What just unfolded before them came as a surprise to Emery. He had come to this place to chase the meaning of Gaia's vision, but he did not expect to find something so astonishing.
Within one day, he found a temple filled with strong cultivators and spearheaded by a figure as powerful as the Lady of the Lake. It was to be expected, for the place had its own Gaia tree and was related to the Forbidden Forest in some way.
But, he did not expect the place to have a direct connection with the Magus Academy and meeting an Earth Magus Academy acolyte just like them and Lord Izta in this world could be considered another matter entirely. Not to mention the sudden arrival of the Nephilim magus to demand the treasures that should rightfully belong to them.
What just happened made him and the others worry even more. It raised a thousand questions that none of them could answer from with what little information they had.
The Abbot started by explaining the concept of Gods, as known by ordinary men on Earth. For more than two thousand years, men have been worshipping the same group of gods. Although accounts and stories about them may differ, there was a core similarity spread across them, that could be seen from the legends and stories of each culture..
Each of them may have named the gods differently due to language differences, but from Roman Gods, Greek Gods, Sumerian Gods and Hindu Gods, all of them were the same people and were actually magus.
"They have served as our caretaker and protector," The Abbot explained.
As soon as the Abbot said it, the man in fur clothes grimaced in disgust and narrowed his eyes.
The Abbot confirmed there were at least a dozen of them, magus who the human called gods. They rarely showed themselves, let alone got involved directly with the people on Earth. There was no way to know the intent behind their action or their decisions to not get involved in conflicts that had taken thousands of lives.
"Elder, my apologies," Emery interrupted, glancing at the angry man and asked, "Tell us, what is with the Heavenly Fruits? Why did they take them? And what did he mean by challenge?"
Upon hearing the mention of the fruits, the Abbot's expression turned bitter again. He looked at the group, took a deep breath and said.
"Gaia, our Mother of Nature, produces 10 heavenly fruits every ten year, the Nephilim decided to challenge us for it. If we could defeat them in a fight, they would not take any of the fruits. Unfortunately, none of us has been able to defeat them, hence for hundred years, we have only been given one fruit"
Hearing that explanation made Thrax slam his fist in anger. They all knew much about the Nephilim from Lord Izta hence it's easy for Thrax to feel emotional about it
"Why did you let them have it without a fight, then?! Why! Are you two chickening out because he's a Nephilim?! We five should have fought him for you!"
The man in fur clothes rose up and nodded in approval. "I like your spirit, kid! But, you know nothing about their strength!"
Thrax knew nothing about what the fruits were capable of, but for the Nephilim to ask for most of them, and for the abbot to surrender them without a fight, only made the flames of anger in his heart burn even hotter. He wished he knew what was going on, so he could do something about it.
"You really think you can win, do you, kid? Hah!" Fjolnir glared at the Abbot and said. "Ashaka, pelase let me give these kids a little lesson!"
The Abbot shook his head and tried to stop him, but the huge man raised his right arm. The pressure in the room immediately became heavy. A beam of light shone at the place Fjolnir stood and a massive spirit axe with blue glow appeared in his hand from thin air.
It was some kind of summoning magic, a very powerful one it seemed, as the slight gesture of the axe could be felt to disrupt the air.
The man in the fur clothes, Fjolnir, was grinning like a maniac, as he shouted.
"This is great! I didn't get to see the fight before! Let me see how strong you really are, please don't you all disappoint me!"
Emery and the others stood up and took their fighting stance. If he could choose, he would have prefered to stop this madness before they came to blows, but the energy gathered on that ax was too powerful, prompting him to be ready to use his spells in self-defense. The others did the same thing.
The man lifted his ax, and when he swung the ax, the unmistakable weight of massive energy weighed onto them. Emery was about to use [Blink] to move his friends, but before the energy could coalesce into an actual strike, the Abbot was already standing between Fjolnir and them. He calmly grabbed Fjolnir's ax with both of his hands.
Clank!
The piercing sound of clashing metal rang through the air.
Emery and the others stared at the rank 8 Abbot, who was able to casually capture the ax with his hand. The Abbot squeezed his fist, and the ax shattered into pieces, its light fading as the weapon disappeared.
"Dammit! Why did you stop me?!"
Although the man was angry, the Abbot didn't seem afraid at all, he even smiled at him, "Don't joke around, Fjolnir, you are only scaring our guests."
The Abbot dusted his robe before turning around to look at Emery and the others. A straight cut marred the sleeves of his robe, but no blood could be seen on his body. Instead, they saw both his hands and chest were glowing in a brilliant golden color.
From the color and the noise earlier, everyone could see the Abbot was a metal element user. But, what interested them was how he, a rank 8 acolyte, was able to stop a powerful attack from a rank 9 cultivator without breaking a sweat. There must be something more to this monk.
He stretched his body, walked to a corner and beckoned at the five. "Please, Emery and all of you, please calm down and sit here. I will tell you as much information as I can."
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