I looked at them, feeling the weight of their gazes pressing against me. It was as if every one of them carried the same silent hope, the kind you’d cling to when all else was gone. Maybe they would have looked at anyone who could awaken this palace in the same way but right now, it was me.
"I’ll remember," I said quietly.
"That’s all I ask," Shijian replied.
His projection shattered into countless silver particles that shot straight toward my head. I instinctively flinched, but before I could react, the others did the same, one by one, their forms dissolved into shimmering silver dust and rushed into me.
The next instant, the world shifted.
The tower vanished, and I found myself hovering between the sixth and seventh towers, suspended in the air.
I closed my eyes and reached inward. Three runes floated in my mind, glowing silver, casting a soft light against the darkness of my thoughts. I exhaled slowly and opened my eyes, trying to make sense of it all.
I wasn’t sure what to feel.
Excitement surged through me—the laws of time, something anyone would dream of, were now real and within my grasp.
And yet, a cold dread followed, because the questions pressing on me were endless.
How much of what the Saint said was true? Could I really trust him? What was this agreement with the System they mentioned? Where was their Ancestor? And what about the souls the Eternals were using—was there any way to save them? Another thing bothered me too: how did these people avoid being turned into abominations or phantoms and manage to escape?
I lifted my gaze and stared directly at the black flames that still roared. The sight reminded me of what I hadn’t even asked, what I hadn’t even begun to understand. What was this place, really? What was this phenomenon?
And yet, deep down, I reminded myself: a Saint had been involved. If a Saint had created this, anything could be possible. The answers might be hidden in ways I couldn’t yet perceive, and the challenge of discovering them only made the path ahead more dangerous and more exhilarating.
"Damn it. No use thinking this much," I muttered, shaking my head.
I scoffed at myself and dropped from the sky, landing in front of the charred, broken castle.
I had already taken what I needed from this place. There was nothing more it could give me. Now it was time for the next step, chaos in the world of Peanu.
"Come out," I willed, my voice steady as I summoned them.
In a flash, Lyrate, Knight, Silver, and Ragnar appeared beside me.
’Whoa... so this is where you’ve been? Inside that strange island?’ Silver said.
"Yes. Careful of the firestorms and the thunder above," I warned, pointing toward the raging inferno and the clouds that threatened to split the earth.
’So, what’s the plan?’ Knight asked, his voice calm as he hovered in the air. The shadows around him twisted into strange symbols, like moving numbers and shapes.
"The plan is simple," I said firmly. "We kill as many grandmasters as possible, then head straight for the world core."
"Did you already find where the core is?" Lyrate asked.
I shook my head. "Not yet. We’ll have to drag their emperor out and make him tell us."
"And how do you plan to do that?" she pressed.
I grinned, spreading my hands at the ruins around us.
"Look at this place, Lyrate. A castle of bones, storms of fire and lightning, graves and treasures everywhere. What do you think will happen if word spreads about this? Their emperor, his kin, and half their grandmasters will rush here like moths to a flame."
For a second her lips curled upward, and she smiled. "I like what you’re thinking."
’She’s blushing,’ Knight murmured dryly, ’just from imagining the slaughter.’
Ragnar, who had been quiet until now, sat down cross-legged on the scorched ground. ’How many grandmasters are we expecting?’ he rumbled.
"Hard to say. Not all of them, but we’ll draw at least 10 to 15. If we’re smart, maybe more. We’ll have to adjust the plan on the fly."
Ragnar scoffed and waved a hand. ’Hmph. Let’s just smash them. You’re overthinking. They can’t kill you anyway.’
I gave him a half-smile. "I get it, big guy. But I need that core. Without it, I don’t want to reveal myself fully. So for now, we play a little game."
I looked at each of them in turn.
"Spread out. Lyrate, you’ll guard the main castle. Let’s make you the role of the lost queen.
Knight and Ragnar both will take the cemetery, frontline guards.
Silver, you’ll stay on the castle walls. Use ranged attacks to keep pressure on them."
They listened closely, the firelight flickering in their eyes.
"One more thing," I added. "We don’t wipe them out in one go. Always leave a survivor or two. Let them run back and bring more. And act mysterious. Like you’ve been here since ancient times."
They all nodded, their faces set with seriousness.
Knight vanished first, slipping into the cemetery. I watched him dig out a grave, slide into it, and close it over himself like a corpse waiting to rise.
Ragnar cracked his neck, then leapt into the graveyard. The ground shook under his weight, bones split as he landed, and he sat cross-legged right in the center, looking like a giant statue carved from fury.
Silver stretched his wings and flew to the castle wall, landing above the sealed gates, his talons scratching stone as sparks fell around him.
Lyrate gave me one last smile before vanishing. She appeared before the main gate, tapped her foot, and roots burst from the ground. They coiled together, twisting into a throne of wood that floated in the air. She sat down on it like a queen risen from myth.
I couldn’t help but chuckle under my breath.
"Show-off," I muttered, shaking my head as I turned away from the castle.
I rose back into the air and headed straight toward the wall of flames in the distance, right in front of the place where the Peanu’s fort stood.
I already knew six grandmasters were staying there.
My plan was simple but sharp. Five of them would die here, their strength and pride burning away in these cursed flames. The last one, the grandmaster from the Max family, I would let escape.
He would run back to his Emperor, trembling, carrying news of this hidden treasure trove. That message alone would be enough to lure the Emperor and his forces into this place.
But the Feran grandmasters, I had no intention of sparing. I couldn’t allow someone like that to leave alive after seeing all of this.
If they crawled back with secrets of this land, it would only bring chaos sooner than I wanted. No, they would die here, and their ashes would scatter in the same flames that guarded this place.
I clenched my fists as I flew, my mind clear. The board was set, the pieces in place. Now it was time to make the world of Peanu bleed.