Chapter 184: Beacon

It was late afternoon, classes had already ended but some students were still busy with extracurricular activities like Bow Handling, Sword and Spear Swings and Magic Spell control.

The academy halls were empty since most of the students had already left. Voices can be heard coming from the courtyards and training grounds.

Evelyn, the former student council president, entered one of the classrooms. It was beginning to get dark so the academy didn't have a lot of light.

The room she entered was one of the few that had its lights turned on.

Evelyn could see a person sitting inside the classroom, overlooking the training grounds. He seemed so absorbed in thought that she felt that it was better not to disturb him. Plus, his unfocused expression looked really cute.

"—Arthur, you called for me?"

She called out to the young man.

His gentle eyes turned to her. A smile adorned his face.

"Thank you for coming, Eve."

"Eve" was the nickname only her friends call her. Arthur has never called her this before, even if Evelyn insisted that the two were friends so it was fine. Heck, Evelyn considers every single student her friend so basically everyone calls her "Eve", even some of the first years who she befriended not long after they started at Ardark Academy.

"…What did you need, Arthur?"

She got to the point with her questioning. She felt happy for some odd reason that Arthur had called her with her nickname.

What could one of the brightest students of the academy want from her? Evelyn might be the top student of the seventh years but Arthur wasn't that far behind her. In fact, he's fourth on the top 50 list.

Many didn't believe he could make it since he's from a not-so prestigious background. He lost his family in a village raid by bandits. Only he and his sister survived the slaughter.

He was then adopted by a vassal of the Berkley House, who was also related to Marcus von Berkley. This makes Arthur the adopted cousin of the main family.

That was enough to consider him an elite noble of the academy. Of course, that perspective of him changes once everyone found out the truth. Despite knowing his history, no one changed how they treated him.

How could they? Everyone likes this guy already. His sister is no different.

Getting back on topic: What could he need from Evelyn when he outshines her in so many ways? 

"Would you like to go to the Ardark Graduation Ball with me?"

"Eh!?" She blurted out like an idiot.

The Ardark "Graduation" Ball is a special event that is held in honour of the seventh year students before they leave the academy for good. It usually takes place in the third month of the new year, which is a month after school reopens for the students. This is because the dungeon exams take most of their final semester so it's impossible to hold such a large event right at the end of the year.

Seventh year students can invite anyone as their dance partner, even people from outside the academy. Evelyn had no one to go with—well, there were lots of boys who asked her out but she politely declined so as to not hurt their feelings.

To her this event is special. It's an event she wants to attend with the one she loves and the one she spent most of her life with in this academy.

That person is out of her reach, though.

"I know this is abrupt and that the ball is just a week away. I had a lot to think about after we left the dungeon. We lost so many friends because I couldn't save everyone. It's… It's been eating away at me, Eve. I think about them a lot. It's my fault that they aren't here today."

"Don't say that… All of us know how hard you fought for us. We don't blame you for what happened at all."

"But I always put you guys in danger. It's just… so frustrating knowing that I could've saved everyone if I had the holy sword sooner."

"Arthur…" Evelyn approached him.

She touched his cheek.

"Please don't blame yourself. Yes, we followed you into danger but didn't we get out of that same danger together?"

"Evelyn…"

"Let's just forget about what happened. Please. We're safe. That's all that matters. We owe you for that."

"But if it wasn't for Arnold… then we wouldn't have made it out of there. You guys should thank him instead." Arthur scratched his cheek, "To be honest, he's a pretty cool guy if you ignore how he acts sometimes."

"You did more for us than that guy ever did! He's a selfish jerk who only cares about himself!"

Arthur chuckled.

"This is the first time I've seen you so mad at someone."

"W-Well, I don't like him."

"Why?"

"He's a pervert! He touches me inappropriately in assembly all the time! I told my aunt, Castacia about it but she always tells me to keep quiet about it! I hate that his father and mother have so much influence over the empire that people are scared to report their son as a pervert! My second aunt—who's also a duchess, mind you—doesn't even want to do anything about it! My juniors come crying to me that Arnold molests them too!"

He doesn't stay in class that much and decides to bother other classes during school time. He always enters first year classes and harasses the first years. Intimidation usually works on the first years since they scare easily. If they don't submit to him or give him what he wants then he beats them up.

Evelyn and the others had even reported him to the vice principal but nothing came out of it. All the vice principal told them was that "If Duke Berkley doesn't do anything about it then I can't either".

