novelThe Return
| ← Ch.066 | Ch.068 → |
This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat, and StellarAshes.
The once blue skies were now covered in smog, and the dark and damp skies did not produce any rain, however, the air felt almost suffocating, and the whole atmosphere felt oppressive to anyone in it. If anyone was there, they would not be able to handle it and would want to run away.
However, this was a place where few would venture; Yaron Plains was never a good place for tourism. The plains, rated as rank-A on the danger scale, had nothing precious other than Lesser Dragons. Perhaps only principal Barbalis would be so bored as to send his own students there.
And the situation had worsened now. More than a year ago, Miluo set this place as his base, and mustered many species of Lesser Dragons and successfully conquered Freesia. The dangerous Lesser Dragons had congregated north of the Aklan Continent, and had a stand-off against the people to the south. The thousands of miles around the location were even more sparsely populated. If any person was found in this location, they must be a scout sent to survey the area.
At the place where all types of Dragons converged, a small figure flew around in the air. Judging by its size, it was not a flying species of Lesser Dragons. He quietly stopped mid-air, as if he was waiting for something.
... Until a noises could be heard from afar. The figure, at first, seemed to be on guard as he observed the approaching people. As soon as he saw the man and woman flying towards him, his straightened back seemed a bit relaxed, and he quietly waited them to reach him.
"What are you doing, let me go."
The man riding the eagle ignored the woman, and flew to the man who was waiting. He let the giant eagle circle around in the air, and after checking out the situation below, the man also took a deep breath.
Yaron Plains had always been the place with the highest concentration of Lesser Dragons, but it had never been like this before: the whole plain was covered densely with Lesser Dragons, and they were orderly. Different species of Lesser Dragons were together, all quietly lying down at the place designated for their species.
"This looks serious, Mizerui." The man in Black Knight uniform observed for a while, then flew back to the man, and said with a heavy tone.
"When has the Dragon Emperor done anything that isn't serious?" Mizerui answered with a still relaxed tone. At the moment, he didn't seem to mind the Lesser Dragons below them. Instead, his attention was on the girl lying on the eagle. He raised his eyebrows and said, "I didn't think you really could find her. Is this an instinct between Assassins? Gladiolus."
Gladiolus didn't answer Mizerui's question, and instead asked his own, "Is she actually useful? You told me to find her as soon as possible, aren't you being too cautious?"
Mizerui smiled, and just as he was about to explain, the woman began to yell loudly, "Hey! You guys are going too far! I didn't do anything, so why did you kidnap me here? Don't think you can just bully a woman."
Seeing the woman's stubborn expression, Mizerui answered calmly, "Please don't say that. How could I possibly dare to bully you? Even if I'm not afraid of you, I'm afraid of the person behind you."
The woman paused, and asked skeptically, "The person behind me? You mean my master, Liola?"
Mizerui's smile was even more mysterious. He swung his index finger and said, "No, no, no, why would I be afraid of Liola. Compared to him, I'm more afraid of you, Yasha. After all, the person raised you, but you didn't become a peerless master, which means he must have cared deeply for you."
Yasha's beautiful green eyes were filled with doubt, "What are you talking about?"
Mizerui smiled, but did not explain further.
"Even if she's really that person's daughter, why did you ask me to bring her here to Yaron Plains?" Gladiolus asked with confusion.
Mizerui pointed below and said, "You know, Gladiolus, you almost exchanged your current place with Miluo."
Gladiolus remained silent for a while, and said, "I know, Qiusi was indeed terrific."
Back then, the gold-haired man with bloodied eyes charged into the Dark Street, and he looked like he would even kill a God if he were to run into one. Unbelievably, he was able to control his rage, and listened to Gladiolus' explanation even he himself couldn't believe. He told Qiusi he didn't know why he would crazily accept the request to assassinate the Prime Minister's wife. The only thing he saw was a man in black robe, without even seeing his face, then drowsily executed the mission.
After Qiusi finished listening to his story, he was in a daze for a long, long time. Finally, he told Gladiolus the truth between Dragon Emperor and Gle. At the same time, he told Gladiolus, the person in black robe was probably the Dragon Emperor, and as for his drowsiness, he might have been hypnotized.
