CHAPTER 224: GRAVEYARD

"Waah!" Peri nearly toppled over from the sudden burst of speed, her body thrown forward by the sheer force of the wind. She would have slipped entirely if not for Hades’ quick hand shooting out, gripping her waist and pulling her back against the dragon’s cold scales. He steadied her and kept her close as the world blurred around them.

There was no denying it—Kaya was flying far faster than she had in the morning, when they first arrived in Torseque. This pace wasn’t normal flight... it was a desperate sprint. The kind a dragon used only when danger was near, and time was slipping through their fingers like sand.

Air whipped past them violently, sharp as needles. The sky itself became a raging river, its currents pushing at their bodies with unforgiving strength.

Kaya tore across the heavens with white body stretched wide, the moonlight bouncing off her scales like flashes of silver lightning. At this speed, the world below was nothing but streaks of shadow and color.

As Beatrice had promised, not a single guard or watchful eye tried to stop them. They pierced through the barrier of the Dragon’s Realm without being questioned, rushing deeper into the territory where only beings linked to dragons were allowed to tread.

The location had already been revealed earlier, so Kaya didn’t slow down—not even for a heartbeat. She flew straight toward the west of Aethernox, the region closest to the Emberclad Empire, her body floating faster every second.

Hades’ brows were drawn together in a deep frown. He had been trying, again and again, to reach Luna through their bond, but all he received was silence.

Silence... and fear.

And pain.

She was... wounded, and her emotions were wild, anxious, trembling beneath the surface. That was what bothered him the most. Luna didn’t get scared easily. Even when faced with the worst, she always held on.

So who exactly had attacked her?

Peri heard his question, but the wind was too loud for her voice to cut through. She instead answered through their bond, her thoughts brushing gently against his.

[Samarella told me it was another Primordial. Luna entered his area... and he smelled you on her. That was why he attacked her.]

Hades’ eyes darkened. The remnants of the Primordials were scattered across the world, buried or sealed, but they should not have been able to manifest on their own. Not without help.

They always needed a host...

And a large source of energy to fuel their half-awake consciousness.

And then it clicked.

’That means... he’s using the villagers. Their lives as fuel.’

Hades clenched his jaw. He hadn’t expected the situation in the village to be this twisted, this cruel. Someone hailed as a God—someone the people might have prayed to—was draining those very people dry just to wake himself up.

Monstrous.

[Did you hear anything from Luna?] Peri suddenly asked, cutting through his thoughts.

Hades exhaled sharply.

[No. But... I heard her repeating my name. Again and again. As if she’s desperate. She’s in trouble. There’s no doubt about it.]

Peri tensed, her throat tightening. Luna had just recovered from the trauma of her death—barely holding herself together these past days. And now something like this had found her.

’Just hang in there... please... just a few more minutes...’

The elf didn’t speak the words. She prayed them. Because miracles rarely visited a person twice.

The dark night opened ahead of them as Kaya sped forward, slicing through layers of cold wind. And then—finally—their eyes caught something unusual on the horizon.

A huge cage of dark smog stood outside the village, tall as a tower and thick as tar. It pulsed like a living thing, swallowing every speck of light around it.

"That must be it!" Hades shouted, pointing straight at the swirling barrier.

Kaya adjusted her body instantly and descended toward the eerie structure. She hovered above it, the air rumbling beneath her massive body.

Averis narrowed her eyes. "We should dive in and search for her."

Hades bit his lip hard. "We can’t. The fog is too thick. If we enter blind, we’ll lose ourselves. We might not come back out."

Averis looked again. Indeed... standing inside that smog would be like stepping into a world without shape, color, or direction. One wrong step and they could all be lost.

"Can’t you feel her presence?" Peri asked, her voice trembling. Their priority was Luna. Everything else could wait.

"I can feel her," Hades said, frustration tightening his chest. "But I can’t pinpoint her. It’s like the fog is swallowing her aura."

With no other options, he inhaled sharply and made a choice.

