novelraw Chapter 262 262: Their Return - Le Cirque
Chapter 262 262: Their Return - Le Cirque
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Louis slowly opened his eyes, feeling utterly exhausted.
He gazed at the blue sky and the passing white clouds, savoring the refreshing breeze that swept across this empty Divine Realm where the Dungeon had once stood.
"Haaa..." he sighed, slowly looking around while still feeling dizzy. "Everyone?"
He sat up and found Mirai sleeping peacefully to his left. Right in front of him, the rest of his friends lay unconscious.
"Niflheim? Belladine? Are you there? How long did we sleep? Did something happen?" Louis asked, noticing that all his Spirits and his Spear were standing guard while they rested.
"Ah, Master, you are awake," Gungnir said. "No, nothing of note has happened. All of you have been sleeping for half a day now."
"We decided to let you rest because you were so exhausted," Niflheim said. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Kind of, yes," Louis said, opening and closing his hands. "Haaa... I am still a little exhausted. It was the biggest fight I have ever had, far greater than when I fought the Venerables. Those monsters... they are finally gone, right? After dying against them for... for so long..."
"They are gone, do not worry, Master!" Belladine said. "We healed you with Handy, so even if you feel a little tired, you should be in top condition."
"Yes, Master..." Handy said shyly. "Um... I would suggest you wake up your friends though... and perhaps return quickly? I worry about what might be happening outside..."
"Me too," Louis nodded. "Mirai, wake up."
Louis gently tried to rouse Mirai, but she rolled closer and rubbed her face against his leg, falling back into a deep sleep.
"Come on now... Mirai," Louis smiled, poking her little nose before kissing it softly. "Wake up."
"Aeh?" Mirai slowly opened her red eyes and met Louis's golden gaze. "Louis? W-What... what happened?"
"You have been asleep for quite a while," Louis said. "Well, everyone has..."
"Oh no... I am so sorry," Mirai apologized.
"It is fine," Louis said, holding her hand. "I am glad we made it."
"Yeah..." Mirai nodded cutely, kissing him repeatedly. "I love you, Louis... I was so scared, but... we did it... Thank you. It is all thanks to you..."
"No, it was thanks to everyone's efforts," Louis said, pulling her into a warm embrace.
Louis returned to the others, and they all shared a meal he brought from his Inner Macrocosm. They chose to eat there rather than go inside, eager to return to the outside world as soon as possible, even though time dilation would have allowed them to take it easy.
While they ate, Mirai remained very clingy with Louis, making it obvious to the rest of House Frostbane that their Prince had deepened his relationship with her considerably.
"Alright, we are done," Louis said. "I do not know what awaits us outside, but I doubt it will all be peaceful, judging by how nobody has come to find us yet. Let us go, and let us use our strength to stop anything bad from happening."
House Frostbane nodded, all ready to depart. They pierced through the dimensional membrane and left while Louis absorbed the Cosmic Cage Formation and the Empty Divine Realm on the way out.
♢♢♢♢
A circus.
That was what everyone in the Sinners Academy saw when the sky suddenly shattered.
An almighty power from beyond the stars manifested, and the largest Dimensional Portal ever seen tore open through space.
It led to the depths of the Dimensional Labyrinth, specifically one of the last ten layers where the strongest beings existed.
There, a jester and his clowns emerged, carrying gigantic floating circus tents and colorful balloons that drifted everywhere.
"Hello everyone! I am so happy to be here! Our sponsors have finally allowed us to bring joy and whimsy to this world filled with despair! So please, enjoy our show!"
People could not fight back. Students fell to their knees, and even the teachers struggled to move, never having faced a being so far beyond their own level.
Gustaf called for the Divine Dragons while fighting off the clowns and other creatures that endlessly poured from the floating circus tents, and he somehow succeeded.
The Divine Dragons arrived, crashing against the circus tents and tearing through everything. Led by Drakda and Amethyst, only about five of them completely destroyed Le Cirque, showcasing the incredible might of Yggdrasil's strongest lifeforms.
Or so they thought.
"Huh... Hahahahaha! I love it! You will make the most wonderful members of Le Cirque! Let us dance! Let us enjoy this moment forever, my dears!"
