Chapter 207: The End Is Near

A few hours later...

Adryan had his back leaning against the sewer wall, multiple fireballs were slowly flying around him illuminating him.

Holding out his hand, he created a small orange flame that he stared at, feeling its warmth.

"So...now that we're alone do you plan on telling me how you plan on hunting Qilangos, or are you going to make me wait until tonight like you did with that muscle for brains?" 

Letting out a small laugh, the red eye clenched his fist extinguishing the flame.

"Honestly I just want to explain it twice so I'm sorry Dear but you'll have to wait until tonight~" he said teasingly.

"Sigh* Of course." Flora said somewhat disappointed.

"Hey, don't feel bad my beloved worm. You'll see it was worth the wait!" 

"Whatever you say, Princess." Flora said losing interest, but then something grabbed her attention.

"Here comes your soldier. Ready to be disappointed again?" She joked back and Adryan smiled sideways at that but said nothing.

He was already looking down the path where he heard the soldier was coming from.

He didn't have to wait long as the beloved soldier soon arrived, this time their appearance had reverted to that of the Scarlet Witch actress.

Arriving in front of her Lord, the female soldier shook her head.

"Forgive me my lord, but the formula didn't show up today either."

"Don't worry about that. Is there anything else you want to say?" The redhead said with a small click of his tongue, the female soldier nodded earning a serious expression from the redhead.

"Report."

The female soldier made a military stance and spoke loudly.

"Yes, my Lord! Mr. A did not attend the party and another man calling himself Mr. X took his place! According to his words, Mr. A had business to attend to and was unable to attend today's party, and he will be away for 2 weeks!"

Adryan's pupils shrank and a chill went up his spine.

'Is it happening already, isn't it too soon? I don't even know if Klein managed to make the charms...' 

Shaking his head, the man's eyes sharpened.

'I have no idea if I managed to save anyone from their fate but from the looks of it, the confrontation between the Nighthawks and the Useless Writer will be soon... at most it will all be over in two weeks or even less...'

He didn't know if he had managed to save any of the Black King's pieces, the only thing he did know was that if he didn't make a move now at the end everything could end up worse than in the original story.

So, inhaling slowly, he nodded with a cold mind and looked at his soldier.

"Nothing more?"

"That's all my lord!"

...

Watching as the tattoo reappeared on his forearm, Adryan looked away and clasped his hands together in prayer.

"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era;

The Mysterious Ruler above the gray fog;

The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck..."

"Mr. Fool I have critical information to deliver..."

...

"... I will send this to my blessed. Don't worry Mr. Chariot, everything will be fine."

With that said, Klein severed the connection to the Crimson flame and sank into the chair. He brought his hands to his face and could only laugh in disbelief.

"Just when I thought everything would be better. Yesterday I advanced Clown but it's not enough... Someday within these 2 weeks the ritual will begin... Megose hasn't been found and the situation looks worse and worse..." 

A ridiculous smile grew on his face and Klein could only laugh at his misfortune, tears falling from his eyes.

But restraining himself, he gritted his teeth and growled.

"NO! I can't give up now!" 

Settling back in his chair, he began to tap the edge of the bronze table with a cooler mind.

All the details of the last few weeks ran through his head.

"The Red Gloves are doing everything in their power to find Megose... If I give up now I'd be spitting in their face when they did so much for us..."

The memory of how Leonard told him about Old Neil being taken to the Serenity Cathedral while he was with Mr. Azik in Lamud Town still stung a little...

When he asked Leonard why this was happening it turned out that Old Neil was trying to resurrect his dead lover through a ritual and almost lost control over it.

Luckily, one of the Red Gloves discovered him before he could collect enough blood to complete it and he was taken to Winter County for treatment...

'I didn't even get to say goodbye...' The Clown thought heavily then sighed. 

The captain had been very down about it...

Shaking his head, he focused on the present.

Old Neil's problem was being treated and hopefully, he would recover... Now there was Tingen's safety to look after.

'The one behind all this brought Mr. A of Backlund to Tingen for a final battle... Within these 2 weeks, the fate of Tingen will be decided...'

