Galaxy Fall: All My Skills Are Maxed-Chapter 180: The Weight Of A Promise
[The Ruined Anaconda Path.]
The dust from the World Boss’s annihilation had barely settled when Hayatobi finished piecing together the chaotic sequence of events. The sheer scale of the destruction was difficult to process, even for an entity of his caliber. After hearing the narrative from Yakima, he finally nodded his head, his brilliant silver eyes analyzing the residual energy signatures staining the gorge:
’So Mirabella saved you guys, and also copied another skill of the devil cult. Not only that, she could use it to its full strength... That must be the first explosion I heard, the second was caused by Delphine.’ The implications were staggering. The Devil Cult’s dark arts were notoriously complex and corrupted; copying them flawlessly required an unfathomable mastery over one’s own soul core. Hayatobi moved his gaze on the people still standing all battered and exhausted, their armor cracked and their stamina bars dangerously low.
’So the devil cult tenth Lord led the attack... And if Mirabella killed him or not is still unknown.’ He sighed, feeling the heavy burden of his position within the Empire. The sudden appearance of a Tenth Lord meant the Cult was mobilizing on a grand scale.
’Seems this group can’t complete this mission anymore. We will have to send the troops over. Well... The king was going to send troops anyway.’ He nodded his head, making up his mind. The Dragon Tooth was simply outclassed by the escalating threat level.
"Ok all of you, pack up. We are heading back, you guys should leave this to troops." Hayatobi commanded with absolute authority. He raised one hand into the sky, tapping into his vast telekinetic ability, and the next moment, the group horses, who knows where the hell they were, ran back towards them, guided by invisible strings of spirit energy.
"...?!"
Hitachi and the group watched in stunned silence. They stared as the heavy transport carriage, which was covered in rocks and sand from the shockwaves, slowly rose into the air, cleaning itself of debris as if brushed by the hands of a ghost, and landed gently in front of them perfectly intact.
"I can take at most five people with me when teleporting, and you guys are more than five. So I will lead you back to the empire safely." He said.
"Thank you, Lord Hayatobi!" The guild members bowed their heads in awe, profound relief washing over them as the horse stopped beside them. Surviving a Cult ambush and a World Boss in one day was more than enough for a lifetime.
"You are here, Teacher... Welcome."
Hayatobi casually looked over his shoulder, his expression unreadable, seeing Mirabella standing some distance from them. Her posture was completely relaxed, lacking a single scratch despite the apocalyptic battles that just occurred.
"....??!!"
Everyone stared at her with a slight frown, their instincts screaming in confusion with a single, terrifying thought in their mind:
’How did she get so close without any of us knowing?!’
To bypass the elite sensory skills of a top-tier guild was one thing, but to slip into the immediate proximity of Lord Hayatobi without triggering his spatial domain was downright impossible.
"Good you’re here. Let’s get going." Hayatobi waved his hand dismissively, choosing not to interrogate her anomalous stealth mechanics right now.
"I don’t think the Princess will want that." Mirabella stared coldly, gesturing to the sleeping princess who was still heavily affected by the bloodline skill’s backlash.
"Why is that?" Hayatobi asked with a slight frown, turning his imposing frame back to Mirabella.
"How would I know? She has a strong will to complete this mission, going back without consulting her will be a headache." She shrugged, her ocean-blue eyes completely indifferent to the political hierarchy.
Hayatobi stared intensely at her, calculating the hidden variables, then looked down at Delphine, and exhaled a long breath: "Ok then, we will wait for some minutes, once she regains consciousness, we continue." He said, yielding his absolute authority for the sake of the royal heir’s wishes.
’Really? He is going to wait? With Lord Hayatobi’s power and influence, even the Princess will have to submit, but he would rather sit down and wait for this little girl’s opinion... Lord Hayatobi is actually considerate.’ Mirabella thought in genuine surprised. In a world ruled by raw power-scaling, such patience from a Pinnacle entity was a rare trait.
’Just like you.’ Cupcake’s telepathic voice sounded suddenly in her head, the familiar projecting a teasing tone.
’You must be mistaken, Cupcake. I don’t care about the princess... But I made a promise to her, and she also gave me something that valuable, of course, I have to say something.’ Mirabella retorted sharply through their soul link, mentally justifying her actions through pure, transactional logic.
’Master, the deal was to protect her--’
’--Shut up, or I will pull out your wings.’ Mirabella snapped instantly, her ruthless aura flaring through the connection, causing Cupcake to trembling in dread, truly scared of getting her ethereal wings violently cut off by her unpredictable master.
’Just return to my sea soul.’ Mirabella snapped her fingers, and Cupcake vanished into light particles.
___
[Half an hour Later.]
The silence of the gorge was tense. Hayatobi stood like a statue, monitoring the royal heir’s vital signs with a growing sense of unease. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
’This is strange... The spirit energy restoration pill is a legendary grade pill. And it still takes this long Just to recover her spirit energy? How much did she consume? And if she consumed everything, won’t it affect her core?’ Hayatobi thought in disbelief, turning his head to briefly glance at Mirabella.
The ’Flameheart Heaven Eye’ was a devastating trump card, but the physiological toll it extracted was borderline suicidal.
’Why would Delphine push herself to this stage? Don’t tell me she was proving herself or something else.’ His instincts warned him that there was a hidden motive.
Finally, Delphine’s eyelids fluttered. Her eyes slowly flustered opened, the divine white glow fully replaced by her natural orange hue. She moved her gaze around the desolate place, staring at the soot-covered faces of her group. She blinked rapidly, her vision clearing and finally seeing Hayatobi towering over her.
"Master Hayatobi?!" She sat up violently, ignoring the screaming protests of her drained muscles, staring at Hayatobi in pure shock.
"It’s good you’re alright, Princess." Austin said in profound relief, his grip on his weapon loosening.
"What? What happened?" she stammered, the memory of the blinding white light still searing her mind.
"Well, you lost consciousness after everything, and we have been here for half an hour now." Aurelia answered gently.
"Oh." Delphine lowered her gaze to the cracked ground, the heavy reality of her vulnerability sinking in, and exhaled: "I am sorry everyone for delaying the journey, we can continue now." She stubbornly stood up, her legs trembling, and turned to the group, expecting them to fall into formation. Instead, she found a wall of hesitation, seeing most of them awkwardly avoiding eye contact with her.
"...What... What is the matter?" She asked in rising confusion, the atmosphere feeling entirely wrong.
Yakima stepped forward, the weight of leadership heavy on her shoulders. She stared at her battered guild members, prioritizing their lives, then looked at Delphine: "I am sorry princess, but my members want to head back."
"Head back? But what about the mission?" Delphine asked, panic instantly spiking in her chest as she turned desperately to Lord Hayatobi for support:
"Yes, I want you all to head back to the castle, your father will send troops over here to investigate." Hayatobi said, his voice carrying the immovable finality of an Imperial decree, staring firmly at her.
"Send troops?! Dad will take a whole week just to assemble them! Not to mention they’ll take another week to arrive at Ragon city!! We have the best chance here! We should continue!" Delphine yelled, completely losing her royal composure, staring at the group before her. The horrifying image of Xavier standing alone in Ragon City for two whole weeks against the Devil Cult flashed in her mind, fueling a desperate, reckless fire.