That's the thing. The duke probably doesn't even know about all the things Arnold does at school. The victims also went quiet. Evelyn assumed that their parents told them to keep it to themselves.

Evelyn wants to escalate this situation and find out about the fifty victims who Arnold had reportedly sexually assaulted. If enough voices speak up then they can finally take this to court!

"It's all so upsetting. Things would've been so much easier if he was a baron's son."

"Yeah… I spoke to him about the trouble he causes for people but… hahaha, he doesn't even deny any of the accusations coming from the girls in the academy. I don't think he'll change his mind about crying first years. He doesn't seem to care at all what anyone says about him."

"Aren't you mad!? You're the only one who can do something about Arnold! Talking won't work!"

"You want me to beat him up?" Arthur looked at Evelyn in surprise, "I didn't expect you to advocate for violence."

"What other choice is there? The students weaker than him cower while the seniors,  who are stronger than him, don't seem to bat an eye. In fact, it looks to me like he's friends with the seniors. What do they see in that guy to allow him to walk around like that!?"

There's like a handful of seniors stronger than Arnold. Arnold seems to charm them all. It's not surprising that he can charm the females but even the males get charmed!?

"You look really cute when you're angry. It's like looking at a cute kitten throwing a tantrum."

Arthur said something bizarre.

"Fueh!?" Evelyn's face flushed red.

Did he just call her "cute"?

Arthur stood up and approached Evelyn. Evelyn tried backing away but she landed up against a wall.

"Ahn!" He pushed Evelyn against a wall which made her moan a little. His leg was right under her crotch area and was rubbing her privates.

Evelyn could also feel something hard poking her stomach.

'I-Is that his…' Her face flushed red.

Arthur lifted her head and gazed into her eyes.

"Let's forget about Arnold for now. I'll do something about him since you asked me so nicely. In the meantime…" he learned closer.

Evelyn closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry for being so straightforward, Eve but I can't hold back any longer." Arthur unbuttoned her blazer and her shirt.

'I-Is this why he called me here…!?'

Evelyn wanted to be mad but she couldn't resist.

He was about to take off her brassiere.

"W-Wait, they're really small…"

"Oh, I don't care that they're small so don't be embarrassed. I don't like girls with giant udders anyway." Arthur lifted her breast and kissed her nipple, "You wanted this right? It's fine if I do this right?"

She couldn't say "no".

"Ahn, ah, ah… W-What about S-Shirley? D-Didn't the two of you… Ahn… Become lovers?"

"Don't worry about her. I can handle two women at once. I don't really love her. I only wanted her as a hole. You're the one I really love, Eve. You feel the same way, right?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Then we shouldn't hold ourselves back. Ah right, will you accept my invitation to the ball?"

"W-Why is it necessary to still ask that… stupid…"

Arthur chuckled before he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her down with such force that she ended up on her knees.

"A-Arthur…" Evelyn looked up at him as he unzipped his pants, "Kyaah!?"

His rod fell on her, hitting her cheek. A slimy transparent liquid leaked onto her lips, which she accidentally tasted.

Bitter.

She inhaled the scent of his musky and manly stench.

"Suck it for me, Eve." He pulled back his foreskin, which intensified the smell.

It caused Evelyn's head to go blank.

She opened her mouth instinctively.

How long has she practiced for this exact moment, the first time she pleasures the one she loves?

"That's a good girl." He stroked her hair.

…..

…

"Mmumph! Muuph! *cough*!"

Evelyn felt a rough and hard object inside her throat. She hurriedly spat it out as her eyes shot open.

"W-What!? It was a dream!?"

A familiar cave appeared in her field of vision, followed by a cold wind. She only had a thin blanket to cover her body so she shivered when the wind blew into the cave.

Evelyn sat up silently and stared out of the cave.

"…Right… We're not back home yet…"

She looked around the cave. There were several makeshift beds besides her own, all of which were empty.

Evelyn is usually the first one up but she slept in today.

It's been a few weeks since they parted ways with Arnold and the angel. Their journey up until now has been filled with all sorts of danger but they managed to make it onto the 49th world without more lives being lost.

There's a relic tomb somewhere on this world. They're still preparing to go into it. Next up will be the 50th world where Arnold said the mechanism that will take them home, will be.

Evelyn rarely fights unless necessary so she decided to stay and protect their base while all the other capable fighters head prepare themselves for the relic tomb.

