Chapter 32: Actions and Consequences
Seeing Ronan's dead body the old man lost the last bit of hope he had, he realized the only way to escape is run, due to the fear he lost all his reasons and intelligence and started to run like hell but after a few steps, he stopped and looked down at his chest to see an arrow sticking out of it then the darkness enveloped him.
A few meters away from the old man, the woman in white slowly stood back in her feet and picked up her sword, then looked at Rina.
"Please don't kill me please" Rina started to beg for her life seeing the woman's gaze at her as the woman walked towards her with the sword in her hands, the healer woman in Rina's hands almost lost her consciousness due to the blood loss yet when she heard her friend's cry she tried to stand up and fight.
"Give me one reason why I should not?" the woman in white asked but Rina couldn't think of any reason.
"I'm a woman like you please don't kill me" Rina tried to play the woman card but when she said that the woman before her giggled.
"That girl there isn't she also a woman?" the woman in white pointed her towards Arya.
Rina struggled to find a suitable answer for a minute.
"I... please my friend is dying, let us go! you already killed those monsters that tried to harm the girl" Rina didn't dare to address her former comrades as 'team' and tried to escape using her bleeding friend as a reason.
However, the woman didn't seem to care about anything that Rina said
"Yes they are monsters but you are the worst kind of monster" the woman in white grimly said and put her sword on Rina's chest as Rina's eyes began to form tears without her knowing.
"What?"
"The kind that does nothing when innocent people's life get destroyed" the woman in white slowly pierced through Rina's chest towards her heart as the life in Rina's eyes started to gradually fade away.
"You should pay the price for helping these scum" the woman in white withdrew her sword from Rina's chest and stabbed Hela's heart and ended her suffering as well as her life.
"I'm happy to see you're learning Arrora" Knight happily said and approved Arrora's actions as Arwen stepped forward beside Knight and pointed at Arya and Benedict.
"What are we going to do with them?" At the moment Arwen said that Arya started to tremble in fear seeing those before her and realizing what just happened to Ronan's group.
"Let's just take them with us to interrogate and destroy those bodies" Knight said and shrank his body to his usual size while Arwen nodded and then whistled.
After a moment Arwen whistled there were more than twenty elves came from hiding around the forest beside them,
"Arwen alright people let's clean this place" Arwen ordered the elves but before he stepped forward Knight Stopped him by spreading his wings covering his way.
"Search their bodies before destroying them" Knight said and closed his wings but when Arwen heard him, he was quite confused and he questioned
"Why?"
Knight sighed when Arwen questioned him as he thought about Arwen's innocence
"Because it's villainy 101, never leave anything valuable on the dead guys" as Knight said he ruffled his mane like a king.
Arwen almost coughed up blood when he heard and saw Knight, the lion before him acted in a kingly manner but asked him to do such a shameless thing like it was a normal matter but he chose not to argue with him as he decided to go with Knight's idea.
"Arrora get them up" Knight said to Arrora looking at Arya and Benedict who was trembling in fear while Benedict lying on Arya's lap struggling to stand up.
Arrora didn't say anything just nodded her head and started to walk towards Arya.
"You better not try anything, girl" Arrora said to Arya and stood behind them waiting for the elves to finish their jobs, seeing the woman behind her Arya wanted to talk to the woman but she couldn't due to the fear.
After a while, the elves buried the bodies of the Ronan's group after searching and collecting valuables from their bodies.
"Alright, let's move" Knight ordered the elves and led them through the dark forest to the waterfall.
Eventually, the group came near the roaring waterfall which caused Arya's eyes to go wide in the beauty of it.
"Cat fire it up"
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At the moment Arya and Benedict were standing in a big spacious magnificent hall before a young man on the throne.
Arya could feel the atmosphere shift around his dominating presence. He sat on his throne with his legs crossed while his eyes were sharp. The posture of a ruler- No... A king.
The rays of lights filtered through the curtain around him gave him a sort of spotlight. The way he glared at Arya and Benedict was like piercing into their souls searching for those thoughts that wish to breed deceit within his kingdom. Arya felt while seeing his cold and calm face that this young man is not to be messed with.
The woman rescued them stood on his left side while at the right side of him, the Lion sat on his seat right and looked at them.