It turned out that among the clowns was an unfathomably powerful being, at the same level as the one that had cursed Benladra.
He was simply called "Happy the Clown."
A clown, nothing else, nothing more.
Until his body warped and twisted, becoming an aberrant mass of countless circus tents, balloons of all forms and shapes, smiles, eyes, and jaws.
Gustaf and the other teachers who could still fight and had not yet joined Le Cirque as bloodthirsty clowns fought with everything they had, but Happy the Clown was simply too immensely powerful.
He was a Level 10 Grievance, a terrifying Dimensional Sovereign.
At the same level as the Venerables, Happy the Clown warped reality itself, completely refining the entire Divine Realm where the Sinners Academy stood and turning it all into a circus show.
He used the students and teachers he had managed to "infect" with his powers, transforming them into Bloodthirsty Clowns to fight against the Divine Dragons, Gustaf, and the other surviving Espers.
They fought for their lives while constantly trying to immobilize, capture, and subdue the students and teachers who were being used against them.
"Hohohohohoh! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Happy the Clown laughed even louder. The more his laughter echoed through the Divine Realm, the larger he became.
Drakda coughed blood from all his heads, using every ounce of his power over Darkness, Chaos, and Demonic Elements to seal those attacking him.
However, the curse of a Level 10 Entity was immense. It infected his blood and rapidly began to warp his body.
He constantly cut himself apart and regenerated, but unlike his big sister Benladra or his father, his regeneration factor was not the best.
"Drakda!"
"I should have listened to Dad and not slacked off for so long! I am too rusty, damn it!"
The pitch-black dragon with four black wings and three heads groaned, his red eyes glaring at Happy, whom he had been battling intensely.
Happy was not undamaged. A large part of him had been torn apart, and he was constantly bleeding. His cores were damaged, and Drakda had cursed them so they could not regenerate either.
But... the battle of attrition was slowly being won by the clown.
"It is such a privilege to be here with such a wonderful audience!" Happy the Clown laughed out loud, his laughter ringing through everyone's ears, hearts, and souls as he constantly tried to make them join Le Cirque. "Even more so to have the privilege of seeing the powerful Divine Dragon Race, feared across the Dimensional Labyrinth, on their knees! Huhuh! Hahahahahaha! Now...! Shall we put an end to this show, everyone?!"
As he laughed viciously, all the Bloodthirsty Clown Grievances he had created from the students and teachers began to merge with his flesh, rapidly regenerating him.
"Noooo!!!"
Drakda panicked, roaring as he charged his power and unleashed three devastating breath attacks. Amethyst stood by his side, unleashing her breath of blinding light.
However, the Clown only laughed. Reality warped, and the breaths they had unleashed appeared above them, striking their own bodies instead.
"Kuaaaaahhh!"
"Aaaaggh?!"
BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
In that moment, Drakda realized his mistake. His lack of training was not everything, but it was part of his terrible errors. He had grown too conceited, too self-centered, too arrogant. Becoming the ruler of a nation had made him believe he was too good even for his own sister.
"I abandoned her and her son... my daughter is nowhere to be seen... Is this... is this what I deserve? Father... I am sorry..."
As Happy charged his Dimensional Energies and unleashed an ultimate cannon of countless colors, Drakda closed his eyes and smiled silently, awaiting his demise.
However...
BOOOMMM!!!
Even though a massive explosion rang out, his end never came.
His eyes opened wide as he saw something straight out of his wildest dreams.
A gigantic, pristine white dragon with eight arms, eight wings, over twelve eyes, ten horns, ten tails, and more, overflowing with divinity and cosmic power.
Fifteen Ascendancy Law Rings floated behind him, and his aura radiated the power of Frost and Light, and... Time and Space.
For a moment, Drakda mistook this dragon for his father because of the similarities, but he quickly realized it looked completely different.
"W-Who...?!"
CRAAASH!
"Guuaaaaaggghhh?! W-Who...?! Who are youuuuuu?! Why are you interrupting my show?!"
A sharp, giant claw pierced Happy the Clown's core, and then...
TRUUUM!
Space and time warped and stopped entirely.
A Level 10 Dimensional Sovereign could see and feel it, but...
The power of the one he faced was simply far too overwhelming!
