Chương 32: Good Morning, Gloria

The Cave of Arima—The Following Day Morning covered the fields beyond the Cave of Arima, but little of its light reached the passages below, where a solitary figure advanced through the darkness. He was tall enough that the lowest sections of the cave forced the crest of his helmet close to the stone, while the width of his shoulders made the passage seem narrow around him.

Layered plates of metal enclosed his entire body, every piece heavy enough to serve as armor upon an ordinary man by itself, with jagged ridges rising along his arms and one enormous pauldron carrying several spikes. A thick mass of black fur surrounded his neck and spread across the upper edges of his armor, while the heavy cape descending from beneath it reached almost to the cave floor.

His helmet rose into a crown of sharpened metal, while the narrow opening of its faceplate contained a depthless shadow that revealed neither eyes nor skin nor the faintest suggestion of whatever lay beneath, with even the passing cave light disappearing inside without reflection. An enormous sword hung from his hip, its hilt long enough for lesser warriors to grasp with both hands.

The warning offered by that faceless silhouette went unheeded by two cave wolves emerging from a branching tunnel, which lowered their bodies and began circling him. One bared its teeth and crept closer while the other moved behind him, yet the armored man continued forward until a growl finally persuaded him to turn his helmet in their direction, which instantly made both of them freeze.

Grey spread across their bodies, consuming fur, flesh and bone until their shapes collapsed into two piles of ash, which scattered around the man's boots beneath a current of air. He had spoken no spell, raised no weapon and made no gesture beyond looking upon them, and by the time the final traces disappeared into the darkness, he had already continued along the passage.

The path eventually brought him before a recently opened breach in the cave wall, where stone had been melted rather than broken, leaving the edges smooth and glassy while hardened streams of rock hung around the opening like frozen wax. He stopped before it and examined the damage in silence, his helmet following the unnatural curve of the opening until he appeared satisfied that he had found the trail he sought.

Blue light gathered beneath his feet, filling every separation between the plates of his greaves before spreading across the ground in a narrow circle. His next step never reached the stone, for his entire body vanished within a flash and left behind nothing except a few drifting sparks. He reappeared far deeper inside, directly before the colossal doors that had once confined Echidna, where his arrival struck the chamber with enough force to send his mantle surging around him.

The armored man passed through the scarred entrance and took only a single step into the prison beyond before stopping, turning and extending a hand toward the surrounding darkness. A sphere of blue light erupted from his palm and raced through the cavern, passing harmlessly through stone, dust and the sand spread across the prison floor before pouring into the adjoining passages. When the radiance withdrew, countless narrow threads remained suspended in its wake.

The trails faded almost immediately, leaving a single blue filament stretching from his palm toward the great doors behind him. He followed it to a dormant magical circle resting against the stone, its lines invisible until his presence awakened a glow within them. The man stood before the formation for several moments while the blue thread connected his gauntlet to its center, then slowly placed his palm against the circle.

"Can it truly be?" The formation brightened beneath his hand. [Devour] Light-blue fire spread from his fingers and consumed the circle one line at a time, drawing every symbol into his palm and leaving bare stone behind. Several faint lines leading away from the formation became visible as it disappeared, only to fracture along their lengths and shatter into fading fragments before his laughter broke the silence.

"Oh, Comrade, how dearly I have missed you." Blue fire climbed across his armor and consumed him from the feet upward, swallowing the last sounds of his laughter, and when the flames collapsed, the prison stood empty once more. He emerged within the clearing outside the cave in an instant, the same flames peeling away from his armor before vanishing into the air.

"The monster travels aboard the Katamaran you were forever daydreaming about, and your magic lingers within the prison she abandoned," he said, turning until the morning sun struck the side of his helmet.

"I shall assume you are with her, though confirming that assumption will prove useful in its own right. Much has changed during your absence, and I believe you will appreciate what I have made of this world." He gripped the sheath and drew the sword, revealing a black scale set into its pommel, blue light burning within the blade and thin purple veins pulsing along both edges. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The grass flattened as the sword left its sheath, and the pressure rolling from the blade sent loose stones skittering across the clearing before ripping several trees from the distant forest and hurling them through the surrounding canopy. Unmoved at the center of the destruction, the armored man slid one foot backward and drew the sword beside him until blue light swallowed its shape, then drove its point forward with a low grunt.

A colossal sword of blue light burst from his thrust and climbed into the sky, the force of its release splitting the ground beneath his boots and flattening the clearing around him. Once it had risen high above Arima, the projection broke apart and formed two separate blades, one several times larger than the other. They turned in different directions and shot beyond the horizon, leaving two trails of blue light behind them. The armored man lowered his sword and watched until both trails began to fade.

