Arcanum - Chapter 174

Scarlet’s familiar fear instinct began to tingle, my hairs standing on end and the sense of fleeing crept into my body. “Use this.” I said passing my coin to Officer Jun and Daisy passed hers to Yuna after using a charge.

“Hey everyone!” Scarlet greeted us with a giant smile donning her iconic armour pieces over a nice blue dress and her giant sword on her back.

“Commander Scarlet!” Yuna saluted her like a solider saluting their commander.

“So what’s the situation?” Scarlet asked giving office Jun a nod of recognition.

“We believe there’s a Demonic incursion on the 5th basement floor.. There were strange armoured things guarding the entrance to the floor.” Yuna explained.

“We also believe they have plans on an imminent attack.. The target currently unknown.” Jay informed her.

“Anything else?” Scarlet asked smiling with no worry at all.

“We believe they are followers of Khorcus.” Grace added.

“Great my favourite kind, up close and personal.” Scarlet smiled.

“We also have a small party of collaborators marked with Morgana’s spores and my hunters mark.” Grace notified her.

“Nice.. And they are still down below on the 5th floor?” Scarlet questioned.

“Currently.” Grace answered.

“Good, I assume they will have other means of escape. If they leave before I can get to them, it’s up to you to intercept. Don’t let them get to their target.” Scarlet ordered.

“Are we gonna come with you?” I asked Scarlet feeling a little worried.

“Sadly it’s far too dangerous, even with Ashley’s stabilizers and my protection you’d be relatively safe.. But I don’t know what’s down there if they have a Balron or a Pit Commander, they could literally kill you at a glance and I won’t be able to stop them.” She warned us for once looking and sounding serious for our safety.

“Are you going to be okay then?” I asked extremely worried that has no back up.

“Don’t worry Sis! I’ve got this!” She answered with a giant smile with absolute no look of worry.

“Are you sure it’s going to be safe what if a Demon Lord is down there?” I questioned her again to make sure.

“Demon Lord aren’t easy to summon, they need a lot of blood sacrifices and a long complex ritual that needs a lot of ingredients and planning. Also if the Demon Lord was here we’d know.” Scarlet smiled.

“Okay be careful.” I asked her.

“It’s okay sis! Nothing can hurt me.” She smiled and began descending down the level.

“Stay safe! And come back!” I shouted to her.

“I’ll see you in abit.” She turn back to face me with a giant smile and waving goodbye disappearing down the levels.

“Is she really going to be okay?” I questioned extremely worried for her as she left us with no worries at all.

“See at this point I’d imagine you guys would sneak in and follow her.. But I’m afraid I can’t let that happen.” Yuna informed us.

“For once I think we should pass on this opportunity.” Jay agreed.

“But she’s on her own!” I instinctively objected a little worried for her.

“I think in this situation, we’d be getting in the way if we got involved.” Grace agree with the others.

“I’m sorry Emilia, but Scarlet did say there are Demons that can kill us at a glance.. It’s far too dangerous and I’m sure she’s going to be okay otherwise she would have brought back up.” Yuna put a hand on my shoulder to try and comfort me.

“We should prepare… once they know Scarlet has arrived they will bound to scatter and flee.” Grace informed us.

“Let’s go.. We’ll head to the world tree, it’s the centremost point of Atlantis.” Yuna instructed us and began leading the way.

“Do you think we’ll be good enough to handle them?” I asked worried knowing that Demons and things is something you shouldn’t mess with.

“We’re gonna need to be, we don’t know who else are collaborators so we can’t be certain who we can and can’t trust.” Yuna answered.

“This is insane how all this can happen?” I questioned.

“We don’t know for certain but for now we know this is happening we can take steps and measures to stop and prevent it.” Yuna answered.

“But why would students collaborate with Demons?!” I questioned the absurdity of it all.

“Like I said before, they must have been corrupted by some way or another.. Or they secretly wanted more power. We won’t know for certain till Scarlet cleanses the floor and discovers what’s actually going on down there.” Yuna answered.

“Do you think she’s actually going to be okay all by herself?” I questioned.

“I’m sure she’s fine.. If you’ve heard the stories and missions her and Paul had completed you’d understand how strong she really is beneath that bubble exterior.” Yuna answered.

“One story that I loved is when Scarlet single handily brokered a peace between a Orc and Elf settlement by beating both the Orc Clanleader and an Elf Prince in single combat unarmed.” Grace replied with a smile.

“My personal favourite is the story of them taking out an Elder Mind nest, you know how dangerous Mindsappers are!! Yet Paul and Scarlet managed to wipe out a camp.” Jun added in excitement.

“Do you know much about the girl Anna?” I asked Yuna.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

“She’s a young girl who helps Paul abit.. She wears glasses.” I answered

“Ohhh her, I’ve seen her in some ops, she’s very good with all sorts of weapons and is a very deadly combatant, very swift and very efficient at taking out her targets.” Yuna answered.

“Is there anyone else in their team?” I questioned curiously.

“Well there is Ashley who I’m sure you know but other than that not currently I think.” Yuna answered.

“Do you think we’d see anything happen while Scarlet is down there?..” I questioned at how peaceful everything up here is.

“Maybe if she wants to cause a scene she probably could.” Yuna chuckled.

