Mad God – Reborn

Late in the morning, Ina finally woke up, slowly opening her eyes and looking around her messy room. She subconsciously ran her fingers through her hair and blinked slowly, watching small rays of sunlight slip through the gaps in her window blinds. She weakly pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes, which looked rested for the first time in the past decade.

"A… dream?" she whispered, touching her parched lips, then stood, holding onto the wall as she took wobbly steps toward the window. Reaching it, she finally grabbed the handle and looked back at the dozens of clothes scattered on the floor. Her mind was still a little foggy, dazed even, but much clearer than ever before. She felt her heart beating slowly and calmly, finally having enough courage to turn the window's handle and then push open the blinds with a loud creak. She faced the strong, warm morning sunlight raining down on her face for the first time in many years. "..."

She stood at the open window for a long time, silently squinting until her eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light and refocused on the garden, filled with colorful flowers. No one was there, and everything looked and sounded peaceful and serene. Even her ears had to adjust to the sounds of the outside world, but the dull, droning noise she was used to finally broke apart and gave way to the birds' playful chirping melodies. As her mind cleared, she remembered someone coming yesterday, but her grandfather refused to meet… him.

"Him?" she murmured, looking back towards her door. "Daryan!" she gasped, her breathing quickening at the thought. Now she remembered clearly hearing his voice, and that he introduced himself to the guards. When her grandfather appeared, she heard him arguing with someone else too. "Spire of… Ren?" She whispered, licking her dried, cracked lip again as her fingers grabbed the windowsill. She was going through the now much clearer memories of herself from before, and they were spurring her into action.

In the end, she turned around, undressing completely. With a bit of hesitation, she took the blanket off the standing mirror and turned it toward herself, wiping away years of dust with trembling hands. Both hands shot up to cover her mouth when she saw herself as she almost screamed out. She couldn't recognize herself in the mirror. Tears started to well up in her eyes, rolling down, leaving marks on her face. Once a beautiful flower, she was now grossly underweight; her ribs, pelvis, and almost every other bone showed. Just moving her fingers around left marks on her frail body as she touched herself, not to mention the years of constant self-harming.

It took her a long time to collect herself before she finally thought to find an old, dusty hairbrush. She slowly straightened her messy hair and, in the end, tied it up into a ponytail. After finishing with it, still looking at her corpse-like body, backlit by the strong sunlight from outside, she started to clean up, something that had never been attempted in the past decade or more. In the end, she even climbed through the window, stark naked, strolling through the ankle-high, soft green grass to wash herself in the nearby little pond before climbing back inside.

"Daryan…" she murmured, searching for proper clothing and struggling to open the stuck drawers. When she finally did, she was already gasping for air, utterly exhausted, but she knew she had to do it. "This will do…" Ina murmured, picking out an old, childlike dress that still fitted her scrawny body before climbing through the window for the last time. "I need to see him!" she whispered, finding her way out of the family courtyard.

What she didn't know was that a pair of eyes watched her the moment she woke up. It was Ariana, who followed her from the shadows, helped her out, distracted the guards, opened the main gate, let her sneak out unnoticed, and made sure she found her way to the Spire without trouble.

…

….

…..

Inside the Spire of Keina, the tower owner tapped her chair's armrest as she sat outside her balcony, drinking tea and watching the sunrise. Next to her knelt Nuray, wearing a white robe, her head bowed down deeply with an ashamed expression. Her wrist was healed yet still trembling, not from pain but sheer anger.

"I told you not to go in aggressively…" Keina sighed and set down her teacup.

"It was my fault…" Nuray replied in a weak voice.

"Yes, it was. I understand your anger, but we are not men; we must control ourselves."

"Please punish me, My Liege!"

"Everyone makes mistakes. What is done is done! Now I'll need to regain the face you lost us personally."

"..." She flinched, going pale at first, then completely red with embarrassment.

"Send a letter to them that I am going to visit tomorrow night," Keina said in a tone that made it clear it was an order.

"Yes…" Nuray answered with a voice close to crying before standing up and leaving Keina alone on the balcony. Before she could step out of the room, Keina's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"How strong was she?"

"I couldn't measure it properly," Nuray said, shaking her head after a bit of silence. "But I felt the same pressure from her that Rudrick had."

"Mm. I see. You can go." She waved her hand, finished her tea, and left alone. "I need to be prepared for the worst. I'll need to use everything if she is as strong as Rudrick."

…

….

…..

At the same time, in Heaven's Gate, Forde was meeting with Zelig inside the Sect Master's chamber.

"My men followed the two. They should still be in their capitals," Frode reported, but Zelig quickly raised his hand to silence him.

"They have already arrived at Rozex. Your men failed to track two people." He berated him, staring him in the eye, making Frode feel like collapsing on the spot upon hearing his tone. "Doesn't matter… The whole city is my creation; I know everything happening there." he stood up and walked to the window, opening it and letting in the salty air blowing towards them from the Storm Coast. As he leaned forward, placing his hands on the windowsill and watching the storms rage in the distance, Frode had a few seconds to breathe, free from his terrifying gaze.

"I'll punish them accordingly!"

"Prepare for war," Zelig said, ignoring his remarks.

"Ah?! S-Sect Master?" Frode gulped loudly, but Zelig just continued calmly.