Gladiolus wasn't an idiot, and he did not immediately believe what Qiusi said. But the bad happenings to the Six Forbidden Sins gave Gladiolus have no choice but begin to believe what Qiusi said, about the Dragon Emperor's plan to frame him as the second devil. With Qiusi's intervention, Gladiolus finally escaped the fate of being the devil, and because of it, he secretly helped Qiusi when he could.
"As long as we could wake Miluo up, Dragon Emperor's conspiracy will fail again this time. But
I could only think of two ways to wake Miluo up: one, Gle could break the hypnosis himself, and the other is the Dragon Cross Necklace."
Mizerui cleared his throat, and pointed at Yasha as he said, "Barbalis and I both believe, Liola is Gle's apprentice, and Yasha is Gle's daughter."
Gladiolus looked somewhat unbelievably at Yasha. According to what he saw, Liola and Yasha did not seem like the same person's apprentice and daughter. The two's powers had nothing in common, not to mention they weren't even on the same level.
"How did you know? Gladiolus asked skeptically.
"I saw it myself..." Mizerui suddenly stopped mid-sentence, then corrected himself, "No, the eldest Prince Mocha said so."
Gladiolus looked at Mizerui strangely, and he could tell Mizerui was hiding something. But he had no plan to pry. After all, everyone had something they didn't want to say. If it's something Mizerui didn't want to say, no one could force him to do so.
Yasha couldn't help but asked, "What are you saying exactly? Where is my master? Didn't you say he's going to be here?"
"Don't worry, he'll be here soon." Mizerui smiled.
He glanced around him, and he did indeed see doubt growing in Gladiolus' eyes. To prevent him from being unhappy or skeptical, Mizerui decided to start explaining.
"Since Gle cared deeply for Yasha, he wouldn't leave his daughter here without doing something about it. The dimensional door will likely open near her, and the magic power required to open such a portal will be immense, so the Dragon Emperor will likely notice it. Instead of having the dimensional door open in Aklan Republic and give the Dragon Emperor an excuse to attack, it's better to do it at Yaron plains, because we can then take the Dragon Cross Necklace directly to Miluo, or... if Gle would be willing to help us, it would be even better."
Gladiolus suddenly understood. His instincts told him, however, Mizerui seemed to be leaning more on taking the necklace Miluo, as if he already knew Gle wouldn't help them.
"They're here." Mizerui's blue eyes flashed.
As soon as Mizerui finished talking, Gladiolus also felt the terrifying magic power. He felt an oppressive force on his mind, and he couldn't even believe that this amount of power came from a single person. When he was born, Gle was already "not in this world", so he had never seen the power of the legendary devil.
The terrifying power to split open time and space... could it be devil Gle? Gladiolus opened his eyes widely. A thin crack appeared in the air, and the magic seeping through the crack became even larger. Gladiolus felt like he was practically a small fish struggling in a violent hurricane. His giant eagle also became troubled by the force, and it was struggling to keep still in the air.
The crack gradually grew larger. Starting from a thin crack, it slowly turned into a circle large enough for several people to pass through. The scenery seen through the circle was also drastically different from Yaron Plains: it was a cliff, under the cold moonlight.
A few people stood on the other side, and Gladiolus had seen practically all of them; it was the so-called Aklan Troublemaking Squad, a bunch of students who would dare to charge into Dark Street just to save a person. A person stood in front of the rest, one who, out of 10 people who see him, 9. 9 would sigh as they claim he was yet another spoiled rich brat.
Gladiolus looked strangely. This arrogant young man was Gle?
The man frowned, and examined the person on the other side, then said with disgust, "Your robe is ridiculously ugly."
Probably because he didn't expect Gle to criticize his robe after not seeing for so long, Mizerui laughed helplessly, "Long time no see, dad."
When everyone else was shocked by this "dad", Gle acted like an infuriated cat. He yelled loudly, "Who the hell is your father?! Call me 'master'!"
Mizerui shrugged, "I like calling you dad. If you don't like it, come beat me up?"
Gle narrowed his eyes dangerously, and suddenly magic power rushed through the air. The ordinarily magic power that had no shape a form began to concentrate, and everyone present who knew about the forces of magic began to yell in surprise, "My god! Magic power actually materializing, what kind of power compression is this?"
