Chapter 445: Echoes of the Cataclysm (2)
As Vendrick walked away, both Mist Umbra and Joseph Blatier stared at his back, awe and dread written across their faces.
"Sir Alon... who is that man, really?" Joseph Blatier asked, his voice low as he recalled the events of the past days.
When they tried to retrieve the cube imprisoning Maekar and the others, they were forced to dive into the ocean.
Waiting there was one of Beatrice’s puppets, armed with a terrifying array of deadly spells.
And alongside it, thousands of nightmare sea creatures.
The sight was horrifying.
But before Vendrick’s sword... none of it mattered.
His swordsmanship was unlike anything they had ever seen, even in all their years of battle.
Every strike he unleashed seemed capable of cutting the sea itself .. obliterating the nightmare beasts and destroying Beatrice’s puppet before she could even cast a spell.
He was overwhelming.
Sir Alon could only nod.
"That man... is the sword with which I built my glory and cut down my enemies."
It wasn’t surprising to him that Vendrick had succeeded.
The Sword Saint was already stronger than him.
And yet, after all these years of fighting side by side, Sir Alon had never truly understood his old friend.
And he doubted he ever would.
But right now, the cube in his hands was his top priority.
"What exactly is this thing?"
"It’s a magical prison .. a high-level spell unlike anything we’ve seen before," Mist Umbra explained. Behind him stood three sorcerers, each so powerful that even the weakest among them had reached the S+ rank.
Hearing this, Sir Alon assumed breaking the cube would be a monumental task, but the sorcerers quickly dispelled that thought.
"This prison contains a vast internal space. From the outside, it seems small, but within, it’s enormous."
"After analyzing it for days, we’ve decided to call it the Prison Cube. It’s so strong that even SS+ rank fighters the most powerful on earth .. wouldn’t be able to escape from it."
Sir Alon raised a brow, astonished by what he was hearing.
The strongest warriors alive were all in the SS+ rank.
"So, if the Prison Cube can withstand their attacks, doesn’t that mean breaking it is impossible?"
"Yes and no."
Mist Umbra replied again, explaining the situation fully.
"It’s impregnable from the inside, making escape impossible. But from the outside, we’ve discovered it’s far weaker. If we apply enough destructive force, we should be able to break through it."
In other words...
It would be simple enough .. as long as the cube was already in their hands.
But that didn’t comfort Sir Alon Valerion. Instead, it filled him with unease.
"I don’t understand. If that’s true, then why didn’t the enemy bother to take the cube back?"
If he were in their place, Sir Alon would have locked the cube away in the most secure corner of the Ultras Continent, where the empire would never recover it.
But Beatrice had simply left it within their grasp.
"Why?!"
The Iron Emperor couldn’t comprehend his enemy’s way of thinking. This was the first time he had faced an opponent like this.
As if they never saw them as true opponents, but merely playmates to pass the time with ... companions for their amusement, nothing more.
But what on earth was that terrifying witch thinking during the battle?
Sir Alon could not find the answer.
Nor could Mist Umbra or Joseph Blatter, who shared in his ignorance.
"...Well, that doesn’t matter now."
Grasping the cube, Sir Alon’s body began to glow.
"What matters is freeing our forces trapped inside."
Relying on that hope, Sir Alon and his men evacuated the harbor completely, placing the cube at its center, knowing how many soldiers were sealed within.
In the sky above ..
Sir Alon, Mist Umbra, and Blatter soared into the air.
Then, without warning, the three of them unsheathed their weapons and unleashed their auras at full force.
With a joint attack containing an overwhelming amount of destructive power, they struck the cube.
Under the pressure of an SS+ rank fighter and two others in the SS rank, the prison cube couldn’t withstand the force. In just a few seconds, its outer shell began to crack.
And then, the cube finally exploded.
At that moment, it expanded wildly, covering the entire harbor in an ominous light.
From within, shattered ships and people began falling from the sky as they were released ..
Crashing violently into the ground, the explosion caused devastating destruction, and corpses were scattered everywhere.
And after only a few more seconds, the true horror of what had been inside was revealed.
It was this sight that caused the faces of Sir Alon Valerion and his companions to darken instantly.
One after another, the captives fell from the cube .
But they were no longer the same fighters they had once been.
They were nothing but skeletal remains, stripped of flesh and skin, collapsing across the battlefield.
Staring at this nightmare, Sir Alon Valerion could only clench his fist so tightly that the pressure of his aura nearly destroyed everything around him.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
No matter where he went, no matter how much he searched through the wreckage of the shattered ships, all he found were skeletons...
They were all dead.
And then, after a grueling search, a group of survivors finally appeared before them.
There... sitting atop the wreckage of a ship, was the Emperor .. Maekar Valerion.
Wearing his battered Fume Knight armor, the once-mighty Emperor now looked so frail that his supposedly perfect body barely filled the armor anymore.
His eyes were completely dark as he sat there, staring into the void, utterly drained of strength.
Around him, many of the empire’s strongest warriors had collapsed as well, their bodies weak and nearly lifeless.
Iris, Lord of the Sunlight Family, and his brother Gal...
Melina lay unconscious in one corner, and the Emperor’s brothers, Ivar and Luc Valerion, were both sprawled helplessly on the ground.
Standing before them, Sir Alon remained silent. Maekar was the only one who still retained consciousness.
Lifting his head slightly... Maekar now seemed several years older.
When he saw Sir Alon, a strained smile appeared on his face.
"...Father."
He spoke with difficulty, but Sir Alon Valerion’s rage flared instantly.
"You Fucking Disappointment"
Grabbing his son by the chestplate,
Sir Alon lifted Maekar effortlessly with one hand.
"You dare show your wretched face to me, still alive, when everyone around you died because of you?!"
A surge of light gathered in Sir Alon’s fist, ready to crush Maekar then and there.
Yet despite this, Maekar only laughed in response.
"Disappointment? Those are big words coming from you, old man... Kihihihi..."
Sir Alon was truly about to end his son’s life, but Mist Umbra and several soldiers quickly intervened to stop him.
"Calm down, Sir Alon! Do you even understand what you’re about to do?"
"He’s an SS+ rank warrior .. and your son!!"
That frail man, despite everything...
Remained one of the empire’s strongest weapons.
Losing him would be a disaster.
Reluctantly responding to his soldiers’ pleas, Sir Alon hurled Maekar’s body aside violently, unwilling to look at him any longer.
"Throw that useless fool somewhere out of my sight. I don’t have time to deal with such a disappointing son."
Turning away, Sir Alon shifted his focus to the others collapsed on the ground. But Maekar wasn’t finished speaking.
"Old man... I see your back’s still straight, despite all these years."
Maekar’s voice was faint, almost a whisper.
But it reached Sir Alon clearly.
"If you still have all that strength, maybe you should’ve remained Emperor until the day you died, instead of tossing your mantle onto me... filthy old man."
Maekar sneered, but Sir Alon didn’t even bother to turn around.
To him, his eldest son was no longer anything more than an insect.
And an insect was no longer enough to warrant his attention.
Just like that... Maekar was dragged away.
Meanwhile, Sir Alon turned his gaze toward the other survivors.