Letting out another sigh, Klein touched the familiar 3 crimson stars together with the flame.

"There will be no Tarot Club for two weeks." 

With that message given and simulating the feeling of falling, Klein reopened his eyes in his bed, and getting up he grabbed his half-height hat along with his cane and headed to Blackthorn Security Company to complete his shift.

The Clown touched his breast pocket, where 2 charms rested. Even though there were a few layers of clothing, he could still feel their summer warmth.

These were his secret weapon and if it wasn't for Mr. Azik's help he wouldn't have been able to create them.

'Good thing I asked him to do some paranormal activities in Lamud Town before he left...' Klein thought extremely relieved squeezing the high level Charms to his chest tightly.

...

*Backlund, 5 hours later. 8:00 p.m., Secret Training Venue*.

Charlotte let out a nervous sigh as he looked around. He was now wearing a simple blue shirt along with a pair of pants and his new combat boots, new clothes bought with his new paycheck at the recommendation of the boss.

The Mystery Prier's purple eyes, with a light trace of dark circles under them, turned exactly every 15 seconds to look at a couple of tables on the other side of the ring they were at. More specifically the table on the left.

On this specific table were several containers sealed with spirituality...

Inside those containers were all the ingredients for his Sequence 8 potion. 

Today he was going to advance to Melee Scholar!

Yesterday he had fully digested the Mystery Prier potion and had notified Adryan through his messenger. The redhead then decided that he would advance along with Hazel today.

The ingredients on the other table were for the noblewoman's potion.

"Nervous?" 

An elegant voice sounded from beside him and the black-haired man's brow twitched for a moment before he sighed.

Turning and looking at the green-haired woman he nodded.

"Of course I am. Even knowing that with my potion digested my Promotion will be safer doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. Aren't you scared?"

Hazel, who was wearing a fancy shirt along with black pants and combat boots, smiled sideways and crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow at Charlotte, she spoke with pride worthy of a noblewoman like her.

"Of course I'm not. Unlike you, I am confident in my ability and I know I will advance to Sequence 8 with no problem." 

"I don't even know why I asked..." Charlotte said with a grunt looking at the ground, his hands trembling slightly.

Hazel looked at the purple-eyed man's hands and with a sigh, the sideways smile disappeared. She patted his shoulder getting his attention.

"A piece of advice my previous teacher gave me when I drank my Sequence 9 potion; Give up your nervousness, the only thing you will achieve by being nervous will be to make your promotion more dangerous and increase the chance of losing control."

Charlotte's eyes widened and nodding vigorously at his teammate's words, the man closed his eyes and began to meditate to calm his nerves.

"Flora would blush to know that you still think of her, my student." The redhead said with a smile entering the training room being followed by Sasha who greeted the two occupants with a big smile.

"No, I wouldn't Princess." The aforementioned say annoyed inside the man making Adryan's smile grow a little.

Hazel's expression brightened as she saw her teacher enter and she walked briskly toward him.

"Welcome Teacher, Miss Sasha. I'm ready to advance." The young woman said earning a nod from the redhead.

"Perfect. All the equipment is ready, right?" 

The green-haired lady nodded as she elegantly pointed to the wall opposite where the ingredients were. There was a table filled with all the equipment they would use to make the potions.

"All ready." 

The man's scarlet eyes focused on the still meditative Charlotte, returning his attention to Hazel, he spoke with a smile.

"Looks like you'll go first."

Hazel returned the smile and nodded. She walked over to the pair of tables and grabbing the containers on the right, carried them over to the table where the equipment was.

Now she would prepare her Sequence 8 Swindler potion!

+++

Goodness gracious my fingers hurt. I didn't think it would be so difficult to transcribe all the chapters but I was wrong.

Apart from the ones I just published, I just finished 4 more chapters. At this rate, I doubt I'll finish the remaining 26. I don't think I have a choice so from Monday to Sunday I'll be posting 4 chapters a day. Sorry if you were excited but it turns out I'm not as fast of a writer as I thought I was.

See you tomorrow.