Rhode spent a lot of effort explaining to everyone what happened. After all, now that his younger sister’s spirit had fused with the body, he had to tell them the truth sooner or later. Upon hearing his words, the group was astonished. Some of them knew about the sibling relationship between the original Void Dragon and him. But Rhode never mentioned that his younger sister’s spirit was living inside him. Now that he told them the truth, it went without saying that they were taken aback.
This also piqued Mini Bubble Gum’s curiosity. She knew that Rhode had a younger sister, but wasn’t sure of the details. Of course, Canary wasn’t that foolish to let Mini Bubble Gum pry as Canary understood his younger sister’s situation more than Mini Bubble Gum. That was why she dragged the two Mini Bubble Gums aside and told them softly. Of course, she left out the parts that couldn’t be made known to them.
As for this crystal that suddenly appeared out of thin air, Stefania, Lydia, and Erin believed that there weren’t any issues associated with it after their investigations. That was because the spiritual power inside the younger sister’s spirit was overly weak. This caused the body to seal up on its own to begin its self-nourishment. Once the spiritual power was absorbed and replenished sufficiently, there wouldn’t be any issues after the body and spirit fused perfectly together.
Since it was guaranteed by them, Rhode felt much more assured now. Of course, he couldn’t do anything else apart from feeling this way. Since he had reached this stage, no one knew what exactly would happen next. Right now, he could only take one step at a time. It would be for the best if his younger sister fused perfectly with the body. But if any accidents were to happen… he would only deal with it then.
As for Stefania, Rhode negotiated a deal with her. If he could protect her from the disturbance of Chaos on the outside and let her return home, she would send a gift in return. This deal wasn’t hard to fulfill on Rhode’s part. As long as he returned to the Dragon Soul Continent, activated the barrier, and transmigrated the continent to the solar system, Stefania would no longer be restricted by space and could move about freely. She accepted Rhode’s offer, which made the latter feel glad. Even though Stefania was a plane merchant, Rhode realized from their earlier clash that her strength wasn’t anywhere weaker than his or Lydia’s. But come to think of it, it actually wasn’t that surprising. Plane merchants roamed every plane of existences and had to have dealings with several unknown races, including dangerous beings. If Stefania lacked this bit of capability, perhaps she would be doomed by now. Of course, in return, Stefania would also provide Rhode an ‘Imperial-Class Star Destroyer’.
The reason why Rhode didn’t choose other peculiar items and specified to have a spaceship was for the sake and future of the Dragon Soul Continent. Even though magical technologies in the Dragon Soul Continent were advanced, they still weren’t that advanced that they were able to roam the universe freely. Although Lydia and Erin could soar to outer space, they were occupied with their heavy, daily affairs. After Rhode returned to the Dragon Soul Continent, even if he decided to immediately research how to create space magic warships, it wouldn’t be that easy. He might as well ask for a spaceship from Stefania since she mentioned that these spaceships were operated automatically and one would be able to control them after reading the manual.
She said it so easily, as though it were as simple as using a rice cooker.
With this spaceship, Rhode wouldn’t need to worry about the situation on Earth. But it was a pity that Stefania was a merchant who wouldn’t commit herself until success was certain. As long as there was a day where she still couldn’t leave the Dragon Soul Continent, she wouldn’t hand over the goods. Come to think of it, Rhode felt really strange looking at her small, empty hands. He wondered where she hid the enormous spaceship…
Due to the sudden change in situation, Rhode had no choice but to come to a halt with his journey. For now, he had to wait for his younger sister’s spirit to recover by itself and fuse with the body before continuing his journey. Now that he had entered the Seven Fantasy Boundaries, he was considered to have returned to his territory of the Dragon Soul Continent. That explained why he wasn’t feeling as anxious and was willing to wait.
However, Rhode didn’t know that while he was idling, the situation in the Dragon Soul Continent was hectic.
Although the group was unable to remove the erosion of Chaos from Lilian’s body, after realizing its source, they came up with ideas and finally stopped the power of Chaos from contaminating the little girl further. However, it was only a stop-gap measure. Marlene and Alice couldn’t come up with specific solutions, not to mention Cassidy. But they had reported this incident to the twin dragons, warning them about the invasion of Chaos.
