"You are far too ignorant, child"
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Half an hour ago, kinte and ōroro had swam through the underwater kingdom and met with the holy knights.
Once that happened, they ordered the holy knights to follow behind them.
The holy knights, despite not actual people but sentient spiritual energy, did not have enough power to rival that of the supreme generals… so often they'd be utilized for patrolling the world border in the event that mundane sorcerers would somehow get past it.
They were at least powerful enough to handle sorcerers who haven't awakened their soul's true essence, but this was all just a mere assumption made by ōroro due to what little he found about the soul-killing ritual's benefits based on the unfinished the king found in the abandoned cathedral.
But ever since building the underwater kingdom on the back of the large sea tortoise, there had been no intruders capable of getting past the world border, so they yet had nothing to worry about.
Except for one small but important thing that had been bugging ōroro and kinte just as it had with elder Kael…
Once they rose up from the water and slowly marched onto the mist covered island of tall trees, ōroro looked down at the slender kinte, and said in a rough voice:
"It was a bad idea to welcome those two mainlanders to the kingdom. Airu seems to be growing a little too interested in that woman… lady Kalah."
The high collared slender man glanced up at ōroro, a silent moment passed as a cool breeze blew past them before he spoke in a raspy but deep voice.
"I agree. Normally since we live in somewhat peaceful times, we could have the citizens of the kingdom vote for one of us two to take his place as king, but they're all drawn to him by his compassion, and his power that's greater than ours."
Ōroro looked down at Kinte, and let out a heavy grunt.
"Haven't you tried to convince the people why you should take his place?… come to think of it, mister Kael tried as well."
Kinte remained silent.
It is true that just a few months ago, following the night both Kinte and ōroro completed the soul-killing ritual, Kinte along with elder Kael pleaded with the citizens to reconsider their decision to elect Airu as king, but their pleas were met with rejection and even thoughts from those who believed Kinte had other intentions.
Despite the fact that Airu had been younger than Kinte and ōroro, the people were more drawn to airu's youthful passion to protect everyone, and his overwhelming power that allowed him to fend off anyone who threatened the peace of the underwater world.
People were indeed that simple, yet often complex.
***
Upon their creation, the holy knights were created to follow one single order. To defend the kingdom through any means.
Naturally since they were created using nature's sentient spiritual energy, they followed no particular master except for airu due to his unusual habit of treating them as people instead of objects.
However in the face of protecting the underwater kingdom, their thoughts and actions were their own… and once the moment the kingdom was under siege, the fact that they followed no master became all the more true.
While ōroro and kinte were distracted with their silent reflections on airu's rise to the kingdom's king, through the visors of their helmet which showed nothing but purple glowing eyes peering through darkness…
They saw something past the whirlpool which acted as the world border.
There were at least four sorcerers. The two at the front of the formation stood out.
One of them had a half mask covering his mouth, and the other was a man with blonde messy hair, and a stubble beard.
They were lieutenant raiser and senior lieutenant miller of General Asami's black lotus division.
Lieutenant raiser who slowly walked front of the formation slowly rose from the water after they had passed the border, suddenly he pulled his half mask down and revealed the lower half of his face, which had no skin or flesh… just charred bone.
Kinte and ōroro had finally looked up to see what was going on, but before they could rise to their feet, lieutenant raiser opened his jaw and spat out pure hellfire. Setting a large part of the island ablaze in beautiful orange and pink flames.
Once the island went ablaze, two of the black lotus members went to the whirlpool, and noticed a gap in its center.
The woman said to her comrade:
"Lord reiyo was correct."
As they entered the whirlpool and swam their way down to the underwater kingdom, they remembered their visit to the mainland's fortress where Prince shiro's younger brother informed them of the short lived time in which the world border would remain opened after the foreigner's passed it themselves.
While lieutenant raiser and miller held off the holy knights and two of the old earth's strongest warriors, they would Infiltrate the kingdom while all of their combatants were gone.
***
Once the fire ate away at half the island, ōroro and kinte stood tall behind the thick mist.
They took a moment to nod at each other, and suddenly Kinte levitated in the sky. A second later, he descended and as soon as his foot touched the ground, the space around him changed.
Not only did everything around him fall into a pitch black space, but when he saw raiser getting ready to spit another wave of hellfire toward him, he saw the pathways to his sorcery…
The spiritual energy building up from his solar plexus, through his arms, legs, and throat.
But before he could launch the beautiful flames, kinte made a gesture with his index and middle finger as if he was cutting through the air.
Once that happened, the black lotus division's lieutenant felt an overwhelming pain in his chest and fell to his knees, coughing up blood.
While all that happened, ōroro punched his knuckles together and flew right towards miller, who was fending off against the holy knights.
Right when miller managed to knock back one of the holy knights, he attempted to side step ōroro, but was too late. The large man's fist connected to his abdomen.
It felt like getting hit by something as heavy as a mountain. Miller felt all the bones in his body shatter instantly as he was launched back through stubs of the tall trees.
After making sure the black lotus members couldn't even stand on their feet, kinte and ōroro stood over them, and ōroro was the first to speak.
"You sorcerers just couldn't resist leaving our people be, couldn't you?"
Miller and raiser didn't say anything. The two just glared at ōroro and kinte with disdain, while kinte looked over at the whirlpool which began to close up.
Kinte closed his eyes and spoke in his own mind.
'Airu. Do you hear me?… you need to get your ass over here now!'
But he got no response.
He then turned to ōroro and asked him:
"Should we kill these two?"
Before ōroro could respond, the two black lotus officers from earlier materialized behind miller and raiser.
But they had someone with them. A very short elderly man with his hands bound behind his back, and with a grim look on his face.
Ōroro shouted:
"Elder Kael!"
Both him and kinte rushed towards them, but before they could reach the elderly man, the black lotus division vanished…
Taking the elderly man along with them, back to the mainland.
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Continued in chapter 134: Trouble In Paradise
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