Chapter 2997: Final Confrontation |
Far away from the Ebony Tower, a clear blue sky reflected on the surface of a desolate glass wasteland. This was the Glass Hell, a place where the war of extinction the King of Nothing waged on humanity had begun. Now, Mordret escaped from the reflections in the southern reaches of this remote region, dragging Asterion with him.
The two of them slammed into the glass at terrible speed, sending a net of cracks running through it, and rolled away from each other.
A moment later, both of them were back on their feet.
Mordret rose slowly, wiping the blood off his lips with a somber expression. Asterion seemed undisturbed, looking around with a calm expression.
They were not alone in the glass wasteland. Two more people waited there, and Asterion found himself caught between three enemies, standing in the middle of a vast triangle formed by their motionless figures.
One of them was a young woman with silver hair, white flames dancing in her striking grey eyes.
The other was a man with porcelain skin and raven hair, his eyes as black as onyx. And the last one was tall and slender, his cold eyes reflecting the world back on itself like flawless mirrors.
They were Changing Star of the Immortal Flame Clan, the Lord of Shadows, and the King of Nothing.
A grim smile twisted Asterion''s smile.
Nephis looked at him with cold contempt, not saying anything.
The Lord of Shadows, meanwhile, smiled back.
"It''s good to be back. Now... shall we dispense with the formalities, you bastard?"
He sighed and rolled his shoulders, as if preparing for a fight.
"I know that we can''t kill you, but you are going to regret being alive very soon. Please believe me... I am the most honest man in the world, after all. Two worlds, even."
It took a unique combination of conditions for Mordret to reach across the Hollow Mountains and the Nightmare Desert, into the Tomb of Ariel.
First and foremost was the Night Garden and its captain. One of the Great Citadel''s Components allowed its master to open their Dream Gate not only between the waking world and the Dream Realm, but also between two points in the same world. Another of its Components was meant to help them navigate a path across vast distances, even if no previous master of the Night Garden had managed to decipher how to use that part of the living ship''s sorcery effectively.
Nightwalker, meanwhile, had a mystical ability to always get to where he wanted to go. He was just not of a high enough Rank to truly make use of the unique enchantments suffusing the Night Garden.
That was why he had been one of the first people healed from the plague by Cassie, alongside Morgan. Of course, Mordret had already subdued both him and the other Saints of Night by then... it was a difficult fight precisely because he had to keep them alive.
Slaughtering the House of Night for the second time would have been easier, but he was not the same man who had perpetrated that massacre. He had no reason to kill Nightwalker, and no desire to. Not to mention that he needed the man to accomplish what Cassie had asked of him. Another condition that had to be met to perform that task was Mordret himself. In truth, he did not need the Night Garden to connect two points of the same realm with his Dream Gate. That had already been one of his powers, and the Mirror Gate had been doing just that throughout the war his predecessor waged on humanity.
When Mordret''s power and the potent Component of the Night Garden were combined, his ability to reach distant reflections was greatly enhanced.
But even that was not enough to travel to the heart of the Tomb of Ariel.
One of the two most important conditions was that something had changed inside the great pyramid, making its interior less isolated from the outside world than it had been.
And most importantly of all...
Mordret had been able to enter the Tomb of Ariel because Changing Star and the Lord of Shadows were already there — especially the latter.
The Lord of Shadows — Sunny — shared a deep connection with all the subjects of his Domain, be they alive or dead. The living subjects in particular bore the Mark of Shadows and served as conduits of his perception, which meant that there was a connection between them.
One such subject had been very near to the Ebony Tower, actually — it was Rain, the Princess of Shadows, who was trying to conquer the Ivory Tower when Mordret was preparing to leave.
He used the connection between her and the leader of her clan to trace the location of the Lord of Shadows — and then, he used that location to plot a course. Instead of sailing blindly across infinity, the Night Garden followed the mystical link between a Supreme and his subordinate, being pulled toward its source.
That was how Mordret managed to arrive at the Estuary.
There, he briefly explained the situation — as much of it as he himself understood, at least — and invited the two Supremes aboard the Night Garden.
And now, here they were...
Changing Star was back, and the Lord of Shadow was back as well.
The world had irrevocably changed in their absence, and it was going to change once again now.
Because they were going to vanquish the Dreamspawn and erase his profane existence from the world.
In the throne room of Bastion, Effie''s eyes widened. Then, a soft radiance suffused her skin, healing her countless wounds.
Pure white flame burned away the bloodied cloth she had used to cover her stump, and then slowly began to coalesce into the shape of a hand.
A sigh of relief escaped from her lips, and she closed her eyes for a moment.
"They''re back..."
Far away, Kai was pushing his scorched body deeper and deeper into the incinerating expanse of incandescent lava. The heat here was devastating enough to make his midnight scales melt, even if he was protected by the [Dragonslayer] Attribute. His flesh beneath blackened and frayed, melting as well.
