Book 3: Chapter 78: Collapsing being and A Thousand Fold

Lone: The Wanderer [Rewrite]

'What a cool set of armour. And such badass horns. I need to take inspiration. Is it made of dragon bones? That'd be weird since they worship dragons, right? It's nice to see Gilbert and Lossa again. Breena also looks so professional. I was worried she'd be too nervous dealing with such powerful people but she's a reliable one when given a task, huh?' Those were Lone's immediate thoughts as he sipped on his tea and watched everyone take a seat.

Gilbert's great grandfather sat directly opposite to Lone with the male and female XXX-rankers at his side. Sitting besides the female XXX-ranker and Lone was Gilbert while Lossa was positioned between himself and the male XXX-ranker. Breena chose to stand behind Lone's right-hand side.

Lossa was the first to break the ice after Lone's greeting. "Lone, this is Divine Dragonsworn, the patriarch of the White Dragonkin Clan. This is his elder brother and trusted advisor Timos Shimmerscales, and this is his younger sister and also his trusted advisor, Orelia Shimmerscales."

'Potential skill bags one, two, and three. Noted,' Lone thought as he nodded politely. "I'm charmed. Before we get to any discussions, I do need to note that the Crimson Foxkin Clan, while kind enough to host me and grant me a permanent residence, is unaware of my troubles and the reason Gilbert sought you out to assist me. I'd like to ask you to leave, Lossa. Not for a lack of trust, but for your safety. The less you know, the better."

Lossa looked concerned as she stared at her granddaughter, Breena. "I'm sorry. I don't follow."

Divine Dragonsworn nodded. "I agree. She has aided us in greeting you properly. Thank you thus far, Matriarch Lossa."

Lone watched as the man then waved his hand and Lossa disappeared. 'Soph? He didn't just kill her, did he?'

'No. She reappeared outside of the pavilion. It wasn't quite teleportation, I think. Maybe some sort of space magic? I'm sorry. I can't tell how he did it,' Soph answered.

That gave him some sense of relief. 'Keep your eyes peeled and your Minor Time Control ready. Gilbert dislikes these people for a reason, so even though he trusts them enough to ask for help, we should be extra, extra careful.'

'We both agree. You agree too, don't you Kyuubi?' 

'... Kyuu...' the sleepy fox answered while also somehow adding a yawn to her telepathic communications.

"Who of my fellow Divines did you have the pleasure of meeting yesterday?" Divine Dragonsworn asked.

'Ah, bastard. Beat me to asking the first question. Now you've set the tempo of the convo. Oh well. If he's here, that means I have something he wants, otherwise, he wouldn't bother answering a request to help against an Arch Devil with potential backers. Considering how I healed Gilbert, I bet he has a hidden injury fucking with his order of being. There's no fuckin' way I'm healing that for him. That would cripple my mana for centuries I bet,' Lone thought.

He took a sip of his tea, smiled, and answered, "Divine Tethered. She taught me a skill and took me fishing. It was a lovely experience. I'm looking forward to our next meeting."

'Gotta remember. Never lie. Don't even try to obscure the truth. I don't know what kind of crazy additional effects he might have on his racial skill, so use every word of truth to my advantage, not his,' Lone reminded himself.

"Her?" Divine Dragonsworn appeared to be quite surprised. "Why would that money-grubbing no-show take the time of day to entertain you? I don't mean to offend, but I've known her for tens of thousands of years and this is the first time I'm hearing she chose to spend time with a B-ranker just to fish."

'He doesn't feel as insightful as Divine Tethered. Good. Still, need to be super careful, but if he isn't as perceptive as her, that means he's overly reliant on his racial skill for answers. I can use that. I can use that quite well I think,' Lone thought in glee.

'Oh, Loney-boy, you just had to go and interest me,' a sigh rang out in his mind.

'Darkness?' Lone asked, a bit surprised by the Primal's words. He took another sip of his tea to buy some time to talk to the Primal. He also applied his Agility to his mind. ȑ𝔞ŊΟ𝐁ƐⱾ

'Your Luck is so peculiar. It's very high for your rank, of course, and you are under the umbrella of Sofia's Luck, but still, meeting two Divines, one amiable and friendly, the other desperate for help if it's possible you can provide it... I want to see you coming out on top here. Keep your eyes on the one called Timos. He's trying to use some rather covert magic to manipulate Gilbert. The magic has deep roots in your charming father-figure's mana organs so it's been applied for a long time now. About two months, I would wager. He's subconsciously resisting it though. Impressive, given the rank difference. I wouldn't be surprised if this Timos's tendrils get aimed your way,' Darkness claimed with an interested chuckle.

'What? Well, fuck. I need to help Gilbert. Do you think I can resist if that magic gets used on me?' Lone asked, concern in his tone.

'Please, who do you think you are? You're both too stupid and too smart to get influenced. You'll get a resistance immediately, remember? Your Basic Regeneration can heal your mana organs too so while the skill might take some hold over you briefly, you'll soon heal it away or simply out-resist it. That's one of the main reasons I haven't considered sending my children to convince you to somehow release me,'

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'You considered doing that?' Lone asked. It sounded plausible given what he knew of Darkness's personality.

'Of course I did. I decided it would be foolish, so I'm a good little Primal now working its best to earn comforts for my eternal home. I could do with new neighbours, the current ones aren't to my liking, but perhaps one day my efforts of buttering up the warden will result in internet privileges or some such, haha,' Darkness joked though Lone felt it was being wholly serious under the jovial tone.

'Fair enough. It'd be more suspicious if you told me the thought had never crossed your mind. Still, agents? Could they help against Zel?' Lone questioned.