Thing is that there isn't much that can threaten them in this part of the world. Most of the monsters are further south, where all the hunting grounds are located. The portal to leave this world also isn't that far from here so they won't have any trouble along the way.

The hunting team already scoped out the areas and know where monsters can attack from.

There hasn't been an incident at the base as of yet so Evelyn was able to relax and not worry about anything until now.

She prefers sleeping over mingling with the other girls. She would rather preserve her energy for a battle than waste it staying up all night while drinking with friends.

While it's important to keep their morale up, it's equally important to be ready mentally and physically for a fight.

That dream she had. It felt so real.

Arthur's taste and touch felt real.

A part of her already knows that it was just a dream. Another part tells her otherwise.

That other part was wet and gushing with love nectar.

Evelyn looked over at what she had been "sucking" on.

Her face grimaced. It was one of those crystals that they found that can be used to communicate with each other over long distances. This one was particularly big, even bigger than Evelyn's forearm.

How did it fit inside her mouth? Wait, did she imagine Arthur being that big? No, that's not important. It's not like she can confirm it…

"Ow, ow, ow…" the roof of her mouth hurt.

She cried silent tears as she healed her mouth with spirits.

Being the daughter of an Elven father and human mother gave her the power to communicate with spirits. She's also capable of arcane magic. She can enhance her physical abilities with the spirits and use magic to fight with her magic sword.

Her unusual capabilities made her one of the strongest seniors, falling just behind Arthur and the others.

Evelyn laid back down after healing the roof of her mouth.

While that was definitely a dream, can't it become reality if she's just courageous enough?

Arthur doesn't like her as her brain imagined it. In fact, he has eyes for no one except Shirley now. Everything he said inside that dream was what Evelyn wanted him to say. He used to have feelings for princess Olivia but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Arthur and Shirley haven't become that intimate yet but they are frequently seen hugging and cuddling beside bonfires. Evelyn has never seen the two kissing yet, though. Maybe they do it in private?

Evelyn can only look at Arthur from afar and dream that the two of them are together.

"Fantasizing about Arthur made me so naughty..." 

Her face reddened.

Evelyn suddenly heard a commotion outside.

She could hear someone approaching her. The cave was pretty dark so it's impossible to spot the person completely. All she can see is a silhouette at the entrance.

The greenery at the entrance of the cave was pulled aside, letting light inside.

"Eve, people from outside came!"

"Anais?" Evelyn lifted herself, "People from outside… What do you mean?"

"The hunting team ran into adventurers when they were hunting that monster this morning!"

"Is that the same monster that was killing the wildlife with its poison?"

It became hard to hunt animals when that monster appeared. It kills its prey with poison which is toxic even to demihumans. Hofir ate some of the meat and was bedridden for a few days.

They decided to hunt the monster down so that it doesn't contaminate more animals. The worst thing is that it doesn't kill just to eat. It kills like it's trying to complete some kind of sport, which leaves mountains of poisoned meat going bad.

"Mhm! It seems the monster had been giving the adventurers trouble too! And get this, Eve," Anais said with excitement, "They're from our world! Come on!"

"H-Hold on, Anais. I have to get dressed."

Evelyn grabbed her school uniform and began putting it on. She usually sleeps with only a shirt and her underwear, even when it's cold.

"You need to stop sleeping like that, Eve. I caught one of the boys sneaking into our cave last night."

"What!? Who was it!?"

There was only a thin blanket keeping Evelyn's panties from being seen by others.

"Justeth, the class clown."

"That fiend! I'll have to reprimand him later! For now we should go down and meet with the others. Anais, you should tell us about these matters."

"Sorry~" Anais stuck out her tongue.

"Jeez." Evelyn finished tying up her hair.

She took out a mirror.

"Ugh… I look like a homeless person."

"Who cares! You should see the other girls! Some of them have yellow teeth already!"

"Really? I told them to use tree twigs to brush the grime off their teeth."

"Did you really expect a bunch of high born nobles children to do such a thing?"

"…You're right. I forgot how most of them have never been on a survival exam like this before."

All of them did their first dungeon exam back in third year and the years that followed but none of those exams required them to survive on their own for too long. While they supplied themselves rather well, the supplies didn't last longer than a month as anticipated.

The first week without proper food and sanitary items for the girls was the hardest. They had to learn to adapt.

Unlike the other girls who never did any basic survival training outside of the academy's exams, Evelyn had gone on several camping trips with her family and her master.

