Shwup! Shwup!
One after another, the candidates disappeared from the plaza. Overlooking the scene from a different area were several people.
"....Looks like it's starting."
Atlas mumbled, quietly taking a sip of the tea in his hand.
His yellow pupils were serene and clear as he smiled slightly. Opposite him stood another
figure. With short green hair and eyes, they appeared to be one with nature, their denour and features otherworldly.
He was none other than the Seat of Genesis.
Emporium Modgarth.
Taking a sip, he quietly closed his eyes before opening them up again and staring at Atlas.
"You seem quite interested in what's happening."
"....I am "
Atlas quietly replied, turning his attention back toward the plaza.
"I think I've found him."
"Hm?"
A shift occurred in Emporium's features as he looked at Atlas in surprise.
"..... You found him?"
"More or less."
Taking another sip, Atlas leaned back on the chair.
"I'll make up my decision by the ti this summit is over. I would like to see how far he can make it before coming up with a decision."
|| ||
Emporium sat in silence.
It was hard to tell what his thoughts were as his face remained expressionless the entire ti, but it wasn't so hard to see the shock in his eyes this ti.
In all the years that he had known Atlas, this was the first ti he had shown interest in soone else.
There had been many people who had tried to co under his wing and beco the next in line for the Seat of Dawn, but he promptly rejected them.
Everyone assud that it was because he was never interested in taking up a successor and accepted the explanation, but things were different now.
It soon beca clear to Emporium.
'It's not that he isn't interested in taking on a successor, but it's that none of them suited his tastes.'
The realization ca as a shock.
To be able to attract Atlas's attention.
Who?
Who could it be...?
"You'll see eventually."
As if Atlas could read through his thoughts, he placed the teacup down and smiled in amusent, seemingly anticipating what was to co.
"He'll be difficult to miss."
||
".....
Emporium quietly stared at Atlas for a brief mont before turning his attention toward the plaza. The more he looked at Atlas, the more curious he beca.
A few candidates appeared in his mind before eventually, a figure erged in his mind.
'Caius...?'
He was the number one ranked candidate amongst all of those participating, and he also had his eyes on him.
The more Emporium thought about it, the more likely he found the candidate to be.
'It's not a bad choice.'
No, it was a really good choice, but...
'....I don't think this is it.'
Caius was extrely talented. Amongst so of the best Emporium had ever seen, there were plenty of other talents that were like him that had tried to beco the next in line for the Seat of Dawn, only to be rejected by Atlas.
There was sothing that he was missing, but he wasn't sure what exactly.
In the end, he could only silently observe the situation.
Since Atlas said that he'd see, then he would see. For now, there was sothing else that he needed to talk to him about.
"What are you going to do about her?"
"...Hmm."
Atlas's smile gradually started to fade as the atmosphere suddenly grew tense. The subject in question was none other than Delilah who was hiding sowhere in the plaza.
"Now is not the ti."
"Why?"
"....She's an important figure within the Empire. Until the leader is ready, we are not to make a move."
"But at the rate that she's growing, she will beco a problem."
"She's already a problem."
Atlas replied with a helpless look.
"I won't be able to co out unscathed if the two of us were to fight."
Turning his palm, a black sphere appeared on top of his palm. Within the sphere, several images flashed. They were images of a young girl sitting alone in a small and ruined house.
She appeared to be talking to herself while her eyes were hollow and unfocused. It was a mory of a long ti ago.
Atlas had kept it with him the entire ti, reminding himself of what he had done.
Of his...
First failure.
***
I stood in silence, quietly taking in the view that was presented before . From the buildings
to very little detail that was presented before . I was able to recognize everything.
Without a doubt, this was the place within my vision.
'No, not everything is quite the sa.'
There were a few things that were different, but it was still nonetheless about the sa as in
the vision.
Back then, things were a lot more ruined.
But that was beside the point...
'I did hear that there were ruins within the mirror dinsion, but this is the first ti that I'm seeing
them.'
Taking a step forward, I moved closer to one of the buildings and traced my finger over it.
"....A past civilization?"
The architecture was sowhat crude. It didn't look like anything from my current world and
the previous ones.
It was so sort of civilization that thrived in the past.
But as I looked up at the sky and felt the dry air that surrounded , I frowned.
'How can anyone survive in this sort of place?'
Could it be that the Mirror Dinsion was different in the past? ...Or was there more to it that I
didn't know?
||
I stood in silence while contemplating the situation.
In the end, I decided to explore the space around better. There was no one around , and it
was just .
