Chapter 97 (1/2)
Chapter 97: Lan Qing, Lan Jue
“Because I’m your brother!” The words struck Lan Jue like a slap to the face
It was the first ti like that come out of his brother’s mouth A look of incredulity overcame his features, but vanished as quickly as it had cohter, and his successor Satan’s blood, his power, lies within her The strongest of his brood If that taint isn’t controlled, the consequences could be catastrophic She’s trapped between ters; the Pontiff’s castle, which seeks to exterminate her, and the Dark Tohich seeks to exploit her – to lose herself in the madness and bloodlust as a reincarnation of Satan But Mika… she’s got a good heart It was on the cusp of the Awakening when Satan’s poas consu her that she came to her senses She ran”
“Later we crossed paths I took her in, taught her to suppress the darkness, and brought her here So long as she didn’t use them, Satan’s poould never awaken It’d be locked inside her forever Not long ago I let o caution The Castle foundtheel of War, the Messenger of Death, the Angel of Healing and the Cherubim Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel had set a trap for us Luckily it was the Moonfiend Empress arned me to their presence I was able to prepare, otherwise I’m afraid we really would have died out there That, is what happened”
The recounting was short, succinct Lan Qing listened, lapsing in to silent consideration once all was said A few arded his brother “And you still wish to help her?”
“Why would anything change now,” he responded
Lan Qing nodded “Very well You’ve h For this, there’s no need to get the Avenue involved You don’t need to go chasing after the Castle’ s people, either As I see it, the Avenue already knows As is their custos up, handle what they need to From now on, you shouldn’t leave Planet Skyfire Under the Avenue’s protection neither the Pontiff nor Satan would dare co Your own abilities should also be sufficient on your hoirl, o anywhere, either”
Lan Jue’s eyes narrowed, and anger shone in the depths of his eyes But whatever his thoughts, they weren’t given voice Silence hung over theain “Your wounds are serious You shouldn’t draw on your Discipline for a while, or you could s worse You’ll need at least three er brother was silent A flash of hesitation ca’s features “Do you want me to stay?”
This took Lan Jue by surprise He lifted his head and asked, “Do you have ti nodded
But Lan Jue’s sardonic smile returned “Since when does our illustrious supersoldier of An Lun have ti’s response was brief, and tepid “Then rest up” He turned and left without another word
Ting ting! Once again the sound of the door chi in the air Alone with the silence, a pained look ca shut the door behind him, but didn’t ainst the wall of the shop and looked towards the twinkling heavens
Beep-beep! The communicator on his wrist interrupted the silence He answered
“Admiral, when can we expect your return?” The ent
“Fa,” he answered
“But Adation will be arrival in half a month Will you be ready to receive theitated by the news
“I’m afraid not Tell them I took leave for personal business” His expression was blank and stony as he spoke to the man on the communicator
“But, sir, this could impact your promotion Admiral…”
He unceree out of hts dwell on that day, thosedoesn’t seeo help her”
“Is youryou to go save her!”
“Brother…”
“I’m sorry, A-Jue!” The words were bitter in hishere?” The voice came from not far off A flash of silver, and suddenly there was another beside hi for a while already Don’t pretend this is some chance encounter What do you want”
An Liu stuttered, flustered “Y-“
“Do you have a cigarette?” The admiral turned his head to ask her
“Eh?” An Liu blinked at hi that could iht now,” he said, “I’m not the admiral”
“Wait a moment” With that, An Liu disappeared in to the darkness When she returned, she bore a packet of cigarettes and a lighter
He opened the packet and slapped the base A single stick poked free fro it under his nose, took a whiff Soret shone in his eyes “Do you rehteen, you were fifteen… ere curious, so we stole aith a cigarette and sat s It was so bad that he heard us and found out ere doing Beat us both”
“Wh-…” An Liu looked up at him in confusion Clearly she couldn’t understand
Lan Qing didn’t elaborate Instead, he lit the cigarette and took a long, slow drag Al forth in plu fit was so violent it brought tears to his eyes Still, he was sh it all