64. The Approaching Calamity Part 3

[ Warning!!! ]

[ A calamity is approaching! ]

[ Warrior 01 under the name "Cleo", we ask you to walk away slowly and run as far as you could until help comes ]

Cleo stared at the screen in horror, she didn't know how rescue will come here in a place that she doesn't know a thing about. Calmness fell upon her when she remembered that since the system screen appeared then help can make it and come to her.

She looked at those sitting at the table and shivered from their stares, they were focusing on her in a very uncomfortable way getting her shivering now and then.

"Oh my! The young miss seems to be uncomfortable by our stares, hahaha!" A man wearing armor commented.

"Oh, dear~ How rude of us! Please, young miss, take a seat so we can answer your questions, hoho~" A woman wearing a puff blue dress said after.

Cleo shivered from the cringe lines said by those people but that's expected since their clothes said enough about them. She walked around and searched for any empty seats until she finally found one... In front of everyone... 'You have to be fucking kidding with me luck' she groaned before she took a seat.

Everyone kept looking at her with big smiles on their faces getting Cleo uncomfortable once again, "can you all stop looking at me like that?" She mumbled and to her surprise, they did as she told and looked at the dishes in front of them.

At the big and wide table, there were all types of food from all around the world, some of them were easy to recognize but others were hard to guess because they were served in a different way than they are nowadays.

In front of each one, there were three plates, a big plate on top of it small one inside it a plate serving different flavors of soups. Cleo's soup was vegetable soup with seasoned chicken breasts and small grilled pieces of meat. As for the cups, the one on her right was filled with red wine, and the other one on her left was filled with water.

She ignored the red wine and took a sip from the cup filled with water. At first glance, the cups were designed for royals only because they were made from gold and had jewels around them, but when looking around, the differences are once again wide and clear, some like her were holding such heavy cups, but others were sipping from crystal cups, while others were holding big wooden cups or plastic, exposing the differences between them.

The lady with the blue puff dress glanced at Cleo from the corner and smirked, "oh my lady~ What is it? Is the food not to your liking? Or do the filthy and cheap people here bother you~?" Cleo took glances at everyone and noticed the drastic change in the mood, so she wanted to control things before things get out of control but one man in the far corner jumped from his seat and glared at the lady with the puffy blue dress, "who the hell you think you are, you wrench Witch?!" He yelled and food came out of his mouth flying a few inches away.

"You disgusting human being!? Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?!"

"That's my line ugly woman!"

"What?!" The two stood and dropped their chairs, the dark mana came out of the two and started to take different forms. Cleo watched in shock, "what the-" She mumbled but the two launched and made everything around them fly away.

Everyone gathered around Cleo and tried to protect her, but she saved them the energy to do so, "Thoth" she whispered, and a huge ball formed around everyone. Cleo stared at the two fighting with a nonchalant face she then turned her attention to those with her inside the ball, "I need answers. Why am I here? And who are you all?"

"Let's first take a seat young miss" one man in fancy clothes requested. Cleo stared at them coldly but sighed and sat down after forming her dark mana into a chair.

"Ah! We see you managed to make forms from your mana!" The man in armor commented excitedly but when Cleo turned to look at him, he lowered his head and scratched his head.

"Ahem, Ok. What do you want to know about?"

"Who are you?" They all looked at each other and nodded for the man wearing fancy clothes to talk. He sighed and nodded in approval, "we are the previous owners of the dark mana. Every time the mana master dies, the next one obtains it immediately, and so on"

"How does the dark mana choose the next master?"

"We don't know"

"N- Nobody knows e- Except the- The dark mana itself. A- And be- Before y- You ask, n- None of us tried t- To ask it b- Because no one got the chance t- To meet it face to face" one lady stuttered when Cleo's attention turned to her.

"I see. My second question. Why do you all seem afraid of me?" They all flinched and lowered their heads, some of them trembled and couldn't rise their heads, while others rose their heads to reply but when they noticed the coldness in Cleo's eyes, they sweat and swallow back their words, except for two, the man wearing armor and the one wearing fancy clothes.

"To simply put it?" The man wearing armor started, "you're no different than the first dark mana master" the man in fancy clothes ended. Cleo's eyes opened wide, and shock was clear on her face.

Where are the similarities between her and a man she had no idea about? How did they all even know who he is? And where did they meet him? Suddenly, it struck her the only empty seat on the table, the one in front of all, "so that seat-?"

"Yes, the first dark mana master used to sit there, but he vanished when you were the chosen" the man in fancy clothes finished the sentence for her. They all watched as she turned white as a ghost, "and I?"

"Yes. You two look alike, there are no differences between you except for the gender" a bomb got them to turn to the battlefield outside the ball. When they looked outside, they saw the lady with a puffy blue dress trying to stand on her feet but whenever she tried, she'd fall back, the same for the man she was fighting, none of the two was able to stand up, so they gave up and laid there trying to fill in themselves after consuming not so small amount of mana.

"Let me tell you this, young miss. We are nothing but substitutes for the dark mana master, no matter how strong we are, in the end, we are nothing but yours and you? You are the reason we lived this long" the two walked outside the ball and walked toward the two on the ground, "young miss? Please don't hesitate to ask for our help, I know we could be the same but we're still different, you saw those two-" He pointed at the two bodies on the ground, "- They are pure proof of how strong we could become and how different our limits are"

Cleo looked at everyone around her and wondered once again, "how did I end up here? And how can I even leave?" Everyone turned their attention to her before they looked at each other in worry.

"Do you really need to leave young miss? Things aren't safe outside"