Of course, it wouldn't be like this for long.
Soon, my pocket vibrated and I took out a small map where several dots appeared.
"It looks like everyone has been transported."
The map was sothing that was given to us by the organizer, and it displayed the location of
all the cadets from the sa Empire. At the sa ti, there was also a large orange circle at
the center of the map, which indicated the place where we needed to go.
....The first phase was simple.
Reach the orange point.
"This is quite troubleso."
We also had a ti limit of one week. If we failed to reach the destination in ti, then we'd
be eliminated. That wasn't all. The Mirror Dinsion was filled with incredibly powerful
monsters and beasts.
If we lost against them, we'd also be eliminated.
The trial was simple, but at the sa ti incredibly hard.
"I should try to find soone to team up with."
Right now, I was located in the lower corner of the map.
There were several dots not so far from where I was, and the best approach was for to find
them so that we could team up and leave this place for the orange point.
.... Avoiding monsters was not hard for , but the sa couldn't be said for the mbers of
the other Empires.
They weren't going to be as easy to avoid as the monsters.
"Okay, that's decided."
I wrapped the map and placed it in my bag.
'Good thing I have the ring.' The bag was quite small, and could hardly fit a few bottles of water and food. Since relics and
artifacts weren't banned, this would provide a good advantage for .
Rustle~
I had just taken a step forward when I stopped.
From the corner of my vision, I spotted a silhouette.
Imdiately, I grew alert.
'A human?'
Warily staring in the direction of the noise, I slowly closed my palms, my breath hitching in
the cold night air.
I quietly stretched the threads around the broken remains of the building, every creak and
rustle making my heart twitch.
As the world grew silent, the quiet wail of the wind whistled through the air.
My fingers trembled as I worked, sensing a presence watching from the darkness, waiting for
the right mont to strike.
"Who is there?"
As I spoke, the threads quietly stretched in the direction of where the noise ca from, and
soon, they covered the entire area.
Only then did I stop and continue to eye the area.
"Co out before I attack."
"........"
My words were t with silence, and my body tensed.
Suddenly, the ground beneath trembled.
"!"
My head flicked down, and as it did, I saw two thin, slender hands erge from the ground
beneath .
They gripped my ankles tightly, their touch cold and firm.
I didn't hesitate to cross my arms as the threads that surrounded sprang into action and
directly sliced the hands apart.
Spuuuurt-!
Black blood spilled into the air as the hands were sliced open.
Imdiately, I jumped back and distanced myself from the area that I was in.
"Hoo."
My heart skipped a beat as I watched the hands slowly regenerate, sinew and bone knitting together before my eyes.
Panic surged through , but it was only the beginning.
The ground beneath shook violently, and more hands began to erge, clawing their way
out of the earth.
They seed desperate in their approach as they clawed toward in a desperate attempt to
reach for .
||
ײן
Like before, I jumped up in the air and tensed the threads which directly cut the slender hands
that were reaching out for .
"What sort of...!"
This ti, I didn't stop to look at the hands.
Looking around, my eyes darted all over the place as I looked for an elevated area.
"There...!"
It was then that I spotted a broken building that was covered in moss and vines which gently
rustled under the wind.
I didn't think twice and ran in that direction.
"Ukeh!"
But just as I took a step in that direction, another hand erged from the ground beneath .
Stunned, my finger twitched as another thread appeared, trying to cut the hand.
Tink!
But it was to my utter shock and horror to see the thread stop right before the hand.
"Uh!?"
I felt a certain pain over my ankle as the hand firmly gripped .
"....!"
Stunned, I summoned more threads and tried to get rid of the hand, but if that wasn't enough,
several more hands erged from the ground beneath .
My eyes widened in horror as they reached out for my clothes and grabbed tightly.
"Ukh!!"
From my thighs, ankles, shirt, shoulders, neck, hair...
Before I knew it, over a dozen hands were gripping every part of my body, pulling back.
"Ahhh...!"
I could only groan as they pulled down to the earth.
In monts, half of my body was buried in the ground. Desperately, I tried to pull myself up,
but more hands erged, gripping my head and shoulders tightly.
They reached for my face, their cold, bony fingers slowly pulling my mouth and eyes back.
Desperately, I clung to the ground, my fingers digging into the dirt as I fought against their relentless pull.
My muscles strained, and my breath ca in ragged gasps, but the hands were firm, dragging
inch by inch toward the dark, suffocating earth below.
"Ahhhk..!"
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