Guess Who's Back

After climbing up a winding staircase that seemed both endless and suspiciously short, Axiolypito set his uncovered foot in a green meadow, the sun was warm and gentle, the grass soft and inviting him to lay down.

Pink, yellow and flowers of all sort of colors popped up here and there, giving this place a very serene atmosphere, the air was pure, much different from what was below.

'How was there even so much air down there?' he wondered before shaking his head, he really didn't care about the answer to this question.

A big, toothy smile formed on his insightly face as he spread his arms, his abyssal mantle swirling and weaving without the need of the wind.

"It's been a while" he exclaimed to the meadow, it had in fact, not been a while at all.

At least from the perspective of everyone other than himself, ever since Axio had fallen into the earth, not even two days had passed in reality, barely more than twenty four hours.

The time difference was enormous as Axiolypito felt like it had been at the very least, an entire month and that was only according to him, he had had no way to calculate time accurately down there.

It was nothing but a guess, nevertheless, he still felt good about being on the surface again, he could feel the needles he had implanted into monsters much more clearly now.

With the snap of finger, he could transform all of them into abyssal creatures, it might not mean much like that but unlike himself, who was highly limited in his means of damage.

The only move he possessed that actually carried weight in his arsenal was the one he had devised during his fight with the Abyss Eater and then used to defeat the Old Hadal King.

It was powerful for certain but not as much as it seemed.

It was very taxing to use, even if used sparingly and made him a sitting duck, he had only allowed himself to use it because he frankly didn't have much of a choice and also because defeating his enemies in those scenarios was certain to reap much experience.

Enough for him to go through one of his quick evolutions and be healed.

He had to make a bet on the fact that his needle possession would work on him as intended to not lose against the Abyss Eater and if that one hadn't given him enough XP to heal, then he probably would have collapsed and choked on his own deflated lungs.

So he wasn't planning on using it for more than an instant and only when it was actually meaningful.

Otherwise, he would end up defeated by none other than himself.

Once he was done savoring the pure outside air, his face turned deathly serious as he cast away his abyssal mantle and crown, leaving him in what was essentially a loincloth, a loincloth that was spent much time inside of a filthy, stagnating water.

Still, he didn't care for now, there was something much more important at hand.

In fact, there had been something of great importance ever since Sir Solitar tried cleaving his head in half and partially succeeded.

Axio hadn't realised what had caused the great shockwave that had rolled into the surroundings at the time but after thinking about it, it only made sense.

He had focused so much on his survival and escape that he had almost missed out on the fact that he no longer felt the Obsidian Queen's dirty influence over his mind.

This was probably, at least, part of the reason why Faceless Lord was unable to warp to him while he was down, it could also be because of the Abyss's dominion of the area, however, Axio hadn't been barred from taking control of his needled minions despite him and them being in what was essentially different timlines.

Faceless Lord was probably able to warp to the other ministers becaus the queen had implanted something in all of them.

Though, by all accounts, it seemed like only he needed to be forcefully ordered around, the others must have known about the implantation as well.

Now that he was freed from her influence, he could start plotting against her, not that he hadn't already started but it was now much more grounded, he could truly act against her.

But he still needed time and honestly, having her and the monster army backing him up was quite a treat, so he could play the role for a while longer, he just needed to make sure to not show his face in front of her.

Whether she realised it or not, he didn't know but he didn't want to be made subservient again, if she didn't know, not meeting her would do.

If she did, then continuing to play the part of her good fourth minister would perhaps made her believe that he had truly decided to follow her.

Regardless, he wasn't going to go anywhere close to her, although that wasn't easy, he knew that she had wide tunnel systems leading in a ton of places, including his castles in Axia.

He had an idea to make her stay away from him however, the Obsidian Queen may seem like she sat back while her army did all the work but she was actually never far from the frontlines, she always overwatched the progress of her conquest and was ready to step in if necessary.

Accompanied by her powerful first minister, it was nearly guarranted that if she did step in, victory was assured, he had always known that she was powerful but Sir Solitar was actually repelled by whatever he sliced in Axiolypito's head, instilling the idea in Axio's mind that the queen was actually, at the very least, equal to the swordsman.

He couldn't fight her and by using her habits, he would make sure that it wouldn't happen, the moment Lordlorn was under her full control, she would move on to the next continent, far from himself and would be plenty occupied with other matters.

Meanwhile, he would be orchestrating her demise.