In mere seconds, all ten of his cores were pierced and shattered by giant claws.
Time returned to normal, and his cores exploded before being consumed by a void-like shadow frost.
"A-Ah... E-Eh? What... what kind of joke is this?" Happy the Clown laughed, beginning to fade into ashes. "W-Where's... the punchline?"
"Here."
The dragon smashed the clown's face into pieces and then charged his breath, completely disintegrating him to a subatomic level.
BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
"A-Ah..." Drakda was speechless. He could not muster any words.
"W-Wha...?" Amethyst gasped in disbelief, holding her unconscious daughter.
"Who?!" the Director asked, shocked that everything was over so quickly.
"T-That's... is he... an even stronger member of your family... Drakda?!" Gustaf asked in disbelief.
Drakda shook his head. "No... that is the first time I have ever seen this guy. Who... are you? Thank you for... ugh... thank you for saving us..."
The white dragon looked down at everyone. He was utterly massive, over five kilometers long, way bigger than Happy the Clown, who had been three kilometers tall. Drakda could grow larger, but he had been severely weakened. "You are safe now... I am sorry for being late, Dad, Uncle."
Then they quickly recognized that young voice, which almost felt like it should not belong to the body of such an almighty dragon that dominated Time itself.
"W-Wha... it cannot be...!" Drakda coughed.
"S-Son?" Gustaf muttered. "LOUIS?!"
Louis descended, returning to his original appearance, although he could never remain exactly as he once was when he had entered that accursed dungeon.
"Yes, it is me... It has been... a long time," Louis smiled at everyone as he saw the Domain of Le Cirque rapidly disappear, his Authority overwriting it.
"Louis!!!" Gustaf cried, running toward his son and hugging him tightly through tears. "You are alive! Son! You are alive! I was so worried! All the students had returned in time except you! W-What happened?! Why were you...! What did you become now? T-This is...!"
"How long have I been away for you?" Louis asked.
"Like a week," Drakda said, returning to his normal form. "I... I am completely perplexed, Louis. You... you really awakened your dragon form in that dungeon? T-This is amazing. You are so strong too!"
"So for you it was a week, and for me... five hundred years," Louis spoke aloud, leaving everyone even more shocked.
"F-Five hundred... years?" Gustaf asked. "Ah! Wait, your friends... where are they?!"
"Over there," Louis said. Gustaf saw his friends flying everywhere in their giant forms, refining the Divine Realm back for Louis and healing all the victims, returning as many as they could to their original selves by absorbing Le Cirque from their Fantasy Hearts and erasing it entirely.
"Just what happened here? What was even that thing I just killed?" Louis asked, looking around. "It seemed annoying, so I simply eliminated it, but it looks like it was doing a lot here."
"T-That was a Level 10 Dimensional Sovereign!" Drakda said. "Y-You killed it so casually?!"
"I did?" Louis wondered. "I thought it was some Level 5 Grievance... but seeing how it made even my uncle struggle, it was definitely strong then..."
"It was, dude! What the hell?!" Amethyst was the only one reacting the way everyone else should have been. "How is this brat so strong though? Last time I saw him he was just a weak-ass kid."
"Amethyst!" Drakda said angrily.
"No, she is not wrong. I was indeed weak and pathetic. That is why I was abandoned by all of you, right?" Louis smiled at them. "But I am finally strong... maybe now you will not abandon me?"
"..."
"..."
Louis was not even teasing them. Five hundred years of solitude had only made him crave company. His deepest wish was still to finally be accepted by the family.
Of course, this made Drakda fall to his knees, feeling so heartbroken that he cried. Amethyst quickly felt terrible too, realizing she should not have been so rude.
"I am sorry... I am sorry, Louis..." Drakda cried. "I... I should not have left your side... maybe if you had grown with your uncle by your side... maybe things would not have been so terrible..."
"It is fine now," Louis smiled.
"No, it is not fine! You are strong, yeah, but that... that is not what my dad taught me!" Drakda groaned. "Fifty thousand years later, I have forgotten everything my old man taught me and... I am really the only one here bringing shame to the family... I am sorry... I am really sorry... Being strong or not does not matter. Just because you were my nephew, I should have given you all the attention you deserved... I should have helped raise you. We could have raised our daughter with you... now our girl grew up all lonely too, because of us..."
