Chapter 442: [Dystopian Elven War] [18] [Resurface of Old Gods]
"Um, what's going on?"
A voice echoed from the side.
They both looked simultaneously, finding Zenith standing there… holding an ice cream.
Siersha let out a sigh of relief as she unsummoned Basmu.
Shyamal, though reluctant, had to remove her scythe as well.
For her, killing Siersha was one thing, but it would be bad if she had to kill the witness as well.
Zenith slowly walked towards them, suspiciously looking at the silver-haired girl.
She slowly sided with Siersha. "Who is she?"
Siersha rubbed her temples as she replied. "She is Shyamal." She replied. "Uh, Himmel's lover."
Zenith's hostility spiked at an all-time high as she looked at Shyamal.
She got in a position to fight, like a cat finding an intruder in her territory.
"I never knew he had another lover," Zenith mumbled, narrowing her eyes. "Which one are you?"
Shyamal let herself smile as she replied. "The first one."
"Liar," Siersha rebuked. "You aren't even—"
"Shut up, Vampire," she hissed, glaring at her. "We haven't settled this yet."
Despite the tension brimming between them, Zenith began to eat her ice cream faster before finishing it.
"...Shyamal," Zenith mumbled, her voice soft. "I never heard Himmel talking about you."
"Why would he?" Siersha replied, folding her hands. "Would you have liked him if he did?"
"I don't like him!" Zenith snapped, glaring at her best friend. "…I hate him." Then she mumbled quietly. "Probably."
Shyamal narrowed her eyes as she shifted her gaze between her and Siersha.
"Another one?" she finally asked.
"Another one," Siersha nodded and then let out a sigh. "Hopefully, the last one."
"W-what are you guys talking about?" Zenith asked, confusion clear in her voice.
Shyamal tilted her head. "You really don't know?"
Zenith blinked. "Know what?"
"That you're one of the girls circling around Himmel."
Zenith looked like someone had just splashed cold water on her. "What?! No—I'm not circling anyone! That's disgusting!"
Siersha gave her a look. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that."
Zenith pointed a finger at her.
"Don't say weird things!" she snapped. "And you should be worried about my mother more than me."
"Your mother?" It was Shyamal's turn to be stunned. "Why?"
Zenith gave a faint nod. "…Yeah," she mumbled. "He confessed his love long ago."
"..."
"..."
Zenith realized a little too late that maybe she shouldn't have said that.
"Is. That. So," Shyamal said, as a blackish aura began to leak out of her body.
"Control yourself, stupid child," Siersha said, slapping Shyamal lightly. "You will have a premature awakening if you let your emotions rile up."
"Who are you calling a child, stupid bloodsucker?" Shyamal rebuked, glaring at her.
Siersha smiled, finding another way to tease her. "Do you know what else I sucked?"
"Say that and I will rip out your jaw."
Safe to say, Shyamal didn't take it kindly.
"Alright, enough, both of you!" Zenith said, getting in between them. "As the oldest one here, I will be in charge."
Shyamal stopped in her tracks as she observed the girl.
"You look like a child," she said flatly.
"With bigger chest," Siersha added. "That's where all the food goes, I guess."
Zenith's cheeks flushed red. "W-Why are you looking there?!"
"You stood in the middle," Shyamal said with a shrug, "and it's not like it was hard to notice."
"Perverts," Zenith muttered, folding her arms across her chest.
"Urgh, I am sick of you guys," Shyamal grumbled, taking a bottle of beer.
"Wait, is that beer?" Zenith asked, looking at her.
"No, it's goat milk."
"But it's brown."
"The goat was ugly," she replied as a matter of fact.
Zenith blinked and gave her a thoughtful look. "Ugly goats give brown milk, huh?" she mumbled. "I never knew that."
"Urgh, you are dumber than Christina."
Zenith froze in her place as she slowly looked at Shyamal. "W-what?"
Before Shyamal could reply—
BOOOOM!!?
An enormous explosion, that was felt by everyone.
"Himmel!"
---
BOOOOM!!!?
