CHAPTER 448

ORIGIN WAR (V)

The horizon was entirely wrapped up in a thick fog, parts white-parts red, blocking the view of the world down below. Thousands of the ears perked, listening very carefully for any sound, while even more eyes looked around cautiously and scrutinized every bit of everything they could take in. They have just reached the surrounding waters of the Dragon Isles, though at an elevation barren of most kinds of life – save for the Glowing Sharbirds, Edge-native, four-winged creatures that, unlike most other birds, had the ability to withstand the pressure of the high skies with their rather staunch skeletons while still maintaining the ability of flight.

It was eerily silent from all ends; not even the ever-blowing winds of the high altitudes greeted them, only thick clouds and thicker fog. In such silence, strange thoughts emerged within the strained minds; after all, fragile perceptions were easily bent, and weak minds easily corrupt. Ever so often, the Captains of the army would holler at their subordinates to wake them, ensuring they all remained on high alert perpetually.

Such strain was not easy to withstand, for they had been at it for nearly an hour; most would have rather a battle had begun by now than to wane in cardinal silence from which there was no escape. Though they may die in war, they were going mad in this pretense of peace. Hardly a soul wished to lose their mental capacities as so.

Lucky spotted a flicker from the corner of her eyes; a flash of light beamed for less than a second within the fog, like the firefly, but just long enough to grasp it. It was distant and dim, but it was a sign of something – she immediately called out the Captain of the Airship the Shadows boarded and told him to descend. As others saw one ship break off and head downwards, they hesitated for a moment before joining.

Altogether, the army itself lined up into a hundred airships, with most having either remained on the islands or in the fortress or acting as one-man-armies, like Cain and Alex.

The light flickered once more, this time long enough for a whole lot more souls to notice it. It was brighter than before, livelier even. Chatter was short-lived as Captains silenced the excited and the worried voices, heading speedily toward the light in alarmed silence.

Lucky furrowed her brows as it happened the third time; this time around, everyone saw it as it was hardly a flicker – it was clearly an explosion of sorts, bound with yellow edges outside the white innards. She hurried the Capitan as their descent sped up.

They broke past the barrier of fog and mist and clouds shortly after, emerging into the destitute reality; a horrifying scene greeted the countless eyes, as nearly four-fifths of them all bent over and vomited their guts out. The first thing that got to them was the stench; it felt as though someone shoved a mixture of rotted eggs, fish and decaying corpses straight into their nostrils. Some even passed out on the spot.

Following the scent itself, it was the sight – the scene of nightmares, of those stories written by wicked minds, where all abominable realities come to a pass, and the whole of the world ends in an agonizing way. There was no water to be seen, not an ocean they were promised, not the sea long-thought as unconquerable; it was a desert void of life, a stack of black and crimson pedaled by the innumerable corpses.

Even Lucky frowned, barely holding steady, while most of the recruits fell to their knees and quivered. When she and others left, though it was bad, it was still possible to see the ocean and the water weathering the ever-increasing piles. Now? Now there was nothing but the corpses for miles on end. How many had he killed, she pondered? Altogether, there were hundreds of thousands of dead here, perhaps even crossing a million.

It didn’t take too long for a few to spot him – the few that could tear their eyes away from the world’s largest tomb. Primul was the first, as though he was shocked, it was well within the realms of the reason for him – what's more, perhaps this was the most normal he'd felt ever since coming back to his senses. He was but a tiny figure still, surrounded on all ends by overwhelming numbers, repeatedly breaking out only to be caged back in. His countenance has changed; there was no immortal poise to his gait, no indomitable spirit practically bursting out of his chest.

What Primul saw was a man on the verge of being broken; eyes peering into the abyss, embracing it, the chilled Crown on top of his head cracking. Lips cold and quivering. Gash after gash bleeding like a river’s mouth, dyeing his entire being in deep, almost brownish crimson.

“CHARGE!!!” while most still contended with the ghastly sights, Eggor shouted from the top of his lungs the moment he saw Lino.

Over a dozen faceless creatures cast in white stone jumped off the airship, fire breaking out of their backs right after as they headed for where Lino was.

“CHARGE!!” Lucky echoed the sentiment, soon followed by everyone until the silence of the sky was overwhelmed by the symphony that shook the world.

Two looked sideways, her expression beyond distorted; her horizon was immediately lit up as a bombardment commenced, one she barely managed to avoid with Five’s help. The sky caught fire as tendrils of countless shadows reached out through the flames and wrapped around Lino, pulling him out.

The clash of two armies commenced immediately, though it was hardly a battle; one side was exhausted, traumatized beyond comprehension, while the other one basked in fury of having seen the state of their leader. The slaughter that followed was chilling as armies of the Holy Grounds broke in a desperate attempt to escape. The Devils and Demons fought till their last breaths, their Wills ignited by the sight of blood.

The High Lords also turned tail and withdrew as quickly as they could, the stragglers cut down like pigs.

Two cried in frustration, her attempts to break away and head back into the fray prevented by three pairs of arms wrapped around her berserk body pulling her back. It was a failure – complete and utter failure. He endured it all, still standing by the end, however hollowed he may be. She stared harrowingly at the fading figure cast in drying blood and only a single wound that would never wholly heal. They scarred him, but so what? He would live. Recover. Recuperate. Grow even stronger from this. It wasn't enough to hurt him. It will never be enough to just hurt him.

