City of the Defiled

Lloyd and the others were standing still at the base of the 250-meter wall erected around the city which encircled it. The walls looked like it was particularly constructed in order to fend off invaders so it probably had no doors or gates that lead towards inside, especially when this place is still situated somewhere in the vast lands of the Vyris Deadlands. Any time soon, the sun would be at its peak, the magma would rise up, and the dead would walk the earth once more.

"How do we climb this thing?" Lloyd asked them.

"How about trying to stick your sword to the wall and use it as a stepping stone?" Ray suggested.

Lloyd tried stabbing the walls with his sword. To his surprise, it didn't even scratch the wall, much less make a dent or a hole on it. He shook his head in response to them, hinting that climbing by using their weapons was no good. 

If there were no gates in these walls, how did the humans enter the city? Unless there was someone who was capable of flying or levitating in the air, it would be totally impossible to climb it.

"Hm... Maybe we could call out to them and see if they would respond." Luna said her thoughts that broke the short silence.

"Hey! Can you hear us?"

Ray shouted out loud, trying to attract the attention of those guarding the area on top of the walls. Alas, they didn't hear his frantic shouts.

"I guess we have no choice. Lloyd, tie this rope in your waist." Luna took a long rope out of her spatial ring and handed it to the confused Lloyd.

"What for?"

"I'll throw you up there." She monotonously said which made him pale in fright.

"Wh-what? Are you insane?!"

"You are the only one who can do this since you are tougher than most of us here. I believe you can withstand my force." She even showed a thumbs up sign without having any emotions on her face.

"Showing me that isn't helping at all! And also, how are you even gonna do that in the first place?"

"I'll use my innate ability. I should be able to launch you up there like a cannonball." 

Lloyd felt shivers down his spine as she laid out her horrifying plan. However, he had no other choice as the others kept pushing him to do it. Time was also running out so he frustratingly agreed.

"Damn it! I hope I'll be able to return in one piece."

He gritted his teeth as he tied the magical rope to his body and went a few distance away from Luna in order to do a boosted sprint. Luna squatted a little and put her hands in front of her in a stacking manner like how a volleyball player would go into a stance when receiving a ball. She waited for Lloyd to run towards her at full speed.

"Here I go!"

Lloyd signaled and run with all his might. His speed was quite fast since he was boosted by three cores in his soul including the corrupted one. As he was getting nearer to Luna, he jumped up and stepped onto her palms while she activated her ability which made her expression twisted in pain as she bit her lips hard to endure the excruciating torment she felt. She exerted a horrifying force when she thrusted Lloyd's feet up in the air. 

He accelerated upwards in a very fast speed which made his face distorted from the air pressure. He flew up and up, passing half the height of the walls, and then finally going past its highest point. He was still ascending a few more meters upwards and saw what was inside before descending.

Upon seeing what was inside the walls, his eyes widened. He couldn't quite put his finger into it, but he knew that what he saw was something familiar and it was also disturbing. After a few seconds, he finally realized what it was.

'Oh, gods! Isn't this…'

His thoughts were distracted when he noticed a few hostile gazes from below. The guards noticed him and thought he was a flying abomination so they unsheathed their swords.

"Stop! I'm not an enemy!"

As he descended and landed on top of the walls near the guards who were acting cautiously around him, he raised both of his hands up.

"Who are you?" One of the guards questioned him, with no intention of putting his sword down.

"I'm Lloyd. I came from north of here. I have four other companions down there, you see."

"From north? Impossible! No one has ever survived from travelling north. You must be a defiled!"

The guards were shocked at his seemingly outrageous claims and didn't believe him at all. They even tensed up and was ready to put him down when he nervously waved his hands to stop them again from acting recklessly.

"H-hold on! I'm telling you the truth. I am not a hellspawn or a defiled or whatever that is! Look! You can ask my companions if I am lying once they climb up here." He tried approaching them but the guards shouted and pointed their swords at him.

"Stay where you are!"

"Fine. Let me pull them up first and you'll see whether I'm lying or not. You can decide to kill us if you deem us a threat."

Lloyd was already annoyed by them, but he was still the invader in this area so he had to lower his pride and extend his patience by a mile for now. Fortunately, they listened and allowed him to do his thing as long as he didn't approach them. He looked down and tried waving his hand at the tiny little dots on the ground.

He knew Klaudia can use her ability to detect his actions as he remembered that back in the crypt, he had doubts that her ability wasn't simply limited to just being able to detect enemies and see their status upon seeing her being able to see the murals on the walls even though she had used her ability not too long ago during that event. Otherwise, her innate ability named Divine Eye wouldn't be so divine at all.

The tiny dots started to move and climbed the walls through the magical rope. After several minutes, he could now see their appearances as they reached half of the wall's height. The guards were getting impatient but they waited a little more, trying to see what he was up to.

