Page 4116

Hector noticed that the reaper was using his public voice now and so decided to do the same. "Well, it's definitely safer than what was about to happen. Did you see that shit?"

'I did. Tentacle monsters. Yigorosks, most likely. I told you they were real.'

"You already did the whole told-you-so bit with that, you know."

'Well, everyone loves a sequel. Anyway, I didn't realize they could appear in such numbers. That's not good news.'

"Where did they even come from?" said Hector. "It looked like they came from underground, but I didn't sense their auras down there. It felt more like they just... appeared out of thin air--or, out of thin rock, I guess. Those weird mini-volcanoes. It was like they spawned in there."

'Yeah, Yigorosks are pretty fucking strange. I don't think they're all necessarily--' The reaper cut himself off, and it didn't take Hector long to understand why.

That aura was back. The overwhelming one.

Sermung's.

And it was close. Right beside him, in fact. And in the next moment, the Scarf of Amordiin confirmed that for him.

A few months ago, Hector probably would've jumped out of his own skin in a situation like this. Such an incredible, oppressive presence just instantly appearing. Hell, even with the benefit of his aura sense telling him that this man meant him no harm, a part of Hector still wanted to do that on pure impulse.

But today, here and now, Hector Goffe of Atreya remained steady. "Hello," he said, quite calmly, as he turned around to finally lay eyes on this man that he'd heard so much about.

And indeed, there he was. Just floating right there next to Hector's platform.

But it wasn't just a dude. It was a fellow dude in plated armor.

"Hello," said the most powerful servant in the world, as casually as could be. The man's armor shone so brilliantly that it almost seemed to be glowing.

It was a little hard on the eyes to be honest, but Hector was just so enraptured by the sight of it that he didn't much care. He'd never seen anyone else in medieval armor--excepting those whom he'd put in there himself, of course. Thankfully, his own faceguard was covering his gawking.

"Interesting armor you've got there," said the Crystal Titan. "Is that Late-Mohssian inspired?"

Hector needed a moment. "...Probably a little bit, yeah. I tried not to get too fancy with it, but, uh... well..."

Next page tomorrow

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Page 4115

'What the hell is this?' thought Hector as more boxes kept appearing, shunting off chunks of the city in the distance. He hadn't necessarily expected Garovel to have an answer for him, but after a few lingering moments of silence, the reaper did.

'...The Crystal Titan,' said Garovel.

Hector was both surprised and somehow not. That briefest flash of an aura that he'd sensed. While he hadn't recognized it as belonging to Sermung, it did have that kind of overwhelming punch to it. Greater than anything he'd ever sensed before.

But where was it now? Hector couldn't tell. But apparently, Garovel could? 'You can sense him?'

'Not anymore. But for a split second, he was definitely there. About a hundred meters north of us. I'm sure of it.'

So close. Hector hadn't sensed anything that specific, but it had all happened so fast. Honestly, he was kind of impressed with Garovel. 'How are you so certain? There was so much going on.' Unconsciously, he started hovering toward the spot that the reaper had specified, though he didn't actually expect to find the strongest servant in the whole world just chilling there.

'This is the heart of Vanguardian territory. I've been hoping to recognize his soul signature from the moment we first arrived.'

'Huh. Wow, that's, uh... impressive. In a stalker-y sort of way.'

'Oh, don't start.'

'You only met him the one time, didn't you?'

'That's all we reapers need.'

'...You're not gonna, like, freak out if we do actually meet him, are you?'

'I might.'

Hector couldn't help snickering under his breath. It didn't take long to close the rest of the distance, and sure enough, no one was here. 'This the spot?'

'Roughly, yeah.'

'So, what? He just blipped in and out of existence or something?'

'Or something, most likely.'

'Hmm. You wouldn't happen to know how he did that, would you?'

'If I did, I would've taught it to you months ago. Anyway, what about your weird new senses? What are they telling you?'

'Uh...' He looked up and down at the mountainous black box that was only a few meters away now. 'It's kinda hard to sense anything with these behemoths all over the place now. They're like black holes when it comes to auras. Just sucking in everything around them.'

'Oof. Don't like hearing that. Doesn't make me feel safe at all.'