Reiyouki Sentai Seitenger

5.4 Eavesdropping

Meanwhile, the gathered energy coming from the petrified humans' hopelessness was pouring down to the still slumbering emperor. Though it was enough to make Emperor Darshao open his eyes and talk to his retainers, it still wasn't enough to make him stand up and move completely.

"What do we expect? It still isn't enough. Our emperor needs more energy coming from those filthy humans' hopelessness." Alvre's disappointment was expressed as she said those words.

Of course, as expected, that news had caused another frustration to the said Tarean leader expressed through growling. But since he was still unable to move properly, the emperor could only do so with his leaking powers enough to cause thunder and lightning to roar and strike around the Fortress of Screams once again.

With a sigh, Karkino faced Macera who was only busy jumping up and down and swinging his flashlight-like arm.

"Macera, are you done recovering your energy?"

"I did, my lord." The Triske Monster bowed as soon as it uttered that reply.

"Then go back to the surface and continue your job. Petrify more humans and make them feel even more hopeless than they ever had in their lives. Not just the humans. End the Seitengers, as well. No excuses!" Karkino ordered with a firm tone that left the Triske Monster no choice but to obey.

With that, Macera left the Emperor's room to proceed with its mission.

However, just like in the previous attack, Orcus could sense that something was about to happen to the Seitengers' growing powers.

"I'd like to see this one for myself one day. Grow stronger, Seitengers and we'll see if you had truly surpassed your predecessors far better than any of your kind had ever done..."

xxxxxx

Erika took a deep breath right after heading out to the garden. Hearing her brother and the others continue to discuss their tactics in defeating Macera had only given her more headache than usual. She should've expected that, though. Besides, she chose to take this path so she might as well learn to deal with this.

But as soon as she stepped outside, she saw Helen still busy reviewing the footage from their last fight. With a sigh, she approached her childhood friend and sat beside her. Helen just smiled at her before continuing the task in front of her.

"Anything unusual?" Erika asked just to break the silence between them.

Helen shook her head without looking at Erika. "None, by far. But I think we could take advantage of the spell you used a while back with the help of Eichirou-san's ice spell." Soon after, however, Helen stopped typing on her laptop and eyed her friend with a frown. "I thought you guys were discussing your next counter attacks to defeat Macera."

"I have to stay away from them for now. I had enough issues about Triske Monsters and tried to come up with a way to defeat them. Let's just say I need to take a breather."

Helen just smiled at Erika's way of trying to lighten up things around them despite the obvious tension because of Macera's time limit. At that point, she was able to discern what was truly wrong with her friend. "Is there something you want us to talk about? Other than the Triske Monster?"

Erika eyed the novelist before nodding somberly. "How did you know?"

"I just... know. We might not have the longest time to be together, but I was still able to figure out a lot of things about you." Helen sighed before continuing. "So what do you want to talk to me about?"

It took Erika a while to finally speak. But Helen remained patient in waiting. The latter was aware that the pianist wanted to be ready. Erika sighed after a few more moments of silence between her and Helen.

"You went to the Four Clubs Building yesterday, right?"

Helen nodded almost immediately, without hesitation. "Yeah, I did. Not just yesterday, but the other day, as well."

"Was it about the painting that was there? The one that previously belonged to Mariko-san?"

Once again, the novelist nodded. "How did you know?"

"The painting that was displayed there... looked similar to the vision that I had before the fire ten years ago. Once in a while, I keep going there to look at it, hoping that it would provide some answer as to why I keep dreaming about it before," Erika explained.

"But no answer showed, huh?"

Erika nodded and sighed heavily. "What about you? Why did you go there to see it?"

It took a while for Helen to provide an answer since she was still busy replaying the footage. "Just like you, I was hoping it will give some sort of sign or answer. But my reason wasn't about a vision or anything. It's about one of Professor's research a long time ago."

"Research?"

"About... the first Seitengers... and the priestess that they were tasked to protect at the time 5,000 years ago."

Of course, Erika wasn't expecting such information at all. Then again, she was still new to these things so it was natural. "There was a priestess that they had to protect?"

Helen nodded. "When the Professor first told me about that, I thought of it as a mere fairytale. Until he told me of the Celestial Five Lights stored within a single vessel. And that's her, regarded as the most powerful maiden of her time. Her powers alone could defeat a great army of Tareans and could even deal with the Seven Great Shadow Defenders."

"Wow... I didn't know there was someone like that fighting the Tareans before."

"There was more to that story, I know it. But the Professor didn't mention much about it to me since he said that every record about her was scarce."

What the two girls didn't know was that Eichirou had been listening to them the entire time. He just arrived from his talk with Haruna regarding his plans for the exhibit, which didn't turn out quite well, much to his dismay.

For some reason, he was able to hide his presence from the two girls whom he knew could detect Hasureiki and even some magical presence faster than he and the other Vessels could. It was then that he was able to realize the answer to his earlier question about the painting.

'Was that the story of the painting that Mom received before? Could that woman be the priestess that Helen-chan and Eri-chan are talking about?'

Eichirou could only shake his head to try to clear his thoughts. His realization only led to more questions rising with regards to what they were fighting for.

'Why would Mom allow that painting to be displayed there anyway?'