It seems even Tyrin didn't know what befell him as he was grabbed by the throat and slammed against a wall. He let out a sound like a scared animal as he winced but Arthur was already throwing him into one of the rooms. Tyrin's body rolled on the ground before colliding with a wall.
"I don't have time, Tyrin." Arthur touched the door and closed it just like he opened the one before. He walked as the beautiful boy was coughing and gasping for air. He needs to end this quickly so he could pass the region. "Where's the artifact?"
"Who… are you?" Tyrin looked at him with fear and despair. It seems he couldn't wrap his head around the identity of this person.
Without saying anything, Arthur took out the golden dagger from his subspace. Seeing its golden shimmer in the air, Tyrin's eyes widened with realization. He pointed his finger at Arthur, trembling visibly. Arthur brought his dagger downward as it dug to Tyrin's hand on the ground, fastening it to the ground.
"Aggghh," Tyrin howled he grabbed the dagger's handled and tried to pull it out. "Is this because of what happened? Please, I'm sorry. Leave me alone!" Tyrin's face contorted as he begged.
"Whare. Is. The artifact." Arthur knew he was running out of time, so he twisted the dagger a bit and Tyrin howled again. He begged as he said he knew nothing. Arthur's patience was wearing thin, so he activated his Fire rune.
Condensing it into a needle, Arthur brought the fire to the wound he just inflicted after removing the dagger. The condensed fire started closing the wound as a hideous scar formed. Tyrin's screams resounded through the room, and a deafening silence soon followed.
"You don't want your face scarred like this, right?" Arthur said as Tyrin held his hand with the other. As he did, he noticed that swirling blackness was appearing from underneath Tyrin. With another flick, the fire spread on the ground, and the darkness receded.
For some reason, Arthur realized that the Ender feared his runes. It was still a powerful entity on its own with its ability to merge into things, use the black substance to attack, and its ability to erode things. However, in front of his runes, the Ender was scared.
When Tyrin heard Arthur's words, he began shaking visibly. If Arthur had a mind-reading rune, he would be sure that he had struck a chord. Tyrin, panting, pulled himself away from the spreading fire and started talking.
"I don't have it, I swear!"
"I know that. You're just a tool, Tyrin. They won't trust you with this." Arthur picked up the dagger and fire surrounded the golden weapon. Tyrin gritted his teeth as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. However, he seemed to realize that Arthur wouldn't stop with his hand. "Where is the artifact? Who is planning this attack? What's their reason?" Arthur asked. "If you don't answer, I'll scar your face with every question until you do.���
"Please, no! Please. Please. I'm sorry." Tyrin began to cry, sobbing loudly. Arthur kicked him in the stomach and asked him to talk. At last, Tyrin seemed to break down as he finally did.
"The artifact is with someone else… I heard that they were giving it to someone from the Yalen kingdom as well. However, the only thing I know is that they're not a contestant. I swear!"
"What about the other questions?" Arthur brought the dagger close to his face. Tyrin shrieked and kept talking.
"It's the Ilios Empire! They'll use the weapon, this fortress, to launch an attack on both sides of the Union!"
"Why?"
"I don't know, I don't! When I asked them, they said it was because times are changing. That's all I know!"
"Why did they choose you and the other person from Yalen? Why didn't they choose someone of their own?" Arthur always wondered the reason for this as it didn't make sense.
"They fear the Runes Association finding out." Tyrin sobbed. "If someone from Yalen activated the weapon, they can't hold Ilios accountable if discovered. They'll desert the Yalveran Union." Arthur thought it made sense. The Runes Association wouldn't stand idly as someone activates the weapon. If it was someone from Yalen, they'll turn against the kingdom, making the attack even more successful for the Ilios empire.
"So, the fortress is the weapon?" Arthur asked and Tyrin bobbed his head up and down. Frowning, Arthur receded his fire and kicked Tyrin in the face, making him smash into the wall again before opening the door and leaving.
