Chapter 111: Strange Appearances

Jiaoying knew that she looked too good not to be receiveing any attention.

Her toned but curvaceous body was wrapped in a thin silk robe that was only loosely tied closed. If she moved too quickly, her breasts would almost certainly pop out. This was all by design.

Solomon would have jumped on her two hours ago and just now let her up for air.

Yari, however, wasn’t taking the bait.

She was hunched over the kitchen table like a gremlin, her hair tied back in a bun and a pair of glasses pressed up against her face. Casually, she chewed on the cap of her pen as she scribbled over a stack of papers.

“Idiots…” She grumbled. “Can you believe this? It’s like I’ve never taught them a damn thing in their lives… How are they missing such basic information??”

Nereid floated opposite her contractor, a droll, dry look across her face.

Greater Beings famously get bored very easily. Nereid was a bit more patient than the rest, but it could still be said that her mind craved stimulation when she wasn’t at rest.

She clutched the sides of her head and let out a soundless scream to relieve some of her frustration.

Yari raised her brow as she put her pen down. “What’s gotten into you? I thought you loved helping me grade papers?”

Nereid had no idea what she could have done to give Yari that impression, but she was deeply regretful over her actions.

“…Maybe that’s her way of saying you need a break, hm?”

Jiaoying chose that moment to slip behind Yari and wrap her arms around her. She kissed the elf on top of her head and tried to lure her away from the table she’d been sitting at for the last couple of hours.

Her perfume was enticing. Her hands were soft but firm, and her presence was reassuring.

But none of it meant a single thing.

Yari was becoming a bit more proficient at the art of romance, but flirting with her was occasionally the same as flirting with a brick wall.

“Oh, I don’t need a break, I assure you.” She said evenly. “I could sit here for at least another couple of hours if I needed to. Although it probably won’t take me that long.”

She looked up at Jiaoying with innocent eyes. “Are you tired? You can go to bed first if you like. I’ll join you shortly.”

Nereid and Jiaoying were now wearing the same expression of unamusement.

Yari looked back and forth between them and finally realized her blunder.

“Well… m-maybe I can be done for the night.”

“It’s a bloody-damn miracle.”

Jiaoying lifted Yari over her shoulder, flustering her. She made a brief stop in the kitchen to procure a bottle of wine and two glasses before she started walking back to the bedroom.

Nereid rubbed her hands together like a pervert. Finally! They were going to do something exciting!

Yari must have noticed the way that her Greater Being was reacting, because her cheeks had become noticeably hotter.

“B-Back into your stone!” She pointed.

Insulted, Nereid stamped her foot and pouted stubbornly.

“This is not something for you to be creeping on!” Yari retorted.

Jiaoying casually smacked her butt as she reached her bedroom. “I don’t mind an audience.”

“You stop encouraging her!”

Nereid folded her arms across her chest. The water that made up her body was boiling.

“…bitch.”

Yari gasped as Jiaoying set her down. “Why you little-”

Suddenly, Nereid turned her head towards Yari’s front door.

She bolted from her place so quickly that even Yari had trouble tracking her.

Going toward the door, she appeared to grab something in the air and wrestle it to the floor. Yari thought for a moment that this was some kind of improvisational threat, but that was before a blue light flashed, and the women could see an ethereal figure being assaulted opposite her kitchen.

He was a tattooed young man with almond-shaped eyes. His long hair was apparently two different colors, but given his current condition, it just appeared as two different shades of a ghastly blue.

“Hey, hey, I’m not. fighting you, okay!? You’re stinging a guy’s pride here!”

Jiaoying immediately wrapped her robe closed and summoned her sword to her hand. “Who the-”

“It’s fine.” Yari tapped her shoulder. “It’s just Raizel.”

Nereid ground her elbow into the back of Raizel’s head. That was the day he learned that he could apparently still feel pain as long as it came from a Greater Being.

Jiaoying slowly put her sword away as she stared at the ghost. “Raizel…? You mean..?”

“Mhm.”

Stepping over to the spirits, Yari hit Nereid on the head with her stone, sucking her back into her dwelling.

She kneeled so that she was closer to Raizel’s eye level.

“Sorry about her… Nereid is seemingly having some very big feelings tonight.”

“Yeah… I noticed.”

Raizel rubbed the back of his head as he sat in a more dignified position. He would have to take this day to his grave.

Or… wherever ghosts went.

“Why have you come here? Is something wrong with Bear?” Jiaoying asked worriedly.

Raizel shook his head. “No, no, he’s fine, it’s just…”

His voice was strangely quiet as he looked at Yari. It was clear that he was wrestling with something inside of himself.

“That thing you said about… bringing me back to life. Is it still an offer that’s on the table..?”

–

Solomon’s senses never dulled, even when he was sleeping.

He sensed a presence disturb the air in front of him, and his eyes instantly flashed open. Without warning, he summoned his sword and lashed out at the closest person to him.

He heard a bitter yell of anguish from one of the cloaked figures. The cry was loud enough to wake the rest of his group.

An awakened Nila was a dreadful thing to behold. She seemed to develop fangs, and her eyes seemed to glow with hate as she screamed off the wall shit at the intruders.

“You dare intrude upon the rest of The Vanquisher?! The streets will run red with the blood of your wives and children!!”

A single tap on the forehead was all that it took to send her back into the realm of unconsciousness.

The others were subdued equally as quickly, and even Solomon found himself unable to keep his eyes open for longer than a few seconds.

Because he resisted whatever had been done to him, a hard fist sank into his nose with a wet crunch, and he was sent back into the darkness.

When Solomon awoke again, this time it was at the direction of a booming voice.

“WELCOME!”

Solomon jolted awake only to be blinded by morning sunlight.

Groaning, he sat up and shielded his eyes from the harsh light until his vision adjusted.

When he was finally able to put his hand down, his jaw nearly fell open at the sight waiting for him.

He and every other cadet from his year sit inside a cool, damp chamber. The grey stones lining the walls were covered with moss and dripping with morning dew.

An old steel gate provides the only view into the outside world. It is also the only light source.

Looking beyond the gates, Solomon can clearly make out the sight of what seems to be a stage made of precious rock. The stands around the stage formed a perfect ring roughly half the size of an ordinary colosseum.

Timber scaffolds held up bright, colorful banners over the heads of seated groups. There were as many as two hundred.

Solomon recognized some of the insignia being flown. These were noble houses.

It didn’t seem like many heads of the houses had arrived. Around seventy percent had sent representatives in their place.

’This is… Hm?’

Solomon rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

An individual stood on the stage, but no one seemed to be watching them. They were all focused on Raidis as he peacocked about like normal.

Solomon could not tell if the person he was seeing was a man or a woman, as their fine black robes made determining a gender rather difficult.

He only knew that it wasn’t human.

Half of their face was obscured by a calloused, black flesh that looked hard and rough to the touch. They appeared to have no eyes at all. Only a single red stone in the center of their head.

The rest of their skin was a very smooth, pale grey. Solomon was a ways away, but he couldn’t make out the slightest flaw or imperfection on them.

Their ears were long and pointy, like an elf’s. Curtains of silky white hair cascaded down their back like streams of milk. But perhaps the most noticeable thing about them was the horns.

They were large, black, imposing things that looked as if they weighed ten pounds each. Their scaled appearance was like nothing that Solomon had ever seen.

He could feel their gaze on him. But he didn’t know what it meant.

Suddenly, they lifted a hand and waved to him with their fingers.

The next time Solomon blinked, they were gone. And no one else even seemed to notice anything had changed at all.

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