Annihilation plan

Lynn was lying on the bed while Nathan sat quietly on the floor. She was looking at him with a bored expression on her face, waiting for him to do something.

It had been two days since they had encountered the calamity in the dining room and since then they had been hiding while Nathan did something that Lynn didn't fully understand.

Clearly Nathan was feeding the bracelet with his essence, more specifically the consciousness inside it. 

'Do you remember anything?' Nathan asked as a drop of sweat trickled down his face.

"...Nothing yet. But I really feel more energetic than before" the voice answered, trying not to make Nathan feel that he had wasted his time and essence.

Nathan spent all day eating and sleeping in order to regain his essence as quickly as possible, but only five minutes were necessary for his reserves to be devoured by the bracelet.

'You really are a glutton...' 

"Hey! I can't help it..." the voice replied, a little hurt.

All jokes aside, Nathan had found a use for the bracelet. The way to train the essence and increase the amount inside one's body was to wear it constantly, so it was actually a benefit for Nathan to spend it so quickly and so efficiently.

A few minutes later Nathan used up all his essence and was completely exhausted, then he collapsed on the floor and looked up at the ceiling as he sighed wearily.

'Anything?'

Expecting a negative answer again, Nathan was surprised when the voice replied with a nod.

"I think... I think I know how to get out of this place"

Nathan opened his eyes in surprise and looked at the bracelet. Lynn looked at him quizzically, but he ignored her gaze and mentally asked.

'Really?!'

The voice seemed hesitant to speak until he finally sighed and began to explain.

"The truth is I'm not really sure, but I remembered a person... or rather the owner of this castle"

Nathan nodded and waited for her to continue explaining.

"Just like me, that person has been locked up in this place for a long time... and his plan is to escape"

Nathan didn't know what to say. First of all, if the owner of this place wanted to escape, it meant that he was another intelligent calamity, another special category. Nathan unconsciously thought of the man the calamity had referred to earlier.

'Fuck… they want to annihilate everyone'

The only way calamities could escape from a realm was if everyone inside died.

Three other cataclysms had already happened, there was no reason why another one wouldn't happen. Moreover, this rift was abnormal, absorbing everyone around it. People who were neither qualified nor prepared to face an upper rift.

Perhaps his sister and the old man, one of the leaders of the outskirts, could somehow survive safely. Nathan had already had a glimpse of the power of the calamities he was facing and was completely sure that he could not yet face them.

Maybe upstairs he could have defended himself, but even he had only defeated the ghoul thanks to the voice.

Two days ago, Herfir and Seinor had decided to continue exploring the floor, while Nathan stayed behind to feed the bracelet and Lynn also decided to stay. According to Herfir, Seinor was enough to protect them both, so he didn't really care, and they left.

Surely the silenced man was of second rank, which gave him a better chance of survival.

The voice was silent as he understood why Nathan was now so worried. 

"To leave a realm you're supposed to meet certain requirements, aren't you?" the voice asked.

Nathan nodded, although he wasn't really sure what the requirements were.

The first time he entered a realm, he hit that boy who suddenly turned into a mass of slime, and a second later Nathan was out of the realm. The second time he had to face a second rank calamity without even feeling his own essence, he even had to be on the verge of death to get out.

"You've had a bad time... I'm sorry" the voice rectified as he remembered not to eavesdrop on his thoughts.

Nathan remained silent and simply shook his head. Then he looked at Lynn and thought of his sister.

It had been two days since he had felt that extraordinary aura of some being, so he could not know whether his sister was still alive or not. Even if he didn't like it, Nathan depended mostly on people stronger than him to defeat these calamities.

In the meantime, he would continue to search for other options together with the voice in his head.

At least knowing what plans the calamities had was a step forward, but still, it didn't tell him anything. So, Nathan simply closed his eyes again and rested to regain his essence and continue supplying it to the bracelet.

***

In a large room, with several sofas and a central table. A group of four people stood in silence, each one preoccupied with their own thing.

Faye had her eyes closed as she crossed her arms, her breathing so light that it seemed she wasn't alive at all.

Sitting on a couch near Faye, the man known as the king of the mercenaries was reading one of the many books that were on the shelves in the room, although he couldn't really read them as he didn't understand the words that were written in it.

On the couch in front of him, the old man and the woman following him were wearing sour expressions as they looked around silently.

They themselves had been the ones who had confronted the duke, but before there were five of them... now one of them was missing.

Suddenly, the old man stood up with a start and shouted:

"Are we really going to stand here and do nothing?!"

Faye's eyes widened in annoyance at the noise, and she looked at him.

"And what do you want us to do? We could barely stand up to that calamity, but when that other rotten skinned one came along, we were simply outmatched"

The mercenary king closed the book he was reading and threw it on the table.

"That calamity that called itself Vcansire is likely to be of the third rank and third category. Something none of us can face alone, united we had a chance... but the other calamity is third rank first category, against those two we don't stand a chance anymore"

The old man only wore an expression of hatred as he clutched his arm in pain. Not only had he lost one of his subordinates in battle, but one of his arms had been crippled and he didn't know when it would be able to fully heal.

"Shit"

The old man sat back and closed his eyes without bothering to say anything else. Meanwhile, the mercenary king looked at Faye with a slight smile.

"So, princess. Are you planning to stay like this?"