Chapter 88 Know Thy Fear (2)
If Rowan harbored any misconceptions about her intelligence in his heart, he hastily discarded it.
Rowan decided to probe her words a bit, "Why do you call me a Spawn of the Stars?"
"The answers to your questions are clear, even to a blind mortal. I call you a Spawn of Stars because you are not one of us. I am a child of this world, and although our histories have been maligned by the gods, we still have our birthright. Trion is in my blood and in everything else, but she does not dwell within you.
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This was not how my story was supposed to end. My light was supposed to illuminate an entire era!
General Augustus Tiberius had a single second left to live.
He had given his all. He had excavated every single iota of power in his body. Technically, he was already dead an hour ago. His body had been repeatedly destroyed, his foundation scattered, and his source blood had covered the ground until the horizon ended.
He had expected betrayal, craved it in fact. After all with the warlike capabilities of the Tiberius blood, even Ascendant Dominators, who were in the third circle, were not necessarily his match. Coupled with his treasures and artifacts. He had felt smug in his powers.
Although they were both powerful, each at the peak of the second circle, the only reason they could have fought and killed him was the Blood oath that was affecting him.
Only his anger and despair made him fight. He had unleashed such power it would make an Ascendant Dominator cower in fear. Yet even at the verge of death, he was still confused about a single detail. With all the pandemonium their battle had caused, why was the world still silent?
He had broken out of the mirage world, that he had first been trapped inside, and according to the speed and direction he had been traveling, he should have returned to the Rune Ship. Not only that, but, the detonation of his multiple Incarnation should have alerted most of the powers on all seven continents.
How could they shroud the gaze of fate for so long?? An Incarnation of Tiberius had fallen, in his last moments he expected the full wrath of the God of War to fall. For his manner of death would not be pleasing to him.
Yet, the silence of the winds and the ever close hands of death mocked his expectations.
"Do you think he is finally seeing the truth after all this time? Don't tell me he is just noticing it. You were right, he is a slow one! Augustus, you did not escape the mirage world. You have been going around in circles. Ha ha ha ha, if only you used as much strength to fight as you used to run, then maybe you might have survived." The voice of the Third prince mocked him.
Finally, the true death was upon him and he was unwilling to fall. Two thousand years of life had made him cruel, and he would never quietly enter into the dark.
He did not speak to the two dark specters hovering over him, he would never give them the pleasure.
At the edge of death, knowing he had lost.
General Augustus Tiberius finally began his true counter-attack.
He used his Origin weapon, which he called, Throne.
He had been lucky to find a part of an Origin Artifact inside the ruins of the Great War, when he was just at the Rift State as a Dominator. Furthermore, he knew he had found a treasure beyond comparison that would lead him to immense benefits.
He was wise and kept all the details of his find to himself, he killed everyone who knew he had come to that blighted field of battle, and he fashioned the Artifact in the shape of a throne, covered in countless adornments, hiding its glory under flashy fluff, convincing every one of his love for luxury and his bad taste.
He had kept his deepest secrets in plain sight, and even after understanding how the Origin Artifact worked, he had carefully used it only twice, and since there was no way for him to actually repair an Origin Artifact, he was left with only a single use remaining.
The activation of the Origin Artifact did not cause much commotion, but his two attackers quickly retreated behind multiple powerful barriers, it was apparent they knew he had a powerful weapon he had not used.
It was a shame that the Origin Artifact was not an offensive weapon, yet its uses were great enough to change fate itself.
He placed his entire will and what was left of his awareness into the Throne, and the light in his eyes vanished, the fluctuations emanating from the Origin Artifact ceased, and everything else fell to silence.
General Augustus Tiberius slowly landed on the ground. He was naked, the tolls of the battle had stripped away every Armour and protection he had.
The lines of his body exuded strength and perfection. Every inch of his body was perfect. His golden eyes lost their light; they resembled a lifeless sun.
In death, he still stood. His head was raised high, no son of Tiberius would die on his knees.
His features softened, and he appeared to be at peace.
A hand emerged from the shadows and caressed his face. The hand traced down his body and a voice sighed, "Truly he was a great warrior. He knew his death was nigh, yet he never flinched. He handled himself better than I give him credit for." The hooded figure sighed, as he had checked the body for the Origin Artifact, but he could not find any trace.
"Yeah, that's all fine and good, but he used an Origin Treasure, I am surprised I am not fighting to live at this moment. Good thing it was not a weapon." The Third prince touched himself, as he patted his rotund stomach.
"Rein yourself prince. The fluctuation that it gave was weak, it was most likely a fragment of an Origin Treasure. I would have preferred if it was a weapon, as it is, we do not understand its effects." The hooded figure began investigating his surroundings, "It is just as I thought, the mirage space has been sealed."
"That's interesting." The Third prince frowned, he also investigated the space using his means, "for how long, do you suppose this sealing would last, I am not very versatile in spatial manipulation."
"Maybe a couple of days, but if we start tearing apart this mirage world, its foundation would cease to exist, and we would be out of here in hours."
"Sigh… Would you be willing to tear apart your favorite toy, I remember this Mirage World took you centuries to craft" The Third prince laughed in amusement?
"Destroying this Mirage World is not the problem, please keep in mind, you were complicit in allowing him to keep a regiment of soldiers inside my Nexus. The Mirage World cannot hide the fact that Augustus is dead, and I fear that he might influence the experiment with those outside forces."The hooded figure growled in annoyance.
"There are only thirty soldiers with their commander being a Rift State Dominator, I hardly see what effect even a thousand of those would have." The Third Prince muttered.
"You are still missing the bigger picture." The hooded figure snapped. "We are supposed to leave this continent the moment we killed Augustus, for that blasted Rune Ship would tear apart the entire continent to find his killer, and since all manner of information is blocked from entering or exiting the Mirage World, we have lost contact with the outside world far beyond the eight hours we initially planned to spend within it. "
"When your plans do not go the way you want them to, you tend to panic and forget some simple facts." The Third prince said, "I did not forget about the Rune ship or his soldiers inside the Nexus. But you have clearly forgotten that we are at war, and the Rune Ship would never leave the border of the Continent except for apocalyptic emergencies, so tell me, is the death of Augustus going to warrant such a drastic response from it."
The hooded figure sighed, "At the very least, I won't be settled until we are far from here, we now know the Singularity could allow the host to access that location. This is a new development after ten thousand years of being studied."
"I understand your issues. If that is the case, let us quickly destroy this Mirage World and clean up the Nexus because unlike you, my fear stems towards my son."