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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 .

"—fuckin’ hell," 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 quantity of Qi, if uncontrolled, would have ripped a hole in spacetime 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 massive . "

"... 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 entitle 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 landmass behind it from the curious eyes, and those inside from the curious world .