Just as they expected, the twin dragons were also ambushed by Chaos. However, the twin dragons were prepared for it. Even though Siena tried to capture the Chaos beings alive, she didn’t expect them to self-destruct upon failing their assassination, causing many forests of the Country of Law to be contaminated by Chaos. This caught the twin dragons off guard. As of now, they could only work with elves to clean up the affected region.
But that wasn’t the end. After the ambushes failed, the Creator Dragons’ subordinates, including the moon elves and battle angels, were also attacked and they suffered different degrees of loss. Fortunately, although the enemies were peculiar, they couldn’t free themselves from the power of death, so even though the victims were hurt, only a minority was invaded by Chaos.
This attracted everyone’s attention instantly and they felt insecure. Grandia was doing well under the combined protection of Christie and Marlene. They set up enchanted fields that worked against Chaos, preventing them from sneaking in like before. But it was tougher in other regions, especially the Country of Light, where disorderly situations had broken out. Due to Lilian’s predicament, she was unable to handle public affairs. This sent a wave of panic among the people of the Country of Light. They were already exhausted from the clashes between the Country of Darkness and Void Territory earlier. After Lilian took over, most of them couldn’t care less about the so-called freedom and glory of humans anymore. They only hoped to lead lives peacefully. But all of a sudden, the news of the Light Dragon being seriously-ill spread to their ears, sending them into hysteria and uncertainty. Even though Sonia racked her brain, she could barely come up with any solution. After all, the Country of Light was already beat-up and now, with such a heavy blow, it was almost at its limit.
The Chaos beings were also acting mysteriously. For instance, after a battle angel was ambushed, he slashed off his arm that was eroded by Chaos. But surprisingly, the power of Chaos continued to contaminate the arm and turned it into a black python in the blink of an eye! Fortunately, the other battle angels weren’t only there as decorations. They went up to the black python and eliminated it quickly. If not, no one knew what tough times would be ahead of them.
As for the Munn Kingdom, even though Lydia wasn’t around, Serene kept things under proper control. She was also ambushed by the mysterious beings of Chaos, but as one of the archangels, she didn’t lack battle experiences like Lilian did. She removed the threats quickly, but similar to the Country of Law, the enemies self-destructed and contaminated large territories of the Munn Kingdom, leaving Serene with a huge headache.
Back then, when Christie dealt with them, she eliminated everything, including their traces. So even if they turned into nuclear warheads, they wouldn’t work as they were at their wits’ end. However, the others weren’t as capable as Christie, which was why they suffered from their inattentiveness. But what would give everyone a headache had yet to come.
“These undead creatures are asking for death!”
Cassidy gripped the sword and along with this action, the boundless ocean before her disappeared instantly, only to be replaced by a solid and dry land. Tens of thousands of undead creatures earlier vanished into thin air. Despite that, Cassidy didn’t feel the slightest contentment. On the contrary, she stared grimly and exuded a dense, murderous aura.
The Dragon Soul Continent was in a chaotic mess. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of Chaos beings. Less than 10 of them were spotted, but it was enough to wreak havoc across the entire continent. The twin dragons led the elves in eliminating the pollution in the Country of Law. Serene brought the battle angels in eliminating the spread of Chaos in the Munn Kingdom. Even though the Country of Light wasn’t (possibly) ambushed by Chaos thereafter, its people were panicky after losing Lilian’s lead. What Marlene and the rest didn’t expect was that the Country of Darkness actually seized this opportunity to launch another attack on them. This action made them blow their tops!
This time, Marlene and the other deity wardens didn’t hold back anymore. Without Orchid Heart’s assistance, they retaliated and eliminated them mercilessly. But…
“That’s strange…”
Marlene knitted her brows, gazing ahead at the empty battlefield. Even though the number of undead creatures didn’t matter to the deity wardens, Marlene sharply sensed that the strength of the undead creatures seemed to have increased greatly. If they were high-level undead creatures, it wouldn’t be that surprising. But this time, all of them were low-level ones such as skeletal soldiers, specters, and some common species. However, their strength was so powerful as though they were on a higher rank.
