Arena Fifty-Four: The Gods Of Death IV

[The problem-child dormitory of the first academy...]

"Hah... To think Arnold would get so involved in the Imperial Family affairs..."

Lara commented as she leaned against her chair in the dining hall.

"... As expected of him."

Quin frowned as he poked his phone. Julius and Lilian both sat there with worried expressions while Sebastian kept his head down.

"But where do you think Lady Roxy went?"

Lilian asked for the opinions of her dorm-mates, but all of them just shrugged. Except for Sebastian, who just looked down.

"The news is claiming that Jeffery Valentina abducted them both."

Julius pointed out as he looked at the others.

"I don't think so... I mean, Arnold went missing from the Imperial Palace, right? And Lady Roxy went missing from her mansion. Considering the distance between the two, I don't think Jeffery Valentina did both of them."

Lara objected as she gave a logical answer.

"... Considering Arnold, I think the Imperial Family may be behind it..."

Quin commented as he poked his phone. But hearing no reply, he looked up and saw his friends staring at him, dumbfounded. Everyone except Sebastian.

"W-what?"

"H-how can you blame the Imperial Family like that?!"

Lilian shrieked, causing Quin to grumble.

"I never understood! Why do you guys look up to them so much?!"

He exploded in anger.

"I mean! They are the Imperial Family! How can YOU not respect them?!"

Lara yelled at Quin, who once again yelled back.

"I mean! They aren't gods or something! They are humans, just like us!"

Lara and Lilian both tried to retort, but Julius's comment stopped them.

"He has a point."

"Not you too, Julius!"

Lilian grumbled while Quin laughed.

"Yeah! Tell them, Julius!"

"I'm not accusing them of anything... But they aren't saints either."

"How can you say that with certainty?"

Lara asked, clearly sceptical of Julius. With a sigh, Julius explained.

"Do you guys remember the serial killings that happened three years ago? In the slums of the outer district?"

"Yeah... We do. It was really gruesome... The news had covered that too."

Quin nodded, remembering the incident.

"Yeah... You guys know I am from a minor noble house, right?"

"I think I heard your name, yes."

Lilian, who was also from a minor noble house, vouched for him.

While Sebastian, Quin and Lara, as well as Arnold, were from common houses, Julius and Lilian were from minor baron houses... Due to their scale, they didn't consider themselves to be nobles though.

At the most, they considered themselves to be slightly wealthy commoners. But setting that aside, Julius continued.

"Yeah. So we were given the responsibility to investigate the matter. We had found the killer halfway through the killings, actually. By the time we had found him, he had already committed twelve murders."

"Really? But didn't the total murder count went over thirty?"

Lilian asked while frowning. She could see where this was going.

"Yeah... You see, when we reported our findings to the Imperial Castle... We were asked to stand down until further notice. It was an instruction given to us by the emperor himself."

"W-what? That makes no sense!"

Lara yelled, but Julius just shrugged.

"It didn't. Only when the media started covering the topic that we were able to arrest the killer... But we were blamed to be incompetent."

"... So the reason why everyone gave you a cold shoulder in class was because..."

"Yeah. They knew about my situation. They didn't know the truth of course, just that my house was incompetent."

Julius smiled wryly before stating his main point.

"I think the Imperial Family wanted the killer to kill at least some slum dwellers first before getting executed. You know how these slum dwellers are a headache to the nobles, right? The emperor also thought them to be burdensome. Anyhow, my point is... The emperor is not a saint."

Julius said before leaning back.

"... But what about Lady Roxy, then?"

Quin suddenly asked, trying to drive the attention away from the sour mood.

"... About her... Well, I don't know."

"... She was taken to Stigma."

Sebastian, who was silent up until now, finally spoke up.

"Hm?"

Everyone turned towards him as he continued while looking down.

"S-she was probably forcefully logged into Stigma."

"But she is a major noble. Doesn't she have like, countermeasures against such logins?"

They already knew about the force-login terminals. Both terrorists and police officers used them to forcefully take someone to Stigma to render their real body motionless.

"Yeah... Perhaps she does. But these terminals also have different grades."

Sebastian said before pulling out an article on his phone.

"S-see? The highest grades are usually stored in the Imperial Armory, or in the hands of the major nobles... A-and with a terminal like that, you won't even have to give your target a Stigma gear to force them into the Stigma world... Y-you guys get my point."

Sebastian abruptly stopped, as if realizing he was speaking too much.

He looked down, hoping that people would just leave him be. But Julius pointed out an issue in his theory.

"But why would someone take Lady Roxy to Stigma to just abduct her? And not to mention... How did you reach that conclusion, Sebastian?"

"I..."

Sebastian seemed shocked. He looked pale and flustered, before suddenly standing up.

"I-I'll go back to my room!"

He hurriedly left the dining hall, leaving the other members stunned.

Finally, Lara broke the silence.

"What's gotten into him?"

...

