Return of the Fallen Volume 8 Chapter 19
A beam of golden light streaked across the sky as fast as lightning. All the way from the northern ocean, across the land, and to the furthest side of the eastern shore.
The beam of light came to an abrupt stop the moment it met the eastern shore, and the figure of an old, tall man appeared as the light dimmed and faded. Dreunz peered up and into the sky once he reached the shore. His eyes glowed slightly, and the sky cracked open in response.
Two magical beasts flew out from this tear in the sky. Each one looked like a lizard, with a pair of grey wings attached to their backs. A large spear in each of their hands. Once they flew out and saw who it was, they immediately bowed respectfully.
“Lord Dreunz, welcome back. Where is the young master?”
The moment this question slipped out, Dreunz shot a beam of light at this lizard beast and pierced its head, killing the fool in an instant.
The other lizard beast froze on the spot and dared not look Dreunz in the eye, nor utter a sound.
Dreunz flew into the tear in the sky and disappeared. The very next moment, the lizard beast trembled before retrieving the other guard’s body. Stabbing his spear into his dead comrade’s corpse, he dug out the beast’s core and sealed it, before he too flew into the sky and vanished.
On the other side of the spatial tear, a large pyramid-shaped structure that was bigger than several mountains combined hovered silently in the sky. Dreunz flew into this large building and was meant by many greetings, but he said nothing to them. Finally, he came to a large pair of doors, and without announcing himself, he entered.
The doors swung open and crashed into the wall on the other side with a loud and audible
*BANG*
All eyes gathered at the door, but when they saw it was Dreunz, they all became confused.
A large table sat in the center of this room, and on one side of the table, a young-looking woman sat. As soon as she saw Dreunz, she stood up.
“Father!?”
Dreunz ignored her and proceeded to approach the head of the table, where a large man sat. This man was slightly taller than Glacious and a size bigger. He had short black hair with a stripe of silver-grey running down one side of his head. Eyes of black with specks of green in them, the man gave off an air of dominance without even trying. He saw Dreunz enter in such a rude way, but this only piqued his interest.
A recording crystal appeared in Dreunz’s hand, and he slammed it down on the table.
“My grandson…He’s dead!”
The moment Dreunz said this, the entire chamber went into an uproar. The woman from a second ago rushed at Dreunz and grabbed his shoulders.
“Father! Father, that…What you just said, I misheard you, right…Right!?”
Dreunz caressed his daughter’s face as gently as a lamb before a single tear rolled down his face. The woman’s eyes went wide in shock. Even without him saying anything, she knew—a mother knew. She didn’t wish to believe such a thing; it didn’t make sense, but still, from her father’s actions, she knew it to be true.
The woman shook before she burst into tears and screamed at the top of her lungs.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
The entire pyramid started to move and shake from her shout, and several of the others in the room could only cover their ears in pain. All throughout the pyramid, the weaker beasts all lost consciousness and fell to the floor.
The only one who remained unaffected was the large man sitting at the head of the table. With a simple wave of his hand, a barrier formed around the woman, and her screams were silenced. She still screamed; they just could no longer be heard by those outside the barrier.
The other ancient beasts in the room finally removed their hands from their heads. A few had blood on their palms from where their eardrums had burst. This only lasted a mere second or two, as they each healed in a near-instant.
The man sitting at the head of the table spoke a single word.
“Report.”
This word was a simple one, but everyone there could feel a power in it.
Dreunz kneeled down before this man.
“My King, I was a fool. I was…Tricked by a bastard.”
Dreunz then told his king exactly what occurred around him. He couldn’t say how his grandson had actually died since he wasn’t a witness to it, but to everything that happened to himself, he gave full details. Along with that, the recording crystal played out and showed everyone in the room the battle that took place between him, Kazuki, and the others.
The moment it showed Kazuki’s skin darkening and being covered in the ancient language, the king took notice, but his expression didn’t change. Dreunz had just managed to escape with his life, though he was very badly injured. It was obvious why Dreunz only arrived now. It had been almost a week since this battle had taken place. Dreunz, though, was now healed. He must have had to slow down and heal before he made it back. This showed just how terrible the injuries and the fight had been.
The crystals light faded, and with it, the images stopped flashing and disappeared.
All of the Ancient beasts except the king broke out into another uproar. They had no clue how a human could be this powerful. It made no sense.
