novelraw Chapter 1068 - 1067 - Dark Slaughter
Chapter 1068 - 1067 - Dark Slaughter
Petryn raced across the streets but his speed was not good enough as a boom reverberated in the air. He felt it in his bones as the very slabs in the street shook.
"Damn it!" The forces had gathered to the east of them so they had checked for any hidden forces but to the best of their ability they had not found anything. They still distributed their forces in each direction to be safe, especially the refugee quarters, but instead the areas attacked were devoid of buildings.
It was not a bad plan to attack areas where there were no assets. There were only so many places to defend and so many assets they could delegate to it but why protect an open area?
"If only more of those people would fight!" Petryn cursed those refugees still refusing to even interact with others. They ate and slept in more than relative comfort but Maester Cord refused to force them to work.
He knew he was just frustrated due his failure to resist the bloodline array earlier. He felt how vile it had been at the time. He also felt helpless to stop it!
He pushed air beneath his feet and out his back. He seemed to fly across the street without issue. Even at that speed, however, he felt like he was moving far too slow to get to where he was needed!
More explosions came from the north and he had no idea what was going on as the bloodline array was trying to spread once more inside the protected area.
More weavings were activated due to the breach but it was only enough to protect the buildings themselves. The streets would slowly become dangerous as time passed.
Petryn was about to turn the corner of a warehouse when he saw a person come running at him. It was one of the guards for the perimeter but he was missing an arm! Blood was flowing like a river from him!
"Hel–" The blood-covered man was reaching out with his remaining arm when a spear burst out of his chest. Petryn rolled to the side as spikes of ice shot down from the sky.
"Ho? An Immortal at last." A slim man in a black cloak stood on the roof looking down at him. "You are able to resist us too. Given your features, you are the Prince of the Fionan Empire. Better to capture you, I suppose."
Petryn was irritated at how matter of factly the man spoke. It was as if he did not see the prince as a threat at all! Further, he seemed bored!
"Eat this!" A shimmering crystal lance launched across the space between them but shattered like glass before it got anywhere near the man! How?!
"Heh. Not too inventive or maybe you are too new to being an Immortal? I think you will find that it should look like this!" A far more robust lance appeared above the man and Petryn became horrified as it was the Piercing Sun Lance Art of his family!
It was also far more powerful than his own! It was a master of the Art!
The lance slammed not into the street but at the refugees!
A ward lit up but shattered like so much glass for all it could do. The formations were useless!
Petryn was about to despair when the roar of a tiger roar filled the air followed by a silver arc glancing the lance upward. It destroyed more wards as it passed but the buildings were saved!
A blood soaked Lan appeared next to Petryn.
"That took all I had. We need to kill him!" He thought the young man was a bit cocky but his help was welcome.
"Any more help coming?" Petryn saw his face darken and knew the answer. Theirs was not the only battle currently going on as more explosions reached his ears. How many were dying as they fought?
"I rescued who I could but they are in no state to fight. Bori is working in the south so he might be on his way." Petryn did not see how another Heaven Realm could help.
"A failed tiger now helps the silver spoon Prince? Pathetic!" The man now condensed 2 more lances but Petryn frowned now that he was calmer. It was his family Art but it was imperfect. It had a flaw!
"Lan, can you still roar?" The bloody man's tiger ears flared as if he had just been insulted. Petryn smiled and pointed at their enemy. He did not ask questions as he roared once more.
Petryn moved his arms to focus his desire to add light and air Qi to the attack. The sound waves became visible briefly before the 2 lances broke into large chunks before even moving out!
The slim man screamed from the backlash but sent out flames at them.
The pair easily dodged and began to advance on him.
Fate was not so kind to let them simply win. Five more people in black cloaks came calmly around the corner and Petryn could see blood trailing from their weapons.
"You can't kill these 2 any faster? So much for your vaunted Imperial blood!" A woman's voice called out and Petryn froze at the words. Imperial blood?! His head snapped up as the hood was pulled back to reveal a grim visage he recognized!
"Malen? Why?!" Laughter greeted his words from the enemy entirely.
"Does the little princeling expect answers before his death? Your blood and bone will make for good ingredients to invigorate our array!" A larger man wielding a scythe spoke up. He whirled the weapon easily with 1 arm as if it weighed nothing!
