Chapter 972 — Like a Shadow

The instant Luo Yan's gaze fell upon that shadow, an indescribable, dreamlike murmuring suddenly rose in the room, and a rust-like stench of blood rushed straight into Luo Yan's nostrils. Then a hazy human form swiftly took shape in the air. The rust-colored lines and the shadow on the floor all connected to that form, faintly and indistinctly, and a hoarse, barely intelligible voice rose from within "it," tearing at Luo Yan's eardrums: "Augustus..."

"Malм Dunit," Luo Yan said, his face like ice, his black eyes fixed deathly on the bizarrely appearing figure. He rubbed his fingers slightly, yet the magical alarm stirred no commotion outside; not one of the guards who should have sensed the anomaly and rushed in at once appeared—even so, he showed no sign of panic, only his gaze grew colder than before. "I never thought we would meet under such circumstances, old friend."

"Nor did I think you would go so far down the road of defying the gods..." the hazy shadow rasped, its form growing a little more solid. "I once thought it was merely a passing whim, that you wanted only to play some game of 'counterbalancing' as in times past. I never thought you had been utterly blinded, unable even to see the guidance of the true path—how deeply regrettable, my old friend..."

"This is not the same as the 'counterbalancing' of the past, Malм," Luo Yan said in a low voice. "This is no longer a question of worldly power and interest. Your Church has gone wrong, your faith has gone wrong, your Lord has gone wrong—you are sliding toward the strange and the dark. To the Empire, you are no longer a threat but a scourge."

Such words thoroughly enraged the shadow. It suddenly reared high, and a flood of indescribable murmurs and layer upon layer of rust-colored halos instantly filled the entire room. It roared aloud: "Enough! You have fallen into miserable heresy, and guiding you has indeed been a waste of time—let the Lord's power help you regain your senses!"

Faced with the pressure that abruptly increased upon him, Luo Yan merely watched coldly ahead. He did not retreat; instead he stepped forward. "As I thought... From your state, you have most likely been transformed into something like a wraith or a revenant. In such circumstances, expecting you to retain your reason was indeed a vain hope."

Malм Dunit's shadow seemed not to hear the mockery. He merely raised both hands high, and the rust-colored surge in the room bore down upon Luo Yan: "Sinner! Face the Lord's judgment!"

"You miscalculated one thing," Luo Yan raised his head and said calmly, watching Malм's shadow. "The Augustuses, cursed by the gods for two hundred years, have never feared any so-called 'Lord.'"

He closed his eyes slightly, and when he opened them again, endless starlight had already surfaced in those deep black eyes.

The next second, everything in the reception hall was engulfed by the surging starlight—walls, roof, furnishings... all of it swiftly melted and dissolved within the starlight. A scene of extraordinary splendor, a starry sky such as appears only in human dreams and fantasies, swallowed everything, and with ease swallowed the projection of Malм that was calling upon the God of War's divine power—the latter had time only to let out a shrill howl and a roar of disbelief: "...You dare!"

The resplendent starry sky drowned out Malм's words. Those bright points of light began slowly to rotate within the purple-black smoke, taking on a grotesque, chaotic, bewildering aspect. Luo Yan Augustus stood at the center of this "chaotic starry sky," becoming the pivot around which all the stars revolved.

Listening to the final howl left behind by Malм's projection, he merely sighed faintly: "It does not take much courage to kill a monster."

The next second, the illusion of the chaotic starry sky swiftly contracted and vanished, and the things of the reception hall that had been swallowed returned to Luo Yan's sight. He frowned slightly and shook his head. "Only an insignificant shadow..."

"It does not matter. A shadow is already enough to prove your sincerity," a hoarse, low voice suddenly sounded by his ear—a voice he knew exceedingly well, the voice that every descendant of Augustus would hear, echoing endlessly in the deepest reaches of that nightmare palace. "I did indeed taste it... the power of divinity and faith. A fine appetizer."

"I have shown my sincerity. Now it is time for you to show your stance," Luo Yan said coldly. "Do not forget what you promised."

"Of course, of course—we have both had enough of this mutually tormenting relationship. That is what we share. You make yourself a springboard to let me return to the world 'outside,' and I end the curse upon the Augustus family and never return... A fair bargain, and we both look forward to it," the voice said cheerfully, in a tone of utter sincerity. "I keep my promises more strictly than mortals do. You may rest entirely assured of that—after all, I am the eye of god, and I am above lying and deception."

"That would be best."

...

Gaoyang made his way to the broadest terrace of Meicen's home. Beneath the brilliant night sky of the polar region, he lifted his head and looked toward the mountain peaks where the Council headquarters stood.

Though night still held sway here, by Cecil reckoning it was already morning.

Gaosong's expression was somewhat grave.

For reasons he could not name, a faint unease had been nagging at him since the previous night. At first he had assumed it was the psychological strain of having spoken so long with the Dragon God about the Voyagers, the gods, the Reverse Tide, and the Black Pit. But as his thoughts gradually settled and a night's rest passed, that unease had not diminished in the slightest.

And the night before, he had vaguely sensed something like the "aura" of a Voyager relic. Faint as it was, and lasting less than three minutes, he was certain it had not been an illusion.

Talund did possess a number of Voyager relics, recovered piece by piece from every corner of the land by the dragons, but they had done nothing more than seal those legacies away. Under the Dragon God's absolute rule, no dragon would presume to touch a Voyager relic, let alone activate one. Yet last night Gaoyang was sure he had felt the pulse of some relic being activated... Without question, that was abnormal.

Something might be about to happen. The feeling in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

(End of Chapter)