While Syrem within the Palantír was getting his much needed reality check, the Palantír Hall itself were in quite a commotion. This was because everyone was now gossiping about the actual number of Ancient Powers in Cale possession. However, when they flat out asked him, Grigori had put her finger to her lips while smiling chillingly – thus leaving them only able to gossip and speculate without getting a concrete answer from Cale himself. Grigori seemed to find their scrambling theories and guesses entertaining, so Cale let it be, he also had no desire to reveal how many Ancient Powers he had, it was already complicated because the one's he'd shown thus far had become so popular throughout the two continents.
“…No, no way-”
‘Did he gather all five elements? Is that why his body is not exploding? Are the regeneration power and a balance of five elements keeping this glass egg of a plate stable?’
He could see that Cale was looking down at him.
“How could you gather so many ancient powers-”
“Because I am different than you.” Cale’s calm voice asked in response.
“Haaa… I just want to be a slacker, why is that so hard for people to understand? Why do they keep getting in my way and causing trouble for me!” Cale laments to himself as the record on the Palantír resumes.
“You are an artificial Dragon Slayer. Am I right?”
The Dragon Slayer’s pupils started to shake. On the other hand, Cale was calm.
The Palantír Hall plunged into immediate silence and Cale’s gaze became sharp as he detected the slight tension of distress that once again filled the TBOAH!Dragons. He couldn't do anything for them right now, but it still agitated and annoyed him that there was a fear within their hearts because of that White Radish and everything that had happened to them in their timeline.
He recalled one of the facts that Guardian Knight Clopeh Sekka had told him.
‘Cough, he is supposedly a fake Dragon Slayer. Ugh, furthermore, the rest of Arm’s high ranking members that are accompanying the Indomitable Alliance are a mage and a healer.’
“Ahhh, I see, so keeping that crazy lunatic alive really did have benefits!” TBOAH!Cage muttered without any real malice or prejudice. TCF!Cage and Taylor sighed and felt sorry for Cale - they'd heard plenty of rumours about Clopeh Sekka's fanatic fervour in his efforts to spread Caleism across the continent – if Taylor's prediction was correct, Young Master Cale may need to go into hiding for a while…
“Actually him going into hiding may make matters worse.” Taylor rubbed his forehead as he worried about what Cale would have to go through in the future because he kept Clopeh Sekka around.
‘He is said to have grown after eating the latest ancient Dragon that died about two hundred years ago.’
“F**k.” TBOAH!Eruhaben flinched as the curse slipped out of TCF!Rasheel's mouth. He turned to look at TCF!Eruhaben, curious to know if this Ancient Dragon who got killed was someone they knew, however TCF!Eruhaben was firmly staring at the Palantír with an extremely composed and immaculately unreadable expression.
Ancient Dragons right before their death were said to be better to eat than adult Dragons. Especially for this knight who had the Sword of Disasters, Dragon corpses were said to be the best medicine. However, this fake Dragon Slayer needed the Sword of Disasters and something else to become a complete Dragon Slayer.
TCF!Eruhaben's insides were churning, he was so angry that the Goddess was actually using a restriction on him to keep him looking so calm and composed – if Grigori hadn't many things within the Palantír would have disintegrated into dust by now. While Grigori held the angry TCF!Eruhaben completely immobile and put a barrier around him like a second skin so that even the other dragons would not sense his emotions, her Palantír continued to reveal that Syrem bastard's crazy thoughts – which only served to rile up the Ancient Golden Dragon.
He needed a relic that had been passed down through generations. A crown. The Dragon Slayer needed the crown that drinks Dragon blood in order to have a Dragon-like body. Cale remembered how Clopeh had snitched to him in anger.
‘But some bastards, sigh, ended up stealing it- ugh!’
Beacrox had struck Clopeh’s head with the whip once more when he said that.
‘Because I’m the bastard who stole it.’
Cale had held back his laughter.
“Cale… you're a menace!” Kim Rok Soo suddenly gasped as if this one line proved what he'd been suspecting for a long time.
“Wow… a bit slow on the uptake there huh?” TCF!Alberu teased Rok Soo who gasped and then began to smile like a fox. TCF!Alberu shuddered – he really could not help comparing that smile to Cale’s and then to that crazy White Radish's expressions whenever that bastard fought with Cale.
“Don't smile like that, it's creepy as—” At the last second Cale stopped himself from spitting out any more rude words because out the corner of his eye he noticed TBOAH!Ohn and TBOAH!Hong looking up at him and Rok Soo with sparkling eyes full of wonder and awe. Their gazes made him feel really anxious mainly because it was full of naïve and childish innocence that TCF!Ohn and TCF!Hong only showed their family when they were all together and things were peaceful.
Something inside his body was currently going wild. The glutton priestess started to speak to Cale.
– Am I eating this too?
The ancient power that was currently the most active in Cale’s body right now. The Sound of the Wind. The shield was lusting after that power right now. She continuously showed her greed and gluttony to Cale. Unfortunately, Cale could not help but shake his head, ‘no,’ at the priestess’s question.
“Ahhh… she really does sound like a glutton.” TCF!Alberu mumbled curiously.
“True… but it can't be helped…” Cale replied with a shrug.
“Ahhh, Dongsaeng why don’t you come eat lunch at the palace every day… I'll make sure to feed you lots!” TCF!Alberu saw an opportunity and took it.
“If you come, I can ask you to keep me company while I work… maybe you'll feel bad and help out too…” TCF!Alberu thought with a bright and sunny smile.
“Why don’t you come to the Super Rock Villa… You know Beacrox's cooking is better than the royal chef's right?”
“Ahhh… that's… that's true too…” TCF!Alberu admitted, he also knew that Beacrox was not someone who would accept a job at the Palace even if the Emperor were to offer, so there was no way to continue that scheme.
He sighed for a moment and then actually thought about it.
“Having lunch with you and everyone actually sounds quite nice…”
“It does, doesn't it your Imperial Majesty?” TCF!Ron materialized from Cale's blind spot, causing the red-head to almost jump right out of his skin. “Your Majesty, we will make sure that you get to eat a good and nutritious meal at every visit… so please do come over, it will also motivate the Young Master to have his meals on time!”
“Ahhh, this sly old man!” Cale felt like he was being treated like a child because he skipped a few meals a few times, however before he could rebuff TCF!Ron's words, TCF!Hong and even Raon eagerly piped in.
“Oh?! Will the Emperor be joining us for lunch from now on nyaa!” TCF!Hong asked.
“If the Cookie Prin- I mean, Cookie Emperor,” Raon quickly corrected himself flying around Cale to land behind TCF!Alberu and cling to his shoulder. “If you come to have lunch with us every day, our Human will definitely be on time too!”
“You will come… won't you?” TCF!Ohn asked with an almost innocent pose of timidity that gave everyone, except the few who knew she was acting, the impression that she was shy to make such a request. TCF!Alberu was being bombarded by the pleading looks from all Cale's children, so he could only smile softly, pat their heads and nod with a heavy sigh.