She learned more from her master about survival. Of course, surviving doesn't mean you can groom yourself every day. This is why Evelyn hates these things so much. She knows it was necessary for her training so she tolerated it and had to get used to it.

The downside is that she can never look pretty at all times.

"What will Arthur think when he sees me…" Evelyn muttered.

"Come on! Let's gooo!"

"Right." Evelyn sheathed her magic sword on her hip before she left the cave alongside Anais.

◇◇◇

"—So is this everyone that's left?"

"No, we split up into three groups. The first group is away on a mission to gather food while the second group is back at the base. All of us here are part of the third group."

Evelyn could hear their conversations as she and Anais made their way through the greenery.

There was an endless forest before their eyes. Multiple mountains surrounded the forest from all directions. Animals of all kinds—of which they had never seen—roam these forests.

Evelyn could see a clearing beyond the tall trees and thick bushes.

She could also spot several of her classmates' backs.

There was Fecius, Arthur, Shirley, Hofir, Madilith(fellow student in Class B), Garan(classmate in Class A) and a few others from A class. Oh, Flora was also there.

They were the group who will be heading inside the relic tomb near here.

"Ah, Prez!" Madilith—Evelyn's long time friend—ran up to her, "We finally have good news!"

She's a short girl with brown pigtails and big glasses that seemed to be too big for her small and cute oval face.

She's the epitome of cuteness, besting even Anais and winning the title of the cutest girl in their school. Just looking at Madilith makes people want to protect her. Of course, she's a 5-star magician , just like Anais, so she's not the kind of person you should underestimate.

"Yes, yes, Madi. I already told her." Anais said from the side.

"Ah, okay. Isn't this exciting? We can finally meet other people from our world! They say that they're a rescue party sent by the empire! Ah, but you should hear the rest from them. Come, come!"

Madilith pulled Evelyn towards the group.

"—You should first hear what the guild master has to say, sir Arthur! We can't just let you go inside without her here!" one of the two adventurers was busy speaking with Arthur.

Arthur replied:

"We have an objective. That objective is to survive. We can't survive by following people's orders that goes against our goals."

"At least wait for her first! We contacted her ahead of time and she informed us that she'll bring every member of the rescue party here!"  

"—Rescue party?" Evelyn spoke up, "You were sent here by the empire to save us, yes? Then do you know how to get out?"

The woman who had been speaking to Arthur glared at Evelyn. The man behind her was silent.

'Hmm, judging by their equipment, they're mages from the Magician Guild.' Evelyn looked at the woman's tag, 'Fleridine Mayhireth—ah, she's the recruiter at the magician guild. I don't know the man behind her but he also has a guild tag from the magician guild. Did Daraia hire them?'

The mages in the Magician Guild are led by Admeera, a healer magician. Just like the Second Magic Tower, every mage in that guild is a prideful imbecile who thinks they know and can do everything. 

Seeing as how Admeera wasn't mentioned, is appears these two weren't ordered by their guild master to come into the dungeon. This must be a voluntary role instead. Meaning that there aren't just adventurers in this rescue party.

Of course, titles don't matter anymore since they are now adventurers that are part of the rescue party led by the Adventurer Guild HQ guild master.

"Talk some sense into this young man! It's imperative that we leave as soon as possible!"

The other magician then spoke, "Despite our role as magicians in the party, my comrade and I specialize in information gathering. We've visited every settlement we could find on the dungeon worlds to learn more about the dungeon. Some have reported monsters going through portals and ending up on their world. When going through those same portals where the monsters came through, they discovered destroyed regions. We should assume that some kind of mysterious source is causing all that chaos, which agitate the monsters.

I don't know what those things really are but I have heard locals saying that they might be related to the "Outsiders". These Outsiders fought the Sky God and his disciples in a century-long struggle. Rumour has it that they have returned. For our safety, we should assume that the rumours are true. Those things are scaring monsters out of their natural habitats. Humans murdering these monsters for sport—in the name of increasing our levels—worsen the situation."

'Didn't Arnold say the same thing?'

Of course, some of the information was new to the group but the monsters being scared out of their natural habitats by humans is the exact same thing that Arnold told them.

The monster wave that the empire experienced was caused by them because they killed so many monsters for selfish reasons.

Evelyn felt ashamed that she also joined in on their level farming. She felt stronger than before so she is definitely partly to blame.

"I'm sorry to just throw this out there but all of you are to blame for the monster wave in the empire."

There was a little contempt in the man's words.

