Episode 15

'Legendary Ace! What does that mean? And this guy? How could he live for over 600 years and still be that young?' Theodore was puzzled. But at that time he saw Aeneas taking out his swords, and they were no joke. They had this very vibrant golden halo, definitely artifacts, but they were too pure, and in his hands, they were not too heavy looking stuff as well. Aeneas took a slight jump and pounced on the in-coming enemy, "Watch out" Theodore cried out as he had seen the enemy's strength. Ignoring his cry, Aeneas made a sweep with both his swords and landed on the ground behind them. 'Lateral Sweep', to Theodore's surprise, all of them who attacked Aeneas were reduced to half. That monstrous strength, Theodore was in awe. Before he could react, Vivian pulled him, getting him back to senses. He saw his father getting in the cart as well, one of the friendly soldiers asked him to climb in as well. He saw the crest on their robe and realized whose forces they were. 'Ephesus! How did they find us? Did he…?' He had so many questions yet had no time to ask around as there was a battle going on and there was a lot of chaos. Out of 3 million, only around 50 thousand people were able to escape, while others were still trapped throughout the kingdom. Leaving them behind was a pain yet they had to make a decision and after looking at Merida and Jason, Evan made one. "Let's head to Ephesus and meet up with Athena, she might have a way to fight back." As he said, he didn't expect his son to stand up in disagreement. "Leave them behind and run, with our tails tucked in between our legs, how we can call ourselves survivors. We are literally leaving the people to die on their own. I don't like this." To his objection, Evan looked at him with an angry look, "Do you have a better plan? A plan that involves no sacrifices, can you go out and tell the survivors that we will head back and die saving those who might already be dead. Saving those who are here is our priority, I've almost lost my son, my daughter, and one of my only friends, people who had the chance to stop it, and they are lying down. So tell me, do you have away?" Hearing this Theodore couldn't help but sit down with a depressing look. As he looked around, he understood his father's words, wounded soldiers were in agonizing pain, those who had lost their beloved were crying, there were still many who were on the verge of death, the cries of people were echoing. He never had experienced something like this. He felt his feet getting numb by the scenery, it was truly turning into a gruesome war. He looked at his sister who was lying unconscious next to Jason and his brother Nicholas. Vivian had put her father's head in her lap and was trying to heal him with all her might. After looking at all, he looked at his father and saw a tear slipping through his eyes and running down the cheeks. Theodore finally sat down and grabbed his sister's hand, Vivian tried to comfort him, "It's my fault, and I shouldn't have given you that map." Hearing her saying it he replied, "Vivi, it isn't anyone's fault. And if anyone is to be considered at fault, then it should be me, not you. If you wouldn't have given me that map, I wouldn't have ever found out about this whole thing and we might not have gotten help by such a person as well."

After a while, they finally crossed the warzone and escaped the vicinity of Arboria. As they crossed the border, Theodore glanced at the capital city and murmured. Hearing it Vivian turned towards him, "Not now, we can't even fight back one of them let alone the thousands." Hearing her Theodore sat next to her and grabbed her hands, "I know but someone has to do it someday right. We just have to wait for that chance" Him being responsible for the first time made her feel at ease. Jason was already out of danger and as for Merida, her healing capacity was formidable, her wounds were already healed yet she was unconscious. Theodore figured out that she might have exhausted her mana essence and thus was in such a state. Everyone was having a tired look, Evan had gone to the front carriage and was overlooking at the defenses as they couldn't let down their guard yet. As he looked around he saw Vivian who was extremely tired and was about to fall down when he grabbed her. She had healed her father somewhat and also had healed Nicholas's wounds as well. This made her extremely tired, causing her to sleep. Theodore was still awake and had no sign of fatigue thus he pulled her and put her head in his lap, confirming she was comfortable. He leaned on the side of the carriage and saw others also getting sleepy. Nicholas woke up a while ago and had helped him to move others in comfortable positions as well, they also covered most of the people before sitting down as it was getting cold. Ephesus was high up in the mountains and was relatively cold. The region was under constant snowfall throughout the year. After making himself comfortable Nicholas looked at Theodore and asked, "Did you really meet up with our ancestors? What did he say?" Hearing this Theodore told him everything except a few things, hearing this Nicholas let out a sigh, "So the war is imminent! But the fact that the seal has weakened is really worrisome. I once was reading one of the diaries from the king's chambers and found some notes on the Nine Hells. It's said that there are nine sub planar worlds in hell, together they form Nine Hells. If the seal is really weakened, that means the creatures from hell can now easily attack any region. We might not be able to suppress them this time. But it looks like the seal is not completely broken." "How can you be so sure about that?" Theodore asked him to which he replied, "I just feel it that way, if they had completely broken off the seal, and they wouldn't have needed the Etherblade's help in attacking us. We might still have some time to prepare." Hearing this Theodore sank in thoughts. 'Where is Aeneas? Once he's back, I have a lot of questions for him'.