Mad God Chapter 214

Published at 27th of December 2022 05:17:54 AM

It was late morning when Ina finally woke up, slowly opening her eyes and looking around her messy room. She scratched her messy hair and blinked her eyes slowly, watching the small rays of sunlight coming through the gaps between her window's blinds. She feebly pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes that looked rested for the first time in the past decade.

"A… dream?" she whispered, touching her parched lips, standing up, holding onto the wall as she took some wobbly steps toward the window. She finally grabbed the handle, looking back at the dozens of clothes scattered on the floor. Her mind was still foggy a little, dazed even, but much cleaner than ever before. She felt her heart beating slowly and calmly, finally having enough courage to turn the window's handle and then push open the blinds with a loud creak. She was facing the strong, warm morning sunlight raining down her face for the first time in many years. "..."

She stood at the open window for a long time, silently squinting until her eyes slowly got used to the bright light and refocused on the garden, filled with multiple colorful flowers. There was nobody there, and everything looked and sounded peaceful and serene. Even her ears had to slowly adjust to the sounds of the outside world, but the dull, droning noise she was used to finally broke apart and gave away to the bird's playful chirping melodies. As her mind finally cleared up, she remembered someone coming yesterday, but her grandfather refused to meet… him.

"Him?" she murmured, looking back towards her door. "Daryan!" she gasped a little as her breathing sped up at the thought. Now she remembered that she clearly heard his voice and that he introduced himself to the guards. When her grandfather appeared, she heard him arguing with someone else too. "Spire of… Ren?" She whispered, licking her dried and cracked lip again as her fingers grabbed onto the windowsill. She was going through the now much clearer memories of herself from before.

In the end, she turned around, undressing completely. With a bit of hesitation, she took off the blanket from the standing mirror, turning it towards herself. She had to wipe off the years of dust with her trembling hands. Both hands shot up to bar her mouth when she saw herself as she almost screamed out. She couldn't recognize herself in the mirror. Tears started to well up in her eyes, rolling down, leaving marks on her face. Once, she was considered a beautiful flower, but now she was grossly underweight; her ribs, pelvis, and almost every other bone in her body were showing. Her once budding breasts shriveled and dried up, and her skin was marked with green and blue spots and scratches. Her fingers were leaving marks on her frail body as she touched herself, not to mention the years of constant self-harming.

It took long minutes for her to recollect herself before finally having the thought to find an old, dusty hairbrush. She slowly started to straighten out her messy hair, in the end tying it up into a ponytail. After finishing with it, still looking at her corpse-like body, backlit by the strong sunlight from outside, she started to clean up. She climbed through the window, stark naked, walking through the ankle-high, soft, green grass and washing up in the nearby little pond before climbing back inside.

"Daryan…" she murmured, searching for some proper clothing, struggling to open the stuck drawers. When she finally did, she was already gasping for air, utterly exhausted. "This will do…." Ina murmured, picking out an old, childlike dress that still fitted her scrawny body before climbing through the window again. "I need to see him!" she whispered, finding her way out of the family courtyard, stumbling forward multiple times.

She did not know that a pair of eyes were watching her when she woke up. Ariana followed her from the shadows, even helping her out, distracting the guards, opening the main gate, letting her sneak out without notice, and making sure she would find her way to the Spire without any trouble.

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…..

Inside the Spire of Keina, the tower owner was tapping on her chair's armrest while sitting outside her balcony, drinking tea, and watching the sunrise. Next to her knelt Nuray, wearing a white robe, her head bowed down deeply with an ashamed expression. Her wrist was healed yet still trembling, not from pain but sheer anger.

"I told you not to go in aggressively…." Keina sighed, placing down her teacup.

"It was my fault…." Nuray replied with a weak voice.

"Yes, it was. I understand your anger, but we are not men; we must control ourselves!"

"Please punish me, My Liege!"

"Everyone makes mistakes. What is done is done! Now I'll need to regain the face you lost us personally!"

"..." she flinched, going pale at first, then completely red because of the embarrassment she felt inside.

"Send a letter to them that I am going to visit tomorrow night," Keina said in a tone that ensured she knew it was an order.

"Yes…" Nuray answered with a voice close to crying before standing up and leaving Keina alone on the balcony. Before she could step out of the room, Keina's voice stopped her steps for a moment.

"How strong was she?"

"I couldn't measure it properly." Nuray said, shaking her head after a bit of silence, "But I felt the same pressure from her that Rudrick had."

"Mm. I see. You can go." she waved her hand, finishing her tea after being left alone. "I need to be prepared for the worst. I'll need to use everything if she is as strong as Rudrick."

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At the same time, in Heaven's Gate, Forde was meeting with Zelig inside the Sect Master's chamber.

"My men followed the two. They should be still in their capitals," Frode reported, but Zelig quickly raised his hand to silence him.

"They have already arrived at Rozex. Your men failed to track two people." He berated him, looking into his eyes. Frode felt like collapsing on the spot hearing his tone. "Doesn't matter… The whole city is my creation; I know everything happening there." he stood up and walked to the window, opening it and letting in the salty air blowing towards them from the Storm Coast. As he was leaning forward, placing his hands on the windowsill, watching the storms raging in the distance, Frode could have a few seconds to breathe, free from his terrifying gaze.

"I'll punish them accordingly!"

"Prepare for war," Zelig said, ignoring his remarks.

"Ah?! S-Sect Master?" Frode gulped loudly, but Zelig just continued calmly.

