Not Like This

The High Priest was fascinated looking over the torturous extraction of spirit from people.

To gain full control of the magic circle, the High Priest used Alita's body, which currently holds unimaginable power, as the medium.

The High Priest didn't intend to kill people, so he began to direct the extraction and reduce the power of the magic circle. He was trying to conjugate the spirits into one and drive it towards to himself, but during the process, something went wrong.

Tempestuous wind covered the whole place and thunder appeared.

Before the High Priest can determine what's going on, the magic circle accelerated and engulfed the life of all living things.

"No, no, no, stooooop!!!" he tried to chant every spell he encountered in his life, but nothing is proving to be effective.

"You, what's happening?"

"I told you the whole place perished. There must be something wrong with your magic circle" Yue just wanted to mock the High Priest. Although everything is turbulent, she remained unaffected with all the happenings.

"No, I read it multiple times, ponder over it, analyze everything, but why is this wrong! What went wrong!??"

"The heavens are not blind"

"Bah! I served the heavens for a long time and in the end, it still wanted to get my life. I just wanted a bit of spirit to extend my life. I didn't do this. I didn't want the country to perish"

"No get off me, don't take my life. Isn't their life enough!!" a powerful suction force extended to the High Priest, like a tentacle, trying to take him down.

Seeing the looming danger, he desperately fights it off. Then he noticed that Alita remained unaffected in the altar.

He tried to approach the altar and use it as shield, but someone cut him off.

"Who!?"

It was General Yi who came and protected Alita.

General Yi was caught off guard by the event that he witnessed, but somehow, he was protected from the anomalous force.

Seeing it was too late to save the Royal Family, he set his sight to the altar just in time to save Alita.

"Your family gave you the artifact from the Guardian of the Empire. I need that!" the High Priest desperately tried to grab General Yi, but the man easily dodged the assault.

The momentarily lost in concentration of the High Priest paved way for the force to finally take his life.

Yi Yan took away Alita and tried to find a safer place.

Yue didn't know how long she had stayed to watch everything to fall apart.

Such chaos after sometime vanished like nothing happened.

The clouds rolled away and the sky opened up.

But the deafening silence and the missing people are proof that the place had suffered through a tremendous event.

If what happened is a punishment from the heavens, then maybe it wasn't just the High Priest who had been corrupted. Salvation had long left these people. Yue can't think of any other explanation.

Amidst the desolation, Yue noticed the pendant lying on the altar.

She had a hunch that once she made a contact with it, she'd be able to come back; so she didn't hesitate to touch it.

"You are-"

Yue hadn't had the time to say anything when she saw Yi Yan staring at her, but she was already pulled back.

She vaguely saw the general trying to reach her.

"Yi Yan!"

Yue gasped as she woke up.

She was back in the car like nothing happened.

Linn was still sleeping, but the fog already vanished.

She can see the driver closing the hood to get back to the car.

Yue sighed in relief. She was afraid that she had been trapped in the past for so long and her brother might worry a lot.

She tried to wipe the sweat on her forehead, then she noticed she was holding the pendant.

It was the complete version of the pendant.

Could it be that once she had an incident and get back to her body, she would never become Yue again?

"Young Miss, there's no problem with the car. Let me try to start it again" the driver asked for permission.

"Go ahead" Yue knew that the fog caused everything so there's no need to fuss over what happened earlier.

They went unimpeded to the hotel this time.

When Yue entered into her room she was entangled by strong arms.

She can hear the strong pounding of the man's chest and feel his tensed muscles.

Yue don't know why he is acting like this, but she can only enclose him in her arms to calm him down.

The man tightened his hold but not so much as to suffocate her.

Minutes passed before she was let go.

"Take a bath and rest" Yyan reluctantly released Yue after remembering that she had a long day.

"Does Yue smell that awful?" Yue eyed her brother playfully.

Yyan looked at her helplessly.

"Just kidding brother" Yue calmly walked towards her room but as soon as the door closed, her face became flushed and butterfly keep running through her chest.

Yyan looked intently on the door that closed.

After getting the news about the base of North Wolf in the Salhura Province, he immediately rearranged his itinerary to follow Yue.

He only brought a handful of his subordinates this time not to startle the snake.

Others were left in the care of Ruyi to enter the province in different means.

Before they can complete the raid, they still needed to check the actual condition of the base and its operations.

Don't know if he is too busy and tired these days but as soon as he entered Yue's hotel room, he fell asleep in the sofa.

He fell into a dream but feels like reality.

In his dream he was a general of the fallen Salhuran Empire.

And his Yue was the sister of the High Priestess. Although she had a different name, but somehow, he can feel that she was meant to be that person.

He can't control his actions in the dream. He was just watching from the perspective of the general.

In the end, the High Priestess was saved. She seemed to have found her conscience in the end and in order to preserve some descendants she had to sacrifice most of her power.

The general had to personally lead those people who managed to be saved and didn't know what happened to the High Priestess who suddenly went missing.

Later on, when things are more stable, he tried to send someone to look for her but all they managed to find was half part of the pendant that began the ruin of the empire.

Deep down, he had a hunch that the following events were the true accounts of this unfortunate empire long buried in history.

Although the present times leans on scientific knowledge, for the families that had long history, they know that there exist spiritual phenomena in this world. These things are not disclosed to ordinary people since it was not needed in order for them to live their life.

But there's always that looming danger, of which, is a part of why they had to maintain the balance of power in governing the empire.

Yyan was so worried when he can't feel Yue's existence in that plane. But in the last moment, he saw her trace but she vanished and he woke up.

So, when Yue arrived, he can't help but to unreasonably hold her and only with a little bit or rationality he managed to let her go.