One Last System

The dust managed to settle down, leaving the entire area in an eerie silence. And in this silence, Mia continued to stand in place, refusing to move even an inch.

The compelling nature of Arthur's order has long faded away, allowing the girl to move to a more natural position.

There was no reason for her to just keep standing like that. Yet, after Arthur rejected her for the second time, it was the closest she could get to him.

'Maybe if I obediently listen to his order, he will accept me again?' Mia thought.

Her mental state was strange, locking her between the eagerness to follow Arthur's command and the unwillingness to accept what it truly meant.

'What are they doing?' Mia asked herself as she observed people rushing around the place. Even though she refused to move even an inch, that didn't stop her from looking around the place.

And right now, the few elders that somehow survived the disaster started to gather in one of the few spots that weren't littered with rubble and corpses.

"Mia...?" suddenly someone called the girl's name.

Mia looked to the side, only to see Ackhart in a sorry state, looking at her with worry.

'Oh my god,' Ackhart thought, a shiver traveling down his spine.

The sight of blood on Mia's face was the last thing he wanted to see, especially after the display of Arthur's power just a few moments ago.

"Are you okay?" Ackhart asked, carefully approaching the girl.

'Is she in a state of shock?' he asked himself, unsure why the girl refused to leave her spot.

"I'm alright," Mia replied shortly, not having any motivation to elaborate. "Why ask?"

"You are all bloodied," Ackhart said in worry, approaching the girl at a slow pace. "Is this your blood?" he asked.

'Her safety is of utmost importance right now,' he thought, gnashing his teeth. 'If we want to pull Arthur to our side, we need to ensure she will be perfectly fine,' he thought before taking a quick glance at the gathering of the elders.

It was a meeting that he had to attend. Now that most of the elders loyal to the sect itself were gone, he was one of the last few voices of reason between Sangakart bought and sponsored others.

'Still, why am I not surprised?' Ackhart thought, doing his utmost to hide his rage from showing up on his face. 'While real elders fought with their life on the line, while other elders gave their lives to protect the sect, those fuckers...'

Ackhart shook his head. Thinking about this topic any longer would only make it harder to hide his state of mind from the others. And if there was a time when his position as a double agent was of value, it was right now.

"Huh?" Mia shrugged, surprised by the question. She then raised her hand and drove her finger through her face only to bring it up to her eyes. "Blood?" she muttered, surprised by the color stuck to the top of her finger.

"I guess it's not yours," Ackhart muttered as he released a sigh of relief. "Go get yourself cleaned up. Time to mourn will come later," he ordered before turning around and leaving.

'Whose blood is this?' Mia asked herself, hardly capable of caring about anything at all.

Now that Arthur had rejected her for the second time, the entire reason behind her life vanished. And without a goal in mind, she could hardly press herself to do anything.

"Mia!" someone called out her name once again. This time, however, Mia could recognize the voice even without turning her face to check on its owner.

"How are you?" Mia asked, turning her head around to take a look at Veila's face.

The girl herself didn't appear to be injured. But the expression plastered all over her face spoke wonders about her state of mind.

"Not good," Veila replied, forcing a smile on her lips. "But Sander..." she added, only to turn silent as a volcano of grief erupted in her eyes.

"I know," Mia replied silently, a look of sadness flashing through her face.

Over the time that their group spent together, she grew quite used to the company of her new friends. Yet, Arthur's rejection aside, she couldn't squeeze all that much grief out of herself.

"Why do you look like you don't really care about him?!" Veila asked in an aggressive tone, tightening her hands into fists.

"He is dead, isn't he?" Mia asked, unable to create even a spark of care. "I know it's sad, but it's not something that we can do anything about," she added, turning her eyes away and looking towards the place where the elders gathered. "Rather than wasting time on pointless grief, can you do me a solid and go check out what the elders are talking about?"

Veila's expression froze when she heard Mia's words. An array of different emotions flashed through her eyes, only for her expression to turn still.

"How can you care so little?" Veila asked silently, refusing to accept the way in which her friend and leader reacted to the death of one of their own.

She refused to accept the way in which Mia reacted to the death of her damned crush and lover!

"I witnessed my entire family getting slaughtered," Mia replied silently, not even bothering to look at her friend's face. "You could say that I lost my ability to grieve back then," she revealed before closing her eyes and tightening her hands.

Then, after taking a deep breath, Mia broke Arthur's order and took a step forward.

'There is no way he rejected me,' she told herself, recalling the few moments during which she could see Arthur's face. And no matter how hesitant she was to admit it, there was no denying the struggle and grief that appeared on his face when he told her to stop. 'He had to have some sort of reason to do it,' she thought, taking another step forward.

And then, she broke through the mental chains she imposed on herself and approached the gathering of the elders with confidence.

"Most of our elders died in this disaster," one of the elders said when Mia finally reached their group. "And while their courage will be forever remembered, we can't ignore the danger that the appearance of this new royal brings."

'What?' Mia stopped in her tracks, stunned by the very first thing she heard after approaching the elders.

'This is going to be a disaster,' Ackhart thought, sending a glance over to where the girl was before moving his eyes back at the highest-ranking elder that remained alive.

And it was someone that Akchart spent quite a long time discussing back in Sangakarts' headquarters!

'Right now, I have no power to stop them from doing whatever they want,' he thought, forcefully suppressing the rage that threatened to come out on his face.

"We can't allow a stray elder like that to roam freely," the Sangakart-affiliated elder continued. "He is a danger to the existing monarchy!" he claimed before clearing his throat and raising his face.

"As such, we have no other choice but to hunt him down!"

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