Free Web NovelChapter 119: Chapter 91: Blood of the Desolate Wasteland Ruins
Two thousand four hundred years ago, the Stereoscopic City of Verne was a bustling metropolis. The Empire’s expeditionary fleets resupplied here, bathed in the brilliant light of the Divine Emperor’s blessings.
The Supreme Sage was born here.
Great pioneers charted the course, seeking a new home in the Dark Cosmos.
In those days, the nascent Verne thrived, full of vigor. In the name of the Divine Emperor and the Empire, it became a torch in the boundless darkness, illuminating the way for all who journeyed forth and guiding lost Imperial merchant caravans back home.
Six hundred years ago.
The fourth Lord of the Empire, witnessed by the Regent Council and the High Table Nobility, signed a decree declaring an end to the endless expedition.
The years turned, and time wore away everything here.
Officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs stripped this world of its last chunk of ore, and the Radiant Waymarks transported away the final industrial relics of the expedition era.
Wave after wave of high officials, nobles, scholars, and Think Tanks departed, returning to the Radiant Holy City.
This once-great world, which had shone like a brilliant star in the deep space of the Empire, was now left to drift alone in the Ash Soil Star Zone. Even its name had faded from memory.
No one remembered that this was once the Empire’s most prosperous Stereoscopic City.
No one knew that in that age of soaring war-flames, the Imperial spark of Verne had been reborn from destruction, time and time again.
Now, it had only one name: the Desolate Wasteland Ruins.
Rust was the color of this world. Its glorious past lay buried beneath a thick layer of dust, leaving only the agonizing struggle of a life of hardship.
But the Mortals and soldiers who lived here still carried the blood of the great Sages of the expedition era.
The radiant brand of courage and unyielding spirit was seared deep into their genes and souls.
War between Mortals was primitive, savage, bloody, and cruel.
When the young Defense Army soldier’s old Iron Sword slammed against the invader’s steel Shield Tower, his hands trembled. One after another, his fearless comrades roared as they charged the Shield Tower, attempting to break the enemy line with their own flesh and blood.
However, the vast disparity in equipment was a chasm that courage and flesh could not bridge.
Veteran after veteran fell to the Longswords thrust through the gaps in the shield wall. Despite their frenzied charges, the invaders, like iron tortoises, had not retreated a single step. In fact, they were still steadily advancing.
Laslo gritted his teeth, his face a twisted, ferocious mask. He threw all his strength into an attempt to break the shield wall and attack the invaders hiding behind it, but a sudden coldness in his side extinguished his fiery passion.
His eyes widened as he stared at the Fine Steel Longsword buried deep in his left side. It was as if he couldn’t believe that death would one day come for him.
Adrenaline surged, but his body fell uncontrollably. The wound was more than he could bear; as blood poured out, his last ounce of strength drained away in an instant.
Laslo’s face was pale. The roars of fury and screams of agony around him seemed to sink underwater, growing more and more distant from his consciousness.
THUD—.
He hit the ground heavily.
The young Defense Army soldier thought of his home, his first love, his past dreams, and... the girl who had died in his arms.
In that moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl.
The necklace around his neck slipped sideways and fell to the ground. At its end was a finger-sized, iron emblem shaped like a human skull.
Death’s Holy Emblem.
No one remembered why this emblem had been created.
No one knew why a skull, a symbol of death and terror, would be a mark of faith in the Divine Emperor.
But this necklace was a gift his grandmother had placed around his neck with her own hands when Laslo joined the Defense Army. She had told him to hold fast to his faith, that the Holy Emblem would protect him from harm.
The ground was cold, the blood warm.
He stared blankly at the sky. Thick clouds and dust obscured the sun. The flames of a landing beacon set the sky alight, and debris from collapsing buildings and human bodies from the Upper City District fell endlessly into the Lower City...
A voice rose up in his heart.
It was his final prayer.
’O Divine Emperor, my faith is as steadfast as ever. It has never wavered...’
The fully armed body of an invader stepped over him, becoming a dark shadow that blotted out his vision, swallowing him completely. freёwebnovel.com
The invader’s merciless, bloodthirsty gaze locked onto his eyes as a sharp steel sword was raised high, poised to run him through the heart.
Fury burned in Laslo’s eyes.
’Even if my body is broken, anyone who wants to kill me will pay the price!’
The last of his strength surged through him. The young Defense Army soldier let out a hysterical roar, his frail body exploding with astonishing power that surpassed its physical limits. Ignoring the pain, he suddenly shot up!
He let the enemy’s sharp Longsword pierce his chest and threw himself upon the invader. If he had no weapon in his hands, then his teeth would be the blade granted to him by the Divine Emperor!
Like a wild beast, he straddled the invader, clamped his teeth onto the man’s throat, and refused to let go!
And at that very moment, the body of a Knight, clad in Full Coverage Anti-Magic Steel Armor, smashed straight through the invaders’ shield wall like a colossal iron warship!
The tremendous roar was like an earthquake.
A streak of dark purple light shot past the corner of Laslo’s eye. A terrifying War Axe, savage to the extreme, fell from on high to cut down a fallen Knight who was trying to struggle back up.
The Broadsword snapped, and the Steel Armor shattered.
The impact of the War Axe hitting the ground threw up a cloud of dust.
Laslo, still on top of the dying, struggling enemy, fell to the ground with him. He no longer had the strength to get up. He couldn’t even... move a single finger. freeweɓnøvel.com
In that moment, Laslo saw Reinhardt’s eyes, steeped in cruelty and cold. Enemy blood stained his cheeks, and bits of flesh and bone clung to the blade of his axe. The stench of death washed over him.
But Laslo felt no fear.
Because that man was one of the Divine Emperor’s Angels, an Angel of the Desolate Wasteland Ruins...
For a soldier, a mere Mortal, to be seen on the battlefield by one of the Divine Emperor’s Angels—this was the most glorious moment of his life.
Blood gushed from his mouth, his pupils dilated. His weak breaths were like a candle flickering in the wind. The sharp sword in his chest drained his life away with every passing second.
He embraced glory and death.
In the final moments of his life, he heard the enemy’s wretched death screams, felt the ground tremble, and heard... the voice of an Angel.
As everything around him fell silent, Laslo’s consciousness gradually faded into darkness.
In that boundless, silent darkness, he saw an Angel with blood-soaked wings striding toward him down a path paved with endless corpses.
Rivers of blood flowed endlessly from his War Axe.
His somber gospel offered none of an Angel’s sanctity or salvation.
There was only vengeance and wrath.
Laslo took a deep breath of the ruins’ foul air. His unfocused pupils, stimulated by some drug, refocused. His body shot up like a spring, and he violently coughed up mouthfuls of congealed blood.
He noticed a tall figure squatting beside him.
He looked up.
The magnificent form of one of the Divine Emperor’s Angels stood before him, as immense as a mountain.
