Lone: The Wanderer [Rewrite]

"Ah, this is my true body, of course. I wouldn't be so insincere as to meet Master Mezro'nan and yourselves via a proxy or clone. Besides, if I was strong enough to own an X-ranked clone, I would be strong enough to force answers from you instead of needing to ask, though I would still be polite about it I'd like to think," Lady Carnation answered with a smile.

Lone couldn't sense that anything was off using either of his skills and that only made him even more certain she was lying to some degree.

Lady Carnation had really dug a hole for herself in Lone's mind. He was deciding if she was a witch by throwing her into a river with stones tied to her ankles. If she drowned, she was innocent, but if she escaped, of course she was a witch. It was a lose-lose for her image either way.

'We're going to kill her. I don't doubt for a second that she doesn't have clones or spores or whatever that can let her regrow, but that doesn't matter right now. It might later but not now. If she gives me no stats or she escapes, use Minor Time Control and tell me if we can kill her cleanly even with your magic sealed or if I should be peaceful. On board?' Lone asked Sophie.

'Of course. We will encapsulate this place in a 100-fold layered barrier and then teleport out, teleport Princessling Seres in, and then finally, we shall go back out once more and use Mana Sensing and barrier magic to assist you in combat should things complicate. We can do little more given she has already drained our MP in her attempts to enter our mind,' Sophie replied. 'Her emotions are near-impossible to read but we do not sense anything overly suspicious in her mana, so she should not be expecting a surprise ambush.'

Lone liked the sound of that. 'Count to five and then start.'

He frowned. "That's certainly true, the clone bit. The last two X-rankers I've met with clones... well, the clones were much weaker than the actual person was. So, flower magic, huh?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Lady Carnation replied, confusion on her face.

Sophie disappeared and at the same time a brilliantly shining jade barrier that looked rather thick sealed the entire space. Lone leapt across the room, his Agility having been applied, and he stabbed all nine of his tails into Lady Carnation.

A fierce glint flashed through her eyes as she turned into flowers and seemed to disappear before she shrieked miserably and reappeared, her lower back covered in a gloopy sap-like substance which was probably her blood.

At the same time, Sophie and Princessling Seres appeared in the room before Sophie disappeared again just as fast.

"Ah, you forced her into attempting to dodge immediately. The backlash would not have been so harsh were she not in her scattered flower form. Impressive," Princessling Seres praised. "Your anchor has been destroyed, Lady Carnation. As you have offended Immortus the Immortal, you must die. I assume you will assist in this endeavor, Master Mezro'nan, should she prove to have too man-"

The lanky, clothed in black, and masked, princessling had stopped speaking when she saw Lone raise an open palm that pointed towards the still-writhing Lady Carnation.

What had caused the powerful X-ranked rogue to stop her sentence midway was the fact that a suffocating and sickly energy had pervaded the room, filling it entirely with a feeling of dread.

'Can't be taking any chances,' Lone thought before using the most powerful skill in his entire arsenal for the first time ever. He also cancelled his Oppressive Gaze.

He needed the plundered stats of an X-ranker and the teens weren't ready for such a lingering shark hungry for a bite at their uniqueness. If he wanted to ensure both were guaranteed, then he needed to stop holding back as he usually did even when he normally wasn't. There was still one skill of his that he had consistently refused to use despite its promised value.

Lady Carnation's screams seemed real now and there was a soul-shaking level of panic in her eyes. "Stop it! Please! I'll do anything! I'll be your slave! I'll even kill myself if that's what you want! Just please, please, stop erasing me! I beg of you!"

"She's a liar and an actor through and through," Lone said. "I need to be certain she dies."

He raised his other hand. Once again, he used the skill that had been forced upon him when he had become Void's avatar. Lady Carnation's stomach collapsed inwards to reveal a spinning vortex mercilessly consuming the X-ranker's innards. A few seconds of violent screaming later and the same thing happened to the woman's head.

Even though it cost 100,000 MP per vortex per second with a limit of two vortexes, and even though he was scared of empowering Void by using the skill, he needed this power more now than ever. Arch Devil Zel was too great a threat. He needed to ensure Lady Carnation died by his hands and no one else's.

A few more seconds of deafening silence passed before he dismissed both vortexes just as a rush of power welled up within him. 'I got the stats. That's a relief.'

The host's Primal skill [Nothing Vortex] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 2.

The host's Primal skill [Nothing Vortex] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 3.

The host's Primal skill [Nothing Vortex] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 4.

The host's Primal skill [Nothing Vortex] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 5.

The host's Primal skill [Nothing Vortex] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 6.

The host's Primal skill [Nothing Vortex] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 7.

The host's Primal skill [Nothing Vortex] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 8.

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'What the fuck?! It levelled seven times from one use?! A Primal skill?! This is bad. This is really bad. Why did it level up so mu-'

'Because the skill not only grows from use but also from consuming. The being of an X-ranker is quite the meal to Void,' Darkness explained. 'The chains are stable, by the way, but they are much less vibrant and cracks litter this place now. Please try not to use that skill unless you absolutely have to, yes, Loney-boy?'

Death added, 'I concur. Also, Sky's palace rumbled for a moment. It might finally wish to speak to you.'

"That was... the power of Void?" Princessling Seres asked before she clenched her fists to hide the fact they were shaking but Lone noticed regardless even if he was otherwise distracted. "It... isn't my place to ask questions. My apologies I sense no life in her. How terrifying. I would like to convey to you that Father wishes to meet you at your earliest convenience."

"Tell him to come to Journey's End at about ninth or tenth bell tonight. I have prior plans until then," Lone replied a bit dismissively before he telepathically spoke to Sophie. 'She's dead. I got the stats, feel free to drop the barrier and come back in here.'

