Chapter 309: The Work Is Done
Aegon avoided sensing whatever was happening between Hecte and Virginia through his own Soul. He did feel a sense of heaviness, but he tried his best to ignore it.
Soon, the heavy feeling settled down and he could breathe properly again. Opening his eyes, he found himself back in his own body, perfectly fine, in addition to the two connections within his Soul. They were there before too, but certainly didn’t have such a close connection.
He exhaled and turned towards Hecte, who stood frozen in her spot, looking at him with clear admiration in her eyes. [You perform miracles so easily, Boss. How did you even do this?]
"Hahaha." Aegon let out a dry laugh, not knowing how to explain it. "Doesn’t really matter. Let’s start. I’ve already told her, so Virginia will cooperate with you."
She nodded and knelt down, having her hands slip into the fathomless darkness of her shadows. Then, as if a gigantic creature had eaten the sun, dooming the world to eternal darkness, the whole Chainbound Sky was covered in deep shadows that permeated through every fiber of its being.
Aegon’s eyes remained wide open, his jaw almost touching the ground. He knew Virginia was fast, as every Dragon was, but this fast... he hadn’t even blinked, couldn’t even process the changes.
She had travelled from one end of Chainbound Sky to the other, carrying Hecte’s authority over the shadows, and it wasn’t just once. Considering the structure of Chainbound Sky, she had to travel across it at least a few times...
’And she did it so fast... what the hell! So when we rode on her back? That was just a warm-up? A casual stroll in the park?’
He shook himself awake and stepped closer to the edge, watching all fifty floating islands drown in shadows. No, they looked like floating islands made entirely of dark matter.
Hecte sat beside him, amusement and excitement clear in her voice. [I haven’t been this excited to use my powers in decades. Such creative thinking.]
Aegon grinned at her. "Stop flattering me and do the work."
She chuckled and then dissolved into pure shadows, most of which returned to his shadow while the others scattered across the darkened ground below. It was getting a bit harder to differentiate between shadows, as everything was covered in them.
The whole Chainbound Sky turned silent, as the heavy atmosphere seemed to crack with every passing second. Finally, after around two minutes, Hecte rose from his shadow.
Hecte raised her shadow hand and muttered, [Elzibiel!]
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the sky darkened, as though the sun had lost its authority over the nation. A chill seeped into every Soul as cold winds of death roared to life.
Under Aegon’s curious eyes, tens of thousands of black balls of darkness began floating above Chainbound Sky, increasing with each passing second.
[Boss, these little creatures are interesting. Can I take them?]
Hearing her question, Aegon shrugged. "Just leave me a few to study. You can keep the others."
She hummed and clenched her hands, making all those balls of darkness gather before her. Aegon watched as they condensed together to form a giant sphere of swirling darkness.
Hecte expanded her shadow, and the sphere disappeared within it. With that, Chainbound Sky also returned to normal as all the shadows returned to their original places, giving the nation its former brightness again.
But the deathly silence still hung over them.
"They’re alive," Elara said, a sweet, beautiful smile forming on her lips. "I can sense it."
"Both threats have been neutralized," Aegon said in a low voice, his lips curling up.
The explosives had already been handled by the rain. Not to mention, the Red Veil had already deactivated all of them. The second threat, the Shadowheart Parasites, was also resolved because of his unusual thinking.
"Now, the only thing left is catching the culprits."
Aegon turned towards Kaelis, who had already dropped to his knees along with the others, their eyes moist. He could see the disbelief, happiness, and a ton of emotions swirling within them. They didn’t even know how to express them properly.
For months, they had lived in despair, knowing they were doomed and that nothing could save them. They had fought till their last breath and taken a gamble by asking a Valerian for help. And their gamble had succeeded. Their nation was saved.
"Get up, Uncle Kaelis," Aegon called out to him, but then he paused. "I can call you that, right?"
Kaelis came out of his reverie, quickly bowing to him. "Whatever you may wish, Lord Augustus."
"Meh. There are too many of them," Aegon shrugged. "I already called you Uncle, so just call me Aegon. Also, the work is far from done."
He smiled at him. "Tell me, do you want me to punish the traitors?"
The atmosphere around Kaelis changed as the aura of a leader carried through his voice. "There’s no need to trouble yourself with them. I’ll deal with them myself."
"Your traitors, your decisions." Aegon turned towards Hecte. "But I’ll still deal with the Corals. I don’t like them."
Understanding his intentions, Hecte clicked her fingers and a shadow rose beside her, carrying three figures with blood and bruises covering their faces and bodies. Their clothes were torn and ragged.
A flash of hatred passed through Kaelis’s eyes, and that was all the confirmation Aegon needed to know that his friends had captured the right people.
[They were resisting, Boss, so we had to raise our hands.]
Aegon scoffed upon hearing that lame excuse. As if he were an idiot who would believe that. Clearly, his subordinates also didn’t like the Corals and had vented a little on them. Not that he minded.
Shaking his head, he walked towards them and said, "Wake them up."
The shadow standing behind them flickered for a moment, and an ear-piercing scream filled the island. A torn arm fell to the ground with a splash of blood, waking all three instantly, with one clutching his shoulder.
"I didn’t mean it this way," Aegon clicked his tongue and turned towards the other two, who were cowering in fear. "Hello. I know you don’t recognize me, so let me introduce myself. I am Aegon Valeria Augustus, and I have brought death to you."