Chapter 251
Interlude: Leona Asterion
The scent of scorched mana hung thick in the air as Leona Asterion stood atop the highest spire of the little outpost that carried her family name, one that the locals referred to as a city. An overestimation that, at any other time, would have put a smile on her face, but right now, she only felt a helpless kind of fury.
The source of it was the letter that she was holding in her hand. An order from the family elders, ordering her to cease her foolishness and return home, going on and on again how a peripheral planet wasn’t worth any more effort.
She knew that she wasn’t the only one that received the order. Every single-high ranking commander that came with her received the same. And, all of them had already returned, leaving her in command.
For all it was worth. It was a hopeless last stand.
Yet, she stayed. How could she leave, when it meant abandoning her search for her precious brothers. She felt her hate toward the elders of her family. They were the ones that drove her brothers in that reckless direction.
Helpless, she looked down, examining the fractured land that unraveled below her. Anything outside the city had long turned into ashes, while flames had already spread into two districts, the soldiers working desperately to extinguish it, once great white walls of the outpost had long cracked under the constant attacks, unable to prevent incursions.
Yet, it wasn’t the biggest problem with the defense. The ley line under the city had long overdrawn, the wards flickering as they tried to recover … a mission that could never succeed under the constant bombardment of attacks coming from dungeon monsters.
Ones that had been sabotaged by the Void Cultists, their cursed arts overwhelming them. That alone was a difficult problem, but hardly unmanageable. But, a perfectly-timed attack from Drakka turned it into a disaster.
That was a crime that would see the destruction of their family … but only if Leona could prove it. Unfortunately, that was impossible. All she had was the suspicious timing of an attack, eliminating several elite teams she sent to quell the crisis in the dungeons. No actual evidence, at least none the Great Council would accept.
She clenched her gauntleted hand into a fist, breath misting in the chill as she watched the protective wards around the city flicker. Too many attacks, too few soldiers to counter it, some of the best already damaged by the corruption, damaging their very soul in the process, their recovery needing weeks.
Maybe months, as most of them had their souls overdrawn by the Ascension in the first place.