"You want to know about the eternal flame, don't you?"
Daniel nodded his head, feeling tensed. 'If my father knew about this deal, he might slice me alive; worst case, I would have to give up the right to the throne. For my own wellbeing, I pray you can provide a value equivalent to the risk I am taking.'
Serenity said, "You made a deal with Ash to reach me, which is none of my business...If you want my help, you must pay for it. If you agree, we can talk; if not, then pretend as if we never met."
'The deal with Ash is already done; do I still have a choice?' Daniel didn't think much of it since he had already made a sacrifice; he might as well carry on till the end.
He adjusted his position, talking as clearly as he could. "Tell me what I need to do. As long as the information is worth it, I am willing to pay any price."
Serenity leaned on the table, fingers crossed, with her head high into the sky; she coldly said,
"Even if it means you will become a NEXUS?"
Daniel and Ash alike couldn't believe what they were hearing.
Daniel's expression shifted to angry on the spot, looking at Serenity with eyes full of rage, but Serenity was still unmoved in the slightest, and Ash took on a neutral side, watching their conflict go on.
He thought while silently observing both sides, 'Would the proud Vastator agree to such a demand, I wonder?'
"Do you even understand what you're asking?" Daniel asked, deep down he thought, 'Maybe it's just a test from her; after all, who would dare do such a thing to a royal?'
Serenity looked at him straight in the eyes with a demanding tone.
"I do. Establish a nexus with me."
Daniel slammed the table full of anger.
-slam-
"Now that's it... Are you playing me for a fool? Do you want me to be your slave?!... Dream on."
"I want you to be my slave not because you're valuable; no, you've got it all wrong..." Serenity said, showing absolute indifference, "Back then I already swore I was never giving anything for free ever again, and the eternal flame is a powerful force; if one day you turn against me then...I simply can't, no, won't risk giving away a sword that might slice my neck."
Daniel frowned hearing her impossible task, feeling as if he were scammed.
"Isn't this a bit too much?!"
"It really is," she leaned back, "whether it's looks, magical potential, or abilities, you don't even qualify to carry my shoes. Get this straight into your head, kid: the one that is climbing is you, never me."
Daniel dropped into his chair in shock. Whether it was her body language, her tone of voice, or the seriousness in her eyes, he found it impossible to deny it any longer. 'That woman isn't testing anything; she is being fully serious. She wants me to be her slave.'
He pointed at his own face, showing a wronged expression. "Why would I turn against you? Do I look that untrustworthy to you?"
She looked him straight in the eye, saying,
"Who are you to think you're worth my trust?...Do I even know you?...Stop giving yourself more than you deserve; in my eyes, you're no one."
The way she bluntly said it made him question his existence, 'Who am I?...Where am I?'
"Ouch, that definitely hurt. You have serious trust issues, princess, but..." He stayed silent for a while, then, "I can't agree to such an excessive demand under any circumstances. I hope you will reconsider your condition."
"I won't; this demand is an absolute; without it, I will never make any deal."
Daniel was stuck facing a dead end, not knowing what to do; he turned his face to Ash, and he understood right away.
Ash tapped Serenity's shoulder. "Is there really no other option?"
"Absolutely not," Serenity's voice was so firm she didn't leave them any space for jokes. "It's not only him, but anyone who wants anything from me must give me before I give him anything; they are not playing, but neither am I."
Ash felt lost hearing her words. Speechless, he kept staring at her.
'What does that make me then?... From when we met till now I have been always receiving and giving nothing; I feel like I am her gigolo or something along the way.'
Daniel's gaze at Ash was full of doubt; he pointed at Ash, asking,
"What about him? Is the price the same?"
Ash felt angry; he kept tapping the table nonstop with his index, talking with a deep low tone.
"Why drag me into your mess? Careful there; don't forget who you are and who... I am."
Daniel felt cold all of a sudden; facing his words, he lowered his eyes instinctively. He pretended to be okay and ignored him, turning to Serenity. 'It doesn't matter how I treat him; our rivalry is not a secret anyway.'
"You still didn't answer me. Is he worthy?" Daniel said.
Serenity didn't hesitate in the slightest, answering as if it were the only truth she believed in.
"In my eyes, except for him, nobody is worth it, and just so you know, if not for him, don't even think about talking things over with me."
Seeing how determined she looked, he found himself stuck; he lowered his head, and a bitter smile slowly curved on his lips.
"I am not convinced; your condition is simply me shooting myself in the foot. I already paid a heavy price just by convincing him; any more and I would be courting my death."
