Chapter 151 - Nullifying The Ember Gems
The entire castle of Hell shook as the aura of thr rage of their queen flooded inside it.
"You had one job," Malice took a deep breath. "You had one job!"
"My queen, the three of us were no match against all the Terrans," Blithe reasoned. "And they had the Unawakened Eternals and a few more strong ones–"
He was cut off by a loud slamming of the Queen's metal heels on the marble floor that caused cracks that almost split the entire platform of the throne in half.
"That doesn't justify your pathetic service for your Queen. If you cannot finish a single mission, a simple mission, how can I trust you with bigger ones like the war with Heaven?!" Malice roared, falling back to her throne with a grunt. "If you just took the prince and got back, this wouldn't happen. It was as sinole as that. Seriously, why did I even sent dumb stupid f*cker like you?"
"We ask for your forgiveness, your majesty," Sora bowed down, shaking in fear as the immense rage of the Queen's aura filled the entire throne room. "I know we do not deserve your forgiveness, but we ask one more chance."
"You had your chances," Malice said with a serious expression. "Under Vassal, leave this throne room right this instant. No, all other demons in here except for these two dumb Vassals, leave this chamber immediately!"
Everyone rushed to the large door and got out of the room where the thick and angry aura of the Queen lingered. The weaker ones, maids and servants, almost passed out just by the strength of the Queen's pulsating aura.
Malice walked towards her Vassals, leaning down slowly. "I have plans for the both of you. Something wonderful."
"What is it, y-your majesty?" Blithe asked. He looked up but was met with the Queen's glowing black eyes, immediately making him drop his gaze to the ground.
"Y-Your majesty, I forgot to report," Sora said and cleared her throat. "Baekk is with the Terr–"
The entire area of the right side of the queen formed a fan-shaped nothingness. The floor, column, and roof vanished, as though they evaporated. She didn't even cast a single word to fire an attack and only used her aura to destroy the area.
"Do not mention his name ever again," Malice seethed. "A traitor's name is not welcome in my castle, and certainly not in my Realm."
"Yes, your majesty," Sora cried.
Malice sighed and leaned down further. "Now, for your punishment. Or I think this will be more of a reward."
The two trembled as they felt her aura choking them. Their knees weakend, their hearts racing in full speed.
Her eyes blaze with a black flame, two black spheres appearing on her right hand. A grin etched across her face that made her two Vassals tremble even more.
"Your majesty– argh!"
Everyone outside the throne room could hear the loud screams of pain coming from the two. Bruno was leaning on the wall adjacent to the door, watching Harley walk past him.
"What did you find out?" Bruno asked, pushing himself off the wall and looking around. "Let's not talk here."
Before Bruno could walk away, Harley pulled his wrist and leaned in. "Baekk is in Terra. He's with her son."
"Did you confirm?" Bruno whispered. "Is the Prophesized Boy really her royal princess's child?"
Harley slowly nodded, eyes darting behind Bruno and instantly let him go.
Void walked over them and punched both their ears, dragging them up as he stared at the boys with a stoic expression.
"Talking about beers and girls when you're in public," Void quirked his brow up. "You both want to get in trouble?"
"N-No, Void," Bruno grunted. "Ow, my ear. Ow, ow."
"Let's go to the pub," Void said. "Truth is waiting there. You know how she doesn't like people being late."
–
"Guild Master!"
The entire group gasp as they saw Frederick lit aflame. He wasn't moving which made everyone worry even more. The flames roared, blazing brighter, making it harder to even see Frederick's figure anymore.
Not a few moments later, Frederick pierced his hand through the flames, clenching it. He opened his hands and instantly, the fire that swallowed him dispersed in an instant, vanishing into nothingness. His face was stoic and his clothes weren't even burnt.
"Are you okay?" Lance asked. "Did it hurt somewhere?"
"If you put a fish in the water, or say a healthy bird in the air, wouldn't you think they would be fine?" Frederick retorted. "I'm fine. I didn't sustain any major injuries or anything. Or any injury at all. It was a cheap trick that's meant to burn lowly creatures such as an Adventurer below Breakthrough."
"T-That's good," Lance sighed. "Shall we proceed?"
Frederick raised his hand beside him to stop the others from going further. "I'm sure this is not the only trap they prepared in store for us. You know, demons are not as dumb as we think they are."
He snapped his fingers and conjured several blue wisps that hovered around the room. It would not take long before the wisps would be lit on fire, burning intensely. Each wisp would trigger the traps set by the Vassal, Blithe. Frederick would place enough energy into each wisp that makes it thinks that a person was standing over it.
"See? It's best if you let me do this for a second," Frederick said and conjured more wisps. It didn't take long before the wisps did not burn anymore, meaning all the traps were triggered. They hovered freely around the hallway, successfully setting off all the traps.
"Then let's go," Frederick commanded, letting Beatriz lead the way.
They ran to the long hallway until they reached a large wooden door with broken handles. The door had metal frames and metal curves adorning around its body as a decoration.
It was Frederick who opened the door, the inside instantly blinding them with a bright red glow from the hundreds of Flame Embers inside. The aura that it exude alone was able to tell them that the entire part of the city would go into flames if this goes off.
"How will we nullify these?" Ed gasped. "There's too much of them. Even when my magic would be enhanced, it wouldn't work since I would just nullify the buff."
"Just picture a large scope of cloud and rain it down on the mountain pile of these gems," Frederick instructed. "Focus on picturing the magic in your mind, focus hard enough so you can conjure it in real life."
Ed could only nod, even when he was hesitating. He branished his sword and closed his eyes, feeling the dark purple aura from his right arm travel up to his sword. He opened his eyes and smirked.
"I can use the power of the Curse and amplify my powers," Frederick said. "I could control it and convert the magic from the curse into my own, that way I could nullify these red babies all at once. Easy."
"And the corrosion for the item would decrease since it doesn't have to put up with all the magic inside it," Elliot said. "It's like you're taking a portion of water from a full glass."
"Only five minutes," Hope's voice suddenly rang inside Lance's head.
"Guys, we need to hurry, we only have five minutes left according to hope!" Lance yelled. "Ed, do it now."
Ed didn't waste any time and unfastenes the first lock of the sleeve. Elliot held his hand, looking for any sign of hesitation in Ed's eyes, only to find nothing.
"Are you sure about this?" Elliot asked. "You will unleash the Eternal Chaos Curse for a moment, your body will suffer until you could contain it. Are you sure you can do this?"
Ed laughed lightly, "Of course, I am. You think I'm a weakling?"
He walked in front of everyone and unfastened the second lock, feeling the pressure of the curse to travel up his shoulder. With a heavy breath, Ed unfastened the third lock and removed the sleeve.
His arm blew up with a dark purple light the instant the sleeve parted from his skin. The amount of magic of the curse swallowed him, making him fall to his knees and groan.
"Bull-" Ed cursed and took his sword, gripping the handle and raising it. "Nullify!"
The light from his arm traveled up to the sword and into the air, creating an large cloud-like mass of purple light above the tall mountain of gems. Ed pulled his hand down, the cloud falling to the gems and turning the bright red gems into coal.
As he was doing this, a wooden door spotted Lance's eyes. He walked over to it and his eyes widen in shock.
"Are you okay?" Elliot asked.
"T-This door…" Lance trailed off. "This was the door I saw when I was young. I saw a member of Pentos being caught and brought inside here."
"Was it the one who gave you Hope?" Elliot asked, but Lance shook his head. "No. The guy they brought wasn't Reginald.. The guy was… Pentos' guild master."