Chapter 811 (2/2)
Walking away, Randidly ignored Lucretia’s desperate pants and approached Cailm. He had collapsed and was now leaning up against a small stone boulder. When Randidly arrived before him, Cailm looked up with suspicious eyes. “I suppose you have some thoughts on what I should do now, yes? I am uninterested. My life is my own-”
“Do you know why the Emperor was so powerful?” Randidly said as he crouched before Cailm.
Cailm blinked.
“Well… this is a little roundabout. But do you much about chemistry…” Seeing Cailm’s expression, Randidly hurried along. “...well anyway, suffice to say that matter, all that exists, is made up of bonds. Bonds are stored energy. To create a bond, you need to remove energy from the world. Reciprocally, when you break a bond, energy is released. Understand?”
Cailm was frowning. An improvement.
“The reason you will never be the Emperor is that you are attempting to reach his power by creating something. By building an empire with a heavy crown. But you can’t wield that power while creating. Energy is stored during the creation of something with the longevity of a crown or empire. You need to destroy a bond to get there.” With a flicker of will, Randidly conjured the Crown of Cataclysm and Gloom above his head. He reached up and tapped its grey metal. “The Emperor you so worship gave up his crown, destroyed his kingdom and his lineage, laid it all aside, to protect his people. That was his strength. That was why the world still trembles at his name. Nothing in this world comes without a cost, Cailm.”
Then Randidly stepped away, proceeding deeper into his Soulskill. Honestly, he was beginning to like this godling stuff. Always getting to have the last word was a feeling that he could get used to.
*****
Allica pressed her hand to her side to stem the flow of blood. Most of her other wounds had been cauterized closed by the Metal Queen’s attacks, but when Allica had been slammed into the wall, a long shard of stone ripped open a gash in her side. Gritting her teeth, Allica channeled every bit of healing she knew into the wound.
She would even drink a bit of that emerald essence if she could, but she was too far away from any of the surrounding pools. And the nearby pool they had dumped on the Metal Queen in order to put out the vicious waves of flame that surrounded her like a cloak.
“I can’t fail here. We had a dream… our dream… will change this whole fucked up world-!!” The Metal Queen bellowed. The flames around her rose higher. She was barely visible in the core of that fire, a thing of blurred shapes and fury rather than a person.
In front of her, Rejt flashed a tired smile. “For the Progenitor, there is always more work to be done. Come then, abomination. Let me lay you to rest.”
Both figures cracked the ground as they launched themselves forward. The Metal Queen ripped forward and slashed out, sending claws made of flame chasing after Rejt. Rejt skipped sideways, cutting with his palm that shot sharp blades of air at the Metal Queen. The blows ripped through the fire surrounding her and smashed into her with enough force to stagger her, but after a single unsteady step, she twisted around once more. Fury built in the air around her.
“I can’t fall here.” The Metal Queen panted. “For Creta… for our dream… just BURN!”
There was an audible snap in the air, and then a beam of hyper-concentrated fire and ash shot outward toward the spot where Rejt had just landed. Allica paled as Rejt raised his hands to conjure a blade of air, but he held that concentration for far too long.
But Allica knew that had no other choice. If he didn’t empower that blade, it wouldn’t cut through the Metal Queen’s attack. But that meant-
There was a blur from the side and a body superimposed itself between Rejt and the beam. A wave of heat followed by a booming crack smashed into Allica. She felt blood spurt between her fingers as the blast aggravated her wounds. The heat was such that her eyebrows were burnt away, even from the thirty-meter distance between Allica and the epicenter of the blast.
As Allica blinked, the ash was ripped aside by a blade of wind so large that it scared the ground and ceiling with its passage. Like a cold Northern wind, it blew and extinguished the fire that surrounded the Metal Queen. Underneath the flames, the remnants of the woman were thin and sickly, with withered skin between hissing cherry-red plates of metal.
“But…” The Metal Queen stumbled. “I won’t fucking let-”
“You are beyond your depth.” Rejt rumbled. He walked over and touched the charred corpse of Tessa, who had thrown herself between him and the blast. His face was covered in deep shadows as he considered his three-year companion. “Sleep. Your dream dies here.”