"Your love is a lie."
I felt Elowen's body stiffen and heard her breath hitch. Her glassy eyes slowly widened in shock and her long ears twitched.
But I didn't stop there.
I drew her close, and bent my heard towards her neck, whispering into her ear.
"Thou hast never loved me. No woman ever has. Never have I woven honeyed words nor played the rake, and yet...suddenly, thine heart sways?"
"Ah-"
Before she could say anything, I cut her off, my hand tightening on her waist and my voice dropping low, even mocking,
"Nay, fair lady. 'Tis not love thou feels. 'Tis the will of the Hollow Drake. It's will to ensnare me in its maws."
My eyes locked with hers, and deep within mine the familiar dark light flared.
SWOO...
A breathless silence fell between us as I watched her carefully, waiting for her to crumble.
For the dawning realization to seize her in horror, for denial to stain her lips.
I had always enjoyed it, enjoyed watching the mind unravel. The scene of a person breaking under realization had always filled me with a strange sense of glee.
And so, I stared at Elowen, even leaning in to ensure I captured every moment of her spiral.
I expected her to feel bewilderment, anger, shock, fear and even denial.
But instead...
Huh?
The lovely elf simply stared at me and let out a slow, subtle smile before saying,
"I know."
What?
"What?"
I blurted out, my mind failing to comprehend what she had just said.
Wh-wha...what did she sa-
Elowen slowly straightened as I absentmindedly pulled her upright, my mind still failing.
"I know.", she repeated, a softness in her tone that made my blood run cold,
"You see...just like thee, I have descended before."
Eh-
My eyes widened and my breath hitched, my heart rate suddenly soared and I felt a noose tighten around my neck. Elowen didn't relent instead she continued,
"In truth, every netizen of Eidolenhollow has.", she said with a distant, almost nostalgic gaze.
"Just like thee, I had presumed myself to be above the city having conquered the Elder of Oblivion's Unraveling Ritual. My head swelled, I had thought of myself to be bigger but in the end, I still knelt."
The air between us shifted but my gaze never left the elf before me.
She lifted her chin and stared at me with eyes that glinted with something akin to pity.
"The Drake, the Elder of Fealty, is absolute. It was never a matter of falling into his grasp, thou hast been in it from the moment thee stepped into the city."
My stomach twisted and my breath turned ragged. Panic slowly began to seep into my mind and horror tightened its noose around my heart.
My eye twitched and I opened my mouth to speak, to say something, anything. To deny this truth, to deny reality but before I could utter a word.
The elf before me, who I had once seen as a means to an end, spoke. Her voice turning insidiously low and sinister,
"Why don't you simply surrender yourself? Why keep yourself chained to the world outside? Why not seek bliss in the embrace of the Drake? Why not believe in a god that listens?"
"Why seek freedom, when the Hollow Drake could grant you it? If you would just kneel."
HA...! HA...!
My lips quivered and my breath shook. The confident smirk I had once wore was now gone replaced by an expression of fear.
Of deep, existential fear.
A fear that I hadn't felt since I left the dark chasm.
The fear of being trapped in a cage with no way out.
The fear of the loss of autonomy.
The fear of having my self-invaded.
"N-no..."
Like a cornered rat, I took a step back, my mind searching desperately for an escape route. Every cell and instinct in my body screamed at me to run, to run away and never turn back.
But the moment, my body moved.
Elowen's sudden cry pierced the ballroom.
"EEK!! HE'S A HERETIC!!"
She pointed at me and declared,
"He seeks to defy the will of the Hollow Drake! He is an outsider! He is not one of us!"
In that instant, the world snapped.
...
The Royal Orchestra who had been peacefully playing Chopin's Winter Wind suddenly froze as the tune collapsed into a discordant mess.
The crowd of nobility who had been watching the dance at the center with gazes of confusion, suddenly backed away in fright.
The wine-servants who had been moving about with stoic faces suddenly dropped their trays and screamed.
SHATTER!!
The sound of breaking glass immediately plunged the crowd into a frenzy.
Tables were overturned, wine was spilled, the curtains were torn and people were trampled. The flames of the candlesticks fell upon some spilled wine and instantly the puddles went aflame.
The guards stationed outside, quickly mobilized towards the source of the pandemonium. Some dashed to put out the fire while others dashed to restrain the heretic of a man.
Some guests bolted out of the halls while some screamed,
"FILTHY HERETIC!"
"FIE UPON THEE!!"
Elowen had suddenly vanished along with her friends and their partners, leaving the Fool alone at the epicenter of the circle of flame.
The guards closed in on his distraught frame, poised to restrain him.
But the instant they crossed the ring of fire, he screamed,
"SILVER LINING!!"
Suddenly, out of thin air, an uchigatana fashioned from silver weaved itself into existence before resting into his hands.
And in that same moment, a wave of immense killing intent filled the room, spurring forth from the lonesome figure.
The guards barely had any moment to register what they had just seen before he suddenly moved, his silver blade blurring into a streak as he descended like a rabid beast.
With a swipe, he carved his blade into the neck of a startled guard and drew an arc.
HIEEK!!
Blood splurged as the guard's headless body collapsed like a broken marionette. The crowd screamed in horror while the guards took a step back.
The Fool turned to the rest of the guards and soon, he was upon them.
