650 Dancing With Death [2]: The Final Sanctuary
When death seemed inevitable, a blue light shone on Varian's forehead.
All the beasts in the royal garden suddenly stiffened and raised their heads in Varian's direction.
Varian didn't anything that was going on. He couldn't see the mark glowing nor could he see the punch was about to reach him.
From his perspective, it all happened just too fast.
But Julius saw it clearly and an ominous premonition struck his heart.
"STOP!"
"Rooooa!"
Sixty peak level 9 beasts in the royal garden combined their powers at once.
Whoosh!
Ten walls, each made of fire, ice, lightning, and earth rose in front of Varian and Sia.
Even Evander would've been rendered powerless facing such a luxurious defense.
But in front of the mighty punch, the walls instantly broke down upon contact.
However, they delayed the punch just long enough that the ten peak level 9 space beasts enveloped their space power around Varian and since she was connected by his aura, around Sia.
Whish!
The space around the two fluctuated and they were teleported into the blue vortex.
Julius' eyes burned with anger. But focusing on his prey, he shot towards the vortex.
It was at that moment, that the sixty peak level 9 beasts stood between him and the vortex.
"Die!" A terrifying pressure enveloped the beasts and their bodies stiffened. But they stubbornly glared at Julius and refused to let him pass.
Swiish!
"Roaa!"
The sky shook and the earth cracked.
The battle was over in a few seconds.
Every beast was dead and it died in a gruesome way.
However, before death, each beast roared in pride.
The blue light from Varian's forehead was neither the mark of his 'Scion' status nor the recognition of his achievements in the prince's hall.
It was the 'recognition' by the beasts in the level 7 garden region.
When he could've gone into the prince's hall after feeding just one beast, he decided to feed them all.
Without knowing, Varian earned the gratitude of the beasts.
As their parents and grandparents, the level 9s beasts, they repaid his kindness even if it cost them their lives.
Oblivious to their thoughts, Varian and Sia appeared a few hundred miles away high in the sky, above the valleys.
Their sudden appearance was quickly detected by the level 9s on the ground.
Varian's head spun and he was still dizzy from the forcible space transfer. But he couldn't waste any more time.
'Boo!' He called out weakly.
'Master!' the cute voice finally answered.
Whoosh!
Before the level 9s could even approach, the two members in the sky disappeared.
Boom!
Right then, a terrifying aura erupted in the distance and chased after the invisible ship.
Varian collapsed on the familiar floor.
'Ah! This softness…'
It was a clean but hard floor. But Varian felt a sense of comfort and security after so long.
He turned around and saw Sia lying on her side, a few feet away from him. Her beautiful brown hair covered half of her face, her eyes were closed and she was breathing weakly.
"Hu! Fuu!"
"Hu! Fuu!"
Her hair was clumped from the blood and the dried blood spread stuck on most of her face.
Yet…
The way her eyelashes fluttered in sleep, the way her small nose inhaled, the way she breathed…
It was just like back then.
During weekends, he'd sleep till late due to exhaustion. Sia would come to wake him up, but every single time, she ended up sleeping on the side of the bed.
As her workload due to school and helping him increased, Sia got more and more exhausted. So, she ended up sleeping for longer hours on the weekends.
Varian would wake up and be confronted with the sight of the sleeping Sia. He'd carefully tuck the hair covering half of her face behind her ear.
He tried to do the same again...
"I…" Varian's hand shook violently as it repelled itself from reaching her.
"Sorry…" He muttered and used his telekinetic power to tuck her hair.
"Master!" Boo cried out!
Varian sighed and stood up. What had to come had come.
For some reason, Julius was delayed by a couple of seconds and they got a breather.
No.
Varian knew the reason.
'The beasts…' He sensed the giant creatures rushing towards them at the last moment.
Varian's heart was filled with complicated emotions.
But now was not the time.
"How much time can we stay off him?" Varian asked.
Boo floated in front of him as if it had never fallen asleep. Its eyes showed it had a lot of questions to ask, but it diverted its attention to the issue at hand.
Staring at the large hologram in front of it, Boo said. "Twenty-three seconds."
Boo's words weighed heavily on Varian's chest. He gazed at the red dot moving approaching the ghost ship at high speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Mega hurricanes brewed into existence. A small earthquake began. Everything in his path was flattened as the strongest sovereign chased after his target.
Their life was in big danger. Varian was about to say something before he paused hearing the weak breathing from Sia.
He turned to Boo with an urgent expression. "Give her the best potions and keep giving."
"But Master, there aren't many…"
"I don't care. Keep her alive!" Varian said in a tone that was never so serious.
Boo stiffened and nodded. "Yes."
The bots quickly placed Sia in a healing pod and started to give her the best potions in stock.
The situation didn't improve in the slightest. However, her breath didn't weaken any further.
Varian sighed in relief and his gaze returned to the hologram depicting their position.
They were already a hundred miles away from Ruler's Abode—a partially explored region. Though now, it could be considered fully explored.
"Fifteen seconds master."
Boom!
The space around the ghost ship turned turbulent for a moment before Boo broke through it.
Varian took a breath and opened the map Enigma gave him.
Their surroundings were filled with fully explored regions. There were only a few partially explored regions.
'Summer Lake, Wyvren's Nest, Healer's Valley…'
As they passed by those locations, Varian's eyes quickly went through the map as his brain churned at a high speed.
"Ten seconds, master!"
Boooom!
The ghost ship suddenly tilted at an extreme angle.
Something passed by them and hit the mountain ranges.
…They turned into rubble.
"Gulp."
Varian searched the map again.
Fully explored regions were useless against Julius. Anyone could enter them, much less a sovereign.
Partially explored regions sounded helpful, but since they were partially explored, that also meant he could enter them just fine.
In the end, only one option remained.
Varian gritted his teeth. "Boo."
This was a gamble.
"Five seconds, master!"
Boom!
The ghost ship started to shake violently as if someone was hammering it from the outside. Then, its metal frame creaked as the twisted space tried to cut through it.
"Go to the Mystic Castle." Varian said in a determiend tone.
"M-Master!" Boo shouted in fear. Even it knew the significance of that name.
It was one of the most mysterious unexplored regions.
The timer had turned to three seconds.
"Go!" Varian shouted.
"If I die, I'll become a ghost and haunt you!" Boo said and the ghost ship took an abrupt right.
Whoosh!
Two seconds.
Boom!
One second!
Booom!
The ghost ship sped up as if a sprinter throwing his everything for the last second.
It reached a rather plain-looking mountain range and encountered the premises of a giant floating castle.
To be fair, it didn't have the dimensions of a castle. It was several miles long and wide as well as high. It looked more like a small town of sorts. There was a silver barrier covering the castle.
Booom!
The moment the ghost ship entered the silver barrier, a giant explosion rang out in the location it was present just a split second ago.
A man floated outside the silver barrier with a pensive face. His brows furrowed as he tried to peer into the castle, but he could see nothing except for the castle.
Rather than saying he could see, it'd be more appropriate to assume that the castle was letting him see.
'Should I go in?' The thought inevitably crossed Julius' mind.
But in the end, he shook his head.
"No one had come out alive of this place…" He muttered before pausing abruptly.
"T-This guy, I can't use anyone as a metric against him." Julius felt frustrated.
How could he, a Sovereign, fail to kill a level 7 ant? Not once but twice!
So, Julius personally called a couple of level 9s and assigned them to watch the area before leaving.
The level 9s watched the silver barrier and wondered what the heck was going on inside.
Meanwhile, inside the silver barrier…
