Legend of the Empyrean Blacksmith

CRADLED WORLD

Lino and Ella were currently sitting in silence inside the hidden chamber of the fortress, both their expressions idle and empty . The former tapped his fingers against the wooden desk, leaning against his other arm, his eyes shimmering in a strange light, while the latter had her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes closed as she hummed a strange, low tune . They’d remained as such for nearly half an hour, ever since they returned .

" . . . you know where they’ll strike, right?" Ella suddenly asked, her eyes opening, focusing onto Lino’s

" . . . I do . " he nodded .

"Then why are you here?" she asked, her eyebrows scrounging up slightly .

" . . . I remember, a long time ago," Lino said, smiling faintly . "You told me that, no matter what, I should never become like the rest of them . I’d kept it within my heart all this while and tried my hardest to follow your words . "

" . . . " Ella listened, her mind briefly flashing to a distant memory .

"I can’t do it anymore, El’ . In order to win, I can’t play by different rules . "

" . . . you mean, you can’t be better than them? What are you planning on doing Lino?"

" . . . I’m planning on killing off the rest of the Bearers," Lino said, his words striking at Ella like a thunder from the clear sky . "And crashing the balance completely . "

"W-what?!!" she exclaimed, standing quickly on her feet . "Are you insane?!"

"This will be the only opportunity I’ll have," he said, ignoring her outburst . "The only time when the Descenders won’t be there to prevent it . "

" . . . do you even understand the potential ramifications of doing that?" she calmed down slowly, taking a deep breath as she sat down . "It won’t be anywhere as simple as when you killed Eos, Lino . One Writ was already bad enough . . . but, if you kill any more, especially in succession . . . who knows what will come out of it?"

" . . . the ramifications are why I’m doing it," Lino sighed faintly . "Otherwise, we will lose . "

" . . . we won’t lose, Lino," she said . "If you’re afraid the Descent will turn on you, I’ll ensure--"

"No," he shook his head firmly . "You’re not strong enough yet, and by the time you would be, there’d be no reason to fight . Besides, this will serve another purpose . "

"Another purpose?" she asked, tilting her head .

"Time dilation," Lino replied . "Will be stalled . "

" . . . Amadeel?"

"Yeah . "

"Sneaky bastard . " she clicked her tongue, shaking her head . "Even so, Lino, if you go through with this . . . it will effectively nullify your other plans . "

"No, it will merely disrupt the timeline slightly," he said . "Even if we are given a million years, we can never go to a direct war with the Holy Grounds . They’ll simply board up their Sects and we’ll never be able to breach them . Bearers, to them, are merely the notion of status, rather than the source of strength . The only reason I’ve held back thus far was because I was waiting for Ally to join us . Had it not been for her, I’d have done it years ago . "

" . . . have you told anyone else?" she asked after a brief silence .

"No," he shook his head . "I’m telling you this because you’ll also have a role to play . "

"What role?" she asked .

"They’ll most-likely trap me inside a large-scale prison, potentially a dimensional pocket if they’re dumb enough . I’m guessing, however, it will be a bent reality . Virtually impossible to break out of from the inside, but easy enough to dig a hole through the outside . I’m assuming they’ll send the strongest they can currently muster to defend the outside, as they probably expect you to try and break me out . "

" . . . "

"You can try and break in," he added . "As that would help me, but if you can’t, it’s not necessary . "

" . . . is this why you left them in the smithy?" she suddenly asked, her lips quivering slightly . "As . . . baits?"

" . . . " Lino didn’t say anything, merely glancing at her and quickly looking away in shame .

" . . . so this is what you meant when you said you can’t do it anymore, heh," she chuckled painfully, corners of her eyes growing teary . "Is your mind settled?"

" . . . of course not," he said, curling his fingers up into a fist to prevent them from shaking . "Playing with others’ lives like this . . . I hope they all turn into ghosts and haunt me till I croak . "

"You are betraying your Will, Lino . The backlash won’t be easy . "

" . . . I’m not," he said, suddenly extending his palm and opening it up . "At least not yet . " a brief, chaotic swirl of crimson and black flashed above it before vanishing entirely, leaving Ella stunned for a moment . "You can’t tell anyone, however, what will happen . I’ll eventually tell them myself, when it is over . "

" . . . Hannah will kill you when she finds out you did something so stupendously dangerous without her . " Ella said . "Do you not trust her strength?"

"It has nothing to do with strength," he shook his head . "It’s only been a few years, and I won’t be able to afford to protect her . "

" . . . at least have Eggor join you," she said . "He’s far stronger than he seems . "

"I don’t mind fighting an occasional battle alone," he said, smiling lightly as he grasped her hand and held it tightly . "Especially when I’m the one who caused it . I need to face them . . . alone . "

" . . . how long?"

"Hm?"

"How long were you planning this without telling anyone? Rather," she added, her gaze hardening . "How many plans do you actually have that the rest of us are unaware of? Leader, not a ruler, my ass . . . "

" . . . ha ha ha, I really am not a ruler," he shrugged . "I’m merely psychotic enough to have the capacity to bend people to my whims without feeling too bad about it . I’m also rather good at reading human, and others’, nature . And perhaps even better at exploiting it . Do you know," he added . "What I’ve learned about Gaia so far?"

" . . . what?" Ella asked with faint interest .

"She’s just like me," he said . "A master of seeing through the empty glass . Unlike me, however, she never gets her hands tainted, always maintaining her holy image . Because of this, she suffers from a terrible case of martyrdom," Lino chuckled . "I’ve openly challenged her, and have even managed to steal away a few key pieces of her strength . . . now, she can’t miss an opportunity to present herself as a wounded Mother of the world, battered by the evil son of chaos . "

" . . . so she fell right into your arms, huh?"

" . . . it was by luck, however," Lino added . "That she reached out to me recently, practically ensuring the course of events to transpire as I wanted . I’ve shown her just enough of myself to impose a tinge of worry . . . yet not enough to warrant a full-out war . I’ve been underestimated by everyone as a green boy with no wit, with base cleverness, and hotheaded inexperience," he continued, his lips curling up into a playful smile . "It’s gotten quite tiring, living up to the role . Perhaps, after this, they might finally stop screwing around when it comes to dealing with me . "

" . . . so you’re cutting off all ties with the Descent, then?" Ella asked . "That’s too dangerous . "

"Not all ties," Lino said . "Just like any other group, I’m certain there are splinters in their opinions . At the very least, I know Six is on my side, whether he voiced it out or not . They’ll still have some use of me, which is why they’ll probably swallow the loss and wait for the next opportunity to cripple me . "

" . . . tsk, tsk," Ella clicked her tongue, suddenly ruffling Lino’s hair . "Hai, when did I raise such a black-hearted son? Look at him, playing with other people as though it were a game of chess . Once," she added somberly . "Just this one time, Lino . Any more, and you and I will have a problem . When you kill them," she said, sighing . "Avoid swallowing them up . There has to remain the underlying foundation of the Laws, otherwise the reality itself will begin breaking down . "

" . . . reality will break down," Lino said, getting up and slowly stretching . "There’s no escaping it . I’ll try to localize it and prevent a wide-range spread, but it will depend on how exhausted I’ll be after the fact . Besides, the broken reality will be a perfect opportunity to study the dimensions, for however briefly . "

" . . . what is the point, either way?" she asked . "We can’t perceive them . "

"Yet . " Lino said, glancing at her and grinning . "We can’t perceive them yet . But, never say never . . . "