Why Did You Summon Me?

While Laeticia and Attie stayed at Noirciel’s bedside, the Voidwalkers worked. They were all seated at a large roundtable that had a whiteboard in front of it. The board was riddled with messy scribbles, as the Voidwalkers did their best to come up with a solution.

“Ten days at most, huh?” The Cleric Walker muttered darkly.

“That is substantiated only by our calculations, but it should be enough. Mind you: the time frame is only accurate because of the War God’s help. Without that timely divine intervention, the sub-dimension will collapse much earlier than that,” the Scholar Walker solemnly replied, glancing at the Cleric Walker. “If the War God intervenes, the sub-dimension will be able to reduce the immensity of the Divine Energy storm on its own. Only the weakened energy would reach our fortifications, increasing the amount of time that the sub-dimension can hold out for.”

“The War God handled like it easily! If only gods choose to solve problems completely,” the Soul Armature Practitioner said with a sigh.

“The War God did what a god is allowed to do. Meddling in the affairs of another divine being’s angel is not something that will be taken lightly,” said the Archmage, whose gaze was still fixed on a stack of papers in front of him. Papers were crumpled and tossed away one after the other, and soon, only one paper remained.

The Archmage studied the scribbles, which seemed as though they had been scratched onto the paper by a chicken, and said, “Now, here’s an idea.”

The funny scribbles depicted a plan to store Noirciel’s unstable Divine Energy in an energy storage vessel. Afterward, the vessel would be connected back to her body, providing the angel with a continuous supply of her own Divine Energy to support her spirit and psyche.

To much surprise, this idea was presented by the Caveman Walker, whose area of expertise had almost nothing to do with magic, unlike the others. This Voidwalker had been able to come up with the idea because the Pseudo Descent spell used by all the Voidwalkers functioned in the same manner.

The issue was where to acquire a vessel large enough to contain Noirciel’s immense Divine Energy. The raging storm of Divine Energy wreaking havoc in the sub-dimension could not be contained even by a jar of Baiyi’s energy crystals. The Voidwalkers knew that the only energy crystal that could contain Noirciel’s Divine Energy was the special crystal that Baiyi took out from the Law Marionette he fought years ago. However, that crystal was already being used by Baiyi, for a long time now.

How could the Voidwalkers possibly drain this crystal, which had been accumulating Void Energy for ten years, of its stored energy in just ten days? Even if they managed to pull that off, it would not be wise to put Divine Energy into the crystal; after all, Divine Energy was the ‘opposite’ of Void Energy. No knew what would happen if they were forcibly mixed.

The next best option was to use the divine leather suit as a vessel. Unfortunately, such action was irreversible, and as the leather suit belonged to Baiyi, such a plan could not be carried out, even if the Huffing Piggies — the Fairy Walker, the Warrior Walker, and the Assassin Walker — agreed to it.

“Didn’t that protégé of yours acquire a Fractal Horn of Inner Abysm? I remember reading somewhere that it can serve as excellent storage for power. I have never seen one, though,” said the Alchemist Walker.

When Baiyi recounted his experience in the Ancient Rohlserlian empire, most of the Voidwalkers focused more on the areas that Baiyi visited. Some of them were interested in the Ancient Rohlserlian culture and society, and some others showed interest in the Emperor, comparing his temperament as a young man to that of his older self, the Archmage. A few Voidwalkers were only interested in the girls of the past, especially the clothes they wore. It seemed that only the Alchemist Walker was the only one that paid attention to the Fractal Horn.

“What was that? Using a demon’s organ to save an angel’s life? Hahahahahaha!” The Lich Walker cackled maniacally. “What a great suggestion! What a lovely turn of events! Is my expertise in souls and spirits needed for ‘technical support’? Imagine that; an angel that gets her life saved by sacrilegious creatures like a demon and a lich! Tell me: what kind of angel will that be?

“A fallen angel!” The Lich Walker gleefully answered its own question. “I heard that fallen angel, but perhaps we can change that…”

If the Fractal Horn was used to save Noirciel’s life, the Lich Walker’s words would become reality. Not only would the angel’s life become the perfect example of the word ‘irony, but’ she would also become an object of unprecedented blasphemy.

The faces of the Cleric Walker and the Paladin Walker turned gloomy. Although they had little regard for the Church’s current interpretation of their belief, it made them sick to think of an angel being subjected so such an extreme procedure.

“Okay, cut it out!” The Archmage, upon sensing the tension in the air, quickly cut in. In a bid to calm the Cleric and Paladin Walkers, he said, “Hey now! If we must resort to that, we’ll just have my student do it for us, okay? After all, he knows soul-harnessing spells as well as the Lich Walker does. I know that is not much different, but it should be much more acceptable than the former, no?”

The Cleric Walker and Paladin Walker calmed down, but the air of gloom around them remained.

“Why are we arguing over something we that is not even in our possession?” The Sorcerer Walker rebuked. “Hope got the Fractal Horn, alright, but he didn’t bring it back to the present, remember? The only thing he brought back was the kitty plush toy!”

Those words through a gaping hole through the plans, leaving behind awkward silence.

The Alchemist Walker raised his head and said, “There’s no need to discard that idea just yet. There could be another Fractal Horn lying around somewhere in this realm, in someone else’s possession. If we look hard enough, we may even find something more potent than the horn!”