At first, Gladiolus was trying to decide whether he should run for his life, but the magic power's shape was beginning to look like, like... Before he was ready to admit what it looked like, the materialized magic power hit Mizerui so hard in the head like a hand cracking a chestnut, and hit him right out of the air.
Indeed, it was a giant fist... no, now it turned into a palm, and it headed straight for Gladiolus. Gladiolus only had time to drop his jaws before he was slapped by the palm and flew off, streaking through the air like a falling star.
At this time, the palm turned back into a fist, but with an enchanting beauty in it. The girl's burst into tears and yelled, "Father! Father!"
Hearing his daughter's cries, Gle's face had gone a bit softer. The fist gently brought Yasha to Gle, and she ran into her father's arms. She cried, "I thought I was never going to see you again."
"Idiot." Gle patted his daughter's head, and blamed her quietly, "I told you not to chase Li, but you did it regardless."
As he mentioned Liola, Yasha raised her head, and looked at the emotionless Liola standing on the side. She twisted a bit and then left her father's arms. She walked slowly to Liola and, as she had done before, called him unwillingly, "Master."
"Mmm." Liola grunted back uncaringly.
Hearing Liola's cold voice, Yasha looked a bit dissatisfied. She then asked, "Master, do you need apprentice to stay and help you?"
Liola turned around to look at Yasha, but this look stupefied Yasha. 'Is... this my master? The same emotionless and empty-eyed master?'
Even though Liola's expression still looked cold, but for someone who had spent time with Liola, this Assassin was far warmer than before, and his silver eyes looked no longer empty; they looked like it was filled with a bit of anger and a bit of emotions.
Seeing Liola like this made Yasha felt unfamiliar, and very disappointed. She had always wanted to break Liola's icy cold expressions and feelings, but now Liola had really melted, yet not in her hands, she felt very discouraged. It was as if the goal she had worked her whole life for had been achieved by someone else, and now everything she had done was meaningless.
Liola thought it was strange. He hadn't even answered Yasha's question, and she had already looked depressed. Could she have already guessed he wouldn't want her to stay?
Liola frowned and said, "Up to you."
Yasha gave Liola a complicated look and returned to standing beside Gle, without saying anything else.
In Kaiser and Daylight's eyes, this scene was unspeakably strange. Liola was obviously scared of Gle, but he didn't seem to be scared of offending Gle's precious daughter. Even Gle didn't seem to look dissatisfied despite how she acted as if she had been offended.
"Is this what they mean by there's always a thing that conquers another?" Kaiser asked strangely.
"No, my master is just maintaining the rule of respecting the master. Since Yasha acknowledged Li as her master, she should fulfil her responsibilities as an apprentice."
Mizerui slowly floated back in the air as he explained. He changed his name for Gle from "dad" back to "master", because he didn't want another taste of the magic fist again.
"Strange people being stubborn in strange things..." Kaiser murmured, but there was something he was even more curious about. He asked, "Mizerui, why are you here?"
"I'm here to pick you guys up." Mizerui replied with a smile, "And see my master, whom I haven't seen for a long time."
Gle glanced at Mizerui, and said, "The dimensional door will only stay open for three more minutes, so say what you will. Those people who should leave better go." The last sentence was directed at the Aklan Troublemaking Squad, who were standing there stupidly.
Hearing there's only three minutes left, Liola and Daylight looked at one another, then they asked their two dragons to fly over, the three jumped onto the Dragon's back.
Mizerui looked at Gle standing still, while the seconds passed by, until the last minute, when he finally sighed and said, "Master, are you not coming back?"
"No, I'm used to staying over here." Gle said lightly.
Although he had already known Gle's decision, Mizerui couldn't help but add, "Dragon Emperor has the desire to conquer the world again, master, don't you plan on stopping him?"Of course... Mizerui thought bitterly to himself, but he still asked, "Why?"
"What does him wanting to conquer the world have to do with me? Even if he did blame the whole thing on me before, who cares what he conquers? Even if he really did conquer the world, maybe this world would be better than it is now." Gle said coldly.
Mizerui laughed bitterly, "Master, your words are mocking at all of our hard works over the years. Qiusi is now Aklan's Prime Minister, and we can't just watch as the Dragon Emperor destroy Aklan."