As he tried thinking of who it was that had the artifact, he only remembered Alfred Yalen talking to the runes' grandmaster. His gut feeling might be biased, but he has already seen what type of character that blonde psychopath had. Betraying his kingdom wouldn't be out of the norm.
Arthur came back into the hall and touched the door. After a few minutes, he decoded it and his ring activated and started teleporting him back to the coliseum. He found himself in the same lounge with about sixty people. Those who have noticed his existence earlier stole a few glances at him. It seems they realize that someone has gotten hurt badly.
They were right. As Arthur looked around, he saw Emma and Roy sitting together. They came over to him but he excused himself and tried leaving the hall.
"You can't leave until the second region is over." One of the staff told him. Arthur pondered for a second.
"I need to meet some relatives, they're in the audience." Arthur tried but the staff wouldn't budge. When he thought about leaving by force or running, another staff came over. To his surprise, he wore the robes of a runes master.
"I'll escort him, the grandmaster has already given his approvals." The runes master instructed and the staff apologized before leaving the two. As Arthur walked outside with the staff, he tried to think of why the grandmaster would excuse him. Did he know something?
"Did you do well in the second region?"
"Yes."
"Are you ready for the final region?" The runes master, a tall tanned man, asked again. He kept throwing questions and Arthur kept answering with yes, of course, sure. He was getting annoyed when the last question came up.
"Do you love me?"
"Ye… what?" Arthur halted his step as he suspiciously looked at the man. The man turned around and grinned. With a wink from the man, Arthur realized this was Reece. He was able to control a runes master.
"Reece. I thought we agreed you'd stop deceiving me." Arthur scowled and Reece simply shrugged.
"You were so tense that I couldn't help it, junior. Did you find out anything?" Arthur decided to ignore it since greater matters were at hand. When he told Reece the story, the latter nodded and thought Arthur's theory was plausible.
"Your suspicions are well-placed,��� Reece said as the two moved through the corridors of the coliseum. "The third prince, Alfred Yalen, is known to be desperate since he'll never inherit his father's position. I wouldn't think it's abnormal if he truly betrayed the kingdom."
"Then, we need to…"
"Find him. I've already gathered information about that." Reece nodded as he opened a large set of doors that led to the stands of the coliseum. "The grandmaster, at the request of Alfred Yalen and a few other envoys, has decided to take them to see the layers of the Iron Dome in person."
"It seems that the artifact is with Alfred, then." His voice was slightly drowned by the crowd's cheering. As he looked from the stands, he saw many screens showing the contestants at work. Although there wasn't much to see, the crowd seemed excited.
"It's your earlier actions, junior." Arthur was startled. "Don't worry, they didn't hear what was going on. They only saw you beating someone up. Ah, by the way, most of them hate you now."
"Yeah, I don't care."
"They call you Villainous Ghost," Reece laughed. "Sier would laugh a lot about this nickname."
"Hey," Arthur moved with Reece to another set of doors where they entered another corridor. "Why didn't Sier inform us about Alfred?" He asked, probing. However, Reece's answer was casual.
"ٍSome have a misconception about Sier's ability, including you." Reece stopped talking when another runes master passed by. "He's not omniscient, Arthur. There's a price for everything and his ability is limited." These words made Arthur sigh in relief as some doubt was cleared. The two reached a room with someone familiar standing by the door.
"You've done quite the show there, noob," Ivy smirked while leaning on the wall. "This face suits you well, wuss. You should keep it."
"Let's leave your tantrums for later, vermin. We've found something. Well, Arthur did at the expense of his reputation."
"After what he did to Tyrin, I started thinking he's a little sadistic. Glad it fruited something." Ivy had a playful smile but Arthur ignored her comments. Reece then told her what was going on and she nodded.
They entered the room and Arthur found a teleportation circle with a staff standing there. They planned to enter the fortress alone and try to stop Tyrin, although they had a very small chance of succeeding.