King Of Limbo

With the Northern Kolieans retreating back to their settlement, a strange sort of sereness encompassed the entire continent.

Rose and Aron soon observed this strange tranquilness as they gathered and extracted various poisonous flora. Many of them were carried by Rose, atop the helm of her scouter, whilst Aron dug them out and separated the useless parts away.

"You seem very experienced in this regard." Rose soon pointed out as she watched Aron dig out a bright red thorny plant from the ground with quick precision, taking what was needed before tossing the remains aside.

"I grew up here, although much has changed, many of the plants and creatures remain the same. To survive, my father and I had also used poison to take down or weaken much more aggressive prey… and to set traps."

Rose listened with interest as Aron shared his tales from his younger days, feeling it helped draw some understanding toward his nature and behavior.

As they moved from area to area within the eerie woodland, the duo soon encountered various wildlife. From large herbivores to lurking carnivorous hunters, although the creatures soon ran the moment Aron came within a certain distance of them.

Noticing this odd piece of behavior, Rose couldn't help but ask. "Why do they run even when you do not leak your manic aura or fluctuations? I can't imagine it's simply due to your looks."

Aron had largely ignored the creatures and their behavior towards him because although much time had passed, it wasn't at all a strange sight for him.

"It's my scent. Kolieans have long since been the most dominant race on this continent, it's only natural for the surrounding wildlife to register their scent and retreat should they notice it near their habitat. Because of the dispute between the northern Kolieans and the scattered beast mongers, it seems most of these creatures now live in seclusion, after all… few beasts can contend with a fully grown Koliean."

Rose nodded in understanding, taking every word as a learning experience to better understand the world around her.

"And yet we plan to face an entire settlement, truly there is no limit to a man's ambition."

In the next moment, Aron collected the last of the material present in the area before tossing it onto the helm of Rose's scouter.

"There, that should suffice. Simply mix the poison with water at a ratio of 1:3 and we'll have an incredibly strong manic toxin, the average adult Koliean will die from organ failure within a few breaths."

Although spoken with a casual tone, Aron looked at the pile of collected materials with some caution, knowing well what disastrous consequences those seemingly harmless plants could do.

Even Rose was surprised to hear just how deadly they were, yet so simple to collect and use. Which lead to ask, "Such a threat must've been addressed by your people, no?"

Contrary to her thoughts, Aron shook his head at her question.

"No, poisons were only ever used by beast mongers, and as you've seen for yourself, they aren't the most logical, preferring brute strength and aggressive strategy. Even if an antidote does exist, I highly doubt enough of it exists for a large number of victims."

Rose fell into thought hearing this and nodded slowly, seemingly immersed in thought.

"I see… in that case, I think I have an idea that will guarantee a maximum number of casualties, however… it will not distinguish between friend or foe and I cannot accurately predict just how devastating the results may be..."

Aron looked at Rose with concern, curious as to what twisted idea had formed in her mind. But hearing the sureness in her voice, he couldn't help but become curious.

"I'm listening."

…

Whilst the duo was planning a devasting attack, things had gotten far more chaotic in the Eastern continent of the region they had left behind.

There, within a grim and moist woodland, a human settled stood, rough in design and lacking the firmness that settlements in the western continent had. It was clear the place wasn't built with the intent to stay long, but rather just make due.

It was in this settlement that a frowning Lucas sat around a fire alongside other prominent decision makers of their group, including Anastasia, Henry, Emilia and recently arrived Esmerelda, Sebastian and of course, Lady Vonstein herself.

Despite such a gathering of clearly capable individuals, the mood was grim with not a smile in sight.

Each one of the present individuals no longer looked as they did before in Pesia. They had clearly lost weight, their skin lacked radiance and their eyes looked visibly tired.

The settlement around them buzzed with chaotic background noise. Children crying, women begging for food and men disputing over various matters, although only vocal, it was chaotic still.

