Chapter 254 - 7.52 Second Violet Star - Prayers
While the situation at the Kingdom Hart had stabilized, the happenings at the Cloud Empire had already reached the outskirts of their territories. The tremors with the lands increase at each time. The roads that lead to the empire had longed to collapse and the impending disaster was about to reach the land where living beings live.
The soldiers and adventurers led by Hero Lucien had protected the kingdom gates. Trying their best to stop the quake from destroying the foundation of their empire. As a warrior-mage Hero, Luciel is able to use mana. Like everyone else in the city, they've used their mana as the source of their protective barrier around the empire.
As a hero he is, Luciel was leading and his source of mana is larger than ordinary people. Normally his existence is enough to block such calamity unfortunately the cause of it is closer to a natural phenomenon. The huge earthquakes and tsunamis the mortal realm is suffering from are only aftereffects caused by the new sovereign god reconstructing his plane. Mortals had no other choice but to accept their fate.
Lots of buildings and houses at the outskirts of the Empire's territory had already fallen. Most people who live so far from the town had died either by their house falling onto them or by the sudden appearance of cracks on the land under their feet. The ones who had it worse were the small villages near the sea. They were swallowed up by huge waves and drowned before they knew it.
Monsters from the forests had run out as well this causes beast tides and destroys every town and village it runs over to. Just like this, the population of the mortal race decreases each day.
Araysh didn't show himself right away after receiving his orders. He only came out when the Cloud Empire had fallen in great peril. It was when Hero Luciel had used up all his mana defending the Empire from not only the natural disaster but also against the beast tides coming over their way.
Once the Hero had fallen, the Regent Raine had taken over the leadership but unlike Hero Luciel he is only purely a warrior class. The moment the barrier around the Cloud Empire broke the aftereffects of the situation had all fallen on their land. Regent Raine did his best to buy his people some time.
Just when he is about to be killed in battle, an unexpected situation happens. Within the diameter surrounding the whole Cloud Empire, a dome made from shadows appeared and enclosed the whole place within it. The last thing the people saw is a figure which looks like a dark elf yet he is floating in the sky looking down emotionless at the incoming beast tide.
This person looks extraordinarily handsome but not to the point of being unworldly. With his broad back facing the residents of the Cloud Empire he raised his hand and gestured a fall. Then as if falling to his command black rain fell from the sky-piercing all the monsters and beasts coming over the human land. It only took one move for him to make the monster tide turn to a dead field instead.
All who had witnessed it were rendered speechless. They were all looking at that man flying in the sky. This person is Araysh and among all the mortals in the Cloud Empire only the guild master Kirk and the regent Raine had recognized who he was.
Standing in the lead of the empire defense force, Kirk and Raine uttered the man's name abruptly.
Kirk and Raine murmured, "Lord Araysh!"
Hearing his name called Araysh slowly falls down to where Kirk and Raine are. He didn't completely land on the ground as the earthquakes' vibration could still be felt despite the barrier Araysh had made. With him standing suddenly in front of everyone, Kirk and Raine took the lead to greet and thanks to him.
"Greetings to Lord Araysh!! Thank you for saving us!!!"
Every person in the Cloud Empire had lowered their heads in gratitude, Araysh took their thanks nonchalantly.
Araysh spoke, "No need for such a gesture. This lord is only following the orders of my Lords. Regent..."
Regent Raine immediately answered to his call, "Yes sir. Please give me any orders needed."
"My Lords cannot get too involved with the problems of the mortals. But still, they could watch your people suffer too much grief and send them here to help. In this whole ordeal, the only territories that received the protection of the Gods are the following lands. This territory, the Cloud Empire, the forbidden land Ivern, the Holy Land Agios, and the small kingdom of Hart.
This earthquake would still continue for days but with the formation, I had put up this land should be okay. After this disaster, you need to be ready. In this calamity, only the Abyss was unaffected even without any gods' protection. I'm sure the demon and fallen races would take this as an opportunity to raise war against humans and be prepared." said Araysh when he suddenly threw a huge crystal at the center of the Empire. It was white in color and was emitting strong mana from within.
"I've used this for the core of the defense formation of the Empire. It only needs a bit of mana to activate it and only needs to stabilize the mana to deactivate. I will give it to you as for whatever you do with it, it will depend on you now." says Araysh before disappearing in thin air.
"Thank you, Lord Aryash!" They've all collectively shouted as Aryash's disappearing figure.
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Back to the Kingdom of Hart. With the golden dragon aiding them, the Crown Prince had been able to rescue the last batch of injured people to the Safe zone but before they could enter the zone, they heard loud and collected roars and growls from beasts and monsters running towards their land.
RRROOOAAARRR!!!!
GRRRR!!!
"What is that sound? Monsters!?"
"It's really monsters! Why are they attacking at this time!!?"
"No, they are not attacking. They want to run away from the disaster!"
"Runaway? Where could they even run? The whole plane is affected by this chaos!!!"
Viktor's face turned serious seeing the large and almost endless herd of monsters and beasts. Though these guys were mostly not here to target them, they also do not care about this small country. Just their numbers alone are enough to trample the whole kingdom.