The Archmage was not as optimistic, though. With a shake of his head, he said, “You can’t expect to find something as rare as that horn just because you need it. Even if we did find it, how do we get our hands on it? Money alone won’t be enough to convince its owner to give it up.”

The Alchemist Walker, who seemed to have expected this, replied, “We could just sift through Hope’s personal collection, can’t we? He’s abused his position and took so many bribes. I bet that the parents of those ‘trust fund’ kids got him a lot of rare and incredible stuff, wishing that their kids get enrolled in order to receive a world-class education. We might find something useful in that collection, and even if we don’t, we can still use anything from Hope’s collection to bargain; or, we could just sell something from there to increase the funds we have to bargain with.” The excitement on the Alchemist Walker’s face made it apparent that he had waited a long time for an opportunity to raid Baiyi’s collection.

“Are you proposing that resort to a robbery? If you do go ahead with that, the chances of Hope forgiving you, Sir Alchemist, is very, very slim,” said the Scholar Walker, pouring cold water over her counterpart’s excitement.

“I can’t believe this thought crossed your mind. Do you really think he won’t make you pay when he returns?” The Sorcerer Walker groaned and glanced at the Archmage.

The other Voidwalkers turned their attention to the old man, as well. If the Archmage took the lead in such a venture, then everyone might just be safe when Baiyi the tyrant returned. No matter how much Hope raged, he would not kill the Archmage, his benefactor and father figure, right?

The Archmage waved his arms wildly, wasting no time in dismissing the silent offer. “Are you bloody kidding me? You guys really expect me to lead a raid on my apprentice’s possessions? Have you forgotten how the heartless piece of s**t reduced my allowance and burned my precious collection without batting an eye? Do you really think there are limits to his cruelty?”

“But, we aren’t embezzling his stuff; we’re doing it to save the life of the newest member of his harem! No matter how blackhearted he is, he surely understands that desperate times call for desperate measures, right?!” The Cleric Walker said.

“Oh, alright. I agree. We’re too desperate to be picky, and he’s not as unreasonable as we always make him out to be,” The Archmage said, suddenly relenting.

When Tisdale, who Baiyi had given the keys to his basement, returned, the Archmage, Scholar Walker, and Alchemist Walker accompanied her to Baiyi’s chalet and knocked on the door.

Lady Assassin Walker, who for some reason was dressed in a wedding gown, answered the door.

“Hey! it’s rude to stare at a girl like that! I took this chance, now that he is not around, to rehearse for a future event, okay? It was just a rehearsal! Don’t overthink!” Lady Assassin tried her best to explain.

No one was in the mood to tease her about it, though. Tisdale walked into the house, leading everyone to the basement, where Baiyi kept his prized possessions.

Several moments later, a shout rang out from the basement. “Holy s**t! Look at all this wealth! There are amongst the rarest and most valuable; you can’t even find any on the market! How the hell did that bastard get his grimy hands on them?

“Yo, look at all these angel feathers and Seraphic Hearts! If they are combined with the Cleric Walker’s theurgical spells, they can be used to purge the Fractal Horn of its demonian impurities, transforming it to a ‘Fractal Horn of the Inner Abysm: Holy edition’! With that, Noirciel wouldn’t become a Fallen Angel, right?” The excited Alchemist Walker asked.

“Can’t we just use these things to make a new vessel?” The Archmage asked.

“Well, Your Majesty, how do you expect us to create a vessel that large in just ten days? How much money will that cost? I think it’ll cost even more than all Hope has to pull it off,” the Alchemist Walker replied. “Whoa, look over there! There’s a locked closet there. You don’t think there’s something delicious in there, do you?”

Without waiting for an answer, the Alchemist Walker bolted to the closet.

“No! You can’t! I mean, there’s nothing important there!” Tisdale cried out, quickly turning red.

The Alchemist did stop, though, but he could not help but direct a glance of suspicion her way. “That closet does not happen to contain your dirty clothes or whatever, right? Is Hope that disgusting?”

“No; nothing like that!” Tisdale, whose hand was already over her mouth, exclaimed. She was visibly embarrassed, and for some reason, she kept pulling her skirt down. [1]

The Alchemist dropped the subject when he realized how uncomfortable Tisdale was. He walked back to Baiyi’s collection and began to sift through it. After some time, he got an idea. “Many things here are good enough to create an untainted vessel with. Unfortunately, the Fractal Horn’s must be used, as well, so we still have a problem.”

After thinking about this for some time, the Archmage issued an order: “Select whatever is useful and begin work on the part that the Fractal Horn is not needed for. Dale, announce to the public that we’re looking to buy a Fractal Horn of Inner Abysm. Tell them that we’re willing to pay anything; money, rare materials, knowledge, Da Xue’s latest inventions, or even a favor from the Voidwalkers is up for grabs. Everything is negotiable.”

“Right!” Tisdale nodded, her face regaining its color. Before she left, she asked, “Fractal Horns are really rare, aren’t they? The price we will pay will be very high…”

“It’s worth it,” the Archmage replied. As a former emperor, he knew how to consider the big picture in order to plan ahead. “Think of the message this will send to the public when we save the angel and have her join us. Even if she loses her powers, our work will be well worth the effort.”

Tisdale was amazed. She really had not thought that far ahead.