The highest floor of Valhena Tower had a silence no one had dared approach for years. The man who lived there, Commander Yuhen, resided in a solitary stone cell. His eyes were not blind, but they rarely opened to see, for what he gazed upon lay beyond the flesh.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3dgAMbcBY
The Xhu seeping from his doorway began to change with the first vibrations of dawn. A pressure hung in the air; every breath grew heavier. As the commander rose in his bed, he whispered before his eyelids opened:
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzQaJJELcb
“What powerful Xhu...”
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg26JPpbqF7
The guard had changed downstairs. Palir, Guroa, and Shuan ascended the stairs. They paused. No one spoke in front of the door. They merely exchanged glances. Finally, Palir reached out and knocked three times on the heavy iron door.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9ffiCoI9D
The door opened from within. Yuhen stood before them, upright. He wore no armor, only a long black robe with a rusty sword at his waist. His eyes were still closed.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnI7Z672n3D
“Commander…” Palir spoke, his voice hoarse. “That thing... has truly arrived.”
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQeX7dT4PoB
Yuhen opened his eyes. They were like gray marble, without irises, yet he saw—and remembered.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgH4eng8ne
“For years, it visited me only in dreams,” he said. “Now it comes even before I sleep. This shore will demand bloodshed.”
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hLHY6X8FY
He took up his sword, fastening the belt tightly. “Wake the tower. Light all the torches. Send out the ravens. Draw the chained barricades. Today, the gods remain silent. Today, you are your own gods.”
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaKvRdhPmc
Guroa quickly bowed his head in salute. “As you command, sir.”
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAsfQg2nJ7
Thus, Valhena spoke the name of blood aloud for the first time in many years.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAceLGAbOLg
When Empty Mist reached the shore, it did not halt. The coast cracked at its approach. Stones shattered as if awakened from a century-long slumber. The first to step off the ship was Pegwalsge. Where his foot touched, no grass grew. The earth retreated without resistance.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggCZQ1OG7l
His crew disembarked behind him. All were silent, yet their eyes burned with a bloodthirstiness unmatched. This silence was like a moan concealed within a storm. Darkness seeped from each face; their eyes bore no light, only meaning a meaning as ancient as death itself.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0K61QiK6q
The first greeting they received on land was fear in the eyes of waiting soldiers. Commander Yuhen had not yet arrived. The soldiers awaited orders, but no commands came. For Hollow Mist had already given an answer.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlF00PjRYR
Some soldiers dropped their swords; others fell to their knees. The pressure of Xhu infiltrated them with a violence even the wind dared not challenge. The sky darkened like a curtain, clouds merging to deepen the shadows.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeo3bG7ErOX
Pegwalsge stepped forward, bending slightly to touch the ground with his fingers. A faint cracking sound spread as if the earth recognized his cursed touch. The ground did not speak like gods, but it bore their wrath.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yX6CcaVSf
“I haven’t touched soil this innocent in a long time,” Pegwalsge remarked. His voice held neither anger nor emotion, merely truth.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxOfZSmJnW
He raised his head. As his eyes met the sky, lightning did not fall, but the silence that awaited it shook the heavens.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWfYRs57Hm
“Soon, nothing of its innocence will remain.”
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXw9JG0ZoS
With those words, darkness intensified. His crew stood behind Pegwalsge as one body. Their eyes penetrated the soldiers’ souls, dissolving faith one by one.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCkeUjr5L9
And then, silence shattered upon the shore.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsd6NMpfvt
Savael was the first to act. As he raised his palms to the sky, fragments of Xhu tore through the air. The sky turned crimson like blood. Spiraling rings of Xhu descended toward the soldiers. Those caught in its path spasmed violently; their flesh peeled away without even allowing screams. Eyes bulged from sockets, souls gnawed by Xhu.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoIH6S0zIEB
Vorun swung his chain, ringing the bell at its end. Some soldiers' hearts pounded as if they would burst from their chests. One ripped open his own stomach where he stood. Another clutched his ears and collapsed. A soldier struck by the chain was cleaved cleanly at the neck.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDiPj8qwtc
Eizma extended her tongue between her teeth, murmuring softly. The air around her warped. Soldiers began rubbing their eyes, seeing visions of their mothers’ corpses. One screamed, dropped his weapon, and fell to the ground, begging forgiveness, though no one was there to hear.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRuwdZLwOW
Karra remained silent, yet where she walked, the earth blackened, and grass turned to ash. Her shadow caused soldiers to choke themselves. One soldier gouged out his eyes. Karra simply walked.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP58yJkV56x
Narth, with his eyeless face, walked among the soldiers. Those glimpsing his darkness fell instantly. His Xhu betrayed even the light itself. One soldier collapsed, vomiting blood and bile simultaneously. Narth drew his sword, and with a psychopathic grin, split the man’s head down the middle.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgnJQn7XgV
And Pegwalsge.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMth0QnbCL
He placed his hand once more upon the ground, and a whisper spread not heard by ears, but felt in the bones. As his Xhu permeated the earth, soldiers' bones began cracking. Some exploded in place, their organs scattering outward, eyes fixed emptily. Others... merely stopped. No breath. No blinking. As if willingly abandoning life.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTc7sGD3a4v
There had been 90 soldiers; now only 20 remained.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QIBn5WGWA
The shore was no longer silent, yet the earth did not appear satisfied with the bloodshed.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJFOyQigNv
Only a few soldiers remained after the massacre. Like rain, black Xhu residue fell upon the corpses strewn across the ground. The sky was pitch black as if even the heavens had shut their eyes to this disgrace. The remaining soldiers could neither flee nor fight. They simply trembled.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GyNtTNNgi
And then...