"Who are you? And how did you end up near our territory" finally the young man broke the silence in the hall and calmly questioned them.
"I'm Benedict Ruthford and this is my student Arya Bethanny"
Benedict answered the young man looking at him, his voice was very clear thanks to the glass of water that the people in the hall gave him to drink because at the moment he drank the water his wounds and pain disappeared and he felt very refreshed.
The young man didn't say anything as he looked at him like asking him to continue
"Two days ago we found powerful energy and followed the energy signature to the place your people saved us from " Benedict couldn't even finish his sentence thinking about Ronan and his group due to anger and embarrassment.
Hearing Benedict's explanation Knight was surprised because it was also two days ago when Don had a breakthrough to Peak Moon level, at the same time Don didn't show his surprise like Knight on his face when he heard Benedict
"How? Prove it" Don simply said, looking at the teacher-student duo before him.
Benedict knew if he couldn't prove what he said, their life is over so he carefully took his detector from his backpack and held it on his palms, he was waiting for the detector to make a sound or flicker light however there was nothing.
Slowly the fear started to overwhelm both Benedict and Arya as seconds went without any sound from the detector.
"But we just saw when" Benedict mumbled in anxiousness and looked at the lion sitting on his seat glaring at them while the woman in white slightly bent towards the young man and whispered something in his ears.
"The next thing I'm gonna do will decide whether you are going to die or not" Don said as he stood up from the throne and activated his battle energy to form a wind blade in his hands.
At that exact moment, it happened.
"Beep" the detector made a sound as well as began to flicker just when Don's wind blade appeared on his hands, finally Arya and Benedict breathed a sigh seeing the detector works as Benedict looked at Don with surprise and excitement despite his fear towards him.
The detector went off as the wind blade in his hands disappeared and went on when the wind blade appeared again, Don and Knight were very surprised and shocked to see such a device that could detect their battle energy when they use it.
"Who are you?" Benedict mumbled in bewilderment staring at Don, he was studying the youth before him and wondering how could this powerful energy emanating from him.
"Who else knows you're here" Don asked but he didn't look at Benedict but Arya, she was hesitating for a moment to answer but after a moment she answered his question honestly as she could
"No one nobody knows" Don stared at the girl for a bit and confirmed that she is telling the truth from her body language
"So you have two choices, work for me or die" Benedict's and Arya's eyes went wide when they heard the youth before them.
Arya wanted to think about this before making any choices but before she could speak anything, Benedict made his choice.
He was thinking about all the people that called him crazy and threw him out because of his theories, all the shame, and embarrassment he faced till now, the pressure and suffering he went through were all etched into his mind.
"We'll work for you but I have only one condition" Benedict said calmly but he was shivering inside, however the youth in front of him didn't show any reaction to his answer
"What is that?" Don said as he already had a vague idea about what he's going to ask
"The energy you used I have to study it" Benedict said.
"Alright, if you help me I'll let you study it" Benedict sighed when he heard the answer and thanked God for finally giving him the chance to prove his theories and making his enemies payback.
"Gael show our new guests their room" Don called out an elf youth and ordered him, he was one of the trainees under Don, the reason he chose Gael was he had loyalty to him and possessed a potential to become a deadly close combat warrior, unlike the other elves who specialized in long-range combat like Archery.
"Yes as you wish" Gael stepped forward and slightly nodded and led Arya, Benedict to their rooms that were assigned to them by Catalie.
After everyone was dismissed only Knight and Don stood on the room alone
"Don we can't trust them" Knight said.
"Of course we cant but remember what the Dragon King said about the battle energy and magic energy" Don replied as Knight started to recollect his memory
"He said the magic energy, the battle energy we use is all energy right?
Isn't it obvious they are energies?" Knight didn't know what the Dragon King meant by this, he felt confused.
"I think he meant we can use magic energy to cultivate battle energy and vice versa"
"How? But we can cultivate battle energy here, right?so what's the point "
"You forgot one thing, he said the magic energy is starting to replenish that means our enemies going to become stronger than us"
Knight thought about it for a moment as a sudden realization appeared on his face and he laughed surprisingly
"So we need someone who is an expert in energies, and that someone is Benedict and that girl Arya isn't it?"