"So are you going to go in or what? You've been here for a while, no?" asked Artoria, appearing out of the darkness, causing me to jump out of my skin.
"Ahh!" I screamed, taken off guard, unable to hide my surprise, essentially announcing my presence to everyone in the sewers.
"What was that?"
"Oh no. You've announced your presence. Why did you scream? I've been here ever since you got here?" said Artoria, looking unimpressed.
"What? You have?"
"Yep. I've listened to every single one of your whispers."
The footsteps of the Rebels were getting louder with each second. My scream had most likely set off every single alarm in their minds; they were on the edge of destruction after all.
"So you were able to grasp tracking divinity in less than a minute. Impressive, but you are still weak, while this pains me deeply. I have no other choice but to comply with their orders."
"By 'their' you mean Ickni, don't you? What foul scheme have they plotted?"
"Step into the hideout, you either enter on your own volition, or I'll force you through the doors."
Artoria didn't answer my question, averting her eyes from falling on my face while speaking her order. Her fist was clenched tight, and a small sliver of blood dripped onto the sewer floor.
With no other reasonable choice, I swung open the doors to the hideout, incurring the wrathful gazes of the rebels to fall rightly on me. I locked eyes directly with Revel, a raging inferno burning in his eyes. The same dagger he had used to stab the boy beneath his feet, clutched in his hand, was still painted with the boy's blood.
None of the rebels approached me, keeping their distance and surveying, awaiting Revel's orders.
I quickly noticed that Artoria hadn't followed me in but was hanging back in the darkness, her violet eyes peering at me through the shadows.
"You must kill them all if you want to leave. I'll open the seal once I sense no more lifesigns but your own. I'm sorry, it truly pains me, but I can't go against her word."
"Kill? But… I've never done such a thing. I don't think I can."
"You'll have to learn, I'm sorry," said Artoria softly, placing her hand on the doors of the hideout. "Edict of Space, Temporal Space."
Dark matter swiftly launched from Artoria's hands, the substance covering the walls and doors before hardening, eliminating any chance of escape. Separating the outside world from this room, nothing would be able to break through the space, especially not anyone's power in the hideout.
I was trapped in a room with twenty hardened criminals, and the only way to escape was to slaughter them all. I had yet to use my power to injure anyone; I couldn't kill someone, let alone use my power to cause harm as Seraphina did.
"Ha! So all we need to do is kill another boy to escape this space, then?" shouted Revel, hastily approaching me and catching me off guard, landing a left hook straight to my ribs, launching back into the wall.
Revel didn't stop his assault, picking me up from the floor with his right arm and repeatedly hammering blows into my ribs. Blood flew from my mouth as I bit down on my tongue repeatedly.
"Is this supposed to be some Servant of Order enforcer coming here to purge us? I didn't know the Order sent out such weaklings to do their bidding. He doesn't even have wings," said one of Revel's lackeys.
"Ha! Some wingless vermin is nothing to me, I didn't know the Custodian had grown so weak, perhaps our rebellion is headed for some better days!"
Ever since I met with Seraphina and landed in the Order Dominion, I had begun to slowly realise that this world was nothing like home. It mimicked the animal kingdom: kill or be killed. I knew now that if I didn't rise to the challenges of this world, I wouldn't see past eighteen. I'd be dead in some ditch by the end of the day.
As each punch landed against my flesh, I felt my mind becoming more and more disconnected from reality. Each blow knocked a sense of understanding into my mind. I didn't want to die now that I had discovered a new world. I still needed to get back to Seraphina and free her from Eldros's chains. And I had to save this land from Ickni and return Artoria's title of Conquest.
I wouldn't be able to die until I had seen her eyes return to their natural state, and I couldn't just die; that would be the same as abandoning Seraphina. The one who called me her beloved.
But more importantly, dying meant superseding control once again to Seraphina. I vowed to myself to never allow that to happen. Although my power may have been borrowed, it was still mine.
And I wouldn't let it be used by anyone else!