VOLUME XVIII
CURSE OF THE DRAGON ISLES
CHAPTER 426
ENIGMATIC ATTACK
Lino watched in somber silence as hundreds of souls carried hundreds of coffins onto the elevated platform, stacking them around a thick, wooden pole in concentric circles. A thick crowd gathered around, more souls than when the wedding was held, all shouldered in deep silence.
He stood up front, right in front of the first row where countless mourned the dead, hundreds of bloodshot eyes staring at mostly empty husks of wood. Hannah slowly walked up to him after some time and grabbed his hand tightly, smiling at him.
Taking a deep breath, he walked forward, right next to the coffins, and turned around, facing the thousands of souls looking at him. He"d long since grown desensitized to being the focus of the thousands, even millions, yet he felt slightly odd at the moment, the distant turmoil in his abdomen rising faintly. At that moment he wished he"d taken his cane with him, as it was slightly difficult to stand still without it underneath the pressure of thousands of eyes.
"… what is innocence?" he spoke out. "I asked myself that often, as I never wished the tendrils of hate to reach them. In the end, I"d come to realize that the unfortunate reality of living is that the innocent sometimes have to be sacrificed. Let go of. I refused to believe it. I still do. This time I failed to protect them… and, chances are, I"ll fail again. The young boys and girls don"t need to die for a point to be proven, for a tale to unfold. Cruelty, however, does not distinguish. Not mine, not theirs. When I"d killed Gaia," he continued following a short silence. "I"d told her that she"d ignited the fire that would burn down the world. I was wrong. Today, we"ll light that fire together. And we"ll watch until it burns away into ash and soot. It won"t appease their violated spirits. It won"t ease the sufferings of those who loved them. It won"t erase the guilt and shame. It won"t change anything, the fire. The days will still be the same, as will our call. But, it will become a memory. A powerful one. Let us all ask ourselves on this day," he said, smiling faintly. "How many of these fires do we wish to start before one becomes one-too-many?"
He pulled at the burning torch and spun around, biting his lower lip momentarily before lowering his hand and placing the torch against the hay beneath the coffins. The fire immediately sparked, golden and coral, dancing in accordance with the swirling wind, soon setting hardened wood ablaze.
"Abigale," Lino muttered silently, in his jaw, clenching his hands into fists. "Abinun, Acceera, Adium, Adeem…" one by one the names flew through his lips as fire before him raged.
His back remained turned to the crowd who watched the fire rage on in silence. Even Cae, holding tightly against Ella"s leg, watched the fire with a somber expression, silent. It soon lit up the darkness of the surrounding abyss, basking the fortress in a warm, holy glow. The fire would rage on for over ten hours altogether, during which not a soul would move or squeak or utter a sound.
Dangwe watched the cyan screen depicting the battle scenes with furrowed brows. All the while his lips seemed to be mumbling something, though no sound came out. The screen flashed with the last scene, when Amadeel dragged Lino out of the harm"s way.
He took a deep breath and leaned back further in his chair, falling into deep thought. Hours ticked by, during which Yog"son remained seated in the corner, meditating and patiently waiting.
"… how did he kill Three?" Dangwe asked suddenly.
"… I was hoping you"d know, Your Grace." Yog"son smiled bitterly as he got up and walked over. "It, by all accounts, looked like an entirely ordinary attack. Yet… she died so effortlessly because of it."
"… could it be something he did outside the attack?" Dangwe mumbled, stroking his chin. "I didn"t sense anything, however."
"I didn"t either," Yog"son shrugged. "Could… could it really be just a blunder on Three"s part?"
"No," Dangwe immediately rejected the proposition. "Though she was among the weaker from the Founding Seven, she still underwent the Origin Awakening. Something like dying to a sapling boy in essence because of a blunder shouldn"t happen."
"… can"t we… just ask him?"
"Sure, if you want to be subjected to a lot of sarcasm," Dangwe smiled faintly. "No, don"t worry. It appeared as though the attack cost him a lot, which means it"s a last resort."
"… he must have gotten much stronger after killing both Eight and Three," Yog"son said. "He"s approaching the limit, Your Grace."
"It"s never been my intent to control him completely," Dangwe said. "Merely to steer him. So far… so good, I must say."