“Alright… I'll do that sometime after we get back.” He promised. The three children averaging the age of ten, smiled brightly and Cale tutted before giving them his own gentle smile of proud affection and roughly patting each of their small heads. The Palantír continued for the rest of the hall, even while those four were having that private family moment.
Why?
‘My greed is pretty strong as well.’
“Indeed… ironically, it was Clopeh Sekka who first noticed what the Young Master-nim’s greed was…” Witira acknowledged. She also thought to herself that no matter how much Cale tried to hide it by saying he wanted to be a slacker for the rest of his life now that the wars were over and all their enemies were dead. However, Cale's one true desire was to live in a world were it was possible for him and his people were happy and safe and at peace. Clopeh Sekka had spoken the truth - Cale's greed was to create a world that was peaceful and he possessed the power and authority to reshape their world if it refused to bend to his will.
It was a frightening realization even for Witira, but then she heard Paseton chuckle at something Archie said to him and realized that without Cale Henituse, her brother would have died like in the other timeline and Witira decided in her mind that no matter what, she would always be grateful to Cale and would always be remain his ally in the future too.
Ancient powers move themselves to a special spot or an item once the owner of the power dies. They quietly wait there until the next owner comes around. You didn’t automatically gain the ancient power by killing the current owner. If that was the case, there would be no reason for ancient powers to disappear for long periods of time.
“Ahhh… that's interesting!” Taylor mumbled and quickly wrote it down so he could ask Cale more about it at some point and time later. Aside from him Cale really knew a lot about Ancient Powers and together with the knowledge he'd acquired from the Mercenary Guild's Directory, Taylor was curious to research what other types of Ancient Powers existed in their TCF!World.
The glutton priestess started to speak inside of Cale’s mind again.
– I really can’t eat this?
The Sound of the Wind. Another ability. The shield’s greed for other powers was endless. However, Cale shook his head internally.
‘No. Not today. My plate is still lacking. I can’t overdo it anymore.’
An audible sigh of relief came from TCF!Eruhaben and TCF!Ron who both turned sharply to glare at TCF!Fredo when he started whining again about how ‘his son was giving everyone so many worries'. TCF!Eruhaben wanted to snap at the annoying Vampire King of the Endable Kingdom, but he was still being restricted by the Goddess, so he went back to trying to calm down even further.
Most importantly, although he did not have anything to give to the shield today, there was something to give himself. If ancient powers don’t get transferred and move to a special place or item, it was simple.
‘All I have to do is pick it up.’
Then it would be mine.
TCF!Eruhaben's body went rigid again and he understood why the Goddess hadn't released her restrictions on him. At hearing Cale's ridiculous thought, TCF!Eruhaben's first instinct was to yell at their clueless and reckless, yet lovable idiot.
“This punk! Are you crazy?!” TBOAH!Eruhaben however was not being restricted by the Goddess and thus was free to act upon the boiling anger and frustrations bubbling up within him. He yelled at Cale with a very distinct draconic growl in his voice.
“Do you want to face the wrath of an Ancient Dragon? You reckless punk! You're such an unlucky bastard! How can there be such an unlucky punk like you?!” He seemed very upset and Cale lamented once again that the Goddess's Palantír wasn't redacting moments like these in order to spare him from the lectures that were sure to be coming his way.
However the dragons were not the only ones angered by Cale's lack of self-preservation. TCF!Choi Han was also glaring harshly at the Palantír. His hand upon the hilt of his sword, sliding it partially out before letting it fall back into it's sheathe with that audible click – it was his unconscious habit and he was very agitated right now, especially because he knew what kind of Ancient Power Syrem had – it was a power that TCF!Choi Han adamantly agreed that Cale-nim must never get a hold of.
Cale’s eyes focused on the Dragon Slayer. The hunter who had found his prey started to speak. He recalled what he had planned on doing with this prey.
‘Beat him to death.’
Unfortunately, Cale lacked the strength to do that. This body had become even weaker and less muscular than originally. These were the times he thought about the muscles he had when he was still Kim Rok Soo.
Temporarily distracted by the new direction of Cale's thoughts within the Palantír, all eyes in the room headed toward Kim Rok Soo. Those curious eyes appraised him and agreed that he had quite an impressive physique – it was obviously even better than TCF!Choi Han's.
“Well that's a given because Choi Han is stuck in his slowly aging seventeen year old body and Rok Soo-hyung is in his thirties…” Grigori corrected those who thought that telepathically. However another thing everyone noticed about Kim Rok Soo were the number of scars all over his body – they looked serious and also slightly intimidating.
However, wasn’t the reason he looked for ancient powers so that he didn’t have to do such difficult physical training?’
Kim Rok Soo's easy-going posture and relaxed expression on his face while he teased Cale about working out and getting some muscles on his body, helped everyone see past his intimidating aura.
“I absolutely will not!” Cale declared fiercely, shutting down any further discussions about getting him to do train and develop muscles by pointing out the line that had just come from the record on the Palantír. However, this time even the kids did not press or side with the others.
“Why? Does this mean that you want my Human to work and exhaust himself? What if he faints again and this time takes longer to wake up?” Roan argued and than planted a seed in the minds of everyone in the Palantír hall.
“I mean, didn't that God of Death bastard also try to make our Human faint?” Raon's firm demand shut everyone up.
Grigori smiled, choosing not to intervene or reassure them that the God of Death would never do that to Cale because that would be a lie on her part. The fact is that it had been done already – Cale's soul had been taken from his body when he was Kim Rok Soo without his consent and sent into another world – it was frightening enough for everyone. Then there was also the fact that a handful of people also knew that Cale was originally meant to be born in their world, but the White Star had stolen his body forcing him to be born in the other world in the first place. Panic began to set in among the TCF!World people.
“That won't happen… don't worry, something like that can't happen anymore.” Cale's calm voice brought clarity and sanity back to everyone from the TCF!World. Although he had never thought about it before and wasn't sure that something like that could happen again, it had happened to him too many time to him already. First when the White Star reincarnated and stole his body, again when he transmigrated into this world because of the deal to reverse the timeline, and then again when the Sealed God tried to make him one of his kind.
Cale wasn't really sure he could prevent such a thing from happening again, but he did now know where he wanted to be and who he wanted to stay with. So, he knew that these people were his home and they were where he would always return, no matter where those bastard gods tried to send him. The guests from the TCF!World allowed Cale's firm gaze and steady voice to placate and calm them down before they returned their focus to the Palantír as Naur continued the record.
Cale’s finger pointed at the Dragon Slayer. That action made the Dragon Slayer flinch.
Cale started to speak at that moment.
“Throw him.”
‘What?’
The Dragon Slayer felt his body being lifted up before he could even question what was going on.
“Yes, young master-nim.”
The Dragon Catcher was thrown into the air along with Ron’s response. His eyes opened wide.
“N, no!”
Within the Palantír above the red fog the sky began to rumble ominously foretelling the arrival of something only Cale could control.
