Well anyways, please visit me on my Patreon account @www.patreon.com/reddcliffe for a little help on easing up the expenses or directly send your donation to my Paypal account @[email protected].

For the latest updates and news regarding my releases, please follow me on Facebook @www.facebook.com/JEReddcliffe, and/or on twitter @www.twitter.com/jereddcliffe; and finally at my blog as well @jereddcliffe.wordpress.com where I will be posting exclusive chapters for some of my stories in the future, including the Mortal King.

================================

Chapter 14: Spider Web of Emotions

================================

Scion grabbed the hand shaking her shoulders.

“Rex!”

“Amanda, are you alright?”

But when she opened her eyes, she saw the unfamiliar face of her friend’s avatar, FlowerLord, looking at her with a worried expression.

Scion sat on the bed.

“Rex… he’s… what happened to him? Why did all these happened to him? Alice… why? Why him?”

She was trembling and sobbing on FlowerLord’s lap. A sense of coldness draped the room and Scion was embraced by a warm set of hands to her back.

“He has done nothing to deserve this!”

“We can’t… do anything about it. But, Amanda, listen to me. There is something else more important that you should know.”

“(sniff) What?”

“It concerns you and Rex. And perhaps… you might be able to save and protect him if this succeeds…”

Scion took a moment and fell silent. Then she used her arms and sleeve to dry her cheeks in a childish way. A red eyed goddess stared at FlowerLord then she sat down beside her friend.

“Alice, tell me. If there’s something I can do to stop those people from getting to him, then I will do it.”

“Alright. Listen, there’s a Dark Group that trades off the blueprints of famous players all around Terroa. And there’s a large chance that they are targeting Rex’s own invention. The good news is, Rex haven’t put on his BP in the Database for sale and even access. It was still protected by the system as long as it stays that way.”

“You mean he’s being pursued because of that? Alice, that’s what puts him in more danger! What if they force him to do what they want?”

“I know. While you were unconscious, Kathleen and I talked to the TOS Guild members and we learned that they have a plan to stop the Dark Group.”

“What is it?”

At this question, FlowerLord paused. Then she took her friend’s hands and held on to them tightly.

“They are going to trap their avatars and track their IP addresses in the real world. They will charge them of illegal trading and interrogate them of their contacts.”

“I’m in. I want to help.”

Scion’s reply came without hesitation. But FlowerLord wasn’t finished yet and her expression bid a warning of anxiety.

“Amanda, this concerns you as a member of the TOS Guild. No. More accurately, you will be part of the main force that will hunt down these people.”

“Me?! Why? Can’t I just be there as a mascot? I can at least do that if they explain to me what to do.”

“It’s more complicated than that, Amanda. The people we’re going after are S-ranked players and owns MODs that has rarities of Special to Legendary. TOS is a very strong Guild but even them had been defeated many times trying to trap one member of this Dark Group.”

“And what’s that got to do with me?”

“It has everything to do with you. The reason that they approached you is to ask for your help. Because it’d seem that you and Rex are Unique Ability Holders.”

“And Rex?”

“They invited him before but he declined. But they did not know then that he’d be this great of an existence on all sides. So in order to also protect him and the Blueprint that he has, they want to use you to get to him and recruit him in.”

“That’s not a hard thing to do.”

At this moment, FlowerLord shook her head. Scion became confused and remembered Loni’s reference to the Witch of Aarun.

“Ah!”

“If we don’t move fast, we might be too late. If that happens, Rex might fall deeper that even our help will not be enough anymore.”

“Rex… no… this… can’t be.”

FlowerLord held Scion’s hands tightly. The latter cried again upon realizing the complications of the situation.

Rex right now is in the middle of a storm. There are many sides that wants him and most of them wants to use him for personal or organizational gains. Loni’s group might be an independent group that doesn’t want Rex to be involved in this political strife but he was still a large queen in a small chess board.

Perhaps, for Rex, this isn’t a game anymore.

What he has in his possession is of significance that it was something that countries would even war for.

Advanced players already deciphered the origin of that devastating ability that can even destroy a whole ship in a single attack.

Unlike the Dark Technology that Rogue used to destroy the Fortress of Mooran, it was a pure in-game Tech that cannot be brought to the real world. On the contrary, Rex’s [ability] that originated from a Blueprint Design using NanoTech Weapons can be brought and used in the real world.

All that is needed is for him to put his Blueprint in the Database for sale or even just reference and he would have given the world a weapon to instigate WW4.

As it was said, Terroa is a game that is 90% reality. All things in the game has almost 90% equivalence on the things that can be found or manufactured on the other side. Taking for example the [E- Grenade] that he uses as the power source of that ability.

Tower of Sol Guild wasn’t aiming to recruit him to get his power on their side and gain popularity, they were just concerned that his mysterious strength can be used by others for such devastating gains.

So they wanted to protect him under their wings.

Adding Rex’s circumstances that only the two of them know, it crushes her heart that he was being led into a road of no return without even realizing it.

He was being targeted, used, and even sought for with hands that wants different things on him.

“What did he do to deserve such fate?”

Scion cried and cried and FlowerLord can’t do a thing to ease her pain.

When Rex was still in the hospital, Amanda was there to nurse him to health to the point that she breached the hospital’s protocols of changing shifts after 8hrs.

But with her dedication, Rex recovered faster than they anticipated. And even when he was in rehabilitation, she continued to stay by his side without asking for anything in return.

FlowerLord clenched her fists. What did my friend do to deserve this pain?

She was angry at herself at being unable to do anything to ease her friend’s suffering. Moreover, she was angry at Rex for not even giving her all her due rewards.

A simple thank you would have been enough for the selfless Amanda and yet even that was denied of her.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him.” She caressed her back over and over.

And when we do, I’m gonna make him pay.

I won’t let him hurt you like this without paying!

***

“Dex!”

Siva was panting, charred to the point that he could die any second. Agatha used her Ability and junctioned spells. She restored Siva’s condition to half his original health with the light from the casts snatching the girl’s attention.

“Are you… alright?” As weird as it may seem, the pain in his eyes were evident and the growing concerns in Agatha’s mind began to take grounds.

“I’m fine. You protected me. Thanks.” She wanted to cry but she somehow felt it was not right.

Siva was still hurt and her healing spells were still in their cool down period. Normally, Volt and the others’ health would have at least been 80% of the original but she noticed that Siva’s avatar was still in the 50% based on his condition.

It was abnormal. But it was something to be pondered for later. She saw the icons of her abilities seemed to take too long to cool down. She bit her lower lip just in time when Siva reached for her arm.

“Agatha, listen carefully—”