Y"nn, Y"vol, Y"elleve and Yovel sat around a small, round table, staring at the fading, cyan screen in front of them, all with a starkly different expression. Y"nn"s face was expressionless, though his eyes shimmered in strange light; Y"vol seemed excited, his lips curled up in a faint smile; Y"elleve"s brows were furrowed, an expression of worry plastered on her face, while Yovel was shocked into silence, slumped in the chair.
"—f.u.c.kin" h.e.l.l," Y"vol trembled. "I wanna fight him so badly."
"Do you understand it, Y"nn?" Y"elleve asked, turning toward the Slayer.
"Not any more than you," he shrugged, shaking his head. "Whatever he did, though, I don"t want him doing on me, that"s for certain."
"Hm? That attack would take you out as well?" Y"vol asked, his excitement fading slightly.
"Though I don"t know exactly what it is or how he did it, it"s easy to see the actualization of the attack," Y"nn said. "It cuts through everything, in essence, as though there"s nothing there. Unlike normal attacks which first break the barriers before striking, his seemed to just… ignore the barriers, as though they were not there, dissolving everything. Three, even if she isn"t a Body Cultivator, was still Origin-awakened one. Do you really think ordinary strike could dissolve her body completely, in addition to all the Qi stored inside of her, without virtually any reaction?"
"Right!" Y"elleve exclaimed, her eyes widening. "You"re right… what… how did he do that?! The quant.i.ty of Qi, if uncontrolled, would have ripped a hole in s.p.a.cetime the size of the Western Continent, probably sucking everyone and everything in it at that moment. So… how did he contain it?"
"Could it have been Three?" Y"vol asked, his excitement having faded completely.
"No," Y"nn shook his head again. "Though I don"t know how he did it, I do know he did it instead of her. I imagine, actually, that the following backlash he suffered wasn"t because of the attack itself, but because of the Qi. Even if he has a method to neuter it, the discrepancy between the two is simply too ma.s.sive."
"… this… how is this possible…" Yovel asked, his body shaking slightly. "Just until recently…"
"… don"t worry lad," Y"vol slapped his back, startling him awake. "I don"t think the Empyrean underwent a complete boon since the Do"r Battle."
"Yeah," Y"elleve concurred. "The stakes were different. From what I gathered during my research of him," she added. "He"s very protective of his own. Those in Do"r were already dead, which is why it was hardly worth it. This time around, however, he was in effect defending his home."
"While true," Y"nn added as the atmosphere calmed a bit. "Remember that he killed Eight and Three… and remember that he is the Harbinger. Who knows just how stronger he"s gotten?"
"… I"m more worried about the Maiden," Y"elleve suddenly said, sighing. "She operated the entire fortress alone. Just how much Qi are we talking about here?"
"… why not ask her yourself?" Y"nn said, flashing one of his rare smiles.
"Hm?"
"We are being invited as guests," Y"nn said. "Which, I imagine, will ent.i.tle us to some answers, no?"
There were four of them left - all women, all bearing tired expressions. They sat around faintly kindled flame inside a damp, narrow cave, yet the setting hardly impeded their mood. Superimposed over the tiredness were jovial smiles and bright, glistening eyes.
"—we"ve finally completed it," One raised a flagon of wine, toasting the other three. "And just in time, at that. Though it costs us our brothers and sisters, Chaos, in the end, rewards us all equally. They have returned home."
"As shall we." the other three added.
"Our journey, too, shall soon come to an end, sisters," she added, still smiling brightly. "Let us toast our irrefutable victory, both today"s and the eternal one."
"May the Chaos reign!!" the four cried out at the same time, toasting once more, taking a few gulps of wine before One continued.
"All that is left is waiting for His Majesty to the surface, and for us to hand him the information and the key. He shall win… at last."
"—and he shall reign rightfully."
"…" silence soon encased the small cave rigged right beneath the spear-like cliff looming over the vast, cold ocean. In the fair distance, even in the ghastly dark night, the flutters of black smoke contorting into ever-reaching miasma rose above the ocean"s surface, blocking and hiding the landma.s.s behind it from the curious eyes, and those inside from the curious world.