"We understand what you're saying," Arthur replied, "Someone already informed us of what we did."

"What?"

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter."

"—Well, well. Here I thought that the students would be in dire need of help but they look fine to me."

A woman's voice came from beyond the trees on the other side of the forest.

A giant of a woman, easily measuring 6' 6" emerged. She wore only a tank top so one could see her bursting muscles. Her breasts were so big and muscular that it caused the tank top to wrap tightly around her upper body.

The rest of her outfit was just simple leather boots and black pants. A slab of iron was hanging on her back.

She had fiery red hair and wild golden eyes that looked similar to that of a beast.

Is that really a greatsword on her back, thought Evelyn in confusion.

"Is this…" Arthur was just about to ask but the informant shouted first.

"Lady Daraia! You got here fast!" the female magician said in shock, "We sent the transmission just ten minutes ago."

"Yeah, I ran all the way here."

"You covered nearly 100km in less than ten minutes…? Where are the others?"

"They'll catch up soon."

"I don't think they'll be here for two hours at least…"

"So!" Daraia ignored the magician and approached the students, "You're Lucleas' adopted son?"

She asked Arthur.

"You know my Father on first name basis…?"

"I was part of the Imperial Order's recruits for a few months before I dropped out. Your father and I served under the same captain. We weren't just close," Daraia winked as she made a circle with her left hand's fingers and stuck her right hand index finger inside.

Arthur sighed from the side and muttered, "…So he really wasn't lying when he told me what type of woman he likes. No wonder Mother is such a wild horse."

"So that's it. You're Miss Daraia from the Eusyria House, right? The guild master of the HQ in our empire?"

"That's right. The wishes of the people of the empire gathered us all together to form a rescue party to save you all—"

◇◇◇

The group returned to their base. While it served as a base, it was basically just a cave like all the others.

Most of the supplies are stored here and managed by two people who are part of the group who protects the base.

Everyone gathered inside this cave are hearing that people from their world showed up.

"—So thousands were killed in the monster wave…" Castacia hands were on her mouth, "A-And the monster wave hasn't been stopped?"

"The largest horde gathered in the empire and destroyed a city. Due to the efforts of my adventurers, we managed to stop that horde from causing any further damage. Some sort of parasite outbreak happened in Nuaria city which attracted various kinds of monsters. The monsters that came to the empire to feed on the parasites were followed by other monsters that wanted to eat them. We believe that they saw Nuaria city as some sort of feeding ground. The other possibility is that the three S class monsters dominated most of the monsters and led them to the empire."

"S class monsters… Even SS class adventurer parties struggle to take just one down. But there were three." The female magician said begrudged. 

"I wasn't present on the battlefield but they were taken down rather easily. One adventurer even fought two of them and managed to kill them."

Everyone gasped.

"For real!?"

"O-One person…?"

"Was it a high class adventurer?" Arthur asked with an intrigued expression on his face.

"His party was made A rank not long before the monster wave broke out. He's currently one of the most loved and hated adventurers. He goes by the name 'Nova' but I'm sure that's just an alias. If it weren't for him then a lot more lives would've been lost. I'm a little upset that the idiot didn't do the job that was assigned to him but everything worked out alright."

Daraia then continued, "While the monster wave was taken care of, that doesn't mean that we should just sit by and let another one happen. The dungeon needs to be destroyed."

"Isn't that a little much?" Castacia said, "I'm sure that if we give the Magic Towers some time then they'll come up with a way to close the portals that lead into this dungeon. There are so many worlds and ecosystems in this dungeon. It would be a shame if we can't explore it. Of course, restrictions must be placed on those who want to explore it. If a dungeon is destroyed then we have no way of knowing what damage will be done to these worlds."

There has never been an incident like that before. Then again, no monster wave on the scale of the one that appeared recently has ever happened because of a dungeon either.

"Look, even if you convinced me that waiting for a portal destroyer-thingy is a good idea, you'll still have to convince the empire's people. Even the kingdoms under our rule voted to blow the dungeon up in their last conference. They are already preparing to launch a Magic Bomb at it. The continent leaders need only wait for our go-ahead."

"What!? The Magic Bomb that we possess!? The bomb's energy will harm the World Tree Forest! The dungeon isn't even that far from the shoreline of the forest!"

Daraia merely shrugged at Castacia's exclaim.

