Chapter 714: Heaven’s Blessing
The tension electrified the air as more soldiers brought cuffed smugglers or bleeding corpses. Arthur and Lyle, leader of the rebellion, stared at each other with the same apathetic expression.
“Feels like staring at yourself in the mirror, huh?” said Rain with amusement, which the rest did not share. Arthur revealing the name of their leader was almost as if he was asking for death.
“I’m confused,” said Lyle as he unsheathed his sword. “What makes you commit such a thing, even though you know it will make us enemies? If you knew nothing, I would’ve let you and Rain do whatever you wanted. But now,” Lyle said and slashed with his sword, and the next moment the giant man’s head rolled on the floor, “I need to take extreme measures.”
“Take it easy, Lyle,” said Rain as she stood between the two. “Arthur here is not an enemy. If he were, he wouldn’t have helped us take over this ship with zero causalities. Did you hear what I said? Thanks to him, we are taking over this ship, not destroying it!”
“He knows too much,” said Spider with a frown. “Although he’s capable, we cannot trust him. This will ruin our operation before it even begins.”
“I doubt I was the nail in the coffin,” said Arthur. “This operation of yours is no more than a joke. Do you expect to take down a superpower with some undisciplined soldiers and a bunch of artificial artifacts?”
“You seem to be seeking trouble with us,” said Lyle with confusion. “What is the reason? Is this because of this man’s actions?” the knight pointed at the beheaded man. “If so, this should be more than enough.”
“These words aren’t meant to offend you but to point out the obvious. Once that man heard that, I could hear his mind. He started begging me to save him in return for info about you. He gave quite a lot before you killed him.”
“Arthur, enough,” said Rain with a smile. “Any more than this, and not even I can protect you. You are making your existence quite the threat to our organization.”
“It is too late indeed and quite unfortunate,” said Lyle as he rotated his sword toward Arthur. An azure aura exploded from the knight’s body as he closed his eyes. “However, everything is for the future.”
The man snapped his eyes open and disappeared into a burst of wind that took over the deck. Arthur’s robes began fluttering as Rain clicked her tongue and looked around.
“Lyle! Take it easy! We can talk this out!” said Rain as she raised her hands. However, she froze in place. “Spider, let go of me,” scowled Rain, but the short woman was expressionless as her red eyes looked at her.
“He has a wind ability that can even turn him into the wind?” smiled Arthur with surprise. “I do admit it can be quite useful to assassinate the emperor, but you overestimate yourself, Lyle.”
Arthur took a step forward and walked past Rain. Spider raised her other hand at him, and Arthur could feel something take hold of his body. However, a single rune was enough to counter the restraints.
“Break,” muttered Arthur, and Spider groaned in pain as she staggered back. Arthur walked through the windy deck as all soldiers prepared to attack him. “I heard the names and positions of all three rebellion leaders.”
“Arthur! Stop antagonizing them!” shouted Rain behind him, but Arthur did not stop walking. The wind left deep gushes on the deck, but none of them managed to hit him.
“The first one is you, Lyle Mantra, and a captain of the Holy Knights led by his majesty,” revealed Arthur, which made the wind blow harder and the gushes on the ship dig deeper. “As for the second one, it’s Rain, whose identity no one knows. The third…”
“Close your mouth,” said a voice from the wind as something rushed toward Arthur. In return, Arthur smiled and disappeared, appearing above empty space, and brought his elbow down. The attack was about to strike open air, but it suddenly hit the armored back of Lyle, who arrived at that spot. The knight slammed to the ground as the armor got indented into his back, making him cough the air out of his lungs.
“Boss!” shouted Spider as she wanted to rush forward, but Arthur seized Lyle’s neck and pinned him to the ship. The woman stopped moving, as did the rest of the knights.
“The third person you claimed to be leading your rebellion is Arthur Silvera, the Guild Master of Ascent. You used this lie to draw in people who wanted to join the guild but could not because of the emperor. You became the voice of Ilios and the rebel by borrowing another man’s fame without his knowledge.”