"...Sorry," Amethyst sighed, scratching her head. Her humanoid form resembled her daughter's.
"I once held grudges..." Louis walked toward his uncle. "I once dreamed of taking revenge on all of you, but... after everything I have gone through in that dungeon, after fighting all those beings that came for my life..."
"...!" Gustaf gasped, realizing his son had been fighting his own war there. Perhaps that was the very reason he had become so strong after returning alive. He felt even more moved, knowing he had failed him as a father too, and yet despite everything, he had such an incredible son.
"I only want to be with my family, with all of you," Louis said, extending his hand toward his uncle. "Uncle, please stand up."
"But... no, you should not touch me, son. If you do, that curse— Ah!" Drakda's eyes widened. "W-What is this?!"
He saw Louis rapidly cleanse the curse tormenting him, one at the same level as Benladra's!
He did the same with everyone else who was infected, healing them completely by absorbing the curse directly into his own Inner Macrocosm and destroying it.
"There is no longer a curse now," Louis spoke. "So please, hold my hand and stand up, uncle. You are not the type of man to cry on his knees, are you?"
"...Louis!" Drakda stood up, hugging his nephew and crying anyway. "You are... you are such a good man! Like your mother... you are really my big sister's son...! Louis...! I am sorry! I am really sorry!!!"
"A good man?" Louis wondered. "Hardly. I am just someone who takes care of his family."
"Hah... I remember my father once said the same thing," Drakda laughed through his tears.
"Son..." Gustaf walked toward Louis. "What... what happened in that dungeon? It is completely gone now that I realize..."
"Well, it is a long story," Louis said. "First, let us gather all survivors and see how many made it."
Gustaf, the Director, Drakda, Amethyst, and everyone else agreed. They quickly gathered all the teachers who were present. Most of the VPI agents were out on missions, so they were not there. Most teachers were at their level though, so many had survived, though a few had died, unfortunately. It was the same for the students.
"Those that the giant thing absorbed..." Drakda sighed. "I guess they are all gone as well after you... well, I will not blame you."
"I have their souls," Louis said. "Wait here. I think I can... yes, this should work."
"Huh?!"
Before everyone's eyes, Louis used his healing powers and the ability to spontaneously create life as a Primordial being, giving bodies back to those who had died.
Of course, these new bodies were much weaker and did not retain their original strength, but... they were technically revived.
They all gasped in disbelief, looking around.
Among them were several students of the Houses, including Princess Mikoto of Yamato, her brother, and half of her house.
Arthur and Ashur were not there though, and Louis noticed they were wandering around. He gathered them with all the survivors and their house members.
"This is as much as I can do, but... those that died days ago... I cannot do anything," Louis shook his head. "Forgive me."
"N-No... you have done enough!" Gustaf said. "Y-You have done plenty... Son, that power you used... D-Do you think you can use it on your mother?!"
"We will have to try," Louis nodded. "For now, we need an overall report of the situation around the world. We have been isolated for far too long."
Mirai and everyone else returned to his side after they brought and healed all the survivors. They spoke with the rest of the group and brought peace of mind to Gustaf, who greeted and hugged Mirai as his daughter. He was also happy to see her.
After the survivors had a meal to recover and shared many more conversations, the group learned about Louis's ordeal and his war, and also about what had happened here.
It was not hard to connect the dots. They learned that Le Cirque had been "employed" by these aliens who called themselves Venerables, aiming for Louis's life.
"It looks like their aim is not just you though, Louis," Arthur spoke out of nowhere, acting casually despite having survived hell and even having turned into a hellish clown before being healed by Timothy. "If they came after us, they clearly just want to erase us all. Probably... all the Kingdoms are in danger. Do we have any reports on the situation around the world yet?"
"Not yet— Ah!" Gustaf gasped as he connected to a large computer they had brought into the arena where everyone was. Every electronic device had been completely shut down and almost destroyed because of Le Cirque's Domain, but some had been salvaged enough to function again. "T-This is...?!"
A large holographic map of the world emerged, showing several danger zones. The Dimensional Labyrinth had grown large enough to swallow all of Antarctica and was already consuming the planet's southern pole. New Zealand was completely gone.