"From what I heard, the Queen of their nation hasn't responded to the national outcry. If they initiate a war with the empire or try to stop us from blowing that dungeon up then they'll have to deal with the ire of every nation impacted by the hordes of monsters and those who fear a second monster wave. Do you want an estimate? No? I'll give it anyway: thirty nations were impacted. While the empire alone lost a city, countless villages were destroyed in the southern and northern regions of the empire. Towns were abandoned and people became refugees in their own land. Duke Berkley and Marquis Penston, along with their affiliated Houses have to rebuild everything now. There are currently refugee camps being built in and around the empire to house the people impacted from the wave. The Royagard Kingdom, southwest of the Berkley territory, lost important supplies that the empire sent them to overcome the damage that the last winter did on their food stocks. It would've helped them feed their people while the farms recover. People rioted, breaking into homes, stealing others' food and valuables, many were kidnapped and sold as slaves."

The group went silent.

"Those are just the things I found out from reading a few reports from my spies. I have a whole pile of reports laying on my desk but I didn't have the time to check them all since I had to leave with the rescue party as soon as we could. Imagine what else happened after the monster wave? Sure, Nuaria city was completely destroyed—boohoo for us. Just more billions of gold needed to rebuild. But imagine how it impacted the people? Picture yourself as one of those folk. You wake up one day, dress and feed your child so that they can go to school. You close the front door, thinking your child is going to be safe since they always come back home on time and there are patrolling guards to protect them. Imagine what goes through that parent's mind when they hear screams coming outside. You run, almost trip over the piles of corpses littering the street. You hope to yourself that one of them isn't your child. Then suddenly, you turn a corner and see a griffin. It's munching on something. You hear bones crunching—human bones."

Daraia clenched her fist.

"The griffin turns to you, allowing you to see what it's been feasting on. It's your child. You think to yourself, 'Don't adventurers patrol the monster zones frequently to make sure that there aren't any monsters in the area? Why is there a griffin here when it's habitat is in the mountains?' The griffin flies away, as if it didn't see you. You go to the empire, expecting answers. You soon find out that the monster wave originated from a recently-discovered dungeon—a dungeon we had no prior knowledge of until a year ago. Yet, a prestigious academy sent people into that dungeon. If one monster wave happened, wouldn't a second one be likely?"

Daraia's monologue ended.

"If you want my opinion: Yeah, this fucking dungeon needs to go."

Arthur lowered his head. He clenched his hands.

"If everyone agreed to destroy the dungeon then an alliance against the Elves could be born from the Elves' refusal to comply..." said Castacia.

The Elves have never attacked or provoked another nation. Their response to war has always been neutral. If another nation wants to attack them then they form a truce.

"We can't start yet another war. The empire suffered so much from the last one." Castacia said again.

"Yeah, but we recovered and have never been stronger, professor. I say let the Elves and Fairies burn for their neutral stance in all this," there was contempt in Daraia's voice as she looked at the Elves in the group, "The queen could've dispatched her armies to deal with the monsters but they continued protecting their own asses while they sipped on their druid genital cocktails or whatever the fuck those nature-loving bastards drink. Can you believe the bastards withdrew all forces and returned them back to their capital all while we had to suffer? I lost so many talented adventurers that day. Even the juniors I personally trained."

"…We will make a public announcement and take all the blame." Castacia said softly as if she had no energy left to argue, "I don't know what the people will do to us but it is what it is… I might lose my job. The people might throw bricks at me when they see me on the street… I-I might never be able to walk the streets alone…" she hugged her body.

Professor Gancan(Class C's teacher) and Ploria(Class D's teacher) comforted Castacia.

"Professor," Arthur turned to Castacia, "I won't let them hurt any of you, I promise. We may be the cause of everything that happened but that doesn't mean that we should think of ourselves as criminals. Instead we should put our heads together and figure out a way to solve everything without it causing harm to others."

"How do you plan on stopping everything on your own, kid?" Daraia looked at Arthur like he was an annoying ant.

"What everyone needs right now isn't a source to vent their anger and frustration out to," Arthur turned to Daraia and looked her in the eyes, "What they need is someone who will bring them all together. Someone to be a beacon of hope."

"How exactly will this hypothetical individual be a beacon of hope?"

A white energy surrounded Arthur's body, creating a gentle but powerful glow.

His power was immense but it had no malice to speak of.

White Aura.

Daraia's eyes became as wide as saucers.

"What they need is a single source to ease their worries and unite them. What they need is a Hero and I am willing to be their beacon of hope."