The Golden Apple (7)
Aster glanced back and forth between the spear and shield.
He wasn't sure if Renzo had abandoned them or simply forgotten them.
'Could he really forget such massive weapons?' Aster wondered. 'But then again, it is Renzo we're talking about.'
“...I should return these.”
Aster had no idea where Renzo had gone.
But he had just stopped him from going to Frondier and fought him.
“...Let’s go. To the Western Continent.”
Aster made up his mind to head for Agoris.
He suppressed his trembling legs and took a deep breath.
Dier's words, spoken while they were together, came to mind.
─“If there's something else here that we can only find out about here, then it wouldn't be a good idea for us to go to Agoris.”
‘That Dier, he's really something else. No wonder Frondier likes him.’
Dier had noticed. He had sensed that Marco secretly wanted Aster to head to Agoris.
That's why Dier had speculated that even if the war was taking place in Agoris, there was something that could only be found on the Falind Continent.
That something was this, the involvement that occurred when those with divine power were frozen.
Thanks to Dier's observation, Aster was able to stay in the Empire. Zodiac Ludovic had been defeated, and Renzo's power had been cut in half.
“That’s right, Ludovic.”
Aster remembered and turned his head.
Ludovic had been hit by Renzo and sent flying into a rock. He wasn't really dead, was he?
Thump, thump, Aster walked over to where Ludovic had fallen.
He was momentarily tense, but as he got closer, he saw that Ludovic was still breathing steadily.
‘His bleeding seems to have stopped too. Is he unconscious?’
As expected of a Zodiac. He wouldn't die from something like that.
Besides, there were signs of healing. It was probably the work of the God Apollo.
“Gods are truly incomprehensible.”
Did they like humans or hate them?
Did they want to be hated, or loved?
‘I was wondering how he was unconscious even though he was possessed, but it wasn’t that he was unconscious, but that he was no longer possessed.’
When Apollo possessed Ludovic, Ludovic's consciousness must have fallen asleep.
So when Apollo left his body, Ludovic remained asleep.
‘The gods are just using human bodies anyway, so they don’t want to possess them beyond their limits.’
Anyway, he had learned something good.
Just because someone was possessed didn’t mean they would be turned into a wreck.
He didn't know if this was the thinking of all gods, or just Apollo.
“I can’t stop all the possessed Zodiacs. Most of them are probably already headed west.”
With that in mind, it was right for Aster to head to Agoris.
It would be better to leave the situation in the Empire to the others. It wasn’t just the Zodiacs who possessed divine power, so the Empire was probably in quite a bit of turmoil right now.
His body still ached, but he was now able to move.
Aster suddenly looked down at Excalibur.
It was largely thanks to Excalibur that he was able to move again so quickly.
The Lady of the Lake, Nimue, had said:
─“Excalibur allows its user to have near-infinite Mana, but it doesn't replenish stamina or mental strength. It's easy to mistake your condition for being at its peak because of the never-ending Mana, but your body has already been pushed enough. If you let go of Excalibur now, the backlash from your exhausted body will hit you all at once.”
Aster had good self-healing abilities due to his innate talent, and on top of that, Excalibur recharged his Mana, keeping his condition up.
But recovering from damage was up to him. He had to be careful not to get carried away.
“Yes, I'll be careful. I won't overdo it.”
Aster spoke to Excalibur, who couldn't answer.
“Let’s go.”
Aster leaped lightly.
He didn't forget to pick up the spear and shield on his way.
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