Chapter 219: Mission Canceled

A few hours later...

Emerging from the shadows in his hotel room, Adryan wiped the sweat from his brow, and taking off his shirt he tossed it aside and threw himself on his bed face up.

Staring at the ceiling, he let out another sigh as he removed the Burnt Band and placed it under his pillow.

He then stared at his left hand where a simple black glove lay.

'Sorry Klein but I'm going to be borrowing Creeping Hunger for a while but don't worry, I'll give you your girl back when I leave Backlund...' Adryan thought with a small smile before sighing and bringing his hand to his face.

"Tomorrow's paper is going to be crazy..." The redhead mumbled as he sighed again.

His identity as James Holmes had been discovered and it was certain that tomorrow's paper was going to reveal it all.

By the morning of Wednesday, August 8, all of Backlund would know who James Holmes was.

Sighing, again, Adryan returned his attention to the glove.

'Creeping Hunger has a Faceless in its warehouse so I no longer have to worry about hiding my face for the time being... But my 'home' is no longer safe... I have to move again?' Adryan clicked his tongue in annoyance as he stood up.

He took several jumps bringing down from the ceiling strips all the things he had placed before which were the books Isengard had given him along with some ritual materials.

In front of all this, he placed the container with Qilangos characteristics along with Tauk Millenium and the goatskin parchment with the formulas. 

The only artifacts he did not place were Creeping Hunger, which he still had on his left hand and Vecchio Pomodoro which was in his pocket.

'The glove has a Solar Priest so there's no need to wear the necklace for now, and Vecchio Pomodoro's paper figurine ability is too valuable to put away... especially now.' Adryan thought as he finished preparing the ritual to store all this in the City of Calamities.

That done, he began to prepare the ritual for sacrificing himself today's earnings.

...

Opening his eyes back into his body and verifying that he did not forget anything. Adryan sighed as he sat down in the only chair in his room and began to tap the table with his finger.

Despite the cold temperatures today, he felt quite warm.

Closing his eyes and feeling his spirituality, Adryan could feel it warming his entire body from the inside.

Opening and closing his fist, he felt the change that came with fully digesting the potion.

'Not only did my reserves of spirituality become greater than before but my body became stronger and my strength, reflexes, and senses increased...'

A small ball of fire formed in front of him, this ball quickly turned into a small bird that flew around Adryan.

'And my control over fire increased... Now I feel like I can finally control fire that I didn't create.' 

He could feel it through the gas lamps in the rooms next to him, if he wanted to with a thought he could make them explode.

'But I can only control fire in a radius of 10 meters... When I advance that should increase.' Adryan thought as the little firebird disappeared.

Sighing again, he looked at his forearms.

Several cuts covered them but most striking was the huge black bruise on both arms from Qilangos' blow.

Closing his fist, Adryan remembered the feeling of punching the red zone and couldn't help but grin.

'Turns out not only reveals the weak point but it also reveals the window to attack and land a crit hit... Not even the scales of a Wind-Blessed could handle the hit, I wonder if a Zombie skin would be the same?' The redhead thought before sighing.

Lowering his arms, he crossed his legs and rested his elbow on this one and his cheek rested on his right palm.

'Flora is resting now. The last time I stole an ability she was asleep for 3 days but it was a sequence 7... I don't know how long she'll sleep this time, maybe 5 or 6 days?' 

He was already missing the nagging voice of his devil on the shoulder.

Remembering the battle of a few hours ago, Adryan placed a hand on his chest and felt his heart beating slowly.

The image of that woman with the blue-covered notebook was fresh in his mind.

'What was that artifact? In the fight, I was sent to sleep in extremely dangerous situations but Hunters Hallow didn't act, maybe because there was no real threat or did that book point to something that Hunters Hallow protects and caused it to react?'

Hunters Hallow's activation had been a tremendous shock and he couldn't understand why it happened.

Shaking his head, the redhead could only leave it in the back of his mind. Without more information about it, it was just a waste of time trying to find the reason for it.