He fought like a savage beast, one hellbent on delivering death to his enemies. He was fast, he was strong, he was ruthless. He fought like one who frequently clashed with monsters, with beasts which was exactly why he was no match for the knights of the Chevalier House.
The guards moved like a hivemind, both countering and striking with measured, calculated movements.
Whenever the Fool swung his blade to kill a guard, another guard stepped in with his shield and when he tried to brute-force his way through, another descended with his sword.
They moved with chilling precision and calm steps, narrowly avoiding death while also dealing damage. Switching between impenetrable defense and unstoppable offense, they slowly but surely were taking ground from the Fool.
They moved with poise that gave depth to the well of their combat experience.
Sure.
The Fool was both stronger and faster than each of them but the guards were much more experienced and much more level-headed than him, especially now when he was driven by both fear and desperation.
His attacks which carried immense might behind them were frantic and scattered, having gaps and missteps which the knights of Chevalier cleverly exploited.
CLANG!
BANG!
BAM!!
A cacophony of steel reverberated through the hall as the remaining nobles watched the fight with dark anticipation.
BANG!!
A knight had jousted forward with his shield, smashing the staggered frame of the Fool who had just failed to parry the swords of two knights.
The Fool's cracked mask broke revealing his bloodied face which was veiled by his disheveled black hair. He stumbled, and another knight immediately capitalized, aiming to gut him but the Fool sensed the advance, quickly lashing out with his blade.
The knight raised his shield to block but was thrown aside from the force of the blow. For a moment, the Fool let his guard down, taking a momentary pause.
An action which caused him greatly because in the very next moment, a shadow moved in his blind spot. Startled, he spun around to defend but he was too late.
SLASH!
Charles Chevalier, the prodigy of the Chevalier House, brought down his long sword with all his might. The blade cut into the sleeve of the Fool's clothes, into his skin, through his flesh and exited.
CLATTER!
The sound of silver steel hitting the ground followed by a wet slap permeated the room.
Everyone's eyes widened in horror as the Fool staggered, taking a step back as blood streamed from his right.
Charles Chevalier took a step back, smirking with dark satisfaction while keeping his now bloodied sword to his chest.
That's right.
Charles Chevalier had just cut off the Fool's right hand.
Not even a heartbeat later, the room was suddenly overtaken by a terrible scream.
...
IT HURTS!
IT HURTS!!
IT HURTS!!!
"RRRAAAAAHHHH!!!"
I screamed at the top my lungs, the pain of the sudden absence unlike anything I had ever felt before. I had always had a high immunity to pain, a high tolerance to damage and yet...
I screamed.
Whether it was the suddenness of the phantom pain or the influence of the Hollow Drake that made me more susceptible.
I didn't care.
The system had spoken but I didn't hear it.
All that was on my mind was the harrowing pain of losing my right hand.
I-IT HURTS!!
I cried, tears flowing from my eyes. I screamed, so loud I could barely hear anything else.
The pain...the pain of losing one's arm...it was terrible.
It was mind-numbing.
I wanted it to stop.
I wanted it to disappear.
And...it did.
"HA-"
But in that same moment, the Grand Spire suddenly shuddered.
The walls slowly began to split, the entire structure seemed to be coming loose. Soon, the hall of the Ever Gait Ball was nowhere to be seen and all that stretched around was the ashen expanse of the sky.
Except it wasn't ashen anymore.
Just as I had expected, the sky had merely been a veil. A shroud for something monstrous, something ancient and that thing...had finally revealed itself.
My lips quivered and my mouth trembled, my heart was stifled as my breath hitched. My teary eyes reflecting what the once ashen sky had unveiled...
Up above the world, suffused with radiance was a giant serpent devouring its own tale – an ouroboros.
Its size was monstrous, spanning so wide it encompassed the entirety of Eidolenhollow; which I had discovered in the library to be the size of a 'Floating Palisade' – a landmass which was said to be as big as a continent back in the real world.
My heartbeat grew louder, the sound pounding against my ribs. The fingers of my left hand trembled as I slowly raised them up. I opened my mouth, wanting to speak when suddenly...
I heard a word.
A word that made the air vanish, the world shudder, the sky rustle and even the World Energy in my Aperture to rattle. It made the several guards and nobles including Charles to immediately bend.
It wasn't a word that was meant to be heard but one to be felt.
A word that bent the world to the will of the one who uttered it.
The will of the Hollow Drake, the Elder of Fealty and...t-the Beast of Conquest.
It was a command.
One that bellowed,
"KNEEL."
And just like the others, I fell, my legs buckled and my knees dropped. There was no resistance, no struggle, no confrontation just plain submission.
I fell my left leg hitting the ground and my right following right after.
But as it fell, one thing became apparent.
If I knelt down, it would be over.
All my pain, all my suffering, it would amount to nothing.
I would fail like everyone else had.
I would become bound, chained by the will of the Hollow Drake.
And that notion, that realization made me afraid.
It made me scared.
It didn't light a fire in me or fill me with rage. It filled me with fear.
Raw, primal fear.
And just like any animal overtaken by fear, my survival instincts kicked in, my mind raced and at the last moment, I screamed.
"INVENTORY OPEN!!"
A beat later, the system spoke.
[Equipped Item: Crown of Thorns.]