Child of Destiny

Chapter 2232: An Elemental Being?

...

"Are you messing with me?"

The moment those words left Shin’s mouth, Solus immediately raised both her hands in a bit of panic. "Don’t misunderstand, My Liege!"

She hurriedly explained before Shin could even draw the wrong conclusion. "That gate is not merely imprisoning what lies beyond it."

Her expression usually serious. "It is also bound to the very foundation of this Kingdom."

Shin frowned a little. "The foundation?"

"Yes, My Liege," Solus nodded before pointing toward the distant silhouette of the Oath City, which was currently in an extremely battered state. "That city is far more than a capital. It is the anchor that keeps this kingdom intact."

"Anchor?" Shin frowned further.

"The Kingdom itself is a gigantic seal," she continued.

Those words made Shin freeze. "A seal?"

Solus nodded once more. "It seems like long before this kingdom existed, the founders sacrificed countless lives to seal that existence behind that gate. But that seal seems to have been weakened by a great margin."

"It is not only because of the passage of time, but external factors as well," she added before shifting towards the colossal black gate standing in the distance.

"A prison requires chains. And those chains need something to hold on to," She slowly pointed back toward the Oath City. "That city became those chains."

Shin’s expression stiffened. "The entire capital?"

"It was built around the core of the sealing formation," Hanzo suddenly injected. "The streets, the walls, the palace, the underground sanctums."

"Every generation unknowingly strengthened the seal simply by maintaining the Kingdom itself," he added in full seriousness.

A chill crawled down Shin’s spine. "So this city and the entirety of the small kingdom have been serving as the lock"

Solus then nodded. "That is why the existence beyond the gate keeps trying to project a fragment of itself into the Oath City."

Her voice became noticeably lower. "It isn’t attacking the city because it wishes to destroy it. It wants the key."

"The Key?" Shin asked with a frown. He had been hearing this from the two since earlier.

"The heart of the seal. If that key is removed-..." she somewhat whispered. "The chains will disappear."

She slowly looked toward the giant. "Nothing will be keeping that gate closed anymore."

"And once it happens, this Kingdom will not only fall. It will cease to exist," she added.

Shin then slowly frowned and asked. "What is that thing anyway?"

Solus and Hanzo fell silent for quite a while before the latter took the initiative to answer. "It must be something far older than the oldest of the current generation of Elemental Spirits."

Shin did not immediately get what he was saying, but his eyes suddenly turned wide not long after.

He then turned to Hanzo and asked. "Older than the current generation of Elemental Spirits-... then they are similar to those Elemental Beings?"

Shin then could not help but recall those existences that he had seen from the Phantom Island. Those powerful beings that seemed to be standing at the pinnacle of Elemental Powers.

(Reference Chapter 1230 – 1234)

If it was truly them, then the situation would be a bit trickier to deal with.

He then turned his attention to the black miasma coming out from the little gaps of the gate and ’corrupting’ the surroundings, which was neither Corrupted Mana nor Demonic Powers.

"That must be the densest form of Darkness Element," he mumbled after realizing the true properties of those black energies.

Shin’s brows furrowed behind his mask deeply as he raised his hand and pointed at the long crimson rivers stretching across the sky. "How are those things related to that-... thing, then?"

He could at least recognize those crimson steams were.

They should be the Slaughter Energies that the Demonic Church of Terror had painstakingly gathered through countless sacrifices earlier, intending to offer them as tribute in exchange for the blessing of the Demonic Dragon of Terror.

However, something did not make sense.

Instead of flowing toward the main altar that was supposed to receive them, every single stream was converging toward the colossal gate standing in the middle of the mountain ranges.

"They are related more closely than you think, Brat," Hanzo answered along with a smirk. "Those sinister energies are feeding that existence sleeping beyond the gate, allowing it to remain awake."

He then paused before continuing. "Once those Slaughter Energies are exhausted-... that existence will gradually fall back into slumber."

Shin’s eyes then narrowed.

