Chapter 176
Chapter 176: Azure Flames Consume the Moon, Blood Stains the Royal City (Part 10)
***
A crimson, eye-piercing light suddenly blazed to life in the streets and alleyways 100 meters away, illuminating the night sky.
Disaster came crashing down before anyone could react. Countless lights were snuffed out in the very instant the roar erupted, and as the raging flames shot skyward, billowing smoke and ash spread through the city with earth-shaking force.
With a rumbling sound like rolling thunder, the surrounding shops and alleyways, the towers with their windmills, a small flower garden plaza in the distance, and the scattered civilians within it... everything in sight shattered and twisted in a single breath. The bustling street scene slowly fell apart within the surging, scorching waves of heat, destroyed beyond recognition.
"Gods above..."
"Protect Her Majesty the Queen!"
Out of the corner of my eye, the Swords of Kanri cried out and threw themselves in front of Victoria. In the next instant, the blazing turbulence hit us head-on, carrying with it sand and gravel, sending my long hair flying, and whipping the white cloak draped over my shoulders wildly in the wind. My feet stumbled, and I staggered back 2 steps before steadying myself, raising my right arm to shield my face, then clamping my mouth shut and squeezing my eyes closed.
"Hold your ground!"
Someone's voice rang out, I couldn't tell whose, carrying with it a scorched, acrid stench, spreading through the turbulent air.
My heart sank to the bottom.
The moment the wind battering my body eased even slightly, I immediately launched into Moon Step and charged toward the source of the explosion.
This is bad... this is really bad...
I raced across the rooftops, anxiously scanning in every direction.
Ashen embers drifted before my eyes, the rising black smoke threw my vision into chaos, and my ears were filled with the deafening crash of collapsing buildings. The streets below were completely unrecognizable. Countless civilians with charred, blackened clothing wailed and screamed, struggling and fleeing through the rolling clouds of dust and smoke, but far more of them were already lying on the ground, buried beneath the crumbling rubble and broken walls.
"The royal city is going to be destroyed... the gods no longer watch over us..."
"Run!"
"My grandfather is still in there! My grandfather!"
Further away, in the darkness painted deep crimson, those who were unlucky enough to be engulfed by the Fire of Sin had no time to even scream.
It was as if some terrible force had suddenly torn them apart, their bodies burst with a bang into a mist of blood, ripped to pieces, sending streams of flesh and blood flying upward like red rivers, slowly gathering above the center of the explosion, writhing and condensing into a black, pulsing cocoon that blazed with scorching red light... floating high up in the sky.
The cocoon throbbed like a heartbeat.
What is that...
What on earth is that...
Thud.
I landed atop the rubble of a collapsed tavern. After steadying myself, I clenched my fists and looked up at the night sky, staring at the shredded remains of what had been living people just a moment before, watching them get sucked into the pulsating cocoon, becoming its nourishment.
My teeth bit through my lip.
"Grooarrr..."
A strange cry came from within the cocoon, a sound no human could ever make.
The crushing pressure was suffocating.
"What do I do now..."
Tonight has been nothing but things beyond all comprehension, beyond all reason. Horrifying, gut-wrenching things.
Do I... fight it...
But there are civilians everywhere... and Captain Grey isn't in my hands... how am I supposed to fight... I'm so tired...
My body was utterly exhausted.
And that terrifying thing in the sky... I could feel that unsettling, heart-pounding power radiating from it, awakening...
"Mark!"
"Garfield!"
The Swords of Kanri arrived one after another from behind. They anxiously looked around, calling out their companions' names toward the direction of the flames, but no one answered.
"Give me your sword."
Victoria's ice-cold voice sounded beside me. I turned my head and saw her face in the firelight, colder than I had ever seen it before.
"Your Majesty, leave this to us! The Swords of Kanri will defend the royal city to our last breath! We pledge it on our honor!"
"Please, get out of here quickly..."