He had dove deeper than the volcano, plunging into the vast magma chamber below — and deeper still, passing the crust of the Dream Realm, into its molten mantle. The pressure here was so terrifying that even his draconic body was on the verge of being crushed, his bones groaning under immense strain. The lava had turned viscous and difficult to push through, slowly becoming solid...
But it wasn''t quite impenetrable yet.
‘I... can''t... anymore...''
Kai was being burned and incinerated by the heat. He could still push through the lava, but not fast enough to outrun his enemy. The white dragon was still pursuing him, even if the horrid heat was draining the vicious cold that dwelled within his body. It was already only a few moments away from catching Kai in his maw and tearing him apart.
But, hopefully... hopefully, they had made it far enough from Ravenheart.
Hopefully, the white dragon would get lost in this harrowing ocean of incinerating radiance forever, and never find its way back to the surface.
Kai was ready to say goodbye to the pain... But then, something moved in the incandescent radiance of the solidifying lava.
He wasn''t sure that his mind was capable of comprehending what he saw... his scorched eyes were mostly useless by now, anyway... but he felt a vast, alien, and incinerating presence rising from the depths of the molten hell towards them.
Dozens of gargantuan tendrils moved through the lava, coalescing from the same incandescent liquid that surrounded them... hundreds of them, even, stretching into the fiery, immolating depths of earth.
Where the ghastly core of the harrowing creature hid, drifting in the currents of liquid flame.
And while the tendrils seemed to pay a bit of attention to Kai...
The true target of their focus was the source of the lethal cold that had invaded their world.
The white dragon opened its maw, straining to let out a roar.
Its frenzied eyes pierced Kai with a chilling gaze for a moment...
And then, the Cursed Devil clashed with the harrowing dweller of the fiery depths, sending ripples spreading through the sea of lava.
Kai did not see it, though.
He was slowly sinking into the depths of the earth by then. His consciousness was fading.
He had endured enough...
And then, the hue of the incandescent radiance that surrounded him changed subtly.
In place of harrowing agony, a soothing warmth enveloped his body.
The terrible burns covering it began to heal in pure white light.
Kai moved slightly.
He moved, and then pushed his body up.
Sunny studied Asterion, thinking about the battle ahead.
The battle... was not going to be an easy one, even with the three of them fighting the Dreamspawn at the same time.
That was because they couldn''t kill him. Even if Cassie had succeeded in attaining natural Supremacy and all but wiped out the Hunger Domain, she could not erase the idea of him from existence entirely.
After all, if she did, then the three of them would not remember who Asterion was, and would therefore have no reason to kill him. There were beings out there who carried the idea of the Dreamspawn within them that were beyond her reach, as well. Like Eurys, for example, who had learned the name of Asterion from Sunny.
That was the reason why they had left Ananke behind aboard the Night Garden. She had no idea who Asterion was, after all, and keeping it that way was more important than having her aid in this fight.
So, they were not going to be able to kill him... which meant that they had to subdue him.
And subduing someone — let alone an exceedingly fearsome Supreme — was far more difficult than simply killing them. Still...
Sunny believed that they were going to win. In fact, he believed that this battle, albeit difficult, was nothing but a formality.
In truth, Asterion had already lost.
He had lost when he failed to kill Cassie before she became a Supreme.
And he had failed to kill her, choosing to rip out her eyes instead, because he wanted to devour her with the rest of humanity. He did not want to lose the sustenance of a powerful Saint''s soul as he attempted Apotheosis in the future.
So, in the end... it was Asterion''s greed that became his ruin.
Ironically enough, it was his insatiable hunger that doomed him.
Sunny smiled coldly.
Asterion studied the three Supremes that faced him, his gaze lingering a bit longer on Mordret.
Then, he turned to face Sunny.
Something dark and guarded surfaced for a moment in his golden eyes.
"The Tomb of Ariel... so that was where you were hiding. I see."
He must have already read Sunny''s thoughts by now and learned the general outline of things that had transpired in the Tomb of Ariel.
That was why Asterion''s facade of amused nonchalance had cracked for a moment. The Dreamspawn did not seem wary of Nephis or Mordret.
In truth, he wasn''t even wary of Sunny.
...But he seemed to be wary of fate.
And now that Sunny was [Fated] again, Asterion finally felt a hint of apprehension. He inhaled deeply, and then faced them with a smile.
“I must admit, I am impressed. I did not expect that there was a way to stop me... not any kind of way that any of you would be able to use, at least.”
Asterion shook his head.
“Let us not drag this out, then. I have quite a mess to clean up after destroying you three... ah, how frustrating...”
A moment later, the desolate silence of the Glass Hell exploded into a furious litany of deafening thunderclaps. Its peace was destroyed, and only carnage reigned in the vast wasteland.
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