"I didn't care; I would never back down."
Seeing the situation reached nowhere and both sides are as stubborn as a person could be, Ash suddenly came up with an idea. He turned to Serenity.
"If you still think your condition is worth the price he is paying, then make him taste it. Naturally, if it's worth it, he will kneel for this chance."
'The sword art Serenity showed me was a true piece of art; if she holds the same for the eternal flame, then he won't have any objections,' Ash thought.
After a while of considering what Ash said, Serenity finally made up her mind.
"I can get along with what you said for now, but I have a condition."
"What is it?" Ash asked.
Serenity replied coldly, "Daniel must swear on his life that no matter what happens from then forward, he will die with him."
Daniel scratched his head helplessly. He said, "Your demands just keep getting out of control. Fine..." He slammed the table with both hands, eyes full of determination. "I will walk this shitty way till the end. Show me what you've got."
Daniel bit his hand till blood came out, then raised his hand.
[Ego, Daniel Vastator, per nomen meum et per spiritum sanctum ignis iuro me nullam informationem de Serenitate Voldemort divulgaturum esse.]
A white aura chain made of aura suddenly wrapped around his neck. Dan slowly lowered his hand; the injury closed, but a small trace was still there as a mark for the oath.
'Luckily the chains are only visible between the ones involved in the oath; otherwise I would have been embarrassed beyond belief,' Daniel thought.
He turned his face to Serenity. "Satisfied?!"
"Just so-so."
"You-"
"Enough playing around; let's move on from here."
Serenity got up from her seat, standing between both of them. She placed her hand over Daniel's shoulder and extended the other toward Ash. Without any words, he took her hand.
Serenity faintly whispered, "[AVIS]."
The next second, the three of them were transported from the room, leaving the others stunned.
Belladonna rushed to where they were sitting, looking around just like a lost child.
"Wh...what just happened?...Weren't they sitting and chatting just fine?" Why?!"
Syrous's face frowned; he placed his hand over the table in disbelief.
"Where the hell did they go?"
Baial crouched on the ground, feeling scared. "It's over...everything is over," she started screaming, pulling her hair out. "Aaaaaah...just who got the balls to pull out something like that?"
Baial stopped pulling her hair, but her expression was not okay at all; it was as if she'd gone crazy from the shock, both crying and smiling. "Who...who...who...who has the guts to kidnap the three of them at once...haha…haha, the three...all three?"
Feeling depressed, Mariana said, "We're going to die, executed at the spot at best."
Sylvia looked outside at the blue sky, so calm as if nothing happened. Baial noticed her and quickly came beside her, asking,
"Are you afraid, silly, or something?"
"Why are you saying that?"
"Don't you see the situation we are in?...Aren't you afraid at all?"
"Afraid?" Sylvia's lips curled slowly at the terrified bailer, "You don't seem that bright as I thought...That man is someone recognized as the strongest all over the nine realms. If someone could really hurt them, that would be a real disaster; you're just quick to feel afraid."
"That..." Baial felt a sense of relief and fear at the same time. "What if they were ambushed on the way or got separated?...Aaaaaah, each and every one of them is a red line. What should I do?"
"I don't think we need to worry," thought Syrous's sudden words, catching the attention of all of them.
Mariana explained her worries. "What do you mean?...The three of them are on opposite sides at the critical moment; they won't hesitate to kill each other. Serenity will die in that case, and one of the other two will be ambushed. At that time, no matter which side we take, the other two will kill us, no doubt."
"You shut up...don't run your imagination on us; keep that shit to yourself," Bella said and sat, crossing her legs, looking at their table.
Sylvia said to comfort them, "No need to worry; I already heard Serenity when she cast the spell just now. They weren't under attack or anything."
"That's good." Baial crashed on the ground, feeling relieved, but suddenly a realization hit her. She jolted from the ground right away. "Wait...so you were eavesdropping on their conversation?"
"I wasn't—" Her face frowned. "I tried to but couldn't hear a thing. Something prevented me, but right before they disappeared, I heard it clearly: the teleportation spell [AVIS], and it was Serenity who chanted it."
"Huh?! ...Serenity can use magic?!" Mariana asked full of confusion.
Seeing how Mariana reacted, Sylvia couldn't say anything. 'I can't blame her; after all, we spent more than three years with Serenity in the same class. Ask any passing dog, and it will tell you she can't use magic, but this spell she used right under my nose was high-level chanting. Unless you're a third-circle magician or higher, it's impossible to be able to use it.'
