Free Web NovelChapter 332: I Surrender
"I surrender. The Northern Continent is yours now, and you can do whatever you want with me..." was the last sentence the Emperor had before his body disintegrated out of existence. Lucas could only watch him with solemn eyes, and as he sauntered his way out of the ruined hall of the Emperor, the Azure Flame Lion blocked him in human form despite the grave wounds that were weakening his movements.
"S-Stop... What did you do to the Great Lord Emperor? I can’t feel his presence anymore."
"Rumadri, that’s enough! How long will you let yourself get hypnotized by that human?! He is the reason why the four of us had to fight each other!" Lucas heard Lia shout in her beast form.
Rumadri, still before him, had his fangs shown despite the state he was in. For him to take two divine beasts on his own was a commendable deed, but even though he was strong, they were two, and he was just one. Compared to their combat powers, they were just close to each one, making Rumadri skillful despite the comparison.
"He surrendered," Lucas stated, but yet, he couldn’t be proud of it. He saw how miserable the Emperor’s eyes had been, and he couldn’t take it as an achievement. From all of his enemies in the past, the Emperor had the eyes of someone who had lost sight of his goal.
’He used the wrong path, but it won’t change the fact that he did things in the wrong way even though he had clean intentions or whatsoever.’ Lucas thought, trying to defeat the sour feeling he had.
He could only grumble about it, then ignore it afterward and sauntered past Rumadri, who had become frozen after what he had just heard.
"Did you kill him?"
"No, he killed himself."
"..."
"Then, I will be going now. I expect that you will cooperate with me, Azure Flame Lion." Lucas said, and then started flying.
A bitter grin was painted on his face, along with the realization.
’Even though he was the evilest person I had known, controlling people for himself, enslaving his own citizens, and killing those who opposed him, he was the person I had known who had the strongest motivation. I wasn’t a fool to be by his side... That motivation he had was the one that kept me alive, despite being dead after my family ascended to the Upper Heaven.’
Lia and Fiona could just watch Rumadri as he turned back into his beast form and left them in front of the ruined hall.
"Well... seems like the long war is now over," Lia commented with a relaxed tone.
"Fufu... I am happy with it. I can finally take a break for some time and start a new life if I feel like it." Fiona said, which made Lia pause and face her beast face on Fiona’s.
"What did you say? Did you just say, life? Oh no... Fiona... we still have things to do."
"What is it?" Fiona asked in a complaining tone.
"We still need to bless Lucas and others with our blood and make sure that he becomes stronger than before. That will be the time we will be complacent."
"And why is it?" Fiona asked again.
"Sighs... you still don’t know? Did you think that we just sat on our continent without doing anything while Lucas was rummaging in his brain about how to take all the continents? Of course not. We were preparing for something."
Fiona could see in Lia’s eyes that she was thinking differently about a matter that she didn’t know about that was far from the Great World War for the legacy.
With an impatient tone, she asked, "What is it, really? You are killing me with my curiosity."
"Pft... Fiona, we were studying how we will help others to ascend. We have plenty of candidates for ascension, and preparing for the 10 Judgement Hell’s Path was what we did for the past few months."
Fiona paused, her face blank, as she unconsciously turned to human form. Lia groaned with rolling eyes, then turned to human form as well. And as she stood before Fiona, who seemed to be thinking about it deeply, she pushed her slightly to snap her back to reality.
"What are you thinking?"
"Lia, if what you said was right, then does that mean that we will also bless them?"
Lia stared at her and a forced smile curled up. "Yes, we will bless them."
"Ah... I see. Then, how many are they?"
"15. We have 15 candidates which means that we will be helping 15 humans to ascend." ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Fiona’s face couldn’t hide the surprise, and the blank face she had was still painted, despite a different expression having already surfaced.
"I have never witnessed that plenty of people ascend. At least once every hundred years, only one person would be able to advance to the Emperor Stage. And now, your continent has 15. What kind of miracle has happened? Did someone from the smaller islands escape without getting known and bless you all with resources and techniques?"
Lia scoffed, then shook her head.
"Of course not. That’s impossible to happen."
"Then, what is it?"
"It is just my assumption, but it could be probably because of Lucas’s existence. When he arrived, he enlightened us with some things. Furthermore, I think his subordinates that were part of his faction in the Xiao Dynasty are all divine beasts."
"What?!"
***
Apart from the candidate that Lia told Fiona, there was still something that she didn’t tell her.
As Divine Beasts were born with extraordinary senses, she grew accustomed to relying on her senses since the time she stayed hidden in the Eastern Continent’s Sacred Land of Taulo. And as she stayed, not only was she able to perceive the things that were happening in the Eastern Continent but also the border between the two Heavens, the place where 10 Judgment Hell’s Path was.
Although she was able to perceive the things on the Northern Continent, the distance weakened her senses, but for some reason, she was able to see through the basics of the 10 Judgement Hell’s Path.
She developed a theory in her mind. What if the Eastern Continent was something special? Not only was Lucas’s appearance on the Eastern Continent when he was from another realm, but also Felicity came from another realm. Therefore, there was really something in the Eastern Continent.
’I didn’t waste my time staying in my chambers. After I discovered these, I had a premonition all of a sudden, which I was worried about since things were new to me. For a divine beast like me, who was just the same as the other divine beasts, what does it make me different from them?’
Lia didn’t waste time. Just as Lucas pursued the legacy by himself, she didn’t stop studying. She studied the Spatial Mystical Art that Lucas taught to Yuna, and as she learned how to use one, she thought that it could be useful to practice it. But, to her surprise, she failed to go to the place she wanted to go to, and instead, she went to a place where no one should be who was exempted from the ascension rule of the Divine Emperor.
’It didn’t mean that I am exempted, I won’t take the 10 Judgement Hell’s Path. I still have to take it if I want to ascend, but it is impossible for anyone to enter the 10 Judgement Hell’s Path without registering and leaving without finishing it. But, I just succeeded in leaving that place.’
How did Lia know that it was the 10 Judgment Hell’s Path space? Well, it was just because she had already passed through the 10 Judgement Hell’s Path. She should have ascended, but she didn’t pursue entering the Immortal Heaven as she felt she wasn’t ready to enter a new different place that she wasn’t part of in the first place. Lia also didn’t pursue being the strongest, which would make her ascension useless.
’So... what is the Eastern Continent? It was a question I wanted to find its answer to. But, for some reason, I felt like I knew the answer all along... The answer to all of my questions is just right here in front of me.’
Lia stopped her walk as she saw Lucas just ahead of her path. He was standing, waiting for Yuna to arrive at the Northern Continent, and as she had a chance to stare at him, she couldn’t help but feel the mystical aura he had. The presence he was making and the energy that was around his body. It wasn’t a simple unique Qi, there should be something from it as she knew how each unique Qi should feel.
Nonetheless, the suspicion he had of Lucas wasn’t simple. It was as if all of Lucas’s meaning for his existence was centered around the answer she wanted.
’Who really are you, Lucas? And where did you come from to bring this all to light? Lucas, are you really immortal, or something higher than that?’
