Chapter 271: He Is Coming
Soft wind blew on the ground and made the tips of the red-gold cloths wobble in the air like a lost soul trying to reach its body.
Fifteen-inch sized Opal ants emerged from the rootlike cracks in the ground and crawled toward the kneeling human.
Death cries shot out when the first set of the ants stopped at the front of Leon’s bowed head and died in an instant without getting crunched. The Opal glows in them drifted into Leon’s veins like water and channeled deep within his dual heart that had lost its beat.
When the first five ants died, the god heart bounced once, but stopped. It bounced on a triple beat when another fifteen ants lost their Opal glows.
Sharp air blasted the earth beneath Leon’s head when both his human heart and the God heart began beating like a sickling now recovering.
His vision was hazy when his eyes cracked open and saw his reflection in his own blood that had pooled beneath him like a mini river. "Dad."
His chest heaved as he coughed heavily. "I failed to protect what we are. I failed."
The moment his body moved on its own and made his head lift upward, he saw Vaelith hovering in the air, brushing his elongated fingers on the kinetic-drift shield.
"Bring that..." Leon’s voice cracked with a cough and he slammed back down, hitting the back of his head on a pointed stone.
His hazy vision slowly darkened when pain rattled through his skull and flared in his entire body.
Vaelith snarled and hurled the kinetic-drift shield downward. "Pathetic."
The shield rolled in the air like an arrow and slammed right at the side of Leon’s left ear, leaving no distance.
When the last air flew out of Leon and joined the remaining ghost air of the ants, he saw himself standing at the front of the Yrendal, his inner world he hadn’t learned to cultivate yet.
This time, the place was empty. Only the rushing wind that wasn’t supposed to be there was present.
"Did I die?" His voice echoed back in multiple voices while staring at his palms that seemed to dissipate piece by piece.
Just as he reached the giant gate and tried opening it with a push, the surface of the gate bounced his hands back, as if they were no longer his to open. "What is happening?"
He placed his palms on the two crossed "Y" symbols to try for a second time, but that didn’t work either.
The symbols moved upward as if teasing him and kept going higher when Leon tried jumping to touch them.
A loud roar echoed from behind Leon and slammed him against the door when the Y symbols reached the top.
"Ahh!" a wordless scream tore out of him, but he managed to push himself until he turned around.
The soul in his eyes died when he saw three robed beings standing at a 5-kilometer distance away from him.
"Leon Storm!" Countless voices rose from them when the being in the gold robe raised its right hand and pointed it at the giant gate. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?"
The giant gate pushed Leon forward and turned into a metal-stone wall.
When Leon tried to speak, a sonic wave blasted into him and hurled him, crashing him into the now metal-stone wall.
Blood gushed out of him when he slid onto the ground. "Where are the sentinels and why is the door locked?"
Leon pushed himself up and dashed forward with a furrowed brow, but collapsed after taking only two steps.
Just as he lifted his gaze upward, only the gold-robed being stood there. Air slammed at his side like a hurricane when he saw the black-robed being and the white-robed being standing at his flanks, as if they were there when he first saw them.
The ground beneath Leon began to shake when the gold-robed being moved a step forward. The metal-stone wall cracked when the being moved another step forward, as if his steps were recreating the Yrendal entrance into its preference.
A teeth-grinding sound echoed from the two black- and white-robed beings when the gold-robed being turned its back on Leon.
Leon dashed forward while screams tore out of him. "HEY! Who are you?"
The gold robe of the being came down when Leon’s fingers touched it. He collapsed on the ground and began crawling backward when he saw the being carrying his own face and eyes.
"No, no, no!" he turned and tried to move back to the metal-stone wall, but stopped when he saw the other black- and white-robed beings also smiling at him with his face.
Leon’s mind blew up when the black-robed being slammed its fist at its own head. Leon clutched his palms at his head and went on his knees.
The moment the white-robed being closed its eyes and inhaled deeply, the rumbling pain in Leon vanished.
The gold-robed Leon crouched down at Leon’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We are you and you are us."
Leon lifted his gaze upward and slowly shifted glances between the three versions of himself. "But why are there three versions of me?"
The gold-robed Leon cupped Leon’s chin and shifted his gaze to the white-robed and the black-robed.
The black-robed Leon dashed toward the metal-stone wall and tapped it with its right index finger. In a blink, large rootlike cracks lanced through it from top to bottom and blasted it apart. The being grinned and stepped back with no remorse on its face.
The white-robed version glanced at the black-robed version and shook its head. With just a tap of its fingers, the wall came back to life without a struggle. The black-robed version hissed at the white-robed version but the white-robed version only smiled.
When Leon shifted his gaze back to the gold-robed being, he saw both the black- and white-robed beings’ faces in its eyes. "Decide the one you want to be or balance them."
With a single push of Leon’s head, the dream world crumpled inward.
At the front of the collapsed Castle of Souls, countless Opal ants crawled on Leon, picking his skin one after another and sending the energy into the ground as if feeding something that needed not to be fed.
Feathers lingered at Vaelith’s face as he sat on his collapsed throne at a far distance, snarling. "I wasted my precious abilities on a dead weight."
Two ants turned toward him, but with just a single gaze at them, they blasted into motes of black sand. "What a waste!"
Just as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, the entire Tartarus land vibrated. Countless rocks began falling on the ground like rain.
In the dawn skies of the Hell land, a gold beam tore through the grey clouds and caused every flying bird to vaporize in an instant.
Villages, cities, and countries began trembling when the gold beam slammed onto the stoned earth of the Hell land.
A concussive sound wave traveled through the skies and caused all airlines to halt mid-flight, whether they were closer to the Hell land or were thousands of kilometers away.
The entire foundation of Agatha shook while soldiers in the Eastgate dashed out of the buildings and began shifting their gazes to the skies.
"What is that?" Lu Wang asked when he exited from the Blackscale Citadel and stood by Hei Yung’s side.
A faint smile tore on Hei Yung’s lips when he caught the clouds blinking with a gold wave.
Birds at the Storm Mansion all died when the foundation of the Bastion City of Thule trembled.
Cars halted mid-speed, while screams tore in every direction. At the front of Bastion hospital, Feng lifted his gaze and watched the golden wave flying like a sickle and cutting through the clouds. "He is coming!"
Doctor Mike turned a pale face to Feng as he walked past him and entered the hospital. Mike’s doctor’s robe flapped once when he shifted his gaze to the sky and squinted at the vanishing gold wave. "Who is coming?"