"I’m going in... alone."

"What?! No! You can’t!" Peri cried, gripping his arm.

Hades faced her, his eyes fierce. "I can’t risk losing you too. Stay here. I will bring Luna back."

Averis immediately protested, "I am following you, master. Protecting you is my duty."

Hades’ voice cracked like thunder. "Did you not hear me? I said I’m going alone!"

This wasn’t a request. It was an order. His tone left no room for argument.

But both Peri and Averis looked at him with stubborn resolve, clearly unwilling to let him disappear into a death fog by himself.

And then—

"I... can do something about the fog."

Kaya’s voice rolled out, deeper than usual, yet still somehow youthful.

"What do you mean?" Hades asked quickly.

The dragon didn’t explain. She simply opened her maw. Rings of energy formed in front of her mouth—circles made of shimmering air—each one breaking apart and forming again.

Then she released it.

A wave burst downward, not fire, not frost, but a violent shake in the air itself—a shock of pure sound. It slammed into the fog, shattering it layer by layer. The mist quivered, broke apart, and began to thin, scattering across the ground like frightened shadows.

When the fog cleared—

What lay inside the four walls of the graveyard left them all shocked beyond words.

It was a graveyard—

not only because of those long buried beneath the soil,

but because of the fresh dead bodies scattered across the ground.

Dozens of them.

More than fifty men, all identical in face and form, lay motionless like discarded dolls. Their limbs were twisted, their chests caved in, their eyes empty. The field looked less like a battlefield and more like a place where life itself had been drained without mercy.

And in the middle of all of them stood a single living figure.

Breathing hard.

Swaying slightly.

But still standing.

Luna.

Her arms were drenched in blood, crimson streaks running from her fingertips to her elbows. Cuts covered her body—deep ones, shallow ones, ones that still oozed slowly. Her hair clung to her face, tangled and wet, yet her stance remained alert and dangerous, ready to tear apart anything that came close.

Hades didn’t waste a second.

He dropped from the air and landed in front of her, worry twisting his expression.

Luna didn’t think.

She didn’t look.

She simply attacked.

She stabbed him straight in the gut the moment he appeared.

SQUELCH.

Her blade sank into him without hesitation. Her eyes were wild, red with blood lust, her aura so thick and violent that it felt like the air itself grew heavier around them.

Hades grunted from the impact, pain shooting through him—but he didn’t move away.

He didn’t push her.

He didn’t defend himself.

Peri gasped, dropping down beside them, panic flashing across her face.

"Luna, stop—!"

But before she could finish, Hades raised his hand sharply, stopping her.

Slowly... painfully... he lifted both his hands and cupped Luna’s cheeks.

His thumbs brushed against her blood-streaked skin.

She flinched at his touch—reflex, fear, instinct—but he didn’t pull back.

In the softest voice he could manage, he whispered,

"Luna... it’s me. It’s Hades. You’re safe now.

It’s okay."

Her breathing hitched.

A tiny tremble ran through her arms.

And for the first time... the bloodlust in her eyes flickered.

Her eyes slowly widened, the thick blood lust slowly subdued as she finally looked at him, "H-Hades?!"

The redhead smiled, "Yeah, it’s me. Sorry for making you wait."

Luna’s mind turned numb when she looked down and found her claws digging deep into his flesh.

She slowly pulled her hands and instantly healed his wounds, "I-I am sorry...I moved on instincts...I am-"

"Shh, it’s okay, Luna. I understand." Hades told her, "I was just too worried to call you out. It was my fault to suddenly appear before you."

"How romantic~" suddenly, a voice interrupted them.

Hades froze for a moment but then, he looked past Luna and saw it.

The mist has reformed, but not entirely, just to give the shape of a man who stood there, his red eyes staring at Hades.

"You are Mytheon, the Primordial of Plague."

With his eyes turning cold, Hades declared, "You shouldn’t have touched my wife."

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A/N:- Thanks for reading. Drop a comment if you have been enjoying the story so far.