Chapter 50: Constellation

Currently, Alessa is performing a full body scan in Karl. "I told you many times. I am fine." Karl complains. Few men who are wearing white coats are taking Karl's blood samples from multiple limbs.

"I know you are well, Sir Leonard. But taking caution never hurts." Alessa justifies.

Karl is now in the Phirsecot's castle. He gained consciousness few hours ago only to find his entire body is examined by some weird people wearing lab coats. "This won't take long. Just corporate with us for a while."

"Corporate with us, my ass. If you want me to stay quiet then remove these chains." Karl snaps. His entire body is chained to a steel bed, not allowing him to move an inch.

"This is for your own safety. I hope you understand."

"I don't."

Alessa doesn't explain further and leaves the room. At first, she opens a normal wooden door. Next, there is metal wall which looks super durable. Alessa puts her hand at the centre of the door and a blue lights flashes which scans her hand, then the door opens. At last, there is an another metal gate which displays a numpad at its centre. Alessa enters the password and opens the door. Suddenly, a wave of water vapour is sprayed on her, this vapour is made of various potions which acts as an sanitizer. After getting clean, Alessa walks through a long hallway and reaches the throne room.

Inside, Ray, Ian and Hector are present. Alessa kneels to her lord.

"Stand!" Ray commands.

"Here is the medical report of the subject." Alessa stands up and hands the report to Hector. He makes an complicated expression as he goes through the report.

"Is something wrong?" Ray asks.

"No, my lord. On the contradictory, everything in the report seems suspiciously normal. As if the ancient beast never entered Sir Leonard's body."

"T-Then, if everything is normal can't we release him?" Ian interrupts.

Ray glares at Ian but Hector quickly covers his young master. "Young master, whenever there is a beast suppressed to be a constellation in any entity, it shows some signs of reluctance. But in Sir Leonard's case there is no such sign to be observed. As if the ancient beast willingly became the constellation of Sir Leonard."

"Also, there is a slim chance of the beast overcoming the suppression and killing the host." Alessa explains further.

"But, in the reports everything is normal. Leo is completely normal." Ian raises his voice.

"SILENCE!" Ray who was silent till now speaks up. "My son, we are dealing with an ancient beast. Not even the sentinels know their full capabilities. In the worst case, Koraet has found a way to take over Karl's body and ate his brain from the inside which can grant the beast some sort of intelligence." Ray shares his worries.

"I believe that such case is infeasible, if my lord is unaware I shall clear it that Sir Leonard wields the forbidden element of space and the ancient beast Koraet is also mainly associated with space element." Ray and Alessa widens their eye in shock. Ray quickly glances at Ian for confirmation and Ian nods.

"Heh." Alessa's face makes a twisted expression as she thinks about Karl as an lab rat.

Ray touches his forehead. 'Is fate playing tricks on us?'

"What happened? Does Leo's element changes anything?" Ian who is oblivious about the concept of constellations asks.

"According to the old myths, Koraet the ancient beast, when in adult size can engulf the entire world. But it doesn't stop there and travels into other dimensions using it's abilities with the intention of destroying every possible existence. Although this is probably a fairytale from the history and the actual abilites of Koraet remains unknown. Well, it is said that if the beast and the host possess the same element then the probability of failure during the suppression reduces alot."

Ian smiles brightly. "Father!" Ray looks at his son's happy face. "I believe in Leonard's ability and take responsibility for his action. So, please!" 

"Release him." Ian kneels.

Ray looks at his son's reaction. 'I just hope that he would bring a bride in the Phirsecot's house and not a groom.' He sighs.

"Fine. Hector, release him." Hector bows deeply.

"Wait a second, my lord." Alessa says in a flustered voice. Everyone looks at Alessa. "I-I believe that there few tests which are need to be done."

Everyone could see the curiosity of an researcher dripping from her mouth.

"Hector, take Alessa away."

"Yes, my lord." Hector grabs Alessa's head and drags her away.

