Gate Guardian - Tale of the Blazing Heart

Phase 45: An Invitation

Phase 45: An Invitation

[Blazing Heart Haven – Heightsburg City]

[8:05 AM]

The moment the white-haired girl dashed to Mia, I used my <Timelock> to block the blue glowing scythe attached to her left wrist. When I dispelled my ability, she proceeded with her right scythe, which I immediately blocked thanks to my reflexes.

The white haired girl exerted more force to her glowing scythes while I push her further. She's small, but unbelievably stronger than me! But something's not right with her.

Her left shoulder is bleeding. Because of that injury, her strength was easily drawn away, so I managed to push her back until there's no way she could slip past me. Mia jumped back and pointed the tip of her staff to the girl.

"Fireball-!!!"

Swook!

The staff went flying into the thin air, making a 1440 backflip before landing to the ground. Who deflected it?

"Stop this at once."

"E-Erylle!?"

The blonde sylph sleazily walked towards me and tapped my shoulders, and she smiled. I know she's telling me to put my shield down, wordlessly...

"B-But..."

"It's okay~"

I did what she wanted me to do. When I reverted my shield back to a cylinder, the white haired woman fell on her knees, unable to look up at us. She just stared at the floor, her eyes about to give tears. Erylle then petted the white hair of the girl and turned to us.

"Skye is not a traitor. I've already checked her heart."

<>

Just before the breakfast, Erylle held a meeting about Skye. According to her, she was falsely accused, so she made a way to get out of the Underground Prison in the Black Cross. She wandered city by city, having no food to eat and place to rest. What came worse is that she was almost killed by a Black Cross Guardian before she got here last night. She's currently being hunted by Guardians.

It's a miracle that she ended up into an understanding Legion like the Blazing Heart.

There was a second issue. This morning, Asumi found a letter on the door, and it was for Skye. It came from the Black Cross, and it says "You must go into the Berwig Dome, alone."

That may be a way to confront Skye peacefully, though she might have a death sentence coming up if she goes unprepared.

"We will have to convince the Black Cross that Skye is innocent. Skye will be left here on our haven, and we will not give them to the Black Cross if they will not hear us out."

That was Erylle's decision. She always comes up with the best decision, so no one objected.

<>

"S-So why am I here with you again?"

I asked Erylle, being slightly irritated. I recently noticed that she's been tagging along with me. Well, I still have feelings for her but something's weird about her... And it doesn't feel right.

"You're the only one who knows where this Berwig Dome is!" Erylle said.

"So why am I with you?"

"It's the Legion Master's job to talk to the Black Cross regarding Skye's issue!"

"So why are we alone?"

"We don't need to bring all of them here! Besides, we must watch over Skye."

"So why-"

"STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!!! IT'S AN ORDER FROM YOUR LEGION MASTER!!!"

Makes sense... She has a reason after all... Yeah I know where this Berwig Dome. It's just a few meters behind the road in my dormitory, near a bankrupt bakery. I haven't entered it in any way; it's just there are guards that prevent any person to come inside.

Weirdly enough, there are no guards this time.

This is just an abandoned military mansion. It's wide, maybe eight hundred square meters, and it's a two story. Some of its old glass windows seem to be smashed a long time ago, and the brown bricks make an assumption that this place might go down any time. I won't be surprised if we found an Eidolon inside.

Surprisingly, the gate and front door are opened. It looks like someone's expecting us to go inside.

Just after the door opened, a long oval table with red sheets was there, with seven wooden seats on the left, and six on the right.

"...Not a haunted house again." I groaned.

Then Erylle grabbed my right arm and squeezed it with a cuddle. I glanced at her with a suspicious glare.

"You wouldn't mind if I do this again, right~"

Blush. Sigh. Flirting is her specialty, I give her that. Since I became a Guardian, she would stick her nose to me, most of the time. She would tease me three times an hour and then becomes sweet when we're alone. That's the Fontaine Flirting Technique.

"H-Hey...Why did you say something like that?"

"Huh?"

"N-Nothing! Let's search this place!"

We started to search the whole ground floor. There are rooms and wide halls but nothing's there. Just emptiness. Even the wooden closets, drawer and other rooms are empty. I haven't seen anything extraordinary here.

It's not as creepy as in the Red Mansion, since it is broad daylight and we're not on the Transfield. This place just looks old.

There is a meter-hole in the thick brick wall beside the wide hall. There is some kind of machinery inside when I tried to peep, so I decided to squeeze through the hole and go inside. At first it's my head, shoulder, then my feet. My butt got slightly stuck but I managed to go in.

As I thought, the machinery is still on. It still makes a silent water pressure sound. It's a kind of a water pump. So this means this place is still not abandoned.

"K-Kya!" Erylle's voice echoed throughout the compound.