Chapter 481

C481. Presage of the Great Change (3)

How long had it been since contact with Lainicius was lost?

While they drove the carriage toward the border, Penia tried to communicate several times, but the magic crystal couldn’t connect.

By the time the impatience was already evident on their faces, the Sculptor suddenly spoke:

“Hmm~ It seems the situation isn’t good.”

Alon Palatio observed her in silence.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m just evaluating things coolly.”

Uncomfortable under his expressionless gaze, the Sculptor added:

“You know, right? Even if he is a dragon, it’s not easy to deal with a Divine Blood. It’s not something that needs to be explained with words. Sure, the primordial dragons were stronger, but honestly, the current ones don’t reach that level—”

“Ah! He connected!”

At that instant, Penia’s scream cut off the Sculptor’s words.

A look of doubt appeared on the Sculptor’s face, while Alon Palatio directed his gaze to the magic crystal.

There, Lainicius appeared. And what’s more, completely unharmed.

—You’re a bit late.

Lainicius’s calm voice resonated.

“…Are you okay?”

When Alon asked to confirm, he nodded immediately.

—Of course.

“…And the Divine Blood?”

—It was eliminated.

Lainicius’s response remained surprisingly serene.

At that, not only the Sculptor but also Alon were filled with questions.

Of course, Alon knew that Lainicius was strong.

After all, the Dragon Tongue was magic superior to all others. But a Divine Blood was a being even more irrational than a dragon.

“You eliminated it…?”

—That’s right.

“That… was possible?”

Alon asked without realizing it. And Lainicius answered as if it were something trivial.

—It’s tiring to project magic nonstop and use a lot of strength, but it wasn’t impossible to achieve. Besides, I had help.

“Help?”

—Yes, remember I said I wanted to try a small experiment? It’s an extension of that.

Lainicius said that and moved aside within the crystal.

Voices were heard from outside:

“I don’t want to. Why don’t I want to? Just say hello and that’s it. Do I really have to…?”

After a brief discussion that seemed like an absurd squabble, someone entered the crystal’s field of view.

“…Kylus?”

—…It’s been a while.

It was Kylus.

But in his human form.

“How…?”

—It seems my friend exerted himself a little.

Kylus replied, and immediately left the crystal as if he didn’t want to talk anymore.

Lainicius looked at him as if he didn’t understand his attitude, before continuing:

—Besides Kylus, I also received help from several mages. Thanks to that, I was able to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.

With that, Lainicius concluded:

—We’ll talk about the rest later.

“Did something happen?”

—Part of the castle collapsed because of the Divine Blood. There were no victims because it was in an area far from the territory, but if I don’t repair it quickly, it will be a problem.

In short: they needed hands and he had to return.

Lainicius left those words and the connection was cut.

Even after cutting off, the crystal remained emitting a faint light.

At that moment—

“…Alon.”

“What is it, Evan?”

“That man with tattoos just now… was that Kylus?”

Evan asked.

“…If it wasn’t him, who else would it be?”

Alon replied, not understanding why he was asking about Kylus instead of the Divine Blood.

But Evan, with a grave expression, rubbed his chin and said:

“…Thinking about it… isn’t this too unfair…?”

And he let out a deep sigh.

Penia was left with an expression of disbelief, and Seolrang tilted her head in confusion.

The Sculptor, who had observed everything, murmured in a low voice:

“…I certainly didn’t expect this. It should have been almost completely normal…”

Right after a situation that could have become serious was resolved in an unexpected way…

Alon was still worried about exactly how Lainicius had defeated the Divine Blood, but he decided to speak with the Sculptor first.

“So, is there another one of those living fragments left?”

“Well, according to what we know so far, yes. Though we don’t know where it is.”

Alon remained silent.

If the Star Group were here, it would have been a relief, but in the Allied United Kingdoms, they were no longer there.

Finally, he sighed.

Worrying now wouldn’t change anything.

“So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?”

He knew the Sculptor hadn’t come just to inform him about Lainicius.

The Sculptor hesitated for a moment before saying:

“Soon, the strongest ones will descend.”

“How long?”

“One year. Maybe less.”

A heavy silence fell.

If what she said was true, the situation was grave.

If the second-level Divine Bloods started falling like the first-level ones… Alon wasn’t sure he could stop them.

“But there is a problem.”

Just as Alon’s train of thought continued, the Sculptor added something else.