"NOO! YOU CAN'T DENY MY WISDOM! WAHHH" Alessa cries.

Ray and Ian sighs at Alessa's actions.

Currently, Karl is alone in the room. He is constantly trying to breath mana but surprisingly there is no mana in the room. 'Shit! If I only had mana.'

Suddenly, the door opens and Hector walks in with a suitcase in hand. "How are you, Sir Leonard?" Hector asks with a smile.

"What do you think?" Karl jerks his body, trying to move.

"Please bear with me for a second. I release the chains." Hector taps on his watch and the chains opens up. Karl sits up and crack his back.

"Wear this. My lord and young master are waiting for you in the throne room." Hector opens the suitcase and hands over a powder blue shirt and a grey trouser. Karl turns around and removes his hospital gown.

After few minutes, Karl is walking behind Hector. The corridors seem rather empty. Even the main garden is empty compared to the last time when Karl came here. "Where is everyone?"

"Mourning the dead. There is a cemetery, just behind the castle. Every individual associated with the Phirsecot knighthood is buried there." Hector answers without stopping.

Karl remains silent. In habit, he tries to breath mana but fails again. 'Did I lost the ability to use mana?' This thought haunted Karl's mind.

"Is something wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?" Hector glances back and asks.

Suddenly, the air feels heavy. Karl gets a bad feeling that he is being watched. "N-No. I am not able to breath mana." He tells the truth.

Hector looks at the celling and back at Karl. 15 knights who are tailing behind Karl, all ready to attack at command backs down. "Your mana nerves were clogged badly when we found you. Alessa give you an antibiotic which will open them up. But as a side effect excess mana cannot enter mana into your body."

Karl nods in understanding. Hector pokes Karl's chest. "It will ease the pain at best."

"Y-Yes, thank you." Hector smirks and they continue towards the throne room.

The big door opens and Karl sees Ian and Ray in the room. He waves at Ian.

"How are you doing?" Ray asks in a heavy voice.

"Alive, I guess." Karl jokes. Nobody says a word. Everyone is just observing Karl, even Ian remains silent.

"What happened to that tu- I mean parasite." Karl speaks again breaking the silence.

"I think you can tell us better about that." Ray taunts.

"What do you mean? I killed the black worm like you asked me. You said you would handle the rest."

"Killed? You just made Koraet your constellation."

"Constellation? What are you talking about?"

Ian steps up with a book in hand. "I handle it from here." He opens the book and continues. "By the will of any believer of the Horizon, the strings of fate of any beast can be altered and joined to a soul of the believer. When the beast's entire fate dedicates itself to that believer, that beast becomes it's constellation..." Ian gives a brief explanation on constellations and believers of the horizon and after 4 minutes it ends.

"Do you understand constellations now?" Ian asks.

"Basically taming right?"

Ian raises his eyebrow in annoyance. "Don't use such vulgar term like those bloodsuckers. Our constellations are very sacred as it connects directly to our souls."

'Whatever.'

"Then, you are saying that the black worm became my constellation."

"Not only the black worm but the entire ancient beast." Hector corrects.

A drop of sweat appears on Karl's forehead. "That entire parasite is inside me, like it was inside of Ray?"

Suddenly, the floor cracked around Hector. "HoHo! Forgive this old fool. My leg slipped." Karl could see the veins around his head that are about to pop.

"Not like that." Ray stands up and walks down towards Karl.

"Constellation is a holy ritual between souls. To be accurate, that Koraet is inside your soul." Ray starts to release a large amount of mana. A strong gust of wind blows all around the throne room, Ian and Karl struggle to stand in their position while Hector is unfazed.

"There are few incidents recorded in history that the constellation overcame the suppression and killed the believer. But we are dealing with an ancient beast which creates a possibility that Koraet ate your brain from the inside and took over your body."

Ray is standing directly in front of Karl, releasing his killing intent. "Tell me, who are you?"