Sylvia turned her head, looking outside in a daze. "Seems like we know nothing...nothing at all."
....
In another place far away in the middle of the blue ocean, an island is composed of volcanic dolerite rocks. The island has steep, rocky cliffs and a stark, beautiful landscape.
Ash passed out on top of the rocks, right behind Serenity. After a while, Ash regained consciousness.
He got up, rubbing his head hard; the headache was so painful he removed his eyeband, rubbing his eyes.
"Tsk...what in the world just happened?"
He turned around in a daze, seeing where they went. His eyes widened at the scene.
Standing at the highest rock was Serenity, with eyes closed and opened arms; the wind was tugging at her clothes and hair, and waves kept hitting the rocks and scattering drops of water all over her face. At that moment, she appeared like a free bird.
She slowly turned his way, saying softly, "Awake, baby bear."
That sentence confused his dreams and reality; his headache tensed even more. He felt like dying, but in less than a second the lotus around his neck glowed, and all the pain started to fade away.
"Huff...huff...huff..."
Serenity slowly walked towards Ash and sat beside him and pulled his head over her thighs, then she started giving him a head massage to relieve his pain.
"I know you don't like teleportation; I'm sorry I dragged you along with us."
Ash closed his eyes and let her do whatever she wanted. 'If she meant harm, she got that chance over a hundred times already but still did nothing.'
"You already know...Is that why Daniel isn't here with us?"
"I won't allow anyone to see any kind of weakness in you even if you have it."
"Saying it like that doesn't feel strange at all. I don't know why. Do you know?"
"Of course I do, and in the future you will also know."
The massage Serenity did was so well done that in just a few minutes Ash felt all refreshed; he adjusted his position and got up, removing the dust off his cloth. He looked around him as if he were looking for something missing.
"What are you looking for?" Serenity asked.
"My eyeband, I can't find it."
Serenity looked around, but after seeing it all covered in dust, she said,
"It's already a mess; take this instead..."
Ash crouched down near her face. "Umm."
From her dimensional sac, Serenity took out a rose-patterned lace eyeband; she placed it on his eyes, two black chains passing behind his ears, the two red rubies dangling at the end supporting its weight and fixing it in place.
Serenity asked, "Do you like it?"
Ash nodded his head slightly, "Thanks for the gift."
Serenity smiled brightly hearing him compliment her. "You're welcome."
Ash stood up again and extended his hands for her; without any extra words, she took them.
"Thanks," she said.
Just like that, they kept looking at the sea hand in hand, like nothing in this world matters, until Daniel found them.
Daniel was deep in thought; he didn't realize they were in front of him. 'That lunatic could've warned me before chanting, and from where the hell did she learn high chanting? It's not something we learn at school, and I am sure it requires a huge amount of mana. Ot may look like normal chants but it's a hell of a difference, How did she do it?'
When he looked ahead and saw the two of them, his voice was full of rage, and seeing them like that made his rage ignite even more. He tried to keep his cool, but his veins were about to burst from rage.
"Did you perhaps forget a third person came with you?"
Serenity bluntly said, "You're finally here; took you long enough."
"You-"
"Now that you are here, let's begin." She raised her head, facing the sky, and removed her artificial eye and gave it to Ash for Daniel, who saw this for the first time. He was frightened by her dead white eyes but more at how Ash treated it as nothing. 'Is this normal or am I the abnormal one?!'
Serenity also took off her gloves and gave them to Ash for keepsaking, then she raised her left hand, pointing at Daniel with her middle finger, chanting in a loud tone.
[veni anulus flammae aeternae]
The ring that was chained on Daniel's neck broke free, and the next second it was on Serenity's finger.
The flame engraved on the ring broke free, and Serenity's body was instantly swallowed by flames.
The sky darkened and kept thundering while the sea was restless. Ash and Daniel, none of them managed to get any closer, but rather they were getting further from her.
Daniel, sweating all over, hurried at Ash, feeling so helpless. "Aren't you going to help her?"
"She knows best what she is doing."
Those simple words made Daniel shut up and watch.
The flames took Serenity up in the sky; a woman's loud chanting echoed through the empty space.
[Gigantes ignis, fons exitii omnibus quae vivunt et spirant, audite preces meas et mihi thronum aureum concedite.]
A huge golden circle surrounded the ball of fire, turning it into a pair of wings slowly opening, revealing serenity crowned as the fire empress.
[Ignis revolution]
....