640 A Mysterious Hall [2]

Varian rubbed his forehead and looked at the wings with a disillusioned gaze.

It was only the successor of Heaven's Will. Since devas kicked the bucket, Heaven's Will must also be near dead.

So, it didn't train its 'successor.'

"…How did you survive for so long?" Varian asked after a moment of hesitation.

"…Long? It's only 500, to be precise, 520 years since I woke up." The wings flapped again and titled to the left as if questioning his choice of words.

'Woke up at Blink, huh.' Varian was inwardly surprised. But mulling over, it made sense.

There must be some sort of mechanism activated when the aura was released back.

Besides, only 500 years…

'I forgot. It isn't a lifeform. But Heaven's Will.' Varian clicked his tongue and observed the pair of smooth, exquisite wings.

No matter how much he tried, they only looked like a pair of cute wings and nothing as grand as Heaven's Will.

Varian shook his head and smiled at the Cutey wings. "You saved my life earlier. Thank you."

"Eh? Eh!!!" The golden wings suddenly turned pink and with a whoosh, dashed into the room with great speed.

"Scion thanked me! Hoho! Haha! Scion thanked me!" The wings jumped in the air, flapped while being upside down, and did a lot of other stupid stuff.

"…" Varian shook his head and reached his hand for the central altar.

The situation was urgent. The reason he talked to the wings was in hopes that it would say 'yes' to destroying the abyssals. If it could do that, he could request it to keep Sia safe.

For such a powerful Heaven's Will, this must be an easy task.

But…

'I need to hurry up.' Varian's bracelet was about to touch the altar when he felt something stopping him.

Looking on, it was the wings.

"What are you doing?" Varian asked in confusion.

"S-Scion! This is a vile entity. If you continue what you're doing, the altar won't be able to control it anywhere except this one room!" The wings' voice was desperate and it seemed genuinely concerned.

"I know." Varian nodded.

"Then why…"

"Trust me, little one. I tamed this thing. Now, it can only listen to me." Varian said with such confidence that even System started to wonder if it was true.

"Really?" The wings folded and asked in a curious and cute voice.

"Really," Varian said with the smile of a bad uncle who could deceive innocent children.

"Eh. Hehehe." The wings stopped obstructing him as its laughter reverberated in the hall.

[Host, you can pacify Boo as well as this little thing. Please tell this system, when it wasn't looking, did you do lure innocent childre—]

'Staph!' Varian raised his hands and said. 'We went back to Sia's orphanage a couple of times and I had to pacify the children. That's all. Stop your stupid and dangerous imagination, ya hear?'

[…The System shall believe you.]

Varian finally smiled.

[For now.]

His face stiffened and he banged the altar.

Boom!

The dragon bracelet on his wrist shone and a blinding light enveloped the room. Varian closed his eyes instinctively.

Whoosh! Kacha!

A fierce wind blew and the cracking sounds were crystal clear.

Varian cracked his eyelids open and saw that the altar had lost something. He couldn't put a finger on what, but it no longer felt majestic like before.

"Woah! Scion! Scion! Awesome!" The wings flapped around him and chirped.

Varian smiled lightly but his eyes weren't smiling.

'Why aren't my powers back yet?' Varian asked.

[There is another seal here. It is the one that restricts the levels. The altar on the left.]

'The black altar?'

[Yes.]

'Say I turn it off, what next? How do I get out of this place?'

[There is a direct path from the prince's throne hall to the prison. It's a way for the prince to visit his 'dear' guests every now and then. But to travel on that path, you need your powers.]

'I see.' Varian walked to the altar which had a palm imprint. 'How do I turn this off?'

[You can't.]

'Hm?'

[Not by yourself.]

Varian raised a brow and beckoned to the wings.

"Scion~ Do you want to pat me again? Go ahead~ I won't reject. I was bored out of my mind for five hundred years, you know? There's nothing here. Boring. Booring. Booooring!"

The wings in front of him flapped erratically as if throwing a tantrum.

Varian smiled wryly. Perhaps, according to its lifespan, it was still a child. At least, that's how he felt. And children were always wilful.

"There, there." Varian caressed the wings lightly as if carefully touching a delicate flower petal.

The wings shivered at his touch and giggled. "Hehe."

Varian's hand stiffened.

'Boo…'

Boo enjoyed his pats and smiled like this as well. Even though it's been only around two weeks, Varian began to miss his stupid ghost.

"Scion?" The wings tilted upward as if looking at him in confusion.

"You see, I have some very important work to do. For that, I need my divine path powers. So, I need to turn off this altar. Can you help me?" Varian asked for help in a sincere tone.

"B-But this altar is responsible for suppressing levels in prince's hall, emperor's hall. And it's also how the prison on the upper floor can restrict the divine paths of all prisoners. Oh, and it does a lot of restriction duties. It's really, really important!"

Varian raised a brow.

The altar was more important than he thought. He needed to tread carefully.

"Can you just turn it off in the prison?" Varian requested.

"B-But the law book states…" the wings stuttered.

Even though it's still a trainee, it couldn't just break the rules, you know?

"There's no one in prison except me. So, you won't really be breaking any rules. It's alright. Our lawbooks even updated about this." Varian patted his chest and said.

The wings fell silent. 

It was still young, but it knew the altar was important.

However, it also knew that Scion was the most important.

So, it fell into a dilemma.

"…really?" the innocent wings asked in a hopeful voice.

"Really! Why would your Scion lie to you?" Varian lied shamelessly.

"…A-Alright." The wings shook up and down as if nodding. Then, it reached the altar. "I will change the prison settings, but to do that, I'll need to turn the whole thing off for a moment. Then, everything will be back to normal except for the prison."

Varian nodded in understanding.

However, he misunderstood how long this 'moment' was.

Whoosh!'

As a result, when a black light enveloped the hall and the altar turned off for a 'moment', a drastic change occurred in the prince's hall.