Chapter 148: The Call
Meanwhile, in the west.
"Rai, are you done?"
Valentina’s voice had just rung out when Rai’s body crashed onto the rocky ground.
Crash!
Rai spat out blood and looked at his shoulder, where he had just taken a bite from a serpent infused with poison. He gripped his Soul Weapon, a shiny silver spear named Nemesis tighter, then looked up at Valentina’s smiling figure.
"Since you are so free, Tina, why don’t you help me out a bit?"
"What is this? The genius prodigy from S-class is asking for a girl’s help?" she joked.
Rai rolled his eyes. "What else do you expect? Even though I am innately talented, I am not a monster like you and Adonis."
She smiled and conjured her vampiric sword in her hand.
"Next time, ask Adonis to give you dragon blood if you are feeling that inferior," she added, stepping to his side.
Rai smirked. "I don’t need it. I would like to stay human. I mean, someone has to remain genuine to represent humanity in an army full of monsters and beasts, right?"
She glanced at him strangely. "Humanity? You sound odd to me. Since when has ’humanity’ even existed?"
Rai sighed and looked back at the incoming Sky Serpents. "Tina, I know what you are trying to say, especially after all the bullying and injustices you have suffered. But there are still good people who genuinely care."
Valentina remained unmoved. "Whatever! To me, the only good person is my lord and master: Adonis."
Whoosh!
Having finished speaking, she charged forward like a blood queen, taking the lead.
Valentina moved through the chaos like a flicker of shadow, her vampiric blade singing a high, mournful note every time it tasted blood.
"Blood Art: Sanguine Ripple!" she intoned.
Instantly, a wave of concentrated blood energy erupted from her sword, expanded in a perfect circle that sheared through the wing membranes of three serpents simultaneously.
"SSSSSSSS..."
They shrieked, falling toward the rocky ground where her Blood Legion waited.
The Legion was a terrifying sight. These were not the pale, hiding vampires of ancient myth, but armored warriors with eyes like glowing coals.
As the serpents hit the ground, the legionnaires descended upon them with coordinated ferocity.
"Finish them," Valentina commanded, her voice cold and melodic.
Rai was not far behind.
Swooshhhh!
His silver spear whistled through the air as he pivoted on his heel to face a Serpent Commander that had managed to evade the initial slaughter.
The creature lunged with its fangs bared, dripping with a neurotoxin that sizzled against the stone.
"Spear Art: Silver Flash!" Rai said inwardly.
Buzzz!
His body became a blur of motion. The silver became a localized storm of piercing light.
Within a second, the Serpent Commander was riddled with dozens of holes, its life force extinguished before it could even snap its jaws.
"Last one," Rai panted, spinning his spear to flick the blood from the tip.
Then, he looked around at the devastation. The Blood Legion was already beginning to celebrate, their fangs bared in savage grins as they raised their weapons toward Valentina.
"Hail the Blood Queen!" the legionnaires roared in unison. The sound was guttural and heavy with a devotion that bordered on worship.
Valentina ignored the praise, sheathing her blade with a sharp click. She then looked toward the south, the wind whipping her crimson hair across her face.
Rai walked over to her, his breathing finally beginning to steady. He leaned on his spear, watching the way she stared into the distance.
"You know, for someone who just won a major battle, you look like you’re a thousand miles away," Rai remarked, catching his breath.
Valentina didn’t turn her head. "The war is not won, Rai. We have simply cleared a single path."
Rai shited his armour, glancing at the Blood Legion who were now literally drinking in the victory. He took a deep breath, deciding to ask the question that had been hovering in the back of his mind for months.
"Tell me something, Tina," he said, using the nickname he knew she tolerated only from him and the King. "Is this all just loyalty to the Order? Or is it something more? Do you love him?"
Valentina finally turned her gaze toward him.
He looked.
Her eyes were deep and unreadable, flickering with the residual energy of her Blood Art.
"Why do you ask such trivial things in the middle of a graveyard?"
Rai shrugged, trying to sound casual despite the gravity of the topic. "Call it human curiosity. You follow him into hell without a second thought. You look at him the same way those legionnaires look at you. So, do you love Adonis?"
Valentina looked back at the darkening sky.
A small, almost imperceptible smile played on her lips, though it carried a trace of melancholy.
"Adonis is a sun, Rai. He is the center of a world that was once entirely dark for me. But look around him. He has Sapphira. He has Millia. He has a circle of women who are legends in their own right, each of them holding a piece of his heart and his throne."
"That didn’t answer the question," Rai pointed out.
"It is the only answer there is," Valentina replied vaguely. "I am the blade in his hand and the shadow at his back. He gave me a purpose when I had none. I am happy where I am, and I am happy as I am. To crave more would be to misunderstand what he is to us."
Rai sighed, realizing he wouldn’t get a confession out of her today. "You’re as cryptic as he is. You two really are a pair."
"We should be worried about the Palace," Valentina said, changing the subject abruptly. "The reports said a thousand Sky Serpents were breaking through the northern perimeter. If they reached the Dragon Palace while we were stuck here..."
"I know," Rai said, his expression turning grim. "If they captured the center of the Order, all of this fighting out here won’t mean a thing. Did anyone even move to stop them?"
Just as the words left his mouth, a faint blue light began to emanate from the communication stele strapped to Rai’s belt.
.
He quickly unhooked the heavy stone slab, which began to hum with a familiar, regal frequency.
Soon, a projection of Queen Sapphira appeared above the stele. She looked tired but radiate a fierce pride, her draconic eyes shining with a relieved light.
"To all commanders in the Eastern, Western, and Southern sectors," Sapphira’s voice boomed through the air, "The threat to the Dragon Palace has been neutralized. King Adonis intercepted the thousand-strong horde at the Fallen Desert. The enemy has been annihilated or absorbed into the Order."
Rai and Valentina shared a look of pure shock. A thousand serpents, handled by one man and whatever small group he had with him?
"The King has issued a new directive," Sapphira continued. "All legions are to cease their current patrols and mobilize immediately. We are to reunite at the Southern Border. The King is waiting. We need to move in order to end this war now."
The projection faded, leaving the two warriors in a stunned silence.
Rai let out a short, bark of a laugh. "And here I was worried. I really am an idiot. He probably cleared the whole desert with a flick of his wrist."
Valentina turned to her Blood Legion, raising her hand to signal the march.
"You heard the Queen," Her commanding words spread all across the dunes. "To the South! Our King is calling !"
"Yeahhhhhh!"
The Blood Legion let out a final, deafening cheer.