novelraw Chapter 752: Their Second Cooperation
Chapter 752: Their Second Cooperation
"Awoo~"
On the rapidly moving train along the tracks, Helaire looked at the scenery flashing by outside the window and let out a huge yawn. To alleviate her drowsiness, she took a small sip of the warm coffee in her hand, downed it, and placed the can on the windowsill, observing to see if it would fall over.
In contrast to her coziness, the young black-haired woman beside her appeared somewhat nervous. She pursed her lips slightly, tightly gripping a map of Tokyo in her hands, seemingly trying to judge the direction Fisher and Jasmine might head next through the 2D layout upon it.
Even so, she couldn't help but turn anxiously to Helaire and ask,
"Teacher Helaire, do you think they really went to Tokyo? Is it possible they just went home? We departed so rashly without even confirming with Jasmine's parents..."
Helaire blinked, looking at Renee before her with a smile, and simply said,
"They are definitely in Tokyo~"
"...Alright."
Seeing Helaire so certain, Renee couldn't really say much else. Seeing her go silent, Helaire playfully opened another can of coffee. Taking a small sip, she told her,
"Relax, I have a premonition that this will all be over very soon... no matter what way it ends.""?"
Renee didn't understand the meaning behind Helaire's words. She merely turned to look at the coffee can in her hand, speaking quite concernedly,
"By the way... Teacher Helaire, you've already had four cans of coffee since just now, haven't you? Is it really okay to drink this much?"
"It's fine... because I can't fall asleep... If Fisher falls asleep, he has you to wake him up. If I fall asleep, he definitely won't wake me up..."
Helaire said this with a smile, continuing to speak words Renee couldn't quite fathom. But as she spoke, Helaire suddenly turned her head to look at Renee, looking at her beautiful face that hadn't changed much from outside the dream. She suddenly reached out and pinched Renee's cheek, saying softly,
"What, worried about me?"
Renee pursed her lips and gently reached out to remove Helaire's hand from her cheek, but her face also showed some hesitation.
"...Teacher Helaire still encouraged me to confess to Teacher Fisher, even though I'm so timid that I kept putting it off until today. But even so, Teacher Helaire, you're currently bringing me to Tokyo now... I-I really don't know how to thank you, Teacher Helaire..."
As she spoke, Renee's purple eyes raised anew. Gathering her courage to look at Helaire, she hesitantly said,
"Before, other than Fisher, no one had ever cared about me like this. If you don't mind, Teacher Helaire, I'm willing to..."
"Heh..."
Renee had her eyes closed, not even finishing her heartfelt words, when the laughter from the smirking Helaire before her could no longer be contained, abruptly cutting Renee's words off from afar.
When Renee looked with a perplexed face at Helaire, whose smile only deepened, Helaire once again reached out to pinch her small face, pinching even harder this time,
"I'm really looking forward to seeing how you'll be when you wake up shortly..."
"Wake up? I... I'm quite awake right now, Teacher Helaire..."
"Are you, silly child..."
Helaire neither agreed nor disagreed, merely turning her head away to continue looking out the window.
Only to see buildings already appearing below the tracks outside the train, symbolizing that they had already entered the otherworldly city named "Tokyo".
Immediately after, as if sensing something, the smile on her face faded slightly. Even the paper bag she had placed beside her, having bought an extra ticket for it, began to tremble slightly.
"Hiss, hiss..."
"Found by that bunch of thieves, huh... that avatar I left outside..."
Helaire took another sip of coffee, pouting and giving the train window a rather depressed expression.
Outside the dreamscape, within the reality of the Crevice, Southern Continent, Red Dragon Court.
In the sky at this moment, the sun was dim as if swallowed. The originally azure and clear sky was stained with multi-colored dream hues, like an overturned paint bucket. Just looking up, one could faintly perceive something extremely dangerous brewing beyond the heavens.
That was the Spirit World, the Scene of Fierce Conflict that Fisher, Renee, Jasmine, and Helaire were currently drowning in.
And in reality, Raphaela, who had been expecting a child for several months, could only look up day and night within the Red Dragon Court, hoping to glean some news of Fisher and Jasmine from that extremely dangerous yet magnificent spectacle, even just a little.
"Sigh..."
But every time, all she got was a sigh of worry left behind after gaining nothing.
Inside the palace, Raphaela, wearing normal clothes, lowered her head and stroked her stomach, rubbing her temples with a rather unsettled mind.
Originally, given the Dragonewts' sensitivity to souls, during this time a mother could already form a subtle soul connection with her unborn child. This was the best time to establish a bond between mother and child.
But precisely because of this, Raphaela's perception of the empty soul state within herself was equally the clearest. This made her exceptionally terrified, and the apocalyptic atmosphere grew heavier by the day, becoming exceptionally alarming.
"Lady Raphaela! Lady Raphaela!"