Victoria's words set off a fierce reaction among the Swords of Kanri, but she didn't budge. She turned to the nearest man and repeated her demand: "I said, give me your sword."
"Your Majesty! We cannot allow anything to happen to you..."
"Give. Me. The. Sword!"
Her cold expression broke into a furious shout. Finally, someone unstrapped the blade at his waist and handed it over to her.
Victoria took it in one swift motion and stepped forward 2 paces across the shattered street.
In the smoke-filled night, she slowly drew the longsword back to her side, her body lowering slightly into stance. A powerful hurricane swept up around her in a vortex, and her fingers, slender and pale as white jade, suddenly gripped the hilt. She closed her eyes, drew a breath, and in a flash of lightning, unsheathed the sword in a sweeping slash —
Hummm!
A strange wind cry sang from the blade. In less than half a second, a massive current of wind condensed before her into an invisible blade and shot toward the cocoon in the sky with a whoosh.
...She's still here.
We have a chance of winning this...
I snapped my focus back, both hands blazing with a stunning blue light. With a rapid series of crack crack crack sounds of ice splitting and forming, nearly 100 razor-sharp Ice Spikes took shape in a dense cluster above my head.
Exhale. Small hand sweeps down.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The Ice Spikes shot out like bullets from a gun, trailing a piercing shriek, following close behind the massive wind blade as they hurtled toward the giant cocoon in the sky.
Then, without warning, a blood-soaked, spindly arm, trailing vivid red veins, reached out from within the cocoon.
My heart lurched.
That's not a person... that's...
On top of the bony, emaciated arm, the Fire of Sin erupted into a blazing inferno. Facing the incoming attack, it swung what looked like a casual, offhand strike.
Yet that single strike carried an unstoppable wave of force, shattering the wind blade and every ice spike in an instant, scattering them into fragments across the sky.
Victoria's body slowly began to rise off the ground.
Creak... creeeak...
The sounds coming from within the cocoon sent a chill crawling up from the very core of my being. Then another arm burst out, followed by what looked like legs, clawed talons...
Boom—
The cocoon exploded.
Blood burned in flames, raining down like a shower.
I immediately threw up an ice mist barrier, then spun around urgently and shouted toward the woman hovering in the air not far away: "Victoria!"
"Mind yourself."
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
A fierce wind surged to life, currents of air raging wildly across my field of vision, sweeping up dust and rubble, forming an invisible barrier above, enveloping her and the Swords of Kanri within it.
Every drop of the blood rain was blocked.
"Grrrooaarrr—"
An ancient, drawn-out, eerie roar echoed from the sky.
I looked up, my expression heavy.
In the pale moonlight, an enormous beast, drenched entirely in red, loomed over the night sky, merging with the hazy crescent moon behind it.
It looked like a creature stitched together from shattered bones, bones that had been half-gnawed by some beast, still flecked with scraps of flesh. Countless crimson ribs jutted out like barbs, covering every part of its body, even its back. Its massive head was packed with things like cartilage, writhing and flailing. Where a face should have been, there were no features, only densely layered, deep, empty voids...
And yet, even with a face like that, I could feel it looking at us... or rather, looking at me.
"Oh my god... what is that..."
"I have no idea..."
"Is that a creature from the Abyss..."
"That's not from the Abyss." I said.
I was certain, whatever this thing was, it was not from the Abyss.
If it were the same kind as me... I would have sensed it immediately. That inexplicable feeling of kinship... the thing in the sky gave me nothing of the sort.
If anything, it was the complete opposite.
It made me feel instinctively, deeply uncomfortable, to the point of revulsion, nearly making me sick.
The next moment, the monster moved.
A wind reeking of blood and rot slammed into my face in an instant. The monster twisted its body in midair and shot toward me at blinding speed. Its enormous form crashed down, sending bricks and stone tiles flying in all directions, and it pressed its horrifying head right up close to my small body.
"Sylvia... blasphemer... eliminate..."
I recognized that voice immediately.
"Theresa..."