Chapter 2628: A Warm Welcome |
Jet studied the wall of subtly rippling air in front of them and the pristine streets beyond it, then rested her scythe on her shoulders in a relaxed pose.
"Well, that explains why nothing has attacked us yet."
She approached the barrier created by the Serpent King, stopping only a few centimeters away from it, then took a few steps along its nearly invisible surface.
"Seems like he was really wary of what hides inside this city, huh?"
Sunny shrugged.
"I guess."
Jet remained silent for a few seconds, then asked in a calm tone:
“More importantly, if this barrier prevents things from escaping the Eternal City... wouldn't we get trapped if we pass through it, as well?"
That was what Sunny was thinking about, too.
"Nightwalker escaped it before, so there must be a way. Or maybe a condition sorting those who can leave, and those who can't."
He sighed and shook his head.
"It does not matter, anyway. Anything that Daeron created, I can destroy. It might take some time, though, if we do need to destroy this barrier in order to escape... not to mention that I would not feel right getting rid of it before whatever he was wary of is dealt with, or at least contained in some way.’
Jet glanced at him with dark amusement.
"Oh? What makes you so confident in your ability?"
Sunny simply shrugged.
“The fact that destroying something is always easier than creating it”
Both Daeron and Sunny were Supreme, and both were powerful sorcerers. So, with all other things being equal, he was confident in his ability to dismantle the runic array Daeron had created — given time.
Jet glanced back at the invisible barrier.
"I guess we are going inside, then."
Sunny grimaced.
"Well, yes. But first, we might want to... w— wait, what are you doing?!"
Before he could even finish the sentence, Jet took a step forward and passed through the barrier. Then, she turned back and glanced at him with a smile.
"What?"
Sunny stared at her, aghast.
"What do you mean, what?! How could you just go and enter a mysterious magic barrier designed to trap living beings for all eternity?!"
She shrugged.
"Didn't you say that you can easily destroy it?"
Sunny suppressed the impulse to grab his head.
"I say a lot of things!"
She laughed.
“That you do."
She fell silent, studied the surrounding buildings for a few seconds, then sighed and took a step back.
Sunny tensed, but Jet seemed to pass through the barrier and return to the bridge with no issue.
Still resting her arms on the shaft of the scythe, she rolled her shoulders and shook her head.
"My guess would be that the Serpent King was unwilling to let the immortals who had populated the Eternal City escape into the Twilight Sea. After all, there is no worse combination than immortality and Corruption. So, this barrier probably prevents anything that died and was restored by the city from leaving its boundary."
Sunny took a few deep breaths.
"..What if your theory turned out to be wrong?"
Jet shrugged.
“Then I would have asked you to get me out. Better yet, I'd ask Naeve to aim those scary cannons you so graciously crafted for me at the runes carved into the foundation of this place and blast a few dozen of them off the face of the earth. I am pretty sure that would have dealt with this runic array, too.
Sunny sighed.
"...I guess that works.’
With that, he walked past Jet and entered the barrier, too. As he passed it, an unpleasant feeling momentarily overwhelmed his senses — it was as if something cold and unfeeling was inspecting the depths of his being, searching for an unknown sign.
Then, it brushed against Weaver's lineage and recoiled, retreating in fright.
Sunny found himself standing near the mouth of a wide street. On both sides of him, ornate buildings rose into the darkness, with black water glistening with reflections of silver light as it rolled above him where the sky was supposed to be.
The street was clean and empty, with stunning sculptures lining the facades of the nearest buildings.
Jet crossed the barrier for the second time and glanced around.
“It doesn't seem so bad, actually."
Sunny took a few steps forward, then frowned and looked at the entrance of one of the buildings.
His shadow sense was still somewhat suppressed, but he could feel a presence there.
"Come out."
There were a few seconds of silence, and then he heard the sound of light steps.
A young man walked out of the buildings, walking toward them unhurriedly. At first glance, he was just barely past the age when one would become a Sleeper, wearing a free tunic woven out of flowing, luxurious fabric. His features were soft and harmonious, beautiful enough to mistake him for a Saint, and his glistening hair was held in place by an exquisitely decorated band of silver.
He did not seem armed, and a faint smile was playing on his lips. Walking to the middle of the street, the stunning youth stopped and turned, looking at them with a strange, curious expression.
Jet quietly removed her scythe from her shoulders, grasping it tightly.
"Oh, hell..."
Sunny almost took a step back.
Because when he peered into the soul of the striking young man, what met him... was a vast ocean of vile, boundless darkness.
The youth opened his mouth, as if wishing to welcome them to the Eternal City...
What escaped his mouth, however, were no words.
Instead, it was an avalanche of monstrous, pulsating, hungry flesh.
A dozen long tendrils ending with sharp spikes shot toward Sunny with such speed that he barely had time to react. Still, he managed to put his odachi in the path — only to feel it shatter from the impact, not offering the fleshy tendrils any resistance.
A split second later, the spikes were about to pierce his head.
Sunny dissolved into shadows, leaving them whipping furiously through the air. The stone plates of the wide street exploded into a hurricane of sharp shards, and the nearest facade collapsed into a cloud of dust when one of the tendrils brushed against it in passing.
Jet's scythe flashed, severing another. She moved with graceful ease, evading the lethal attack by a hair's breadth.
In the next moment, Sunny stepped from the shadows behind the appalling youth and calmly beheaded him with the reformed blade of his odachi. Red blood spluttered on the stone rubble, and the corpse of the young man fell to his knees while his head rolled a few steps, dragging the limp tentacles behind it.
"Curses."
Sunny watched as the headless corpse slowly toppled to the ground.
Jet did not relax, glancing at him briefly.
"What's with that expression?"
He hesitated for a moment.
"It's because..."
There was no new shade in his Soul Sea.
"..I don't think that thing is dead."
Just as he said those words, the headless body stirred and floated into an upright position.
The grotesque tendrils protruding from the mouth of the severed head, meanwhile, twitched and moved, raising it a dozen meters above the ground like long, abominable legs.
The youth's eyes peered at Sunny with the same innocent, mild curiosity.
He shivered.
‘Damnation...’
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