A short silence prevailed after Sharla revealed her message to Aron. He looked up to the skies and took a breath before showing a smile and then looking back down at Sharla, "I should have known."
Sharla didn't like this response and once again felt that he was looking down on not only her but her entire race, and to some extent, he was.
"You should count yourself lucky she was kind enough to warn you, Lufair may not seem like a threat but I guarantee you he isn't like the humans you met in Pesia." Sharla further supported her point and even suggested Lufair was a danger to Aron.
This was all part of Solair's approach once she saw that Aron was the type to be cautious and not easily fooled.
Even if this threat was false, she knew Aron likely couldn't risk it because he didn't know the true extent of their powers either, whether greater or lower.
And she was right, Aron immediately considered the danger Lufair might pose, especially given his hate for Kolieans.
However Aron also knew that this was likely just a bluff to garner his help in ascending to Queen.
Unfortunately for Solair, she couldn't have predicted Aron's true lofty goals of gaining control over the entirety of the aethelian population.
To do this, as his plan suggested, he needed either Solair or Lufair to take over.
Solair's offer was no better than her presenting herself to Aron on a silver platter. Better yet, she was under the illusion that she had the higher ground and that Aron was in an unfavorable position.
It was just too perfect of a set up for Aron to turn away. However, what he now needed to do was ensure that he put forth a believable act in response to her offer, after all, she now had a good idea of his personality.
More importantly though, he needed to learn of Solair's weaknesses, or better yet, create one. In this case, in the form of a subordinate Solair didn't pay much mind to, especially since she displayed hate towards Aron.
So following Sharla's advice, Aron shook his head at her. "I can't tell if you're simply stupid or just this naive, sometimes I wonder who truly is the blind one between you and Mirai."
"Don't you dare utter her name!" Sharla instinctively yelled at Aron hearing his condescending tone towards her and his mockery.
Aron though showed an unfazed expression before leaning over toward Sharla. "Or what? What will you do? What can you do? Be it Pesia or here, all you and Mirai ever do is curl yourselves under the safety of others like pitiful children."
Sharla, who possessed a great pride and respect in not only herself but Mirai, could no longer stand Aron's words and succumbed to her own anger, soon leaping forward and attempting to kick Aron in the face.
This attack was backed by augmenting her legs but even then, Aron guarded the attack with the back of his arm, absorbing the powerful blow and not even shirking in pain.
His skin now looked slightly red in that area but in the next moment, a bluish mist emanated from his skin and healed it.
In reply to her move, he simply roared, "move!" and a shockwave sent Sharla flying back a few meters.
The move lacked power and so Sharla simply repositioned herself by acrobatically flipping upward and then back to her feet in a battle stance.
She wore a menacing frown and glared angrily at Aron. It wasn't like she was unaware of the gap between them, but anger often makes people do stupid things.
"A privileged man like you can never understand what me and Mirai have been through!" Sharla raged on and launched another flurry of attacks, a rapid combination of punches and kicks.
Most were either dodged or blocked by Aron, who proved to be incredibly fast and nimble for someone his size.
As she was readying to launch another punch, Aron suddenly countered and grabbed both her hands by the wrists, locking them tightly under the grip his right hand.
"Let me go!" An angry Sharla squirmed and shook around in Aron's hold like a child throwing a tantrum, she was seemly helpless against him in a physical bout.
Aron showed an amused expression and brought a finger under her chin, stroking it ever so slightly. "Did I ever mention my kind find stubborn females partially attractive."
"What are you-." Sharla was confused as Aron's condescending tone didn't change, but in the next moment, before she could reply, she was stunned to find Aron's lips pressing against hers.
In that split second of confusion, she put up no resistance and went limp all over. The moment she realized what was happening, Aron had already pulled away, leaving her more angry than before.
"*spit* You vile beast!" She spit to her side and cursed, her eyes now bloodshot, feeling like she had just been taken advantage of.
Aron on the other hand changed his expression from amused to cold, looking at her as he replied flatly, "that I am."
As he replied, Aron tossed Sharla back with some degree of force, causing her to hit some nearby bushes.
He then walked over and his eyes now showed intent to kill. "Do you understand now why I called you pitiful? Do you see now just how powerless you are? Do you see now just how much you need protection?"
Along with his intimidating gaze, Aron wore a small smile as he spoke, tugging at the mental strings of a confused and angry Sharla.
"Solair doesn't care for you or Mirai, deep down you know this. So ask yourself this, whose side do you want to be on when all chaos breaks loose? Whose warm embrace would you rather be under." Arias crouched near the staggering Sharla and asked this, a grin and fierce gaze marking his expression.
Sharla was now hesitant, confused more than anything, angry as well, it was quite the strange combination of emotions.
"I'd rather die than be in your cold heartless embrace! It's because of you we're in this forsaken world!" Sharla could only direct all her anger toward Aron.
But his actions in response continued to surprise her. He latched onto her waist and pulled her into his embrace, her head pressed against his chest.
"Do you hear my beating heart? Do you feel my warmth? Is it not safe? You direct your anger at me but forget that it was me who made you and Mirai experience happiness in Pesia, albeit short lived." Aron kept Sharla close for only a moment, and let her go, soon standing up and turning away from her.
"Contrary to what you think, I do not want to spend my life rotting away in this world. You could either chose to believe me and tell Solair that I agree to her proposal… or, you could tell her everything that transpired here and hope she remembers you when she achieves her goals."
Sharla was at a loss for what to say, and Aron didn't give her the chance to think of a reply, taking the initiative to walk away once he was done talking.
"Don't think I'll fall for your lies Aron! I won't! I… won't let you make us regret trusting you twice!" Seeing that he wasn't even looking back, Sharla could only angrily punch the ground, battling a whole array of questions in her mind.
After Aron reached some distance, Rose's scouter came descending from the skies, hovering beside Aron as Rose's voice echoed from it. "Quite the show you put on. Do you think she'll trust you again?"
Arias gave a slight shrug to the question, "who knows, my purpose wasn't to convince her, just confuse her and plant doubt in her mind. She's proved more than once that she tends to act more on emotion than logic, so I chose to appeal to that side of her in my own twisted way."
The sound of Rose scoffing resounded from the other side. "I see, no matter what she tells Solair, her desire for an alliance with us likely won't wane. Should this work, I will have one less annoying task to deal with."
"That doesn't lessen the amount of work we still need to handle. Now that Jagu and Jin have updated you, what do you think of the route we're taking?"
As Aron asked this, Rose's scouter shot forward toward the approaching Rose, now hovering beside her.
The two stopped in front of each other and Rose gave her reply. "It's definitely more realistic but it's difficulty persists. I've already taken the liberty of sending Jagu and Jin away to capture beasts and build an encampment for them. You and I will be collecting venom and poisonous flora."
"And Evanora?"
"I told her to look for fish in the stream, that should keep her quite entertained as the last thing I need is her around for such delicate work. More importantly, I noticed something strange as my scouter was searching the area for beasts and animals."
Rose brought her scouter between herself and Aron before showing images on it's crystal helm.
Aron's eyes immediately glint with concern as he saw the contents of the image.
"This could either be really good… or very troubling for us."
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