Chapter 1534 — The Resonance Between Two Brutes
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 5
Amid the boundless expanse of stars, a cool yet gentle gaze seemed to look down. Prince Nash felt that gaze, and his soul trembled faintly; then he told his mistress everything that had happened here. After a moment's wait he received a reply, and the faint sense of being watched subsided—the starry sky vanished, the inverted land reappeared above the dim palace, and Bernadette's voice came from beside him: "You communed quickly enough. What did the Lady of Night say—why is your face like that?"
Prince Nash's expression was more than strange; he stared at Bernadette almost blankly, his tone drifting: "I told the Lady what the visitors did..."
Bernadette frowned and studied him. "Yes, I know. And then?"
"The Lady said to me: Badass."
Bernadette: "......?"
Prince Nash: "...Don't look at me like that. I don't know why either."
"Don't you think... the Lady has been a little odd ever since she awoke?" The silence on the terrace lasted no one knew how long before Bernadette finally could not help breaking it. "I know it sounds a bit rude, but you know as well as I do—last time the Lady even hosted a group of lost mortals at the throne, and lately she... Of course, my judgment may be off. After all, I was created only after the Lady fell asleep, and all I know is what's recorded in the Great Library. But you should know what the Lady was originally like..."
"Perhaps the long slumber has changed the Lady of Night somewhat, or perhaps in her long life she has actively wished to try something new," Nash said with a shake of his head. "In truth, the Lady's temperament years ago was already rather unusual among the gods. Of course, her situation then may not have been quite so severe... Never mind. We should not discuss such presumptuous matters. Since the Lady has acknowledged the visitors' actions, it means such behavior will not provoke backlash from Ashfall City—open the gate, Bernadette."
...
"I think something in that city is watching us," said Maggie at the edge of the camp. She had already assumed human form, and now she suddenly lifted her head and frowned at the inverted city in the sky. "There's been a faint sense of being watched ever since a moment ago."
Beside her, Mo Jin was busy layering shields, resistances, and blessings onto the several mage eyes he had summoned. Hearing this, he too glanced up at the sky, and the old mage shrugged, looking unruffled. "Normal. A city that size floating in the sky, and the legendary 'Ashfall City' at that—there's bound to be something 'alive' in there. And we made enough racket knocking on the door just now. It'd be strange if nothing in the city were watching."
"Then why haven't they taken any action?" Dai Lan frowned from the other side. "Didn't you say this was an invitation from Lady Night? How did it turn into this? You fired anti-air guns at the sky, and Ashfall City answered with silence..."
"How should I know? It's not as if those few shells happened to kill everyone in the city," Mo Jin said, puffing at his mustache. "That's Lady Night's gatekeeper, after all. A few small-caliber anti-air guns should amount to no more than a hearty knock on the door for a city like that... All right, the mage eyes are ready. I'll send these things up and have a look."
As he spoke, the old mage waved a hand at the sky, and several fully equipped mage eyes drifted wobblingly away from the group and began flying toward the inverted city. A normal mage eye was usually no bigger than a man's fist, but each of Mo Jin's had been worked over until it was about the size of half a carriage, layered all around with every manner of shielding spell—which made Maggie mutter, "Every time I see them, I have to say, it's a wonder they can still fly."
Mo Jin waved a hand at that. "Of course they can fly. Magical shields have no weight. They just look thick..."