CHAPTER 32: WEI FENG

The red smoke in the sky slowly joined together, the last point ascending into the heavens.

The red intensified, and the air throughout the capital seemed to grow heavier.

At first, it felt like just an annoyance. An almost imperceptible weight, but enough to make Elyria and the others frown.

Elyria then turned to the oldest of the group.

"Are you all right?"

The man furrowed his brow, surprised by the question.

"Yes... why?"

Before he could finish, a drop fell onto his hand. He looked confused and wiped his face. His nose had suddenly started bleeding.

"Must be my age catching up with me now," the man muttered, trying to smile.

But Elyria didn’t believe it. And Kyrian, seeing through the Eyes of Blood, noticed immediately.

The man’s veins seemed to be trembling, as if something was trying to pull them out.

The pressure he felt grew steadily. Elyria felt a tightness in her chest. It wasn’t pain, but it was as if the blood in her veins wanted to escape.

Still, she held firm.

Kyrian observed in silence, but he knew this was not simple. That dome was absorbing the blood of everyone. He would be fine. But if they didn’t resolve this, he could already imagine what would happen to the city.

*********************************

In the city, the chaos grew worse.

In a small wooden house, a family hid. The father breathed deeply, clutching a short knife, while the mother cradled a baby in her arms. Two older children stood a little behind her, sobbing quietly.

"Calm down... it’s going to be all right. The Royal Order will soon fix this. We just need to wait here," the father whispered, looking out the window.

In the street, hundreds of people pushed against the city gate. Men struck the iron with stones and swords, shouting for it to open, but it was useless. The gates would not give way so easily.

And those who guarded the gate slaughtered anyone who stepped too close.

The man, watching it, swallowed hard.

"...husband." His wife’s voice trembled.

He looked at her. A red drip ran from her nose, staining her mouth and chin.

"D-don’t worry about that. It must be because of stress."

But she froze. The baby in her arms also had blood on its lips. Not only the baby, but the two children behind her cried harder, their eyes red, with streams of blood trickling from nose and mouth.

"N-no... what is happening? It can’t be..."

He dropped the knife and embraced his family desperately, tears spilling from his eyes.

"What the hell is happening!? What are they doing to us!?"

But before he could say more, he felt his own nose run. On top of that, a metallic taste suddenly filled his mouth.

Blood began dripping from his mouth, and his body, just like his family’s, weakened.

Outside, neighbors screamed. The same was happening in every house, every street. Blood was flowing from every citizen. The entire city seemed to have been cast into an immense, invisible massacre.

In the sky, the dome pulsed stronger. The red was growing ever denser, glowing with a strange and terrifying energy.

**********************************************

At the lake, the sounds of battle had echoed for quite some time.

The moonflowers were gathered in baskets, tied with thick ropes to a completely sealed carriage.

Four members of the Order formed a defense around the carriage, while Kael, bleeding, fought against third-level martial artists.

Harken, on the other hand, roared orders, but no one obeyed him anymore. His own guards, men he had lived with for decades, attacked him coldly. There were many. And all struck without the slightest mercy.

"WHY?!" Harken shouted as he punched one of them in the stomach, but instead of killing them, he only knocked them out or incapacitated them.

Another came next, then another. He couldn’t bring himself to kill them—they were his men, comrades of years.

But every hesitation cost him dearly. His body was already covered in wounds, his breathing heavy, and the spear trembled in his hands.

Soon, he began to be affected even more than the others by the smoke, blood pouring faster from his nose.

Kael eliminated one enemy, but another charged with brutal strength. At the last instant, a member of the Order saved him, but the difference was clear.

The five enemies were third-level. Even if the five of the Order there fought together, they were still at a disadvantage.

But Kael wasn’t too worried, over time, he and the others would endure, while their enemies grew more and more exhausted.

Even with inferior strength, their resilience was far greater. But the biggest problem was Harken, who was struggling against an entire garrison.