My vision turned blank as I bore the complete damage of the explosion.
I blinked as the impact on my body pushed me backwards like a broken kite.
Breaking through the wall, I was sent off the building as my vision returned.
'Fuck Kryllios!'
I should have known better than to trust that fucker wouldn't do anything.
This entire race is on the line right now.
'Fuck! Fuck!'
[<Calm down, Qais.>]
Inna's voice echoed in my head as I felt Mariam rush at me.
[<It wasn't your fault, you can't see the future of him sacrificing his favourite child.>]
'And he wouldn't have done that if he was sure to eliminate his biggest threat.'
"Himmel!"
Mariam reached out to grab my hand, but at the last moment, her body halted.
Kryllios grabbed her leg, forcing her to halt in place.
'Huh?'
The world fractured around me, broke like shredded glass.
I was drifting, afloat or falling, but where and into what, I wasn't sure.
Finally, I landed on my feet and immediately began observing my surroundings.
I stood over a floating stone, perhaps an asteroid?
The surroundings made me think so, as it was floating under a sky of Aurora Borealis.
The colourful light illuminated the place, and what lay beyond was endless numbers of stars.
With my connection broken with the world's mana, I immediately concluded—
'I am in someone's kingdom.'
The stinging pain made me look at my leg.
The upper layer of my skin was completely torn apart, showing my muscles.
There was a residue of reddish mana that was blocking my own the layers of mana under my skin clearly visible.
Even though it was slowly healing, I couldn't do much for it now.
'Tch.'
"We finally meet."
A voice echoed, making me look up.
"Heir Himmel."
A face that felt ordinary, with long brown hair, a bearded and tall man, with corkscrew horns and pale blue skin.
"….Soren."
I groaned his name, feeling a bitter pain in my leg.
He wasn't alone; there were four more of them along with him.
I recognized three more of them.
A lady with six long daggers floating around her, braided blonde hair, and horns curled downwards, touching her chin.
'Phenex….'
Beside her was a broad-shouldered man with flowing green hair, same skin tone, and horns like hers.
'Dagan.'
On Soren's left was a boy who looked young, no more than twelve, with long black hair and obsidian horns.
'Imri.'
And beside the boy was a bloated man the size of a car with the same blue skin like them.
He was the biggest of them all, and regrettably, I only know his name.
'Valerius.'
"I wish we could have met in better conditions," Soren spoke again, grabbing my attention. "But we had to meet in battle… like it's fated."
"I will ask this once, Soren," I said, snapping my joints. "Let me out."
"I will do as you say," he nodded, extending his hand. "Just return to us the youngest of House Atretic."
"..."
When the explosion happened, the first thing I did was hide Vadanis back in my space.
'He should be alive.'
"It seems we are in disagreement," he replied, retracting his hand. "Very well, then."
"Are we killing him??" Imri asked, his voice way too excited.
"Calm down, you murderous child," Dagan scolded him. "All you think about is killing."
"Don't scold him, Dagan," Phenex rebuked, slapping his hand. "You will make him cry."
"Tch." He gave her a sharp look. "Don't pamper him like a mother."
"Kryllios' son," I cut into their conversation. "How did no demigod notice he was a living bomb?"
"You mean Axl?" Soren replied, looking down at me. "He had a magic circle of teleportation engraved under his skin. It's hard to detect even for a demigod."
Ahh…
They must have teleported the bomb inside the child's body.
I don't understand why… But I feel really pissed right now.
It never sits well with me when a parent uses a child like that.
"You must feel nice," I said, a blade of mana forming in my hand. "Sacrificing a child."
They all tensed up, ready for a fight.
Soren only said a few words. "Things we do to win a war, Heir Himmel."
[<It's going to be a difficult fight, they all are High-Eternal.>]
'I got no choice but to fight.'
[<…I will guide when needed.>]
'Much appreciated.'
"I will ask once again." Soren extended his hand once again. "Give him to—."
"No," I firmly replied.
He slowly lowered his hand. "Then I won't waste my breath."
