Appearing between them was one of the three archangels—Serene, who was missing. But she wasn’t looking good. Her attire was tattered, burned, and stained by smoke all over. The iridescent aura around her also dimmed greatly. Fortunately, she didn’t turn into a lackey of Chaos like Boulder, at the very least. But even so, Serene grimaced at the sight of Boulder. She turned around and gazed intricately at the blazing city covered in thick billows of smoke and on the verge of destruction. Then, she shifted her gaze to Alice and the massive warship behind her.
“Apologies… but… could you let me handle this matter, Your Majesty?”
“…”
Serene’s voice rang in everyone’s ears. Lilian was taken aback. She turned to Rhode and was speechless. Rhode squinted at Serene. Regarding the disagreement between the three archangels, he had more or less heard about it through his understanding and investigation, as well as what Lydia told him. The reason was due to Lilian. As Lilian was found and brought back to the Country of Light by the parliament, they imprisoned her dragon soul power using an unknown method. As a result, the three archangels were extremely sensitive with her presence. They were perplexed and wondered if they should recognize and accept this dragon soul heir who was related to ‘Chaos’. Lydia held a determined attitude. Even though Lilian was the ‘crime suspect’, it was unfair to treat her as a minion of Chaos before she ‘committed a crime’. Besides, even if her dragon soul power was sealed, this proved that she indeed was the selected dragon soul heir. In this case, since the archangels were her subject, they had to stay dedicated to her.
Serene had some reservations to her opinions. Even though she agreed with Lydia about being ‘loyal’, she also thought that Lilian was currently a threat. It wasn’t for just a day or two that Chaos was monitoring the dragon soul power. Perhaps even Lilian wasn’t aware and she might unknowingly become a chess piece of Chaos and a core part of the plan. As a result, Serene thought that the archangels must stay vigilant, which was why her attitude toward Lilian wasn’t as passionate as Lydia’s and was more indifferent.
On the other hand, Boulder had an entirely different opinion from the other two archangels. To him, it was a humiliation and absolutely unacceptable, evil deed for the dragon soul power to be imprisoned by Chaos. If it weren’t for the most basic relationship between superior and subject, perhaps Boulder would have harbored the intention to kill Lilian. This was why his attitude toward Lilian was the worst. Maybe Lilian wasn’t a dragon soul heir in his eyes, but a vessel and evil minion of Chaos who had her dragon soul heir sealed.
But now, he didn’t have the right to say such things anymore.
“Stay back for now, Alice.”
Rhode ordered and Alice remained silent. As one of the six Deity Wardens, she was far stronger than the three archangels. Judging from the previous attack from Boulder, it was apparent that he had almost unleashed his maximum strength and yet was nearly killed by Alice instead. If he weren’t corrupted by Chaos and gained a certain degree of resistance toward Order, perhaps he would have died before Serene even showed up. This went to show that under Order, the strength of the six Deity Wardens was incomparable. Maybe even Lydia, who was invincible under the sun, would suffer in Alice’s hands. Even if Serene were to become a traitor and fight against Alice alongside Boulder, no one was sure who would have the final win. In this case, Rhode didn’t mind pulling back for now. Anyway… Rhode gazed at the system prompt at this thought.
Anyway… destroying Casabianca was just along the way.
Since Alice had received an order, she closed the book in her hands and slowly retreated. Serene nodded to the young lady with gratitude, before turning around to face Boulder once again. She stared at his wings and hair that had changed colors due to the corruption of Chaos.
“… You’ve changed, Boulder.”
“Everyone is changing…”
Boulder responded. He wasn’t as stubborn toward Serene. He shot a glance at the magic warship and said, “You’ve seen it for yourself, Serene. The burning city and spirits of the dead; they struggled, wailing in agony, before eventually losing their lives. You should also know the reason behind all this, right, Serene?”
