Adhara finished her discussion about the initial plan with the other major forces.
With the initial plan ready, they could now carry it out.
Despite the refugees being happy that their new home has a different type of leader and was also way better than their previous city, the movement from the Awakened worries them but Adhara deliberately let the refugees witness this with their own eyes.
Surely, they were used to being hidden from the fact by their leaders, completely clueless.
But that would need to change for now.
The citizen of Dargena City must be cultivated to be strong-willed as the future is not only an adversary for the leaders of the city but also to them. It would be a good build of trust that will help the citizen realizes that lighting a candle will also cast a shadow.
In hurried steps, Adhara courses through the street intending to prepare.
'Where's Flunra...? I need him to use his ancient runes to strengthen us all, or at least the stronger ones so that we could fend off the attackers better. But I can't find him anywhere' Adhara thought, casting her gaze left and right with a frown.
Flunra is nowhere to be seen, she couldn't even sense him near her which is weird.
Just as she was walking through the city street, heading to the castle once again to inform Evelyn as well as Naela about the situation, she abruptly stopped when a figure came out of an alley beside her.
Adhara has only seen the figure a couple of times, but she recognizes her. It was Liliya.
Glancing over at the Awakened which seems to be readying themselves and headed to the north entrance of the city, Liliya could tell that something is going on, "What's happening, Adhara? Is there something wrong?"
"Yes, but it's going to be fine" Adhara replied, putting on a light smile.
Since Liliya is still injured from the fight in Emham Forest, she decided to refrain from telling her the details to not worry her. "I'm sorry that I haven't got time to properly greet you, Liliya. I'm sure you have many questions. But not now, I have something urgent to do"
"It's okay, and I'm not here for that. But I'm here because of him..." Liliya pointed to the side.
Upon hearing this, Adhara shifted her eyes over to the alley.
In the next second, her eyes widened seeing the figure walking out of the alley. Adhara couldn't help but covers her mouth when she saw this figure, she didn't expect to find him amongst the refugees.
"R- Ryze...? Is that really you?" She asked in disbelief.
Despite the time the two has been separated, she recognized this tan-skinned man as Ryze.
Standing in embarrassment, exuding a meek aura even though he has the body of a man and the power of an eighth-rank realm entity, Adhara becomes even sure that this person is Ryze as that's what he usually likes.
Bowing his head slightly out of nervousness, Ryze then said, "H- Hello, Adhara..."
Getting the news about the Emham Forest operation from the messenger that was sent by Daniel Burton, Ryze was undecided whether he should go back with Rex or stay inside the human territory, and does as he was told.
On one side, he was feeling nervous and guilty for choosing Edward over Rex.
Although Rex and the others don't know that he made that conscious decision, Ryze still feels burdened by that feeling and becomes undecided. But living in the human territory was a nightmare for him.
People know that he's a Dragonman, it has become public knowledge.
Due to that, people gave him a cold and sharp look, casting him as nothing but an outsider.
Since he has Edward beside him, he could somehow endure that treatment and focus on his training instead. But now, Edward hasn't come back to him for a while, and Jasira, his mentor hasn't been training him because of what had happened to her own mentor that was killed by the Executor.
It was starting to go downhill from there, and the only option for him was to come here.
Ryze feels that he was shameless to come here when the life that he chooses, on the other side, was nothing like he expected. It was a moment of impulse, his motivation to choose Edward is more than the fact that Edward has always been there for him.
But it was also because he was afraid of Rex, he was horrifying back then.
During that day when he went berserk after Mrs. Greene was killed, Ryze saw it briefly and was terrified of Rex's vicious expression, killing people left and right without remorse. He couldn't bring himself near Rex at that time.
Now that he thought about it, witnessing the death of his parents must be very hard.
In his moment of loneliness without anyone around him, Ryze started to ponder how would he react if the same thing happened to him. If he has immense power when he saw his parents killed, then he would probably react the same.
Knowing that he would've done the same, he should've found it natural for Rex to do that.
Of course, killing the innocent is bad. But it wasn't entirely his fault.
Ryze now was afraid of confronting Rex and the others, and after being teleported to Dargena City, he tries to muster up the courage to talk to Adhara or Evelyn. But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
If he was refused here, then he would have nowhere else to go. No home and family.
That was until he met Liliya who he recognized to be close with Rex, and he decided to ask her for help. Now that he was standing in front of Adhara, his entire body started to tremble in worry.
Adhara was only looking at him unmoving, she was shocked to find him there.
Under the crippling guilt and burning sensation inside his chest, Ryze intends to apologize and asked to give another chance. But before he could say that, he suddenly felt a comfortable sensation dawning on his entire being.
Before he could realize it, Adhara was already hugging him tightly.
"A- Adhara...? I- I thought you will be mad at me"
"Don't talk, it's all in the past. I'm just glad that you've returned to us..."
Listening to this, Ryze was at a loss for words before he started to sniffle. He couldn't contain the emotions inside of him as his eyes began to be watery. In response, he couldn't help but hugged her back, feeling relieved that the situation didn't head in the direction that he feared most.
"It must've been hard for you to live there. But you got through it, Rex would be proud"
Ryze cries even harder when he heard this, he was like a baby.