"I did not stutter, did I? I said, prepare for war. Ready your own armies and conscript everyone available from the new territory you just got your hands on. Queen Paoma and King Ludwigh are going to be branded as traitors soon enough. Be ready and launch a full-scale attack on their territory when that happens. Don't worry. I'll instruct King Horthi and the rest to do the same and tie down that dog, Kaipan's attention. I will make Aerthus unable to send help as he will have to focus on his new tail-wagging pet if he wants to keep his promise to him!"

"U-understand." Frode bowed, realizing Zelig was running out of patience.

"It is time to reform the alliance into a proper Kingdom. Heaven's Gate will be the new capital city, and if you do your job adequately, you will have a high position as the next Sect Leader."

"Thank you, Sect Master!" he replied with an excited light in his eyes, trying to hold back his shaking that now was not from fear but from anticipation.

"First, do your job, or I'll pick Horthi instead of you. This land needs more unity. It seems ten slices were too much for you. You all need stricter leashes, or all go to shit!" He murmured, his eyes looking cold and detached from everything.

"Sect Master… what… What about that girl?" After a long pause, Frode asked, debating with himself whether to bring it up or not.

"You do not need to worry about her. She was a bird in a cage as soon as she stepped into Rozex. That is my territory. Not even Aerthus would dare to challenge me there!" He chuckled. "Yet she dared to come by herself… mad little bitch!"

"Then she is already a dead man walking! Great!"

"She is. It is going to cost a lot, but this is what you have to pay to get rid of someone at the 3rd stage!" curled his lips upwards.

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"Are you sure Zelig won't notice this?" Sentios asked, standing beside Ren as they were deep underground, below her Spire. They stood inside a sealed circular room filled with the orange light of torches hanging from the gray stone walls.

"Don't worry, he won't. I masked the whole room. Even if he was in the city, he would not feel it." Ren chuckled as she finished the drawing on the floor, carving a complex formation circle filled with hundreds of runes. It made Sentios's eyes spin uncontrollably in their sockets, watching her do it.

"I get a headache just looking at this… What is it?" he held his head, rubbing it with a groan.

"A short-distance teleportation formation. A two-way one at that!" Ren explained, "It is my first time laying it down but seeing Levicuts's notes and having a talk with him, I could get the hang of it."

"Uh… yeah… sure…" He twitched his mouth as he could not memorize so many minor details, even if he used 200% of his brain capacity.

"Done! Good thing you are a relative to Aerthus! Step onto the rune at 12 o'clock!"

"Huh?" He blinked his eyes but did not make a fuss and just walked to the spot Ren was pointing at. "What are we- uhg?!" Sentios groaned as the formation lit up, and he felt like it was sapping his energy rapidly.

"Keep feeding it; Sect Head is the one who bears most of the burden anyway. You just need to stabilize our side of it!" Ren grinned at him.

"Damn it… you could've told me earlier!" he bit into his lips, trying to regain his own composure.

"Come on, don't be a crybaby! Your line is proficient with your inner energies anyway~" she stuck her tongue out as a golden-colored energy gate soon formed, rising out from the ground in the middle of the formation.

"..." Sentios just watched it, feeling himself going completely mute, especially as the "door" turned clear, and he could see the other side. It was a big room where beside Aerthus, who was standing on the opposite rune to him, stood his other ancestor, Levictus, with crossed arms and a calm face, nodding towards Ren.

"The connection is still not the most stable. You made some mistakes drawing it. Transferring over living beings would be impossible. For now." Levictus said, his voice sounding distorted and filled with noise as it came through the screen before them.

"I'll fine-tune it later." Ren rolled her eyes, but she was not offended by his words at all. "Are the things ready?"

"Yes." Levictus walked forward and threw a pretty big dimensional bag through the door at their side. At first, it just disappeared. It took a few seconds, but finally, it emerged on the other side, caught by Ren.

"Great! Thanks!" She laughed happily.

"I'll need to recover for at least a week after this!" Aerthus groaned. "This is more taxing than I have anticipated! Girl, you have a grudge against me or something?" The Sect Head looked through the vibrating screen, watching Ren's giggling expression.

"Ahaha, no, no, you are my beloved Master, Master!" She replied innocently.

"Sure! I taught you so much and everything!" he rolled his eyes. "So? Are you confident?"

"For the time being, yes!" Ren nodded, holding the big bag. "I already have an ally. If everything goes this smoothly, there is a great chance I can do this without much bloodshed!"

"Be careful! Allies in your family can usually turn out to be enemies," Aerthus warned her, but Ren gently shook her head. "If this is all, can I cut the feed? I feel numb in my toes already!" Aerthus grumbled after seeing the confident light in her eyes.

"Sure, sure! Go ask Rumira for a revitalizing massage!" His disciple joked, drawing a wide grin onto Aerthus's face.

"You know, I was thinking the same…" came his distorted voice as the Gate slowly fell into bright specks of light.

"Finally!" Sentios fell to his knees, gasping for air. "Damn! I'm spent!" He gasped for air, respirations falling to the floor from his forehead.

"Go, rest up. I also need some time to prepare some things with the resources we just got~" she patted the bag in her hands.

"So… you never really left the Sect, huh?" Sentios stood up feebly, trying to figure out what was happening behind the scenes.

“Ahahaha~ Well… Let's just say I am cheating!" She winked at him. "I'm not expecting Zelig to play fairly, so I never intended to do the same~ Fufufu… I like it dirty anyway~."

Chapter end