Return of the Fallen Volume 8 Chapter 58
A crack in space tore open above the floating palace and a large hand reached out from within it.
As soon as Garn saw it, he recognized the hand right away as Glaicous’s and he felt the fear of death in him.
(How!…How did he know!? Did he predict that I would face Nunully and the others in this city or can he actually sense me and my actions from so far away?)
The power charging within the floating palace, without a second thought, Garn wielded his scepter and directed the energy away from his weapons and got ready to teleport in an instant.
(I have to get away! He knows exactly where I am and he knows that I was about to kill Nunully.)
The hand reaching out of the tear in the sky was just about to land heavily on the barrier of the floating palace. Garn could feel the might just this single hand exuded and understood that it would shred the barrier protecting his floating palace in an instant. After it got through the barrier, Glacious with a simple wave of his hand would crush the entire palace and everyone in it including Garn.
Garn wanted to teleport away, he wanted to flee as fast as possible but Glaicous’s hand was already there.
(NO! I REFUSE TO DIE! NOT YET!)
Garn diverted the power back into the weapons and aimed all of them at Glaicous’s hand.
(Once I fire this, It should be able to buy me two or three seconds. I’ll use that small window and move the palace to the other side of the continent if I have to.)
All of the charged energy inside the core of the palace was focused on the weapons and Garn was just about to launch an all-out attack at Glaicous’s arm when something he could never have predicted happened.
Glacious pulled his arm back and the crack in space closed as if it had never been.
Garn stared at the sky in disbelief. Not just him but everyone who watched this take place. Those who were aware inside the palace all sighed in absolute relief. They all knew of Glaicous’s strength and what he could do. Had he actually clawed at them, they all knew it would be them buried and gone.
Asuna and the others had no clue what had just happened. They saw the tear in the sky and they all could tell it was Glacious’s arm. They felt a heavy burden removed from their shoulders and hope returned to them. They all knew that they couldn’t break his weapons barrier nor could they ever defend against its attack. The mission to defend this city while the citizens fled, they all knew what the risks were. They all knew that death was a real possibility but still they chose to come.
In the back of their minds, they had a sliver of hope that Glacious or Etora would make an appearance and defeat Garn. At the same time, they knew just how hard the two were fighting. Etora had to face one of Fera’s fake bodies and after defeating one of the fakes, he was lucky if he had more than a few minutes before she materialized another fake body. On the other side of the coin was Glaucous. He was meant to deal with a portion of the Miasma as well as Fera. To their knowledge, he has et to stop battling. So their confidence for a rescue was undeniably low.
So the moment they saw space tear in the sky, they knew who it was and felt their burdens lift. The moment he disappeared though, it was like someone had tossed them in a frozen river as their hopes were extinguished.
Shin couldn’t help but laugh at this moment.
“Hahaha! Such shitty luck.”
Triska slapped his back hard with the end of her trident.
“Now’s not the time to say such things. We have no back up so we are simply where we started. What luck? This is how a warrior should go. Fighting with everything they have. We don’t rely on happen chances or something called luck.”
Shin grit his teeth as he rubbed his back.
“Damn it woman! Use that titanic strength on Garn’s bitch ass, not on the man you’re supposed to care about.”
“Sam, what do you think this means. Why would Glacious show up and then vanish like that? He must know our situation but he abandoned us.”
Sam shook his head at Kimi.
“Teacher wouldn’t abandon us. Something must have happened.”
Nunully agreed with Sam but Asuna was reminded of Kazuki’s death. To her, Glacious was supposed to be this invincible being yet he couldn’t save Kazuki when he fell into the Abyssal Trench. She felt this was exactly what Glacious would do.
“Uncle must have come across another threat. There’s no way he would simply leave us like this unless there was something dire preventing him. We just need to hold out, Glacious to Etora, one of them will come for us, I’m sure of it.”
Nunully had full confidence in this but both Kimi and Asuna were doubtful. Still, they all readied themselves for the worst. Each one flew into the skies, ready for battle.
While all this was happening, far into the distance, a loud explosion echoed out.
*BOOM!*
The air around them all shook and they felt a shockwave. Once this first explosion rang out, several more swiftly followed.
*BANG BOOM CRACK KA-BOOM!*
Thunderous explosions broke out again and again and again and they all connected the dots.
“I knew it, Uncle is facing something that requires his full attention. That amount of noise, whoever Glacious is fighting, their strength must be close to his if he can’t divide his attention between us and whatever he’s facing. We just have to stick with the plan that King Brian laid out. We can do this.”
The floating palace shook a little bit but it was enough of a shake for everyone aboard to understand something was off. Garn as well heard the booming explosions in the distance and he immediately waved his scepter. As soon as he did that, several glowing crystals appeared in the air. With another wave, half of these crystals vanished into thin air as they were teleported away.
The other half of the crystals remaining began to shine and displayed a holographic video of light. These crystals connected in a similar way to the communication mirrors that King Brian, Bozek, and a very few others used.
(Glacious and I have been on bad terms for as long as I can remember. We’ve only become allies because of this situation and it’s only worked so far because we’ve stayed out of one another’s way. It’s obvious though that the bad blood between us still remains in full effect. This begs the question, why then did he stop at the last second and pull back. Since he opened a crack in space and was about to destroy me, he knew enough of the situation as to immediately try and kill me. He who had my life in his grasp, and could have killed me with a single push forward. Knowing this and yet he was the one who retreated. Something must have happened. He stopped which means whatever happened has to be quite substantial. Someone with equal strength or maybe even greater. I need to figure this out right now if I am to move forward. Since he knows I am trying to kill his little princess, it is already too late to make amends. I need to know if I need to flee or if whoever he’s facing will draw out time and allow me the chance to remove these obstacles in front of me.)
Garn was a fraction of a second away from death. If things didn’t slow Glacious on the other side, Garn would have died just then. He knew this and understood from the bottom of his heart that this was true. Knowing that a being of Glacious’s might was after your head, a rational man who just so happened to own a floating palace that could teleport one across an entire continent in an instant. One would think they would take the chance to teleport away the instant Glacious was sidetracked.
The rational man would disappear from the face of the world and hole themselves up somewhere far far away, where Glacious would not find them. This is what Garn should have done the moment Glacious had to pull away and closed his tear in space. Garn though was no longer someone who could be called rational.
His mind began calculating different scenarios at a million miles an hour.
(I have to kill these foolish bastards, especially that half-breed elf bitch. Once they are gone I can finish this city and lead the Miasma the final leg of the way. At the same time, I have to figure out how to deal with Glacious. He thinks he’s invincible. I will break him, I just have to find the right way.)
Just as Garn thought this, the blurred video in front of him started to clear and showed a live video feed more than a thousand miles away.
(I’ve found you, you dirty dragon bastard. Now let me see what you’ve gotten into. Just what could delay, the great bastard lizard?)
Comment (0)