Chapter 196: Black hole 4

Since the invasion had started, the disciples and Protectors had been one thing: useless. They lounged about, drinking tea and cracking odd jokes. Muon even took a nap beside the dragon’s children. Mona was the same. After discovering where Nel’s children were, he turned a blind eye to everything and just slept.

Haliad rested his chin on his palm and leaned on the rail of a bridge. He was watching the fight below, even though it was miles away. Beside him, Nel and Myai were arguing about something. He didn’t care to listen, not until Nel nudged him.

"Right, Haliad?"

He glanced at them. "What?"

"You weren’t listening," they chorused, the excitement draining from their faces.

"I was watching Vanya’s descendants. It seems they inherited the flame label."

"Oh really?" Myai leaned over and looked down.

"We were talking about Richard," Nel said.

"What about him?"

"Myai here says he’s not usually grumpy." She said he’s more cheerful than annoying.

Haliad absentmindedly nodded. "She’s right."

"She’s right?!" Nel gasped. "Am I the only one remembering things right?! He’s among the Protectors, but we didn’t even see his face for over a million years! He wore that freaking mask and barely interacted with any of us. He chose to stay inside the world instead of outside it like everyone else."

"You’re also right," Haliad muttered.

She frowned. "Now I just think you’re agreeing with everything we say."

"Exactly."

The ladies exchanged glances. They felt like punching him in the gut. Haliad, on the other hand, returned his attention to the fight below.

"His mood has been good for the past twenty years, at least." Myai shrugged.

Nel snorted. "Because you bore that... I’m still not sure what your son is."

"No." Myai laughed. "Even before that, she brought back this... child. A pale little lad. Zeal, was it?"

"I know Zeal," Nel said.

"You know him?" Myai asked.

"Green eyes. Very cranky. A bit blunt with words." Nel scoffed.

"Yeah, that one." Myai laughed. "He’s a charmer." She looked up. "He dived headfirst into the pit that day. If Richard hadn’t caught him, he would have had a terrible crash."

"He totally seems like someone who would do that." Nel nodded.

"He had... um... this injury, and Richard wanted to treat him." She waved her hand. "I dunno, Richard barely put any effort into anything."

"Did he treat him?"

Myai raised a brow. "Huh? No. Zeal died."

Nel’s eyes slowly went wide. "Huh?"

"He’s dead," Myai repeated.

Nel gazed into the distance. "But..."

"Elias has his ability, if you think you can still feel him."

"Huh?... Oh..." Nel blinked. She glanced at Haliad, who shrugged and looked back into the distance. "I see."

A moment of silence followed. Myai was beginning to doze off when Nel spoke again.

"You were dead when I met the duo." She glanced at Myai. "So that means your soul should be in Elias’s body. Huh? Did I not sense it even when I split his soul?"

"I was asleep," Myai simply said. "In Mona’s soul."

"But I should have sensed it," she insisted.

"Elias has a double soul." Haliad, who had been keeping quiet, finally spoke. "I suspect he split it himself."

"A week after birth," Myai confirmed.

"He split it like a lock and key." Haliad turned his attention to them.

"A lock and a key?" they chorused.

"Any part of him that transcends human normality, he locked in Mona. He’s the key. Mona is the one behind the curtain. That’s why it’s difficult to see Mona as anything other than a dragon, because—"

"Elias locked it," Nel finished.

"That seems more convincing," she added. "I probably didn’t sense you because you were in the lock."

Myai confirmed with a single nod. "I used to switch between both of them easily, but I fell asleep after I forcefully took control of their body."

"What?!" they said, startled.

"Quora Empire. S-ranked gate," she explained. "The marked ones of Qud opened a gate to search for me, and I had to chase their pet back."

The disciple and the Protector exchanged glances.

"And I caused huge damage after that." She smiled, saying it as casually as a weather report.

"That’s a bit too much, even for a disciple. You were reckless," he said disapprovingly.

Nel held out her hand. "Is it that dangerous? I mean—"

"One wrong move and your soul can get lost in the void."

"I know. It’s not like I can try it again."

"What, lost in the void?" Nel asked.

"The boy can manipulate the void," Haliad said flatly.

Nel froze, her eyes wide. "Say that again."

"The void," Myai confirmed. "He can use it."

Nel laughed. "Haliad, no. The void isn’t something you can learn."

"Exactly. That’s why opening it is a very good sign that he might be able to reach the Creator," Myai said.

"No. I don’t believe it." Her mouth tightened. "It’s impossible. The body can’t hold the—"

The sky suddenly cracked in the distance.

They turned their heads. The sound rolled through the stones beneath their feet, and then every window in the street rattled at once. The sky began to darken.

Haliad moved immediately, and the rest followed him.

They went up the bridges onto the nearest roof, then across the lower mountains. They skidded to a stop at the edge of the floating empire. A second later, Muon landed beside them in a crouch.

"What’s..." His dark eyes locked onto the scene below them. "What the hell..."

Below them stretched the endless drop, and in the middle of it all, swallowing all the ground, was a hole punched through reality like a hole through a map: a sphere of perfect black, with unknown colors mixed in.

Nel’s mouth shut. "You... were right..."

"Maybe he’ll be able to summon the Creator after all." Muon couldn’t contain his smirk.

"Yeah." Haliad nodded.

Myai was the only one frowning.

"Should we find a solution to that instead of celebrating? He’ll bury this place."

Haliad pointed into the distance.

"It’s fine. Richard is on the move."