HP: The Arcane Thief
chapter-204

"Oh? So you're willing to talk now? Tell me, did those two manage to kill him or not?"

"First YOU tell me! How did you find out about him?!" Asked Kyrin.

'Wily bitch!' Axel realized what Kyrin was doing! She was fishing for more information! It seems that previously, she thought she would interrogate him after beating him, or interrogate Axel directly. But with Axel's tight lips and Karlock's loud mouth, she has changed her plans.

"Khekhekhekhe…" And, seems she was right too, as the moronic geek actually stopped attacking them temporarily. "Oh? Are you surprised? The Kraken managed to find someone that the kingdom didn't even know the existence of. In fact, we were surprised too! Those two were originally dispatched on a different mission. But guess who they find? A boy who with an uncanny re—"

Suddenly, one of the Giant's legs started to crumple, causing it to tilt to one side.

"WHAT?!"

Karlock suddenly found out that, but the Biomatons that constituted the bottom of his leg suddenly went offline, going completely out of his control!

"What is happening?!" Karlock couldn't understand what was happening! This has never happened before! He quickly had to readjust the alignment of the remaining Biomatons to stop his colossal giant from falling.

"What the hell is going on?!"

But before he could stabilize it, this time, the units on his other leg went offline, causing the colossal giant to fall.

'The bigger they are, the harder they fall.' Thought Axel, dusting off his hands, watching the Giant fall.

How did he do it? He had used a special skill he had gotten a while ago. After saving Martina's life at the Valentino residence, he had gotten a special skill as a reward from the system: [Unshackle]

Only, he hadn't been able to use it until now. What to say? There had never been a suitable opportunity. What kinds of shackles could he not undo? But only when training it further did he realize, the term [shackles] was a broad term. It could mean a lot of things.

Like right now. All these Biomatons aren't really taking actions on their own. They're all under Karlock's control, who is controlling them from his lab. How is he doing that? Through connections. Axel had to break that connection while the magic of his skill, and these biomatons would be completely useless.

'Fuck, who called this skill useless?!'

Axel realized the various uses this skill could have and blamed himself for not training it more as he continuously moved around, 'unshackling' the biomatons from Karlock's control.

In his control room, Karlock was going mad as he lost control of his units one after another! He scoured the area around his leg, but found nothing! There was no action from the rest of the crew either!

"Wait…" Karlock suddenly found something odd. "Where is the boy with the glasses?!"

He realized that he could only confirm the positions of five of their members. He couldn't get the visual on the sixth member, the guy who had been wearing Nerio's glasses in the first place. At some point, the boy had disappeared from his perception!

"How is that possible?!"

Kyrin gritted her teeth. "Hey! What were you saying earlier?!" She yelled out. "Tell me quickly, and I'll answer your questions!"

But did Karlock really have the leisure to chat right now? The control on his Biomatons was slipping in real time. No matter how talkative he was, his giant was falling!

"Keep him distracted boss! Your plan is working!" As if to make things worse, Axel's voice rang out at this moment, cutting away any remaining doubt Karlock had.

"YOU! TENEBROUS! I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU!" He exclaimed, enraged, as more and more units began falling. "Stop your attack right now/!"

On the other hand, Kyrin, who was completely innocent, had an unbelievable expression on her face. 'What…?!' She couldn't understand how Axel was even able to do it, let alone how to stop him.

*BOOM*

At this moment, she saw Aki joyfully attacking the fallen giant, raining down an eerie dark lightning. Akiko was, of course, fully in favour of attacking rather than talking. She was no stranger to Axel's miracles either. So, instead of freezing up like the rest, she finally took the opportunity to strike.

"Are the rest of you going to keep watching or help out?" Axel's voice rang out, causing the rest of the members to flinch. All of them were simply too stunned to react until now. In fact, they were out of sync with the whole from the moment Karlock called out Axel's name.

But really, when it came down to it, only one thing mattered. Karlock was an enemy, a dangerous enemy, who should be defeated as soon as possible. And as veterans, they knew that this was the best opportunity to do so.

"We really have to defeat him as soon as possible!" Sylthia was the first to attack. They had no time to waste on this enemy. The lives of the rest of the Relic hunter division were in danger. Willis and Estris followed suit, casting a glance at Kyrin who was still raging.

This time when they attacked, the flimsy defense that Karlock had hastily cast was easily breached, dealing direct damage.

"No! I can't get the control! KYRIN TENEBROUS! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" yelled Karlock, who didn't even know how he got defeated.

[Darkness… Domain]

"You know what?" Muttered Kyrin, her voice coming out raspier as the shimmering dark dress covered her form. "Just die, you useless idiot." She had a belly full of anger and no way to vent on the person who caused it, so she just chose the next best target.

Under the combined onslaught of everyone, Karlock was quickly taken down, only leaving a lot of rotten meat and junk behind.

"Now, let's talk." said Kyrin, descending over to the last body, still covered in darkness. "Tell me about Axel Hunt!"

"Khe—Khekeh—..." In the end, a single damaged biomaton remained motionless on the ground, leaking fluids, from which Karlock's slightly deranged laughter was coming from a damaged speaker. "There is no use trying to fool me. I know everything now." He said, causing Axel to clench his fist and stop himself from destroying the bot. But the subsequent words were even more surprising.

"I know you have no idea who Axel Hunt actually was. Khekhe… he was probably long dead by the time those two reached there. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to be so calm over the matter. He has been missing, and the Kingdom hasn't shown any ch—ges ever since the incident, meaning they're also completely unaware. I just n—ded to confirm that."