“Let… go!” shouted Lyle as he slammed his hands on the ground. Then, he turned into nothing but air, which slipped through Arthur’s fingers before a domain appeared on the ship. Leaves flew in the window around them as Lyle appeared far from Arthur.
Cling!
The indented armor fell on the ground as Lyle took it off. He was heavily breathing as he stared at Arthur with cold eyes. It seems he wasn’t angry about being struck but about the fact Arthur revealed his ploy.
“You are talking nonsense,” said Lyle as he stretched his body. “How would you know if I was lying or not? I have no idea who you are, but I can tell that I can’t let you live. You understand that too, Rain.”
Rain sighed and turned toward Arthur with confusion. She was no longer restrained by Spider but didn’t attempt to help Arthur after what he said. Instead, she stood with Lyle.
“Why did you say all of that?” asked Rain with a frown. “You should have… kept quiet, even if you knew. We didn’t lie about the Spark of Rebellion.”
“I would disagree,” said Arthur as he turned toward the two. “I know that that man does not lead your rebellion. If you want to know how then you will have to beat me. Two hundred soldiers here on this ship can take me down. All of you are welcome to join.”
“Is this your purpose since the beginning? You wanted to drag us into an all-out fight against you?” asked Lyle. Arthur shrugged and simply motioned with his hands for them to attack. “All of you, stand back! I will handle this!” said Lyle.
“Oh, what prideful man,” amused Arthur. “You think you can take me down just because you are a deme-ranker, and I’m a Vetus-ranker?”
“I know that won’t be enough, so I will have to use a special gift I received,” said Lyle as he ripped off his shirt. His body was lined with muscles, but what caught Arthur’s attention was a tattoo that gave out an eerie power. “Grant me strength, Supernova.”
A star twinkled in the dawn sky, and green flames exploded from Lyle’s body. It melted down the ship instantly, and the man disappeared like before as he raced toward Arthur.
“What is the source of this power?” muttered Arthur as he raised his hands. “Is he a dual-ability user? Of course, but that shouldn’t be possible.”
The green flames surrounded Arthur, and something rushed from them that was too fast for anyone to see. Arthur realized it was a green phoenix of fire that was a moment away from striking him.
Arthur teleported, and the phoenix struck empty air. Rain and the soldiers looked around for Arthur, as did the phoenix, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“In the sky!” shouted Spider, and all turned toward the sky to see a giant cloud of flames gathering above them. Arthur was descending from the sky as flames surrounded his body with a grin on his face.
“I also have flames of my own!” said Arthur as the flames swallowed him, turning into a red flaming phoenix that dived toward the ship.
“Are you mocking me?” frowned Lyle as the green flames covered him again, and he turned into the green phoenix before he soared into the sky. The two flaming creatures rushed toward each other before colliding and exploding in the sky, creating a cloud of half green and half red fire.
“The two are evenly matched,” muttered Spider with shock.
“No,” replied Rain with a frown. “Lyle is losing,” as she said, the red flames overtook the green, and two figures bolted from within them and crashed into the ship.
Boom!
The ship began to sway in the sky under the impact of the two, and most soldiers were thrown toward the railings under the impact of the fight. Rain and Spider were the only two who managed to stay on their feet as they tried to see what had happened.
“You want to know why I said you were lying?” Arthur said as he pinned Lyle down with his foot. “I will tell you since you proved stronger than I anticipated.”
Arthur placed his hand on his face, which began to morph. His features got blurry in front of their eyes and took a different appearance, which made the crowd shake.
“You all lied about Arthur Silvera being the third leader because I never agreed to join,” said Arthur as his actual face left the crowd speechless. Lyle opened his eyes with difficulty as he stared at Arthur, and instead of being shocked, he smiled.
“The irony of our meeting is laughable, but it might be heaven’s mercy,” said Lyle before he started laughing. As for the rest of the crowd, none of them could say a thing.
