"You look a little too sad for a man who's about to be free."
As the two ran side by side, now far from the ward where Theo had been kept prisoner, the lady broke the long silence by finally addressing the troubled expression he had on his face.
"It's just… well… I feel bad for leaving them behind." He murmured, trying his best not to sound like he was complaining or criticizing her decision. As much as he felt like they could have saved the rest, he also recognized that it probably wasn't her decision to make.
It wasn't her mission, after all.
"There's no need to feel bad. They're criminals, aren't they?" She shrugged, giving an emotionless answer as they ran past a hallway filled with the burned corpses of guards.
Theo's face tightened a little—not because of the dead guards, since he had already seen a lot more on their way here, but because of the cold reply he received from the lady he was running right beside.
The look on her face showed that she couldn't be bothered at all by the well-being of the prisoners left behind.
"Don't look at me that way." She sighed. "Among those prisoners, there could be rapists and murderers. Sure, there could be some who committed mild offenses, but it would be impossible to decipher that right there and then."
"So, it's easier to just lump them all as criminals…?"
"Exactly."
Theo swallowed hard as he processed her logic. He realized that he would have been in the situation of everyone else if that particular man hadn't taken an interest in him.
The only reason he was rescued was because of Shen.
'Does that mean… he really is the Supreme Lord of Tyranny? That Lord Shen Ak'ashi?' He wondered, gulping a little again.
"In any case, you shouldn't concern yourself too much with them anyway. I was able to take a good look at most of them, and they're not long for the world. The harsh conditions they were subjected to… refilling Ne'sh like that… most of them would have died within a year, while the rest would perish in the following one."
As tragic as that sounded, Theo felt his guilt ease up a little. He felt disgusted with himself for feeling relieved that the full lives of people hadn't been robbed by his inaction, but by the cruel treatment of the Sarvos Nation.
'Even if they would have lived for a few more months… wouldn't it have been better if they died free?' Even though he thought this, he couldn't say anything.
He was in no position to say anything.
They navigated their way through the crumbling building, until they were finally able to see light at the end of their vibrating tunnel. The exit to the collapsing structure was less than a hundred meters ahead, and upon seeing it, the two increased the pace of their running.
The lady was impressed by Theo's stamina, and the latter was also stunned by her endurance. Her looks betrayed her physical abilities.
Then again… she didn't appear to be a killer, yet the number of burned guards told of her regard—or lack thereof—of human life. On their way to the exit, he had spotted at least a hundred men who were scorched to death, and he suspected there were even more that he didn't see.
The lady beside him was clearly very dangerous, though she didn't look it at all.
"Are you from the Ak'ashi Guild?" He blurted out without thinking, his eyes instantly widening as soon as he heard his voice.
"Yeah. My name is Fae." She flashed him a sweet smile. "It's only fair you know my name, since I know yours."
Despite how charming she seemed, Theo couldn't help but feel a chill now that he looked at her. No longer was she the pure venus that he initially saw her to be, but a devilish beauty that could take his life at any second.
"T-that's a lovely name." He smiled, vowing to remain silent for the rest of the journey.
Thankfully, the two of them reached the exit at that particular moment, bathing themselves in the shower of light that shouldn't have existed since it was late at night. Theo soon understood why once he stepped out to the open field, right outside the enormous structure that kept him prisoner for three years.
… Or rather, the previously enormous structure.
For what Theo saw that night defied all possible explanations.
"By the Divine Ones…" The sight was enough for him to completely break the vow he made to himself, forcing him to utter words that were drowned by the crumbling noise before him.
"... What in the world is that?"
Like a plant being uprooted from the soil, so was the entire building—as large as a gigantic fortress—lifted from the ground.
Debris was carried up, like crushed leaves being sucked into a vacuum. Bricks, and metal, and huge chunks of the structure, rose to the sky. This was the same place everything around seemed to be heading; the night sky.
And why?
Theo didn't know! He could not comprehend what he was seeing.
All he knew was that a whole fortress was being lifted high above, and everything in the colossal cluster of buildings was accompanying it. This was the cause of the rumblings that he heard in his cell.
If Fae had delayed for a minute or two more, he would have also been on his way up—high into the heavens.
"Come on, let's go." Fae dragged his hand, and the two of them rushed away, stealing into the night.
After running for a few more hundred meters, they finally stopped among a cluster of trees at the edge of town. It wasn't because either of them was out of breath, but because she said they had to wait there.
It seemed she was expecting someone.
Theo found this to be the perfect moment to look up—to see the whole cluster of buildings already floating in the night sky, parting the night clouds as it lay suspended as if being held up by a dangling rope.
"T-this is—"
"Look over there." Fae pointed to something that was a source of light whose position was even higher than the building.
This was the source of radiation that shone on the exit, causing light to exist even in the dead of night. The light back then seemed bright white—like some sort of flare—but now it was bright golden.
"W-what is that?" Theo muttered, his widened eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
"Look at it closely."
"I… I can't… what is it?"
The light seemed to be moving, flying even higher above. If Theo didn't know any better, he would have mistaken it for the stars of the night sky.
But this wasn't a star.
"What do you think it is?" As Fae asked, Theo uttered the first thought that came to his mind.
"Like the birth of a Divine One."
It sounded silly, but he had no other word to describe it.
Legends say that the stars of the sky represent the Divine Ones who abandoned the world several millennia ago, leaving behind their treasures known now as the Arcane Instruments. Just as a shooting star is famed to represent the death of a Divine One, whenever a particular star shines brighter than the rest, it is regarded as the birth of a Divine One.
That was what Theo currently thought of the golden ball of light that he witnessed.
"A Divine One? No… not that." Fae whispered into his ears, sending a tingling sensation through his whole body.
"That is Lord Shen Ak'ashi… the Supreme Lord of Tyranny."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
At that very instant, a magnificent beam burst from the golden one in the sky. It instantly tore through the distance between the suspended light and the floating building, completely eviscerating the latter within seconds.
Not even ashes of the fragmented structures remained, as the beam devoured everything that it touched, creating a brilliant flash of light in the sky.
In that short moment, it felt like daytime.
All it took was the blink of an eye, and the floating fortress of Sarvos was wiped out.