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8kjQHo4lj
The chill in the air changed.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrmAcQ28fT
A hum rose from beyond the shoreline. The earth trembled a second time but this time not from fear, but recognition. For the approaching presence carried no rage. It simply ruled.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9hUM6y4Tp
Commander Yuhen appeared at the western gate of Valhena Tower, walking with heavy steps. Behind him followed three naval soldiers: Palir, Guroa, and Shuan. They all walked through the stench of blood. But the one in front... was something else entirely.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsy3G9GKEVm
With Yuhen’s every step, the ground cracked. Stones froze beneath his feet. The air wasn’t just cold it became sharp. Breathing was like swallowing blades.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOj5verYf0
Savael turned his head. “Something is coming,” he said, for the first time with seriousness.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGObKbK3yd
Pegwalsge narrowed his eyes. His crew looked to him. None moved, but they all felt it.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJuZa1KbGU
Xhu... another kind of Xhu... a powerful Xhu... a colossal Xhu.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFnc1zGoXj
Yuhen halted. His ice-like gaze fixed on Pegwalsge. Pegwalsge had sensed the irregularity in Yuhen’s Xhu this wasn’t just pure Xhu.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UMNFXszvX
It was the Glacial Orb.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRHsIcjPRe
As the naval soldiers stood before Pegwalsge and his crew, it became difficult to breathe. Eizma’s dark energy, Narth’s eyeless unease, and Karra’s bleak silence had already seeped into their bodies.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tWInUe7cH
But then... Commander Yuhen’s Xhu descended upon them.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GkHCYrOBd
And everything balanced.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVL7HfL9V31
“This... this is something else,” whispered Palir.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3vW7f5Hft
“The Commander is like one of them... maybe even stronger,” said Eliar, his mouth dry.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjx264tNYW
“I can feel both. Two abysses...” muttered Sennre.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rLaUF8H7m
Yuhen raised his hand. The three soldiers behind him stepped forward. Sennre and Eliar joined them. The few soldiers who had survived the earlier massacre straightened upon seeing the Commander. The fear in their eyes hadn’t vanished, but his presence... was like a kind of refuge.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aG2JnIYsj
As the wind shifted direction, Yuhen narrowed his eyes.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSMIxQmVV3
Pegwalsge and his crew wore masks that covered their mouths and noses. Symbols were embroidered on the cloth some bore the Red Sand of Jaleron, others the Three-Headed Dragon of Xakha.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jybDSmoKg
Yuhen paused for a moment. These symbols… they were Glatsyan emblems. The Red Sand represented Shera, the Three-Headed Dragon stood for Batsu.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVEpILUJWK
“Glatsyans?” he murmured.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9j9waMNRWk
The sailors around Yuhen were stunned. The arrival of any Glatsyan was a harbinger of great danger, and none of them had ever encountered one before. But they had heard the names. In whispers. In curses. Figures some revered but most feared.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsr0LqJSL4g
Now everything made sense.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrgzqLBlf8
The savagery, the power, the darkness of the Xhu he had felt of course it came from a Glatsyan.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJKkhlyvWI
This wasn’t a rebellion.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hefztnfyC
This… was a war.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkadPHYVCwO
Yuhen spoke. His voice was not loud, but each word echoed as if etched in stone:
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEhvvg1aTF
“What do you want?” he asked.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29nnnhKrwe
Pegwalsge said nothing. His crew remained still. But on some of their lips, faint tension appeared. Eizma’s nails once again dug into her arm. Savael’s pupils narrowed.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgJyCbSblR
Yuhen drew his white ice blade, and once more the sky darkened.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZE2IKv6tP
The battle had not yet begun.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgIQnsYAf2
But now...
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBO6bOa6CD3
The sides had recognized one another.
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IoCAdX9GB
然後按「加至主畫面」