After saving the World Tree, Heaven’s Bane stopped channeling their power into Zion.
Exhausted, Zion reverted to his normal self, depleted of all his strength. "I’m going to fall now."
A parachute extended from Zion’s back, allowing for a slow and safe descent to the earth. He felt lightheaded from the vast amount of power that coursed through his body temporarily, and felt like he could sleep for an entire month.
"Master, what should we do?" An aelf asked, flying toward Zion.
"Just go back to your tasks. Everything isn’t over yet. I’ll call you all if I need you again."
Once Zion reached the ground, the parachute retracted, and he just sat there, looking up at the sky. "What should I do?" He asked himself, deep in his thoughts.
’Should I just take over the place? No, I can’t do that. I have no influence here. Not to mention the current state of Alfheim will only make things more difficult. Hmmmmm.’
[You should put this place under lockdown,] Tessa suggested
[Well, you don’t know when and where these demons and demonic elves are coming from, and navigating this place without knowing where to look is quite difficult since it’s just a massive forest. However, if we place a barrier around Alfheim with the satellite positioned over this place, this operation will go a lot smoother.]
’You make a good point. Proceed with that.’
[As you wish.] Ten drones separated from Zion’s suit, rocketing off in different directions.
While Zion designed the barrier technology to be infinite in size, he had never tested how wide it could stretch. Alfheim was a large country, and the barrier would stretch miles just to fully encase the land, but after around 20 minutes, it did.
A large, light blue dome covered the entire country, even covering the World Tree, which was a colossal structure.
"Who’s the head of the technological department in Alfheim?" Zion asked, radioing to his people.
"I am, master." An elf responded.
"Deploy servalance drones all over Alfheim. I want every angle of this place captured, no matter how weird, obscure, stupid, unorthodox, or invasive it is. We need eyes everywhere. Make sure they are in stealth mode as well."
"Tessa, have the main camera on the Alfheim satellite focus its lens here in the capital since this place is of the most importance in the kingdom."
"Lastly, since it seems like people will become sick once more, have the medical team focus on creating a cure. I don’t know if this sickness will be the same as last time, but work on both cures just in case."
"Understood, master."
[What are you going to do?]
"I’m going to train until something happens. Our people, technology, and the elves are keeping an eye out on things. So until something happens, I’ll train and prepare myself until the time comes for me to face another demon or whoever is the next threat."
"Zion, there you are! We need you, quick!" Syrune called out, rushing to his location.
"Ugh, what’s going on now?"
"There’s been a murder. The head of the Vestele family has been killed!"
Zion was expressionless, waiting for her to continue. He had no clue who the Vestele family was, so he didn’t know how important they were to Alfheim.
"Oh, they’re one of the Fae families." She added
"God dammit! Are they still in possession of the sapling at least?"
"Yes, they did manage to protect their sapling."
"That’s good at least. Alright, take me to the crime scene."
When Zion arrived, the whole place was in chaos. Elves blaming each other, family members struggling to decide who will lead the family, and other annoying things that Zion had to listen to.
At a certain point, he just zoned out, not even caring about their problems. After losing sight of his initial mission, he decided to focus his energy there. While he still planned on helping the elves, he wouldn’t do so out of obligation but out of common interest since he, too, needed the demons to back off.
"Zion, what do you think of this?" Melina asked, genuinely curious about his opinion.
"I don’t care." He said emotionlessly. "Figure this shit out on your own." Turning around, he started to walk away.
Melina was taken aback slightly, not expecting such a cold answer. "Is something wrong? If it’s about the loss of the sapling, then I can assure you that-"
"I don’t care about your sapling, nor what happened to this random that died. This entire situation is annoying as fuck. Don’t call me unless something important happens, such as getting attacked again."
The elders and royal advisors didn’t like the tone he took with their queen, but since she didn’t say anything, they didn’t say anything.
Syrune and Valindra were stunned. They didn’t expect him to feel the same way they do about this death, but they expected him to show some sympathy.
Nimreth, who was there, squinted her eyes, seeing Zion in a different light. She remembered what her goddess told her about him, how he was dangerous. Now that he was completely walking away from things, she decided to keep an eye on him.
After putting a good distance between himself and everyone at the Vestele estate, he started talking to Tessa.
’The ancient relic is located in the castle. It’s held somewhere beneath the place where the sapling is being kept.’
[I’ll get right on it immediately. Information has been relayed to the team currently inside the castle, and they’ll see what they can do. What’s the ancient relic this time?]
’The staff of magic. It’s said that the staff can create and use any spell, no matter how difficult or powerful the spell is. It also boosts magic power significantly. It’s everything a mage would want in a staff.’
’It’s an ancient relic after all. Also, direct me to an area where the mana is the most dense.’
’I’m going to summon a fucking spirit.’