In the veranda outside the village chief’s house.
Kiba sat on the ground while drinking tea. In front of him was the village chief - Sanchez who has a strange expression on his face.
"So what do you want?" Kiba asked while placing the cup down.
"Huh? No, sir, I don’t want anything," Sanchez quickly clarified so that Kiba doesn’t misunderstand his intent behind the hospitality.
"Really? I never knew selfless people like you existed," Kiba lied down on the floor with his hands behind his head.
Sanchez was at loss for words. He indeed wanted to curry a favorable impression by providing a high-class welcome. It didn’t go as per his plans but he still wanted to achieve his goal.
"The village is in a crisis," Sanchez bitterly said. "The river streams are turning dry, and with every year, the adventurists are turning more violent. I’m afraid the village would soon be on verge of extinction."
Kiba was startled.
"What about Guardian Spirit?" Kiba asked. From what he has heard, the adventurists didn’t dare go overboard in the village due to pagoda’s fear.
"Guardian Spirit offers no real protection to us," Sanchez stated the truth. He wouldn’t have if not for knowing everything Kiba has done from the time he entered the village; including giving herbs to the villagers who welcomed him.
Kiba’s eyebrows raised up.
"A little over a century ago our village was established," Sanchez began the history. "Our ancestors have been adventurists... I don’t know why but they founded the village around the pagoda. For years, they served the venerable existence in the pagoda. Their descendants carried the tasks, and in the process, the village grew to its present scale."
"What tasks exactly? And why would you do it if you are getting no protection or benefits?" Kiba asked with a curious expression.
"I can’t tell the task. We did receive some protection otherwise the village wouldn’t have survived. But around a few years ago, the venerable existence whom we call Guardian Spirit no longer needed our help..."
"Oh!" Kiba nodded in understanding.
The Guardian Spirit needed village before so it protected the villagers from the greed and lust of adventurists. Now, the Guardian Spirit has no such use so obviously no help. This meant that if others learned of this secret, then a life and death crisis would unfold.
"The village is built upon Profound Energy Jademine so you are really in a messy situation," Kiba said with a sigh.
Sanchez’s pupils constricted.
"Y-you know?" Sanchez was terrified. It was a secret known to very few even from outsiders. And outsiders won’t share it with others in fear of them taking advantage of information.
"Yeap," Kiba nodded as if it was something obvious. "Your only alternative is migration."
Sanchez ruefully smiled.
Th1s chapter is updated by n)ovel/\bin/\
Migration was easier said than done. They lived close to the center of the forest, surrounded by dangerous flora and fauna. And even if they could leave the forest by some miracle, where would they go?
"Now answer my first question," Kiba said while observing the starry sky. He found them really bright and beautiful tonight.
He wondered if it was due to the fact that it was his last night under this sky.
In the core region, if his guess was right, there would be a completely different world, isolated from Earth’s environment. It was something he guessed long before Eva, Emily, and others confirmed.
"I wondered if you could provide us with some weapons or defense items," Sanchez respectfully replied. "We will offer power jades and energized pearl---"
He was still in the middle of thinking when the space around him flickered. Under his disbelief eyes, rays of white light flashed and converged into laser guns, bombs, and shields.
"Consider it as a payment for mine and Ashlyn’s stay," Kiba got back on his feet and stepped out.
These items were something he retrieved from a few of the unlucky guys who confronted him.
Generally, he was never interested in items of others given how rich he was. Yet he retrieved these weapons along with a few storage rings.
It was true that they were useless for him, but he took them in case he needed to frame someone. It was something he used to do in Delta City. Something evident from the way he framed revolutionaries for the attack on Delta Police Headquarters.
As such, he didn’t mind being transferring this wealth to the village chief.
Sanchez was dumbstruck by the items in front of him. It took him a long while to regain some sense, and when he did, Kiba was no longer in sight.
He quickly grabbed the weapons and other items, and started placing them inside the house. He has a storehouse under which more weapons were already placed.
"Hopefully it would help us a little."
Sanchez has made many preparations for the inevitable crisis.
"If only those two haven’t left the village due to... we wouldn’t be in need of these. Sadly they no longer care."
Sanchez thought of a pair of siblings.
"Myeisha and Harith!"
The strongest of Dark Stars!
...
Kiba walked away from the house and roamed around. He decided to meet Ashlyn for dinner and deciding tomorrow’s plan.
His eyes were at the sky when he felt strange fluctuations of energy enveloping him.
"Oh?"
Kiba’s eyes glinted with shock as the energy filaments wrapped him from head to toe. He raised a hand, but after thinking for a moment, he didn’t resist.
The next moment, he faded from the spot like particles of dust in the air.
At the same time, inside the black pagoda.
The pagoda was completely empty. There was no staircase, floor, or even a visible ceiling.
If there was anything, it was empty space and rifts. It was like the space inside the pagoda was a broken mirror, filled with countless cracks.
The rifts radiated out space and time fluctuations!
Just as Kiba disappeared, the hundreds of rifts glowed, and fragments of a face appeared into them. As the portions of the face were divided by the rifts, it wasn’t completely clear, but it was evident the face belonged to a species that didn’t belong to Earth!
It was the same face that a few weeks ago felt Kiba’s aura! Back then, the face has remarked that the aura was marked by Fury of Time!
Meanwhile, as the face appeared, a prismatic column of light conjured in the center of the pagoda. It transformed into Kiba.
"Well, this is a strange way to invite someone," Kiba floated in the mid-air while looking around. "You could have sent a formal invitation."
The face in the rifts was surprised by both his calmness and attitude. He has been teleported out of blue, and instead of being worried or startled, he was relaxed.
"You don’t seem to be shocked," The face’s hoarse voice came through countless rifts.
"I’m shocked," Kiba clarified while sitting in mid-air. "Never thought I will get a chance to meet the venerated Guardian Spirit."
"Guardian Spirit?"
A chucking sound ringed in the rifts.
"You humans gave me that title."
"I know," Kiba nodded in acknowledgment. "Only we humans can be stupid enough to call a destroyer as a guardian."
The face in the rift locked its rectangular pupils - with rounded corners - on Kiba. The pupils were multicolored, rotating in swirling motion.
"But then again, a powerful entity is always revered, no matter the race," Kiba said, unfazed by the vision locked on him.
Strongs are always praised and conferred with divine titles even when they do what people generally consider as evil. They only become openly evil when they lose power and status.
Before the age of evolution, the ancient kingdoms were always in wars for expansion and resources. When a strong kingdom swallowed a weaker kingdom at the cost of uncountable lives, it was the weaker kingdom that was criticized in the historical records.
Only when the strong kingdom lost its foundation and was erased, the records were then filled with less than complimentary details.
The same was true in this era of evolution and technology. The World Council - the power behind the world government- was respected by the masses around the globe. This was despite the fact that they have committed unforgivable acts.
But from the masses’ perspective, it was a sign of strong leadership that did what has to be done for the greater good!
Evil can be labeled as good as long as you have the power!
So how was it surprising for ignorant humans - who knew truly nothing about the pagoda- to call the powerful existence as Guardian Spirit?
They didn’t know the role of this powerful existence nor why it existed.
As such, most humans based its guardian role on hearsay and rumors. This was nothing but a classic example of ’Three men make a tiger.’
It wasn’t like Kiba knew about the nature of this so-called Guardian Spirit either. He was just guessing that the pagoda’s existence was a sign of disaster due to the runes engraved on the surface of the pagoda.
"You are an interesting human being," The face’s hoarse voice ringed out. "Cynical but interesting."Chapter 249. The first and last appearance of this character before this chapter.