Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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Tina started her narration, and she did not spare a single detail.

For the sake of helping him recover his memories, she perfectly described to the best of her abilities the process of inscribing Dale's body, much to both his and Testros' discomfort.

/Later…/

"... At that time, when I finished with the knife, you suddenly ran ahead of me, dashing beneath the cocoon and creating a crack underneath it as I told you to."

Dale remembered this, the shadow he saw above him, one of the few memories he still had.

"The ritual then started, but it didn't proceed for long as the Devil soon pulled you inside, it must've been awakened from its mutation so my preparations were rendered ineffective."

Tina's preparations were meant to only prevent the Devil from detecting Dale as he absorbed it from the outside, she did predict it waking up and taking notice of Dale, but due to its transformation, she didn't feel it was necessary to intervene even as he was pulled inside like something straight out of a Horror movie.

"I expected something like that to happen, it's just that the moment came a bit earlier than I expected." She said as she shook her head

"From then on I don't know what happened, whatever you did inside the cocoon caused it to burst from the inside out, and soon enough, the malformed and heavily injured devil jumped outside of it and started rampaging around."

"Before anyone had the chance to counterattack, you let out an ear-piercing scream from within the cocoon, taking everyone by surprise."

"And then…"

"Then I felt that I had enough." Testros said as he interrupted Tina

Dale remembered the scream or better put, he remembered a massive burst of pain coming from his chest, he didn't remember the intensity, only that he thought about how much it hurt for a split second before he was pulled to the world of the Spirit or whatever that was.

Focusing once more, he continued to listen to Testros' story:

"I knew that something had likely gone wrong or severely beyond her expectations, so I did what I believed was right and drew my sword."

"But before I could even take a single step… You appeared from the cocoon."

"Me?!" Dale asked with extreme surprise

'There were some notifications about my spear changing due to the blood and flesh of the Devil, but I was unsure if I had caused it or if someone outside had used it to kill the Devil.'

'It's a bit strange to think that my body moved on its own to finish the job…'

"You were… In a trance." Tina replied calmly

"Like I wanted to, you managed to touch your primal size, but not in the way I expected."

"Because you thoroughly lost your mind..."

/Nod/

Testros nodded silently.

"W-What did I do?"

Dale contemplated wheater this was the best chance to tell them about the Spirits, he had nothing holding him back from doing so, he trusted them enough for that and there wasn't anything he could think of that may cause them to see him in a different light due to the incident.

But in the end, he decided to share the truth later since now, he wanted to hear the story from their perspective.

"Once you climbed out of the cocoon, you stared at the Devil from afar, I still remember your red eyes and the faint red mist circling you."

"If someone arrived at that time, they may have even mistaken you for the actual Devil." He said with a smile

"In any case, following that, both your spear and the sword tried to fly to you, with one succeeding while the sword was kept in place by the Commander."

"Upon holding the spear… You started to butcher the Devil, barely giving it any chance to counterattack if any, becoming more crazed each second you did so."

"The Devil put very little resistance, in fact, I could even say it was afraid of you."

"I don't know how to say this properly, but that was the only thing I could think about as I watched you tear it apart limb by limb."

"Even as you were hurt and lashed, you dived after it, biting its body and pulling its limbs apart, eating its flesh raw without a care."

"But that doesn't mean we did nothing. Leaving you like that wouldn't help, so we intervened."

"Tina in particular was afraid of what might've happened had we left you in that state for too long..."

"... So I held my blade and slashed the Devil's head." Testros said deeply as he looked at Dale

"Heh, you're jumping a few things." Tina said with a small smile as she turned to Testros

"Humph." He replied as he closed his eyes

"..."

'Is he unwilling to share what happened in between? Why?'

The only thing that passed through his head was the Quest he completed as he was unconscious.

To help Testros rid himself of his past and to walk while looking forward, towards the future.

It seems he came to a certain understanding regarding that on his own but was a bit too embarrassed to share right now.

"Alright, what happened after?" Dale asked as he cleared his head of his chaotic thoughts

"You… Tried to attack me." Testros said with a light smile as he thought about it

"What?... I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't h…"

"Kid, you're still a few years too early to hurt me." Testros said with a chuckle as he looked at him

"Much less with your consciousness dulled and with a lack of strategic thinking, you were like a beast fighting, the only thing going for you were your Strength and Speed."

"Honestly, it was harder putting you down safely than evading your blows. But thankfully, she did that part of the job for me."

"... How?"

'As expected, even with my Stats, if I don't use them properly with self-control and techniques, I can't even stand to Testros' much less Sarferato.'

'Though that doesn't mean he is weak.'

"I fed you the heart of the Devil of course." Tina said without a shred of hesitation

"..."

"While you fought him without a care for your surroundings, I extracted the Devil's heart and waved it in front of your face, which immediately caused you to stop fighting."

"Once you started to eat it, he approached you from behind and knocked you out once you were done with it…"

Tina, however, did not say how Dale didn't go down with just that.