“By the way is she really as Invincible as people say?” Jun asked.

“On the first day I arrived she saved me by catching a blade with her bare hand and crushed it with ease.” I answered Jun.

“No way!! That must have been so awesome!” He imagined in glee.

“I do wonder.. If a Sun Blade can cut her.” Helen pondered.

“There is no way she can be immune to a Sun Blade, they are hot enough to instantly cut through any weaponry and armour.” Grace answered.

“I really wish I could witness what’s going down there.” Jun said lost in his imagination.

“That would be a good watch.” Yuna agreed.

“Have you ever dealt with demons before?” I asked Yuna.

“Nope.. I’ve never encountered anything infernal in nature.. Trust me when I say they are extremely rare.” Yuna answered.

“So if we was to encounter anything, what could we expect?” I asked her curiously.

“Well form what I learnt about Demons is that they are Chaotic in nature, unlike Devils there is no reasoning with them there is no greater cause or hidden agendas, they revel in the chaos of their Demon Lord. In this case of Khorcus expect melee fighters, despite being a demon and chaotic he and his followers revel in the thrill of the fight.” Yuna explained.

“So there’s a huge difference between Devils and Demons?” I questioned.

“Yes very big difference, Devils are different their main agenda is to gather souls, for them it’s like their currency the more souls they have tied to them the more powerful they become. So rather than fighting and killing like Demons, Devils like to make deals where it’s a win-win situation, they either get what they want or get your soul so always be careful when you sign a contract with a Devil.” Yuna explained.

“Can’t you just go back on the contract?” I questioned intrigued to learn more.

“Umm I can’t really explain it but once the contract is signed or even verbally agreed upon, it’s now set in stone there’s no going back or escaping the contract, the best way I can describe it is that you’re bound magically to the contract. Unless of course the Devil chooses to void the contract but I don’t see a reason why they would.” Yuna answered.

“And Devils and Demon from the same place?” I questioned getting as much information as I can.

“So what I’ve learnt from Devils and Demons are that they are natural enemies of each other.. They wage a war in the Hells for control of their domains. Demons engage in open conflict with each other and Devils, whereas Devils fight on a united front but behind close doors scheme and plan to other throw the other.” Yuna explained.

“How do we know so much about Devils and Demons?” I questioned curiously.

“Ohh it’s because the Library of Atlantis is vast, you do know the legend right?” Yuna asked.

“Ohh what’s the secret?” I asked in excitement.

“Atlantis was rumoured to be a planes traversing fortress.” Yuna whispered making the secret sound more exciting.

“Ohh that coincides with our records.” Helen and Grace replied hearing the secret.

“What is that?!” Yuna asked in shock.

“Long ago before the Elves left the Fey Lands and began to live lives here they were also visited by a Grand Floating Fortress with a World Tree in the Centre, and the Man who commanded this Great fortress was someone who went by the name King Solomon.” Grace explained.

“Wow no way….” Yuna replied in shock.

“What is it?” Jay asked.

“Well in the library there is a sectioned off part where all the oldest texts and scrolls are held, apparently most of them was written by the same man who went by that name!” Yuna answered still in shock at the correlation of information.

“You know guys… there was one weird that happened to me.” I confessed to everyone making them all look at me extremely intrigued. “So when we visited the Sporean settlement.. I was attacked by a Blue Dragon.” I began to cautiously explain as everyone’s jaws literally dropped at me telling them this news. “And it called me Daughter of Solomon.. Whatever that means.” I finished explaining my bit.

“No way…” Jay uttered in complete awe.

“Wait so you’re a descendant of King Solomon?” Jun and Yuna asked.

“Not that I know of..” I answered.

“Wait so do you know of Atlantis before you came here?” Yuna asked.

“Well…” I paused for a second realising that Yuna doesn’t know where I’m from. “Of course I heard of Atlantis being one of the four great schools.” I answered.

“Ohh silly me.” She said laughing at herself. “But I could have sworn literally all dragons vanished.” Yuna replied.

“That’s what we thought.” Grace and Helen agreed.

“By the way why did they all vanish?” I questioned.

“My mum told me there an ancient ritual was enacted banishing all dragons, she said the immense spell spread across the whole world.” Morgana answered out of the blue being silent till now.

“What.. no way.” Jay uttered again like his mind was blown again.

“Yup, that’s what mum told me.” Morgana smiled.

“Just how informed are you all.” Yuna asked in shock.

“Well we only know small bits, this was the first time we collaborated information.” Grace answered.

“So how long ago did all the dragons vanish? I questioned.

“No one know for sure the exact time and date but it was a long time ago.. Predating the Oblivion war.” Yuna answered.

“For sure.. If the Dragons were here to help it they would defiantly have turned the tides of war sooner.” Jay answered.

“But what spell could banish all the Dragons in the world?… specially since Dragons are immune to magic.” Grace asked Morgana.

Morgana shrugged, “I dunno my mum just said she felt it the immense spell being cast.” Morgana answered.

“Wow.. daughter of King Solomon huh?” Yuna starred at me pondering.

“Trust me I don’t think I’m anything special.” I smiled to her.

“Guys.. I sensed the party have resurfaced.” Morgana and Grace said in unison with a complete change of attitude and tone.

“Where?” Yuna asked jumping up ready for action.