The Dragon Slayer’s eyes opened wide. It was the moment he had thought the night sky flashed in the colour of blood.
“Ahhhhh!”
He had no choice but to be hit by the red thunderbolt striking down at him. He activated the Sword of Disasters’ volcano attribute, but it was useless. An even stronger power had gulped up his body.
TCF!Eruhaben had a very complicated expression on is face – he could feel the Goddess' restrictions on him slowly dissipating and understood that the ‘hard part' was now over. It certainly was satisfying to see Cale grill that lizard, but that did not help ease his feelings of loss over Olienne's death. However TCF!Eruhaben looked around the booth and the dragons who were seated around him and relented.
‘How does that bastard have such a power……!’
His body started to burn black. The thunderbolt had accurately attacked only him. His body fell back down to the ship.
“Ugh……!”
The Dragon Catcher’s body started to twitch. He looked like a worm, or maybe a snake, as he twitched on the ground.
“Befits a lizard bastard like himself!” TCF!Rosalyn venomously spat out with malice and disgust. TCF!Choi Han hissed with a vicious glare of his own. He absolutely agreed with TCF!Rosalyn. However the sizzling sound of his flesh burning still made more than a few people in the hall nauseous.
The remains of the red thunderbolt were not going out, instead, they continued to dig into his body. Just as he was twitching on the ground, the thunderbolt became like a snake and slithered through his body. However, the Dragon Catcher who had eaten an ancient Dragon that someone had gotten for him still had a strong body. He still had his sight, his hearing, and his sense of smell. He could also speak.
“Persistent bastard…” TCF!Tasha muttered hatefully.
“It's definitely in the ‘How to become a member of Arm’ handbook… Persistence is a basic requirement at this point.” Hannah muttered with another unhappy grimace.
There was a bout of surprised gasps of choked laughter from those who overheard her mumblings. And just like that the situation which had been tense before because of everyone seeing Cale being ruthless in his punishment was shocking to those who'd been lulled into a false sense of security by his docile and gently lazy demeanour, was now gone. The tension had calmed down again – just enough for everyone to be able to breathe and concentrate on the rest of the record.
The Dragon Catcher could see a shoe in front of him. His twitching body suddenly stopped moving. He could hear someone’s voice through his ears that were still able to hear. It was Cale. Cale thought about the ancient powers that the Dragon Catcher had in his body. One, the Sword of Disasters. Two, the power to control wyverns. Furthermore, he remembered what the World Tree had told him.
Once again the mention of the World Tree actually ‘telling’ Cale something was surprising even though they did not wish to be surprised any more. TBOAH!Zed touched his chest as he considered asking the Goddess for something for his heartburn and migraine – the little he'd seen so far of Cale's antics in his counterpart's world already made him feel like he had aged something close to another fifty years.
However TCF!Zed seemed to be relaxed, this was only because TCF!Zed believed that Cale Henituse and everything crazy he did was all TCF!Alberu's responsibility after all, Cale was avidly supportive toward his sworn brother and found it troublesome to do anything extreme for which TCF!Alberu could not handle.
And then there was also the fact that Cale had many other strong allies that had his back no matter what – these strong allies were people that others could not afford to make their enemy, thus everything Cale did and everywhere Cale went was basically his playground. And may the gods have mercy on anyone who says otherwise or gets in his way. TCF!Zed had washed his hands off any responsibility concerning the antics of the Sworn Brothers, they were strong enough without him getting involved.
‘The person who is collecting ancient powers has collected a total of three ancient powers.’
The Dragon Catcher could hear Cale’s voice.
“Why aren’t you using your last ancient power? You have one more.”
The helmeted knight felt a sense of fear.
‘…How much does he know?’
The Dragon Catcher’s body twitched for a different reason. He had thought that the Guardian Knight bastard Clopeh Sekka had snitched about everything. However, the fact that he had three ancient powers was something that only he and that crazy bastard knew about.
“Oh… is he referring to the White Shit here?” Sherritt mumbled nonchalantly. TCF!Mila sighed, but did not bother to correct her, even while noticing the way the TBOAH!Black Dragon looked up at her curiously and TCF!Rasheel discreetly slumped further in his seat to avoid drawing her attention to himself – he did not want to get accused for teaching another child bad words when it wasn't even his fault.
‘How does he know?’
His face that was burnt black slowly looked toward the sky, however, the only thing that he could see was the smiling Cale’s face.
“Hurry up and show me.” Cale was speaking quite gently. “So I can have that too.”
“Cale…!” TCF!Eruhaben rumbled ominously.
“Ehe.” Kim Rok Soo laughed under his breath while hiding his smile behind his hand, so it ended up sounding like Cale had been the one to laugh.
“Don't ehe me, you unlucky bastard!” TCF!Eruhaben scolded him.
“Let's add keeping a look out for any Ancient Powers near his vicinity when we're babysitting him!” TCF!Mila rumbled as well, her eyes glowing dangerously, the other Dragons all began voicing their agreement.
In the front row, the falsely accused however not so innocent, Cale pouted and internally whined, “I'm not going to pick up any more Ancient Powers… why are they being like this?!”
Grigori chuckled under her breath as if she knew something no one else in the hall did, however Sherritt who noticed the Goddess' amusement, felt her eyes widen and a breathless gasp escaped her lips.
“Surely not… right?” She dared to ask the Goddess. However Grigori simply smiled ethereally and gestured toward the Palantír as Naur continued.
Since his eyes were still fine, the Dragon Catcher could clearly see the way that Cale was looking at him. He shouted out in astonishment at the same time.
“…How could I … to you!”
The burns made his mouth rip and bleed every time he opened his mouth; however, he could not keep his mouth shut.
Lily and Basen winced and Violan and Litana grimaced. Jopis opened her fan and covered the lower half of her face with it in order to elegantly hide the twisted expression of disgust upon her face at the unsightly and grotesque description of the semi-censored images upon the Palantír.
He felt something suddenly overwhelming him. It was an aura that seemed to only belong to someone who rules over everything. The person who dreamed of becoming a complete Dragon Slayer immediately realized the true identity of this aura. The Dominating Aura. The useless scam of a power. However, that power was currently making it difficult for him to breathe. His body that was currently crawling on the ground could not even handle such a hallucination.
“Ahhh… Cale, you use Nelan's power very well…” Sherritt praised Cale and Cale forgave all the dragons for giving him a hard time and saying he needed them to babysit him. He smiled radiantly at her genuine praise, enjoying the fact that the others also liked how he used it again to suppress this bastard even more strongly than he had when he used it on Clopeh before.
Cale’s smile changed when he returned his gaze to the Palantír, his eyes were practically sparkling with anticipation of all their reactions when he saw how he used the Dominating Aura on the White Star himself. He could hardly wait to see how they would respond to that scene.
‘…This is something I cannot keep to myself.’
