Disciple of Madness

Aetherite Crystals.

Shiny blue stones. Hexagonal in shape.

They are so dense that on closer look, internal reflections of the crystal itself could be seen within.

The interesting fact about these reflections were that they weren't actually reflections...but rather a separate set of internal crystals.

In short, a single aetherite crystal itself contained countless layers of internal crystals.

Adrian dug through the hole and pulled out several small crystals. He quickly put them in his pockets as he moved away from the pillar.

Even though he knew the Duke wouldn't attack him, why take the risk at all? The last time he did that in Trios, a crazy girl had struck his soul with a Soul Node.

[ Hm? ]

"Hmm?"

[... Nothing.]

'That was close. Mother was right; these women's sixth senses are crazy as fuck.'

His thoughts were however interrupted as the voice of Duke Versicos came through the pillar.

"Your face...I shall remember it. I shall recognise you from a mile just by your voice. Let's see how many days you can stay away from my grasp." Duke Versicos hissed in anger before his voice faded away.

His presence soon disappeared.

'Recognise my face? Oh how sweet of him to think I shall even use my face after this. It's time for my OG personalities to come out... As for my voice, even the voice I am using right now is a fake. I don't even need a Protean Veil to forge it.'

He stood up,his figure covered in the shadows of the train. The battle had resumed some moments ago and he was finding out the best way to move away from here, unnoticed.

His objective was nowhere yet complete. Obtaining the crystals was just the first step towards a larger goal.

He glanced to his right. Towards the Dawn Mountains.

He needed to climb till a certain height of the mountains.

However between him and the rising Mountains, was the battlefield.

Guards rushed towards Luna trying their best to attack her, to restrain her, to kill her. However all their efforts were for naught as she roamed right in the middle of the battlefield, dodging attacks left and right. And occasionally blasting some showy magic, scaring away the guards.

Luna, the Eight Seat and the Seat 8, was playing with the guards.

Suddenly her eyes snapped towards Adrian and their eyes met. Then simultaneously both of them looked at the horde of guards coming out of the fallen train.

The ones who were still inside the train when it derailed from its tracks had found their way out.

Many of them were bleeding slightly. However instead of joining the guards on the battlefield, they rushed towards the crater.

It was understandable as well. Aetherite Crystals were rare and high in demands. And seeing such a huge quantity of them, all strewn on the ground made them act on their greed.

Adrian wasn't sure he could take all of them out. His level might have increased but then again, all the guards here were atleast of level 50 .It was technically impossible to fight all of them at once for Adrian.

Most importantly, the guards seemed to have make out his presence but he didn't want his identity to be exposed. To be seen by all. That would be highly inconvenient.

The Duke might have seen him but that was only one person. Indeed he would definitely try hunting him down, but not openly. Not without being able to give a valid reason for his actions.

But he didn't need to worry about it as he felt a presence suddenly appear behind him.

Pushing down his shoulders and making them both crouch, Luna spread her loose cloak over them.

Seconds later, different spells and weapons crashed down on the cloak only to be ricocheted back towards them.

Luna grunted slightly under the combined attacks as she spoke.

"Seems this invention of yours can actually do a lot more than just making me look cool."

"Of course it can, you little idiot. And in case you aren't aware that cloak isn't only about ricocheting attacks. You can absorb all the mana from their attacks and use it in one go." Adrian growled like a feral animal as he felt his shoulder bones almost break under her pressure.

"Oh.." Luna seemed to be surprised at first but it soon changed into delight as her hands twitched, as if wanting to try it out.

She brought her lips close to his ears and shouted earnestly, "Listen properly. I shall create only chance for you. Run with all your strength or I shall throw you like a ragdoll straight to the bottom of the mountains."

Saying that she released her hold on his shoulders and concentrated as her cloak rapidly sucked in the mana.

Then opening her eyes, she flapped her cloak with a great force.

A massive blast tore through the grounds in front of them. All who stood in the way of the mana blast were crushed to dust in an instant.

The nearby guards scrambled away quickly, desperate to save their lives.

The land turned misty as nothing could be seen anymore except for the white fogs that were ascending towards the skies.

Adrian got up and was about to run when he turned towards Luna. Lowering his voice, he said.

"Make sure you take all these crystals with you. They are quite precious and valuable to be simply left behind."

Luna nodded with a smile. Nodding in return, Adrian spirited towards the mountain.

The sounds of his feet running on the ground echoed in the misty fogs along with the coughing sounds of several other guards.

As he kept on running, the coughing sounds increased in frequency as well.

'Is it that bad?' He thought, a little perplexed at his own lack of any breathing problems. He looked right for a second as he ran.

He paused.

Then he slowly turned his head towards the right.

There it stood in the mist.

Hollow holes in place of eyes.

Thin, narrow forelimbs with elongated sharp fingers resembling as more of a knife.

Hunched back. Stick-like legs.

But it didn't have any feet.

Its hands were on its mouth. And it was coughing.

Just like a human.

But it was no human.

It was a newborn Shattered Devil.