Surprise

The seven days seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye. Richard was in the altar room once more, standing on a platform that extended from the wall as he looked down on the pool of blood before. The skies of the Frozen Throne were overcast, but there wasn’t any terrifying vortex like during Godfrey’s return. Norland’s planar portals were a millennium ahead of Faelor’s, and Asiris’s summoning formation didn’t cause as much of a ruckus as the original.

Space was already starting to crack above the altar, ripping wider and wider until two illusory figures flew out. The pool of blood was already at a full boil, some of the streams flying several metres high. The two figures were in no hurry to enter the pool immediately, instead taking a look around as they conversed.

“This return was strangely successful, Lyos. I hadn’t thought the coordinates would be so clear.”

“Agreed. Our descendants have been growing weaker over time, it shouldn’t be possible for them to send such an accurate signal.”

“Hmm... Well, it’s been several centuries since we were last here; maybe there were a few geniuses in the meanwhile. This should be good news, those pieces of garbage in their divine kingdoms won’t be too happy, though. How do you think the war is going?.”

Lyos went quiet for a while, “Hopefully not too bad. The enemy this time seems troublesome, there wasn’t any news from Godfrey after he went. I can’t help but worry.”

“What does it matter? Since both of us have returned, the troublemakers will just have to pay the price. What do you think of destroying their country?”

“They likely have a god backing them if they got to the city. We need to find out who it is and wipe out all of their demigods and churches in the mortal realm.”

“Hehe, that’s a few million lives!”

“Just a number. They need to feel the heat of molten iron swimming in their blood! They should have withdrawn their main forces by now, right?”

“Right... Let’s take a look at the bodies first; the bloodline feels alright, but hopefully they have enough to last a few more days. Doesn’t look like there’s any problem here.”

Lyos nodded in response, entering the pool of blood alongside Cyril. The surface quickly calmed down, draining out to reveal two youths who were checking their bodies. It was when they nodded in satisfaction and flew up that countless black runes burst forth from the altar, covering the pool like a huge net and branding them.

The two legends immediately screamed out in rage, their bodies dropping from the sky under the power of the brands. Even more black sigils flew across the empty pool to cover them, like a hornets’ nest that had been disturbed.

An intense silver radiance burst forth from the pool before it was quickly restrained, the runes nearby burning away under its might. Cyril rose into the sky and surveyed his surroundings, “Who is it? Come out, you dirty coward!”

“Now, now, Cyril, I believe we’ve come across someone who has true strength. The strong should be respected,” Lyos said in a deep voice as he rose up himself.

Richard dispelled the spatial warp that had been covering all this while, allowing his aura to flare up to its limit. The two legends immediately turned towards him with confusion before growing serious. Even the violent Cyril suddenly calmed down, “Whose descendant are you? Call your ancestor over, I believe we know them.”

He could tell that Richard was close to the legendary realm at an absurdly young age, implying there was a powerful figure and an equally mighty organisation backing him. Even amongst the gods, something like this was rare in the plane’s history.

However, Richard shook his head, “This is my decision, it has nothing to do with my ancestors. You couldn’t possibly know them anyway; just focus on your own circumstances first. You’ve been branded and can’t leave this plane.”

Cyril’s body shone with silver, threads of metal seeping out from his body and dancing around the place. In the meanwhile, Lyos floated towards the altar and touched the ground, causing the entire hall to tremble as a loud metallic creak filled the air. Steel arms started popping out from the earth, the hard granite flooring looking as loose as sand. The golems that crawled out opened their eyes one by one, turning towards Richard.

His first show of power alone had allowed Lyos to summon more than ten steel golems despite the branding of sin that affected his power. It showed just how suitable the Frozen Throne was for him to fight in. However, Cyril’s silver threads that seemed like they could blanket the entire hall only managed a dozen metres before stopping entirely, prompting a smile from Richard. While the King of Steel and Friend of Silver used different metals, the base law they built their foundation upon was the same. With only a limited amount of that law’s energy in this space, one would have to give way to the other.

Of course, such restrictions wouldn’t exist outside the altar space. However, the two couldn’t use all their strength right now, and the conflict would likely make the two worse together than just Lyos going all out. The altar hall was in the middle of the mountain and surrounded by stone and ore; very little ambient energy managed to seep through. This had been intentional during the hall’s construction, but right now it posed a huge obstacle.

Richard looked down on the two from above, a huge smile on his face, “I’ve prepared a present for you. Hope you like it!”

He reached out as he spoke, outlining something in the air to form a portal out of nothing. Cyril glanced at it and snickered, “Calling on nighmares? What kind of surprise are you trying to give us? Four shadow soldiers? Ten? That’s inconse— WHAT?”

The legend’s eyes suddenly opened wide as the portal in front of him evolved, growing more solid until it was a giant door nearly ten metres tall. The door had an actual frame with two shadow snakes crawling along the side, showing the mark of the Legion of Nightmares at its crest to protect a giant gem that was emitting green light.

This portal gate was completely black, emanating a realistic metallic lustre that looked nothing like a product of magic. Mysterious runes were carved all over it, so complex that Cyril couldn’t even begin to understand them. Even with a small slit opening up, countless shadow warriors gushed out from within!

This wasn’t just ten nightmare creatures, not even a hundred. It was an endless tide!

Even Lyos flinched at the sight, immediately trying to tear space apart and flee, but the brands on his body activated and kept his soul stuck inside the current body. If he left now, just the ambient spatial storms in the void would rip him to shreds. He looked for Richard, but all he saw was a barrier that blocked the exit.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Richard shook his head at the cries of rage and walked out the passage to the other side, glancing at the various magic arrays near the exit. All of his followers were lying in wait here, with the 200 rune knights forming a second line of defence not far away.

The mountain was trembling slightly at this moment, causing everyone’s expressions to change. They hadn’t expected Faelor’s legends to possess such terrifying might before; the ability to shake the mountains definitely wasn’t weak even in Norland. Godfrey had already been a huge blow to the followers’ ego, and now there were two people more powerful than him down below; they wouldn’t dare underestimate the situation again.

As they watched Richard walk out, a few of Richard’s followers trembled a little in surprise. This effect was even more pronounced in Asiris and Nasia; nobody knew what Richard had designed in there to confront two legends, but the shaking of the mountain made it clear that the two were going all out. If this wasn’t a one-off, that meant he now had the power to contend directly with legends even though he had only recently entered level 20.