Chapter 53 - Wake Up

Arbak held Sagat's hand and prevented him from breaking Nerun's neck. She clasped his hand, resulting in a shuddering crunching sound in the cell. Sagat's wrist was broken and he had no choice but to let go of Nerun. Before Nerun could fall to the floor, however, Arbak fanned her arm, sending Sagat against the wall, and carefully prevented Nerun from falling abruptly to the floor.

Placing Nerun on the ground, Arbak placed her fingers on Nerun's wrist, and, inserting her energy into the boy, did a quick check of the state of the child's body. When Arbak sensed Nerun's body, she couldn't help but frown, and at the same time be a little surprised. The surprise was actually a product of the fact that Arbak did not know how Nerun was still alive.

All of Nerun's auxiliary meridians had exploded, his blood loss was such that his small body was already showing signs of coldness and shock, and even if they managed to save his life, it was possible that Nerun would be crippled for life, with the impossibility of being able to practice the Way of Qi or Mana in the future. Anyone else, had they been at Nerun's feet, would have died without remedy. Nevertheless, Nerun's smile did not cease. He had closed his eyes, but seemed to mumble in his sleep "please save the rest".

Arbak looked at Nerun with some concern, and decided first to get rid of the problem that was Sagat. Sagat was markedly injured after being shaken by the woman, and was about to execute another combat technique, risking his life for a chance to escape, but Arbak wouldn't let him. "I'll show you, little baby tiger, the true meaning of not playing with your food".

The pupils of Arbak's eyes became vertical as if they were a snake, extending her open hand towards Sagat, a magnificent snake several metres long appeared and encircled Sagat completely before he could react, squeezing him and breaking several of his bones. Intense pain seized Sagat and for a moment he felt like he was going to be crushed to death by the snake's embrace. The snake's eyes looked at Sagat like a proud queen of beasts. Finally it opened its mouth and at Sagat's desperate look an electric cascade enveloped him.

[Гроб с молнией] - /Grob s molniyey/*

Sagat's body was burnt to ashes, and so it was that the leader of the Violent Tigers mercenary group, who had betrayed the Kingdom of Ansem, finally died, with no tomb or remain to call his own.

...

The central hall of the cave had been completely destroyed by the attacks between Sylas and Maikal. Maikal was desperate to finish Sylas off quickly and go to where he had sensed Nerun's aura. How he had not fled was beyond him, and at this point he feared the worst.

Finally, Maikal seemed to make a desperate decision and his Qi began to be felt throughout the cave in an uncontrolled manner. The materialisation of his Voluntas became ethereal and seemed to overlap with itself. Sylas' face hardened as he understood the technique Maikal was about to execute.

Are you crazy Mikael? Everyone in Ansem and Rhodnius will find out that you are still alive, and worse your power is unstable, what do you think you can achieve using your ultimate technique?. You won't be able to kill me with it," Sylas commented. He did not wish to follow Maikal in using this technique because it would mean exposing his position in Ansem, and although he was close to the border, there was a chance that he would be ambushed and killed.

However, Maikal seemed to disregard Sylas' warning and using his top speed, rushed towards Sylas. At that moment, Maikal's Voluntas seemed to partially merge with him, and Maikal's two legs and one of his hands transformed like the paws of a powerful lycanthrope, golden in colour. Maikal's Qi at that moment reached the peak of what he could withstand and a great electric claw accompanied Maikal's attack.

.

Sylas, unable to make a decision on what to do, finally had his Voluntas encircle him, so that the 8 legs of the spider came together in front of him like armour. The 8 legs glowed a deep purple colour.

However, Maikal's attack was far beyond what Sylas could withstand at the moment, and seven of the spider's eight legs were broken, leaving only one intact. Sylas had to retreat several steps, several of his ribs were broken and a trickle of blood was visible in his mouth. He had received internal injuries of some severity, yet he had withstood Maikal's attack.

The latter, on the other hand, found himself with an enormous amount of cold sweat on his forehead, and his breathing had become incredibly labored. Maikal's use of this technique was costing him a great deal of effort, and at the moment his Qi reserves were practically at zero. He could not help but, again, lament his ageing and his internal injuries, without which, he would have already disposed of the small spider.

Sylas, at this moment, was about to attack Maikal with all his power to get rid of him, in revenge for the damage he had received, and extending his hand towards Maikal in the form of a spear, the spider leg that was still intact lunged at Maikal to give him the final thrust. However, just at that moment a barrier like lustrous glass appeared in front of Maikal at that instant, stopping Sylas' attack.

Elijah, along with Sub-Commander Saul and the rest of the soldiers were at the entrance to the main hall of the lair at the time, having just arrived, when they felt the frequent shaking of the cave, as well as the powerful energy discharges. Saul recognised Sylas, The Spider, and for that reason had used his Voluntas to stop the Rhodnian's attack. The rest of the soldiers saw the cave that had been almost destroyed and were surprised to think that an old wanderer had been able to stand up to a Qi Emperor like Sylas for so long and even wound him. Many wondered what his identity would be, because someone with the power of a Qi Emperor was not usually someone unknown, yet no one seemed to know who he was.

