Chapter 745 (2/2)

Suddenly empowered, that image of severing shot straight upwards. It passed through the roof of the chapel without even damaging the stone and ripped into the Maelstrom above the land above. With Randidly’s assistance, that cutting attack spread longer and longer until it was so long and skinny that it was invisible to the naked eye. But it rose upwards and diced the Maelstrom above the Land in half.

The furious sandstorms rumbled forward for another couple seconds, but the force creating them as ceased. Under the burden of their own weight, the sandstorms collapsed even as they were building up their kinetic force. With the same dull rumbling that had signaled their genesis, the sandstorms expired.

Everyone who was aware of what was going on shared a collective blink.

The Sandstorm Season… had lasted all of five minutes?

As the wind dispersed, Rejt was revealed. His chest was heaving and blood ribbed down his arms and legs. His body was canvased in small cuts. But his gaze was ferocious and a small lit his face. With his limbs trembling from the adrenaline, he lifted his hands to the sky.

“Fools!” Rejt bellowed. “It is I! The Progenitor! Descended amongst you to judge the fallen. Do you dare blaspheme by standing against me?!? MEET YOUR FATE!”

Randidly froze for a second, then barely restrained himself from snorting audibly. With the wind dispersed, the room had grown entirely silent. The low sobs of some of the broken assailants were the only accompaniment to Rejt’s grand announcement.

The Chancellor was basically the only person who wasn’t a broken wreck, the actual Progenitor, or the bluffing Earth Golem in the room, so it was to him the dubious honor of receiving the “Progenitor” fell.

After several more seconds of trying to figure out the proper reaction, the Chancellor defaulted to his usual bit; he sneered at Rejt. “Hmph, do you think such a pa- ah, a contrived display would sway me? I have crawled up from-”

A low keening began to sound. To his credit, Rejt didn’t react at all to the noise. His smile only widened. But Randidly looked up, covering his mouth with a hand so the Chancellor couldn’t see his mirthful disbelief.

By some strange coincidence, the wind ripping into the chapel had hollowed out a lot of the cracks and smoothed their edges. Not only light, but a gentle wind swirled down through the openings. And because of the strange shape they had formed, when the cuttingly sharp wind was softened by those meandering cracks, a strange noise was created.

Randidly first thought of it as keening, but it was a wistful, nostalgic keening. It reminded Randidly of the deep song of whales in the wide seas, seeking their kin. Always seeking and reaching. That was what the noise sounded like.

As the noise grew in volume, the Chancellor once more found himself unable to speak.

“Fine then,” Rejt said, his voice loud and formal. “You may approach. If you insist on judgment…”

With an exaggerated slowness due to his wounds, Rejt raised his arm. Thin trickles blood split and crossed each other, sweeping across his skin. His eyes did not blink, however. “...I have a responsibility to deliver it.”

The Chancellor whimpered, then turned and fled. But Randidly knew that letting him escape was just another headache that he wasn't willing to deal with. So he stepped and appeared next to the fleeing Monster, smashing his fist into his face with enough force that he was sure that he would be out of commission for quite some time.

Then, his face even, Randidly straightened and said, ”You know, the most blasphemous thing is to impersonate the Progenitor.”

”How do you know I am not the Progenitor? Did not even Tessa bare her belly to me in fealty? I bear the heavy weight of nobility, Randidly. Even you should be able to see it,” Rejt rumbled. But Randidly could see the twinkle in his eye.

”I know you are not the Progenitor... because I am the Progenitor,” Randidly said slowly.

The two men looked at each other for several seconds. Then, as one, they both began to laugh.

After each had managed to quite their fit of chuckles, Rejt turned and surveyed the Chapel. ”...it is more destroyed than when we started. We will be blamed for this.”

Randidly waved a hand airily. ”I'm sure Allica will understand how uncontrollable assassins are. Such things cannot be predicted, only weathered.”

Rejt snorted. ”Perhaps. And it is certainly brighter in here. And the noise...”

Both paused and tilted their heads upward to catch the music of the room. As the Maelstrom above faded, so too did the volume of the noise. Now it was low and musical, like the thrum of a bubbling brook or the questioning groan of an owl. It was a hard noise to describe. But compared to the harsh noise from before...

”Well, it has become palatable,” Rejt announced. Randidly shook his head wordlessly.