After I lay down from my fight with Zagor and healed my injuries, I stood up with the little stamina I had left and walked back to the castle.
Our fight had led us into the jungle, and while we weren’t extrely far from the castle, it would take quite a while longer to get there as my body had no strength left to make go faster.
My bo seed worn out due to all of the magic that it had to endure during the fight, but it was still sturdy enough to help walk very slowly.
The rumbling sounds that ca from the two Terra Titans that were fighting the knights had ceased, making believe that they had managed to take them down.
[Vesp, Yoru... Are you guys okay?] I asked my companions telepathically.
Before any of them replied, the two of them appeared right in front of after Vespera used her teleport spell to bring themselves to my location. They looked fine, with only a few bruises and cuts on their bodies, which made a little happy.
"Ichiro!" Vespera exclaid as she held my body, stumbling from side to side.
"I’m fine... How are you guys?" I asked them with a slight smile on my face.
"Heh, we won, of course," Vespera replied pridefully.
"Nice, let’s finish this then. Take to the castle." I said with determination.
Vespera carried on her back, using her spider legs to hold down so I wouldn’t fall, as I could barely keep my grip around her.
As she flew to the castle, I was able to see the rest of the city and how it had been taken over by our army.
The flags of Kalusia that had been tainted by Zagor’s reign were taken down and replaced with the old symbol of the beastkins.
There were still skirmishes happening in different parts of the city where soldiers were facing the remaining lesser demons, but without a leader to command them, it was only a matter of ti before they were defeated and turned back to normal.
When I got to the half-destroyed castle, I asked Vespera to locate the phoenix’s altar, making her teleport out of the scene for a few minutes as I sat down tiredly on the ground.
Gina told us that the altar was in a secret room inside the castle, but with half of it in ruins, our search had narrowed down to the rooms that were still standing.
"Yoru, I dropped my handkerchief in one of the yards... Could you pick that up for ?" I asked my wolf, who used his airwalk skill to get to the garden quickly.
After re minutes, he returned while gently holding the fabric in his mouth, but the state of the handkerchief made sowhat sad as it was stained with blood, dirt, and a few burnt marks.
It used to be white and blue, but now it was more like brown and black. Still, I felt a little glad that it was still in one piece, at the very least.
Vespera teleported back to my location, grabbed my hand, and teleported to another room that looked completely different from the castle’s architecture.
It felt like we were inside a cave since it was a rocky environnt surrounding us, with a gaping hole at the top that reflected the sunlight inside and pointed straight at a statue at the end of the room.
"Where are we? Is this the hidden room?" I asked my companion, who nodded confidently.
"The entrance was under the king’s bed..." Vespera replied.
From what she told , she checked the king’s room first since she believed it to be the most obvious place where a hidden room would be, and I couldn’t complain about that logic.
She said that she felt a strange sensation coming under the bed, and when Vespera moved it to the side, she found a trap door that led to the cave.
The trail from the king’s room to the phoenix’s altar was about three hundred ters long, by Vespera’s estimations, which made think that the cave was under the jungle side of their area.
I slowly stood up with the help of my companions as my body still felt extrely weak and guided towards the small altar that seed to be forged with adamantite, sharing the sa dark greenish color as the tal.
It had the shape of flaming wings like the ones Acalan had when he turned into his phoenix form, and the top had a small plate with a small carving that was the exact size of the gem that appeared after the phoenix died.
I took out the pouch with Acalan’s ashes and the orange gemstone, gently placing it on the carving that was a perfect fit, and poured the ashes around the plate surrounding the gem.
A few seconds later, the orange stone started glowing brightly, and it felt as if the sun ray that entered the cave got even brighter for a mont.
Then, the gem started floating gently above the altar, reflecting the light from the sun all around the cave.
"It is done. The ritual for Acalan’s resurrection..." Vespera comnted, seeing that I looked confused at the situation.
However, I trusted my companion’s words and decided to move on to the next task.
"Alright. Let’s gather the other two titan hearts and start that process too..." I said, but right as I finished the sentence, my body gave out and stumbled, only to get caught by Vespera as I fell asleep.
Honestly, I didn’t even know how I managed to have enough stamina to start Acalan’s resurrection, as I could have fallen asleep right after defeating Zagor with how exhausted I was.
Still, it felt like sothing was bothering at the back of my mind, and I wouldn’t have been able to rest until I had taken care of it.
That’s why, as soon as Vespera confird that the ritual worked, that small amount of adrenaline that kept going in order to fulfill my promise completely ran out.
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