(Written while listening to: "Run Boy Run" by Woodkid on YouTube)
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Laito stopped stiffly in front of the mesmerizing(quite literally) Matron, his eyes "absent". At least outwardly.
Inwardly he was practically screaming.
'Who was the fuck that came up with this idea of me being the bait!?! I! DON'T! WANNA! BE HERE! That's SO NASTY!'
–
–
'Allright I've calmed down now. My job's kinda over now, just need to stand here and look inconspicuous, hoping that she doesn't recognize me. Oh, she's taking out my "destined" maggot damn…- I feel like puking no joke, look at this thing wiggle! Look how fat-fat it is!' Wowie! Laito wasn't deluding himself for a change. Is that character progress? Doubt it.
In the meantime she forcefully grabbed him by his chin and raised the maggot with obvious purpose. In the place where her skin touched his he felt strong tingle alongside with uncomfortable warmth spreading.
Laito felt time slow around him as additional doses of adrenaline hit his brain.
'Yo. Da fuck is taking them so long…- C'mon! HELLO!' He got slightly concerned at that moment.
The maggot was almost touching his lips.
'HOLY SHIT! TEACHER MARIGOLD! NOW! NOW! TIME IS UP!'
As Laito started to internally panic…- he finally felt the very familiar pull at his back, one that he got familiar with many times during his combat training. Like he was pulled back by a rope attached to his safety harness. Despite the fact that there was no safety harness.
In an instant the image of impending doom-maggot shifted and now…- he was somewhere completely else.
Laito blinked.
"You alright kid?" He heard the half-concerned, half-disinterested voice of Forgemaster Fang.
Laito forced a strained obviously forced smile onto his face. His eye twitched.
"Oh, I'm fiiiiiiiiineee." He responded sarcastically. While checking out on his surroundings.
Reincarnator found himself now back within Incandescent Keep. Below it specifically. It was in the Keep's basement bunkers, where Awakened Gastac was hidden, while he directed the prepared runic defenses. Master Fang on the other hand was here to keep an eye on his safety and whether the runic array core wasn't being damaged or something.
As according to plan: Master Marigold used his space-shifting Ascendant Ability on Laito that worked by swapping his own spatial position with the marked "object" in this scenario that meant Laito.
Of course this ability also had massive restrictions, but flamboyant Fencer wasn't very keen on sharing them with the boy. It was enough to complete the designed task.
Which was to deliver a surprise "presents" onto the enemies hands.
Master Fang responded to Laito
"Welp…- That's great becau-
"-se the main part is gonna start soon…- Or rather right now." But he was interrupted by a series of large explosions and earth-shaking tremors that were coming from the direction of the Incandescent City's centre.
After a moment the distant noise hasn't subsided, instead it only kept increasing in intensity.
"Sooo…- how did the evacuation go?" Laito asked.
Master Fang just shrugged his shoulders.
"I dunno. Hey Gastac! Do you have any idea?" He turned to focused Gatekeeper.
"Bout 89 percent complete lad…- all surviving civs' 're in Keep behind the Gates, only square's kiddos left to grab. Rescue cohorts busy doin it righto as we speak." He answered without turning his gaze away from runes, still focusing on the array's readings.
"Huh, that's good I guess. Any…- more casualties?" Laito asked naively.
"It's war kid. Obviously there are already some and there will be more." Master Fang responded impassionately.
"Figures." Laito acknowledged. "And every person lost…-"
"Yea. Better to avoid that as long as they keep redirecting the curse. It just keeps adding more work to our plate. Let me tell you, we are not going to win in battle of attrition."
—
For a moment there was only silence between them, interfered with only by distant tremors of the battlefield and humming of Essence powering the runes and single "Whoops" that Gatekeeper Gastac let out randomly at some point, without any explanation.
Fang and Laito decided to ignore that.
"Now what?" Laito pondered out loud despite him being well familiar with the plan.
Master Fang just raised an eyebrow at him skeptically, but after a few seconds he spoke as if he had reminded himself of something.
"Actually…- how about you show me that key of yours, hmm?" He asked, suspiciously polite considering his standards.
"Uhmm…- okeyy." Laito had no guts nor any reason to refuse a Master.
He summoned the [Gatekeeper's Key] and handed it to the Forgemaster. Fang took it and squinted, inspecting it under the light.
—
"I… seee." Forgmaster pondered for a moment, then he took out a palm sized portable anvil from his pocket, placed it on the nearby table, put the key on top of the small anvil, and then…- strongly smacked it with a smithing hammer that suddenly appeared in his hands. Everything happened so fast that Laito barely had any moment to react.
"Wai-!" He tried, but failed.
[You have lost a Memory: Gatekeeper's key - basic access] The Spell notified him.
"Whyyyy…-" He wanted to complain.
[You have gained a Memory: Gatekeeper's key - full access] Spell rang again.
"Ohhh! I see. Why though?" Laito realized while swiftly checking the Spell's runes, but the only change he noticed was that in both Memory name and description's the words "basic" were swapped to "full".
Master Fang just lazily waved off the question.
"I guess I'm not going to shirk too much on helping our Lord's chosen."
"What? I am supposed to be Sun God's "chosen?" Laito asked, surprised.
"
"I really hate to say it, but what can I do?" He continued while Laito eyed them with suspicion.
Fang spoke without any enthusiasm:
"Fang and Gastac greet the Child of Weaver…"
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[4 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet