Chapter 728 Betrayal
~VWUUUUSH!~
In a spark of energy, and swirling of distorted space, Rey found himself in the Shrine.
He stood right in front of the statue, his eyes fixated on how its glowing eyes slowly began to dim, until it became as lifeless as it usually was. Esme was cradled on his arms the whole time, and his expression was absolutely lull.
This stoic expression was a full front, though.
Deep in his heart, he was struggling with a myriad of emotions that he had to keep suppressed.
He understood what was going to happen to Emilia, he had to ponder about Esme, had to think about Alicia, and also about the higher powers that The Oracle spoke of. Then, there was the impending destruction of the world that seemed inevitable according to the one who witnessed the future.
All of this information came with their fair share of emotions—a lot of them.
He couldn't process them.
If he tried, they would overflow and overwhelm his mind. Knowing this, Rey reckoned it was best to abandon those feelings for the moment until he was able to properly rest—both physically and mentally.
'I haven't slept for a few days now. I've been thinking about a lot, exerting myself a lot, and overall just… haa… I need a break.' His thoughts flowed, though he felt they were too disjointed for his tastes—yet another sign that he needed a break.
But all of that would have to wait.
Right now, Rey had to deal with something else, and it was tied to the fact that he wasn't alone in the Shrine.
"I thought we would be meeting later." He muttered, turning away from the Statue while averting his eyes to the one who stood behind him.
"Didn't you have somewhere you had to be… Adrien?"
Adrien was standing very close to the entrance of the Shrine, and it was clear that he had been waiting for Rey for quite some time.
As soon as he heard this question, the smile on his face broadened and he shrugged the whole thing off almost instantly. Instead of replying immediately, he chuckled and walked closer to Rey.
"I just wanted to see you one final time before leaving. After this, I'll be heading to my next destination."
"Is that so? Okay then…"
"That's her, right? Esme… what a nice name for a nice lady."
Rey tightened his hold on Esme as he frowned at Adrien, who waved his hands in surrender, laughing as he spoke.
"Sorry, sorry… I mean no harm. I'm not interested in her anyway."
"Who said anything about interest?"
"Hm? What did you mean, then?" Adeien raised a playful brow, but it was quickly followed by a heavy sigh from Rey.
"Just stay away from my allies, okay? If there's nothing else, we should part ways here."
"Hmm… I see." Adrien smirked. "Understood."
"If that's all, then—"
"I went to the Elf Dungeon and found it raided already. It seems someone beat me to it, so I wanted to confirm if that was you."
"Yes, that was me." Rey answered honestly, slightly growing annoyed by Adrien's questions.
"I knew it! The only one who could possible do it in this whole Continent—apart from me, of course—is you. Well, there's Emil too…"
"Again with Emil? Just stop it already." Rey didn't want to get too worked up, since that would just be adding one more emotions to the mix of highly volatile ones already in stock.
And so, instead of adding gasoline to the flames, Rey suppressed to the point where the subject matter became one of slight interest to him.
"You really don't know the value of what you have, Rey. Emil is—"
"Mine. She's my Familiar, and I'll handle her however I please. If you have nothing more of relevance to add, I'll be having my leave now."
It was getting more and more tasking, controlling his emotions. He was tempted to use [Perfect Calm], but his actions would be too unpredictable in that state.
'I'll just teleport, and… h-huh…?'
All of a sudden, Rey felt all the Mana drain within his body, leaving his tank at the very bottom of zero. Before he could even realize what was happening, Emil's voice echoed within his mind in the loudest voice possible.
~I'M DONE WITH YOU, REY!~
'What?!' Without his Mana, most of his Skills were deactivated—as even passive Skills required some Mana to work on, and Buffs needed to multiply pre-existing numbers.
With everything at zero, he felt the weight of his exhaustion weigh on him even more—though he still managed everything.
The sudden protest that Emil gave added one more emotion to the mix—confusion.
~You are a terrible Master, and you don't appreciate me at all… unlike Adrien! He is a far better candidate than you, and he understands my true worth!~
"What the hell… are you talking about?"
Rey already knew, so the question was unnecessary. His worst fears regarding Emil had come to pass, and that had to do with her abandonment of him and their Bond.
Since she was immune to damage, nothing in their contract really bound her.
That meant—
~GLUP!~
—She was free to leave.
Her slimy black body parted from Rey, and she darted upwards, away from him and towards Adrien.
"I don't think so…" Rey muttered, easily reaching out to her due to having relatively equal Stats as her.
He noticed Adrien was just standing still, watching the whole thing with a somewhat neutral expression written on his face.
'I see. So, he's not averse to the idea of having Emil, but since he isn't fighting me for her… I can't particularly say he's involved.'
In a sense, this was Emil's decision… almost the same way Esme made her own choice.
'I… I… What am I…?' Thanks to this confusion within him, he hesitated.
This gave Emil more than enough time for action.
~It's over, Rey. We're through!~
At that very moment, energy swelled from within Emil, causing all the energy she absorbed from Rey—through her [Consume] Skill—to pour out in a powerful burst.
Mana worth 29,000 was released all at once.
The result?
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!~