The second plan, in case the first went wrong, was to seal the Nartheis together with them in a place above the sky. With half of the Nartheis of that world in the sky, the humans below would have a better chance to survive and more time to evolve the blessing of those chosen.
"And what happened after you left the room?"
"We defeated all the Nartheis that came close, but Gideon managed to enter the castle and was sealed together with their subordinates."
"So he found you and you ended up losing to him."
"Yes…"
Karyu remembered that day well, when Rilux's body was thrown in front of him and Nerfe. On that day, the two of them attacked him with everything they had, but it was not enough to defeat that monster. Rina walked ahead of her, still keeping her guard up. Honestly, she felt pity for them, but that did not mean she would allow a potential enemy to attack her from behind.
"What happened after your defeat?"
"He took us to where Miss Lisa was and began to torture us in front of her every day."
"Why?"
Raising her eyebrow, she saw Karyu trembling a little as she remembered those days.
"Because that way he managed to make a deal with Lisa."
When he found Lisa, the first thing he did was try to destroy that cage, but to his surprise he could not even scratch it. So he changed plans: he would make Lisa give her blood every day through the bars. That way, he would be able to accumulate golden blood for years.
"I see… you two must have suffered."
"…the ones who suffered the most were Lord Nerfe and my Lady Lisa."
Closing her eyes, an image of Nerfe's disfigured body and the Nartheis making his armor connect to his raw flesh filled her mind. As for Lisa, she had to obey all of Gideon's requests and had to cut parts of her own body every day. The reasons for that were two: first, Gideon's own amusement, and—
"The more you suffer, the more power the golden blood will give me, so this is only the beginning."
Opening her eyes, the feeling of humiliation she felt every day grew stronger today. While they suffered, she was the only one who remained a little free, because it was a request from Lisa and Nerfe themselves.
"Do you want to save the two of them?"
"It's impossible to save Lord Nerfe, but Miss—"
The reason Nerfe could not be saved was because Gideon, besides having already removed his soul from his body, had brainwashed that empty shell, making him think he was Lida. It was quite possible that if she appeared in front of him together with Lisa, both of them would be killed, just as Gideon ordered with that damned sarcastic tone of his.
'I didn't even know it was possible to do that to someone without a soul.'
Clenching her fists, she took a deep breath and stood up. Seeing how Karyu's eyes burned with hatred, Rina looked away.
"Being under the orders of someone you hate must be horrible."
"Yes, and I hate it."
Watching her opponent from moments ago, Karyu remembered her repeating something about having a Ketsumei and how she would be the strongest together with him. It seemed her former opponent followed someone she loved. With a bitter smile, she watched Rina walk ahead of her. She could have said where Lisa was, but she herself would return to fight, even with the power difference between the two, if Rina showed any threat.
'There is a reason why I revealed this to her, and that is because they seem to want to defeat the Nartheis of this castle.'
"Tell me, Karyu, are there Nartheis more dangerous than you and that other one who is at the same level as you?"
"Yes. One of them is on the path we are taking. Normally, that little insect likes to sacrifice people as offerings to Gideon."
"And what would his name be?"
"Sacri, the Human Beheader, and he is completely insane."
Placing her hand on her chin, Rina hoped that none of her companions would run into him. In fact, one of her companions had already met him before, and to make things worse, it was her best friend.
"From the looks of it, I found a lunatic."
Aoi wiped the blood from her neck while observing her opponent in detail. The Nartheis in front of her had several blades on his body, like a porcupine because of how many were on his back. His appearance was that of a humanoid rat with red eyes and a sadistic smile on his face.
"Great, I already made you bleed, now it's time to cut your belly open and offer you to my great lord—"
"How annoying. Can we just fight already? Since the beginning of the battle you've only been talking."
Sacri continued to smile, but now he saw this girl as stupid. From the few movements they had exchanged during this battle, she should have realized that there was a very large difference between them. If she said that, then it seemed he had expected too much from his opponent.
"Why all this stupidity? Do you think you're going to win?"
"Well, if the castle sent me here, that means we're at the same level, right?"
"That damned rule is a farce put in place by a dead man who serves us like a dog."
Grinding his teeth, he prepared to attack Aoi at once. This trap set by Nerfe and the mages of Solarius was an attempt to send specific people who could defeat him, but so far, even though it had been difficult for them to defeat the enemies sent, this trap had never truly worked.
'Besides, this girl is the weakest one sent since this castle rose into the sky.'
With a push from both legs, he easily appeared behind Aoi, catching her by surprise. With his claws raised, he slashed her back, making blood spray out. Biting her lips, Aoi summoned a five-tailed fox that stood in front of Sacri, even managing to exchange a few blows with him.
'Blue Heal.'
Taking a deep breath, her wounded back began to heal as if fire were being used. She felt no pain, but it consumed a good amount of mana to do so. Creating blue fire fox claws on her hands, she moved behind Sacri, who dodged a bite from the blue fire fox.
"Kitsune, the leg."
Lowering her hands, she managed to slash Sacri's shoulders while Kitsune bit his left leg. Both managed to draw a large amount of blood, but they were pushed back by an explosion of mana around their opponent.
"I can't believe I'll have to use this form against you."
Falling to the ground, she immediately got up, noticing that Sacri, besides being bigger, looked more monstrous. Taking a step back, she began to sweat as she felt a large amount of mana being gathered inside his mouth.
"Damn it."
A red beam was fired directly at her, making the entire room shake without even being touched by the attack. Sisaka, inside the stone, was about to come out to try to help, but with great speed, Aoi was pulled downward, causing the attack to pass through the walls behind.
"Dear."
Aoi saw Enrico holding her by the shoulders with a smile while staring at Sacri. With his gaze turning cold, he looked at a spot behind the Nartheis.
"You know, three against one is considered unfair."
Sacri opened his eyes in surprise as two hidden figures seemed to take interest in the new opponent who had just appeared.