Chapter 164: Bone and Dusts
Adonis played the flute using his chaos energy.
"Wuuuu, wuuuu, wuuuuu..."
The sound of the flute was a chilling melody that seemed to tear at the very fabric of the air.
As Adonis blew into the instrument, visible ripples of violet energy expanded from him in concentric circles.
The first wave of skeleton warriors that burst through the doors of the Bone and Barrel didn’t even have time to raise their rusted swords.
The moment the music touched their bones, they shattered into fine white powder, their lingering soul-fires snuffed out like candles in a hurricane.
Adonis shouted between breaths,
"Keep your distance, Millia! Their numbers are a distraction. Focus on the ones with the purple lanterns!"
Millia didn’t need to be told twice. She moved like a shadow within shadows, her dual daggers carved from pure darkness whistling through the air. While Adonis provided the heavy artillery with his flute, she became the scalpel. She dove into the fray, her blades sinking into the cervical vertebrae of the larger skeletal knights.
Each time her daggers struck, she reaped the remnant essence, pulling the flickering souls into her blades to prevent them from reforming.
"Fuck, they just keep coming!" Millia said with annoyance, "It is like the entire city is emptying into this alleyway!"
"That is exactly what is happening!" Adonis replied, the flute never leaving his lips.
Outside, the sight was a nightmare made manifest. Hordes upon hordes of undead were pouring from the basalt buildings. Some were fresh corpses, their flesh still hanging in gray tatters, while others were ancient liches draped in silks that had turned to dust centuries ago.
Adonis changed his tune.
The melody became faster, more chaotic.
Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzzz!
Every note he played sent a bolt of annihilation energy streaking through the crowd. Each impact resulted in a miniature explosion of black flame, clearing wide swathes of the street.
As the fight intensified, a group of figures moved differently. They didn’t rush toward Adonis with mindless hunger. Instead, they took up positions on the rooftops, wielding bows made of bone and shields forged from cold iron.
They wore tattered crimson scarves around their necks.
"Hold your fire!" a voice boomed from above.
It came from a tall skeletal figure in ornate, dented plate armor leaped from a balcony, landing heavily between Adonis and the approaching horde.
Slash!
He swung a massive two-handed sword, cleaving three skeletons in half with a single blow. Behind him, a dozen other crimson-scarved undeads joined the fray, pushing back the Master’s mindless bones.
"Who are you?" Millia asked, her daggers poised at the throat of a nearby rebel who had gotten too close.
"Hahaha... We are friends of anyone who can break a Reaper’s scythe with two fingers," the armored skeleton laughed and said. "My name is Kaelen. I lead the Remnant. We have been waiting decades for someone to make this much noise. You are the distraction we needed to take the gatehouse."
Adonis stopped playing for a moment, the flute resting in his hand. The air around him was still hot with Chaos energy.
"I don’t do distractions, Mr. Kaelen. I do endings. If you want to play at revolution, stay out of my way."
"Hehe heh, " Kaelen laughed, a dry, rattling sound. "Spoken like a true king. But listen to reason, traveler. You are strong, but there are thousands more where these came from. The Master is funneling energy from the Golden Cube into the ground. He is raising the Old Guard. You can’t fight an entire history of death by yourself."
"He is right, Adonis," Millia whispered, moving to his side. She was covered in bone dust and sweat.
"If they know the layout of the city, we can reach the Cube faster."
Adonis surveyed the rebels. He saw the way they looked at him. There was a mixture of awe and calculated greed.
It became clear to him that they didn’t just want freedom, they wanted a new power to fill the vacuum. They only saw him as a golden ticket, a weapon they could point at the Master to install themselves as the new lords of the Necro-Lands.
"Very well," Adonis said with a small, dangerous smile on his lips. "Lead the way to the central plaza. But if any of your ’Remnant’ try to slip a blade between my ribs, I will turn this entire district into a crater."
"Fair enough," Kaelen replied coolly. "Move out men! Clear a path to the sanctuary!"
Soon, the battle transformed into a city-wide riot.
The rebels fought with a desperate, practiced ferocity, using their knowledge of the narrow streets to ambush the Master’s reinforcements.
Adonis and Millia remained the center of the storm. His flute music became the heartbeat of the rebellion that strengthened the rebels and withered their enemies.
As they neared the base of the colossal Golden Cube, the environment became thick with death energy.
The death radiance from the structure was blinding now, like it was trying to peel the skin off Adonis’s face.
Kaelen then added,
"This is as far as we go, messiah! The Golden Cube is protected by a indestructible barrier. Only the Master can open the way. We will hold the plaza and keep the guard occupied while you find a way inside!"
Millia looked up at the towering golden walls. "How will we get in Adonis? It looks solid."
Adonis stepped forward, looking at the base of the Cube. He could feel the resonance of the "Seal" Barnaby had mentioned.
It was like a divine lock, one he recognized from the very blueprints of the world he had once imagined.
His gaze turned to the rebel skeletons in the distance, eyes cold.
"They think I am their weapon, they think I am going to break the door so they can walk in and crown themselves."
"And what are you going to do?" she asked.
"I’m going to play my trump card," Adonis replied.
He didn’t raise his flute. Instead, he reached into his soul, tapping into the deepest well of his Chaos Physique. He wasn’t just Lukas the vagabond or even Adonis the King in this moment. He was the Author.
"Kaelen!" Adonis called out in a booming voice, silencing the sounds of clashing steel across the plaza.
"You wanted to know how I found out about the imposters in my palace? It wasn’t a hunch."
The rebel leader froze, confused. "What are you talking about?"
Adonis and Millia stepped toward the Golden Cube, saying:
"You and the Master are two sides of the same coin. He wants the power to keep the world away, and you want the power to rule the dark. But neither of you realized that the one who created this cage is standing right in front of you."
Adonis placed his bare palm against the golden surface of the Cube. Usually, the contact would have incinerated a mortal, but the gold simply rippled like water beneath his touch.
"Chaos Ultima," Adonis muttered coldly.
RUMBLE!
The Golden Cube didn’t just open, it rumbke as the very laws of physics within the Necro-Lands began to rewrite themselves
"There will be only one Ruler in this world, and that is Adonis Kingbane."