Chapter 544: The Night Of Invasion [Part 2]
Shin stared up, paralyzed as the people from the airship slid down the ropes like agile snakes.
The moment their feet touched the ground, they did not attack. Instead, they fell into rehearsed lines.
Their movements were sharp and unwasteful in any manner. Both to the right and to the left, they all began to shoot in directions and stand erect like poles.
In an instant, the compound of the governor's mansion was filled with people in black uniforms.
Alystren looked at all of them, his face etched with contemplative confusion. Several beads of sweat had formed and were rolling down his cheeks. Some were too paralyzed to even move. Then something fell off the airship, causing a tremendous reaction. The entire earth shook as if a boulder the size of the airship had just been thrust into the ground with the force of a colossal titan.
He stood frozen, feeling his body vibrate vividly the moment the earthquake happened.
Shin instinctively took several steps... it was a single leap. He was far away from where he and Alystren were standing.
The old joker was too gripped by fear to move. His mind shattered, each piece racing in a thousand thought patterns.
And he could only arrive at a single conclusion of the presence that he was feeling.
"It can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be," Alystren muttered like a man whose screws had been loosened barely by the cold hands of fear.
Shin's hand was on the hilt of his sword, but he couldn't dare to draw. All his experience and instincts allied to make him understand...
...that in a moment like this, he could die with a single misstep.
'First of all, I don't even know what the person wants. It will be best to just stay still for now. Because... this presence... I am sure about it. He's a Paragon!'
In the sinking silence of the evening, the steps resounded out of the cloud of dust that the tumultuous landing had caused.
The man walking out of the cloud had a scar on one of his eyes. A black military coat fluttered on his shoulder, and one of his hands rested on his sword while the other held a large blunt.
He stopped in his tracks and put the blunt in his mouth for a moment, exuding a thick and oppressing cloud of smoke from his mouth as he took it out.
Then he examined the person standing in front of him with a small interest in his eyes.
"Oh? You dog. What are you doing here?"
Despite being insulted nakedly, Alystren did not seem to want to retaliate. Instead, he forced out a smile.
"Lieutenant, you've changed since the last time I saw you... What are you doing in the governor's house with so many forces?"
The Lieutenant took another satisfying smoke of his blunt and looked at Alystren for a moment. Then his eyes drifted off Alystren to Shin-who was still in stance, ready to pull his sword at any moment.
The Lieutenant raised a brow.
"Fascinating. That black hair and red eyes. Undoubtedly Kageyama Clan. Since they are an introverted lot, I presume it's the infamous rogue child. Younger brother of the Patriarch, Shin Kageyama."
Whoosh
"Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Shin's eyes widened.
'What?'
His eyes had been on the Lieutenant the whole time, not even a blink did he blink. Even the hair on his skin had all stood erect, ready to unleash his sword art at the slightest threatening moment.
And yet...
He didn't see the Lieutenant move.
Just as the Lieutenant was standing in front of Shin, a long tunnel of wind separated, vanishing slowly while the man stretched out his hand in front of him.
Shin had not even seen the moment the Lieutenant extended his hand!
'Paragons... are truly a different existence. And Northern fought one...?'
Strangely, what Ryan had said seemed to disturb him at a moment like this.
The Lieutenant leaned his hand back on his sword and looked up at the building, frowning slightly before looking at Shin.
Then his voice, authoritative, clear, and sharp like a butcher's knife cutting tofu, resounded.
"Infamous rogue of the Kageyama clan. I have no business with you. Neither you, useless dog, nor the boy up there. My only business is with the governor. I presume you lot won't be senseless today, yes?"
"Yes, Lieutenant. We will be taking our leave right now," Alystren's voice rolled out from behind.
He looked at Shin-who was still frozen in that ready position-and shook his head. Shin, breaking a sweat, disengaged. Both of them vanished from the Lieutenant's front.
A moment later, all three of them vanished completely from the mansion.
The captain took another round of his blunt before swinging his hand forward.
As his hand rose, every force of the military that had just landed stomped their legs on the ground, creating a resounding earthquake, and rushed forward in lines, permeating every corner of the mansion.
Suddenly someone flashed into the sky, falling down on the Lieutenant with a guttural yell.
"You traitor!! How dare you come against the governor!!!"
The Lieutenant lazily looked up and then looked away.
Another presence suddenly flashed just above the captain, colliding with Darioyle and
crashing into the wall of the mansion.
Another flashed and landed on their knee, crimson hair flowing smoothly beneath the moon's
light.
"Lieutenant. Please let us deal with menial missions like this."
The Lieutenant's eyes were unchanged by his subordinate's plea.
Instead, they looked bored and displeased, their depths filled with hubris.
His eyes gained a little light as a powerful step began to resound and cause the whole place to
quake gently.
The gigantic master of the mansion finally revealed himself, his daughter standing right
beside him.
Every corner of his body brimmed with so much pronounced power that the mobs dared not approach even the lady walking next to him.
He finally stopped a few tens of steps away from the Lieutenant, was silent for a moment before his resonating voice could be heard.
"Dante. You have always been too bright a kid. I am not surprised that you are the one staging
this rebellion."
"Of course you are not," the Lieutenant sounded with a little glee.
"After all, you were the one who inspired this idea in me."
"You are ignorant. And the only thing that bestows children that are ignorant is despair,
failure, destruction."
"As expected of my mentor, still finding the moment to give me a lecture even at a time like
this."
He dropped the fat blunt in his hand, killing its smoke with a soft step.
"You know what I am here for. Your death will announce my intention loud and clear to the
higher-ups."
"Fool," the governor's voice resounded with the weight of an immense boulder.
But the Lieutenant continued, his voice intrigued.
"If I get defeated here, I will have no complaints. It means this revolution, the new age of the continent that I have always envisioned, was never bound to happen." His voice lingered for a
bit.
Then a dangerous white light burned in his eyes as he continued.
"If I win, however, this is the beginning of my conquest. The entire continent will be crumbled and rebuilt by I, Dante Gafarè, the only descendant of the great revolutionary, Accentalles Gafarè!!"