"Father, are you alright?" said Elijah as he reached Maikal's side and helped him to his feet.

"Sylas Du Sacar. Roland Du Sacar. It seems it is true that Sagat was involved with the Rhodnians. Men, apprehend them," Sub-Commander Saul ordered.

However, Sylas had gone ahead and appearing in front of Roland, grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him at full speed in the direction of the exit to Rhodnius, mentally telling him, "Run fast and meet me 150 km away in the Lorca Valley. I will hold them off for a while so you can escape. The stones in your possession are too important, do not lose them".

Having done so, Sylas again materialised his Voluntas, which at this point had 7 of its legs looking ghostly. Due to the damage received in the attack against Maikal, Sylas had not yet fully recovered. At this point, Sylas had no interest in hiding his power any longer, as he was already facing Ansem's army, so he could use his full power without any consideration.

This being said, however, Sylas' intention was not to simply take on all the soldiers. It was just to buy enough time so that Roland could flee to Rhodnius and he would subsequently flee as well. After all, if a Qi Emperor wanted to flee, unless there was a Saint or a Legend-level Warrior, no one would be able to stop him easily.

So the materialised Spider seemed to merge with Sylas, so that from its back many spider legs emerged, as if they were new limbs. Sylas could use them as if they were his own arms, and Sylas' Qi seemed to rise at the most, and could be felt by the mighty Warriors of Ansem and Rhodnius standing nearby.

"Hmmmph. You'll see that stopping a mighty Rhodnius Warrior is no simple matter," Sylas spat, and launched himself at the soldiers. Several of them, the Qi Centurions, had begun a formation that allowed them to unite their powers, so that they could stand against Sylas' unbridled attack.

Saul, however, seemed unconcerned. With his hands on his goggles, they began to glow and a new glowing barrier stood between Sylas and his soldiers. This was Saul's Voluntas, the Unbeatable Monocle, which had one of the most formidable defences in the Ansem Army. Although Saul was a Qi Monarch, his Voluntas was even capable of defending against a Qi Emperor for a short period of time. Considering that Sylas was not an attack-focused Emperor and that he had received multiple wounds after his bloody battle against Maikal; at the present time Saul found no major problems in defending himself against Sylas.

The other Ansem soldiers did not fall short and began to attack Sylas with different techniques, keeping their distance from him. The Qi Centurions in particular combined several techniques, using Qi waves and slashes, which forced Sylas to back off a little, since if he was not careful, he could be seriously wounded, making his situation worse than ever.

Some of the captains tried pursuing Roland, but soon enough noticed that Roland's speed was much higher than their own. It was quite likely that Roland would run away without them being able to do anything about it.

Maikal took the opportunity to approach Elijah and say quickly: "Hurry up. Go in the direction of the cells and look for Nerun. It's quite possible that something has happened to him. Don't worry about me, it's this little spider that has to keep vigilant."

When Elijah heard Maikal's words he wasted no time and ran off in the direction of where he had left Nerun and the boys. He blamed himself greatly for what had happened and kept praying inwardly that Nerun and the others would be alright.

...

Darkness.

There was only darkness around Nerun, who was like drifting in a void. There was no noise around him and the image of Nerun in this space seemed to be uninjured.

It seemed like a long time, like years and years, maybe ten years or even a century that Nerun simply floated in this silent void. At the same time it was as if only a blink of an eye had passed, and if someone was conscious in this space, it would not be strange to think that the person had lost his or her sanity by sensing this distorted sense of time and space.

Nerun's image seemed to be slowly disappearing, as if the atoms and particles that made up his body were separating from it. This image, which was not his real body, seemed to be a representation of his spirit and soul. If things continued as they were, Nerun would surely pass away not only here but in reality as well.

"Mmmmmmh"...

"Mmmmmmh... Sacrifice. But at the same time it was your mistake, at least partially. Even though you've gone to great lengths to make up for it. Though you are but a child, you seem to have a will of iron. The yearning to make your parents proud? Your yearning to change your fate and that of your siblings? Perhaps both. You certainly threw everything away to save the lives of Silvester and the others, and indeed you never gave up hope of stopping Sagat for an instant."

"I don't know yet whether to call you naive, or dedicated and recursive."

An ethereal voice, neither female nor male, seemed to speak to itself, as Nerun's body slowly fell apart. This voice could be heard throughout the space in which Nerun found himself, filling everything and at the same time encompassing everything. When Nerun was about to disappear completely, the same voice sounded again:

"Well... I don't really want you to leave yet... So you won't leave".

When the voice had spoken, all the particles that were falling off Nerun, and the disintegration of Nerun stopped and began to reverse, as if a movie rewind had been hit. Nerun's spirit body was as good as new, and it looked as if he was just sleeping.

Again the voice was heard:

"Nerun... Wake up."

The voice sounded inside Nerun himself and it was as if a lightning bolt shook him completely, so that he opened his eyes at that very moment.

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* [Гроб с молнией] - /Grob s molniyey/ = Lightning Coffin