I looked at the skyscraper in the distance while loading my gun. I had left my real body inside a hotel room I had rented in. It was unsafe, sure, but I couldn't waste any more time. Roxy was in danger. Thankfully, due to the hood and probably due to not expecting to see a missing person appearing in a hotel, the hotel staff hadn't show much interest in me before letting me rent a room. I had paid with the allowance I had left from that month... Allowance which Grey had given me.

And now, I was in Stigma, staring at the coordinated location.

"I'm here... Jeffery. And I'll be sure to make you regret being born."

I hissed at the air... But I knew he was there. The mini-map in the corner of my screen was glowing red, indicating it was a hostile zone.

Well, I had heard about this part of the city. It was always crawling the high-ranking phantoms, as well as normal ones.

Thankfully, though, I couldn't see any hordes or high-ranks around the city from the hill I was standing on.

The streets were oddly empty.

After making sure that I was in the clear, I opened my status screen.

[

Name: Arnold Tilgen

Class: ????

Level: 60

HP: 30000/30000

SP: 60000/60000

DEF: 30000/30000

Damage Reduction: 50% (capped)

Synchronisation Rate: 200% ]

I gulped at the stats. Level 60?

The last time I had checked, it was level 40... Did I just go 20 levels up just by killing Raymond? Was it even possible to level up by killing humans?

I calmed myself down and checked the skill page.

[Current Skills:

{Active Skills}:

1. {Aether: Summoning} - A

2. {Alter Ego} - ???

3. {Death's Judgement} - SS

{Passive Skills}:

1. {Eternal Bliss} - A

2. Empty

3. Empty

{Imperial Skills:}

1. Empty

{Blessings:}

1. {Blessing Of The Chaotic Mortal} - SS

2. {Blessing Of The Heroic Soul} - SS

3. {Blessing Of The Eternal Bliss} - A

4. {Blessing Of The Berserker} - S

{Patron Gods:}

1. Tiamat, Goddess Of Chaos and Life

2. Nephthys, Goddess Of Death and Protection

3. Morrighan, Goddess Of War and Fate {tentative}

4. Anubis, God Of Death and Afterlife

5. Isis, Goddess Of Healing and Soul

]

I selected [Death's Judgement], and information about the skill came to my mind instantaneously.

[Death's Judgement:

Deal a crushing blow to the enemy based on their sins. The damage increases in proportion to the sins/crimes the target has committed, but decreases in proportional to pure strength difference between the user and the target.]

So... Basically, it gave me the ability to judge criminals? While I didn't know whether it would work on phantoms or not, it would still be a help when fighting people like Jeffery.

I then selected the [Blessing Of The Berserker], and the following information popped up.

[Blessing Of The Berserker:

Suppress your fear, regret and other emotions that may cause you to hesitate. Increases emotions like rage and hatred.]

As soon as I read through the details, an options menu popped up before me.

[Do you wish to turn off Blessing Of The Berserker?]

[No.]

[Set Auto: Activate Depending On The Situation]

I pondered for a moment before choosing the second option. I got a confirmation message before the screen disappeared. I didn't feel any change, so perhaps the skill has been active.

After all, I had felt nothing even when I had killed my first human. While it made me heartless, it was also a boon. I didn't have to think about regrets and fears, at least not until the battle had finished.

I once again checked all the skills and then closed the screen. Using [Aether: Summoning], I summoned a motorbike. Unlike the bikes available in Stigma though, this one was the latest silent model.

I didn't want to attract the phantoms nearby, not until I had reached my destination.

I felt a bit of my SP draining away, but it wasn't much of a deal compared to my 57000 remaining SP.

I got on the bike and turned it on. It was time to confront that bastard Jeffery.

...

Anastasia was just getting out of the palace as she suddenly felt dizzy.

Her Stigma gear, which she had put on before leaving her mansion, was buzzing.

She clicked on the gear, but nothing happened.

The buzzing continued... Before suddenly, her vision turned white. In that white light, she saw a woman.

An extremely beautiful woman. Anastasia felt like worshipping her... Felt like she was the closest existence to a god.

"Help him, please."

Before she could say anything or do anything, the woman requested.

"... Help who?"

Anastasia asked in a polite tone, surprised at how eased she was. The woman was helping her relax... And she didn't know how.

If she had to put it into words... Perhaps it was her gentle and motherly aura.

"Arnold... Help him... I beg of you. Only you can help him."

The woman pleaded again.

"I want to... But I don't know where he is."

Anastasia frowned, remembering the whole mess she was in.

"Here, I shall give you his location in Stigma."

Anastasia immediately found herself muttering some coordinates... The woman in front of her had given her a location.

"Be prepared, child. There are a lot of foes waiting for you there."

Then, without giving Anastasia a chance to ask how the woman knew all this, she disappeared.

Anastasia found herself staring at the front gate of the Imperial Palace once again.

Everything looked the same... except the screens in front of her eyes.

All the previous screens were there, sure. But this time, a notification was hovering in the corner of her screen.

[Goddess Of Healing And Soul, Isis, has given you her temporary blessing.]