That was the thought going through his mind. The Dominating Aura. There was also the regeneration ability and the ancient powers of five different elements. This was someone who ignored the fact that his plate was weak. This was something that broke all of the rules. However, the Dragon Catcher knew that it was possible because he too was someone who had overcome the limits of the human body.
“You damn lizard, don't compare yourself to Oraboni!” Lily exploded, a chaotic anger raging in her little body. She was really upset with this person, even more because she found out that he was the one responsible for making her brother bleed so much back when he was fighting to protect the Henituse territory.
That anger had been simmering and building within her, and not at the way this fake bastard tried to say he was someone like Cale it really pissed Lily off. Basen pet his sister and Cale and Kim Rok Soo took a few minutes to help Deruth and Violan calm her down.
There were always existences that were an exception to the rules of nature in the world. Furthermore, nobody knew what those exceptions were capable of doing. He was thinking that he needed to share this information with Arm, however, that thought quickly disappeared as he started to think about something else.
‘Will I even be able to survive?’
“Of course not… you have something he wants, what on earth makes you think you'll survive?” TBOAH!Cotton scoffed and rolled her eyes - she'd managed to get some pretty juicy details of gossip from her counterpart on the sly and she was having the time of her life hiding those bits of information from TBOAH!Fredo who was trying to not so discreetly pry those secrets from her.
The crazy Cale Henituse. This person had hidden his ancient powers from other people and acted like a good and just noble, hiding the fact that he could do such a vicious attack. Could he survive and escape the hands of such a person?
“What was that saying… ah right, everyone is a killer if you push them far enough!” Cale offers as a form of consoling admission. A few people opened their mouth to protest, but then suddenly realized that Cale was right.
An image popped into their heads – something they wished they could unsee. Cale had indeed killed someone and everyone who had been in Puzzle City had seen it too. However when they opened their mouths to admit that Cale was right, Grigori used her power again to silence them.
Cale's gaze lazily turned toward her as he realized something strange – Grigori seemed to be hiding some facts, like the fact that he had personally been the one to kill the White Star and also the method he'd used to actually do the deed. Nevertheless, Cale was grateful, he didn't feel like going through another lecture or having to console everyone all over again.
Since he was a smart person whose mind moved quite well when it came to doing bad things, the Dragon Slayer could accurately identify Cale’s personality.
‘I’ve been tricked.’
“No shit…” Kim Rok Soo scoffed, enjoying the suffering of his enemy even now. Rok Soo really loved the way Cale's ability to be a menace frustrated their enemies beyond the point of rationality.
“Cale have you ever frustrated someone to the point that they fainted?” Rok Soo asked Cale in a voice that was not quiet enough to be unheard by most of the talented individuals around them.
“I've come quite close… but I don't think I consciously have done so.”
“Hmm… Alright, I think I'll do that to Director Ma next time I see him then… I'll do it for the both of us!”
“You say that so proudly…” Cale mumbled suspiciously, but oddly enough, he did not object or try to stop Rok Soo – this told everyone that this person called ‘Director Ma’ was someone Cale either did not like or was not close to. Either that or Cale might simply find the act of stopping Rok Soo tedious and wasteful of his own efforts and energy, Cale had, after all, become a lot lazier since they'd arrived here in the Goddess' Domain.
He had been tricked by Cale. He didn’t know how he had been tricked, but his instincts were telling him that the reason everything had gone awry was because he had been tricked by this bastard.
“I, I’ll tell you everything!”
That was why he was quickly trying to find a way to survive.
“This will be useful to you! The crown will be beneficial to you if you have the Dominating Aura. You know about the crown, right? I will bring that to you! I will also tell you all of the secrets about Arm as well! I swear!”
He could not even feel the pain in his body as he urgently shouted out. At the same time, he felt relief after seeing Cale’s reaction to his statements.
“That's right. Panic you bastard… after everything you did, don't think your death will be easy!” TCF!Eruhaben smirked, however his hands were clenched into tight trembling fists, he wasn't able to fully control his anger or his emotions yet, but he wasn't about to lose control like before, thus Grigori did not place any restrictions on him again.
It was at that moment.
“Whether you speak or not…”
Cale slowly took the crown out of his magic bag. Whether the Dragon Catcher talked or not…
“…I’m the one who will decide that.”
The Dragon Catcher’s eyes opened wide as he looked at the crown. He was shocked and had a blank expression on his face.
Laughter, diabolical laughter cackled from Kim Rok Soo, Cale was so surprised that he flinched and turned to look at Rok Soo to check if he'd been suddenly possessed by an evil spirit of some sort. Rok Soo ended up doubling over and wheezing from laughing so hard.
“You beautiful bastard! You absolute treasure!! Genius, pure genius!!” Kim Rok Soo showered Cale with praise, causing the flustered Cale’s ears to turn a shade red that matched his hair.
His mind turned white as fear filled his body.
‘…He’s worse than that bastard!’
Arm’s white star. He had met him only once, but Cale was even worse than him. Why?
“Syrem, you’ve seen the face of the head of the organization, right?”
That bastard did not know about Cale Henituse’s existence. However, Cale knew about him. That difference was huge.
“To be honest, I didn't know about his existence at first and I only found out about the connections between us until much later, but that's a good assumption and a perfect misunderstanding that lead to a lot of useful information coming out.” Cale happily admitted when TCF!Alberu gave him a questioning look because he'd snickered when the Syrem upon the Palantír thought that Cale knew all about White Star.
The Dragon Catcher quickly nodded his head to show Cale, who called him by his name, that he had indeed seen the head before.
“H, he was wearing a mask so I don’t know his face, but I, I’ve seen him!”
“Your body is too weak right now to show me the final ancient power, right?”
“R, right! But I’ll show you if you want!”
The Dragon Catcher Syrem tried to continue to conversation with a smile as it seemed to be going well. However, the burns on his face, as well as the fact that they were still burning, made it impossible to see the smile.
The view in the Palantír panned again – showing the rest of the chaos happening on the various other ships and to the other enemies who were struggling and fighting to survive. According to the Palantír, this bastard Syrem could also still hear the sounds of the people screaming as well as the sounds of things breaking.
However, there was no noise of the Roan Kingdom, the enemy, within those noises. The only noises were those of his poisoned allies and their ships breaking.
TBOAH!Alberu and TBOAH!Choi Han had matching expressions of envy and relief. As much as they wished their own battles against Arm could have gone this smoothly and without casualties too, they could not hide the fact that they were grateful and proud of their counterparts for performing so well and saving themselves from history repeating itself.
Syrem looked toward Cale with desperation. Cale opened his mouth to speak.
“I don’t need it.”
“…What?”
“I don’t really need to see your ancient power.”
Cale turned away from Syrem.
‘I’m going to pick it up anyway, I just need to go figure it out at that point.’
Cale walked over to the people behind him.
TCF!Eruhaben looked toward TCF!Choi Han to only now notice the practically murderous look on his face. He decided to speak up to calm Cale's Guardian Knight down.
“Choi Han… it's good that you got him to agree to you having those Ancient Powers.”
