Rise of the Crusader

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"The majority of your powers will be gone, and you will be left with only a portion of it," Edna spoke with a smile on her face widened.

However, not so long after the smile appeared, it vanished.

Edna hoped to see a change in Vernon's expression after she spoke, but even after he heard her clearly, he was still indifferent to what she said. 𝘧𝗿𝚎e𝓌𝗲𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵ𝗲𝒍. c𝐨𝗺

There wasn't a tinge of worry or fright on Vernon's face as he stared at Edna. He was calm in a frightening way.

Vernon placed his hand on his chin, and then took a deep breath. "Okay then. Said Vernon.

"Is that all I need to know about the cell of renegade, or is there something else you want to add." Vernon looked straight into Edna's eyes as he spoke.

As Edna saw those glimmering eyes, she knitted her brows. The eagerness, longing, and battle intent were evident, and if there was one word to describe all she saw, then it was…

An anomaly.

Even though he seemed to be after his egg of Cleopatra, Edna was able to deduce that Vernon craved for a life-and-death battle.

He searched for someone who was able to bring him up to the brink of death.

Or even death itself.

"So?" Vernon's voice rang out as Edna failed to respond to the question he asked. All she did was stare at him in a somewhat weird way.

Edna brushed her hair aside, "The cell of the renegade is owned by one individual, but before getting to that person, you need to get past the four guards."

"The north guard, west guard, south guard, and lastly the east guard," Edna said. "Once you have passed the tests of the four of them, you will be able to meet the Anchor."

"The anchor," Vernon muttered.

A nod came from Edna after Vernon spoke. It came as no surprise that he was a bit convinced by what she said.

"The anchor is the owner of the cell of the renegade and for me to get to the egg of Cleopatra, I need to pass the test of the four guards and the anchor" Vernon spoke.

Responding to Vernon, Edna nodded her head once again. "That's correct."

"Once you have passed the four of them tests, and that's of the anchor, the egg of Cleopatra is yours," Edna stated.

As she then saw the change in Vernon's look, Edna's mouth opened slightly, and she said, "You shouldn't be worried about the four guards or even the anchor."

"Since you said you're able to break out of here, then I doubt the test would be difficult for you. The hardest questioningl is to break out of here, and you're already capable of achieving that, so there's really no problem for you."

Vernon frowned slightly, as he heard Edna. It wasn't difficult to discern that she was mocking him, however, keeping his head straight, Vernon cracked his knuckles.

"Where can I meet the four guards?" He asked.

"I will take you to them, of course," Edna responded.

"Are you ready?"

Immediately after Edna spoke, Vernon nodded his head repeatedly.

Edna smiled. She was just about to stand from the chair she was on when the whiteboard in the room suddenly changed.

Upon staring at the scene ahead, Edna knitted her brows, as in front of her were six black-clothed people, and a youth wearing a red trench coat.

Staring at the six unfamiliar faces, Edna turned towards Vernon a few seconds later.

She was, however, met with an indifferent expression that then caused her eyebrows to furrow. "Friends of yours, isn't it?"

And responding to Edna, Vernon nodded his head. His eyes were glued to the board, and a moment late he spoke.

"Will there be any problem with them around?" Vernon inquired, staring at Edna.

She shrugged her shoulder in response. "One of the guards tends to use emotions mostly, so long as you don't have deep ties with them, then you should be fine."

As there was still no change in Vernon's look after she spoke, Edna's lips curled inwardly.

"This is going to be even more interesting than the last one." She muttered to herself.

"Let's go, Vernon Orleans. The test of the four guards of the cell of renegade awaits you."

With that said, Edna walked towards the door, and Vernon took a gentle stride behind her.

Meanwhile, outside the cell of the renegade, the leader of the death merchants, the death merchants, and Jeremy stood in the exact place Vernon had been earlier.

"Are you certain this is it?" One of the death merchants asked.

They had arrived at the place described by the assassin for twenty minutes now, and even after searching the entire area, they weren't about to find any door.

Orpheus didn't reply immediately, he crouched gently, and placing one hand on the ground, he spoke a second later.

"Yes, we are in the right place," Orpheus responded.

While none of the death merchants doubted Vernon's ability, there were still confused.

There was no door as said by the other assassin, so how could it be that they were at the right place?

"There is a door beneath this place, for the door to emerge, Vernon had to use the blood of those beasts to awaken it," Orpheus said.

"Now that the beasts are dead, we need to figure out another way to summon the door out."

Orpheus stared at the five in front of him after he spoke. He seemed to be expecting an answer from any of them, however, they were no response.

Everyone began to ponder about ways to summon the door, and after a few minutes, Karmau's voice rang out.

"Why don't you slaughter a bunch of A-rank meta beasts around this place, and see what happens."

"Or even S-Rank meta beast," Karmau added. "We have done it before, we might as well just do it again."

"It's really not a bad idea," Jeremy said.

"What do you think, Orpheus?" After Jeremy spoke, Karmau, Nyssa, and the three other death merchants turned towards Orpheus.

It all came down to Orpheus whether or not he was going to approve of the plan.

Orpheus placed his hand on his chin, "A sacrifice."

"Vernon did have to kill some number of beasts for the door to appear, so it's not a bad idea if we give it a try."

"Yes!"

"Let the slaughter begin."