Chapter 381: Ancient Sun Dynasty (2)
Below him, the remains of over ten shops were reduced to rubble, their fragments scattered across the cobblestones like the aftermath of a disaster.
On the sunlit ground below, a woman stood rooted in place, her face etched with deep concern.
She lifted her eyes to the sky, shielding them against the harsh light where two spectral figures hovered ominously.
"Mary? What are you doing?" Wang Xiao\'s voice boomed across the open space, tinged with a mixture of anger and disbelief.
Floating in the sky, his daughters, Yue and Wenxi, were suspended with a disturbing stillness.
Their eyes, once full of life and warmth, now appeared empty, devoid of soul or sentiment.
"I-I didn\'t do this..." Mary\'s voice was a faint murmur, barely audible over the gentle hum of the afternoon breeze.
"It happened on its own. The young misses... they suddenly emanated a strange aura and lifted into the air without any warning." Her hands shook slightly, betraying her bewildered state.
Narrowing his eyes, Wang Xiao surveyed the destruction below.
Near the entrance, among the debris, lay signs of a fierce battle—more than five corpses indicated the aftermath of battle.
But who was the adversary aloft?
Above them, a dark aura surrounded the stranger, dense and dark.
Yet, this aura was dwarfed by the even more sinister energies pulsating from Yue and Wenxi.
The stranger seemed merely to observe from afar, his outline blurred against the bright sky.
From the sisters, a misty, prismatic light radiated outward, casting strange, elongated shadows on the ground.
Although Wang Xiao was puzzled by its nature, he recognized its deadly potential—it seemed capable of mincing through the bodies of any ordinary mortal who ventured too close.
"I can\'t get near them; that mist is too strong, and they seem unable to control it," Mary admitted, her expression grim.
While the mysterious man in the air posed a manageable threat, Yue and Wenxi were clearly in a state beyond her reach.
Wang Xiao let out a deep sigh, his broad chest rising and falling, "We\'ll leave the explanations for later."
With a steady, measured rise, he began his ascent towards the hovering conflict, his figure a small dot against the background of the afternoon sky.
____
"Tch, what is this weird thing..." muttered Sariel, his short orange dyed hair fluttering slightly as he hovered in the air.
Behind him unfurled eight massive wings, dark green in color, radiating an intense aura that seemed to be the source of his strength.
At a closer glance, these wings appeared to be a mimicry of those belonging to Gabriel, against whom Wang Xiao and Luna had once fought.
Sariel\'s eyes narrowed as he focused on the distance—a kilometer away, two small figures could be discerned. "Girls, stop your resistance. Your friend have already killed the diplomat from the Sun Dynasty. Until I present your heads to the Ancient Sun Dynasty, their anger will not be quenched!" he proclaimed, his voice booming, amplified by the vibrations in the air.
Were it not for the dangerous mist surrounding them, Sariel would have already closed the distance.
For now, he maintained a respectful distance.
"!"
Suddenly, a cold shiver raced down his spine, making his hair stand on end.
Before he realized it, everything around him plunged into darkness. He swallowed hard as, one by one, eyes as large as humans opened around him.
Large, red, predatory eyes—thousands of them—stared at him all at once.
Hiss!
He took a sharp, cold breath, his lips trembling.
"No... this can\'t be real. This isn\'t happening," he whispered to himself, voice quivering with dread.
The air felt suffocating him with the sheer weight of unseen watchers.
Thud!
The next moment, he lost balance fell through the air, which felt as solid as rock beneath him, into a dark void below.
\'Wh—What is going on!?\'
His mind screamed internally, struggling to make sense of the surreal nightmare around him.
"This is wrong... so very wrong," he gasped out loud, trying to steady his breathing.
His complexion turned ghostly pale as his blood seemed to freeze in fear. "I must escape... must get away and report it to the church.." he muttered under his breath, his eyes darting wildly in search of an exit from this hellish vision.
But the staring eyes continued to multiply, closing in, leaving no room for escape.
"Please... no more," Sariel begged, his voice barely more than a hoarse whisper.
His pants were already soaked, a slightly yellow liquid seeping from his crotch.
As one of the first Archangels established by the order of the Vatican, his condition was utterly disgraceful.
Yet, in front of the looming shadow of mortality, these were the least of his concerns.
___
While Sariel trembled, enveloped by terror in the haunting darkness, the scene happened differently at a distance.
The dark matter had surged forward, enveloping and devouring the dangerous mist emitted by Yue and Wenxi.
Grasp!
"Caught it," Wang Xiao declared, moving with swiftness as he arrived just in time to catch his daughters.
Their bodies had begun to fall when he reached them, securing each one in his arms.
He exhaled in relief, a heavy burden lifted from his heart.
As he held them, a faint sweet fragrance emanated from each daughter, distinct and comforting, which helped to soothe the lingering edge of anger within him.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...."
In the distance, a haunting wailing echoed like a siren.
Wang Xiao raised his head and spotted Sariel, who was now plucking at his own hair, slowly being driven to the brink of insanity.
The sight of Sariel\'s descent into madness momentarily ignited a flare of hatred in Wang Xiao\'s eyes, but it quickly dissipated, returning to his usual calm demeanor.
He gently laid both daughters down on the seemingly solid dark void, ensuring their safety first. He then turned his attention back to Sariel, contemplating the next move in this complex tableau, his mind strategizing amidst the chaos.
Wang Xiao carefully laid his daughters down on the solid expanse of the dark void, their faces pale and cold.
As he gently caressed their face, trying to impart some warmth with his touch, their eyes fluttered open almost simultaneously.
Whoosh!
They sat up sharply, gasping for air with desperate, audible inhales.
"Inhale... inhale..."
They each drew in ragged breaths, their hands flailing in the air as if grasping for something tangible in the mist of their confusion and fear.