Finally, they had reached the top of the walls. The guards scanned through the newcomers and one of them noticed a very familiar face.

"L-Lady Luna… Is that you?" He asked nervously.

 "Hm?"

Luna just stared at the armored guy who was wearing a fully visored helmet which covered his face. He removed it immediately and revealed a man who was still in his thirties. He had a look of shock when he recognized Luna.

"Housekeeper Seb? What are you doing here?"

Tears flowed from the man's eyes as he slowly knelt down in front of her. Luna, being a little bit embarrassed, she helped the man stood up.

"I'm sorry. I failed to do my duties your father has left me. I was forced to run away and leave you. I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be like that… It wasn't your fault."

Her heart was filled with grief as she looked at the pitiful, crying man. This was the housekeeper of their family. However, he disappeared in the middle of the night when the dreadful massacre of the Reinford clan happened.

"You've done enough. Stand up."

After leaving the two of them alone to catch up with their heartfelt reunion for a few moments, the man had become okay and went back to his usual strict attitude, with the exception of the previous hostile gazes. He was now interacting with them in a friendly manner.

"How did you arrive in this place, Lady Luna?" Seb asked.

"We were sent here by this year's trial ceremony. We came from north after escaping from the crimson wasteland and the crimson forest. We also crossed the Vyris Deadlands and entered a crypt. Do you have any idea what this place is?"

Upon hearing what she said, Seb's face darkened.

"Did you just say… trials?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?" Luna asked.

"Sorry, Lady Luna, but this place isn't something you can conquer." He shook his head sadly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"There is no way to conquer this place because…"

He paused for a while before continuing.

"Because this is the City of Arcadia."

Lloyd heard what he had said and thought that he had heard or seen this name somewhere but couldn't remember it. He stayed quiet and didn't interrupt their discussion.

"What about this city?" Luna once again asked. Then she added another question. "Have you also participated in a trial ceremony and was sent here?"

Seb nodded and traced back his memories from the night the massacre happened. He took a heavy breath before telling an unfortunate tale.

"Back in the night where the Reinford clan was massacred, some of us from the Reinford clan escaped. We were pursued by the assassins because they wanted to eliminate everyone. Having no other choice left and no place to hide since it is also a certain death if we go beyond the walls of Asteria, we broke into the academy instead during that night and entered the halls. A portal gleaming with an eerie crimson glow stood at its end. With the assassins getting nearer, we leapt into the portal and were sent into this human fortress that looked the same as Asteria. However, this isn't Asteria. This is the city of one of the civilizations of the distorted planes, Arcadia."

"Distorted what?" Lloyd asked.

"The distorted planes. In the planes of existence, there are several planes, with the highest one belonging to the gods and the lowest one belonging to our world. However, the planes had already fallen apart at this point for some reasons we don't know yet. Hence, it is now called the distorted planes." Seb concluded.

"Wait… if what you said is true… and that there are several planes of existence, then do you mean that… we're in another world right now?"

"Well, technically, you're both right and wrong at the same time."

He paused again and thought for a moment regarding how he would explain it to them.

"This place indeed belongs to another world. However, at the same time, this can also be located in our real world. It's just that… we're currently inside the trials right now and everything in here is just like a dream replicated from the real planes of existence. Worse, you only have one life, whether it is in this world or the real one. Once you die here, you'll also die in the real world. That is how cruel the trials are."

A grim and heavy atmosphere surrounded them. They needed time to digest the information they had received. Never did they have thought that this place actually existed in the real world. It was like several worlds had started to fall apart… or maybe it already had fallen, broke into pieces and was patched together with the broken pieces of the higher planes, forcibly like a jigsaw puzzle.

Although Lloyd didn't care about what would happen to the world, he was still distressed upon learning that he wouldn't be able to see his parent's grave anymore as it would be consumed by the impending disaster that would forever change the whole world sooner or later. He would also lose the home where the memories of his loved ones lingered.

"Damn it!" he cursed out loud.

"Don't fret yet, young man. I still haven't told you why this place is unconquerable."

"Tell us what you know, Seb." Luna said.

"The end of this trial is found underneath this city. There is a crimson portal there that looked the same as the one in the halls of the academy. However, below this city, is a large underground facility just as large as the upper surface. That place is where the defiled humanity lives." He showed an aggrieved look which hinted that it wasn't that simple to go home.

"What is 'the defiled'?"

"They are the previous humans of this city. They were also aspirants before and all of them have monstrous strength after succumbing to the corruption. And among them, a horrible hellspawn was ruling them all. It is the same thing that had defiled them all. Its rank is—"

Before he could continue, Klaudia interjected and finished the statement with a frightened look.

"Hybrid: Rank III – Elder."