CHAPTER 533

FLAMES OF DESTRUCTION (IV)

Y’nn sat in heavy silence, quietly staring at the man sitting opposite of him, taking frequent sips from the cup of ale. The news that the man just shared with him struck at Y’nn’s core, and he had to do everything in his power not to crumble beneath it. He, much like everyone else, had firmly come to believe that the Era of Peace was about to fall upon Noterra. The Empyrion had won. Though it couldn’t be said it unified the world, the dissenting voices were few and far in-between, and hardly enough to make a dent in the massive Empire.

Yet, Lino had just informed him of reality. The gruff-looking man endowed with thick hair and beard, both of which were showing the signs of aging, sounded casual when he spoke of the imminent invasion, yet Y’nn could hardly allow himself the same attitude.

Staring at the man, Y’nn had numerous questions, yet couldn't voice them. It was his first time talking to Lino face to face, but what shocked him even beyond the news he received was the pressure exuded from his body. It was akin to Ella's – no, perhaps even greater -- when he fought against her for the first time. And, at that time, she had fully unveiled her strength. Yet, right now, Lino was merely drinking ale, seeming as relaxed as though he was enjoying a drink with a friend.

“… are you certain?” Y’nn asked.

“Yup.” Lino nodded, smiling faintly. “What? You scared?”

“… I’ve lived too long to be scared of something like that,” Y’nn shrugged. “But, the question still remains: can we even win?”

“We’ll win.” Lino said confidently.

“What gives you the confidence?” Y’nn asked.

“My strength.” Lino’s reply caused Y’nn to nearly topple over from the chair and onto his side. The answer was so simple, and perhaps expected to a certain degree, yet was still shocking nonetheless. “I’ll take the brunt of it all. I just need you to assist Hannah and others so that the small-fry don’t slip past me and land on Noterra. Naturally, I wouldn’t be sending you out in your current state. To be blunt, you’re too weak. But, you have the greatest potential not to die from my help.”

“… oh? So there’s still a chance I might die?” Y’nn smiled bitterly. He didn’t get offended by being called weak. However many souls he reigned over was irrelevant to Lino, who reigned over the entire world.

“That will be up to you,” Lino smiled faintly, taking another sip of ale. “Truth is that, even if you do fully develop, you might still die in a war. Though I called them nothing, the supporting force is that only in my eyes. For the rest of you, they’re equivalents to the strongest force you’ll ever face.”

“What’s their average strength?” Y’nn asked.

“Hmm,” Lino pondered for a moment. “They would be akin to me after I killed the Primes.”

“… ugh.” Y’nn swallowed a bitter remark, shaking his head with a sigh. “That’s… ugh..”

“Ha ha ha, it’s quite hilarious; Hannah had the same reaction when I first told her.” Lino chuckled for a moment, taking out a bottle of ale and filling his cup back up. “Nearly skinned me alive, that woman.”

“—how many of us will be there?” Y’nn asked.

“Hmm, even if I exert as much as possible, truth is that I expect only about twenty to be able to put up a fight.”

"… twenty against hundreds? If not thousands and tens of thousands? Ah, I know you're the Empyrean, but your levels of insanity still shouldn't have reached that high…"

“It’s always easier to defend than it is to attack,” Lino said, smiling faintly. “You’ll be fighting within the formations, and with the gear I crafted for you. I don’t need you to kill them all. I just need you to hold on until I’m done.”

“How long would you need?” Y’nn asked.

"If it's just Ella, not too long; if there's one more besides her, then slightly longer. Any more than that, and we're talking at least days if not weeks. However, if I sense things growing too dire, I won't hold back."

“…” Y’nn bit his lower lip. He had no intention of refusing Lino’s offer; rather, he couldn’t refuse it even if he didn’t want to. He was still the leader of the Heaven Sect, and he would be fighting for them more so than for Lino. If he had a chance to be a variable that would lead to salvation, he’d happily embrace the role, even if it meant his death. “Even if we win, what if they send more? Even you’d eventually become exhausted.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Lino smiled cheekily. “If they fail to win this time around, it will be a long while before they’ll dare to try another time. You’re in?”

“… haah, of course I’m in. Is there any other choice?” Y’nn shrugged. “If I die, I just hope you’ll take care of my children.”

“… don’t surrender yourself to death that easily,” Lino said, getting up. “You’ve survived me, old man. I guarantee you that no other obstacle in your life will be quite as taxing.”

“… ha ha ha…”

Lino quietly left the room, leaving Y’nn to ponder on the future. The former had a relaxed expression because he had to; his confidence in the endeavor lit the fire in the hearts of others. They would win – Lino never allowed them to question the outcome of the war. However, with each conversation, he felt the burden on his shoulders growing heavier. He couldn’t fail now even if he tried to.

He let go of a corrupt breath he was holding as he made way down the complex set of well-lit, white-cast corridors of the Fortress. His room wasn’t far away so it only took him a few minutes until he reached it; opening it, he found several figures already waiting for him inside. Ataxia—no, now he began calling himself Eldon again, Reli, Elta and Hannah. The three former Writs have recovered rather quickly from their unusual situation, which was largely aided by Hannah who hardly left their side in the past few months.

