Chapter 13: A blatant lie.
Alseace finally saw the Commander from the Cresta Clan. He was holding a giant sword in white and red attire that only covered the left side of his torso with armor. He looked strong, but he hadn't made a single move just like Arisma. They were observing the battle until the trumpets sounded and ended the 6th day of the war.
He wanted to go down there, but the problem was there weren't many knights left on either side. In fact, there were only the elite knights, Vice Commander, Commander, the Saint, and the Saintess left on both sides. If he went down there, he might get killed by them for interfering.
"I have high stats, but without proper equipment, skills, and sub-skills that can support me, I'm as good as dead if I go down there," Alseace said to himself as he looked at the battlefield and there were less than a thousand knights on both sides.
Alseace was staring at the dead bodies being carried away, and then suddenly he looked at Arzhela walking into the middle of the battlefield with Arisma. The Saint and his Commander also walked to the middle of the battlefield for some reason. He was curious why those two were meeting each other until suddenly Arzhela looked him in the eye and pointed her finger at him.
He wanted to move, but his body didn't want to follow his commands. He felt like an unknown force was preventing him from moving his body. The Commander of the Cresta Clan suddenly glanced at the cliff Alseac was standing on. The cliff collapsed and fell down with Alseace on it, but weirdly enough, he was safe and unscathed.
"Alseace LaRoze," Arzhela looked at Alseace who was rolling over toward her. "The boy who came from another world through a vortex," she continued and looked at the curly yellow-haired man in a red and white vest.
The man appeared to be the Saint and he seemed to be uninterested in the story that Arzhela told him.
"I know it sounds unreasonable, but let's have a truce tomorrow and continue on the 8th day, Saint Vicar. That's if you agree," Arzhela gave a cold gaze at the Saint. "Looking at your army and my army, we both have no more force that we can bring to this place. Resting for a whole day tomorrow doesn't sound bad at all don't you think?" Arzhela asked with her eyebrows raised.
Vicar thought for a moment and nodded his head with his eyes closed, "That sounds reasonable. I agree to the truce." "But what are we going to do with this man? Are you perhaps planning on taking him to your side?" Vicar glanced at Arzhela.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Arzhela smiled a bit and narrowed her eyes as she stared at Alseace with interest.
"I would rather stay neutral and not take any side," Alseace stood up after he could move his body again. "I have a place to go back to," Alseace looked at Arzhela and Vicar without showing any fear, even though he could feel a tremendous amount of pressure for standing in between those two. "But I don't mind helping both of you carrying the dead bodies," Alseace raised his eyebrows as he cleaned the dust off his coat.
Arzhela and Vicar glanced at him and suddenly burst out laughing. It surprised the Commanders and the Vice Commanders when they heard their Saint or Saintess laugh like that.
"Is there a specific reason why you want to do something noble like that?" Vicar asked. Although his words showed his curiosity, his eyes showed Alseace that he was suspicious of him.
"I'm used to helping people, and I have been doing it ever since the second day I came here. I was helping to gain information, but now there's no more reason for me to do so, I should show my gratitude for not killing me," Alseace gave a solid reason, and he wasn't telling lies since Arzhela could tell if he was lying or not. He wondered if it was only Arzhela or all Saints or Saintesses that possessed the ability to see the truth.
"Dear, we don't kill innocent people. Your Karma is maxed out, and that alone is enough to tell that you're not a bad person," Arzhela smiled and showed her interest in that. "But I don't know about that person over there. You should be careful around him," Arzhela slowly moved her gaze toward Vicar.
Alseace wasn't interested in what kind of problems those two had, and decided to ignore it. Although they were being all friendly, they kept their distance from each other. Both Arisma and the Commander from the Cresta Clan had been concentrating with their hands, ready to sheathe their swords.
"Thank you for the offer, but we can do things on our own," Vicar said as he turned around. He left with his Commander and Vice Commander and went back to his camp.
It was a shame, but at least Alseace leeched most of them, and he was satisfied by it since it was better than nothing. He then helped the knights from Sikar and carried the dead bodies back to the military camp.
Since his Sense increased significantly, he could sense the gaze coming toward him even though the one who stared at him was hundreds of meters away from him. It was nice, but it also made him uncomfortable, because those gazes were like poking at the back of his head and his nape nonstop.
After he managed to leech all the EXPs and Status Points, he decided to stay away as far as possible from Arzhela. His sense could tell something was off, rather than feeling comfortable like last time, it was eerie and made him anxious. It could be also because of his Mentality that tried to resist the feeling that tried to affect his mind.
The night came, and Alseace went into the woods as far as possible from both sides and slept on the grass. He slept like a log, but as soon as he felt a gaze pointing toward him, he opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the gaze.