Right at this moment, while Raphaela was feeling uneasy, the anxious shouts of Kexir from outside the hall suddenly reached her, followed by a series of hurried running sounds. By the time Kexir entered the hall, Raphaela had already raised her head to look at her with an expression returning to normal,
"What's wrong? Why so anxious?"
They had just defeated Naris and liberated the Southern Continent from the enslavement of humans and the Green Dragon Court puppets. Apart from the influence of the World-Ending Prophecy, everything else should be in a phase of post-disaster recovery, awaiting reconstruction. She had also long since delegated a portion of the work to Kexir, Faxir, Mill, and the others to handle.
Hearing such an anxious voice now, Raphaela assumed a problem had arisen within the Dragon Court. Feeling somewhat surprised, she furrowed her brows and asked,
"Where in the Dragon Court did an incident happen?"
"I-it's not the Dragon Court. It's on the sea... a ship arrived from the sea..."
Kexir caught her breath. After recovering slightly, she wagged her tail, staring at Raphaela on the seat, and told her,
"It's a ship from the Northern Border."
"The Northern Border?"
Raphaela froze slightly, but her brows then furrowed even tighter.
By the port, amidst the astonished gazes of the Dragon Court soldiers, a massive ironclad ship from the Northern Border slowly docked. From what appeared to be an extremely heavy boarding bridge, Valentiina, sporting a pair of icy wings, slowly descended.
The weather in the Southern Continent was scorching. Valentiina inhaled a lungful of the rather burning air, and when she exhaled it, the air was already tainted with a touch of frost.
"Still the same old place, smelling awful like dragons..."
Behind her, Tao, wearing a ruqun, also impatiently jumped off the ship. While scanning the surrounding Dragonewt soldiers, she didn't know if she was reminded of Fafnir's incomparably huge dragon head, but her expression even turned speechless.
After scanning a full circle, her sharp eyes spotted Raphaela quickly approaching from a distance, surrounded by a group of soldiers.
"Hey, that Dragonewt is coming..."
Hearing Tao's reminder behind her, Valentiina couldn't help but take a deep breath. She forcibly raised the imposing aura in her chest, transforming herself into a Phoenix image fitting of the legends.
"Miss Raphaela, pardon the intrusion..."
As Valentiina spoke, her eyes unexpectedly bumped into Raphaela's changed figure. She froze slightly, the words she was about to say getting stuck in her throat.
Raphaela waved her hand uncomfortably, gesturing for the soldiers beside her to step back. Then she also raised her eyes to glance at the person from the Sardin Woman's Country standing at the bow, Alajina.
Raphaela placed a hand over her stomach, walked gracefully in front of Valentiina, and returned the greeting,
"Hello, Miss Valentiina..."
Valentiina recovered her senses. She held eye contact with Raphaela's emerald eyes for a second, mutually perceiving the same underlying emotion in each other's eyes.
After a brief look, Raphaela withdrew her gaze first. Instead, she magnanimously pointed to the Dragon Court behind her, inviting Valentiina,
"I don't know what matter brought Valentiina traveling ten thousand miles to the Dragon Court, but how about we go inside the Dragon Court, sit down, and talk slowly?"
"No need..."
Valentiina's eyes also struggled to move back. However, from the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but be attracted to Raphaela's stomach, making her subconsciously touch her own flat stomach.
Unable to watch this any longer from behind, Tao sighed, walked in front of Raphaela, and got straight to the point with a serious face,
"Let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to business... Here's the situation. The Crevice we fought to the death to protect previously is governed by a deity named Dagon. He has already awakened and started restoring the Crevice... And just a few days ago, carrying the will of the gods, He contacted me..."
"The gods? Then..."
"'How is Fisher doing now?', right?" Tao rubbed her brow, shooting Valentiina beside her a look of disappointment over failing expectations, complaining, "Could you guys pick a different first question? Valentiina, you tell her?"
Valentiina's face flushed slightly, but she coughed lightly to adjust her expression, becoming equally serious,
"Currently, both Fisher and Jasmine are trapped within a dreamscape formed by an extremely powerful contamination in the Spirit World. Not only that, the avatar of the deity responsible for the destruction of the current world is also within it."
"Wha—"
"Don't be anxious, Dragonewt, I know what you want to say... Unfortunately, it's impossible for us to intervene with what's happening inside the dreamscape, nor can we help Fisher. Even if we could, that should be something for the deities within the Spirit World to do, not us... But right now, there happens to be something we can help with..."
Tao raised a finger, pointing to the sky, and continued telling Raphaela,
"Ramastia said that the culprit behind the world's destruction has four avatars within this world. Two avatars Co-exist with Fisher within the dreamscape, one's whereabouts are unknown... And the tracks of the last one have now been discovered by the gods, hiding within the Reality inside the Crevice."
"Where?"
Raphaela narrowed her eyes dangerously and asked straightforwardly.
"Inside the Demon Dynasty." Valentiina looked at Raphaela, offering of her own volition, "The Southern Continent is your territory, and Ramastia said you've been to the Demon Dynasty before. If we have you as a guide, we should have an easier time finding It."
