Alien Knights

Unable to evade Leoric's invitation, Todd sat in front of the chessboard, looked at the chess pieces in front of him, and was thinking about the situation in the Holy Acropolis, and he didn't know how to place the chess pieces for a while.

Leoric looked at the opponent, slowly put down the chess piece in his hand, and said slowly: "My child, I want to thank you."

Todd looked up in surprise: "Thank you?"

Leoric sighed: "I haven't spoken to my daughter since the day she got married. But this morning, Mary suddenly came to me and said she wanted to see someone...that person is you."

Todd was stunned, and opened his mouth to explain the relationship between the two: "Me and her..."

Leoric stretched out his hand to stop his words, and said with a smile: "I don't want to know what's going on between you, what I know is that Mary is in the Holy Acropolis, and she has a trustworthy friend, that's enough."

Hearing what the other party said, Todd gave up his intention to explain, and fell silent instead.

Leoric raised his head to look at the blue sky, threw the chess piece in his hand into the chessboard, and stood up with difficulty: "It's rare that the weather is so good, it's too wasteful to play chess, take a walk with me, an old guy."

After taking the first step, the aging joints and weak muscles made Leoric's legs and feet weak, and he almost fell to the ground.

Todd strode forward quickly, reaching out his hand to help him, but unexpectedly Leoric pushed his hand away and roared in a low voice: "Don't touch me! I can still walk!"

The murderous aura possessed by the long-term exposure to the sand field, and the majesty shown by being in a superior position, made Todd have an illusion for a moment when he looked at Leoric, as if he really saw a fierce beast that chose to eat people in a trance.

Seeing the astonishment on Todd's face, Leoric shook his head helplessly, and said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, my guarding regardless of the occasion has already destroyed my etiquette. Please forgive me, an old man, for my unintentional mistake."

Leoric walked tremblingly, and said while recalling: "When I was young, I traveled to the south. I rode a horse, all the way to the southernmost tip of the parish, set foot on an endless prairie, and saw a group of lions there."

"There is a lion king in the lion group. He is majestic and majestic. He dominates the most beautiful land on the grassland. There, he has the right to enjoy food first, the right to choose a mate, and the right to control the life and death of all living beings." Leoric bent his body, stretched out his wrinkled hands, and gently stroked the blooming flowers in spring: "However, the lion king will eventually grow old one day. The voice became hoarse and weak."

Listening to the old king's words, Todd thought deeply.

"The sons of the lion king began to challenge the authority again and again. They robbed the food in the father's mouth and disobeyed everything the father asked. Even the young people around the lion group - hyenas, foxes and wild wolves were ready to move because of the weakness of the lion king. The bones slowly sank into the ground, and no animal remembered that there was once such a lion king who dominated the grassland."

Leoric stopped in front of a sculpture, looked at the majestic and majestic statue of the king in front of him, and sighed: "Child, do you still remember what I said to you last time? Aging is the most terrifying thing in this world. Its horror does not lie in the pain and torture of the body, but in the fact that you are watching everything with your eyes, and you are losing little by little in front of you, but you have no power to fight back."

Leoric turned around and looked straight into Todd's eyes: "The Holy Acropolis is a huge killing field. Intrigues, intrigues, and robbery have already turned this city into a hell. But there is only one exception, and she is my daughter Mary..."

Leoric took a step towards Todd: "Since Mary was born, I have isolated her from this dirty world. I forbade her from entering the power war, and forcibly kept her away from those treacherous people with ulterior motives. When she was still young, I married her to a rich place as soon as possible, in order to let him leave here as soon as possible."

"But she doesn't understand my painstaking efforts." Leoric's eyes flickered with pain: "She thinks that I have imprisoned her freedom, determined her life without authorization, and pushed her into the fire... But she has never understood my original intention..."

"That child has only trusted two people since she was a child. One is my sister Tania, and the other is my first wife Gemma. But these two people have passed away. I thought that she had no one to rely on in this world... until she came to me this morning and told me about your existence."

Todd secretly wondered, what did Mary say to her father this morning to make the old king trust him so much?

Leoric took out a small brooch from his bosom, put it into Todd's hand, lowered his voice, and said solemnly: "This brooch is an amulet to avoid disaster and protect life. I will give it to you now. Remember! A week later, the Holy Acropolis will hold an heir election ceremony. When you attend the ceremony, you must wear this amulet!"

Todd looked down at the brooch in his hand, no matter in style or weight, it was the same as Mary's.

Leoric waved his hand: "Son, go, may the Heavenly Father bless you and me."

With the sound of the heavy iron gate turning, Todd walked out of the back garden, and when he looked back at the cold castle under the sun, an inexplicable coolness passed through his whole body.

———————————————

Soul space, conference room of the research institute.

Rachel twirled the 3D model of the Holy Acropolis brooch, looked at it for a long time, and said nothing.

"How, have you seen this kind of thing?" Todd asked suspiciously while drinking the iced Coke in his hand.

Rachel looked at Todd and asked, "You mean, after Mary removes this brooch from her chest, you can have a soul link with her?"

"That's right."

Todd called up the last clip of his meeting with Leoric, and when he heard the other party mentioning such things as "avoid disaster", "talisman", "must wear" and so on, he said puzzledly: "It sounds like the function of this brooch is not only to isolate the contact with the supernatural power, but also to play a protective role."

Rachel checked it carefully again, and finally gave an answer: "This may be a relatively rare power-immobilization material in the Presbyterian Church—magic crystal."

Todd rubbed the center of his brows: "Magic magnet... What is it? Can you explain it?"

Rachel said with some uncertainty: "I'm not too clear about this substance. Generally, only high-ranking members of the "Legion of Discord" have the right to use it. It is mainly used to imprison powerful alien species, and is generally used when arresting or escorting prisoners."

Todd looked at the brooch in the 3D model and asked again: "Do you know how this item works?"

Rachel shook her head: "I only know that this kind of object has a strong magnetic field, which can interfere with the release of supernatural powers in the heterogeneous body. Other than that, I'm afraid I don't know anything about it."

Todd frowned: "How much of this substance is there in the Presbyterian Church?"

"You want to ask whether the magic magnetic crystal has been mass-produced, right?" Rachel shook her head with a smile. "This kind of thing is very precious. Before using it every time, legion soldiers need to ask the elders for it. Because only the elders know where the magic magnetic crystal is stored..."

Todd heard Rachel's voice getting lower and lower, and couldn't help asking strangely: "What's wrong?"

Rachel raised her head, her expression was unprecedentedly dignified, and even a little panicked: "Among the three elders, Clarence is dead, and the remaining two elders, one of them is located in the Eastern Holy City, and they are dealing with a difficult matter with the head of the Legion of Discord. Naturally, it is impossible to take out the magic magnet crystal from the headquarters. Then, the source of these magic magnets can only be the remaining elder..."

"The remaining elder?"

"Eleanor." When Rachel said the name, Todd noticed that her body was shaking.

"We call her the 'Mother Goddess' again."