Chapter 1170: Courting Insanity
[Years Later]
"We've been at this for some time now, Legris, and it's getting old."
All three members of the group stood amidst a similarly distraught expanse, with corpses and destruction trailing the landscape for miles.
Stefan anf Ciel had been waiting for Legris, and he just appeared from his black portal, a smile fixed on his face and the light fragment in his grasp
He had almost opened his mouth to speak before being interrupted by the only female in their midst, and harshly for that matter.
Ciel was currently seated on shimmering golden surface, semingly made out of Magic. She no longer had her white veil on, and her outfit now comprised of golden embroidery that went with her white gown and scarf, but she appeared as divine as ever.
A scowl tainted her flawless face, and her golden eyes seemed to brighten in annoyance. She was clearly not in the best of moods.
"When will we have enough to bring my lover back?" She finally blurted out the words that she had been keeping in for years now.
The deal was that she would help Legris with his task, and in return he would reunite her with her lover. Ciel had joyously decided to ally herself with this man for that sole reason.
Yet... yet...
"We've been on this hunt of yours for years now. When does it end?" Ciel's voice grew louder with each passing second.
In contrast, Stefan remained silent. His dark hair simply danced with the wind, and he looked nonchalantly at the entire scene play out without trying to stop his teammates from getting into an argument.
"Relax..." Legris' soothing tone pierced the air, softening the loud echoes of Ciel's banter.
Suddenly, it felt like the heated atmosphere took a dive into chilly waters.
"It will all happen in due time. About a dozen more times, maybe, and we can move on to the next phase. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?"
"I don't know if I can wait that long?" Ciel snapped at Legris, her tone taking on a higher pitch than before.
It caused Legris to sigh, almost in exasperation.
'Ciel is an unstable character, and while I could resort to my initial plan of controlling her, thus removing her agency, she won't be as powerful as she is on her own.'
Plus, going through all that trouble would take up more energy than he wanted, and he didn't want that.
As a result, Legris had to put up with Ciel'a bantering, hoping she would cease her childish tantrums so they could depart.
"Why don't you just challenege a Constellation?"
The sudden words from Stefan stunned both Legris and Ciel—though for different reasons— causing both of them to shift their gazes in his direction.
"Are you crazy? Do you think we can handle one? We constantly even—"
"No, Stefan has a point." Legris cut Ciel short with his as he slowly approached the young man before him.
Unlike the teenager from before, Stefan had grown into a fine adult, with broader shoulders, a taller build, and even longer hair.
His blue eyes no longer had the embers of innocence he preserved in the past, and his stoic face was reminiscent of a doll.
Legris placed his hand on Stefan's shoulder and nodded.
"You must be courting insanity, the both ot you!" Ciel protested.
"Look who's talking. Pfft!" It seemed Legris' teasing words were enough to force Ciel to keep quiet, at the very least for a proper comeback against the team leader.
Unfortunately for her, she had nothing.
"I understand your concerns, Ciel. For the most part, you are correct. However..." A glint of mischief played in his eyes as he grinned maliciously.
"... I have a few tricks up my sleeve."
For a moment, the entire scene was bathed in silence, allowing Legris' words to sink into his audience.
"Well, we need to go now. Even if I say all of that, we're curently not a match for Constellations yet, so let's postpone the fight, okay Stefan?"
"Okay."
Stefan's simple answer was accompanied by Ciel's incoherent mumblings as she drew closer to Legris in her floating golden construct.
With all three of them close in proximity, darkness began to seep out of Legris.
'The barrier is almost compromised. It's fortunate we didn't take too long fighting and squabbling...' Legris smiled, watching the darkness expand to cover himself and his two allies.
'After all, our targets are their chosen ones.'
Throughout the years, across several worlds, he had been busy collecting the pieces. He would fight the Constellation Hosts, dealing with a variety of very troublesome abilities.
Even though they were merely limited versions of an actual Constellation's Magic, Legris admitted his first few times had him requiring assistance.
Fortunately, things were a lot better now.
'Much better.'
"I still can't get used to this..." He heard Ciel mumble as she and Stefan were swallowed by his darkness.
He could only smile, considering this was the only way to protect himself and his allies from the reach of the Constellations.
... By bringing them into his world.
'I just have to endure all of this for a bit longer...' Once he had those thoughts, he closed his eyes and opened his mouth to chuckle a little.
"Haha... hahaha..."
~VWUUUUUUMMMM~
The darkness collapsed, and the malevolent trio soon escaped the grasp of reality, their true destination unknown.
At least, for now.
*******
~VWUUUUUUUSSSHHHH!~
My allies an I arrived at the replaced world that Neron put in the original's place, and now that I was here for a second time, I noticed the slight differences in wavelength they both had.
It was almost hilarious how I had mixed the two together.
"Well, what matters is that we're here." I turned to look at all thirteen of my allies, nodding at them with a smile.
"The first task is to track down Legris by narrowing down the traces he left here before leaving."
They all understood what came after.
"Let us begin."
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading, everyone!
Do you think Legris and his team have any chance of beating Jared and his team, and vice versa?
Let me know in the comments.