Even though they eventually fell to the hands of the deity wardens, their scattered and all-directional attacks kept Marlene and Cassidy occupied for a while. Ever since Christie was ambushed, Alice uncharacteristically remained in Grandia. She used her ability as the History Deity Warden to monitor the surroundings of Grandia. She was afraid that several Chaos beings would show up just like in other territories and self-destruct… If that happened, the Void Territory would also be implicated.
“Marlene, how about we discuss this matter with Big Sister Christie? We can crush our way into the Darkness Capital and kill that annoying Dark Dragon. I can’t believe that a mere dragon soul heir like him dares to offend us over and over again; he must be sick of living already! Oh, by the way, we have to get His Majesty’s dragon essence back from the twin dragons. Now that they’re having a hard time defending themselves, how could they even protect His Majesty’s dragon essence well?”
“… You’re right.”
Marlene nodded slightly to Cassidy. Even though the twin dragons swore to protect Rhode’s dragon essence, these deity wardens didn’t feel assured. There weren’t many troubles earlier and Rhode handed his dragon essence over to the twin dragons as a way to express his standpoint and prevent the Dark Dragon from laying hands on him. Now that the Country of Darkness shed all pretenses of cordiality, it was no longer secure to leave the dragon essence with the twin dragons. Marlene had her own intelligence channel, so she was aware that the Country of Law wasn’t in a safe state right now. As the Country of Law was a nation of nature and full of living creatures, the self-destructed Chaos beings had managed to infiltrate a huge portion of their land, causing a large patch of forest to turn into a land of Chaos. This shook the twin dragons. They had never seen such a brazen presence of Chaos under the protection of Order. They overlooked the situation and were suffering the consequences. Now that Siena and the elves were doing their best to eradicate Chaos, Nalea was the only one protecting Rhode’s dragon essence, which was an unwise decision. Marlene didn’t support this idea in the first place, and now she felt increasingly uncertain. Due to this reason, upon listening to Cassidy’s remarks, Marlene pondered in silence and nodded.
“Alright, let’s head to the Country of Law right now.”
Even though this action was as though they looked down upon the twin dragons, Marlene couldn’t care less about it now. Was respect or life more important? If Chaos were to ambush again and something happened to Rhode’s dragon essence, it would be too late to weep in regret. For some unknown reason, Marlene had a really bad feeling. She nodded to Cassidy quickly and both of them metamorphosed into two light columns that flew to the other end of the sky.
If Marlene knew what was going on in the Country of Law right now, perhaps she would be even more anxious.
“Oh-no-no, may I know what you are doing here, Your Majesty Ion?”
Nalea placed both hands on her hips, narrowed her eyes slightly at the Dark Dragon, and presented her usual, fuzzy smile as though she were half-awake. Meanwhile, Ion put up a grim look. His mighty and determined face had become incomparably skinny and was filled with beard stubble as though he were a beggar who didn’t eat food or take a bath for a dozen days. Not only that, but he also set off a sinister, ice-cold aura from head to toe, where even the green, lush grassland around him dried up as though they were completely dead.
“Apologies for intruding, Your Majesty Nalea.”
“It’s fine, my younger sister went to clean up the mess. I’m idling on my own, so it’s better to have someone to talk to. But your visit surprised me, Your Majesty Ion. I thought you were busy nowadays, but it seems like you’re having a leisurely time too.”
In her usual muddle-headed self, Nalea waved her hand and replied with a smile as though she didn’t notice Ion’s peculiar appearance one bit. Ion stared at her grimly and didn’t say a word. In an instant, both of them fell into an awkward silence. But Nalea apparently wasn’t mindful about it. She focused her attention on savoring the tasty dessert on the plate before her, not forgetting to lick the crumbs off her fingers. She didn’t feel like she was being respectful at all. Ion continued to stare at her and when she finished the dessert on her plate, he broke the silence.
“Your Majesty Nalea, I’ve come here to borrow something from you.”
“Borrow something?”
Upon hearing his words, Nalea cocked her head dubiously.
“Look for Siena if you want to borrow something. This isn’t within my control.”
