Godfrey stood on a balcony. His focus wasn't on the orange light of the setting sun bleeding into the darkening clouds, nor on the swaying trees in the distance, but lost in nothing.
Neila arrived at the mouth of the balcony. She leaned on the fra, one hand on her waist as she sized him up with her two main eyes and six tiny bead-sized ones.
"You know… your back view is exactly the sa as his."
Godfrey tilted his head, looking at her with one eye.
"This confirms it." Neila added, walked toward him, and folded her arms. "You are the Unknown King. You know, I've heard rumours of the n of Gold but never got to et them."
"You should be glad about that. You wouldn't be standing next to if you did."
Neila slamd her shoulder into his.
"I doubt it. I'm good at killing predators. Run and bite when they're not expecting it. Works every ti."
Godfrey raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so?"
"You don't believe ?"
"What do you want, Neila?" Godfrey replied with another question, staring firmly at her.
She pursed her lips.
"Do you know how I trap my prey? I seduce them with mirages and sweet voices, but I don't see that working on the Unknown King, a being that's supposed to be the apex monster hunter."
"So you're afraid then."
"Of course not!" She laughed. "I just want to make sure you have everything in order, and I would love it if you don't die. I like you better this way."
"You're obviously afraid." Godfrey responded with a nod.
She scoffed.
"I'm not."
After saying that, she walked to the mouth of the balcony, feeling pricked under Godfrey's consistent gaze.
"What?!" Neila turned and snapped, glaring at him with her crimson eyes.
"Nothing." Godfrey's calm reply made her storm out of the room. She has ford a habit of fighting her own emotions.
'I can't get carried away. What kind of skill can kill the known part of but not the unknown part? I can't make sense of it. Did I actually die, or was just one part of wiped off…!'
Godfrey's eyes widened.
'I see now. I was erased. It looked like I died and, in a way, I did, but the thod in which I was killed has a loop hole. Only the known part of was taken, the unknown, however… remained.'
He paced around the balcony.
'I still can't grasp it. I just feel I'll be facing soone on Damascus's level once more. Another wicked innate skill. But a being that can do that to after all the knights I've made demigods can't just be a demigod.'
Godfrey paused.
'Damascus's innate skill won't work on like it did before. Then, I was weaker because my knights were weaker, but now it's different. I have Isolde, Dax, Mountain, Solstice. Tempest and Toria are at the doorstep of the Titled God Tier. I'm way more powerful than before. Dirge and Lysander are also close to the Titled God Tier; they can dominate the Progenitor Tier. All this points to only one plausible conclusion…'
The tension in his muscles relaxed.
'What I'm going to face is an ancient god.'
How would he beat an ancient god when he was capped at the demigod level? By ganging up against that ancient god, giving it the opportunity to take. Take his knights…his skills and more.
Piece by piece, Godfrey slowly discovered what he would face, and it wasn't looking good because even though he might have figured a few things out, he couldn't avoid those things.
Without those knights, he was asking for a quick death from an ancient god.
Wait…
Now that he thought about it, he saved himself. Once that ancient god took it all from him, the Unknown King was revealed. The Unknown King defeats the ancient god. The Unknown King is the reason why he was alive, in a way.
This could only an that if everything wasn't taken, if he wasn't wiped off but killed in the traditional way, this Ruination would truly be his end.
Godfrey exhaled heavily. His head throbbed. Grabbing the rails around the edge of the balcony, he stared at the mountains at the heart of the island. Those areas were covered by a thick forest, the hunting grounds for dragons.
His ears twitched at the sound of light footsteps. He would have ignored it, but he recognised who walked like this.
Godfrey turned and saw Isolde at the mouth of the balcony, holding a cup with hot steam drifting off it.
"You're supposed to be asleep, Iso."
"I don't feel like sleeping. And… I'm sorry you had to see like that earlier." She bit her lower lip.
Isolde rembered how her condition made her parents uneasy. No one knew her reaction to the next revelation, and there was always a psychologist around.
It made it seem like she was a sickly child while growing up, and now it looked like she brought that sa burden to Godfrey.
"It's not a problem. I'm the cause after all." Godfrey replied with a soft tone. There were thousands out there drooling over her beauty with little knowledge that there was more to what ets the eye.
Isolde ca close, dropped the cup on the railing, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Godfrey held her waist.
"What are we going to do?" She leaned forward, resting her face on his shoulder. The sweet scent of her hair exploded in his nostrils.
"Let die."
Godfrey's reply made Isolde shiver, but she remained in his embrace. They had both arrived at the sa conclusion.
"The Unknown King saved you. aning you were obviously facing a test that would have done irreparable damage had I not arrived. As the Unknown King, I'm still alive, and I can be known again."
When he stopped, expecting Isolde to speak, she said nothing.
"Why are we so helpless to fate?"
She finally spoke.
"We're not. We're not. We've beat it several tis, and we'll do it again. And again. All this just gives more boldness. My back is already against the wall. What's there to fear? Let's establish the Order… tomorrow."
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