Chapter 268 - Break's Over

The next day.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"Relax," Rynold answered as he went up the stairs, "We might as well tell the guy that we finished. It beats loafing around with nothing better to do."

"He's a god, not some random guy!" Crimson responded, worried, "There's gotta be a better way to do this! We can wait for him to come to us like he said."

Rynold stopped going up and turned around to meet Crimson in the eye. While the concerns Crimson brought up weren't necessarily invalid, Rynold found it best to confront the Mech God head-on. Rynold was glad to admit he was acting on his own accord.

That was because two weeks was more than enough time to be out of the fight.

"You sure do think highly of him, huh?"

However, Rynold only gave a half-hearted, mocking remark to Crimson's worries. He then promptly turned in his initial direction and continued walking up the long flight of stairs. Crimson, on the other hand, followed after Rynold.

Crimson continued to pest Rynold to head back, not realizing that Rynold had already made up his mind. With each step they took, both of them got closer to the tallest building on the island.

"Hey," Crimson called out, "Hey! Hold it!"

"What?!"

Turning around in a somewhat frustrated manner, Rynold faced Crimson once more as they had both reached the building's entrance. The doors towered over them, a testament to this place's grandeur. It was, for the most part, fitting for a god.

"We really shouldn't be doing this."

That was it? That was the best argument Crimson could muster right now?

Rynold clicked his tongue and turned towards the door, ignoring Crimson's pleas. While Rynold respected Crimson's fear of the almighty, Rynold wasn't one to back down. Some things were more important after all.

Without so much as a knock, Rynold pushed open the heavy doors. They offered some resistance; as the sheer overwhelming size and weight of the doors stood in Rynold's way.

Regardless, Rynold made enough space for both Crimson and himself. Rynold went in first, of course, and called out. He yelled, "Hey!" to the empty room ahead.

Unsurprisingly, there was no answer.

"He's not here?" asked Crimson as he stepped in after Rynold.

"Gee, you think?"

After sarcastically answering, Rynold walked further into the room, captivated by the Mana Crystal at the center. There was no explaining the sheer beauty and profoundness of the Mana Crystal Rynold saw. It was the first-ever time Rynold saw a Mana Crystal of this caliber.

No other words could describe it other than 'perfect.'

Despite its magnificence, though, this wasn't what Rynold had in mind. The Mana Crystal, even at that state, had to be put at the back of his mind. Rynold had to find the Mech God and talk to him about something.

Alas, Rynold had no idea how to do just that. The entire conversation hinged on the Mech God being here. And, now that he wasn't here, Rynold hadn't a clue what to do next.

"You don't sound surprised at all."

Crimson approached Rynold while keeping his eyes on the Mana Crystal as well. It wasn't the first time Crimson saw the Mana Crystal, but he was still pretty damned impressed.

"Yeah, I know where he is," Rynold nodded as he looked around the room and away from the Mana Crystal, "The only problem now is we have no idea when he'll be back."

"You know where he is?" Crimson reconfirmed, hiding his surprise.

"It's no secret," Rynold answered as he headed for one of the desks, inspecting things as he went along, "We were all under one roof, remember? The whole 'trial' thing to become his Chosen?"

Nodding along to Rynold's theory, Crimson thought it had made sense. The Mech God had other responsibilities. Rynold's situation was nothing more than just a tangent. While the trials were still ongoing, Rynold and Crimson were far from the top of the list.

As Rynold kept rummaging through the random selection of objects in the room, Crimson walked on by and did the same. They had a respectable distance between each other, no words spoken to fill in the silence. Despite their differences, both of them got along well with each other. And, funnily enough, both of them had curious personalities as well.

The two of them weren't close by any means. If anything, the two were more acquaintances than friends. Rynold worked on his many projects these past two weeks. Crimson, on the other hand, did his tasks. Apart from some casual remarks, the two barely exchanged anything substantial.

That was until Rynold decided to break the silence with a rather blunt question. "What do you think they're doing right now?" he asked without so much as looking at Crimson while he did.

"Who?"

"The other Candidates," Rynold scoffed as he picked up a random piece of paper with scribbles on it, "I'm sure they're doing something that would make any other person go crazy."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure the Mech God oversees the entire thing. Whoever becomes his Chosen would be far more worthy than either one of us."

"Heh," Rynold scoffed, "That's fair."

Then, there was silence once again. Only sounds of random things thrown around echoed in the room. Rynold rummaged through one corner, Crimson on another.

"You ever regret coming here?"

Rynold suddenly asked a question that caused Crimson to stop. He looked up, turning his gaze over to Rynold, of which the latter didn't bother to stop flipping over randomly scattered objects.

"No," Crimson shook his head as he returned to what he was doing, "No, I don't."

"Hm."

Responding with an acknowledging noise, Rynold didn't pry anymore than he already did. There was no reason for him to ask what Crimson's intentions were. For the most part, it wasn't his fault Crimson followed him in the first place. Although, Rynold did feel like he owed Crimson something.

With that in mind, Rynold wanted to say something else. He wanted to give his thanks, even though he had already given it before.

Unfortunately, though, Rynold couldn't find the courage to bring it up. And, by the looks of things, he wouldn't have the chance to.

Out of nowhere, the doors bust open like they were made of paper. They swung to the sides, slamming as they hit the wall. The sudden outburst caused both Rynold and Crimson to flinch, dropping whatever it was they were doing.

"Who-"

Crimson could only mutter one word before Rynold sprung into action. He extended his Mana Gauntlets to their Strength-form, reacting to the surprise much better than Crimson did.

As Rynold ran up to meet the unexpected guests, his eyes narrowed in anticipation. Something about this didn't feel right. Was it an attack? It was far too unclear to tell. His vision, senses, and instincts were all overwhelmed. At that point, attacking it straight-on might not have been the best idea.

Ding!

Rynold slammed his right gauntlet into the assailant, unaware of who he might be hitting. The impact caused a shockwave, removing any notion of mystery.

He made contact, hitting metal against metal.

"Wha-"

Bang!

An overwhelmingly sizable fist made its way towards Rynold, punching him a good distance away. Rynold didn't stop until he hit a wall, leaving an impact appropriate to the amount of force exerted. Fortunately, Rynold had his Mana Defense on. Otherwise, who knows what would've happened?

"You alright, man?" Crimson looked back to where Rynold had landed and rushed to his side. Rynold, however, had other plans in mind.

"Don't-!"

Crash!

Rynold couldn't ward off Crimson as the metallic robot landed a few feet away from where he was. Crimson, on the other hand, didn't see it coming. He only saw Rynold being cornered off in a matter of seconds.

Doing so didn't give Rynold much room to think. The metallic robot cut off Rynold's exit. He had barely even recovered from their brief exchange. It slowly approached Rynold as the latter got off the wall. The only thing Rynold could see from that moment on was a whole world of hurt.

Slam!

The other fist landed on Rynold, covering his entire body. He couldn't even defend himself as the blow crashed into him. It had even caused the wall behind him to break, forcing Rynold to go outside.

Violently crashing before landing on his face, Rynold felt pain all over. He couldn't really get why this was happening. His thoughts were a blur. The Mech God's island was supposed to be a safe haven. What's this thing that's attacking him now?

That said, Rynold spat out blood from his mouth as he pushed himself off the ground. It wouldn't be long until his assailant struck again. So, in a fraction of a second, Rynold activated the healing spell on himself. A flash of green wrapped around Rynold, mending his wounds.

Standing up, Rynold readied his Mana Gauntlets, giving everything he got.