“It isn’t necessary. It will be fine as long as you hand it over to me, Your Majesty Nalea.”
“No, no.”
Even though Ion sounded weird, Nalea’s reaction remained unchanged. She waved her hand and spoke in a homely attitude.
“I can’t. Siena knows I’m stupid, so she never lets me safeguard anything. Your Majesty Ion, even if you ask me to hand anything over, I have nothing with me…”
Swish——!
Before Nalea finished her sentence, Ion dashed ahead like a specter, extending his arms and aiming for her body. Ion’s movement was so quick that Nalea was still shaking her head and answering him. In the blink of an eye, he arrived before her and stretched out his right hand abruptly.
“Woah!”
The instant Ion stretched out his right arm, Nalea finally reacted. She shrieked, hugged her head, and squatted down to dodge from his menacing claws. At the next moment, Nalea suddenly vanished and reappeared at a position five meters away from Ion. She gazed at him curiously.
“Your Majesty Ion, surely you haven’t changed your profession to a bandit? Your Darkness Capital is so much richer than us; we don’t have anything worthy for you to pillage.”
“Hand over the Void Dragon’s dragon essence!”
This time, Ion was almost screaming at the top of his lungs. He glared at the young lady. His pitch-black eyes were filled with the color of blood as though he were a crazy monster. If Nalea were an ordinary human, she would have fainted from his intense, terrorizing gaze. However, Nalea seemed as though she didn’t notice Ion’s strange behaviors and merely waved her arms before her.
“No can do. His Majesty Rhode entrusted me with it. Besides, Siena makes the call here. You’re better off looking for her.”
“Hmph!”
Upon hearing her response, Ion snarled furiously. He swung his right arm abruptly and along with this movement, a roaring dark energy exploded and rushed toward the young lady from all directions. But at the next moment, a green brilliance flashed. The dark energy erupting from Ion’s hand dissipated like snow melting away in the sun, disappearing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
“Oh-no-no, Your Majesty Ion, this can’t do.”
Nalea stood in a slanted posture, smiling at Ion. But now, there was a long staff in her hand and at the tip of it was a balancing scale.
“It isn’t right to steal from others, okay, Your Majesty Ion? That is rude on your part. Besides, if His Majesty Rhode were to know about this, he may…”
“Shut your trap!”
Before Nalea finished her sentence, Ion bellowed and dashed toward her again. Along with his furious snarls, the dark energy spiraling around him coalesced and expanded instantly, transforming into the enormous shadow of the dark dragon that snapped its jaw open at Nalea. Facing this attack from Ion, Nalea’s expression remained unchanged. She waved the staff in her hand gently and along with this movement, the balancing scale at the tip swayed gently.
Bang!
However, as the balancing scale moved, the enormous shadow of the dark dragon twisted as though it lost its balance. Looking at this scene, Nalea grinned. But at the next moment, she widened her eyes slightly.
Not only did the distorted shadow of the dark dragon not shatter like Nalea expected, but it also changed its form into a gigantic snake, continuing its aggression at her. At the same time…
Swish———!
A dazzling magical light streaked across the sky in an instant, striking directly at the humongous snake and erupting violent waves of spiritual radiances. This attack made Ion come to halt instantly. He glanced at the sky, turned into a shadow, and flew toward the other direction without looking back. But at that moment, a greenish figure pierced through the air and gave chase.
“Where do you think you’re going, you bast*rd!”
Cassidy screamed and slashed the long sword in her hands from above. The distinct and powerful airflow of black and white flashed across her blade. But at the next moment, Ion burst forward at an unprecedented speed, disappearing in sight.
“Cassidy!”
At that moment, Marlene arrived beside Cassidy and gazed.
“How can you do that?”
“Why not? That bast*rd is only a dragon soul heir; how dare he cast eyes on His Majesty’s dragon essence. Hmph. I would have slashed him to death if he didn’t escape that fast!”
“Sigh…”
Upon hearing her comments, Marlene shook her head. She let out a sigh, lowered her gaze to Nalea below, and forced a helpless smile.
“We’re sorry for the intrusion, Your Majesty Nalea.”