Hearing his old friend's name, Gle's eyes flashed. This was when the dimensional door started to warp. Seeing the portal closing, Gle sighed, something he had never done before, "It's been hundreds of years, Mizerui, I don't belong in that world anymore."
The dimensional door turned from the circle back into a crack, and slowly closed. Finally, the only thing left behind was Gle's faint voice, "Tell Qiusi sorry for me..."
* * *
Mizerui stared at the closed dimensional door for a long time. He finally sighed, and then turned back towards Liola and others, with the smile back on his face, "Alright, you guys have been gone for more than a year, so I should tell you about the situation here..."
Before Mizerui finished, Kaiser yelled loudly, "Damn!"
Though Daylight and Liola's reactions weren't as exaggerated as Kaiser's, but they gazed at the endless groups of Lesser Dragons underneath. The same thought appeared in both of their minds: what's under them was a trained army of Lesser Dragons.
"These must be led by Miluo." Mizerui said calmly, "Being next to Gle for so long, you guys probably know about the truth back then, right? Now there is something important we must do."
Liola and others looked towards Mizerui, and Kaiser put on a sported face. Though he already knew this might happen, he definitely couldn't be a couch potato after coming back, but he had never imagined Mizerui would be waiting for them, throwing an "important thing" at them right away.
"Isn't there anyone else who could do it? We just got back here. Had I known about this, I wouldn't have came back." Kaiser complained like he always did.
Mizerui put his hands down helplessly, "I don't have any other choice. Liola has the Dragon Cross Necklace, and Baolilong is Liola's Dragon. These two things are required to wake Miluo."
"Wake Miluo." As soon as Liola heard, he immediately nodded and said, "Let's go."
For things that must be done, Liola had never been the type to procrastinate. He had already promised Anise to save Miluo, plus for Baolilong's sake, he had already made up his mind about saving Miluo.
"Liola, aren't you being a little too easy? At least demand something for your efforts." Kaiser kept on complaining. Working for free was in the top three things Kaiser hated the most.
"Kaiser, how could you say that? Saving others is something we should all do without seeking a reward. Maintaining righteousness is something every capable person must do..."
Kaiser rolled his eyes at Daylight. Seeing Daylight was about to continue his lecture on righteousness, Kaiser was sitting on the Fire Dragon without anywhere to run, so he began to consider which one was more painful, hearing Daylight's lecture or riding a roller coaster in the sky on Baolilong's back.
Mizerui, on the other hand, was excitedly leading the two Dragons by flying in front of them, while listening to Daylight's lecture and Kaiser's moans of pain. After a short while of flying, they saw a familiar figure: a mountain-like black beauty of a Dragon was lying in the center of the army of Lesser Dragons. At this time, they stopped because they realized, unlike other places on the plains, there were a number of flying Dragons circling around Miluo. If they got any closer, they would draw attention from the Dragons.
"Hmm, someone go distract the Dragons." Kaiser suggested, then immediately said, "Mizerui, you go. You know teleport, so running away shouldn't be hard."
Mizerui hesitated at first, but then he thought, Liola must wake Miluo, and Daylight and Kaiser's strengths were both mediocre. If the Dragons get a hold of them, they may really be in grave in danger. Therefore, he was the best choice. Mizerui nodded.
Mizerui took out a metallic circle, and it was covered with inscriptions. He gave this metallic plate to Kaiser, and said, "This is a binding magic. You can use it by pouring a bit of your magic power into it. In theory, it should bind the target for half an hour. If it looks like Miluo might break free, then you will have to hold it with your own magic power."
Kaiser scratched his face, trying to decide whether he should tell Mizerui that Gle did teach him binding magic, but acting on Kaiser's principle of being as lazy as he possibly could, Kaiser still smiled hideously as he took the binding magic circle.
Mizerui glanced at Kaiser. Although he knew Kaiser's smile looked like he meant something, due to time constraints, Mizerui didn't think anything of it. He turned around and instructed, "Liola, remember, put the Dragon Cross Necklace against Miluo's forehead, then let Baolilong call him, until he wakes up."
"As for Daylight, " Mizerui said seriously, "You are responsible for taking care of any Dragons who would interfere with Liola. I will do my best to draw them away, but any Dragons slipping through will be up to you."
