did Sol. "I suppose... Uh, well... Do I...
Wh-" Arla\'s mind gradually deteriorated into a mess of incoherent thoughts the longer Ikaris stared at her.
Her breathing quickened, and her grip on her horse\'s reigns tightened until her knuckles started going pale from a lack of circulation.
"Relax, I do not plan on hurting or harming you in any other way," Ikaris smiled and relaxed on Sol\'s chest again.
"I have thought about that night a few times, the whole purpose of telling everyone was to test whether my powers ligitimately worked here on Arkadia, so I was quite shocked when you revealed that you were aware of my existence after I was convinced that I properly erased the minds of everyone."
"I... did not remember," Arla answered after being assured that she was safe.
"Oh?" Sol looked over at her.
"My staff is crafted from an ancient elven oak that holds memories, I forgot everything, but the staff reminded me as soon as my memory was wiped, I figured it was a good idea to keep my knowledge to myself since you went through the effort of taking it back from everyone."
"Then why expose yourself?" Sol asked, and Arla scratched her cheek and looked away from his gaze.
"You and her holiness hold a bond beyond natural boundaries, she was on the verge of a violent outburst, so I tried reminding her that you were going to succeed in your bout." She answered.
"Bout?" Sol raised a brow.
"Ah, yes, you said you would continue playing with the gods, and, I have seen and heard you mention the gods in ways that hinted at you knowing and making a mockery of them personally, to my knowledge the gods are all arrogant beings of immeasurable power, if you were that confident then it must have meant you were fighting them in secrecy, and after that day at the restaurant was sure you were some kind of god." Arla lowered her gaze when Sol\'s eyes slightly widened and rapidly changed from brown to a shining silver.
"Ha ha, aren\'t you the clever one!" Sol laughed.
"She has been watching us ever since the very first day," Ikaris looked at him.
"I figured, I was so excited about the thought of getting back at Dr\'ul that I just blurted it out," Sol calmed down and hid his divine magic again, causing his eyes to revert to normal and his hair to calm down.
"If I may, master Vestic," Arla stared at him expectantly. "What exactly are you?"
"Hm," Sol looked at Ikaris who kept her gaze ahead toward the smoke on the horizon, he wanted to be cryptic and lead her on to see if she would figure it out, but something else caught his attention, as did Ikaris\'s which was why she was staring ahead. "I left the camp as a human, a few things happened here and there, and I kinda just evolved I suppose," Sol answered.
"Evolved?" Arla gasped. "So, you are no longer human... Are you... Are you a god?"
"Master became a demigod," Ikaris answered. "He had a close call with death and was forced to become something against his wishes." Her tone was hateful as she thought about Saat. "That seven-faced bitch, I do not care what the others say, if she ever shows her face before me I will tear her apart with my bare hands for trying to steal Master away." Ikaris seethed.
"By others you mean...?"
"The pantheon, you might have missed it because you were paying attention to Ikaris, but take a look at the northern skies later tonight." Sol gestured forward.
"Is it truly okay to tell me all of this?" Arla asked, and Ikaris snapped her fingers causing the mage to go blank for several seconds before she suddenly jolted and held her heart.
"What an interesting little stick you have there," Ikaris looked at the staff held firmly in Arla\'s grasp. "It has the power to negate divine power,"
"You just erased all memory of me meeting and interacting with you!" Arla stated with her eyes bulging in shock as the information was being organized in her head. "How terrifying!"
"That\'s enough," Ikaris smiled and undid her divine appearance as the illusion that showed them still talking was washed away to reveal them inside of it doing the same thing. "Master did you assume wrong earlier?" She asked, and Sol shook his head.
"He is staring directly toward you, I think that this is intentional." He answered.
"Sound the alarm, there is an enemy at the destination," Ikaris looked at Arla who was still trying to sort her memories.
"Right away," Arla raised her staff and shot off a bolt into the air that caused a red flare to appear and slowly descend.
"Enemies!" Han perked up and summoned his sword upon seeing the signal. "Form up," He turned to the others, but they were already right behind him with their respective weapons at the ready, while Eris just crackled her knuckles with a nod. "Alright... Let\'s go," Han leapt out of the carriage, with the other four right at his heels.
"Arla!" Dina called to her teacher.
"What\'s going on? I don\'t see any demons," Bruce squinted his eyes looking forward.
"There is just one, it is standing at the destination." Ikaris answered. "A sole guard awaiting the onslaught of an army, it is strong too." She admitted, and Sol nodded.
"How strong are we talking here?" Usami asked, looking around at Morn who had a worried expression as he approached.
"High level demonkin, level 500-" Ikaris answered, and Han scoffed.
"If it\'s only that then we can take it down with a simple team attack, didn\'t we beat an eldritch dragon literally days ago-"
"It is holding a big sword." Ikaris cut him off. "This is not the same as the eldritch, you are not fighting a monster this time, you\'re facing a warrior, if you drop your guard or try to fight it alone you will be dead before your first swing," She looked around at Han.
"We need a plan."