Slapping his cheek, Adryan felt the mental fatigue of the day was taking its toll on him.

'I'll sleep for a while before I leave this building. I have to find another place to live... On top of that, I still have Will's mission next week... Fuck.' Adryan grunted as he stood up and threw himself on his bed.

Closing his eyes, he was finally able to rest and almost immediately fell asleep.

...

On the night of that same day. In the room of a certain snake...

On a child's bed and covered with a blue sheet, Will was fast asleep looking like an innocent child.

But his brow was furrowed and he was sweating profusely. His skin was pale and now and then he was letting out moans of pain.

He began to twitch showing clear signs of discomfort. It looked like he was having a nightmare.

Every so often his movements became more violent, to the point where it looked like he was convulsing in his bed.

Opening his black eyes with a start, Will sat up suddenly and breathed extremely shakily. His entire body was covered in sweat and he was extremely pale.

Bringing a trembling hand to his face, Will shivered and tried to remember his dream.

"What was that?!" He muttered, trembling with terror.

He had seen Backlund at night, the city was being bathed by the crimson moon. 

But suddenly everything started to shake and he had seen the whole of East Borough shatter and something come out of the ground but before he saw what it was, his dream was abruptly cut short.

But before he woke up he had heard as if some glass shattered slightly.

'This is the first time I have had such a vivid dream revelation since the Third Epoch...' Will Auceptin thought swallowing his spit.

His last vivid dream revelation had brought horrible results for the world at that moment...

His black eyes shifted and he looked to the east, towards the East Borough.

'Something really bad is going to happen...'

Before he could think any further, he felt someone write something on one of his Origami papers.

He immediately knew who it was and frowning, he closed his eyes.

Opening his eyes inside the dark room, in front of him appeared a platinum blond man with a young face and heterochromatic eyes, one blue and the other brown.

"I apologize for the hour at which I am writing Mr. Will but I have something important to inform you of." 

Will's brow furrowed further.

"What happened Roy?"

Roy King nodded to the boy and spoke.

"The portal to the Tower that was to open in Backlund at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 14 just changed location to Lenburg on August 30 at 9:00 p.m."

"And I'm not the only one, all the people who had a portal to open in Backlund in the next few days have been moved to another location."

'This has never happened before...' Will thought feeling like his spirituality was going crazy.

"..." Will fell silent for a long 15 seconds before nodding.

"Inform all members located in Backlund to leave the capital as quickly as possible and that no one else is to come here. No one is to stay or enter." 

Roy King's eyes widened at this order but recovering himself he nodded.

"At your orders."

The dream was broken but Will remained in the black space.

After a few seconds, in front of him appeared a red-headed man who had a grim look on his face.

"This time it better be a good reason brat." Adryan growled as he was summoned but his expression turned serious as he looked into the boy's vacant eyes.

"The mission for Tuesday, August 14th has been canceled."

Taken by surprise, Adryan looked dumbfounded at the boy in front of him who from the first time he met him had an expression that didn't match his age.

"This is kind of sudden Will. Is there something I should know?"

Will was about to say something but immediately shut his mouth, his spirituality screaming at him to shut up.

Adryan immediately noticed this and narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"Will?"

The snake then smiled at the man and shook his head.

"Aside from letting you know that the mission was canceled, I wanted to tell you that I will be moving in with my current family to Lenburg." 

"When you finish your business here I recommend you visit."

Adryan narrowed his eyes at the snake before giving a bounce and nod.

"I'll keep that in mind, now could you return me to my bed? I'm tired."

Will just nodded and the red-haired figure disappeared from his sight.

Being alone, the boy's smile faded and only an emotionless face remained.

"Looks like you're at the center of what's going on... If you survive I'll be waiting for you in Lenburg, Adryan Kenway." Will spoke in an icy tone to the air before vanishing from the black space.

Rising from his bed, Will walked teary-eyed towards his parents' room.