Chapter 475: Freedom’s Conviction

They spent a good amount of time in the graveyard; it was Lilith’s wish. He didn’t mind it; after all, he had nothing to do, since he really didn’t care that much about the village, only the event they were hosting... and maybe some food.

He knew Freedom had a lot on his mind. After all, a lot of things were happening, things that no one had ever expected to happen. To think that so many people have died in such little time... It was absurd.

Looking at the graves, he wondered how many were from the Blue Rose and how many were from his home Kingdom; after all, since both had put a lot of their men in this expedition, both had lost a lot.

He wondered how his father was doing; after all, he hadn’t seen him in a while... a lot of time. And speaking of family. ’I hope Sofia is still alive...’ He wouldn’t know what he would do if he heard or saw that she was dead; after all, she was someone he really cared for. Even after so many years, she still held a very important spot in his heart.

There wasn’t anyone that he had more memories with than her. And as interesting as it was, if he looked back, he could remember each of them quite well.

He also didn’t know what his father would do if she died. After all, he thinks he’s dead, so for his other child to also die, it would be a tough pill to swallow, knowing that at the moment Sofia is the only family he has left.

His grandparents had died a long time ago, protecting him when he was a child, and the ones on his mother’s side are from another Kingdom, and are pretty mysterious. He has never met them... but he did wonder if there was something weird about them, because of the pin they had given his mother, and that he had awakened when he became a Seeker.

Unless his father had another child while he was away, Sofia was the only one with his blood still alive... ’Now thinking about it, what if he has had another child, or maybe adopted one... does that mean I have more siblings now?’

Lying on the ground, he watched as Lilith finally approached him. "Let’s go." He said; his tone felt slightly tired. But he wasn’t going to question him about it. It was better not to.

Nodding, he got back to his feet. As they walked out of the graveyard, heading towards where the event was going to be held, the only problem was that they were going to be late.

But it wasn’t like they cared that much about it; they were going to leave either way soon.

...

The place where the event was being held was bigger than all the other houses, in every proportion, including height, which made him wonder if it was meant to house people from outside the story.

Lilith walked in first, stopping in his tracks, which surprised Aether, who entered after him. There were a lot of people there, all sitting on chairs... but what was important was what was at the end of the room... a stage, where two big mushroom people stood, much taller than the normal ones, with Ted... and a human chained to an X, with a blade inside his stomach, hardly alive.

...

...

And the worst part is that he knew who he was.

"Is that... Elise’s brother?" Aether asked Lilith as he turned to face the Vessel, who was just staring, his face slightly darker than usual.

"It definitely is." He said, taking a step forward, which surprised and confused Aether. He had no idea what he wanted to do... but before he could ask... Lilith, he noticed his marks start to charge.

"Wait, what, you are-" But before Aether could finish, Freedom already unleashed a wave of pure energy on one of the people sitting in the chairs, throwing him onto the ones next to him, as the impact killed him instantly.

The room went quiet as everyone turned towards them, just staring. Lilith clenched his fists as blood slipped through the cracks between his fingers. "Get your blade out; we’re killing them all." He said to Aether before starting to charge again.

Hearing this, the mushroom people rose from their seats. Some started running, but before they could, Aether locked the door with his chains, spikes flying from them into the necks of those who ran for the door.

"I think we could have found a better moment, but fine," Aether said, summoning Voidpiercer.

But not everyone ran. Aside from the shorter people, there were also some regular-sized ones who had drawn out their blades, charging at him. Aether stepped out of the way as a blade barely passed by his neck, gripping Voidpiercer and thrusting it into the neck of one of them, watching him fall to the ground in pain.

As he died.

...

But once he did, he suddenly felt an intense pain in his shoulder, where Inky’s mark was, a pain so intolerable that he fell to his knees, dodging a blade that had come to cut his neck.

’Damn it, what the hell.’ He said, gripping his shoulder, as he was completely vulnerable. Looking up, he saw one of the mushroom men raise their blade to kill him... only to be punched right in the face by Lilith. "What the heck are you doing?" Freedom screamed at him as he grabbed the body of the one he had killed, throwing it into a group of people with great force.

"I don’t know!" Aether said through the pain. "I think the damn bird is evolving or something..." He felt the pain getting worse as Lilith continued to battle alone with all the people inside the building. His chains were still there, but they had been weakened because of his state, so if Lilith gave them enough time, they were going to escape.

Something he would never be happy with.

He was going to kill all of them.