"Understood." Daylight nodded seriously.
Circled by a crowd whose average age hadn't even reached 25, Mizerui, who had been hundreds of years old, couldn't help but sigh. If possible, he didn't want to leave the heavy weight of saving the world on the shoulders of these children, but things can't just go the way he wanted them to. Mizerui tried to calm his emotions, and said to the others, "I'm going, then, to distract the Dragons."
Mizerui quickly glided to around Miluo. As soon as the flying Dragons saw the human, they immediately let out loud cries of warning. At this time, the originally quiet Dragons began to act like act explosively. The flying Dragons followed Mizerui like a long tail, and the Dragons on the ground also charged in Mizerui's direction.
These noises made Miluo get up, and he looked coldly at the noises. He seemed to be tired of the noise, and he shot out a black laser from his mouth directly at Mizerui, as if he didn't care how many Lesser Dragons he would kill in the path.
Liola and others could feel the power and speed of Miluo's laser from afar. Right as they tried to warn Mizerui, but the laser was already in front of him. Luckily, Mizerui was no ordinary person, and his flying abilities weren't something a normal Sorcerer could hold a light to. He teleported 3 meters to the side, and barely missed the laser, even though the shot did take a corner of his robe. Since Miluo was about to chase him, Mizerui immediately began to run. If he lured Miluo away, it would have defeated the point.
Seeing Mizerui flying further and further, Miluo looked at him coldly, and finally lied down, leaving only his Lesser Dragons to chase him.
At this time, the three people glanced at each other, then charged up without saying anything. Liola was in the lead, and Flames followed right after.
Liola planned to attract Miluo's attention, so Kaiser could successfully cast the binding magic. He no longer hid his power, and purposely released his intense power. Surely enough, Miluo immediately opened his eyes, and let out a deep Dragon growl. Its red and cruel Dragon eyes stared right at the intruder.
As soon as he saw the intruder was riding the symbol of Dragon race's highest species, Sacred White Dragon, Miluo's competitive heart made him want to see who's stronger. He roared into the skies; the sound pierced the skies and shook the earth.
Though Miluo was trying to provoke its anger, but Baolilong knew this was its father. Instead of falling prey to the provocation and fight with the Black Dragon, it turned to looked at Liola, with a sad look in its eyes.
Liola patted Baolilong's neck trying to comfort it, "Your father is being controlled. He's not doing this on purpose."
Seeing the Black Dragon staring at Baolilong, and the reason he led was to draw Miluo's attention, Liola suddenly had a plan. He said to Baolilong, "Can you roar back at your father? So Kaiser and others will have enough time to use the magic."
Baolilong nodded sensibly. When it turned around, Miluo was still roaring with provocation. Baolilong tried to forget the Dragon in front of its eyes was its father. The roar of the black Dragon continued, and there was no way a Sacred White Dragon could allow a lower species of Dragon to offend it over and over again.
Baolilong also roared into the sky, and the two loud sounds of Dragon roars made all the Lesser Dragons lay on the ground, terrified for their lives. As a result, this saved Daylight quite some trouble.
Kaiser now poured some magic power onto the binding magic circle. The two palm-sized metallic plates had, after receiving the power, emitted a faint gold light. Kaiser pointed them at Miluo, and with a flash of his blue eyes, the plates projected a giant pentacle, and locked Miluo's body tightly inside.
"Success!" Kaiser yelled loudly.
Miluo finally noticed something was wrong. He struggled desperately, but the giant body could only move slightly, and could not break free. This infuriated Miluo, and his eyes were almost completely red. He was struggling so much that even his scales were trembling.
"Great, Miluo really can't move. Kaiser, you're really powerful." Seeing Kaiser controlled Miluo's movements, Daylight said with praise.
"Powerful my butt!" Kaiser was a bit panicked. As the only Magician, Kaiser had already felt the formation trembling under Miluo's struggles. It seemed to him that Mizerui underestimated Miluo, and the binding magic was not enough!
"Hurry! Take me to Miluo. This binding magic can't hold on for long."
Upon hearing the words and seeing Kaiser's panicked expression, Daylight realized things weren't as simple as he first thought. He hurriedly directed Flames to fly towards Miluo.
"Liola, hurry up and do your thing. I don't know how long I could hold him."
