Chapter 662: Act 24 – The Firmament VI
Brendel swore that if he had known being buried under the sand and mud would feel like this, he would have rather surrendered than choose to run away.
At first, he felt his body plummeting rapidly in the darkness, countless objects tumbling down around him with the whistling wind, and only a faint light shone from above—presumably from the underground hall that was collapsing.
About one or two seconds later, he felt a violent impact.
Ordinary people would likely have been pulverized by such an impact, but for the physical strength of a peak gold-tier, it was nothing. Brendel merely felt as if he had crashed onto a sloped ground, then rolled down along the sharp rocks. He tried to grab onto something, but it was futile in the darkness, and the mass of sand and mud swept him down until he collided with a flat rock.
Brendel felt the first impact, and then the second was a soft, squishy body colliding with him. He immediately realized it was Xi, and as more rocks and mud rained down above them, Brendel hurriedly pulled the girl down, rolling over to shield her with his body.
There was only a fleeting moment before a tremendous crash reverberated as several massive rocks slammed down on him. Of course, this was nothing significant for Brendel; it felt almost like a few blows. It was the oppressive weight of the mud and sand that made him suffer.
He had just coughed once when his mouth was filled with dirt.
But this wasn’t even the most tragic experience. The key was that when he instinctively lowered his head to spit out the sand in his mouth, he found himself staring into a pair of bright, curious, and shy eyes. They belonged to a mountain girl with a long ponytail—Xi was submissively watching her lord from beneath his protection.
For both Brendel and Xi, seeing in the darkness was not difficult; they could clearly see each other’s states.
Fortunately, it wasn’t the first time they had faced such a situation. The last time, in the Loop of Trade Winds, while being chased by the Mist Nightmare, they had endured almost the same scenario. With that experience behind them, the second time was at least less awkward.
“Lord,” Xi whispered, blinking her eyes, “thank you.”
“Mmm.” Brendel’s mouth was full of sand, and he couldn’t respond. He was almost face-to-face with Xi; he couldn’t possibly spit the sand onto her face. Outside, the rumbling noise evidenced the collapse wasn’t going to end anytime soon.
But Brendel did not answer, while the mountain girl closely observed him. After a while, he suddenly felt Xi shift slightly, then gently rest her forehead against his chest.
This seemingly casual action momentarily stunned Brendel, and he instinctively lowered his head to see Xi curled up like a child in his embrace.
“Mmm… Xi?”
“I’m sorry…” Xi seemed startled by his voice. She quickly released her grip and leaned back cautiously, making Brendel unable to help but feel a twinge of compassion: “It’s really okay… are you scared?”
Xi frowned and gently shook her head.
Brendel fell silent for a moment. To be honest, he couldn’t quite figure out what the girl was thinking. Ever since Ampere Seale’s battle, Makarolo had visited her a few times, but she had always refused him. Usually, Xi was also quiet, only occasionally keeping Romaine company— but according to others in the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps, she shouldn’t have been like this before.
He thought for a moment and felt that he was really not suited to guess a girl’s thoughts, especially since he had been utterly useless in that regard in his past life. Shaking his head, he decided to change the subject: “Xi, how did you break through Avina’s element before?”
“Hmm?” The mountain girl was slightly taken aback, raising her head to look at him with curiosity.
“You don’t know?” Brendel was stunned; he could tell from Xi’s expression that she showed no sign of deception.
Xi shook her head in confusion.
“How strange…” Brendel was more puzzled than Xi. He knew well the power of Avina’s fate element. It was similar to a word spirit but significantly more potent. If one could not break free from their fate, they would never be able to defeat her, nor even touch her.
But the problem was, as a being of the golden domain, breaking free from the power of an existence with legendary power was evidently an impossible feat.
Let alone him or Xi, even Master William, the Silver Storm, likely could not achieve it.
Could it be due to her dragon bloodline? But he had never heard that the lineage of the Golden Citizen granted such power to challenge beyond tier; it only indicated better talent.
Brendel furrowed his brows, unable to find a clue, but at that moment, he suddenly sensed something, raised his head, and found that the noise of falling rocks had indeed lessened. This was undoubtedly the best news for him. He quickly cast aside the chaotic thoughts in his mind, reached out, and easily cleared the rocks that trapped him, pushing the debris and sand away into the darkness below.
With a few agile movements, Brendel crawled out from the rubble and rescued Xi from within. The two finally arrived at a relatively flat rock and looked around to find that a massive hollow had formed below the collapsed hall, and they were right in the middle of it, with any traces of human workmanship above having long vanished.
