NOVEL NEXT Chapter 192: Nico
Before the four could even scream, Raiden had materialized before them with that same irritated stare. Yet even in his hollow condition, he acted on some buried impulse—something he couldn't fish out of himself no matter how hard he tried.
He would have taken their heads without hesitation, and would have rejoiced as their warm blood bathed his face in euphoric release. But not this time. Perhaps crossing that line, killing your own, changes everything.
He looked down instinctively, staring at the numbers displayed on their star-shaped crests through a confused haze. All sevens, and while he had climbed to rank five after his fight with Deathsight, his brother, subduing four number sevens should have drained him at least a little.
He lifted his gaze upward, staring at the half moon suspended above. He was the moon dragon, after all, and even in his current hollow state, he could feel the immense power that darkness granted him.
The moon dragon turned his attention to the gate, where Ember City's citizens watched in horrified panic, bodies shaking with terror as the majority scrambled to escape into nearby shelters.
But no malice stirred within him, and beneath his unsettling appearance and that overwhelming aura of darkness, he was merely a lost child searching for something he couldn't name.
He turned left with casual indifference, facing the colossal wall that stretched infinitely onward, vanishing into some distant void. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he began walking along its base.
From behind the entrance, citizens cautiously watched as he trudged away, each labored step carrying him further from their city, and with it came a collective sigh of relief.
No destination guided him, only the endless horizon and a desperate hope that somewhere out there lay something—anything—that could grant him purpose and happiness once more. Yet pursuit was inevitable; the city believed him guilty of annihilating an entire settlement and unleashing chaos in the Sea of Snakes.
The snakes in question, which Raiden had previously faced as Sand Worms, were enormous creatures encased in scales like razor blades, their cavernous mouths able to consume fifteen people whole while brandishing fangs sharper still.
They surged through the desert sands like a living sea, stirring only when they sensed moisture. And the city truly believed he could disturb such nightmarish beasts in this broken state?
Certainly, he might have wreaked havoc if he weren't essentially a walking corpse, but in his detached state, even those beasts would struggle to detect his presence, making it impossible for him to trigger any disaster.
But deeper, more disturbing questions hung in the air like a storm cloud. Why had an entire town been slaughtered? By whose hand? And what force could possibly send the dreaded Sand Worms into such murderous hysteria?
Something vast and incomprehensible was clearly unfolding, but with his mind reduced to emptiness and all feeling carved away, even this obvious truth lay forever out of his grasp.
But his journey continued, and eventually the towering wall fell away completely behind him, leaving him standing once again in the endless expanse of empty desert.
His white hair caught and flickered in the brilliant dragon aura that enveloped him, his footsteps growing ever lighter as his hand instinctively tightened around the dark hilt of his sword.
His journey continued through the desert's infinite silence, with no destination guiding his steps. Then, as night surrendered to the approaching dawn, something unusual finally made him pause.
Before him unfolded an otherworldly purple landscape, a sharp contrast to the familiar brown sand at his feet.
Wind carved through this alien terrain, lifting ethereal particles that floated like weightless specks, shimmering visibly in the morning light. Purple clay stretched endlessly ahead.
Raiden's face betrayed his deep discomfort as he stared at the threshold. Sensing no direct danger, he moved to cross but stopped short, his eyes jumping frantically from shadow to shadow before he steeled himself and pushed forward.
Purple dust billowed with every step he took. Despite his mask guarding his throat, the toxic particles still managed to seep through, and soon he was wracked with coughs.
But he persisted forward anyway. As dawn broke, the sun emerged behind distant purple edifices that seemed molded from the same strange clay covering the ground.
His recent ordeal in Ember City didn't stop him from advancing. As he neared the settlement, he observed people in threadbare garments that matched his own sorry state.
These buildings were more compact than those he'd encountered elsewhere, yet they possessed an elegant beauty with delicate, feminine touches.
Yet as he approached, he watched elderly men emerge from their dwellings, arranging tables outside their homes. Strangely, there wasn't a woman to be seen anywhere.
Still, this strange sight didn't stir Raiden's curiosity. He wanted only two things: purpose and happiness.
But after taking a few more steps, he stopped. Though his danger sense lay quiet, something made him freeze. His gaze swept frantically around, anticipating a threat he couldn't identify.
It wasn't long before the city dwellers spotted him, and immediately they scattered like startled birds, rushing into their homes and sealing themselves inside. But curious eyes remained pressed to their windows.
Those who stayed behind lingered with desperate anticipation, as if awaiting the arrival of someone or something.
Raiden's scowl came automatically, and with it his danger sense suddenly activated. Even though the warning was weak, he could see approximately a dozen black-armored knights brandishing longswords, their forms wreathed in pale light.
The mere sight of them drew a sneer from Raiden. Words were unnecessary. Naturally, the Kingdom's knights had come for him once the stories spread—you don't massacre a whole town and expect to walk free.
Yet where was his will to survive? He'd become nothing more than a slave to his own failures. Maybe an arrest would finally give him the purpose he'd been seeking.
With all these unanswered questions clouding his mind, he couldn't even distinguish left from right. Whatever fate awaited him remained completely unclear.