Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 227

Chapter 227: The Trio's Departure:

Lysette sat alone in her small barrack cell about an hour after dusk, reflecting upon the events of the previous day.  She worried about both Ari and Lilia, and how, despite their willing insistence to form pacts with her and Mirae, neither could truly know and understand the true extent of fighting in a war of the myriad gods.  And yet, neither could Lysette deny that their strength and the strength of many, many more people would need to be gathered together to begin to change the system which empowered the gods and preserved the current order.

She wondered if it was possible for her to access this system more directly, reasoning that there might be some additional information about her abilities.  But despite her best attempts, she made no progress on that front.  Instead, she spent the remainder of the evening and overnight hours deep in Cultivation, granting Ari a substantial portion of the Essence Lysette had extracted from the nine Elithrian soldiers

As dawn approached, Lysette lay back down for a brief respite, but even then, she thought about all the rites Mirae had put together for Lilia’s initiation ceremony.  And she knew, that though it would take no small amount of time and energy to design them, she needed rites and doctrines of her own.  Though the gods were selfish, petty, vindictive, even evil in many cases, human faith in the divine was not so easily broken.  Far easier it would be to supplant that faith with one of her own design.

A knock came from the door, and Ari’s voice beckoned her to the commons once again.  This time, Lysette wasted no time, only taking a few seconds to stretch and maintain appearances before jogging out to greet her newest protegee.

Ari whispered.  “I know I am hardly in a position to issue you any orders after yesterday, Lyse.  But it would be best if we kept up appearances.”

“I don’t see anyone named Lyse,” Lysette said.  She looked down at her new military-issue uniform, specifically the nameplate with ‘Tronete’ emblazoned upon it in all capital letters.”

“As you say, Cadet.”  She returned to a shout with her previous military cadence.  “Now then, Soldier.  On behalf of command here at the forward garrison, I want to commend you on your successful completion— with great distinction— of your first assignment.”

Her speech returned to normal.  “However, this is no excuse for complacency.  Our scouts have recently discovered ruins of a strange complex further to the north, right near where the Elithria-Domaria border meets the northern ocean.  Although we currently have no intelligence relating to further massing of Elithrian soldiers in this location, there are several indications of advanced artifice buried deeper within.  The two of us will investigate and report back our findings.”

Another Aestori ruin?  I should probably check in with them and see what they have to say about this conflict.

“Will it be just the two of us going?”

“Unfortunately, we’re not able to divert additional manpower away from the front at this time.”

“Is there a soldier at this garrison by the name of Danitha Mielle?  If there is, I would like her to accompany the two of us.”

“Corporal Mielle?  I do not know if she is currently away on assignment, but if she’s here, I’m sure we can spare a single soldier.”

“Thank you.”

Ari returned a few moments later, with Dani just behind her.  Though, Dani seemed quite a bit different than she was back at the academy.  Her ever-joyous smile still appeared, but her eyes belied that joy, revealing a heavy heart filled with loss.  Her long hair was now cut down to shoulder length, and even that much was wrapped up in a tight bun.  And most prominently, she had a large scar on the right side of her face, from the tip of her lip all the way to halfway down the side of her neck.

Lysette’s eyes watered for a half-second at seeing the remnant injury done to her friend and former roommate, but the grief was just as quickly subsumed by a burning rage to find out who was responsible and repay them tenfold.

“Hello, Mr. Tronete,” Dani said.  “I was informed by Lieutenant Rothiel that you requested my presence this morning?”

“I did, D–  Corporal Mielle.  I will explain more on our way.”

The three took off without saying another word, continuing in silence until the garrison was well out of sight.  After about ten minutes, Dani finally broke the silence.

“Cadet Tronete?  I hope I pronounced that correctly.  In any case, I believe I am owed an explanation for why you have ordered I separate from my unit and join you on a trip to some damned ruins?  All while my fellow men and women run the risk of fighting and possibly dying in my absence?”

“I’m sorry, Dani.  I–”

“Excuse me?  I understand you’re the new hotshot Cultivator that senior staff are so enamored with, Cadet Tronete, but I don’t know where you got the idea of referring to me so informally like that!”  Dani grunted.  “Whatever, let’s just get this thing over with.”

“Dani, it’s me, Lyse!  Your former roommate back at the Academy!  You were the one who told me to call you that when we met several months ago.  Look, I–”

“You would dare use my friend’s name like that?  So boldly and brazenly lie to me?  As though I wouldn’t notice that, by the way, she is a woman, and you, most certainly are not?”  Dani stopped and took a fighting stance.  “Just let me go back with my comrades and leave me out of this.  Lieutenant Rothiel, feel free to court-martial me if you must, but I am not going to sit here and be insulted by this asshole!”

“I’m not lying!  I can prove it!  We met about five months ago while traveling together to the Academy to enroll as new students.  Shortly after we arrived on campus, we had a spat with Kiarra, where I went to duel her after she slapped you for no good reason.  A few weeks later, the two of us, together with Serrena and Mirae, went off to an assignment in Gnaria.  And while we were completing our mission there, we encountered ruins belonging to a prehistoric people.  And I think we’ll find something similar here, which is why I wanted you to join us.  And plus…  You were the first friend I made when I was alone and thrust into an unfamiliar world with little more than the clothes on my back.