Lucky, Cain, one of Eggor’s creations, Litha and Vyrove were the ones dragging Lino’s body through the sky and back onto the fortress. The moment they crashed over the wall, the Captains ordered a rapid and orderly retreat rather than giving chase to the fleeing enemy. Today was simply not the day for that.

“Hey, hey, wake up, idiot,” Lucky mumbled rapidly and shallowly, holding her breath as she was certain she too would turn her innards out otherwise. “Fuckin’ fuck… shit. Help me get him to the doctors.”

Eggor raced over, quickly and gently picking him up and following Lucky through the winding streets as the sea of souls split apart the moment they saw him, making way. Eggor glanced down fearfully, feeling his gut wrench; one of his eyes was missing entirely, a massive gash running from the top of his forehead down to his jaw, still bleeding. A massive hole lay open on his right cheek, revealing insides of his mouth beyond. He was missing his left ear, part of his skull broken off, white goo driven out.

Both his arms lay limp by his body, every bone in them broken down to the smallest ones in his fingers. His torso sported hundreds of cuts, and three massive, bone-deep holes, one even going beyond it, drilled all the way to his heart. It lay right there, beating softly, pounding still.

It was like holding a wet rag, Eggor thought. Yet, it was not water, but blood; there was so much blood… so much. There wasn't a trace of another color in what remained of his clothes, with even his hair having obtained the dark-brownish luster over the black one.

Unable to look at him any longer, Eggor focused on the street and Lucky, ignoring everything else. Their journey was short, barely a minute, and they'd found their way to the Healing Quarters.

Over a dozen souls immediately gasped and began racing around the well-lit rooms, preparing everything, while an elderly man joined Eggor.

“—my god,” the man mumbled, sucking in a cold breath as they reached a small, isolated room with a slightly elevated bed. With the man’s and Lucky’s help, Eggor lay Lino down, his arms shaking. “This…”

“—fix him.” Lucky growled lowly.

“… just administer the first aid,” Lucky, Eggor and the old man jumped in surprise as a newcomer appeared on the other side of the bed. Ella stood there, frigid air surrounding her, arms crossed over her chest, tightly bound to one another. Her eyes had a bloodshot-red sheen to them, as though she’d been crying, her lips pale and trembling. “Stop the bleeding, locate the completely shattered bones and amputate or cut out everything around them.”

“Y-yes!” the old man quickly nodded, calling out for tools and assistants as Ella dragged Lucky and Eggor out.

“—what happened?” Lucky asked as the three settled just outside the room, on a bench beneath a cyan crystal shining above them. “When we left, he was… fine…”

“His buffs ended shortly after you left,” Ella said. “And he started burning through Vitality and Qi in spades in order to prolong them as much as possible. In that short time, he tried killing as many as possible, probably to cut at the numbers for when they retaliated. And, well… for the past half an hour, he barely attacked, using what little he had left to avoid a lethal injury. Even then, he had enough mental capacity to tell me to stay away… the bastard…”

“—he… he’ll be fine, right?” Eggor mumbled weakly.

“He will,” Ella nodded, rubbing her temples. “But, his left eye is ruined for a long time since Two embedded the Mark of Time in it. Though healing, it will take a long, long time due to dilation. In effect, though, he should undergo a full recovery eventually. He’s the Empyrean, after all…”

“—Hannah will lose her shit when she sees him…” Lucky sighed.

“Don’t let her see him until he recovers slightly,” Ella said. “He’s already begun, so it shouldn’t be too long. For the past fifteen minutes, his lungs were completely crushed so he was unable to breathe. Yet, by the time you put him on the bed, he’d begun breathing again. Aah… that recovery ability is… really insane…”

“—so… he caused… all that?” Eggor mumbled, remembering the scene that first greeted them. “Sweet gods…”

“I’ll stay with him,” Ella said, smiling lightly. “You guys go out and begin settling people down. Tell Val to phase out and wait for Lino and I come out.”

“… let us know the moment he wakes up,” Lucky said, getting up reluctantly. “And not a moment later. You hear?”

“I will. Don’t worry.”

She got up and walked back into the room once more, her expression heavy. Three older men and four women were orbiting the small bed repeatedly with the instruments Ella could not understand, though she hardly cared to. She stared silently from the distance, her eyes repeatedly dancing between relief and worry; after all, she was never worried about his body. It would recover, as it always has. However, today was beyond taxing on his mind – by the end of it all, he was holding onto a straw of life purely through his instincts, his mind having been shut down. What she worried about the most was its state after he wakes.

After all, today, for the first time in his life, he'd walked the steps of the Empyrean – for the first time since becoming the Bearer of Chaos, he'd embodied all the tales and stories of the Empyreans. Something he fought against his entire life. That wasn't something one simply gets through without ramifications. Felling over a million souls within the span of a few hours, carving corpses like wheat, filling the entire ocean with the dead and creating a tomb... how harrowing was it. Perhaps, she mused silently, the dead were the lucky ones; those who had lived would forever wake at night, trembling and shaking, remembering his eyes as he cleaved all those around him like an incarnation of death.