If Leo stayed here, in Auravale, with a Calamity inside him... he was a bomb waiting to go off. If he exploded, Remus died. The Temple died.
But if Remus sent him to the Capital...
If he sent the bomb to the High Priestess...
It beca her problem.
"You..." Remus looked at Leo with a mix of fear and calculation. "You are willing to go? To the Capital?"
"I was going anyway," Leo said. "I have a letter of recomndation, rember? I want to et the Saintess. I want my rewards."
Here is the rewritten ending scene for Chapter 80, incorporating the changes regarding the delay and the Iron Saint bodyguard.
Remus nodded slowly, wiping his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. "Yes. Yes. You must go. Imdiately. You cannot stay here. Your presence... it disturbs the holy ley lines. I can feel the darkness radiating off you. It makes my skin crawl."
"That might just be your hygiene," Leo noted.
"Silence!" Remus snapped, his anxiety overriding his patience. "We must prepare. You must leave at dawn. No, sooner. Tonight. Now. I will have a carriage ready at the rear gate within the hour."
Leo raised a hand. "Whoa, slow down, Turbo. I’m not going anywhere tonight."
Remus stopped, his eyes bulging. "What? Did you not hear ? You are a walking calamity! You need to be in the Capital, under the containnt fields of the High Priestess!"
"I know," Leo said, his voice dropping to a serious, hushed tone. He clutched his stomach, grimacing as if in pain. "That’s exactly why I can’t leave yet."
"W-Why?" Remus stamred.
"It’s unstable," Leo lied through his teeth. "The assimilation... it’s ssy. The Black Sky is fighting . If I get on a carriage right now, the first pothole we hit might jar the core loose."
Leo looked Remus dead in the eye.
"Do you know what happens if a Calamity-Class artifact detonates because of a bumpy road?"
Remus paled. "Explosion?"
"Erasure," Leo corrected gravely. "Auravale wouldn’t just be destroyed. It would be deleted from history. And you’d be the guy who put the bomb on the bus."
Remus grabbed the edge of the altar for support. "Oh gods..."
"I need ti," Leo said. "I need to stabilize the mana flow. I need to ta the beast inside. A few days. Maybe a week."
"A week?!" Remus shrieked. "You want to keep that thing in my city for a week?"
"Unless you want a crater where your temple stands, yes," Leo shrugged. "Besides, I have unfinished business. I can’t leave with loose ends. It stresses out, and stress makes the Black Sky cranky."
Remus looked like he wanted to cry. He paced back and forth, muttering prayers. Finally, he stopped.
"Fine," Remus hissed. "Fine! You stay. You stabilize. But you stay low! If anyone finds out what you are carrying..."
"That brings to my next point," Leo interrupted. "I have enemies here, Remus. Gamon hates . Drax hates . And the Blackfangs... well, I killed their squad, but they might send more. If I get attacked while I’m ditating... boom."
Leo pointed a finger at the corner of the nave.
Standing there, frozen and silent, were the Iron Saints—the massive, animated suits of armor that had nearly killed Leo earlier.
"I need a babysitter," Leo said. "I want one of those."
"Impossible!" Remus shouted. "I told you! The Iron Saints are geo-bound! They run on the Temple’s ley lines. If they step past the gate, they turn into statues!"
"You’re a Level 2 Alchemist," Leo countered. "You’re a genius, right? Figure it out. Put a battery in it. Give a remote control. I don’t care how you do it, but I’m not walking out of here defenseless with a nuke in my gut."
Remus stared at him with pure hatred. Then, he sighed, the fight draining out of him.
"You are a plague," Remus whispered.
He reached into his robes and pulled out a heavy, iron dallion on a chain. It pulsed with a faint white light.
"This is a Ley-Anchor," Remus explained, handing it to Leo reluctantly. "It contains a fragnt of the Temple’s core. If you wear this, one of the Saints can follow you. But only one. And only for as long as the mana in the anchor lasts."
"How long?" Leo asked, snatching the dallion.
"Fourteen days," Remus said. "After that, the Saint freezes, and you are on your own."
"Fourteen days is plenty," Leo grinned.
He walked over to the nearest Iron Saint—the one with the red-painted pauldrons. He held up the dallion.
The armor’s eyes flared to life with green fire. It stepped off the pedestal, the stone floor cracking under its weight. It moved to stand behind Leo, a silent, seven-foot-tall wall of holy steel.
"Perfect," Leo said.
He turned back to Remus.
"Pleasure doing business with you, High Priest. I’ll let you know when I’m stable enough to leave. Until then... try not to miss ."
Leo turned and walked out of the Temple, whistling a cheerful tune. The massive Iron Saint followed him, its heavy footsteps echoing like thunder.
Outside, the sun was setting. The city of Auravale was bathed in orange light.
Leo stopped on the steps. The laughter faded from his face.
He put his hand on his stomach again.
The lie about the instability wasn’t entirely a lie. He felt it. Deep inside, nestled against his core. A cold, heavy weight.
It wasn’t kicking. It was... feeding.
[System Alert]
[Darkness Assimilation: 12%]
[The Entity is hungry.]
"You’re a thirsty little bastard, aren’t you?" Leo whispered to himself.
He checked his mana. It was regenerating fast enough to handle the drain, thanks to his high stats, but the hunger was growing.
"I need to feed it," Leo realized. "Or it’s going to start eating ."
He looked out over the city.
He needed souls. Or lust. Or chaos.
He checked his quest log.
[Quest: The rchant Queen’s Heart]
[Ti Remaining: 13 Days.]
[Quest: The Matriarch’s Vengeance]
[Ti Remaining: 25 Days.]
"Well," Leo smirked, stepping down onto the street, his Iron bodyguard clanking behind him. "Good thing I have a lot of work to do before I leave."
He adjusted his coat.
"First stop... The Silver Route. I owe Ryana an explanation. And she might have sothing for this guy."
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