“I know I’m selfish sometimes.  I make plenty of mistakes, don’t always consider the ramifications of all of my decisions as fully as I should.  And I–”

“It’s…”  Dani stood motionless.  “It really is you, Lyse, isn’t it?  No one else would have known all that stuff about us.  Especially not about what we found in those mines.  I–”

Dani’s eyes watered as she buried herself in Lysette’s embrace, and Lysette’s followed suit.  The two shared a long hug, with Ari looking on with more than a hint of awkwardness on her face until the two finally separated.

“I–  I wish you had told me earlier.”

“I’m sorry, Dani.  I don’t want people to know just who and what I really am.  It would jeopardize the entire reason I’m here in the first place.  And I didn’t feel comfortable using telepathy in the middle of the garrison, when I had to expect someone would have been able to detect it.”

“Wait,” Ari said.  “So–”

“Yes, she knows.  I said my pact with you wasn’t the first, right?  Hers was.”

“It’s good to see you too, Lyse.  But, uh, you look so different.  I hope Mirae doesn’t mind my saying this, but this new form is kinda hot.”

“You two have a different opinion on that.”

“Oh, they don’t like it?”

“They said it doesn’t look like me and it’s hard for them to associate me with this form.”

“Who’s Mirae?” Ari asked.

“Her partner-slash-lover,” Dani said.

“Ah, a real shame.”  Ari blushed.

“Mirae says that I’m all theirs and you can’t have me.  I’m of the same opinion on that.”

“You just talked with them?” Ari asked.

“I’m currently in their arms right now.  Two bodies, remember?  My lack of romantic interest in either of you two aside, we should get going.  And Dani, I wanted to tell you how truly sorry I am.”

“Sorry?  For?”

“For not being there for you.  For not fighting alongside you.”  Lysette pointed at Dani’s scar.  “For not avenging you and your comrades when you got that.”

“I won’t lie and say I’m not angry,” Dani said.  “But I’m not angry at you, Lyse.  I’m angry at the Elithrians who attacked us.  If it wasn’t for you, for the strength you helped me achieve, I’m sure far more of my comrades would have perished that afternoon.”

“Her blessing is really as powerful as she claims?” Ari asked.

“I entered the Academy at the start of the school year with an Essence coefficient just under one hundred.” Dani said.

“That’s not–”

“Possible?  Even if it’s not possible, it still happened.”

“But that begs another question: Why aren’t the demigods on the other side not also doing the same thing?”

Lysette shrugged.  “We can’t assume that they’re not, of course, but I have a few reasons why it might be so.  First, there aren’t that many demigods.  I know of and have met five on our side, counting myself.  And there probably aren’t more than five or six hundred across all of Aimarion.  Second, most deities prefer to accrue power from their mortal believers.  I do too, of course, through everyone’s prayers and wishes sent to me.

“However, and this is crucial, I am the Demigoddess of Reciprocity.  Sharing my power in this manner directly reinforces and strengthens my Domain, which means I get even more strength when I do so.  Mirae, as Demigod of Devotion, does as well.  But most others would not get the same benefit.”

“Though, I still do not understand. Why wouldn't at least some of them choose to empower their soldiers?” Ari said.  “It makes little sense, especially in the midst of war.”

“Who do you think would win in a fight, Ari?” Lysette asked.  “Ten of you, or the vice commandant of the garrison?”

“I see.”

“Ah,” Dani said.  “So that’s why you’re trying so hard to conceal your identity.  You want to gather more power and allies without drawing the attention of those far stronger than you.”

Lysette nodded.

“Serrena is rubbing off on you.”

“She and her great-grandmother both.  The family resemblance between the two is uncanny!”

“Serrena?” Ari asked.

“Serrena Raesh, another student the two of us met at the Academy.  And her great-grandmother Solanna.”

“Solanna?  You mean Solanna Raesh?  But she’s dead!” Ari said.

“She disappeared over a hundred years ago, yes.  And many— including those who wrote the history books— presumed her to be dead.  But she’s alive, and making her own preparations for the war to come.”

“Then we have to make our own preparations,” Dani said.  “And with the three of us all here and working together, I think we’re in a great position to change the tide of this conflict.”

“And Kristil as well,” Lysette added.  “I thought it would be too suspicious if I asked both of you to join us, but she was the one who interrogated me when I arrived and so I got a chance to talk with her.  And let her and her brother chat for a few minutes too.”

“You can do that?”

“Communication and telepathy across vast distances is the power of the Demigod of Devotion.  And they have shared that power with me as well, just as I have shared my power with them as well.  And will continue to do so with all of you as well.”

“So much to take in,” Ari said.  “But it seems we’ll have to delay this conversation.  It appears we’ve arrived.”

Chapter 226: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113256877

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 228: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113428902