The next moment, Sophie had reappeared and the barrier encapsulating the room was gone.

Princessling Seres gave Sophie a very interesting look, one that spoke of fear and uncertainty. Even though only her eyes were visible, Lone found it fascinating that they alone could convey so much emotion.

"I'll be sure to relay your words to him," she replied with a polite nod.

"What did you mean by 'your anchor has been destroyed'?" Lone asked, worries were plaguing his mind both new and old, this being among them.

Princessling Seres replied immediately, "It has been known to me for centuries that Lady Carnation possessed the racial skill Life Anchor. It allows a sentient flower to be resurrected in a sense but at an immense cost to set up the anchor and to then use it to return, so to speak. It is very rare. Only one in ten million sentient flowers are born with it, even fewer earn it. I was ordered to help you kill Lady Carnation by Father should it come to that, so I had my subordinates destroy her anchor the moment Sofia Vladimirovich teleported right next to me."

Sophie nodded. 'She used a communication orb the very instant we appeared and we think the sister orb was deep in the city. We do not know exactly where as we were so focused on the flower and you but the timing lines up with the clump of magic on her lower back exploding.'

"What was her anchor?" Lone asked curiously. That sounded like the most powerful racial skill he had ever heard of thus far.

'I wonder if Golden Foxkin have a rare additional racial skill? Tail Spear seems to have been the common one from what I know, but I haven't heard of any others... I'll have to ask Lossa,' Lone thought. Bringing up such a specific question to the Conclave of Seekers would be suspicious at best, foolish at worst.

"It was one of her children. An S-ranked Sentient Flower: Carnation-Rose Hybrid with no name. They were contained in a facility belonging to Lady Carnation. I assume she thought the location safe enough to protect the anchor but she was foolish to underestimate me," Seres explained.

Lone frowned. 'I don't like the thought of a potentially innocent person being killed to prevent her resurrection, but I suppose they would have died anyway once Life Anchor had done its job.'

"I also need to give these to Hazel McCullen, Scott Miles, and Alisa Wójcik," the powerful princessling said as she held out three letters, having taken them out from within her robes.

Lone took them and raised an eyebrow. "What's this about?"

"They are invitations to a meeting with the Extraterrestrial Alliance. Are you aware of them?" she asked.

Lone shook his head. "No books I've read have mentioned them, so no."

Master Mezro'nan interjected by saying, "They are a collection of 50 or ssso sssummoned heroesss. They offer protection and training opportunitiesss for fellow heroesss. They aren't a sssecret organisssation but they alssso do not advertissse themssselvesss asss they do not have the protection of a Divine to fall back on, though one of their membersss is a demigod, if I recall correctly."

Princessling Seres nodded. "That's right. Master Mezro'nan can protect those three and their two friends for a time but I am sure it will eventually be exposed that the aura eruption was the result of a unique skill doubling your stats. When that happens, he will be powerless to stop those who would desire such an effect be applied to them. Divines would wage continent-spanning wars for such a hero to become their retainer, even at the cost of dozens of empires and hundreds of species going extinct. Most unique skills can, with centuries or millennia of training, be matched or even exceeded by skills anyone can learn, but not all. Scott Miles's skill seems to be one such unreplicatable skill."

That was true. It was one of the main reasons Lone had yet to used his two remaining skill slots. One was reserved for a very specific emergency he hoped would never happen, and the other he had loose plans for but it was more of a flexible option for any other unavoidable emergency where only a unique skill could overcome said situations.

Any other skill needs he happened to have could be accomplished through research at the credit slate and hard work with the assistance of Growth Accelerator.

"How do you know it did that? Doubling my stats." There was no point in denying it to a thousands of years old monster that seemed to specialise in roguish activities, including information gathering.

"You learn quickly that the most efficient way to preserve your life at the higher ranks is to never underestimate the extent of what skills are capable of. You know this. Some information gathering skills are more powerful than most information gathering organisations. Farewell," she said and then disappeared.

'She is back in the palace. We do not know how she did that. We think it might have been something similar to the leech's Shadow Walker, but much more powerful and much more instant,' Sophie relayed.

Lone stored what was left of Lady Carnation's corpse before he collapsed onto a sofa. "Well, that was fun."

"Lord Immortusss, your MP grew sssubstantially from that fight. May I asssk how?" Master Mezro'nan request in a much more polite tone that Lone was used to.

'Guess he's scared of Nothing Vortex. So am I. More so now than ever. I don't want to use it again but if it can so effortlessly kill an X-ranker - who was admittedly crippled by another X-ranker - then it could be a viable weapon for dealing with Arch Devil Zel's forces,' Lone thought. 'But if it risks freeing Void... Here's hoping Sky does want to talk to me. I could use some answers.'

"No. I don't know who's listening. I'll tell you at dinner," he replied.

Master Mezro'nan nodded his big purple head. "Very well. Ninth bell, yesss? If it isss of any concern, I do not mind sssharing my sssecond reward with Prince Keining."

"Happy to hear it," Lone responded.

"I ssshall go and check on the children," Master Mezro'nan said.

"Tell Hazel to come here in, like, 20 mins, would ya? I gotta unwind and go over a bunch of system stuff to relax," Lone asked.

The X-ranker nodded. "Of courssse."

Once he was gone and Sophie was by his side, he sighed deeply. Then a realisation came to him.

"I wasn't congratulated," he whispered.

"What?" Sophie asked, perplexed. "You wish for congratulations? Very well. Great job. Although we killed one well before you, you have successfully ended the life of an X-rank-"

"No," he cut in. "The system, it didn't congratulate me for the level-ups to Nothing Vortex."

'Enter your mind, now,' a powerful an authoritative voice that Lone hadn't heard in over a year ordered. 'We must talk.'