"By the way, Principal Raji had told to notify her imdiately when you wake up... You have been asleep for so many days that I completely forgot about that matter..."
While Rio was busy thinking various things in his mind, Lia took the teacup from l and spoke in a calm voice.
"Everyone’s been very confused about what actually happened and what that demon prince was planning..."
"We fought Alverto but didn’t get much out of him... Principal Raji likely wants to ask you whether you know anything about his plans..."
"Liam, Ellie, Fade, Kira, Riko and even the SS-ranker Neo Aldif... all of them are missing and no one knows about their current status-"
Before Lia could complete her sentence, Rio looked into her eyes and replied in solemn voice,
"Fade, Kira and Riko... All three of them have died."
"All three of them died right in front of my eyes so I am sure about it... that explosion nearly killed too; there was no way for them to survive..."
Rio shook his head and stopped talking as he gave Lia so ti to process the matter.
In the first place, Riko would have already died if not for the chance encounter with Kevin’s fading soul that ca to its senses in its last mont.
He gave Riko his body’s vitality using so forbidden technique, but even that could have only extended her life for but an hour or so.
She was going to die either way, and she knew this too.
Perhaps that was the reason why she chose her own way of death; she not only foiled Alverto’s plan, completing her revenge, but also succeeded in going to the afterlife in just one go.
That explosion blew her to smithereens, and she didn’t even have to suffer any pain, as it was all over in a matter of milliseconds.
The sa was true for Fade and Kira.
Kira’s mind was already ’dead,’ as she was completely turned into a mindless puppet by Alverto using the power of a higher being.
That powerful curse had already thoroughly corrupted her soul and mind.
Even if she was not blown away by that explosion, she would have just remained still and unmoving like a living corpse, as she had no ’will’ or ’mind’ anymore.
The only person Rio is unsure about is ’Fade Crest.’
That guy is blessed with the ’Heavenly Luck,’ and it’s near impossible for a ’Heaven’s Chosen’ to die so easily.
But Rio is not sure what happened to him because Alverto had already drained a lot of luck from Fade even before using him on the altar as a sacrifice.
Rio could feel with his instincts that Fade’s luck had definitely been weakened trendously by Alverto.
Moreover, Alverto managed to activate the altar for a few seconds.
Although it was only for a few seconds, that amount of ti was definitely nothing to ignore.
In that amount of ti, Rio can do thousands of attacks with his sword, so it won’t be surprising if that altar managed to drain massive amounts of luck and destiny from Fade in those few seconds.
’If Fade’s luck has been reduced to a very low levels, then it’s possible that he has died in that explosion...’
’But if he still had so luck left, then perhaps he survived with so kind of ’Miracle’...’
Rio has read his fair share of light novels in his previous life; he knows that those protagonists with thick plot armor never die so easily.
When they are at death’s door, sothing always happens to save them, and so protagonists even end up getting opportunities after falling in danger.
Even in the original novel that Rio read, there were many monts when Fade nearly died but ended up turning danger into opportunity to beco stronger.
He even survived the crazy pursuit of soone like Ashtel Rex, which proves his plot armor is thicker than the tectonic plates of a planet.
’Well, it doesn’t really matter to ... either he dies or lives, it won’t change much. I just have to focus on myself and beco so strong that I won’t have to rely on soone else for safety...’
While Rio thought about various things in his mind, Lia sighed and spoke in a depressed voice.
"Sigh... in the end... we couldn’t do anything for Riko senpai... We couldn’t save Zach senpai back then and the sa thing happened again... Riya will be very depressed after hearing this..."
Rio nodded his head at those words.
The one person who worked the hardest in this entire incident was none other than Riya Croft.
During the last encounter with Alverto, Zach died, and Riya couldn’t save him; that incident led her to work so hard that she even awakened a legendary skill just so that she can improve her abilities.
This rematch with Alverto was Riya’s chance to prove that no matter what he does, she will not let anyone close to her die this ti.
If not for the fact that she had mastered her legendary skill and healing techniques to an extrely high level, she would have never been able to save anyone from miasma and corruption.
"She pushed herself to the limit, saved several lives and even used her healing magic to the extre just to corner Alverto during our fight to prevent any casualties..."
Lia sighed, and the ti she spent with Riko in the past during the Oaklum event ca to her mind.
All of them were so happy and carefree back then; just one incident shattered that happiness and destroyed lives that could have been saved.
"Although sacrifices were made, we still managed to achieve sothing..."
Rio glanced at Lia’s face and spoke in his usual emotionless tone.