Despite his appearance that of a man from absorbing Zaddrass' soul and becoming a Heavenly Dragonman, he's still nothing but a child inside. It's natural for him to react like this, he still has a long way to go before mentally becoming an adult.
~
Meanwhile, somewhere inside the Supernatural territory.
Piercing through the night sky was a figure with a pair of wings that were imbued with blood energy, she was moving rather slowly as it seems she was injured. It was Calidora that has left Dargena City and headed back to the Vampire Territory.
Upon reaching the capital city, she finds that it was completely empty.
Since the Executor has awakened, the Vampire citizens must already be evacuated from the capital city. But even then, Calidora still strugglingly landed on the castle's balcony. She fell to the stone-cold ground and grunted in pain.
But in the next second, a pair of pink eyes emerged from inside the castle.
Walking out of the darkness of the castle's insides, Nezera, Calidora's mother saw her daughter's condition and instantly rushes over to her. A flicker of extreme worry can be seen in her eyes.
"Calidora...? What happened?! How did you get injured? Who did this to you?!"
"Nobody, it was an accident. I met with a cursed creature in the forest"
Knowing that her mother is only aware that she went to play in the Elves' Kingdom with Queen Shanaela, she decided to lie like that. It would be bad for her if Nezera knew that she went and help the Royal Black Prince.
It was then, when Nezera wanted to say something, someone cut her off.
"Hmm... so this is your daughter, Nezera"
A chilling voice came from the back before a figure walks out from the darkness too followed by Solomon, Calidora's father behind him. Judging from the ancient aura around this figure, he's clearly one of the Elders.
Upon hearing this, Nezera turns around and bowed slightly, "Yes, Elder Nolacula"
Realizing that it was Elder Nolacula, Calidora bowed toward him.
Way before the World Awakening starts, Solomon has found an item similar to Abaddon Stone that he gave to the Demons to temporarily awakened Elder Tilrith in exchange for the forbidden ritual. He used this item on Elder Nolacula.
It was not as strong as the Abaddon Stone, but it's enough to use a couple of times.
Due to that, when the World Awakening starts, Elder Nolacula who was one of the stronger hibernating Vampires was the first one to be Awakened first. Even before the weaker hibernating Vampires awakened.
Calidora was not surprised by this, but she somewhat feels uneasy right now.
"Your daughter has such good eyes, the Eyes of Terror it seems" Elder Nolacula mused with a smile, his own eyes can see through Calidora's power instantly. "But weird... for someone who has the Eyes of Terror, you're surprisingly calm, young Calidora"
"My daughter has taken control of it, she's different than the others" Nezera defended.
But this makes Elder Nolcaula smile even wider, exposing his longer fangs that were deadlier than the ones Nezera and Solomon have. It was the size of a finger and was without a doubt stronger than normal.
Stepping closer to Calidora, he then whispered, "Stand up, young Calidora"
Upon hearing this, Calidora does as she was told and stands up. It was then, her chin was lifted gently by Elder Nolacula before their eyes met. Surprisingly, there was also a black pattern that can be seen in Elder Nolcaula's vampiric eyes.
It was different in shape, so he must have another Vampiric Eyes.
"The Eyes of Terror is one of the strongest Vampiric Eyes out there, the Origin's right hand has it, and she was considered to be the third strongest. As I expected, these eyes were also the most beautiful" Elder Nolacula uttered, praising Calidora's eyes beautiful eyes.
Just then, Solomon stepped forward finding the situation tense.
"Elder Nolacula... By any chance, did my daughter do something wrong to you?"
Solomon was worried that Calidora might've offended the Elder in some way. It would be very worrying if she did. If Elder Nolacula hurts her, then Solomon wouldn't be able to stop Nezera from escalating the situation.
Albeit knowing the rising tension in the air, Elder Nolacula smiled lightly.
Letting go of Calidora's chin, he then replied calmly, "No in particular, she didn't do anything wrong at all" Pausing for a second, Elder Nolacula then continues, "But I'm suspecting that your daughter is lying. Crazy as one might say, the obsession given by the Eyes of Terror has its own purpose. It's not a side effect"
"Obsession for the other partner's blood will serve as an ultimate motivation to get that partner's blood and cultivate the Eyes of Terror. What's worrying is that she managed to suppress it..." he turned around nonchalantly.
Elder Nolacula then stepped away before he stopped and glanced over his shoulder.
"Almost as if she doesn't want to cultivate the Eyes of Terror..."
Listening to what Elder Nolacula said, Solomon and Nezera unconsciously shifted their eyes back to Calidora that was not reacting to what she was suspected to. But instead of being cornered, Calidora suddenly laughed.
It was a vibrant laugh, not even worrying about the fact that she was talking to an Elder.
"Elder, I'm sorry but I'll be blunt with you..."
Raising her gaze to meet with Elder Nolacula's sharp eyes that were staring straight at her, Calidora then tilts her head with a maniacal look before she added, "But you don't have the Eyes of Terror and only read from ancient records, so I'm going to say this once. What do you know about it? I think I know more about the Eyes of Terror than you do"
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