“He agreed?” Hannah was the one to break the silence, smiling.

“Did he have a choice?” Lino shrugged as he sat down. He immediately noticed a slightly tense atmosphere between the three former Writs; Reli and Elta, a pair of sisters, were sitting further ways of from Eldon who tried his best to look calm. “Anyway, there aren’t many more cards I can play with confidence. What about the progress of the formation?”

“Primul sent us the report just a few hours ago,” Hannah said. “He should be done within a week.”

“Cannons?”

“Ready and armed,” Elta said; she had a slightly pitched voice which went well with her rather childish face and features. Tsk, it’s kind of scary how well she pairs with Ally… Lino thought inwardly. It’s like the two were meant to be… Elta, formerly known as Alison’s Writ of Immortality, held her guard up still against Lino. “Concentration is sparse, however, due to the lack of materials.”

“It’s fine,” Lino said. “They’re meant to serve the supporting role anyway. All of you tested out your items?”

“Hm,” Reli nodded, smiling faintly at Lino. “You really went above and beyond, haven’t you?”

“Did I have a choice?” Lino repeated the line, smiling bitterly. “Anyway, thank you for your assistance.”

“Did we have a choice—”

“Let’s not turn it into a joke,” Hannah quickly interrupted Elta’s attempt, causing the latter to pout at her. Shit, is she really as old as Reli and Eldon? No way… Lino thought as he observed her behavior. “We don’t have long, so we should return to training and getting as strong as possible with what little time we have.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Eldon spoke for the first time from the side, causing the eyes of everyone else to veer toward him – all except Lino’s. “The key difference is that none of us save for Hannah had made the transition. We’re still bound by the Noterra’s laws, which limits how strong we can get. Any further push in strength will be extremely limited and just a waste of time. I’d rather we help Hannah transition from Tier 0 to Tier 1 Divinity.”

“—individual’s strength is limited—”

“He’s right,” Lino interrupted Hannah. “They’re already strong enough, with the formations that is, to hold on against the others. You, however, at your current level, will be of limited help. Even if Eldon said nothing, I would have suggested the same thing.”

“The two are right,” Reli nodded after a short silence. “Formations and Lino’s items will be enough to make up for the gap for us, but no amount of formations or items will help you, Hannah.”

"… fine." Hannah relented with a sigh, in the end, shaking her head.

“How long will you need to build the Edifice?” Eldon asked Lino after a few minutes of silence.

“Hmm,” Lino pondered for a moment. “It depends on the difficulty of the battle. If I have enough wiggle room, I’ll actively extract the Essence of Chaos from our clashes which means it won’t take that long, but if the battle turns out to be difficult… even I can’t say with confidence.”

“It’s the key to standing up to them,” Eldon said. “Without the Edifice, they’ll just keep attacking.”

"I'm well aware," Lino shrugged. "But I can't force it. It'll be the cornerstone of who we are for eternity. That's not something you build lightly."

The silence fell among the group once again as everyone withdrew to their thoughts. Though the battle was still at least three-four months away, nobody was at ease. After all, it wasn’t merely a battle of life and death; it would determine the fate of every single soul on Noterra. That’s not the sort of a burden anyone took lightly.

**

Alan had a tensed expression on his face, sweat dripping down. He wasn't an exception, however – tens of thousands of brothers and sisters in arms standing, or rather, floating, by his side were the same. After a long and grueling journey that lasted over six months, they were finally here. Their destination – a small, almost unremarkable world called Noterra – floated right in front of their eyes, a visible shield of rainbow-dyes cast above its surface, protecting it.

However, it wasn't the planet that drew their eyes, nor the twenty or so souls that stood on the same eye-level as them, waiting. It was a singular man floating higher up, 'sitting' cross-legged. He had a terribly dark countenance about himself, his long hair violently jerked back in the open vacuum of space, moving in slow motion almost. A pair of abyss-black eyes completely ignored them, yet, even so, exuded the kind of pressure that managed to crush all the will they've gathered during their journey.

Alan quickly realized that Agent of Chaos was far more than they were led to believe; even if he cloned himself a million times, he would still fail to even approach the man, let alone land a proper hit. It was the sort of pressure that not even the three Agents of Order accompanying them were able to exude.

Beyond him, however, there was another presence among the twenty that drew the eyes of the few, Alan included; it was a human woman, seemingly in her thirties, sporting a breathtaking, crimson hair and a pair of emerald-green eyes that shimmered like stars in the open blackness. Though her overall presence paled in comparison to that of the man above, it was still at the very least at the level of Agent Elanor.

“--,” in the midst of perennial silence, a voice spoke. It was a deep voice, one seemingly reaching from the bowels of hell and into the world. “.” Over ten million swords of light spread infinitely out of the man and covered the space around him and the three Agents. It signaled the start – the start of the battle that would undoubtedly be etched even in the most exclusive tomes of Cosmic Histories.