TCF!Choi Han immediately turned his gaze toward TCF!Eruhaben and nodded firmly.
“Also you must never forget the oath you swore!” TCF!Eruhaben warned him seriously.
TCF!Choi Han's expression lightened a little and he bowed his head, mutely agreeing to TCF!Eruhaben’s request and reminder.
“Ron, make it so he is only capable of talking.”
Ron touched his son’s white glove as he started to smile. Cale had no plan on letting the Dragon Catcher Syrem die peacefully since he dared to harm his people. He was not the only one who felt this way. Cale then added on.
“Leave something for Raon, Choi Han, and Mary as well. I’ll be there after them.”
“I understand, young master-nim.”
The kids in the front row giggled ominously and Rok Soo tensed and quickly disguised his momentary fright by snatching a cookie off the table and munching out it innocently. In his head Rok Soo accused Cale of raising his kids to be just as vicious as himself.
Ron walked past Cale toward the Dragon Catcher. Cale walked over to Choi Han’s side and observed the night ocean. He started to speak.
“We’re here.”
The right moment had arrived. Cale started to move using the Sound of the Wind.
The Palantír shamelessly showed how the navigators and mages and other soldiers of the Indomitable Alliance all struggled and fought against fear and dread in order to survive and make it out through the fog.
They had genuinely believed they would be fine if they got out passed the red fog. Their need and desires to survive were the only thoughts in their heads as they avoided those roaring whirlpools too. And then the fog became fainter and they made it past the fog, however any relief they may have felt quickly vanished.
There was something dark red in the distance beyond the red fog.
“W, we avoided the whirlpool!” The navigator shouted with joy.
However, he had to soon greet the red ship at the other side of the whirlpool. There were numerous ships surrounding the area at the end of the poison fog. These red ships resembled the red fog. They could also see a golden ship at the front of these red ships.
“Wait… those ships look a little familiar… where have we seen them before?” TBOAH!Alberu questioned, his gaze moving to TCF!Alberu for an answer.
“Arm's First Battle Brigade…” TCF!Alberu smiled brightly and then gestured to Cale.
“Like I said earlier. They were a gift… from Witira-nim.”
In their place near the middle section of the hall, King Shickler and his son and daughter laughed happily.
“Young Master-nim, I will prepare a better gift for you next time.” Witira invited Cale.
“That's right, so, come visit us when we get back home. I'll even introduce you to our secretary.”
“Huh?! Are you trying to make me lose my job as his secretary?!” Bud gasped dramatically.
“Human, I've heard Penguin Beast People are quite cute… We haven’t met any Bird Tribe Beast People before, so I'm a little curious.”
“Hmmm… Alright Raon, we also have to make a trip to the Endable Kingdom as well… there's someone waiting there that the God of Death told me about.”
“Oh?!”
Curiosity immediately filled everyone, meanwhile TCF!Fredo practically lit up.
“Oh my Son! You're coming home!”
“I’m coming to visit, so I guess?” Cale said uncertainly, but his eyes were gleaming with excitement and secrets.
It had been a while since everyone had seen him so eager to actually go somewhere, so naturally they were all curious, even more curious because it did not seem like Cale intended to go there to cause trouble or blow anything up.
“Later…” Cale replied to Raon who telepathically asked for an explanation. Cale pet the heads of all five children and then looked up when the Palantír began the next record.
Cale, who had returned to his original location at some point, was standing on the golden ship’s deck as he touched the sculpture of the Henituse family crest, the golden turtle, and started to speak to these people who barely managed to escape from hell.
“I was waiting for you.”
The enemy who had barely managed to get past the poisonous fog had to now meet a real ghost. The people who wanted them dead were the ghosts. Cale gave the order.
“Obliterate the enemy.”
Numerous arrows and spells flew over the night ocean.
“He truly is a terrifying enemy…” TBOAH!Zed thought to himself and then glanced toward the trio seated in the front. TCF!Alberu and Kim Rok Soo both looked strong and gave off the auras of power naturally, Cale Henituse on the other hand looked delicate, fragile and weak, everything about him looked naturally harmless and frail, but his body housed terrifying power and a mind that could even withstand the power of a god.
“He is terrifying.” TBOAH!Alberu concluded, he'd been having similar thoughts to the thoughts of his father while watching this latest record. After learning more about the Cale Henituse of the TCF!World he regretted his earlier mistake even more. He was just grateful that TCF!Alberu had not told them all about what he had spat out in anger or else TBOAH!Alberu knew he would be dead for sure.
<Chapter 205: The Ocean is … (5)>
It was not easy to cross through the rough winter ocean. That was why the navigators who sailed through the Northern ocean were all experts. The Northern Alliance had only recruited the best of the best of these experts. However, none of that mattered. The true ocean of death revealed itself to the navigators who had barely managed to wade through the whirlpools in order to get out of the red fog.
The Palantír now began to show the harsh realities of naval warfare. It showed the Indomitable Alliance’s soldiers and their pitiful attempts to maintain their formation and launch the cannons, but the fear on their faces was also clearly visible. That fear seemed to be even more amplified by the fact that their comrades’ corpses were still lying on the ground around them – getting in the way and even getting stepped on by other soldiers.
There was no time for anyone to stop and think, or even stop to help those who were still alive despite being poisoned. Even those of them who had been considerate toward their fallen comrades lost the luxury of doing so now that Cale and the red ships of the Roan Kingdom had appeared before them.
“Move quickly if you don’t want to be buried at sea!” One of the knights shouted toward the soldiers. “Start rowing if you want to be able to take your friends’ corpses back home!”
They needed to survive in order to care for their friends’ bodies. Otherwise, they would all die out here and nobody would be able to find any of their bodies. It had not been like this when they had first headed out with a fleet of three hundred ships. They thought that they could destroy anything and everything at that point.
No one commented on the fact that the arrogance of the Northern Alliance had been swiftly met with a ruthless end. The audience also could not rejoice at the clear and visible victory that the Roan Kingdom had achieved.
However, the result was the opposite. It was their enemy who seemed ready to destroy anything and everything.
“Refill the gunpowder!”
“Where are the archers?!”
The deck was chaotic. The knights got in formation while the mages started to fire off spells. Many of the arrows bounced off of the mages’ magic shields and knights’ shields. One mage from the Paerun Kingdom could not help but swear after seeing the rain of arrows.
The reason was simple. The TCF!Roan Kingdom were using the same ruthless and mercilessness to take out the enemies that those same enemies had shown toward the TBOAH!Roan Kingdom and all the other kingdoms around her. Those of the TBOAH!World remembered the fear that had gripped them in their final moments and although they were happy that their enemies were suffering similarly, they felt a sense of sadness that the situation could not have been resolved peaceful and without resorting to war. Whether they were enemies or allies, lives were lost because of all this war and those who died were people too. It was a bitter feeling.
