Chapter 704: Life Trade

Layla reached out toward the star in front of her, and a tattoo started crawling over her arm. This astral being was living atop a planet, and it was the closest one to her location. However, the blessing it granted her was befitting of her.

"I am the Steel Giant, Hadin," said the voice in her mind. "Your unbreakable will is enough to make you a friend of mine. I will watch over you and grant you my blessing when needed."

"Thank you, great one," said Layla before her consciousness started gravitating toward earth again. It felt like she was falling from a great height, and it lasted a moment and countless years. In the end, she snapped her eyes open to the blue sky of Ilios.

"This one woke up," said a voice above her. Layla turned around to see a man looking at her with apathy. He wore shining armor and had the sun mark engraved on his chest. "Are you still sane?"

"As far as sanity goes," replied Layla while pushing the ground. "I pa.s.sed the trial?"

"You wouldn"t be here if otherwise," said the holy knight as he looked through a list he had. "You are Layla… Mantra? Are you related to…?"

"I am; this is the blessing."

Layla interrupted him and took off her wrist guard. A silver tattoo was engraved over her arm, but Layla was far from admiring it. Instead, she looked around the other side of the gate. It was gra.s.sland with several Holy Knights looking at the corpses of people who will never wake up.

"A Great Blessing!" shouted the Holy Knight with excitement as he jotted the color and size of her tattoo. "As expected from someone related to the great Mantra. This will be a great addition to our…."

"Someone is missing," said Layla with confusion. The knight was stunned and looked around, did a quick count, and then looked back at his list. "A woman should also be here, but I can"t see her."

"You are the last one to arrive, and no one else exists. The count is complete. The trial ended a few hours ago, and the corpses inside it were thrown outside the gate. Fifty persons in total, two-thirds dead."

"She was not one of the partic.i.p.ants, but she was there. No, check again. Someone must have taken her elsewhere."

"The trial will never allow more than fifty entries, so this is impossible. However, even if such a person exists, it means they are still inside." The knight seemed upset. "There is no one but the Holy Knights here, so don"t throw accusations. You must have hallucinated her existence due to the lack of spiritual energy."

Layla bit her lips in frustration as she looked at every face to no avail. Ai was nowhere to be seen. Finally, she started worrying and jumped from her spot to rush toward the gate.

"Whoa, stop! What are you doing?!" shouted the Holy Knight as Layla grazed past him and slashed with her sword. The sword broke, and half a blade flew away from her hand. The rest who pa.s.sed the trial looked at the commotion with a frown, thinking she had gone crazy.

Layla threw away the sword and tried to push the gate open. It wouldn"t budge, so she unleashed her spiritual energy. The aura that exploded from her forced the Holy Knight back, who was about to grab her.

The rest of the knights were surprised by her aura and some of those who pa.s.sed the trial fainted. Layla directed all of her spiritual energy into the gate, but it didn"t open, nor was there a connection.

"Open, dammit!" shouted the warrior as she banged on the gate, time after time. "I will not leave this place until you open it for me! Get her out of there!"

"There is no one else!" shouted the Holy Knight as he was about to stop her, but someone grabbed his shoulder. It was a small man with dark hair and eyes. "Captain… This woman is causing a scene…."

"Not even an Astra-ranker can make a dent in this gate, so why bother stopping her? She will snap out of it soon. Since we gathered all of them, take the rest and return to the capital."

"Then, this woman…."

"I will bring her back."

The Holy Knight nodded and rushed to gather the rest. Even while the rest boarded the carriages, Layla kept banging on the gate while exhausting tremendous spiritual energy. As for the young captain, he sat down behind her and watched quietly.

It took thirty minutes for her to exhaust her strength and fall. During that time, the Holy Knights and the survivors returned to the capital. As for the captain, he remained sitting quietly.

"You"ve grown stronger, Layla," said the captain while staring at her. "Are you calm enough to talk?" asked the captain.

"f.u.c.k off," spat Layla while she was huffing on the ground. "I have no words to an ungrateful dog. Leave before I regain my strength."

"Your mouth is just as indecent as before," said the captain as he walked toward her. "Don"t dare insult me in front of my men. I won"t be forgiving then." The captain stood above her. Layla looked at her before she spat on his legs. "Stop being a child."

"This is the most I can do with my current strength. As soon as I grow stronger, I"ll kill you," Layla said as a matter of fact. The man didn"t seem bothered or surprised by her killing intent. Instead, he smiled.

"Do you think that would free him from prison or stop the execution?" asked the captain as he took out a handkerchief and wiped the spit off his boots. "It is inevitable after what he did. He went against the sacred oath, and he knew the consequences."

"Excuses, excuses. I will save him using my strength, so step out of the way."

"And how is attacking the gate going to accomplish that?" asked the captain as he stared at the gate. "Who are you looking for, exactly? We have all the partic.i.p.ants; no one else should be here."

"It was just a dream," said Layla, but the man didn"t look convinced. "Leave me alone. I will go back to the city after I"m done resting."

"I will escort you. It might be dangerous to go back alone."

"Don"t treat me as if we are still family, Lyle. The moment you betrayed grandfather, you stopped being a Mantra."

"I am a knight before being anything else," said Lyle while staring at the gate. "I wanted to accomplish my duty by bringing you back, but that seems unnecessary now."

Lyle turned away and left. As for Layla, she sat up and stared at the gate. She then glanced at the departing Lyle with rage, but he soon disappeared down the hill.

"Is that your family?" asked a voice from the gate, and Layle snapped her neck toward it. Then, in front of her eyes, Ai came out from the gate looking unharmed. "I"m sorry for not coming out earlier, but I didn"t want them to see me."

"…you… how did that…."

"The astral being who brought me back asked me for a favor, so I asked him for a favor back. I realized that these knights shouldn"t see me since it seems they work for the ruler of this land."

"You pa.s.sed the trial?" asked Layla while shakily standing up. Ai waved her hand, which had a golden tattooed circle. "Ai!" shouted Layla with joy as she rushed to hug the woman, who stiffened like a wooden plank. "I"m so glad you are here. I"m so glad."

"I… I understand, so please let me breathe." Ai tried to struggle free, seeming self-conscious about her veil. Layla let go with embarra.s.sment, although she was still etching to hug the small body of the healer. "I"m sorry for not coming out earlier. I felt like that man could see me."

"You did good hiding away from him since he"s an obedient dog of the emperor," said Layla with relief. "However, how long have you been here?"

"I arrived moments after you did and enjoyed watching you get all worked up for my sake, hehe," the healer laughed, which made Layla blush.

"You had a s.a.d.i.s.tic side too, huh?"

"Just enough to enjoy being cared for. In any case, who is that man? Is he a family member of yours?"

"He was until he betrayed the man who raised the both of us," said Layle as her smile disappeared. "When the emperor imprisoned him, Lyle was the one to arrest grandfather."

"Is he that loyal?" wondered Ai aloud. "Let us return to the city since we need to stop the execution. You said they should begin in a few days. After that, we need to start planning."

"The first plan is to talk to the emperor directly. The Holy Knights serve him without hesitation, and the emperor grants them a wish in return. It is called Life Trade because you give your life for a wish."