“A problem?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you come to warn that the Divine Bloods would fall?”

“And why would that be a problem? That is obvious.”

Alon immediately remembered that the one in front of him was a Divine Blood.

And then—

“The next Star Rebellion… on that occasion, almost everyone will come down.”

“Almost everyone…?”

“Everyone, except the high-ranking ones.”

The Sculptor dropped a bomb.

The silence inside the carriage became almost palpable.

Penia and Evan’s eyes opened wide as if they were about to pop out.

Only Seolrang, with her ears moving, was paying attention calmly.

“Why…?”

Alon managed to ask with a contained voice.

On the Sculptor’s face, a complex mixture of emotions could be read.

“It’s several things at once.”

“What things?”

The Sculptor organized her words and explained:

“First, the Fragment.”

“The fragment…”

“You know where it came from, right?”

Alon nodded.

He clearly knew why the fragment had been created.

“Because of the fragment…?”

“Yes, although to be exact, it’s more complicated. As I said, several things coincide. It seems someone forced the rupture of the sky to release the ‘Prisoners’.”

“What does that mean?”

“You don’t know…?”

“No.”

“A Divine Blood who doesn’t know…? How strange.”

Alon didn’t understand anything she was saying.

But the Sculptor got irritated seeing that he didn’t comprehend.

Since Alon really had no reaction of lying, she sighed.

“…I had heard rumors, but it is true that you lost your strength and memory trying to come down to the world earlier and that you gave up everything…”

Give up? Me?

He wanted to ask, but he had no reason to reject a background that the other took for granted.

When Alon remained silent, she continued:

“Simply to explain it, the Prisoners are those from below who were closest to victory and their subordinates.”

“If they were close to victory—”

“Yes, they are those who left this domain and got closer to the Gods. You know? The Divine Bloods who created the magic you use.”

“Anyway. Since they escaped, the structure of the sky was damaged. And because of that…”

“All those from below will start to descend.”

“All of them…?”

“Yes. Even if the Divine Bloods cannot use their full strength when falling… It doesn’t change the fact that they will arrive in this realm.”

Alon fell silent.

Especially because she explained it with total clarity.

Maybe they didn’t know yet if it was totally true, but there was no reason for the Sculptor to come all this way just to lie to him.

This meant one thing:

They were entering the truth of the great change.

Then, only one question remained:

“Then… why are you telling me?”

Why was she revealing this to him?

The Sculptor shrugged.

“Because they told me to help you.”

“Help me? Who?”

“Why don’t you go to Rosario and ask yourself?”

She responded with a proposal instead of an explanation.

Alon understood what she meant.

“……Rosario? Then—”

“Well, let’s leave the chat there.”

The Sculptor cut Alon off and began to exit the carriage.

“You’ll hear the rest in Rosario.”

And she started to sink into the earth.

“Wait—”

“I said the chat is over.”

Just as she was about to disappear—

Crack!

“Ugh!”

The Sculptor was grabbed by the head.

“Master said he wasn’t finished talking yet, right?”

It was an instant.

Seolrang took her by the head as if it were nothing.

The Sculptor opened her eyes in terror.

Not because of the physical strength—she had already seen that when they defeated the Spirit Invoker.

The reason was another:

‘How… does she ignore my law…!?’

Seolrang was ignoring the Law that governed her body.

Laws were absolute for Divine Bloods.

But Seolrang was holding her, breaking it as if it didn’t exist.

With enough strength to retain a body that was being absorbed toward its true core.

“Well, yes?”

Seolrang’s enormous face appeared in front of her.

Seolrang crouched down and looked her directly in the eyes.

In expression, she had none of the innocent shine she showed in front of Alon.

Only absolute coldness.

“Do you want me to go to your true body? Or—”

The voice was so expressionless it was scary.

Of course, a Divine Blood couldn’t feel fear toward a human.

For them, humans were tools.

But even so…

“—do you prefer that I break you right here?”

That pair of Golden Eyes was terrifying.

“Answer.”

The Sculptor, unable to resist, rushed to apologize with honorifics.

That answer seemed to satisfy Seolrang, who turned around with a huge radiant smile—

“Master! That dummy says she still has things to tell you.”

—holding the Sculptor by the head as if she were a bag.

Alon Palatio, who witnessed the whole scene, could only be left with an indescribable expression.