About a dozen meters away, Kaiser gestured at Daylight to stop. After yelling a few reminders to Liola, he began to send more magic power into the binding magic with a serious look on his face. The trembling magic stabilized, and Miluo could no longer move, not even a light tremor.
Liola knew the situation was dire. He quickly took off the necklace around his neck, and pushed it against the center of Miluo's forehead. White smoke immediately began to come off from the scale touched by the necklace, leaving a burnt mark in the shape of the Dragon Cross.
Just like what Bairui had said, anyone controlled by the Dragon Emperor would be burnt by the Dragon Cross Necklace. Miluo, who was completely bound, had eyes filled with red vessels, and it looked as if it was in pain.
"Baolilong! Call your father." Liola was able to sense the Dragon Cross Necklace shaking.
Baolilong seemed a bit awkward. After all, it hadn't spent any time with its biological father. To it, Liola was the father.
With Liola's continuous urgings, Baolilong called quietly, "Papa, papa."
Miluo didn't seem to react to this at all. Liola frowned, and sank the necklace further down into Miluo. The burnt mark had deepened, and it had reached through its skins, leaving a deep cross-shaped mark on his skin.
Miluo...
The Black Dragon's struggling movement suddenly froze, in response to this familiar and long-awaited call.
Liola could feel the Black Dragon's trembling body had stopped. Although he knew the necklace was effective, Liola was not willing to let go. The whole cross had practically sunk into Miluo's flesh, and Miluo's bloodied eyes flashed with a sense of calm.
"Child, run!"
Liola stared blankly, and raised his head to look into Miluo's eye. The previously violent eyes looked suddenly calm. Could the deep warning words just now came from Miluo?
Without thinking it for long, Liola had already sensed a powerful force surging in his surroundings, but the force appeared too suddenly. It wasn't until the person had appeared in front of him and even grabbed a hold of his shoulders, did Liola realize this man wore a purple robe.
The handsome man examined Liola with his silver eyes, and his tone was unexpected pleasant. He said with a sigh, "You really do look like your mother."
Liola froze. The feeling conveyed by the Dragon Emperor was far different than when he met him last time. Though this purple-robed Emperor was still mysterious, but now knowing this person was his biological father, Liola had an indescribable feeling.
"Child, I'm happy to see you back." Dragon Emperor smiled, with gratitude on his face.
Liola wasn't an idiot. He didn't think for a bit the Dragon Emperor was actually happy to see him back. He didn't forget the person who sent him into a coma was the person standing right in front of them.
Liola had a burst of force, and bounced back avoiding Dragon Emperor's hand. Using Miluo's forehead as leverage, he jumped towards back. Unexpected to him, the Dragon Emperor had grasped the body of the cross necklace."Yeah right. no matter what, you will kill Liola, who cares which way it is?" Kaiser said with a very sarcastic voice.
The Dragon Emperor glanced at Kaiser coldly, and his eyes were enough to make Kaiser feel a several-degree temperature drop. In this moment, a pike was swung accurately towards Dragon Emperor's hand which held onto the necklace, but right before it landed, a sword blade blocked the pike. The owner of the sword was none other than the Paladin Lancelot.
The moment the sparks appeared from the clashing of these two weapons, Daylight circled his pike. On one side he blocked the sword, and on another he forced the Dragon Emperor to withdraw his hand.
Being blocked by Daylight's pike, Lancelot looked to be deep in shock. He would have never imagined that, being only a Blue Knight merely a year and some time ago, Daylight was now capable of blocking his sword.
Liola used this opportunity to grab the necklace back, and at the same time helped Daylight a bit. The two of them quickly backed up. Liola looked at the situation between the confrontation, and he quickly analyzed the situation in his head: He should be able to stalemate against one of the two, but Daylight might not be able to hold against the other one on his own. Perhaps with Kaiser... Liola looked Kaiser from the corner of his eyes.
Coincidentally, Kaiser was also looking at Liola. When their eyes meet, Liola immediately looked at Daylight. Kaiser understood Liola wanted him to help Daylight, but he shook his head slightly while looking at Miluo, indicating that he couldn't leave the binding magic.
Now, Liola really had a foreboding feeling about the situation.
| ← Ch. 066 | Ch. 068 → |