Golden lightning coated my entire body in an instant, I zapped past the formation of four and appeared beside Soren.
"I suppose so."
BOOM!!
My blade hit him like a hammer, throwing him back.
'Huh?'
Halfway through, his body bleeped and turned into an asteroid.
The others exploded in movement before I could understand.
A split-second was all I had before they were on me.
The first to reach was Phenex, her six daggers twirling through the air like a deadly dance.
I barely brought up my mana blade to deflect them.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
One of the daggers grazed my cheek, drawing blood.
'Damn, she's fast.'
A second later, Dagan crashed into me from above like a meteor.
I felt my organs disorganized, my body slamming past two asteroids before I halted on the third.
'Huff….'
Despite making most of Anastasia's divinity mine, it still felt foreign to use.
I blinked and the asteroid in front of me was replaced by Imri.
His childish face split in a wicked grin.
"I wanna see how loud you scream," he giggled.
I raised a barrier just as he clapped his hands together.
BANG!!!
A shockwave erupted, pushing me across the sky.
My ears rang and the mana around me trembled, even my barrier cracked.
'...They are well coordinated.'
Before I could recover, the bloated figure of Valerius appeared behind me.
His massive arm slammed into my back, sending me spiraling into another asteroid.
It cracked under the impact, and I spat out blood.
'Ah, my back doesn't feel too good.'
[<They have years of experience.>]
'I can tell.'
But—
"Enough games," I muttered, forcing my body up.
Golden lightning exploded around me again as I used the divinity.
My fractured back healed and the torn skin on my leg knitted together.
I aimed straight for Imri first.
I don't like his childlike face on a fucking adult.
He blinked. "Ooooh, he's coming for me~!"
He raised his tiny hands to cast another spell, but I was already there.
My knee connected with his stomach.
CRACK!
But I felt my own knee throbbing in pain. Looking down, I found Imri was replaced by an asteroid.
Before I could process the pain shooting up my leg, a fist the size of a boulder crashed into my side.
BOOM!!
It was Valerius once again.
The impact launched me like a ragdoll through the air.
My body twisted mid-flight before I slammed into another floating rock.
But this time, I used the momentum to grab the rock, and the golden lightning burst forth.
I twisted my body and tossed the rock towards the fat pig with all my might.
BOOM!!?
It took away a huge chunk of his face, but much to my annoyance, he began to regenerate.
[<He is using his body fat as a way to increase his healing. You need to deplete his body fat if you want to kill him.>]
'Easier said than done.'
My body floated down as I landed on another asteroid.
The gravity in this place was much lesser than outside.
"Hello~."
I looked down, finding Imri's half body coming out of the asteroid.
Raising my leg, I tried to stomp his face, but he slipped away—not before touching my leg.
'Huh?'
Almost instantly, five crimson flowers bloomed all over my body.
'What the fuck?'
I burned them with divinity, but they grew once again.
[<Don't touch them!>]
'Why?'
[<Those flowers represent your five senses. The more you burn them, the faster you will lose your senses.>]
'What type of sorcery is this?'
She couldn't reply, as Dagan was upon me.
His axe came down with brutal force.
CLAAANG!!
I sharpened my mana blade with divinity and cut through his axe along with his body.
But once again, his body turned into an asteroid.
'How the fuck—?'
"You might be wondering what's happening, right?" A voice made me look up as I found Soren sitting on an asteroid.
I didn't reply.
"Have you heard about the constellation Centaur?" he continued, raising his hand. "This is my kingdom. I can control these asteroids like my own body."
Four asteroids floated around him and immediately turned into his four partners.
[<If you want to kill him, then you must destroy his twenty asteroids.>]
'I only see nineteen.'
[<He must be hiding. The original had eight hundred, but kept two hundred of them hidden.>]
'…Wait, original?'
[<Their powers… are toned-down versions of old gods.>]
'....'
I didn't reply as I formed two blades on both my hands.
Hmm?
But a sudden disturbance made us all look up.
In the sky…
Mariam was trying to rip open the kingdom forcefully.