Before the arrival of Liam, Axel was lying on the ground, looking at the ceiling of the cave and reminiscing about all the things that had happened to him.
Suddenly, a white light enveloped his body, and information regarding a skill was transmitted into his brain—the skill that was the collateral in his deal with Lilith.
"Shadow Puppet" was the name of the skill that he had received.
'That is a very cool skill, indeed. You will need some time to get used to it, but it is going to be a crucial skill for you in the future. Well, not as crucial as me, but you get the gist, right?' Axel heard the voice of Kael in his head.
Axel had already accepted Kael's presence, and now he just wanted to use the cards that he had been dealt in the best way possible.
As Axel shared the headspace with Kael, any information passed to Axel would automatically be received by Kael as well, unless Axel wished otherwise. It was kind of like a default setting of a system configuration.
So now, even Kael knew about the skill that Axel had received from Lilith. While Axel and Kael were busy discussing the prospects of the new skill, they were interrupted by Gizmo.
[Guys, I think we are in trouble. I sense two lifeforms approaching us fast, and both of them are level-1 elementalists,] said Gizmo. The sensing abilities of Gizmo were too precise to doubt. Gizmo had always been sensing their environment for Axel, and Axel had instinctively relied on Gizmo for accurate information.
[I think we should definitely run. Even a single level-1 elementalist is enough to kill us 100 times over. We have no chance against two at the same time,] said Gizmo in an alarmed voice.
'Gizmo, give me any details about them. How much time do we have, and what element do they control?' asked Axel in a determined voice.
[Axel, I don't think we can face them at all. Even if you manage to avoid their attacks—and that is a big if in itself—let's just say you manage to avoid their attacks. Even then, any of your attacks would not affect them at all. I think we should make a run for it. I don't think they have some sort of high-tech tracking device, as that would be too advanced for this area, so we should focus on running,] said Gizmo.
"And to where? Do you think we can outrun two level-1 elementalists with god knows what powers and devices? And for how long can we hide? I am no longer unaware of this world, Gizmo. Each elementalist would have their means and ways."
"We are in the middle of nowhere, most probably surrounded by mutated beasts outside. We must devise a plan after analysing all the facts. So, Gizmo, do you mind answering my earlier question?" asked Axel in an authoritative voice.
Gizmo, surprised by the sudden change in Axel's behaviour, answered while being as informative as possible: [There are two of them, as I told you, but it seems that one of them is human and the other a beast, most likely a snake coiled around the human.]
[The human is emitting the essence of the Earth, hence most likely an Earth Elementalist, but a veil of mystery surrounds the beast. Well, this is a highly unlikely case, but that beast might be more dangerous than the human. Unlikely, as you know, the prideful beast rarely submits to someone weaker than them, but it seems like we have a unique case in our hands.]
[The pair will reach us in about 15 minutes, so we have until then. You might be right, Axel. It might be possible that they are not hostile towards us, so we might not have to run at all,] said Gizmo.
'Nope, from what I can tell, your earlier assumption was right. You remember you said that our confrontation with Lilith could not have been planned by Silas. I think you were right; a powerhouse like Lilith was most probably not arranged by Silas, but I think I cannot say the same for the two guests of ours,' said Axel.
Gizmo was taken aback at the turn of events. Axel was able to deduce the situation better than him, and it was as if something had changed within Axel altogether.
Gizmo assumed that these changes in Axel were brought about either due to him being a monarch candidate or the essence of Lilith that he had just absorbed, or maybe both. But one thing was for sure: things were going to change, for better or for worse, and that was yet to be seen.
'Kael, I have a basic plan in my head on how we are going to greet our guests, but a major portion of that plan relies on your abilities. So, tell me, can you smoothly control the skill that we have just received using my elemental essence?' asked Axel with a small smirk on his face.
Axel was fairly positive that Kael would be able to pull this off, as it was Kael who had earlier changed part of the Soul Contract using his elemental essence, so this scenario would be somewhat similar to what Kael had accomplished earlier.
'For sure, Your Highness. I don't know why, but I like this part of you much better than the previous one. Oh wait, I know why—because you are much cooler than before, hehe.'
'But the tool over there is not wrong, Kid. Taking on two level-1 elementalists would be too much for you. So, if you don't mind, please do share what you have in mind, Your Holy Highness,' said Kael in his forever playful attitude.
'So, here goes nothing.....' and thus Axel started explaining his plan to the two beings who were trying to protect him from his eventual demise.