With complete exaggeration, the archbishop swings his arms open at the sight of Kyrie entering the temple. His eyes shine as if he has seen fallen gold coins on the floor.
"Welcome to Vita's Temple. You must be Sir Rowan! We have been waiting anxiously for the day that you would come for a visit. Please, this way!" The archbishop welcomes Kyrie with his voice filled with joy that came out a few pitches higher.
Unlike the first time, Kyrie gets treated better than royalty. Greeted with almost unpalatable sweet words from a wicked tongue, the archbishops and the priests shower him with compliments about anything and everything.
Although Kyrie believes in himself almost to the pinnacle of shamelessness, he still feels the awkwardness from the exaggeration of praise given by them. He clears his throat, giving them a side glance of annoyance that made all of them stop like someone simultaneously glued their lips together.
To lighten the awkward mood, the archbishop rubs his hands while saying, "May I know why Sir Rowan come for a visit today?"
"I want to access the altar," says Kyrie.
"Altar? I see... We will just need some moments to arrange the ceremony," responds the archbishop with an incredible mood.
However, once he finally notices someone else besides Kyrie, he turns his eyes towards Ian, and his mood sours as fast as a flip of a switch. His face contorts, exposing hostility and disgust, bluntly exposing his internal thoughts without caring who watches.
Kyrie takes a glance at the archbishop's face and his stomach twists. Nonetheless, he feels a tug on his chest when Ian accepts such an attitude with complete indifference. This should never be something that one just accepts like it is natural.
"I am afraid that I could only let Sir Rowan enter. Prince Ian, I would lead you to a waiting room," says the archbishop with no further intention to disguise his personal feelings.
"I came with another purpose, archbishop Shelford. It came to my attention that prince Ian has yet to do his ceremony to see all of his magic attributes."
[Ian would be in a much better place if he knows that his other attribute is the rarest attribute humans can possess: the magic attribute of darkness. Such an attribute is not really evil, regardless of how it sounds.]
Ian looks at Kyrie with surprise. His face spells out, "how did you know?" The archbishop looks troubled and indignant.
"Sir Rowan, it would be a problem due to prince Ian's condition. It would be unclean for that to be in the presence of Vita."
Kyrie flies into a rage, and his aura seeps out of his body. The pressure of his aura falls upon the archbishop and causes him to be crushed to the ground. He lies flat in the ground groaning with pain - tears, snot, and drool coming out while his pupils are flipping inwardly.
"How dare you be partial as a servant of Vita? He has been taken into account by her, yet you, who should have humbled himself as her servant, dare to bring judgment on issues that do not pertain to you!" says Kyrie coldly.
Ian has never seen this side of Kyrie, where Kyrie's eyes are chillingly cold and merciless. Despite the aura not being directed at Ian, he can feel the coldness and the intensity. Although Kyrie's swordsmanship is close to his level, Ian is surprised that Kyrie's magic belongs to an unfathomable level, or perhaps Ian was all along at his mercy. The priests around the archbishop kneel and plead mercy.
Kyrie finally lets go when Ian calms Kyrie down by holding on to the corner of his sleeve and says, "It's okay. Kyrie, calm down..."
[All because of that curse... No one looked at you as a human with feelings. Everyone that you have met abandons you in a heartbeat after knowing. Yet, you never acted on your grudge and never complained of your hurt. Maybe because there were no suitable people to hear your voice, but there is nothing more infuriating to me than being powerless toward this injustice that you always have to suffer from.]
Kyrie turns towards Ian. His eyes squint like he is trying to hold back the sorrow from pouring out from his eyes. Staring back at Kyrie, Ian sees his own reflection in Kyrie's eyes, and a sudden surge of warmth overtakes him. Like spring has come, something blooms inside of his heart - a feeling that he has never felt before. Despite not having words to allocate what those feelings are, he is sure of one thing.
'All I need is this person to stay by my side. Maybe that is all that I want. So, please stay, Kyrie. Stay with me.'
---
Before he steps on the altar stairs, Ian looks one final time towards Kyrie, who always seems to have the calmest and heartwarming eyes. He walks up the steps towards the altar. Once there, his body surrounds a surge of electricity, showing his first element. Then, the electricity stops zapping around his body, and a black mist slowly gets released from his body. He gets surprised at his second element because he has the famed magic attribute of darkness.
The magic attribute of darkness, in ancient times, used to be criticized due to ignorance. So, Vita sent a saint whose attribute was darkness. The saint ended the century-long wars that fatigued to the core of the people, and from then, the magic attribute was no longer feared but instead revered. Ian is the only person who got this attribute after that saint from Kyrie's knowledge.
Ian comes down the altar in a daze, looking at Kyrie like he has been shocked silly. Kyrie smiles at him.
"Congratulations, Ian! You have two outstanding magic attributes."
Ian dips his head as he tries to hold on to his emotions because he never expects that he would be able to do the testing like everybody else in this lifetime.
"Thanks," Ian says while lifting back his head. His eyes smile sweetly for the first time, making Kyrie happy for choosing to bring him to the temple.
"I will go now," Kyrie looks at the altar.
[I will find out the reason why Vita teleported me here.]