Chapter 247: We’re Not Dead, Just… Disassembled
Silver soared through the sky, wings spread wide, leaving behind trails of flowing crimson mist that curled like smoke around his silversteel feathers.
The wind rushed past us, cold and sharp, but it didn’t slow him down. We were high—so high, we almost touched the clouds. The ground below was a blur, hidden behind a sheet of white mist. In the distance, the floating ruins slowly came into view.
They were massive. The whole structure looked like one huge castle that had been broken into three parts. Two parts still hovered close together, but the third section was completely gone—either destroyed or missing.
The entire structure stretched about four or five kilometers long, ancient stone floating as if gravity had simply given up. It looked both majestic and haunted.
“Don’t head straight for it,” I told Silver. “Fly underneath it. We’ll go to the other side first.”
Silver let out a soft metallic cry, acknowledging the command. He dipped lower, folding his wings slightly, and glided underneath the enormous floating castle.
Shadows covered us as we passed under the massive stone foundation. From here, it was clear how much damage the structure had taken over time. Huge cracks ran across the bottom. Chunks of stone floated loosely nearby, rotating slowly in the sky.
Finally, we reached the far side—the side facing away from the Holt family’s base. No one would be able to see us here.
“Hold position,” I ordered.
Silver beat his wings slowly, holding us in place. We floated in midair, facing the ruins. The silence up here was eerie. Even the wind had gone quiet.
I stared at the ruins floating in the sky and narrowed my eyes. How were they still up there? They looked like they should’ve crashed to the ground the moment they went up. Yet they floated—steady, silent, majestic.
My eyes began to glow green as I focused, trying to sense the laws holding the ruins in place.
My Psynapse locked onto faint pulses in the air. Threads of space manipulation weaved through the sky like an invisible net, and beneath that—strong, stable pockets of gravitational control.
The entire structure was suspended using a balance of these two forces, finely tuned and deeply ancient.
Whoever built this knew how to control laws far beyond what most people could even imagine.
I took a deep breath and stood up slowly. The wind brushed against my face.
Without saying a word, I reached inward and simply willed it.
Crimson mist burst from my back—violent and fluid, like smoke laced with fire. It twisted and coiled in the air for a moment, then surged outward and shaped itself into two massive wings.
They stretched wide behind me, sharp and powerful, made of the same crimson energy that flowed through Silver. Violet runes flickered along their edges, glowing faintly like etched commands—written laws, sealed into form.
The wings pulsed once, and the air around us shivered.
Ana’s mouth fell open. “Wait… you have wings now?!”
I grinned and glanced back at her. “What, did you think you were the only one allowed to be cool?”
She blinked and leaned closer, reaching out to touch them. Her fingers slipped through the mist at first, then met the solid structure underneath.
“They’re… strong,” she muttered, eyes wide. “Stronger than mine. These aren’t normal wings.”
Steve groaned dramatically behind us. “Are you freaking kidding me? Wings too? Bro, how many secret upgrades do you have stored in there?”
I laughed lightly, then looked out toward the ruins again. “You two stay here. I’ll go check it out first.”
They nodded, and I stepped off Silver’s back. My wings flared, catching the air as I soared forward, crimson mist trailing in my wake.
The wind hit my face as I flew toward the ancient floating structure. My domain was already active, a soft haze of violet surrounding me. I activated [Fractured Unity], and tiny flickers of Essence danced around me as my senses sharpened even more.
I scanned everything with my perception—every floating rock, every gap in the stone, every crack in the castle walls. Nothing. No signs of movement, no energy surges, no hidden enemies. It looked abandoned.
Carefully, I moved closer, planning to land.
But the moment I crossed into the ruins—
Boom.
A wave of darkness exploded from the center of the castle. Thick, black smoke burst out at terrifying speed, flooding the entire structure in seconds. It wasn’t just smoke—it was heavy, living, and full of rage. It poured through every crack and hole, covering the sky like a plague.
I didn’t wait. I flapped my wings hard and shot backward, away from the corruption. My domain shuddered as the black smoke touched it. It didn’t pierce through, but it pressed against it like it was trying to swallow me whole.
I landed roughly on Silver’s back.
Ana and Steve both stood up in alarm.
“What happened?” Ana asked, eyes wide.
“That came out of nowhere!” Steve said, staring at the now completely covered ruins. “No wonder the Holts haven’t touched this place.”
I shook my head. “That’s not the real problem.”
They both looked at me.
“The entire ruin is now covered in that black smoke,” I said. “It’s out in the open. Anyone looking in this direction will see it. And there’s only one person from the Holts who’s going to respond to something like this.”
Steve’s face darkened. “Grandmaster Huge.”
“Exactly.”
Ana asked hurriedly.
“What do we do?”
The black smoke roared outside the domain like a living tide.
A storm of thoughts rushed through my mind, and I latched onto the first one that seemed feasible.
I extended my hand and formed a floating platform beneath us. Space shimmered and hardened, like a glass stage floating in the air. The moment it solidified, Silver let out a soft screech.
“Good work,” I said. “Now go back.”
The crimson mist around him swirled inward. Silver vanished in a blink, returning to my core.
Ana raised an eyebrow. “What now?”
I didn’t answer.
I raised my hand again, and my will flowed into the domain. First, I shrank its size—just enough to keep the three of us within. Then, I commanded it to form a pocket of space, separate from the one we stood in.
Runes surged to life across the domain, visible only to me. They moved in intricate patterns, shaping my intent. But my comprehension was lacking—and with that, came the cost.
Countless possibilities flashed before me, but I didn’t want to waste time overthinking. I made the decision, quick and resolute.
The sacrifice pulsed through my mind. Space inside the pocket was no longer continuous.
Instantly, Ana’s arm began drifting away from her shoulder. My legs stayed planted on the platform while my torso started rising into the air.
“Wait—huh?!”
Steve’s head detached first. Then his arms, his torso—everything began floating off in different directions across the domain.
“What the absolute shit is happening—WHY AM I IN PIECES!?”
I looked down at myself.
One of my feet was slowly spinning in place, as if contemplating an escape.
“…Okay. That was faster than I thought.” I commented.
Ana shrieked as her wing started drifting toward Steve’s head.
“Oh no you don’t!” Steve ducked. “BILLION! FIX THIS!”
“I’m trying! Just—don’t move your pieces!”
I waved both hands—or at least, the idea of both hands.
Essence surged in the domain. I shaped it into glowing ropes, one after another, and quickly tied everyone back together.
It was like assembling weird action figures in the dark.
A rope coiled around Ana’s wings, arms, torso, and legs—holding everything in place. But then the rope itself unraveled, losing its continuity, and everything began disassembling again.
“I don’t think I thought this through properly,” I admitted, a little embarrassed.
Help the book with GTs and Powerstones.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!