"I did not stutter, did I? I said, prepare for war. Ready your own armies and conscript everyone available from the new territory you just took over. Queen Paoma and King Ludwigh will be branded traitors soon enough. Be ready and launch a full-scale attack on their kingdoms when that happens. Don't worry. I'll instruct King Horthi and the rest to do the same and tie down that dog, Kaipan's attention. I will make Aerthus unable to send help, as he will have to focus on his new tail-wagging pet if he wants to keep his promise to him!"

"U-understand." Frode bowed, realizing Zelig was running out of patience.

"It is time to reform the alliance into a proper Kingdom. Heaven's Gate will be the new capital city, and if you do your job adequately, you will have a high position as the next Sect Leader."

"Thank you, Sect Master!" he replied with an excited light in his eyes, trying to hold back the shaking that was no longer from fear but from anticipation.

"First, do your job, or I'll pick Horthi instead of you. This land needs more unity. It seems ten slices were too much for you. You all need stricter leashes, or all goes to shit!" He murmured, his eyes looking cold and detached from everything.

"Sect Master… what… What about that girl?" After a long pause, Frode asked, debating whether to bring it up.

"You do not need to worry about her. She was a bird in a cage the moment she stepped into Rozex. That is my territory. Not even Aerthus would dare to challenge me there!" He chuckled. "Yet she dared to come by herself… mad little bitch!"

"Then she is already a dead man walking! Great!"

"She is. It is going to cost a lot, but this is what you have to pay to get rid of someone at the 3rd stage," he said, slowly curling his lips upward.

…

….

…..

"Are you sure Zelig won't notice this?" Sentios asked, standing beside Ren deep underground, below her Spire. They stood inside a sealed circular room filled with the orange light of torches hanging from the gray stone walls.

"Don't worry, he won't. I masked the whole room. Even if he was in the city, he would not feel it." Ren chuckled as she finished the drawing on the floor, carving a complex formation circle filled with hundreds of runes. It made Sentios's eyes spin uncontrollably in their sockets watching her do it.

"I get a headache just looking at this… What is it?" he held his head, rubbing it with a groan.

"A short-distance teleportation formation. A two-way one at that." Ren explained, "It is my first time laying it down, but seeing Levicuts's notes and having a talk with him, I could get the hang of it."

"Uh… yeah… sure…" He twitched his mouth; he couldn't memorize so many minor details, even if he used 200% of his brain capacity.

"Done! Good thing you are a relative of Aerthus... Step onto the rune at 12 o'clock!"

"Huh?" He blinked but didn't make a fuss, and just walked to the spot Ren was pointing at. "What are we- uhg?!" Sentios groaned as the formation lit up, and he felt it rapidly sapping his energy.

"Keep feeding it; Sect Head is the one who bears most of the burden anyway. You just need to stabilize our side of it!" Ren grinned at him.

"Damn it… You could've told me earlier!" he bit his lip, trying to regain his own composure.

"Come on, don't be a crybaby! Your line is proficient with your inner energies anyway." She stuck her tongue out as a golden energy gate formed, rising from the ground in the middle of the formation.

"..." Sentios just watched, feeling himself go completely mute, especially as the door cleared and he could see the other side. It was a big room where, beside Aerthus, who stood on the opposite rune from him, stood his other ancestor, Levictus, arms crossed and face calm, nodding toward Ren.

"The connection is still not the most stable. You made some mistakes drawing it. Transferring over living beings would be impossible. For now." Levictus said, his voice sounding distorted and filled with noise as it came through the screen before them.

"I'll fine-tune it later." Ren rolled her eyes, but she was not offended by his words at all. "Are the things ready?"

"Yes." Levictus walked forward and threw a pretty big dimensional bag through the door beside them. At first, it just disappeared, and it took a few seconds, but finally emerged on the other side, where Ren caught it.

"Great! Thanks!" She laughed happily, holding it.

"I'll need to recover for at least a week after this." Aerthus groaned in the meantime. "This is more taxing than I have anticipated! Girl, you have a grudge against me or something?" The Sect Head asked as he looked through the vibrating screen, watching Ren's giggling expression.

"Ahaha, no, no, you are my beloved Master, Master!" She replied innocently.

"Sure! I taught you so much and everything!" he rolled his eyes. "So? Are you confident?"

"For the time being, yes." Ren nodded, holding the big bag. "I already have an ally. If everything goes this smoothly, there is a great chance I can do this without much bloodshed."

"Be careful! Allies in your family can usually turn out to be enemies," Aerthus warned her, but Ren gently shook her head. "Okay, okay! If this is all, can I cut the feed? I feel numb in my toes already." Aerthus grumbled after seeing the confident light in her eyes.

"Sure, sure! Go ask Rumira for a revitalizing massage!" His disciple joked, drawing a wide grin onto Aerthus's face.

"You know, I was thinking the same…" came his distorted voice as the Gate slowly fell into bright specks of light.

"Finally!" Sentios moaned as he fell to his knees, gasping for air. "Damn! I'm spent!" He panted, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Go, rest up. I also need some time to prepare some things with the resources we just got." She patted the bag in her hands.

"So… you never really left the Sect, huh?" Sentios stood up feebly, trying to figure out what was happening behind the scenes.

“Ahahaha! Well… Let's just say I am cheating." She winked at him. "I'm not expecting Zelig to play fairly, so I never intended to do the same. Fufufu… I like it dirty anyway."