“I see… these humans are aware. Naur good job showing this part from the perspective of the weaker side.” Grigori praised her first apostle. She had wanted to let the record play the sight of the battle from the Roan Kingdom's perspective, but had decided that Naur’s suggestion was better – it seemed to remind everyone of the serious gravity of war. She had prevented them from becoming arrogant because she did not flatter them or show them how advantageous Cale had made their battle.
“Damn it! When did they prepare such a thing?!”
They could see a fleet of red ships almost comparable to their own in number.
“How could the Roan Kingdom…!”
The Roan Kingdom’s proclamation in response to their own was full of confidence, however, the majority of the western continent’s kingdoms did not put much attention on the Roan Kingdom.
This was because there had been nothing special about them for decades. So how could they suddenly have such strong forces? How could they possess such powerful naval capabilities? If a single Kingdom had such a immense naval presence, why didn’t they dominate the sea?
TBOAH!Zed and TCF!Zed both looked down at their respective sons. TBOAH!Alberu had his fists clenched and was watching everything on the Palantír with a very critical and complicated expression on his face. Meanwhile TCF!Alberu was sitting calmly watching the chaotic despair and disaster that Cale had brought down upon them without much emotion on his face.
This mage from the Paerun Kingdom created an even bigger shield with magic as he ordered his subordinates.
“Immediately activate fire or lightning atta-!” He wanted to tell them to do that. However, he had to urgently change his command. He could see fire orbs in the distance.
Tens of magic orbs flew up into the sky at the same time.
‘How could the Roan Kingdom put forth such a magic attack?’
The navy, the magic. The mage used magic on his eyes in order to broaden.his viewpoint as he urgently shouted.
“Shields-!”
Tens of fire orbs attacked the ships that had just escaped from the whirlpools.
The earlier mention of the Roan Kingdom's Mage Brigade returned to everyone's mind and Toonka and Harol watched silently, if Cale and the Roan forces hadn't stopped those bastards they would have all come down to the Whipper Kingdom too – just like they said they planned to do originally. Toonka and Harol were grateful to Cale and all his allies for protecting the Whipper Kingdom in this way too, so it did not matter to them that these were mages born in the Whipper Kingdom who had escaped during the civil war. They also continued to watch with everyone else as the point of view of the battle shifted back to Cale's perspective.
The Palantír showed how Cale watched as orbs infused with lightning power shot up into the sky. It showed that Tasha used the wind to amplify her voice in order to deliver the Military Commander’s order to attack. And then those orbs shot toward the ships once again. Cale watched the attack before he then ordered the ships to move.
That order was shared with a few of the red ships via a magic communication device. The Knight Captain who was on one of those red ships took out his sword. The moment the rest of the knights took out their swords in response, the ship moved to stop in front of a mid-sized military ship belonging to the enemy. Cale’s voice reached the Knight Captain’s ear through the communication device.
– Slash the enemies’ necks.
TBOAH!Choi Han gulped, understand a little more clearly how better suited Cale Henituse was for the role of Commander. While he himself was not bad as a commander, he was not so analytical and his mind did not always see everything going on all across the field the same way Cale Henituse could. Cale was a masterful strategist who clearly had more experience leading people than TBOAH!Choi Han did, even though TBOAH!Choi Han had lived longer than Cale Henituse had.
The Knight Captain heard the sound of someone charging forward before him. He could not stand still after hearing that.
He started to speak, “Follow.”
The Knight Captain started to move. He only needed to give a simple order. They just had to follow the person in front of them. The Knight Captain jumped up and landed on the deck of the enemy ship. The other knights followed behind him, some using their physical abilities to jump while others used ladders to climb onto the enemy ship. They were all moving without any hesitation while looking at a single person’s back.
TCF!Choi Han blinked in surprise – that line reminded him of Cale – it surprised him right out of his brooding and made a warm cosy expand from his chest and wrap snuggly around his heart.
They could see the injured shoulder that was wrapped in bandages. However, the Roan Kingdom’s Royal Knights could see the black aura in the person’s other hand. The first sword master of the Roan Kingdom in a long time. Choi Han was taking action even though Cale had told him to rest. His blood was boiling. He could not sit still. In the end, Cale ended up giving him permission to act.
‘… Do whatever you want. I’m sure you’ll take care of yourself. However, just know that I will not take you around with me if you get any more injuries.’
Choi Han knew that Cale meant what he had said. That was why he remembered this order as he continued to move.
TCF!Rosalyn and TCF!Lock as well as many others who followed Cale around the two continents couldn’t help smiling fondly at this. It may have sounded ridiculous because why would Cale stop allowing Choi Han to guard him as his knight over something like this, but it was actually quite a serious matter to Cale because Cale did not want to see his people getting hurt and so one of the strictest requirements for if anyone from their family wanted to follow Cale around they would have to be strong enough to protect themselves too – it was just a precaution, a very effective one.
Cale was someone who cared more about his family and friends than he would ever admit that also meant that he would definitely do something crazy like endanger himself to protect them at all costs if danger arose – the best way to prevent such things from happening again, they all decided to get stronger so that Cale won't have to live in fear of losing them ever again.
The First Brigade of the Royal Knights followed behind him. Sword masters were known to have reached the apex of the sword. There was nothing for the Roan Kingdom’s knights to fear as long as that black aura was in front of them. The black aura destroyed a cabin on the enemy ship. Cale was standing on the strongest and safest golden ship at a distance as he watched Choi Han destroy the enemy ship.
‘That guy really is amazing.’
Cale was thinking that Choi Han definitely deserved to be the main character as he leisurely looked around the battlefield. Choi Han was starting to develop his identity as a hero.
‘I can relax a bit now.’
TCF!Choi Han also relaxed his body, the tension he’d been feeling before was gone now - Cale's complimentary thought toward him as well as the fact that Cale basically trusted him enough to say that he could relax now was enough to please the teenage-looking elder.
The large golden turtle sculpture was next to him. Cale’s red hair stood out on the golden ship, drawing everyone’s attention toward him. There were many nobles on this ship that was the largest and strongest ship in the fleet. The nobles, who needed to get on Cale’s good side, could not hide in the cabins, so they put on their strong armours and stood behind him on the deck. These were the northeast region’s nobles who had once followed the southeast region and central region’s powers. They could not say anything while watching what was going on in front of them.
Ships were getting destroyed. People were dying. But it was not their ships or their people. The nobles sighed in relief as their minds became complicated at these new facts that they had just learned about. One of the nobles who had been pushing for the southeast region to take control touched the back of his neck.
‘The Roan Kingdom had such a strong navy?!’
The crown prince was said to have prepared the naval base. Seeing the size and strength of the navy, as well as the Mage Brigade that was sent to assist them, this noble quickly realized why the crown prince would be succeeding the throne.
TCF!Alberu's eyes narrowed dangerously and he expression turned cold as he memorized the face of this noble being shown by the Palantír. He understood why the Goddess was showing it, and vowed to handle the matter when they returned home.
But there was also another piece of information that shocked them all.