At the same time, four other powerful presences were encroaching on the planet from outer space, distorting the Fantasium Fields and intensifying them thousands of times.
And the areas they were targeting were...
"Frostbane... Camelot... Mesopotamia... Yamato! They are targeting these areas...! Immense Fantasium Fields have formed there! W-Wait, this is even worse?! Yggdrasil, Spiritias, and Zipangu are being targeted too! A giant vortex... the Dimensional Labyrinth is drawing them toward it! Everything is warping and mixing together at an incredibly rapid pace... if this continues, in just a few days the entire world—no, all four of them—will be gone."
"...!!!"
Everyone reacted in shock except Louis, who remained calm despite the clear anger burning in his eyes. His aura surged as his gaze sharpened.
"Mom..." he muttered. "She is in danger. We have to go there first."
"Wait! But my kingdom...!" Arthur begged.
"Louis!" Ashur begged pathetically. "A-Aren't we friends?"
"..." Mikoto said nothing, too ashamed of herself.
"The only thing we can do in this situation is divide and conquer!" Drakda said. "Everyone, we have to quickly form four teams, and we will go to each place!"
"And can we really do anything unless Louis is with us?!" Ashur asked. His personality had completely changed after experiencing so many horrible things. "H-He is the strongest! You all, Divine Dragons... you are all frauds!"
"What?! Ashur, I raised you!" Drakda roared angrily.
"Do not treat him like that, Ashur! You have no right," Amethyst hissed.
"Tsk...! Y-You are all useless! You are all weak! This world is going to end; everything is falling apart!!!" Ashur completely lost his mind. Amekda, Drakda and Amethyst's daughter—whose other name was Tiamat, named after the primordial dragon mother—approached Ashur and slapped his face hard. "Guh?!"
"You are the proud prince of Uruk, aren't you, Ashur?!" she asked with a stern voice. "You are going to panic and scream like a coward when all of your subjects here are afraid?! Is this the type of attitude a king should have?!"
"I-I..." Ashur muttered, his eyes filled with despair. "I just... do not know what to do...! I..."
"We will work together!" she said. "Louis... you will help, right?"
"I am not the only one strong enough to face them," Louis smiled. "Everyone in House Frostbane is powerful. Although not completely at my level, they are close to it."
"Leave it to us!" Mirai nodded along with everyone else.
"..." Ashur sighed. "Please... save my kingdom... I will do anything! I will even turn it into a vassal for Frostbane later, but please save it!"
"We will," Louis nodded. "Alright, let us quickly form the teams. We are in a hurry, so we cannot delay any longer! We may not even have a week left!"
Louis quickly divided House Frostbane into four teams. Each team moved toward their respective countries, accompanied by several teachers, Espers, or anyone combat-capable.
Louis was not only going to Frostbane. Using his Wyrm Soul Division, he sent a Cosmic Spirit Soul Avatar with the other three teams. Although not as strong as his main body, it would provide enough support to bridge the gap between him and the members of House Frostbane as they faced whatever horrors awaited them.
Time was running out, and even the strongest beings of Yggdrasil, Spiritias, and Zipangu had awakened, realizing that the End had come.
The Dragon King's eyes gleamed brightly as he saw Yggdrasil beginning to slowly meld with Earth. The Pantheon of Divine Dragons, among them the Sea Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King, started to move alongside the surviving Primordial Dragon Mothers, all aiming to protect their world.
The Great Primordial Spirit Beast King watched as Spiritias began to dissolve into a sea of spiritual energy. Something darker within his world that he had been trying to deal with for a long time had suddenly called reinforcements from beyond. The Limitless Archdemon Venerable had finally begun making his moves.
And the Divine Empress of the Sun saw as Zipangu began to swirl into an endless spiral of chaos. Everything her mother had worked so hard to achieve was about to be undone. Dark and ancient evil demons and yokai began to awaken amidst her realm, the Spiral of Madness calling along old enemies guided by the Radiant Light of Nine Suns and a Headless Bodhisattva.
The End they had all prophesied was here now, and the only thing left to do was to fight for their worlds or die trying.
The Dragon Prince, the one once abandoned by everyone and thought useless, the owner of the Heart of Time, was now their last hope.
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