"Run! We will cover your backs. Run towards the safe zone." said Viktor as he and the knights block the way, planning to buy the survivors sometime.
But some people did not agree, "Your highness please do not mind us any longer. Save yourself!"
"He is right, your highness. You are our future king. You must stay alive until the end. Leave this to us, your highness!" said the knights who came with the crown prince.
The knight captain of the group had grabbed the crown prince and threw him to their comrades who would secure the safety of their future king.
"Unhand me. I can fight as well," said Viktor but none of the knights listened to his words.
The eldest knight looks at the other knight restraining the crown prince.
"I will leave our hope to you, Knight Gin."
With tears strolling down from his eyes the knight saluted and responded, "I will definitely keep the crown prince safe. Please be happy on your journey."
This knight is talking about the final journey this group of knights would be talking about. They were about to sacrifice their lives for the safety of the kingdom. The sudden arrival of a huge beast horde is enough to trample their country but these men are still willing to lay their life before it to buy them some time.
"Kakaka~ this will be quite a fun journey"
"Captain, I will accompany you!"
"Same here!"
"Then I shall as well."
The chosen Knight that was tasked to bring their future king to safety finished his salute.
"I pray for your success!" Then he dragged away from the crown prince with them and rode a horse running away from the entrance of the kingdom without looking back.
Despite being a strong warrior, Viktor Hart's level is still a bit weaker when compared to the old knights from his father's generation. They were able to restrain him regardless of his struggles. The youngest within his father's generation of knights had taken him alone and ran back to the safe zone. The last sight Viktor had seen is the older knights and survivors smiling at him as they see them off.
When is too far away to see them the huge entrance to their kingdom's entrance was seen flying as it was obviously forcefully opened by a strong being? The sounds of humans and beasts fighting were the last thing Viktor had heard from those people who were with him just now.
'Charge! Fight for our Kingdom!'
'Swing your swords, lift up your shield. Knights' duties are to protect our land from all invaders!'
Knowing of his people's sacrifices Viktor Hart could only close his eyes with tears as he prays for a miracle to come and save them.
Victor's prayers, 'I do not know if there is someone out there who can hear my pleas. I beg you, please save my people.'
A sincere prayer coming from his heart and soul. It is more like a plea than a wish. With his eyes closed, Viktor suddenly felt a sudden coldness falling on his face. The temperature abruptly dropped and even his tears were frozen in mere seconds. When he looked up at the sky he saw snow falling from the sky.
Each snowflake had a golden color. It possessed light essence which allows people to feel the warmth and heal all kinds of injuries. The horse they were riding suddenly stopped its tracks. Everyone alive at this moment in any part of the kingdom had looked up above the sky.
A familiar scene and a similar miraculous situation. Each snow cures wounds and injuries. Even a simple bump and bruises were healed. They've remembered this scene from before. It was when their kingdom's guardian had descended.
At the entrance of the kingdom, wounded knights were covered in their own blood and the blood of their enemies. When the snow suddenly fell on them their strength instantly increased and their injuries were healing. While their enemies the beasts and monsters were slowly turning to ice statues and melting on their own turning into a blood mist.
Everyone was stunned. They had all prayed for a miracle in their heart, but never would they have expected that it would really be heard. When Neige's appearance was in the clairvoyance crystal within the barrier room Archmage Alexis and King Argus were also stunned.
Neige is an Ice spirit king. He had never gotten involved with a mortal for years. It was only when Eirwen appeared in their world that this cold-hearted Ice spirit king showed his face to the mortal lands. His arrival right now means that Eirwen Night had sent him over to help them.
Not only the humans were surprised, but even Adasha was also shocked. He had seen all kinds of Gods. Some Gods may act by their whims but... they would never make a personal action like this one.
Obviously, the healing snow is falling all over the whole of Aerd. This is a gesture of whims clearly the new God of Winter chooses to help the mortals this time. But to affect the whole mortal plane which is twice larger than the divine plane.
Moreover, unlike in the divine plane where natural mana is abundant, in this mortal plane, natural mana is scarce so that those who were strong would feel restricted for no reason. But now in front of his face, someone just used a divine aura to cover more than half of the world itself. Something that the Twin Sovereign Gods could only do while they were in the Divine Temple.
{This is unbelievable. Just how strong is the God of Winter to do all this!?} exclaimed Adasha the golden dragon.
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Meanwhile at the private island owned by the twins and Eirwen, as they've always been, never really caring about the events unfolding outside of their house. They were now watching movies to pass their time.
Lucien spoke, "Honey, you made a move?"
"I thought you'd leave it to Neige. Something wrong?" asked Adrienne.
A smile appeared in the corner of his lips and said, "My ears had been ringing nonstop since the disaster had struck. I wanted to end it as soon as possible." says Eirwen.
Lucien and Adrienne immediately understood. As gods, they had the ability to hear the wishes and pleading of mortals who believed them. This is what humans call prayers. Normally Gods would rarely listen to such things but for Eirwen Night who likes quietness, it was a bit hard for him to ignore. Thankfully, only the people of Kingdom Hart knew about his existence.