‘I didn’t know that the Henituse family contributed 1/3 of the funds required to build the naval base!’. The Ubarr territory by the Roan Kingdom’s shoreline. The Roan Kingdom’s crown prince. And the wealthy Henituse territory. The nobles feared the Henituse territory the most after the partnership was revealed.
“Cough.”
The noble heard a quiet voice at that moment. He looked back toward the front.
“F**k!” Cale swore in his head because he knew that the chaos was about to return because once again Grigori did not redact the fact that he had coughed up blood back then.
The person standing in front of him was Cale Henituse. The northeast region’s military commander was wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He could see a bit of blood on the sleeve.
The TCF!World people started to squirm in their seats, various members among them looked ready to start scolding Cale again, but Grigori was getting tired of them doing that, so she used her power and silenced them. And while some tried to shake off her restrictions, Naur continued the record distracting them from the previous scene.
However, the noble could not say anything. At first, he had felt fear about the Henituse territory. He was scared of this territory in the corner that had quietly been growing their strength. However, a different emotion other than fear had taken over. He could hear Cale giving the Mage Brigade an order.
“Activate the shields. Protect the soldiers.”
The mages immediately created magic shields in order to protect the soldiers from the enemy mages’ attacks. The enemy was being obliterated without hurting their allies. It was a one-sided battle.
For the TBOAH!World people, this was the complete opposite of what they had experienced and those who knew this couldn’t help but feel moved and emotional by the sight of this victory once again.
Nobody would have expected that the Roan Kingdom would have dominated the Indomitable Alliance like this. The nobles who had personally experienced this unexpected situation had a different emotion stirring in their minds. The nobles heard one of the nobles speaking at that moment.
“…The Henituse household was originally the northeast region’s Guardian household.”
They had forgotten about it because they had been at a time of peace for a long time.
“That's right… good for him for remembering!” Duke Deruth rumbled flatly, his hard stare was directed at the nobles on the Palantír as if he too intended to put them in their place (six feet underground if necessary) should they try to do anything funny to Cale.
Although the Henituse household was now known as a wealthy household, they were originally known as a martial arts household. Ever since the Roan Kingdom had been founded in this land, the Henituse household had guarded the entrance to the Forest of Darkness, defending the northeast region and the entire Roan Kingdom underneath.
There was a nostalgic feeling of warmth in Rok Soo's chest as he saw this and hear these lines from the record. It made him feel proud of the Henituse that his Soul Swap Partner had protected so well on his behalf.
Marquis Ailan’s household was currently known as the greatest martial arts household in the Roan Kingdom. While the Ailan household had chosen the best land in the Roan Kingdom’s southeast region, the Henituse household had chosen to go to this remote corner even though they were a famed household at that time. They had chosen to go to toward the Forest of Darkness where the strongest monsters were known to roam. The nobles seemed to realize something at this point.
“If you know that just stand there quietly and behave yourself you foolish bastards! Don't cause any more trouble for my son!” Duke Deruth grumbled, Violan patted him consolingly on the arm, urging him to compose himself and let go of his anger while reminding him that this was the past and there was nothing they could do but concentrate on the future.
Their gazes all headed toward Cale’s back. Their hearts were filled with thrill and anticipation now that their fear was gone. The nobles could see Cale Henituse frowning in the front. He could not even properly clean the blood on his sleeve as he focused on the battlefield in front of him.
However, there was no hesitation as he gave the orders to the soldiers and mages.
He seemed reliable.
“Of course he is!! Hyung-nim has always been reliable, even when he was drinking and staying out late during his days of acting as Trash!” Basen wanted to shout, but he took a breath and forced himself to maintain his dignity.
At the same time, they felt a sense of regret. They had gotten on this ship, but it was too late. The, ‘real,’ people were not on this strong ship, but on the battlefield. The people who had the qualifications to go down in history were already making history on their own. This one noble bit down on his lips. He wanted to say something to Cale, but he could only frown as he did not dare to approach Cale.
“Wow… he's lucky he kept his mouth shut…” TCF!Rosalyn whispered and TCF!Lock and TCF!Choi Han both nodded immediately. TBOAH!Rosalyn frowned and corked her head to her counterpart for an explanation.
“His head would have gotten blown up if he tried to ask Young Master Cale to join the battle again.” TCF!Rosalyn replied – using Queen Jopis’s elegant analogy to describe this noble’s fate if he had urged Cale to allow them to join the battle.
“Huh? Why?” TBOAH!Lock questioned, unable to understand what TCF!Rosalyn was hinting at.
“Raon.” TCF!Choi Han answered in a quiet voice. TBOAH!Rosalyn and TBOAH!Lock understood immediately.
That was why the noble was suppressing his excitement and remaining quiet. All of the nobles were almost staring at Cale’s back. However, Cale did not feel any of their gazes right now. He started to frown even more.
That was when an unexpected piece of golden information was gifted to the people of the TCF!World by Grigori's power - Cale's hunger. The hunger that came to him after he used his Ancient Powers. It was something they suspected, but only TCF!Eruhaben had ever acknowledged in the past. To receive this information – it made TCF!Beacrox incredibly happy.
‘I’m hungry.’
He was not bleeding much because he had controlled the Fire of Destruction’s fiery thunderbolt, however, he was still hungry. It wasn’t like he could just sit down and eat a steak in the middle of the battle. This was making him annoyed.
The fact that the Young Master wanted steak – a regular dish that he often made for him, the same dish that Cale declared tasted the best when it was made by TCF!Beacrox almost made the chef giddy with delight and happiness. If serving Cale good food was enough to repay the massive debt of gratitude he owed his Young Master, than TCF!Beacrox was more than willing to do it. TCF!Beacrox again looked down at the cookbook he'd been able to look through from the Goddess and contemplated expanding the plethora of dishes he could create so that it would include these dishes of the Young Master's home world on a regular basis too.
Cale heard a voice in his mind at that moment.
– Not-as-weak human, we caught the mage.
Cale started to smile. Raon had captured the old mage.
“Oh… that's right, that mage was battling with the children right?” TBOAH!Ron mumbled pensively.
“That's right other Lemonade Gramps… we got to play with him.” TCF!Ohn purred with a viciously bright smile and a devious twinkle in her eyes. TBOAH!Ron chuckled at the grey kitten's enthusiastic reply, it made him even more curious to see how that mage had ended up after playing with Young Master Cale's adorable kids.
The healer and the Dragon Catcher were already captured by the father-son duo of Ron and Beacrox. Raon’s voice continued on in his mind.
– But I’m sorry.
‘Sorry?’
“Ho…” TBOAH!Ron blinked in surprise and looked toward his counterpart silently asking if they ended up accidentally killing the mage too soon. TCF!Ron shook his head and gestured to the Palantir so that his counterpart from the TBOAH!World would keep watching and get the information he wanted.
The corners of Cale’s lips that had been going up stopped moving. Raon explained himself in Cale’s mind.