"The Demon Prince Alverto, I killed him. He will not harm anyone anymore in the future..."
Hearing Rio’s words, Lia’s eyes widened a bit, and then she nodded her head.
"That’s good... at least there won’t be any more victims of his sches in the future..."
Alverto was significantly weakened by Jin, and then Riya’s overwhelming healing magic restricted his legendary skill, ’soul resonance,’ through its purification effect.
By that point he was way too weak, and Rio managed to land the final blow without any difficulty.
The main credit for defeating Alverto still goes to Jin and Riya, though.
’The ’spire of ascension’... that place was way too mysterious and even now I don’t know everything about it...’
Alverto only used that strange tower-like structure as a ’dium’ to try and create a new ’pathway.’
But Rio’s instincts are telling him that there is definitely more to it.
The ’Spire of Ascension’ is not just a simple tool to create new ’pathways’; it likely has other functions that must be just as overpowered.
Creating a new ’Pathway’ ans changing the ’natural order’ of the entire universe, and yet the ’spire of ascension’ was a key ’dium’ to accomplish such a grand feat.
’Moreover, that thing seems to have the power to manipulate or even partially control the strings of ’fate’ and ’destiny’... that’s a power that is almost at the level of the ’Heavenly luck’ itself...’
When Alverto summoned the ’Spire of Ascension,’ it scanned all the strings of destiny connected to Alverto and summoned every person from across the world who could cause Alverto’s ’future’ to change.
Even Alverto, who was the master of the ’Spire of Ascension’ at that mont, couldn’t stop this phenonon, as that was sothing the ’Spire of Ascension’ had decided on its own.
The ’Spire of Ascension’ created a counterbalance and brought people who could put up a proper trail for Alverto.
Fighting Rio and the others was so kind of trial for Alverto; he had to defeat all that could affect his strings of destiny or make them lose their ’qualifications’ to create the change.
Rio doesn’t know it yet, but Alverto was aware that sothing like this might happen; that was the reason why he tead up with Neo and laid a trap to make Ashtel Rex.
The greatest obstacle in his path was Ashtel Rex, and he planned to use Neo to make him lose his ’qualification’ by immobilizing him.
Alverto only needed to keep Ashtel busy for a while until the preparations for the ritual were completed and the ’Spire of Ascension’ had gathered enough connection and power with his mory fragnts.
His plan was flawless, but at the end a sudden ’anomaly,’ Rio Flash, appeared out of nowhere.
Rio caused a massive butterfly effect, caused Jin to ascend to rank SS indirectly, and created a new obstacle for Alverto.
Just like Alverto, Jin talent was in ’ti’ elentals, and ascending to SS-rank with a world authority related to ti, he beca a natural enemy for Alverto.
"Let’s go and have a proper talk with everyone later... everyone is gathered in the Rex Mansion so we can go there and have a proper talk..."
"I also have things I have to ask from Principal Raji..."
Rio put his empty teacup on the table, and his eyes shone with a new light.
He’s been healed by an SS-rank healer and has been getting healing from other healers too in the past week, so he’s already back to his peak condition.
And as things in the empire are getting chaotic, it’s not the ti to be lying down quietly.
’I have a feeling that although I defeated Alverto... he’s cunning fellow; he must have left so backhand behind...’
’I have to improve my skills and prepare in case there’s anything else that might cause trouble in the future...’
"Ah... by the way, gim your hand for a second... I need to check sothing..."
Lia was confused at Rio’s sudden actions, but she didn’t hesitate and let Rio hold her palm.
"Relax your body and lower your resistance for a bit..."
Rio asked Lia to relax and lower her guard by keeping her mana in a suppressed state, as even the slightest resistance might cause problems.
Lia completely trusted Rio; she didn’t even ask why he wanted her to do that, and she did it without a single question.
Rio used his sword’s intent and let it flow into Lia’s body with absolute precision so as not to hurt her.
If it was soone else, his sword intent would have gone violent and would have destroyed the person’s body from inside out, but Lia was an exception to this.
His sword intent was very calm and didn’t go violent at all; in fact, it was almost fawning over Lia.
’hmmm... there’s no miasma or anything... I don’t sense any curse... did she manage to break it sohow?’
"Well, you are fine... I was worried that you got affected by sothing during the ’spire of ascension’ event..."
Since there was nothing wrong, Rio took his sword intent back and shrugged it off as nothing.
Lia didn’t suspect Rio either and didn’t ask any questions. l and Kai, on the other hand, looked at him with strange eyes, though.
Rio completely ignored their stares and didn’t take it to mind.
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