Chapter 45: Lawbearer?
"What a waste of World Origin," Smiling Devil chortled. "Do you know what I could have done with that instead?" Some anger started to leak into his voice, making Mistress Alyra’s mood lift a bit. His loss of composure delighted her. So far he had seemed to be in control, like everything was still within his expectations, but it seemed he had really not expected her to burn this rift world’s Origin to trigger a World Cry.
"Hehe," she chuckled. "So that was what you were after. World Origin?" she asked with amusement leaking into her voice. It seemed she had hit the nail right on the head.
"Are you mad?" she asked when Smiling Devil refused to answer, basically affirming her deduction. "Of all things, you were after the World Origin of a rift right in the heart of our territory?"
"Ha!" Smiling Devil guffawed. "Your blind confidence in your family’s power never ceases to amuse me."
"Mistress, I can assure you that not a single sign of anything happening here can be detected from the outside... Nothing at all. We’re going to die here together... fading into oblivion along with the world you just killed..." He grinned wickedly, turning his head with what little strength he could muster, just to see her face as she realized her folly.
Mistress Alyra didn’t give him the satisfaction he wanted. Ever since Smiling Devil first appeared, she had been trying to contact the outside, all to no avail. As the only Ryvelin assigned to this rift, she had Master access to things even the now-deceased commandant hadn’t known about. There were measures and countermeasures for dire situations. Full access to the rift world’s Origin was one of them, though it was meant more for show. No family member assigned to this rift had ever been forced to use it... until now. It was what had enabled her to cast a superior spell and even trigger a World Cry resonance. She had used up this little world’s Origin, and regardless of the reason, she knew she’d have to answer to her family later. But for now, she had to figure out a way to get her message through.
Smiling Devil laughed. "It’s no use. Your message is being blocked from the outside. Make peace with yourself... We’re going down together. Me, you, and every single living thing in this fucking world."
"Have you ever seen a world die, Mistress Alyra?" he asked rhetorically, seemingly eager talk with their deaths assured. "I have. This isn’t my first rodeo. My master once took me along on a similar mission to gain experience. Though it was a smaller rift... way smaller. The Origin feedback gotten was meager. After it was refined, it was only enough to push him to tier 6."
"Refined? The Umbral Tower has Origin refinement techniques?" Mistress Alyra asked with a frown.