Lady Vonstein was the first to sigh and part her dry lips to speak.

"Never in all my days did I think we would fall to such pitiful states. Truly life is unpredictable."

Her voice displayed a lack of vitality, as if she had long given up and accepted what humanity had become within Limbo, a struggling a pitiful race.

Before reaching this settlement that was lead largely by Anastasia, Lady Vonstein and her group had moved quite the distance and explored many parts of the chaotic continent in search for their allies or other humans.

The results though, were incredibly depressing. Many of their searches had led them only to find an uncountable number of rotting corpses, humans that had died from various causes. Many them hunger and thirst, some torn apart by predators and others… simply ending their own lives.

They had found some survivors and incorporated them into their group, but it never lasted. Problems rose one after another and Lady Vonstein simply couldn't protect the weak fully. Countless died under her watch and she was helpless to stop it, for this was the vicious cycle of life within Limbo.

Her depressing words sparked anger within a young Lucas, who had also failed in his attempts to locate his mother and sister. He had searched far and wide, but his lack of strength and knowledge could only take him so far.

Many areas he could not go to as it was simply a death sentence, and those he could navigate, yielded no results, be it in the form of clues or bodies, nothing.

As time passed, many of the corpses he began to find were no longer even recognizable, their flesh gone with only boney remains left.

This led him to a daunting conclusion, one he simply couldn't bare to accept… one he refused to accept rather.

Lucas stared into the flames of the fire before him, his expression complex as he muttered, "It's all his fault."

No name needed to be mentioned as everyone present could immediately guess who Lucas was referring to. And inwardly, many of them could agree, it was indeed Aron's fought that they wound up in this hell.

Lady Vonstein however, couldn't even bring herself to blame Aron like the others, instead blaming herself inwardly.

"Whose fault it is matters little now, it's pointless to hold on to that anger you have child. Aron is beyond your reach, the only thing you can do is survive to live on."

A depressing answer, but one that didn't lack merit. Henry nodded at this piece of advice, having put aside his hate for Aron as well.

"She's right, we can blame him as much as we want but we won't be able change our circumstances or bring back those we've lost. I've instead chosen to look at this experience as eye-opening. Yes, Aron took away almost everything I knew, but by doing so, I've come to realize my own powerless and now I intend to overcome it, to grow and bring humanity back to its former heights."

Henry spoke with charisma that was hard to ignore. Yes, they were in a pitiful situation, but did they need to stay that way? His sister Anastasia soon stood up energetically despite her tired appearance and spoke with vigor.

"Henry is right. We've suffered a lot here but that doesn't give us grounds to give up and wait for our own doom. We've gathered here for that very reason, the rumor that a few people spoke of regarding Aron building an airship to the far south. Rather than sit here and struggle to survive, I say we gather our resources and make the journey there… we have nothing to lose."

Following her words, Sebastian couldn't help but scoff.

"Except our lives."

To that cheeky remark, Anastasia approached Sebastian and aggressively grabbed him by the collar before asking,

"Can you really call this living? I've always known you lacked a spine but as one of noble birth, you should be ashamed by the life you've chosen to accept. Rather than lead these people by example, you just moan and complain all day, despite using the knowledge your family was known for to be more than just an irritating burden!"

After speaking, she shoved Sebastian back, and he could do nothing but tumble over, not even daring to reply but instead just lowering his head in shame.

Seeing this drive to not give up, the others glanced at one another and nodded in agreement, with the exception being Lucas, who was yet to turn his depressed gaze away from the flames.

Anastasia could only approach him and look down at him with contempt before asking,

"And you? You claim to hate Aron but ever since you stopped your searches I haven't once seen you strive to get stronger or even seek out revenge for your loved ones, presuming they really did die. You may hate Aron, but he defied all means to accomplish his goals, now are you going to do the same or just wallow in self-pity?"

Lucas raised his head to look at Anastasia with hate, but he couldn't argue, instead giving a subtle nod.