Chapter 1211 (2/2)

Iellaya had won, even though she was half as tall and one-tenth as heavy as Abiodun. Abiodun had laid, injured in a much less serious way than he was now, and had looked up in wonder at this feathered young girl. Then he opened his mouth to speak.

“You… what are your plans…?”

“I’m going to conquer the world, obviously.”

A simple exchange. Immediately afterward, Abiodun had pledged himself to her and teenager Iellaya had used the techniques she had learned from her parents to make Abiodun’s potential a part of her own.

“Of course I remember,” Lady Iellaya sighed. She wanted to rub the tears from her cheeks, but she didn’t dare take her hands away from Abiodun’s shoulders. He seemed so frail. If she let go for even a second, he would vanish.

“I couldn’t fulfill my promise… but that doesn’t mean you can’t still fulfill yours.” Abiodun’s eyes closed. “Conquer it all, my Queen. If it’s you… then definitely…”

Abiodun died in Lady Iellaya’s arms and she was thinking about his promise he made that night. It was later after he had donated his potential to her and Abiodun gave her the maps his tribe had gathered on the movements of surrounding groups. He had called her Lady Iellaya for the first time and she had paused and rubbed her chin while looking down at the spread out maps with a furrowed brow.

“By the way, Abiodun… how big is the world?”

For a second, he had stared at her. Then he had laughed and laughed and laughed, slapping his hand against his knee. Seemingly helpless, he had eventually answered while still chuckling. “...big. But I promise that I’ll show it to you. I’ll lead you forward and you will conquer it. Until there is nothing that can threaten you.”

“Threaten US, Abiodun. We are one now, after all.”

A part of her died as Abiodun died. That was the promise they made. That was the price she now paid.

When Lady Iellaya lowered Abiodun’s body to the ground, she had gone silent; her wail had finally stopped. Not because of her own Willpower finally managing to overpower her grief, but because she now felt like she was being strangled by a vast guilt that pressed warm and cloying against her windpipe. A strange sense of dark certainty filled her, growing stronger with every breath she took.

“This is my fault,” Lady Iellaya managed to whisper. That much was immediately clear. She had felt invincible after Randidly had made the change to her Class. The power of her image had improved so much that she had gotten sloppy with her attention to detail. She fought aggressively with no thought on how dangerous her actions were. Despite Lord Miln’s obvious confidence, Lady Iellaya had taken no precautions against his arrogant certainty.

That was a mistake.

Abiodun had paid the price for that mistake.

Now her greatest pillar of support was gone.

The guilt seemed to be eating at the edges of her brain, slowly stealing away the brain cells that could think about anything but any of the numerous ways that Lady Iellaya could have prevented this if she had just pulled her head out of her own ass. The precautions that she could have taken came easily to her now. Even though it was too late and punishing herself accomplished nothing, that vast smothering guilt seemed to want her to simply sit and think, over and over again, what she could have done differently.

It wanted her to simply live in that guilt, never moving from this spot, allowing the world to pass her by as she continued to mourn. Perhaps until the moment she found release in the embrace of death.

Yet the bright noises and impacts from the battle happening over in front of Aether Headquarters slowly drew Lady Iellaya’s gaze upward. With a grim detachment, she forced her body to stand. Her Perception shot forward, examining the distant battlefield.

Ultimately, she was at fault for failing to realize the danger. She had been drunk on her newfound power and had ignored the risks. Yet the architect of this disaster still was walking around, fighting against Nether Heralds across the battlefield. Lord Miln, the Supreme Commander who cared so little for his subordinates that he was willing to sacrifice the lives of the whole battlefront in order to achieve the merits he desperately craved.

I might be just as merit obsessed as you… Lady Iellaya bared her teeth and allowed her rage to rapidly build. Even without even using her image, she felt like she current possessed titanicly large wings that could drown the world in darkness. Her rage urged her to do it. But I can learn to be better. You… it is clear it’s too late for you. Thank you for this lesson. You’re welcome for me ensuring that you don’t ever get the chance to play with the lives of others again.

Lady Iellaya slowly began to walk forward with heavy steps. In her numbed and grieving state, she didn’t much pay attention to the world around her. But even she couldn’t miss the darkness swirling around her. Or the fact that it felt like something was attached to her back and she was steadily dragging it forward to that battlefield.

It was shaped like wings, but Lady Iellaya knew that she was carrying a blade. She continued forward without looking back.