novelraw Chapter 811 - 810 - What do you mean it is just gone?
Chapter 811 - 810 - What do you mean it is just gone?
The location of the Starbreaker Empire was well known to all. They had no such thing as allies exactly but they had some areas settled by them to procure further resources as could be scrounged up for the demons.
There were a few treaties in regards to the citadel that housed the only known Immortal cultivators left in the Celestial Fields. They used the local villagers as fodder to keep the peace between them.
Each side got what they wanted in resources and turned a blind eye to any moral issues in the case of the Immortal cultivators. The Fiends got the souls they needed to increase their numbers from a place the Immortals did not care about.
On the surface, they had some battles about it but no one important was lost.
A few weeks ago, however, all hell broke loose.
Across the spectrum of society at the citadel, cultivators burst into emerald flames! Those in the upper echelons thought the Fiend attack had finally come but the corpses were odd.
It took over a week to confirm the bodies were pristine but there was plenty of evidence they were thralls or agents of the Fiends. What was odd was that some of them clearly tried to use some of the artifacts but they had turned to ash!
What could do that to Fiend artifacts so easily?
It took yet another week for strange news to reach them from their scouts at the border. The Starbreaker Empire was defeated.
Demons running from the battle spoke of insane things like a mighty dragon laying waste to their walls and cities like they were nothing. It sounded impossible but clearly something happened as the refugees simply stopped coming.
A few of the scouts confirmed that some kind of incredible Qi had been flying in the air over the Empire but then it all went silent after a massive burst of golden light nearly blinded anyone looking at it.
Meetings were held and all the intel confirmed one thing. The Fiends had been attacked by something that revealed their thralls. Also, it was not any of them.
Due to their strange arrangement, the Immortals kept a close eye on their subordinates and themselves but only so far as location was concerned.
The fact so many thralls had infiltrated their ranks was concerning but no longer a high priority.
They took the reports of a dragon more seriously but it was still impossible. The one and only place a dragon could come from was covered by a dome in their complex. It took centuries but they pulled it off.
As such, they benefited from the Laws barely coming from it and could still create Immortals given time.
The only place one could face the tribulation to become an Immortal was in their lands.
Even so, it had become increasingly difficult to reach that realm as time passed. The scouts also confirmed the lands were crumbling at the very edge of the Void.
There had been real concern about trying to flee into the Sacred Paths but that would take considerable effort and sheer desperation as anyone that tried never returned. The last attempt had ended in a warning that any further attempts would prompt a visit from an Immortal Dragon!
"So, what is the final report from the scouts?" An elderly woman with silver hair cut short spoke up at the lacquered golden wood table. The woman was rail thin but still powerful as she held a pristine white staff that had the head of a snake at the top of it.
It was a powerful weapon made before the Cataclysm. It was held by the strongest Immortal and she was also one of the few to have been alive when the Cataclysm occurred.
She was near the end of her life yet still held on for all of those that tried to unseat her.
Her tan robes were rather simple compared to her station.
"High Priestess Ren, we have the report but it is…" A much younger man stood up on the far side of the table but her pale white eyes narrowed at his incomplete words. The pressure on them all became intense as the young man wiped his brow.
"I have little time to waste on dramatic presentations. Speak or I will fling you out that door!" She was not kidding. She had killed at that table more than once in the past million years!
"It is gone! The entire Empire is gone!" The dark haired man practically was shouting at the end as he had no wish to die due to the unbelievable report. The other 10 Immortals in the room stared at him. All of them were hundreds of thousands of years old but showed far more age than they should.
They had seen many things even since the Cataclysm, but never an entire power vanishing in a single day! The only comparable event was the Cataclysm itself but that obviously did not occur or they would be all dead.
"Anything else?" Ren did not seem as perturbed as the rest. The young man nodded but looked flustered as he read from the jade slip.