“Of course… but…” Serene hesitated before continuing. “This is in line with the contract, isn’t it? Boulder? They violated the creation rules and this is the punishment they deserved. Greed, naivety, and wild ambitions—they reached out their hands toward something they shouldn’t, yearned to gain power and authority that doesn’t belong to them, enjoyed the results and weren’t willing to bear the responsibilities. This city has long been degraded and corrupted. What they’re facing now is the consequence they deserve, isn’t it?”
“That’s right; contract, rules.”
Boulder revealed a smile to Serene’s answer. But the smile on his stiff face turned out strange and twisted. He slowly drew the sword, gazing at his past companion. This time, his voice was filled with unprecedented anger.
“This is the reason for my choice, Serene. We are bound to destruction, after all. If only I were more determined to kill her back then, perhaps pain would have been temporary and eventually, the honor of light would continue to shine on this country. But now? You’ve seen the results for yourself, Serene.”
“… That is why you submitted yourself to Chaos?”
Serene hardened her attitude toward Boulder. He was her past companion and the time that they spent together was longer than the time Lydia had been alive. They once served two terms of Light Dragons, but they were enemies now. Even if Boulder was already badly hurt by Alice and half his body had shrunk, Serene had no intention of pitying him.
Chaos and Order—from ancient times until present and future, they were mortal enemies. There was no explanation, reason, communication, or need for peace. The only contact they had was through battles, where either one of them would live or die. Suppressed Chaos would become part of Order, while shattered Order would become the start of Chaos. This was an unexplainable cycle. As Serene spoke, the heavy tome in her hands trembled and transformed into a glorious spear engraved with endless runes.
“Order Spear.”
Boulder knitted his brows slightly at the spear in Serene’s hands. Of course, he knew how powerful Serene was as just wisdom alone was far from enough to obtain her current position. The Order Spear allowed Serene to freely alter and even create Order unique to her. For instance, she could set a rule where all attacks on the spear would be deflected. In this case, the enemies wouldn’t be facing attacks from her only. But even so, Boulder had solutions to deal with that. Although he possessed considerable destructive power, after he was corrupted by Chaos, he sensed that his control over Order had become increasingly weaker. But even so, this didn’t mean that he was weak.
Because he gained a whole new strength. The strength of Chaos.
“Alice.”
The corner of Rhode’s eye twitched at this scene.
“Be cautious. If anything goes wrong, pull Serene back to safety, understood?”
“… Yes, Your Majesty,” Alice said.
Even though the young lady leisurely watching the battle felt rather dubious at Rhode’s order, she eventually nodded in agreement. Of course, even though Serene seemed weaker than Boulder right now, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t defeat him. But since Rhode said so, Alice could only obey and execute his wills as the subject. Of course, Alice was totally unaware of Rhode’s reaction when he saw the spear that Serene summoned. Ancient Spear: Grade E. You sure have terrible luck to choose this weapon out of all the choices. How unlucky…
At this moment, the battle began.
Serene raised the spear in her hands and brought a trail of afterimages toward Boulder as she dashed forward. Boulder frowned, extending his arms and the murky flames around him started erupting and blazing into several tornadoes that spun toward Serene with their wide-opened mouths, attempting to devour her completely.
“Transform!”
Serene snarled as the flames hit her face. The spear engraved with various runes and rules emanated a mesmerizing, golden radiance in her hands. She pushed her arms and thrust the spear forward. The golden radiance on the spear dazzled increasingly along with her movements when suddenly, it transformed, splitting into two, four, and in the blink of an eye, hundreds of spears whistled across the sky, aiming at Boulder. The instant the golden spears collided with the scorching flames, the flames transformed into a blizzard, gusting icy-cold winds at Boulder. Facing the sudden blizzard, Boulder scoffed and raised his left hand. The flames on his blade began turning into the mysterious tone of darkness. Then, he swung the sword forward.
The dark flames tore the sky apart, clashing heavily with the powerful blizzard.