– Not-as-weak human, you told me to bring him alive, but he is barely hanging on. He’s right about to die. He is still alive. I fed him a potion, but he will still die in about two days.
‘Ah, doesn’t matter then.’
Cale started to smile again.
“Ahhh… really?! That's good. Back then I was worried you would be mad Human!” Raon snickered and then flew over to cuddle up against Cale again. Raon continued watching the record while lounging within the circle of Cale's arms.
– We also captured the magic spearman. He is fine. Let’s throw him to sword master Hannah.
Cale was very satisfied.
Hannah smiled terrifyingly at the mention of the magic spearman as she recalled how Cale had generously handed him over to her. It had meant a lot to her – more than she had been willing to admit back then, because Cale had practically delivered a very valuable enemy to her with a bow. He could have given the magic spearman over to someone else, but he choose to give him to her and she was grateful for that – not only for herself but for Jack's sake too.
The magic spearman was the one who had been close to the sword master and Holy Maiden, Hannah, when Cale’s group had clashed against Arm during the Whales’ battle with the mermaids. The Holy Maiden was itching to get her hands on the people who had stabbed her in the back, so she would be very happy if they handed the magic spearman to her.
After meeting their counterparts, Hannah learned that she had died due to the dead mana, and that her brother in the other timeline had been killed by this same bastard. Hannah felt a deep feeling of satisfaction and relief that she had been able to avenge the death of her brother from the other timeline.
Cale raised his hand with satisfaction. The nobles all flinched after seeing him suddenly raise his hand. However, young lady Amiru, as well as the Dark Elf Tasha, the two people right next to Cale, understood his order. Cale started to speak.
“Prepare for a full assault.”
The order for the final attack was delivered to all of the ships. At that moment, the nobles felt the atmosphere starting to change. The wind started to blow. The wind was gathering inside the red fog. The Mage captain shouted out an order.
The Palantír showed the final attacks and how endless volleys of arrows and spells were shot at the Indomitable Alliance after the royal knights had returned to their red ship once the order was given.
The red ships slowly started to retreat. Ubarr territory’s coast. The Roan Kingdom’s navy that had trained alongside the whirlpools that Cale had left behind was much more talented than the northern navigators. The rowing soldiers put more strength into each row. The ships slowly retreated in formation. Hundreds of ships all retreated from the poisonous fog at once. It was a grand spectacle to watch.
It truly was incredible, the navigators were skilled and everyone moved with practiced to perfection synchrony in order not to fall behind or delay the next phase of the assault on the enemy forces.
The nobles watching this did not find it odd that they could see all of this clearly even though it was night time. They did not have time to focus on the fact that it was starting to get brighter. Cale looked toward the retreated knights and the mages who had prepared their attack.
The fact that he still took the time to make sure everyone had retreated properly before giving the next order simply showed how capable Cale was as the commander.
He then heard Raon’s voice.
– Finished.
Cale started to speak.
“Attack.”
Cale’s hand was lowered. The red fog changed at that moment. The calm fog started to change. The red poisonous fog started to roar. It resembled the snowstorm that covered the lake surrounding the World Tree.
TBOAH!Ohn went rigid, her eyes went wide with awe and her deep reverence toward her stronger counterpart churned within her once more. No one else had any time to realize that the location of the World Tree had just been exposed and Grigori drew a discrete circle with her figure using her magic to erase the memory from anyone who wished to use it for nefarious purposes in the future.
The harsh wind made the nobles and soldiers cover their eyes. It felt as if they would be swept up by the poisonous fog at any moment. It was at that moment. The Mage Captain’s quiet voice could be heard through the wind.
“Fire!”
It was as if they were firing weapons. The seven orbs of mana in the mages’ hands, these orbs of seven different attributes flew toward the red fog and the enemy. It was the moment the seven orbs touched the poisonous fog tornado.
“Right… of course, it's easy to forget poison is flammable.” TBOAH!Hong muttered curiously before he looked down at his own tiny red paws considering something very seriously. Grigori's heart melted at the sight of the red kitten contemplating things and she smiled endearingly toward him and his sister before returning her gaze to continue watching the record.
A large explosion occurred. The entire ocean roared. Even the nobles and soldiers on the golden ship had to hold on because of the shock from the explosion.
“Ugh!”
“Eek! So strong!”
Already unable to see because of the blast, they struggled to stand still once the waves started to roar. They heard people screaming and ships breaking as the explosion continued on. The enemies were dying. They all sensed it in their hearts. The noises started to disappear as the water calmed back down.
“C, commander-nim!”
The nobles slowly raised their heads after hearing young lady Amiru, who was in charge of communications on her mother’s behalf, calling for the commander. The commander. Did something happen to the commander? The shocked nobles urgently raised their heads.
Cale quietly clicked his tongue, Lady Amiru tended to exaggerate at the worst times. He then exhaled heavily and let the matter go, since there was no reason for him to still be annoyed by something that happened so long ago.
They could then see the calm ocean. At the same time, they could also see Cale, who was looking at young lady Amiru.
“Looks like I kept my promise.”
One of the nobles stood up as if he had been possessed after hearing that statement. He staggered a bit because he could had not yet regained his balance, however, he could soon see Cale and the ocean beyond the ship.
Something he had not realized until now finally clicked. The ocean was getting brighter. The sun was rising. The red fog was no longer covering the ocean. All he could see were dead bodies and broken debris. Something caught the soldiers’ and nobles’ eyes at that moment. They all looked toward the direction of the rising sun. It was the spot that the rays of the sun were currently focused on.
“Oh my...”
“Oh wow!!”
“Such a pretty picture…”
“Clopeh would keel over if he could see this.”
“Thank the goddess he's not here!”
Various comments came from all over the hall – everyone was expressing different kinds of responses now that the battle appeared to be over.
The archers lowered their bows. The navigators let go of their ropes and the rowers let go of their rows. An archer’s arrow fell to the ground. They heard their leader’s voice at that moment.
“Inform the kingdom.”
The soldiers slowly started to raise their arms. They heard their leader, Cale’s voice. Cale was looking into the video communication device in young lady Amiru’s arms as he continued to speak.
We are victorious. Inform the kingdom.”
We are victorious. There are no more enemies on the ocean. The soldiers raised their arms into the air and started to cheer!
Various boisterous and jubilant cries were heard from within the Palantír. Kim Rok Soo closed his eyes for a moment, allowing his mind to savour the sound, allowing this own memories to be overwritten – the cries of despair, grief, agony and devastation that he had heard all around him during that long and tediously difficult war were being replaced with these cries of triumph and victory.
Relief, joy, and excitement. These shouts that were full of all three of these emotions echoed across the ocean. We survived and were victorious. We kept our promise. The soldiers started to shout these things as well. The sun rose up in order to welcome the day for the Roan Kingdom.
Rok Soo could not help the prickling sensation that turned his closed eyes bloodshot as tears gathered. He also couldn’t help the stuffy feeling that expanded within his chest. He buried his face in his hands and hung his head while the Palantír continued.