The answer to his earlier question suddenly became much clearer. ’If the gate remained active because it was being sustained by those Slaughter Energies... then cutting off its source of nourishment would eventually force it to shut itself.’

In other words, if he wanted to close the gate, all he had to do was to find a way to eliminate the crimson rivers filling the sky before they could reach their destination.

However, the moment that realization settled in his mind, another question surfaced almost immediately.

"Wait-... Something is wrong here," he mumbled in confusion.

His gaze swept across the crimson currents once more. "These Slaughter Energies are supposed to be harvested by the Demonic Church of Terror."

He frowned even more deeply. "So, why are they being drawn toward the gate instead?"

The more he thought about it, the stranger the entire situation became.

He had rushed here without stopping, focusing solely on reaching the battlefield as quickly as possible.

Whatever had happened during that time, he had clearly missed a crucial piece of the puzzle.

It was just a pity that he had lost his connection with Alucard during that time as well, making it impossible to have a clearer understanding of the situation.

"So-..." he began while pointing toward the crimson rivers overhead. "You want me to cut off those crimson rivers before they can continue supplying that gate."

He then tilted his head to the side. "But-... how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

Solus stepped forward before answering. "Someone appears to be doing everything they can to prevent those energies from the gate, My Liege."

She turned her head toward the direction where that invisible suction force was coming from before adding. "It is also because of that person’s interference that the existence beyond the gate is unable to manifest a stronger projection within this city."

Almost instantly, Shin was able to piece together a few more clues from her words.

There was little need to guess who was responsible.

From the last information that he had received before losing contact with the two, Diablo had already defeated Dragulia and should now be searching for a way to deal with the main altar.

If someone was interfering with the flow of the Slaughter Energies from going to the gate, then it could only be him.

This realization answered one question, but it immediately gave rise to another.

Shin could not help but frown deeply.

The irony of the situation was almost absurd. They had made their move earlier with the sole purpose of stopping the ritual conducted by the Demonic Church of Terro before it could be completed.

However, at this very moment, that very ritual had become the only thing preventing an even greater catastrophe.

Without the Slaughter Energies being diverted and delayed, the sleeping existence beyond the gate would have long since absorbed everything at once.

By trying to stop the ritual, Diablo had unknowingly turned it into the city’s last line of defense.

What had once been the greatest threat had somehow become the only thing to keep an even more tarrying nightmare at bay.

He suspected that it must be the reason that he had also lost contact with that guy as well.

It was only at this moment that Shin recalled something. He turned to Solus and asked. "You still have not answered my question, though."

Solus gave him an apologetic smile before answering. "There is an object near the gate that is drawing those Slaughter Energies toward itself."

"Its pulling force is not particularly strong. However, it is sufficient to gather the crimson energies close enough to the gate.

She then slowly raised her finger toward the massive gate in the distance. "And once they enter that range-... the sleeping existence beyond that gate can finally perceive them."

Her expression was somewhat solemn. "From that point onward-... it is no longer the object pulling those energies. It is the existence beyond the gate itself."

"That object is the true key to all of this, Brat," Hanzo said in a steady voice. "As long as it continues to exist, the Slaughter Energies will keep gathering around the gate, allowing that sleeping existence to sense them."

He raised his gaze toward the crimson currents flowing across the sky. "Destroy it, and the attraction drawing those energies together will disappear. Without a steady stream reaching its perception, the existence beyond the gate will gradually lose its anchor to this world and return to its slumber."

His eyes shifted back to Shin. "Do not concern yourself with the gate itself. It is beyond our power to destroy."

A brief pause followed before he delivered his final instruction. "Your task is far simpler—find that object, destroy it before the Slaughter Energies fully converge, and leave the rest to time."

Shin was not sure if he was just imagining it, but he could feel that something was happening with these two Elemental Spirits.

He felt that they were not acting like their usual selves. Solus seemed to be a bit distracted while Hanzo seemed to be incredibly solemn about the current situation.

Unfortunately, he did not have the luxury to think too much about it since there was a more urgent problem at hand.

...