"Damn it, if this keeps up, we’ll lose," Kael gritted his teeth, blood dripping from his arm.

’Why the hell isn’t it healing?’ Kael suddenly realized, in his open wounds, the blood would not stop flowing. The regeneration from the black liquid wasn’t working for some reason. He looked at the sky and frowned.

’Damn.’

But at that moment, the sound of hooves echoed down the road.

Everyone looked. On the horizon, riding swiftly, Elyria and Kyrian led the group. Behind them, warriors of the Order advanced like a tide.

Kael broke into a wide grin, even bloodied.

"Hold on, reinforcements are here. Don’t let them escape."

Their spirits reignited. The Order shouted, attacking with renewed fury.

Elyria leapt from her horse straight onto an enemy, her spear spun. The impact shattered bones and threw him to the ground. Kyrian followed, advancing among the traitor guards.

But instead of killing them as he always did, he struck with precision, knocking them out one after another. It wasn’t compassion, no, it was out of respect for Harken, who refused to kill his own men.

The massacre, however, came from the others. Elyria and the other warriors of the Order cut down all the enemy martial artists, blood staining the ground around the lake.

Minutes later, the enemy resistance had been crushed. The stronger ones gave up on the flowers and fled completely, leaving the weaker behind.

Silence then fell. Only the sounds of the lake and the groans of the wounded filled the air.

Elyria slowly turned to Harken.

Her fist flew.

The punch landed squarely on Harken’s chest, the armor he wore dented, and the impact slammed him against a tree behind him.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOUR GUARDS DOING?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Her voice rang in everyone’s ears.

Harken coughed, rising with some difficulty. He approached her and smacked her head several times, which made her calm down and regret punching him.

"I don’t know either," Harken answered, his voice heavy with frustration.

"They simply turned against me... practically all of them. The ones who didn’t ended up killed. I don’t know why. I don’t know their true objective. I only know they were helping the invaders to get the moonflowers."

He looked at the carriage, which was full, his face dark.

"The flowers were harvested today, but I don’t understand why they want them so badly. After all, the other countries don’t even have the recipe to use them like we do."

Kyrian saw that Harken wasn’t lying, he truly didn’t know.

Elyria took a deep breath and, after a few seconds, sighed. She stepped forward and hugged Harken quickly, easing some of the tension.

But when she pulled back, her eyes were cold.

"Father... where is Mother?"

Silence fell again.

"She wasn’t in the castle. And she isn’t here with you either," Elyria continued in a dark tone.

Harken clenched his fists. He didn’t have the answer either.

***************************************

In the deep cave beneath the city, it was damp, with the air reeking of iron and rotting flesh.

Ancient, unrecognizable symbols were burned into the walls. At the center, where the hunched old man sat, there was a red circle pulsing like a heartbeat.

The Royal Counselor walked with firm steps. Her cloak dragged across the soaked ground.

Her eyes reflected the same color as the circle.

Before her, seated in the middle of the circle, was the old man. Skin hung in wrinkles over his fragile bones, but his eyes were more alive than ever.

With each pulse of the circle beneath him, his appearance improved slightly.

She bowed slightly in respect.

"The four points have been perfectly prepared."

The old man blinked.

"Then the second phase has begun."

The counselor nodded, her face cold.

"Yes. The blood is being gathered right now. Now, even if the gates are broken down, there is no way they can escape."

"The families, the soldiers, and the citizens are already offering all the blood they have."

The old man inhaled deeply, a twisted smile curving his lips. In his hand was an ancient staff. At its tip, there was a crimson blood crystal, but it seemed to be cracking bit by bit.

"But there is still a problem. The flowers."

The old man didn’t reply, he only looked at her.

"That doesn’t matter. When the fifth point rises, no one will remain in the city but the two of us. Then, it won’t matter where the flowers are. They will still fall into my hands."

"Fate has already been sealed. They will inevitably come to me. And then I, Wei Feng, will take revenge on all who made me end up in this filthy place."