"The area is actually covered in vegetation and seems more alive than before. Further, there are no ruins, treasures, or anything at all where the Empire once stood. Several illusion experts tried to cast formations but they found nothing. It was real despite how impossible it seems to be." He spoke quickly and left nothing out. He then squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of his death.
The report was just that ridiculous.
"What did that youngster have to say about itt?" Her question caught a few off guard but they knew she referred to the currently youngest Immortal.
"He said something but it makes no sense. He felt at peace when he got to the center but that was all." A glint went through the blind eyes of Ren.
"Very well, keep some people to observe it for any strange reactions. Any sign of who has done this wanton destruction?" That question they all very much wanted the answer to.
"About that, while many demons describe a dragon, it does not conform to any known dragon in surviving records. While that does not mean it was not, it is possible a flood dragon or drake may have been mistaken in their panic." Ren nodded as that was possible.
Depending on how impure their blood was, the offshoots of the dragon race could be easily mistaken for their ancestors but there was a catch in that reasoning.
There was flat out no way even an Immortal dragon could take on 15 Immortal Fiends.
That particular facet of the incident was just one part of the whole. Many demons had come running but not a single Fiend had survived. How?
It was related to the emerald flames without question but why were they able to kill Fiends so effectively?
"Sigh, very well. A few more scouting parties can be sent out but do not anger any of our many bestial neighbors. They are far from weak and we can only defend from so much these days." She then stood up and left before anyone knew what happened!
High Priestess Ren walked without aid from the staff for a long time before she had to slow then lean on it as her breath became rougher than before.
"Traitorous body." She hated being old. Still, a quick flow of Laws brought her strength back. It was not a false strength but it was diminishing in returns as the millennia passed.
By all rights she should be dead, but she clung on still. She refused to give in.
She made her way to her room and found it exactly as she had left it. The vultures kept trying to get someone to 'assist' her but she knew it was more likely to have an 'accident' or get some key information about her defenses.
Some might be sincere but she no longer cared. Why waste precious cultivation time on a dying woman?
She walked past the simple bed with 4 posts on it and sat on a dark wooden chair with no padding. She did not bother with luxury as it wasted resources in her mind that could be best spent elsewhere.
The other Immortals were not so wise and had wasted far too much but it was no longer her concern.
The desk was not so simple as it was a gift from her father long ago. It was set up with drawers on either side and a raised set of drawers on top. There were golden designs inlaid into the wood. They were of phoenix, dragon, and roc designs.
Her father loved the legendary beasts of flight. A rare smile crossed her face as she traced the designs.
They were well cared for.
She touched the dragon on its tail until a click was heard. It was a rather simple mechanism. It also had saved many secrets from leaking during her life as cultivators always assumed a formation was used rather than something mechanical.
The slim draw slid out and she carefully lifted out an artifact inlaid with a communication jade stone. It was silver in color but the jade stone was a strange color of violet and green. Most communication stones were a single color but that one was special.
"The Starbreaker Empire is gone without a trace. A dragon supposedly did it." She saw it glow and waited. Unsurprisingly, she did not wait long.
[What do you mean it is just gone? How is that possible?]
"I was hoping you could tell me. I will send what we have but it's damned little. There was one thing. An Immortal felt a peace at the dead center of where it used to be" She then transcribed and sent the imprint via the stone.
It was the reason for the other color. It could send imprints as well as voices!
[At peace? Was that not how you described–] The voice suddenly stopped and Ren arched an eyebrow. Someone else was listening in?
[You said a dragon was involved. Was there a description?] She was confused.
"It was in the report. The demons were scared out of their minds so we only compiled what was similar between each report." The pause was a much longer pause before a deeper voice came through.
[Imperative an individual is captured alive and with no harm at all! His is a dragon but has a human form as well. Description sending.]
Ren smirked at that voice.
"Still alive you old coot." She did not feel any response but the description she got back was much more detailed. Dragons were strange but there was a word at the end that shocked her.
[Ascender]