Embrace The Ether 38 An Unprecedented Confrontation

"Master, welcome…" Elias murmured out through choked breaths. Perhaps out of everyone here, only Elias and Droh truly knew just how terrifying Rol'an could be to those who failed him.

"Haah," Rol'an whispered through cracked lips as he slowly approached Elias. A shade of mist seemed to follow his movements as if draping him in an extra cloak of smoke. "Elias…"

Rol'an paused momentarily as he arrived in front. "You used my spear to kill that centipede, I can sense it… such destruction permeates the air."

"Yes…" Elias replied with only a single word as he felt a terrible pressure envelope him. Atra, who was kneeling next to Elias, could also feel this pressure, but it wasn't to the same degree. The weight seemed innumerable as Rol'an brought his sight crashing down onto his second-in-command.

"Explain something though… why come you're here, and not over there?" Rol'an lifted his razored finger up, aiming it beyond the tower.

"M-my ship has been destroyed somehow… it was an unprecedented situation, there was nothing I could do…" Elias explained as his forehead planted itself firmly against the black sand. He wasn't brave enough to lift his head, not even by an inch.

"Oh, so that's how it is…" Rol'an replied in kind, his voice shallow yet overwhelming. As if there was hidden intent buried beneath. "I'll deal with you in a moment… but before that, could you perhaps tell me where my dear Droh is?"

Rol'an lifted his head as his gaze fell upon the rest of the clansmen, who could only freeze and shake in place. "My dear, precious Droh… where would he be?"

"G-great master, I can help you, if you'd allow me!" A shaken voice called out from the back of the group, drawing Rol'an's and his royal guard's attention.

"Oh?"

Pushing past many of the terrified clansmen, Mercer revealed himself. He appeared covered in sweat and dirt, making for an odd picture. "I've kept my eyes locked on the one you're looking for throughout this mission… I would've informed you about him beforehand, but Mister Elias suppressed me, using physical force even to exert power."

Elias shivered as his face rose into the air, glaring at Mercer, revealing a gaze that had been beyond ugly—true disgust.

"Eeek!" Mercer backed away as he witnessed this, practically falling into the sand. Rol'an stepped in between, blocking Elias's view as all his second-in-command could see now was his violet robes.

Elias felt abandoned. To the deepest depths of his heart, he was alone. Mercer, a man whom he had lifted out of debt and given strength to, had betrayed him for the mere chance at power. Not even hesitating to toss him and Droh aside, the move of a true coward.

"Well then… it seems you and Elias have some… issues to work through. However, now is not the time to entertain that," Rol'an spoke, quieting everyone's thoughts instantly. "So, whoever you are... tell me, where is my precious Droh?"

Everyone's attention fell onto Mercer as Rol'an asked him. The weight of his words weighed the soldier down as he felt like crawling into a hole and hiding.

"Hah," Mercer exhaled out as he took a pause, trying to collect himself. He gave a quick glance around, his main target was where Deus and Droh had previously been moments ago.

"What!" He shouted out, to his own surprise. Rol'an began to frown as his skeletal form started to radiate pressure. "I don't like to be delayed… human. Don't you dare think of hustling me…"

"Ah, never!" Mercer cried out as he threw caution to the wind. "They were here only a second ago!"

Rol'an glared as he slowly approached toward Mercer. Elias, who continued to kneel behind him, seemed to chuckle under his breath as he believed Mercer had made some drastic mistake. 'Serves you right', he most likely thought.

"No, please! I'm not lying!" Mercer coughed out in a rough panic, "They were right over there when you arrived! I don't know what happened, but it's likely they just ran!" He pointed toward where Deus and Droh had been previously, his entire hand shook violently as he feared for his life.

Mercer wasn't a brave person, inherently. He relied upon the Orion clan to suppress his debt collectors and used power to grow more influential throughout Direfell's lower tier. In fact, he had made quite the name for himself throughout Direfell's outer city walls, where the slums resided.

He was the sort of person to be cold and ruthless to those beneath him, but he'd prostrate himself onto his knees the moment someone with even a hint of power appeared, grabbing at whatever sc.r.a.ps they left behind.

He was a snake, but he did have his uses.

"Oh, is that how it is?" Rol'an replied back, his voice low and muttered. His head tilted to one side as a horrible ooze seemed to wisp around him as if it were some thick fog. He truly wasn't human.

Without saying another word, one of Rol'an's royal guardsmen rushed over toward where Mercer had attentively pointed at. With but a few brief glances, he turned back around and shrugged, shaking his thin head in the process.

"Keke…" Rol'an chortled out as Mercer's expression plummeted. He fell to his knees, groveling in front of the demon before him. "Please, g-great master… I'm not lying! Please believe me!"

Rol'an brought a single hand toward the sky, his razored fingers like talons as he stretched them out. It seemed he was willing to kill Mercer, even for such a slight mistake.

"N-no! Oh please no…" Mercer begged as tears fell down his cheeks. He would've tried to run by now, but some unseen force seemed to weigh him down, holding him in place as he lacked the strength to stand.

As Rol'an brought his hand down, striking forward with deadly intent, a quiet voice spoke out, it was oddly audible to everyone present and yet was no more than a hushed whisper. Everyone paused upon hearing such a sudden taunt.

"You really are a disgusting bug, aren't you?"

Rol'an's fingers froze a mere inch in front of Mercer's face, causing the terrified soldier to spit out whatever was in his stomach onto the ground. No one knew where the source of the voice came from, but Rol'an's royal guard seemed to pull together, enclosing around their master.

The sudden voice was sharp yet patient as if each word had been slightly emphasized. There seemed to be no gender behind it, almost sounding monotone and robotic.

Only Rol'an turned his attention toward the source, as only he knew where the source even was.

A horrifying grin revealed itself on his face as he had already completely disregarded Mercer, the person whom he was but a mere moment away from killing before.

"Yes, come this way you dumb insect. I don't think we've personally met before, but I know that you know of me. You could say, it's mutual."

Elias, Mercer, the clansmen, even Rol'an's royal guard, they all showed a shocked expression on their faces as their gazes finally arrived upon the source of the voice. Elias's eyes widened, while Rol'an seemed to slowly approach, his razored fingers remained sharpened and extended.

"You… yes, you must be that rat I've heard so much about…" Rol'an replied, his voice dark and sinister. "But how? I was under the interpretation that you were no longer a threat, tossed aside by your own allies."

"A threat? You don't qualify to be my threat, so you're partially correct."

Elias recognized this person, to his own shock. So did Mercer, and Atra, even Nirox, and the other clansmen had seen this man before. He departed from Direfell with all of them, after all.

"Thaddeus…" Elias murmured out under his breath, unable to come to terms with what was happening. "No… something feels different, that's absolutely not Thaddeus."

Elias was partially right.

"So, Rol'an. Or, should I call you Roland? I can never remember," the man who appeared to be Thaddeus spoke out as if he was intent on continuously provoking the Orion clan master before him, he had even emphasized the end of the latter name, as if to mock it's ridiculousness and how generically human it seemed.

"Hmph," Rol'an laughed in a dark tone, coldly stating, "Fools without knowledge call me Roland… are you a fool?"

"So, Rol'an it is."

The two of them continued to stand off as they both tried to evaluate the other's strengths. Their brief standoff ended abruptly as Thaddeus spoke up in a mocking tone, "You were after that little Faun, right? Oh don't you worry, he's safe with me. I don't know exactly why you want him, but I have learned a thing or two, I'll get him to talk once I'm through with you."

"Oh?" Rol'an replied with a shrug, "If that's the case, then I'll just need to rip out your heart and take him back by force."