The last Biomaton was also dying, as the voice started becoming more and more status.

Kyrin gritted her teeth. "Then tell me already! Who was Axel Hunt?!" She asked urgently.

"Khekhekhe… now I'm sure you don't know! Khekkhekhe… and you will never know! Not till you die! You may hav- de-ated me. But you are all goin- to die soon as well! Khekhe—kh—khe."

"Fucking moron!" Kyrin was so angry right now. What kind of delusion is he having?! Axel Hunt? Dead? As if merely two relic wielders can kill that cockroach!

"Khekhe—khe… don' belie— me Tene-ous. But 'it' is now final-y ready. Even y-u won't be able to face it. Just ask the girl Khekh-khe—. You're going to die! They're are all g—ing to die!"

"?! What do you mean by that?!" Asked Kyrin, her focus shifting from Axel to the subject. But the Biomaton was already offline, only leaving a pulpy mess mixed with machinery.

"Hey!" Kyrin protested, who suddenly lost her information source. "I still had things to ask him!"

Sylthia had a look of urgency on her face. "I'm sorry, but his words weren't wrong. The relic wielder division really is in danger. We need to move now!"

"What are you talking about? Those monsters are in danger?" Asked Kyrin in bewilderment. The Relic Wielding division. A group of the most monstrous guys banded together to form one overpowered group. And in order to reach the seal this time, all the members had been mobilized!

How could such a group be threatened by Kraken? In fact, any Kraken members they encounter would be swiftly annihilated. Then what the hell is Sylthia talking about?

Sylthia swallowed. "Actually, they have somehow managed to create something far more dangerous than the Relic Wielder division. We were caught completely off guard. We had to use a portal in order to escape."

"A portal?!" Kyrin, Estris and Willis understood the severity of the situation. Portals were completely non-functioning in the city. And in this place? With the space so unstable? It's better to not use the portal at all. What kind of danger was it that such a powerful group had to resort to using such a last resort?

Sylthia nodded. "The Royal Relic. They've had it all along! Ever since the princess's death. And now, they've somehow managed to use its powers!"

"The Royal… Relic…?" Instantly, color drained from the rest of the Atlantians.

"How is that possible?!"

The Royal Relic. The relic the crown princess used to wield. It hasn't been seen ever since the Crown Princess disappeared. And now, someone else… managed to actually wield it?

"Yes… I experienced it first hand. It was…" Sylthia shivered. "It was overwhelmingly powerful. We were at a complete disadvantage."

Estris had an extremely severe countenance right now. "Then, we have to move right now. If we lose the Relic Wielder division, we lose the war."

It was an exceedingly dangerous situation. If everyone used a portal, their current coordinates are uncertain, and they have been divided. The Kraken members are tracking them down and eliminating them similar to Sylthia even as they speak. The rescue can't be delayed.

"No." Unexpectedly, Kyrin shot it down. "We have Aki and Axel with us. They've had no training in this area. We have to send them back first."

But her words were also not wrong. It was already a miracle Axel and Akiko were unharmed so far. But wandering around with the risk of encountering a rogue Royal Relic wielder ? Yep, that's a recipe for disaster.

"No training?!" Sylthia's earlier doubts returned. "Then why did you bring them here in the first place?!" She asked in absurdity.

Kyrin got exasperated while Estris began to patiently explain.

"What?! A space turbulence?!"

In her short career, Sylthia hadn't encountered a situation like this. "Then, what do we do?"

Though, before anyone could answer her question, everyone paused. The air around them started to ripple. No, the space itself was rippling!

"What… are those?" Asked Axel, looking at the huge creatures that were floating towards them from afar. There were three of them, and they were maaaasive. They looked quite a lot like whales. Strange ripples were being emitted from the creatures which were disturbing the space itself.

As soon as Kyrin saw the creatures, she cursed out loud. Does every bad thing have to occur only this time?!

"They're called Space Whales. They're extremely rare," said Estris, looking at the creatures vigilantly. "Don't make any drastic movements. They should leave us alone."

Axel frowned. "Then, why are they heading this way?" It was true. The huge creatures were currently headed directly their way. Axel did not like this situation. He could feel it. These creatures were extremely dangerous.

Estris frowned. "That's… unusual. Space Whales are peaceful creatures. More like, they're completely indifferent to us. They must be here due to the space turbulence. They're attracted to space energy."

!!!

Hearing that, Axel's scalp tingled. Due to space turbulence? The space turbulence was actually caused by him!

"Hey, why don't we kill them, just in case?"

""No."" Estris and Sylthia said in unison.

"Space Whales shouldn't be killed. Their deaths destabilizes the space. And with the space already this unstable…"

But before she could finish her sentence, the space whales let out a deep sound at this moment, and the space around Axel became constricted.

Without having the time to resist, Axel was lifted off the ground, moving through the space to reach the whales.

?!

"Axel!"

"What the—"

Everyone including Axel was surprised. Before anyone could stop it, Axel had already reached the Whales, crossing through space! Axel tried to struggle but was unable to break through.

"Someone kill these things!" He yelled. 'Or I will do it myself!' He added inwardly, as his eyes glowed blue. The only thing stopping him was the space turbulence.

"No! We can't kill them!"

[Fuck! System, what is happening?!]

[They're trying to 'eat' you. Your only option is to use Arcane Travel.]

Without a second thought, Axel used Arcane Travel in order to appear a few kilometres away. But…

'Shit, I forgot!'

Space travel is a no go in this place. Axel reappeared in a completely different location.

"Where… am I?"