Chapter 114: Darkstar
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"Hmm~" Ame hummed herself a song while sitting on the railing, her legs dangling over the edge of the ship.
Adam stood behind her, watching the waves crash against the hull.
The other people onboard were doing their own things, but they sometimes turned their heads in their direction, wondering what they were talking about.
Lucette was talking with Digby and Valora, not happy about Ame''s presence.
After all, the Blind Sea was arge open sea, and she didn''t believe Ame found them by mere coincidence.
"It''s about to rain." Ame said and put umbre over her head. "You may join me, Adam, under the umbre."
Adam nodded and carefully sat on the railing, his hands sped tightly around the metal bars.
Their shoulders touched as they huddled underneath the umbre.
Ame closed her eyes with a smile on her rosy lips.
Rumble~
The sky rumbled, and then dark clouds began to pour rain, just like Ame predicted.
It started with a soft drizzle but soon turned into a heavy downpour.
Everyone on the deck rushed indoors, except the two who were sitting under the umbre.
"Mm, I like rain." Ame said, and she put her hand out to feel the raindrops on her skin. "I feel like it''s cleansing my soul."
"I prefer to stay dry." Adam said and caught some of the raindrops. "I do like water, but I don''t like getting wet."
Ame smiled and turned to look at him with her pinkish eyes. Adam also turned his head toward her. Their eyes locked. Neither of them moved an inch.
"Your eyes tell me that you know who I am." Ame said. "However, I don''t recall meeting you."
"Ame Darkstar," Adam said. "Guild master of the Shattered Shields."
"You''re knowledgeable." Ame giggled. "You know more about me than I know about you, Adam-"
"What do you wish to know?" Adam asked.
"Where your loyalty lies." Ame said with a smile. "You know, my mother is Aria Darkstar, guild master of Darkstar, one of the Seven Ancient Guilds."
"I am aware." Adam nodded.
"You seem to be aware that our meeting here was no coincidence." Ame smiled with an intrigued expression.
"A while back, I felt a tickling sensation on my neck." Adam touched the back of his neck. "It was your Kiryoku, I assumed."
"Interesting..." Ame kicked her legs back and forth yfully. "Good senses."
"Did your mother send you here?" Adam asked.
"Yup." Ame nodded. "I have to listen to her orders or she''ll marry me off to the King like she did with my sisters~"
"Yeah, I heard about that." Adam said with a sympathetic smile. "Your mother sent ten of her daughters to marry the King, so that they would have his son one day, with the blood of the world''s greatest genius."
"Yep, I was supposed to also get married to him, but I ran away because I didn''t want to be a part of that n~"
"You grew powerful enough to make your own guild to avoid the marriage, but she is still ruling over you."
"Mm, it is what it is~" Ame twirled the umbre around, which made all the raindrops scatter in every direction. "You know why I am here."
"I''ll join whatever faction the Crimson Hounds go to." Adam said.
"They''re basically part of the Imperial Order''s faction because of Samuel." Ame said and looked at him. "You must make them join the Darkstar faction."
"Your mother was against me bing an S-ranker." Adam said with a smile. "Now she wants my help? Funny."
"You didn''t realize it, but there was political reasoning behind even that decision." She said.
"A single S-ranker can shift the bnce between factions and the New World. They can sense that war is imminent, and they have been preparing for years.
"They don''t like that there is another trump card in y."
"They don''t care about my potential, but the title." Adam said. "S-rank means power and influence. There are guilds that do not wish to go against S-rankers because of their potential, but instead wish to make friends with them."
"That''s right..."
"If they chose to bestow me with the title of A-ranker..." ..." Adam chuckled. "I wouldn''t have nearly as much influence, even if I had the potential of S-ranker level. This title is everything."
"Is that no?" Ame asked. "My mother will not be pleased."
"I am not giving any answer." Adam said. "If I do, she''ll just send assassins to finish me off."
"I see..."
Ame lowered her head and softly closed her eyes. She stopped kicking her legs back and forth. The umbre slipped out of her hand andnded on the ground with a soft thud.
The rain fell over them with a heavy downpour.
Adam frowned as the rain continued to soak his clothes.
"My mother gave me another order..." Ame''s eyes fluttered open.
"And what is that..."
"Kill you."
Ame''s nails grew into sharp knives, and she plunged her hand deep into Adam''s chest, bursting through his heart.
"Cough!" Adam coughed out blood and fell off the railing into the cold, dark waters below.
Ssh!
Therge waves took his body elsewhere while the storm grew hectic and the sound of thunder turned deafening.
Ame looked at her bloodied hand, and the nails shrank back into her skin.
m!
The doors were flung open by a powerful force.
"You!" Digby''s thunderous roar echoed throughout the ship like the pping of the gods.
With his longsword in hand, he appeared over Ame like a sh of thunder and struck his
sword down upon her.
She, with a low gaze, snatched her umbre from the deck and deflected the longsword with
its unfurled canopy.
The canopy was shaded with her Kraft-deep purple with slight hints of redness.
"What did you do to him, you monster?!" Digby screamed.
While he was dining inside, he felt Adam''s aura grow weaker and almost vanishpletely.
He knew something had happened.
"No..." Lucette walked indoors with rain mixing with her tears. "I knew it. She must''ve killed
him! I can''t sense his aura anywhere!"
"Fucking Monstrym whore!" Valora screamed and drew her sword.
Every member of Crimson Hounds surrounded Ame from every direction, their faces red with rage. This happened on their home turf, basically.
This was one of the biggest humiliations of their lives, with a crimson cloak on their backs.
They finally acquired a monster with a limitless amount of talent that could bring their guild to the top, and now he died during their watch.
"Why..." Digby asked while staring at the pink-skinned woman. "Do you think this will be left unpunished? The King himself wanted him there, and you yed him! Do you think your guild will survive this?!"
"I had to make a choice." Ame said and using the umbre, she started floating up. "I did not want this. If you want to me someone, me my mother."
"Lucette, don''t let her escape!" Valora screamed.
"I won''t!"
In Lucette''s hand, a wand made out of ckwood appeared. Its tip was already glowing.
"Prison of Martyrs!"
A prison made out of ck energy bars started to appear all around Ame. It only took a split second to appear, and they started to close in on her.
However, before it could finish closing in, Ame flew out of the trapment from the small
opening that hadn''t closed in yet.
The prison finished closing in, but there was no one inside.
It took less than a second for the prison to finish materializing, but that was too long, as
Ame immediately reacted.
''No wonder why I couldn''t sense her aura before.'' Digby''s eyes shrunk. ''Her Kiryoku has
reached level four!''
Ame swung her umbre in a wide arc and created a wave of water with length of thirty
meters that loomed over the ship like a giant shadow.
Digby swung his sword and cut straight through the wave. The wave exploded into thousands
of tiny droplets, drenching everyone on deck.
"..." Ame watched as her attack failed.
She was entirely drenched by the rain, her hair sopping wet and sticking to her face in clumps.
It made it hard to see her facial expression or whether she was sad or not.
"Mother..."