Reiyouki Sentai Seitenger

6.3 Another Attempt

The training ended in another half an hour and the four Vessels left in the mansion had exhausted their Hasureiki because of the intensity of the task that Helen had set for them. To be honest, all of them were surprised that Helen could cast high-level illusions like that without tiring herself. But they mostly attributed it to the fact that Helen trained longer than them. Not to mention, it was the topic that Helen had studied deeply, for some reason.

But it wasn’t the intense training that occupied their minds at the moment. After heaving a deep sigh, Misae faced Helen who was busy casting a rune circle beneath the tired Vessels.

“Helen-chan, are you sure you’re fine?”

That question only made the novelist frown, though. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, about the way Itsuki-kun is treating you. Whether we know the reason or not, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s hostile to you.”

Helen chuckled. “Misae-san, ‘hostile’ is too much of a word for you to use just to describe his attitude.”

“Helen-chan…”

“He has his reasons, and it seems like it’s something he had to deal with by himself for now.”

The Vessels couldn’t believe that Helen would respond to the issue so calmly.

“Are you sure you’re still in your right senses, Helen?” Shuichi spoke this time. “We couldn’t even breathe at the tension that always formed whenever you and Itsuki were in the same room. I know that guy can be cold or indifferent to some people. But not something like this that’s coupled with such thick tension.”

“It’s hard to stay in the same room as the two of you whenever that happens,” Eichirou added and the girls nodded in agreement.

But only a resigned sigh escaped Helen’s lips and smiled sadly. “There’s nothing I can do if Itsuki-san really doesn’t like me in any way at all. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do my job as a Vessel Support.”

“But this is really unusual for Onii-chan and I’m not liking it at all,” Erika said, her voice filled with concern.

It was around that time that the rune circle beneath the four Vessels disappeared and Helen sat on one of the stools.

“There has to be a reason why Onii-chan would treat you like that.”

“Maybe there were a lot of things going on in his mind. You’ll never know,” Helen said and shrugged before holding one of Erika’s hands. “Right now, you have to worry more about getting stronger. The Triske Monsters you’ve been dealing with are getting stronger. And to think you’ve only just begun training and fighting. Even if you did succeed in awakening two Elemental Guides, it would also pose a threat to the Tareans. It would only make them even more eager to end you all and proceed to their plans of taking over the world.”

As much as Erika wanted to retort, she and the other Vessels knew that Helen had a point. Even when the novelist said that she didn’t have to worry too much, she couldn’t help but continue worrying.

At one point, she knew she had to do something about it.

‘Asking Onii-chan about it isn’t a good idea, and I know that. But he has to tell me his reasons or this tension won’t go away.’

With that thought, Erika had settled on what to do. But she had to do it without Helen knowing about the confrontation that she was about to do to her older brother.

xxxxxx

Thunders and lightning in the Tareus Dimension continued to roar and cackle around the fortress. Then again, it was a given that such an atmosphere happened to be conjured. But this time, it wasn’t Emperor Darshao who was doing it in his slumber.

The five Great Shadow Defenders vented out their frustrations by trying to blast the ceiling of the Throne Room, but to no avail. It was a magical fortress, after all. They could throw their strongest attacks to the ceiling and it would just stay there, unbothered with all the chaos. This was done when the fortress was first built, since it was capable of sealing the emperor’s strongest attacks whenever he would vent out his anger for failed missions or just about anything that vexed him.

“This is ridiculous!” Alvre screamed and threw a ball of dark energy to the ceiling. “This soon! How could they have awakened two of the Elemental Guides this soon? This has never happened before!”

“Yes, this is ridiculous. But it already happened. None of us had expected any of this to happen. Those kids are not like their predecessors,” Siriso stated as he, too, had thrown his attacks to the ceiling.

Soon after, more lightning crackled and thunder roared louder than ever. But none of them cared. They needed to vent out their frustrations on something. But it didn’t take long before Karkino noticed something. He then turned to the scholar who was calmly throwing beam shots to the ceiling, but not in the same manner as Alvre and Siriso did.

“You sure are calm about this, Orcus,” the commander commented.

It soon caught the attention of the assassin and the general. But Orcus paid no mind to them. He focused on throwing his beam shots instead. That is, until they noticed something else.

“It seems you’re trying to create more cracks in the surface world,” Siriso said.

“It’s a long shot with just my powers alone. But let’s worry about what I’m doing later. It will take time before any of us Great Shadow Defenders could even get out of here.”

“How come you’re not even surprised about all that has happened?” Alvre ended up asking, feeling fed up at the lack of reaction and emotion on Orcus.

But Orcus didn’t answer. He soon pulled out a black scroll from his robe and spread it out. Moments later, it glowed before summoning a purplish black rune circle and in it came a Triske Monster. This one was a cross between a lyre and a griffin.

“You called for me, Master?” the monster asked and bowed to Orcus.

“Do as you’re usually asked to. Gather more energy from hopelessness and despair. We need them for the emperor.”

“As you wish, Master.”

“And also…” At this point, Orcus trailed off and looked at one of the cracks that he ended up creating on that enchanted ceiling. The smirk on his face soon caught Nemia’s attention. “Don’t forget to defeat the Seitengers. But focus on the green one first. Take him out and kill him first before you deal with the rest.”

The Triske Monster bowed once again before leaving the Throne Room. After that, Orcus continued firing beam shots on the exact spot he was firing at earlier.

The others couldn’t understand what had transpired other than the fact that Orcus chose to do the job this time. But Nemia heard the scholar’s orders to the Triske Monster. From there, she had an idea on the reason why Orcus decided to take a shot in defeating the Seitengers this time.