"Mm, alright... I'll set off with you right now."
Tao raised an eyebrow, then stroked her chin and laughed,
"I really like your vigorous and resolute personality. No wonder that fellow Fisher also..."
"Thud!"
Before she could finish, Valentiina clenched her fist and lightly bonked Tao's head, making her cry out "ouch" and clutch her head. The long, slender ears besides her cheeks also perked up.
Looking up, Valentiina had her fists clenched, her cheeks slightly puffed, wearing a questioning expression that seemed to say, 'Whose side are you on exactly?'
Tao sighed and had to admit defeat, continuing,
"Don't be anxious, we will depart very soon, after Lord Ramastia transmits more information..."
It was only then that clear worry finally appeared on Raphaela's face. She swept her gaze over Valentiina, then glanced at Alajina on the ship, and couldn't help but ask,
"But that is an avatar of a deity. A deity should be stronger than the Dragon God Fafnir. With no malice intended, I'm somewhat worried that just the few of us won't be enough to deal with Its avatar, let alone the Demon Dynasty being rife with danger."
"Well, say what you will, but this is directly related to the life and death of this world. Besides, I also have a few old friends I can talk to inside the Demon Dynasty. We can see if we can find them for help when the time comes."
Tao patted her completely empty chest, then, with hands on her hips, pledged confidently,
"Furthermore, don't be cowardly just because It's a deity. Right now, the situation within the Spirit World is critical. That fellow's most powerful avatar should have entered the dreamscape. Leaving aside the one yet to be found, the remaining one still in reality means Its power won't exceed a True God."
Hearing this, Valentiina still analyzed it extremely cautiously,
"But even so, an avatar of a deity certainly must have something special about it. We should still be more careful, shouldn't we?"
"You're right." Tao nodded, bending her fingers to count, saying, "Based on Fisher's intelligence and Lord Ramastia's analysis, He roughly parsed out the situations of the three known avatars..."
"The first one, the Power-rank angel under the command of the Chain of Heaven ten thousand years ago, who defected a few millennia after the Ideal State, fell into the Demon Dynasty, and turned into an Archdemon... Helaire or Baimon. Abilities or corresponding Authority unknown, rank roughly at the Nineteenth-Tier."
"The second one, an existence that effortlessly killed two great Nineteenth-Tier Archangels within the Ideal State ten thousand years ago. Appearance unknown, but according to Ramastia's speculation, It possesses the ability to silently pass through the Crevice, and its rank is incredibly high, approximately equivalent to a True God possessing an Authority."
Tao blinked, looking at the slightly shocked Raphaela and Valentiina before lowering two of her fingers,
"These two avatars are currently struggling with Fisher within the dreamscape; it's none of our concern. Of the remaining two... one avatar is completely unknown—abilities unknown, appearance unknown—so we won't consider it for now. As for the other one..."
Tao narrowed her eyes and softly uttered a few names,
"[Heidelin], [Ingrid], [Diane]..."
As each name was read out, the complexions of Raphaela and Valentiina also changed repeatedly, especially Valentiina's.
She looked at Tao in disbelief, hurriedly asking,
"Wait, you're saying Heidelin is..."
"Ah, that's right... Over this period of time, Lord Anabatos has been checking past images day and night, primarily focusing around Fisher and you all who are connected to him. Sure enough, He discovered clues. All these names I just mentioned are 'parts', or rather 'people', that He found anomalies with—those basically completely unable to be checked."
"Impossible, Heidelin has been assisting my mother since before I was even born, and even after I was born..."
"But where did she come from, and where did she eventually go? Do you have any clues? And to tell the truth, Anabatos discovered that from their souls to their bodies, they are all completely real and flawless. Objectively, they are Countless different people, yet they are all the same person..."
Tao sighed, looking at the dazed Valentiina as she said,
"That's why I didn't tell you before we arrived... Lord Anabatos speculates that these numerous individuals generated out of thin air to replace others all originate from this final avatar. In other words, the final avatar we have to deal with possesses the ability to produce Countless perfect duplicates, a many-in-one entity. This seems to be related to a certain Authority of that legendary Ocean..."
Valentiina and Raphaela looked at each other simultaneously, quickly snapping out of that shock and terror.
After recounting all of this, Tao let out a long breath and reached out her hand, placing it between Valentiina and Raphaela,
"That's all I have to say. Honestly, I also find it very difficult, but I can reveal one more piece of reliable information... No matter which avatar it is, it is ultimately the will of that legendary deity, representing Itself. And coincidentally, that deity's relationship with your Fisher is... deeper than you'd imagine."
"..."
"..."
"Smack!"
The faces of Valentiina and Raphaela darkened simultaneously. Then, they violently slapped their hands onto the back of Tao's hand in unison, expressing their respective resolutions.
Mm...
The second cooperation plan of the little phoenix, little fire dragon, and little captain: achieved!!