Brendel scanned the surroundings. Theoretically, apart from him and Xi, William and Avina should have also been caught in the mud and sand during the collapse. Others bound by the Lightning Cage against the walls shouldn’t be in much danger. But as Brendel searched the darkness for William and Avina, he could see no one.
“Strange.” He paused slightly. Given Avina and William’s strength, they should have been able to escape sooner than him. The earlier collapse had appeared dangerous, but for beings of their level, it shouldn’t have posed any significant problem.
“Lord, look over there!” After being dragged out of the rubble, Xi had remained silent by his side, but as half a dragon, her eyesight was clearly much better than Brendel’s.
It was only then that Brendel looked in the direction she pointed. After a while, he finally saw a glimmer in the darkness. But it wasn’t until the light source got closer that he realized it was not a mere point of light, but William, hovering in mid-air with a glowing staff.
As he drew nearer, Brendel suddenly saw that the old mage was also carrying someone—considering the platinum body made of lightning, it could only be Avina.
William’s flying spell was incredibly fast, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived right in front of Brendel. He descended lightly, his robe fluttering, before landing steadily in front of Brendel. He tossed Avina toward Brendel.
“She’s unconscious?” Brendel stared, wide-eyed at the closed eyes of Avina, hardly believing that this was the previously imperious spirit lord. Normally, as long as her physical form was perfected, falling from several thousand feet wouldn’t cause unconsciousness, right? This was just too embarrassing.
“You guessed it, kid. After leaving that hall, her power drastically diminished,” the old mage replied. “When I found her, she was hardly above the silver tier. Moreover, her magical power was still leaking. If this continues, she might struggle to maintain her form.”
“Is that so?” Brendel was briefly taken aback, but then he became troubled. He couldn’t help but look at the unconscious Lightning Maiden on the ground: “So what’s the situation now? Did we win or lose? She wouldn’t try to back out, would she?”
“Cough, cough… what do you take me for!” No sooner had Brendel spoken than Avina, who had been unconscious on the ground, suddenly awoke. Though she still looked somewhat weak, she shot a glare at Brendel: “Though I despise opportunists the most, a win is a win; I will never deny it!”
The girl took a deep breath, and her complexion became much rosier. Both Brendel and William frowned slightly as they realized that Avina’s aura of power had suddenly grown stronger.
“Your power can recover?” Brendel couldn’t help but ask, “But the hall was destroyed, right? Wait, you…”
His eyes narrowed as though he had realized something.
But the silver mage leader seemed to have reacted faster than he did, revealing an enlightened expression.
“Hmph, it seems you still have some wit,” Avina replied, not mincing words. “You are close; my power doesn’t necessarily grow stronger the closer I am to that hall. Instead, being closer to the Holy Spear of the Firmament brings my power closer to its peak state. I presume you have guessed it; I am not a Knight of Azure—I am the Firmament.”
“Huh…” Brendel felt as if he had been punched in the face: “So everything that happened before was all your doing?”
“Not entirely; as a divine artifact, I certainly have reasons to choose my owner.” Avina raised her chin proudly.
“Fine, that doesn’t really matter to us,” Brendel shrugged. This wasn’t the first time he had seen a sentient magical artifact. Didn’t his Ring of Queen Wind contain a spirit from the era of the Holy War? Moreover, many famous magical artifacts in the Amber Sword had similar mechanisms. However, he had never seen a sealed spirit that was this powerful.
But the more it was like this, the more it proved the value of the Firmament. He thought for a moment and continued, “Regardless, you admit that we have won, right? So now you can choose who will be your owner, right?”
“Indeed—” Avina gritted her teeth and replied, “But before that, I have a question.”
“Hmm?”
“I want to know how she managed to pierce through my elemental power!” The lightning-formed girl again looked toward Xi, revealing an expression of disbelief. Like Brendel, she couldn’t comprehend why a golden-tier being could ignore her fate element’s influence.
Brendel glanced at Xi and thought, “Perhaps it’s because of her dragon bloodline?”
“Impossible!” Avina firmly denied it, “Just a mere Golden Citizen. When has their bloodline possessed such strength? Unless some genetic mutation occurred in the past ten thousand years, but the chances are too slim.”
“Genetic mutation?” Brendel chewed on the term word by word, wondering if this concept existed in the Amber Sword setting?
But the Lightning Maiden merely scoffed dismissively and did not reply.
The darkness seemed to fall silent again until the great mage William pondered for a moment before speaking: “Perhaps I know why?”
“Hmm?” Everyone turned their attention to him.
“In our history, some things can enable one to change their fate, breaking the shackles of destiny,” the old mage slowly replied. “Brendel, you know that young girl Alorze, right?”
“Ah!” Brendel suddenly exclaimed, a look of realization dawning on his face: “I see now; I understand!”
…
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