672 Fear Me (2)
The blood from Molina's neck flowed into Ashton's mouth as he sank his fangs into her flesh. Her struggles grew weaker with each passing moment, and her eyes filled with terror as Ashton delved deep into her memories even before she could scramble them.
With Molina's memories now imprinted in his mind, Ashton withdrew his fangs from her neck, his eyes reflecting the crimson hue of his vampire genes. Weakened and defeated, Molina slumped to the ground, her breaths shallow and ragged.
"You... how did you-"
Molina was in the middle of saying something, but Ashton wasn't in the mood to listen to her nonsense and with a swift kick, he decapitated the Archbishop right then and there.
The girls were shocked to see him react like that, but so was Ashton. He had merely wanted to knock her out but instead popped her head off her shoulders.
"I guess... I'm not entirely used to my strength yet," Ashton said with a guilty expression.
However, Anna knew it wasn't the time to fool around. If the Cult got their hands on the medallion, only god knew what they'd do. As she said all that to Ashton, he calmed her down.
"Yes, the cultists are ahead of us in this regard, but that's because we're looking for the medallion in the wrong place!" he said.
"What?" the twins exclaimed.
Ashton raised his finger, gesturing for them to stay silent. Anna, Irina, and Verina watched silently; their expressions showed their concern. Ashton's voice broke the silence as he relayed what he had learned.
"The medallion we seek is hidden within the city of the First Seatholder," Ashton explained. "But we are not in that city. We're in a different one."
"Fuck!" Anna cursed loudly as soon as Ashton mentioned the First seat.
The history between the First Seat and Ashton wasn't good. Mainly because he rescued the guy who almost kidnapped and sold Anna to the Cultist when they first visited Euphoria.
The twins only remembered the details after watching Anna react to the news.
"Out of everywhere, why did it have to be him!" Anna cursed yet again.
Ashton silently watched as he wondered the same thing. If he were to step foot inside the First's territory, he wouldn't sit idly and engage Ashton, which the latter didn't want.
Not because Ashton was worried he would be weaker than him but because he didn't want to waste his time on a farce. Considering the time it would take to defeat the First, the Cult might as well fly off the planet with the medallion.
But that was only part of Ashton's discovery.
"But there has to be a reason for Molina or whatever to be here, right?" Verina asked Ashton, who nodded.
"There is. While the medallion might not be here, this city is hiding something else," Ashton replied. "There's a tomb of a precursor beneath this place, and Molina believed it contains some artefacts that could help the Cult take on powerful galactic civilisations all by itself."
"Is that even possible?" Irina was sceptical, but Ashton knew it was more than possible.
As his father's memory told him, Euphoria was supposed to be the 'Earth' and a place where humans would thrive. That said, it was also the place where most of the Precursors spent the last of their days.
As such, it wouldn't be weird if there were more than a few tombs of Precursors on the planet. However, there was something else Ashton was wondering about.
Since his father spent some time on Euphoria, it could be possible that the 'tomb' might be something other than a literal tomb. For all they knew, the Cult might have misinterpreted the information and called the place a tomb. Either way, there was only one way to find that out.
Just then, the rest of the team arrived there, followed by someone flanked by two mean-looking guards.
"What's going on here?" Vulcan inquired, to which Ashton pointed towards the Cultist. "These pesky bastards are everywhere!"
Vimur, on the other hand, couldn't hold it in and blabbered on, "You won't believe me-"
"The medallion isn't here." Verina interrupted, but Vimur paid no attention to her and continued.
"Yes! The medallion- wait, how did you know?" he said after his brain processed Verina's words. Verina shrugged and pointed at Molina's corpse.
"Right, so what do we do now?" ignoring the chaos, Laihud asked Ashton.
"You guys take the ship, leave for the First's city, and retrieve the medallion," Ashton replied. "Meanwhile, the girls and I will see if we can find something here or check if other Cultists are lurking about."
Hearing Ashton's words, the city's Mayor, flanked by his guards, stepped forward.
"I believe I can help you reach the First's city faster than any ship can," he said. "We have a hidden portal network that will expedite your journey."
"Thank you, it would mean a lot to us!" Ashton expressed his gratitude to the Mayor for his cooperation, to which he waved his hand dismissively.
"Had it not been for Mr Flintmace and all of you, our city would already be wiped out. This is the least I can do to pay you back."
With their plan in place, Flintmace's group departed for the portal network, guided by the Mayor himself. While Ashton and the girls got busy searching for the 'tomb'.
Ashton felt a certain tug as they went about the city as if an invisible force was pulling him. He tried ignoring it, but the subtle pull soon got his attention.
"Ashton, where are you going?" Anna called out, and Ashton just gestured for them to follow him.
As they ventured deeper into the city, the air around them grew colder. They were about to exit the town when Ashton felt the 'pull' change direction as if pointing him towards the ground.
Ashton didn't know what to do next, but on instinct, he unleashed some of his Precursor aura, and a massive cloud of dust kicked up from the ground. When the cloud dissipated, an enormous door was waiting in front of him.
"This is it... I guess?" Ashton mumbled.