Darkness sent a feeling of shrugging as he answered, 'I think you have the situation handled as-is, but maybe. I would answer the Divine in front of you, by the way. He's noticed you applied your Agility.'

Lone immediately undid his application of the stat and put his tea cup down. "Sorry, I needed a moment to think. It's quite overwhelming talking to so many powerful people all at once. Divine Tethered used to have business partners among the Golden Foxkin Clan. She was curious if I knew anything about their disappearance."

"What skill did she teach you?" Divine Dragonsworn inquired.

Gilbert wore an uncomfortable look on his face and opened his mouth to, presumably point out how rude such a question was but he was beaten to the punch by Lone.

"I'd be happy to tell you if you don't mind levelling it a bit for me," Lone offered with an inclined head and a raised eyebrow as if to say 'sounds fair?'.

"If I have the ability to, of course," the handsome man in bone armour replied.

Lone looked towards Gilbert who reluctantly nodded, indicating his great grandfather had been telling the truth. He smiled and said, "Divine Aura Pressure Resistance. I wouldn't be opposed to you overlapping your regular aura on top too to level regular Aura Pressure Resistance."

'Come on. Don't think too hard. Show the uppity B-ranked kid his place with your auras, making your position stronger for what you really want to ask for. Don't think about it too deeply,' Lone prayed.

Divine Dragonsworn nodded, pleasing Lone to no end. "That is simple enough. A cheap price to satiate my curiosity, I would say."

Lone almost blacked out as the strongest sensation of wanted to projectile vomit he had ever felt filled him from top to bottom. He slumped over and his head slammed into the table.

This was absolutely nothing like the sensation of Divine Tethered's Divine aura. Lone was now certain the big old pussy cat had been kind enough to restrain her aura to an extreme degree.

He could feel his bones, blood, muscles, skin, his very order of being, being unravelled at this moment, all too weak to endure the sheer magnitude of what they were being subjected to. His soul, however, remained unshaken.

Basic Regeneration was trying its best to fight off the breakdown of existence that this aura was causing, but it was a losing battle.

'Now, Loney-boy. That Timos fellow is trying his best to manipulate you right this moment. Ignore your body. It will survive. It's made of stronger stuff. Focus all of your energy onto resisting the magic. It's very subtle but I'll use some of my energy to help you detect and resist it. The backlash to the caster should be quite immense. Death, assist me,' Darkness ordered more so than he requested.

'Very well, but Lone, you must spend some time focusing on my Primal skill in exchange,' Death demanded.

Not a moment later and Lone felt two massive stores of power working to actively assist his mind in combating the subterfuge attempt.

"Stop it!" Breena yelled as she stepped forward and drew her needles. "You're killing him!"

Divine Dragonsworn didn't so much as look her, let alone respond. He just flicked his wrist and before she knew what was happening, Breena was sailing through the air.

She felt the air in her lungs escape her as she slammed into the lake with enough force that she was sure she'd broken a couple of ribs and likely fractured a few more bones on top of that.

It hurt. It hurt so much. She didn't have time to cry or scream though. Master Lone was in danger and that mattered far more to her than her own condition did. She ignored the searing pain all over her body as best as she could, and forced herself to swim. She wouldn't be of much help if she drowned, now would she?

Sadly, she had no secret well of power to draw from. Try as she might, broken bones were still broken bones. Every movement was more agony than she had ever known and she could feel herself sinking.

However, something strange happened. A thin red energy of some kind enveloped her body and she felt all of her own weight disappearing as breath filled her lungs. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and opened her eyes, seeing a big red frog floating peacefully in front of her.

It stuck its tongue out, attaching it to her forehead. The pain faded instantly and before she could really get her bearings she was heading up to the surface with the frog sitting on her head.

Breena breached the water and found herself to be at the edge of the central gazebo. The frog spirit, now gone, was nowhere to be seen. She still had very little strength but the red energy wrapped around gave her the power needed to pull herself up out of the water.

Soaking wet, heaving, coughing up blood, and hobbling, she made her way over to her master while still holding the needles she had never let go of.

'I'm going to throw at least one of them at that monster. How dare he harm Master Lone. How dare-'

Breena stopped walking and a look of shock washed over her face. The XXX-ranker known as Timos had halted her inner thoughts by screaming violently.

The next moment the front of his chest exploded, revealing all of his mangled organs within, before he quickly fell unconscious.

At the same time, Master Lone's hair and tails had changed colour. They were now half grey and half the same deep purple her own tails, hair tips, and the centre of her eyes possessed. His left eye was half purple and his right eye had turned half grey.

Three overlapping voices each as powerful as the last boomed, "Bold. Not only did you attack my aide Breena, you even attempted to invade my mind with some petty magic. That isn't a good way to show your sincerity in making a request of me, now is it? Just because I need help killing an Arch Devil and his hired help, that doesn't mean I am yours to do with as you will."

He got up and walked towards Breena. At the same time, the XXX-ranker Orelia had a contemptuous look on her face as she looked at her own brother, but she waved her hand and cast some magic, stabilising his condition.

Breena saw Master Lone approaching her and hesitantly asked, "Master Lone?"

He smiled, his eyes telling her that it was him, not one of the Primals his incredibly soul imprisoned. "It's me. Rest. You did great. Leave everything else to me."

Master Lone put a hand on her shoulder. She felt all of the pain disappearing instantly and just as quickly her mind drifted off into unconsciousness.

The last thing she saw before everything went black was Divine Dragonsworn frowning intensely. 'Good. Feel all the pain and suffering you inflicted upon my master a thousand fold, you monster...'