"I hope this gift reaches you well, dearest Gloria." Aboard the Katamaran Morning light entered through the cabin window and spread across the remains of the previous night's lesson, illuminating stacks of paper filled with circles before reaching the two beds beyond them. Gloria lay upon one mattress entirely claimed by sleep, while Iris had collapsed across the other after completing her assignment and now rested with one arm hanging over its edge.

Echidna kept watch between the beds, her hands folded before her and her eyes closed although her divine body possessed no need for sleep. She might have considered the practice another weakness of mortal life in anyone else, though Gloria had endured enough during the previous day to deserve several undisturbed hours of rest. Her eyes snapped open.

A vast concentration of mana had entered the outer limits of her awareness and continued approaching the Katamaran with astonishing speed, carrying a signature that reached into memories.

"Can that truly be him?" she whispered, scarcely believing the conclusion offered by her own senses.

"Has his power grown even greater then before?" Anger followed immediately, darkening her face as she turned toward the window and tracked the approaching mana.

"How dare he turn his power against the Mighty so soon after her awakening?" Her first instinct urged her to leave the cabin, intercept the attack and tear it apart before even its light could disturb Gloria's rest, though the calculations formed within her mind before she could take a step.

Even at the height of her power, Echidna had known the False King to be stronger than her, and the centuries spent imprisoned had left her in no condition to challenge him now, which meant that intercepting the approaching force herself would almost certainly end in defeat. That possibility angered her further, though the fury soon gave way to a slow smile as another image entered her thoughts.

Gloria required no protection from the False King, and allowing his challenge to reach her would provide Echidna with the pleasure of watching the Mighty crush the arrogant fool. She moved to Gloria's bedside and leaned over her, lowering her voice.

"Mighty Gloria, Echidna regrets disturbing your well-earned rest, though a considerable mass of mana is approaching the Katamaran at extraordinary speed." Gloria shifted and opened one eye only slightly, her thoughts still buried deeply enough in sleep that the warning earned little more than a confused murmur.

"What...?"

"I believe someone has launched an attack toward this vessel," Echidna continued, watching the distant power draw closer with every passing moment.

"Its creator is the one Echidna has long named the False King." The title tore through Gloria's exhaustion more effectively than any alarm, and both of her eyes opened at once.

"Wait... did you say what I think you—" The sudden sharpness in Gloria's voice woke Iris, though she had barely raised her head when Gloria turned toward the window and noticed a faintly blue sword drifting toward the Katamaran.

Its blade was enormous, large enough to remain clearly visible from across the cabin, yet the nearly transparent projection produced no sound, cast little more than a pale light across the glass and carried none of the crushing presence Gloria would have expected from so much concentrated mana.

'Oh, crap! Weak NPCs and overconfident fools coming after me is one thing, but this? First thing in the morning?' Iris followed Gloria's gaze, the last remnants of sleep disappearing as she pushed herself upright.

"Lady Gloria... what even is that?" The sword appeared to drift across the sky without urgency, yet the distance separating it from the ship vanished within moments, and as soon as Gloria focused upon it fully, the enormous projection stopped beside the ship without disturbing the glass or stirring the water below. It remained there with its point aimed toward the cabin, almost as though it were studying her in return, before slowly turning downward.

Alarm bells began ringing somewhere above them as sailors shouted across the decks, though the sword continued its quiet descent until its point slipped beneath the ocean without producing a splash. The rest followed just as smoothly, the water closing around the blade while its pale shape sank deeper and grew fainter until the final trace disappeared. Iris leaned toward the window, her alarm rapidly giving way to fascination.

"Lady Gloria, did you see that? It stopped the instant you looked at it, then entered the ocean without disturbing so much as a single wave!"

"Yes," Gloria replied as she rose from the bed and considered what she had witnessed.

"It was a combined spell intended for reconnaissance, with the sword carrying a second formation that allowed its caster to observe whatever it encountered. I know at least a dozen spells founded upon the same principle, though this variation was clearly designed for a swordsman." Echidna immediately moved beside her.

"A swordsman whose power approached from Arima, Mighty Gloria. The False King could scarcely have announced himself more clearly." Gloria reached for the anchor she had left within Echidna's former prison, expecting its familiar presence to answer her, though she found only an empty space where the connection should have been. She tried Ural next, followed by the cave where she had first awakened, yet none of them remained, including the one that should have existed only a short distance from where she stood.

"All of my anchors are gone," Gloria said, searching through the spell once more before accepting what had happened.

"He must have found the circle within Arima and used its connection to erase every other destination without alerting me." Echidna's anticipation only grew with that.

"Then the fool has accomplished nothing except ensuring that the Mighty descends upon him in person. Arima lies mere seconds beneath your wings, and the destruction of these circles has purchased him no safety. He has called for the Mighty, so answer him. Echidna will cherish the moment his courage dies at the sight of you!"