Several conversations spilled out.
“A human capable of this shouldn’t exist.”
“But he does exist! This human is only at the 5th stage, yet he could overwhelm an Ancient beast. Our powers and strength are equivalent to those of a 6th-stage mage, yet this boy could drive Dreunz back and nearly kill him.”
“The human called Kazuki is a threat. How could the northern bastards ally themselves with a human? Are they not ashamed and embarrassed?”
“Why would they feel either of those things? It’s obvious that by aligning themselves with a human, they are clearly desperate. I agree with you on one point, though: this human is a danger. He must be put down as soon as possible.”
Dreunz added in.
“Yes, Kazuki is extremely dangerous. Not only did his strength suddenly explode and grow exponentially, but this human bastard is also incredibly clever. He fooled me and my grandson, and when our guards were down, he killed my men expertly. This filth can even change the shape of his body and face. I didn’t expect him to take on the form of my grandson. Had I been a little more cautious, I would have known it wasn’t my grandson right away, but he even acted like my poor Alodeus. I…I was completely fooled by him.”
Dreunz then turned back to his king.
“My King! Please help me get vengeance!”
After that, it was like a domino effect. Dreunz’s daughter knelt as well. Although she couldn’t be heard inside the barrier, it was clear she was begging for vengeance.
The other beast one by one kneeled respectfully and pleaded as well.
“Beast King please help lord Dreunz get justice!”
“Great Beast King, Please seek justice!”
“Justice!”
“Justice!”
“Justice!”
“Justice!”
“Justice!”
The Eastern King raised a hand and gripped the air. Everyone knew what this meant, and they all promptly shut their mouths and awaited their king’s words.
“Those black lines forming on the human’s body. I have never seen them before, but before my father ascended to a higher realm more than 100,000 years ago, there was a time he told me of a strange thing. He spoke of a story that had been passed down from his father, and it mentioned in exact detail those black lines on the human called Kazuki. It comes from a disciple of a god named Ourodyess.”
The moment the Ancient beast heard this, looks of shock and panic ran abundant, but the king quickly eased their concerns.
“This god…Ourodyess has died long, long ago. This human has no protection from a dead god. The power this human gains through eating is of no concern. It comes from a creature I believe is called Vazul. They can only grow so much in a lower realm such as this one. In this world, there are a few beings with titanic power. There is I, there is Glacious, and there is the southern beast king. Even if this creature lent all of its powers, even if this human grew and grew, we would all be capable of killing it before it becomes a demi-god before it reaches the 8th stage. Not only that, it cannot contain all of that power in such a small body, not without a powerful soul. From the story passed down, when those black lines appear, it means the body is being possessed and the soul is being taken over and eaten. This tells me that this human has an incredibly weak and fragile soul. If he is taken over fully, then, like I said, the body won’t be able to contain all of that power, and he will explode. This realm has no place for such foul beings.”
Hearing about the unfathomable 8th stage, the demi-god stage, these Ancient beasts could only dream of reaching such a level. That, though, wasn’t the important part.
Dreunz felt his heart ache as he put this all together.
“My King, are you saying then that this human is already dead and that I cannot get revenge?”
The king shook his head.
“I can’t be for sure as I don’t know if these stories from the past are full of truths or full of exaggerations. If true, though, then I would say yes. The realms have universal laws attached to them that all beings cannot go against. These bodies of flesh can only hold so much power on their own. At certain points, in order to go beyond that, our minds must expand to keep up. When our minds can go no further, our bodies and minds must come together to enter an even higher stage. Beyond that, our souls have to expand in order to contain an even greater power. This is one of the many laws of the universe. It applies to us, and it applies to humans as well. This human called Kazuki clearly has a weak soul if the Vazul was possessing him. If it still possessed him after the battle and my father’s father’s words are true, then this human called Kazuki is already long dead.”
Dreunz’s face paled, and he turned to look at his daughter. She too looked distraught, and she couldn’t even stand.
The other Ancient beasts also felt bitterness. A weak human had killed off many of their brethren, yet the only consequence he will suffer is death. It was unsatisfactory in all of their eyes and left an unpleasant taste in their mouths.
As silence began to fill the room, an old beast entered the chamber. He noticed the odd atmosphere, but that was none of his business. He quickly knelt down and announced
“Great King, I have news of the war!”
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