Both her and Testros had to punch his face multiple times over before he finally stopped struggling, it wasn't a pretty sight to see much less talk about it.

They were ready to apologize, expecting him to appear in front of them with a face full of blue and purple bruises, but as always, his body's natural healing factor was monstrous.

"So that was how the ritual ended… What about the Karkavan? Are they okay?"

"They barely lifted a finger, of course, they would be fine." Tina said with a scoff as she waved her hand

"With the death of the Greater Devil, the forest should balance itself soon and the chaos spreading through it will settle down eventually."

"The Karkavan used this chance to spread their warriors around their cities and secure the ones they still have standing."

"Also, now that they don't have to worry about the unending waves of monsters, they should be able to reoccupy their cities so that they weren't lost nor destroyed, they simply left it to avoid casualties."

"Overall, the Karkavan suffered little losses through this event, and most of them came from warriors in the wild and the common Karkavan that were unlucky."

"They always retreated early instead of trying to defend their cities, this allowed them to save many of their citizens and to preserve the overall structure of their homes, it was a wise decision from Kuddan."

"We left early with that large bird of theirs, but I think they should be on their way here to thank us for what we did."

"Karkavan always honors their promises, that was what that old green guy said."

"... I understand." Dale replied as he breathed deeply

'It's good the Karkavan are recovering and that we left on good terms, I was afraid I might've rampaged and killed one of them by mistake, even if that was hard to accomplish with both Sarferato and Testros around.'

'I'm thankful for them all but especially for Sarferato who prevented Caladgolg from taking off.'

'Had that sword reached my hands, would I have unleashed its Skills without a care?'

'Just thinking about it…'

"In any case, it seems everything ended well." Dale said with a small smile

"I would like to say there is still much left to discuss, but yes, we deserve a rest." Tina said as she got up from her seat

"That said, I still owe you some explanations and also some updates on what we'll be doing from here on out, so once you have the time, meet me at my home."

"If I'm not there, just look for me, you know how this goes by now don't you?" She said with a smile as she walked through him

"We won't be doing any sort of extreme physical activities for a while, but I'll be working your brain up for a few days, so get ready to worm yourself into some books."

Saying her lines, Tina felt satisfied, walking outside of the Guild and leaving Dale and Testros behind.

"I'll keep this short." Testros said as he also got up from his seat

"I talked with the Commander, and he agreed with my proposal."

"Hm?"

"From now on, he'll be teaching you instead of me." Testros said in a deep tone

"Wh... Why?" He asked as he opened his eyes wide

"Even though I have grown immensely thanks to the books we brought from the wall, even if I threw away my past shackles... I'm still only qualified to teach you the basics."

"On that note, I'm confident in my abilities, even the Commander said my basics were flawless."

"But I already taught you that, there is no point in making you sharpen the basics over and over and over again."

"Some of those techniques aren't even 'the basics' but rather, weaker and simpler versions of more complex techniques given to higher ranking personnel."

"To enforce ranking and discipline, while also serving as a stimulus for lower ranking soldiers, most techniques were built in this layered system where you can easily progress from one to the other while retaining most of your understanding."

"As such, it would be best for you to be taught by someone that is experienced with that... With someone that knows how to utilize that chaotic energy within you as well."

"And of course, you can't have two teachers for the same subject, it would be best if your attention was focused elsewhere."

"And don't worry about Tina, whatever she teaches you is fundamentally different from what he will... At least, that was what he told me."

"He is the best fit for the current you, there is no one more proficient than him in his own field, even in the Corps of the past."

"I can't even fathom how much he trained and developed himself over these years, even with all of his responsibilities, he may even have surpassed the previous Corps Commander..."

"At least on a fundamental level, I'm not really in a position to rank the Commanders."

"See this through Dale, don't let yourself get stuck in the past like me."

"I'll always be there if you need me, it's not like I'll be disappearing from the Village."

"In fact, I'm afraid we'll be seeing each other even more frequently than before, but not as teacher and student, but as two students under the same teacher." He said with a chuckle as he patted his shoulder

"They say it's never too late to learn... If you have the heart for it." .

"That's all... Rest up and go see you the Commander has to say. Don't leave him hanging for long." He said as he walked past him

/Clack!/

"..."

In complete and utter silence, Dale stood there, in the middle of the Guild Hall, thinking.

'Somehow, I got myself a new teacher... And it's quite the figure.'

'The Commander of the Infantry, a living mummy that survived the end of an Era, someone that reached the top at an 'early age' and fought against beasts like that Greater Devil on a somewhat daily basis.'

'And whatever abominations still remain on the other side...'

'How much did he grow over the years, if at all?...'

"Hum... I forgot to ask him who's the 'real' Commander now." Dale mumbled to himself as he scratched his head

'Not the Division Commander but the "Top-Dog"...'

'Well, not like it matters, the Title is merely symbolic now that there is no Corps to command over.'

/Crack!/

"Ugh... Phew, one less problem on my list, a few more to go..." Dale said as he stretched his back

/Step.../

Without looking back, Dale left the Guild Hall.

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Notes

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