"An owl..." Alseace sighed as he looked at the owl in the distance staring at him from the tree branch. It made him unable to sleep anymore and decided to wander around the forest until morning came.
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Name: Alseace LaRoze
Level: 6 (45.613762%)
Karma: 100/100
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Status
Strength: 242.73
Agility: 242.18
Dexterity: 240.29
Vitality: 229.74
Mentality: 231.67
Sense: 174.92
Magic: 189.11
Stamina: 249.51
Extra Point(s): 5
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Skill : [Leftover] [Pain Resistance] [Leech] [Sword Art] [Spear Art]
[Dagger Art] [Axe Art] [Staff Art] [Bow Art] [Martial Art]
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Sub-Skill : [Scavenger (E)]
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Achievement : [The One Who Did Nothing]
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"Can I help you?" Alseace asked even though there was nobody around him in the woods.
A faint sound of flowing and bubbly water was coming toward him, and he dodged it without having to look back. It was the same water snake from that time, and it kept attacking him and moved so flexibly. The splash was enough to make a deep cut on his left cheek and it surprised him when blood started dripping down to his chin.
The snake split in half and created another snake of similar size. They started attacking him and cut down the trees that they touched. From two snakes turned into four, then eight, and then sixteen. Alseace managed to dodge them all and danced with each one of them even though his body was covered with cuts.
Suddenly the snakes dispersed and turned into the water as they fell down to the ground. Arisma showed herself from behind one of the trees and casually walked toward Alseace as she unsheathed her blue sword.
"For a level 5 Candidate you're surprisingly strong," Arisma said, but her voice was coming from behind Alseace.
Alseace dashed to the left as he turned around. He saw another Arisma right behind him, and he didn't notice her at all. He then realized it wasn't the real Arisma; it was just a clone of her that was made of water.
"I'm flattered, but is there a reason why you're attacking me?" Alseace asked calmly and watched as more and more Arisma clones formed from the water. He was surprised that Arisma could tell his level, and it appeared she could tell something was off about him; that was why she was testing him.
"Draw your sword," Arisma said.
"I would rather not," Alseace answered, and stared at Arisma's helmet. His sword was nothing compared to her equipment, and it would break as soon as it clashed with her armor or sword.
Arisma scoffed, and suddenly all her clones dashed toward Alseace and started swinging their swords made of water at him. Alseace barely dodged them and knew it was impossible for him to deal with all of them.
Arisma didn't show any hesitation and managed to cut off Alseace's left arm. He was petrified when he saw his arm fall to the ground. Knowing that he was in danger, he ran as fast as he could. He jumped from tree to tree and ended up jumping down the cliff since he had nowhere else to go.
Alseace looked over his shoulder and saw all the clones that followed him down. The clones moved faster than him and were slowly catching up to him. They started to slash his arm, legs, and body and stabbed him right in his stomach.
"(Is this it? I'm going to die like this?)" Alseace asked himself as his vision became blurry.
He hit the ground really hard with his chest hitting the ground first with Arisma's clones stabbing him all over his body before they turned into water.
"You decided to run even though you can fight?" Arisma asked as she looked down the cliff. "My job here is done," Arisma sheathed her sword and left.
Arisma walked back and instead of going to the camp, she went to the battlefield where Arzhela and Vicar were waiting for her. She approached them and reported that she did what was told by Arzhela, and then Vicar's Commander came out of the forest as well. He was observing from the distance and confirmed that Alseace was dead.
"To think we would hear the LaRoze name here is making me lose my desire to finish the war," Vicar sighed as he crossed his arms.
"Agree to disagree," Arzhela smiled and looked at the clean battlefield that used to be filled with dead bodies and pools of blood.
(Somewhere in a dark room with just a single candle that lit the room)
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[A condition has been met!]
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[Under oneself's wish of giving protection from God, Candidate Alseace LaRoze has been resurrected]
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[A deal has been fulfilled, and a promise must be kept]
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"Alseace..." A woman's voice said as she clenched her hands on the chair's armrests.
Alseace opened his eyes and saw a notification in front of him.
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[You have achieved the objective of [Endless War], and prevented an unknown force from coming; saving both Saint Vicar Sancotalus and Saintess Arzhela Cherberell]
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[Choose your reward]
[1. Mythical Equipment Box]
[2. Growth Box]
[3. Blessed Box]
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[You have proven yourself an amazing feat!]
[God has bestowed you an Achievement!]
[Achievement]
[-Rebirth-]
Alseace blinked his eyes and stared at the night sky and a beam of light pointed at him, "What just happened?"