Where Are We?
At that moment, every single hair on the Commander of Blood's body stood straight up as an incredible force of energy surged from Eve's body. With his god eyes, the Commander of Blood could see that this energy was real and powerful. In a panic, the Commander erected a spirit magic barrier and took four long leaps backward. In a fraction of a second, the force reached the Commander of Blood, going straight past his barrier.
<<Is it... over for me?>> The Commander of Blood thought to himself, reflecting on all his past battles and adventures. He was so ashamed that out of all the possible ways he could die, it would be to a no-name child of the Sanctuary. Luckily for him, today wouldn't be the day he died. Instead of rushing towards the Commander, the energy instead rushed to the girl in his hand. In a flash of light, both Eve and the girl disappeared.
Bewildered, the Commander used his god eyes to scan the surrounding area, but they were nowhere to be found. Unknownst to him, Eve was currently several miles below the Commander of Blood in the Underworld.
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Teleporting miles was an incredibly nauseous experience, and both Eve and the girl threw up the moment they materialized onto the barren wasteland.
Eve whirled up in an instant and took in the surrounding area. It was completely dark, and he couldn't see anything.
"Antares, can you make a light?"
"If you feed me tokens, yes."
"What the hell do you think I am, a freaking bank?" Eve snarled at Antares and started to grasp for anything in his area. Before he knew it, he felt something cold press against his neck.
"Who were you talking to? Where are we? What just happened?" the girl Eve had just saved held her long blade to his neck and started spurring out questions at lightning speed.
"Is that any way to talk to your savior?"
"Shut up and answer the question," the girl started pressing the blade on his neck even harder.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Eve stuttered, feeling blood started to trickle from his throat.
"You won't believe this, but I was talking to a voice inside my head. I gave him 10 tokens, and we teleported straight down by 10 miles. We are in the Underworld now."
There was a period of silence before Eve continued, this time asking the questions.
"How can you see me when it's so dark? Why is there no sunlight in here-"
Eve felt the blade slip from his neck and fall with a clang, followed by loud sobs and hysterical laughter.
"You crazy bastard, you teleported us from one certain death to another certain death! Why couldn't you just have teleported us 10 miles away within the Sanctuary? How did you even teleport us past the barrier separating the Sanctuary and the Underworld?"
"Certain death? I teleported us to the Underworld because this was where I wanted to go anyways! Anyways, if I teleported us 10 miles away within the Sanctuary, the Commander could have easily caught up. You saw his god eyes and how he could scan his surroundings. The guy is insanely strong. Also, I don't know about any barrier, but the teleportation worked, and we're in one piece, so it's fine, right? "
"You're so clueless! It's over. We're so dead."
Then, they both heard the sound of wagons rolling around. Eve twirled around and saw a small light source coming from the distance.
"HEY! YOU THERE, HE-" Eve started screaming at the wagons until the girl grabbed him by the mouth and brought him down to find cover.
"MHM-Mff"
"You idiot! Can't you shut up for once? Those are the recruiters!" the girl furiously whispered at Eve and held him down, only waiting till the wagons passed a good distance before releasing her hand on Eve's mouth.
"Who are the recruiters?"
"You really are clueless. The recruiters are the minions of the 12 Overlords sent here to find monstrous talent among the millions of powerful children sent here every year. It's about the time of year where the Selection begins, but we surpassed all of this and got here way too early because of your teleportation stunt!"
"Wait, then aren't they good for me? I'm a special child with monstrous talent." Eve started to say with a smug look on his face.
"Yeah, right, I sense absolutely zero combat power from you. In addition to that, we don't even have any of the starting tokens the Selection gives you."
"What? Do you get starting tokens from the Selection? How much?"
"10,000. Each." the girl responded flatly.
They both sat there on the hard floor for a long moment, pondering what all went wrong. Then, sounds of wailing and crying could be heard in the dark.
"What's your name?" Eve said as he sniffled,
"Petra, yours?"
"My name is Eve."
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10 miles above Eve and Petra, Stellar City was in an uproar. There had just been two children who managed to completely disappear from the Sanctuary, managing to provoke the Commander of Blood himself, one of the three generals of the Imperial Army. To make matters even worse, further investigation showed that one of the children who disappeared was the forbidden special child codenamed "Eve." He was the one the High King of the Sanctuary had taken a special eye to.
In the royal capital of the Sanctuary, Cornopolia, a majestic city surrounded by 50-feet thick iron walls embraided with gold towers, the Commander of Blood was summoned to see the king.
In the main hall of the palace was a marble throne adorned with beautiful jewels. Sitting upon this grand palace with white banners hanging off the walls was a man who appeared to be in his mid-40s dressed in a simple white robe and wore a furious expression.
"Maxim, you have overstepped your authority once again," bellowed out the High King, ruler of the Sanctuary.
The Commander of Blood, wearing tattered clothes with long visible cuts on his tough tanned skins from hours of torture, prostrated himself and kneeled before the King.
"Your majesty, I sincerely apologize. I did not know that the boy was your protege. I will accept any punishment you give out and will even take my own head to make up for the shame I brought upon you." the Commander of Blood said with a sad tone to his voice, on the verge of breaking down into tears.
"Not only have you almost killed my protege, but your incompetence as a general stands out the most. How many decades have we been waging war against the monsters to the East? Why have we only been losing ground? In addition to that, we haven't even subjugated a single one of those silly Overlords. None of them have even reached a century of age, and they constantly fight amongst themselves like children. Is the Imperial Army so incompetent that we cannot beat a single one of them?"
"I- I'm sorry, sir. I deserve death."
"Yes, you do. Guards send him to be executed-"
"Wait for a second, father." said a voice coming from a dark hooded figure, coming out from the shadows behind the throne.
"What is it, my dear?"
The dark hooded figure uncloaked herself as a girl in her teenage years, with completely white hair and hazelnut-colored eyes.
"Father, I have personally gone to see the boy. I saw it, the angel's divinity within his soul. He has the capability to defeat all of those pesky Overlords and attain godhood. He even managed to effortlessly teleport past our divine barrier with another person in tow, using a measly 10 tokens. When was the last time such talent has shown?"
"My dear, you went to see him? Why didn't you bring him back?" the High King furrowed his brows, although he could never raise suspicion at his own daughter.
"Father, do you really believe keeping him cuddled up here in the Sanctuary will do him any good? He needs to go to the Underworld and face challenges to grow properly."
"Then what do you want me to do? I can't just have him die!"
"Send this fool to be his protector. Even if he is arrogant, he is still pretty strong. As long as they don't meet an Overlord, Maxim can defend them from anything else. I put a tracker on a token I dropped to the boy when I met him. He has already used it, and now I can see where he is at all times."
The king pondered this idea for a bit and then looked at the Commander of Blood in despair.
"Please, sir, kill me. I would rather die than serve that little brat!"
"SILENCE, I demand your absolute obedience." the king roared at the general before continuing.
"Very well, this shall be your new punishment. You will become the sworn protector of the boy named Eve. If anything foul should befall the boy, I will not only hold you accountable but your entire family and even the city you were born in. You are dismissed."
The king nodded to his daughter, and the girl with white hair snapped her fingers, teleporting Maxim straight to the Underworld, wearing completely tattered clothes and assuming the appearance of a small teenage boy wearing handcuffs. In the distance, he could hear loud snoring from two teenage kids.