"We can't kill him. His soul slate will reveal how he died. Maiming is fine, however." Malen sneered as his compatriots surrounded the pair. All of them were Immortals so they stood no chance.
"Tee hee, this will be fun!" A slightly hunched over man uncoiled a whip with what seemed to be like metal blades embedded into it.
"I will use up my potential, escape when I do." Lan suddenly whispered but Petryn waved it off.
"Don't waste your life. Go for their throats instead." A Star Tier would not even graze them, no matter who they were.
A smile broke up the drying blood on Lan's face. His claws extended from his fingers.
"Piece of advice, if you are going to make a last stand, Brother, do not forget to invite me in the future." A voice made all freeze before the air distorted next to Malen. The crack of bone was heard as his knees were shattered.
His scream was cut short as his arms followed his legs. A woman with broad shoulders and 2 war hammers appeared.
All were stunned as the steel eyes looked like a Goddess of Death at the black cloaked figures.
"I must thank you, the best leads I have ever dreamed of just fell into my hands!" She leapt from 3 storeys up as if it was nothing but Petryn was frozen. Her features were so clear he could not mistake them.
She looked a great deal like their mother in her face after all!
"Kill he–!" The scythe wielder tried to rally but his gut bent inward as a disc slammed into him. The sound of more bones shattering was heard until his head burst open like a fruit by a flying hammer!
The remaining 4 tried to attack but Delenn did not stop moving as she danced among them. It was only then that Petryn realized she had her full aura! She could pull on her Immortal foundation in its entirety!
As she moved, the war hammers danced by shattering elbows, knees, feet, or hands with ease. A couple more skulls followed but he noticed she left the rest alive. They were simply unable to do anything as their limbs were destroyed.
Before he could reach out to her, she summoned a black disc that carried her slowly up to the roof again. A scream was heard as Malen was brought back down.
She slapped a bronze collar on his neck that then lit up with Qi. A slave collar? It was the wrong color if it was.
"Now, cousin Malen. I have but 1 question for you. Who bypassed my security formations over a million years ago?" Petryn's eyes narrowed as pieces fell into place.
"This is not the time for an interrogation! People are dying!" Lan's words woke Petryn up but Delenn's eyes were uncaring.
"If you mean the northern invasion force. They are dead. I killed them all. Honestly, I had no way in without getting caught so it worked out for both of us." Cold. Her voice made him shiver but relief spread to hear they were no longer being invaded.
He now realized those explosions may not have all been his enemy's attacks.
"Lan, take an elixir. I will try to reach Jur." The man nodded but the south was in danger too. The lack of sounds coming to them meant it should still be standing.
"Well, Malen, answer me now!" The collar suddenly lit up and he began to scream. A slaver collar indeed but then he saw something odd. Malen was not clawing at his neck but at his body. Why?
"I won't let them take you, Malen. You will be left like this until I decide you can die. So, what will it be? Eh?" Her eyes were dark and full of hate. Petryn began to have a dark suspicion.
Malen's branch should not have been able to even get an imperfect version of the lance Art, yet he had it. Maybe he could be clever enough to mimic it but Delenn's interrogation made him realize another thing.
The bloodline array could not have been set up without someone very powerful in the Empire to hide it.
Someone very high up had betrayed them!
"I–I–I can't! F–F–Forbidden!" Malen was red in the face and bleeding but as Delenn promised, he was not dying.
"Oh, but you can! Your death cannot be avoided but I will keep you like this until you answer. Give me a name. Now!" She stood over the prone man as he twitched like dying fish on the deck.
"N–n–n–nest!" A name was given and the collar flared in gold before it snapped open. Petryn barely registered as Malen was ripped apart by dark energies and became a husk.
A memory came back to him.
Nest waited in the hall to recruit him for the mission to find Delenn. His Father did not issue a decree nor tell him directly. His Mother never said anything but knew he was out with Nest.
No reports were asked for and no updates ever requested. A lie, it had all been a lie.
Delenn suddenly looked up at him sadly before nodding at him as she vanished once more! She vanished to all his senses somehow just as she had appeared! Petryn almost pitied Nest, almost.