Chapter 472: Maiden's Guardians
Absolutes have the power to alter even reality itself. They could create realms and play gods, that was what makes then dangerous especially when the Absolute would use their power to inflict evil deeds.
While Elliot stayed in the East along with the othe Adventurers, they were set to rebuild the kingdomd and establish a new kind of government. This time, they are going to have a clear opinion on what and how things would go from there.
Considered as the One Hunred and Twelve Rays of the Eastern Sun, Elliot along with everyone who helped defeat the tyrant rulers, DuDu and Licht were hailed as heroes. They now had their names in a giant stone statue of the capital kingdom of the East.
They were now sitting calmly in a giant round table where they discussed their next plan. A thought entered Elliot's mind as he stared at the twelve Crystal Maidens.
"But one thing remains unanswered," Elliot said. "Who is the Rogue Maiden?"
Everyone fell silent after the boy asked that. They looked at each other as they founs themselves speechless. It was still a mystery who the actual Rogue Maiden was.
They even traced her identity, but they were trapped into a pit of more questions. The woman's identity was unknown and they might not know who she was.
"That is something that we haven't discussed thoroughly yet," Junko sighed. "She's not someone from our era, so she must be from yours."
"We have no record of such woman," Kaminari replied. "She seems like she never existed until now."
"How are you sure that there are only twelve statues?" Elliot asked. "What if there were originally thirteen and that last one was awakened by itself."
"Plausible," Irus agreed. He was forced to join the meetings after his speech with them. "But her identity is what we're unaware of. Even if we know how she awakened, we still don't know who she is Andrew what's her connection to the Crystal Maidens."
The door of their newly built hall where the hailed heroes discussed opened. A man entered the room and bowed. "Rays of the Eastern Sun, I apologize for the sudden interruption, but I have to tell you something. It is urgent."
"What is it?" Irus asked, clearly annoyed by the sudden interruption.
"A man that's claiming to be the crown prince of Kkeun is here," the man said. "He said he wants to talk to Mr. Elliot."
Elliot stood from his chair and ran to the man. "Ilwoo? Where is he?"
–
They were led to a house where the guards kept Ilwoo as a guest. Some of the Kkeuners testified for his identity and said that he was the real prince of Kkeun, but since there was still no definite evidence, he was kept.
"Ilwoo?" Elliot opened the door and saw Ilwoo sitting on the chair inside the house. "Ilwoo!"
"Elliot!" the men shared a hug and smiled at each other. "I couldn't stop myself from coming here. I-I am so sorry but I have to see you."
"Me?" Elliot asked. "But why?"
"Jung left," Ilwoo said. "She gave me a note that says that she was going back here. I thought she would come to find you but she doesn't have that much experience in traveling alone. I'm scared that she got hurt."
"Jung?" Elliot asked, slowly taking a step back. "Ilwoo, do you know the identity of your wife? Do you know the actual identity of her?"
This time, Ilwoo looked down. He was silent for a couple of seconds before he looked up to face Elliot. "I saw Jung in the forest. I adopted her as a sister, but there were…"
Ilwoo fell to the sofa and sighed. "There were this demons trying to chase her. Jung said that they were sent by the evil emperors, but she didn't tell me anything more. I asked her to leave the continent with me and she agreed. That's why I left Kkeun."
"And the birds…" Lance entered the room, asking. "Did they stop following you?"
"They did," Ilwoo replied. "We kept roaming the West until we found Avancia. That's where we pretended as husband and wife."
Elliot and Lance looked at each other as they share a thought. Junko isn't just a random woman that was in the forest, she may be the one that they are looking for.
But where is she now?
Boom.
An explosion made them run outside. It looked like it was from somewhere near them. They ran outside and saw a giant stone golem fighting a hooded figure.
Elliot gasped and pointed at the figure, "That's–"
"Jung!" Ilwoo yelled just as the hood of the woman was unveiled by the strong winds. She landed on the ground and conjured a black crystal scythe and grit her teeth as she launched herself into the golem.
"This war is not over!" Jung yelled. "There guardians that watch over the Maidens. Every time a Maiden is awakened, a guardian would wake up too. They will fight off the ones that awaken the Maiden."
"But you awakened them," Elliot said. "You're the Rogue Maiden, so you have the authority over them. Why are they're attacking you?"
"That's because I'm not the original Rogue Maiden," Jung said. "This power was just passed down from our clan. I currently hold its power, but I don't have the key to stop the guardians from activating."
Four more guardians started to arrive. Each one of them carried different weapons, ranging from swords to spears and bows. Some were slender, some looked rough. Not one guardian looked the same, but they were all made of stone and they carried the same face.
"That's how the original One Sun looked like," Junko said, raising her hands and waved it. "I remember that he created those to protect his sons. Now they're here to protect us. Interesting."
All the other Maidens lined up and conjured lines of different colors in the air. They created a large magic circle that fired directly into the guardians and shattered into a thousand pieces, making them shut down and fell to the ground.
"Done," Junko said.. "We don't have to worry about them anymore."