Aurora Scroll

Chapter 521 - Premonition

“Go now, girls. This is all too much for you and brings nothing good.”

“Your Holy Majesty, I-”

“Dear child... May your heart be free from the icy flames of revenge that continue to hurt you and find peace’s embrace.”

The veiled woman touched Olivia’s forehead with a finger that glowed blue for a second. Olivia looked overwhelmed. With a swish of the woman’s hand, Olivia and the other Black Ice Apostates disappeared from Freya’s sight.

Isidaris, Freya guessed, teleported them away without effort on her part. The Silver Legionnaire had to confront the fact that in front of her might very well be the true body of the Greater Demon Isidaris.

A Level 10 existence.

Despite her remaining a step away from crossing the spatial breach to enter this world, she could erase them all as easily as breathing.

And yet the vile demon had not done so.

“Estelle’s acolytes. I have no desire to quarrel with you. Go now to your battlefield. Prevent my peers from obtaining the scroll or the world will take a turn for the worse.”

The rest of her group were too overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of her existence to speak but Freya managed to eke out words from her mouth.

“What are your intentions? You can just grab the artifact and return to your realm in less than a second. Why?”

“I have no use for the scroll,” the Greater Demon of Ice and Time said with disinterest. “You, on the other hand... Be careful, Luminary.”

The veiled woman opened her hand and softly blew in Freya’s direction. Like the Black Ice Apostates before, Freya and her Silver Legion friends teleported away.

***

Isidaris stood in silence, as if waiting for someone.

“Look who’s come out from her ice castle of solitude.”

The speaker was a woman with red hair and even redder eyes. She flew here using the wings of blood on her back.

“Have you come for the scroll, Isi? If it’s you, I dare say you might have seen this happening centuries ago.”

“Yasterah,” Isidaris nodded as a gesture. “Your vessel is remarkable to contain a shard of your consciousness without breaking.”

“Oh yes, isn't my prized child wonderful?” Yasterah, occupying Izabella’s body, made a twirl like a dancer in a ballroom. “Want to team up? I sensed Banbexi and Lichzen, perhaps Dumuzin and Chalchar will come and play too. If only Teorph were here, it would be like 700 years ago again. A family reunion. Isn't it wonderful, Isi dear?”

“I have no interest in the matter. Farewell, Yasterah.”

With that done, she turned around and the Greater Breach closed completely, as if someone stitched the rend in space.

“See you in 300 years,” Yasterah shouted before the rift closed cheerily. “Like it or not, the end times comes~”

Of course, Yasterah received no reply. With the other party gone, Yasterah's amicable, smiling expression turned sour and cold.

“One day, Isidaris. One day I’ll make you grovel at my feet.”

The Demon God of Blood and Control disliked people outside of her control.

“Now then...” She looked down at the giant of bone and flesh with scorn. “A boorish fellow without a touch of beauty, as usual.”

Such was Yasterah’s judgment upon seeing the works of the Demon God of Death and Suffering, Lichzen.

“Quite eager for a dead guy, hm? Terribly sorry. Lichy, but the scroll is mine,” Yasterah smiled and her eyes glinted with a red flash.

***

Tanael heard the voice like everyone else. No one was exempt, even the eleven prisoners who were no longer Pathseekers.

“The Aurora Scroll... I vaguely recall some mention of the scroll in old records and legends,” Tanael muttered.

“Astounding. I never thought I would see the Scroll of All Things with my own eyes.”

It was Yunis who said that. Most likely, the dark elf had her own source of knowledge. They called it with a different name but it was a trivial matter.

“My liege, what do you want to do?” Jordan asked.

Tanael was no longer in the Darth Vader garb after releasing his Soul Gear Liquid Arte. The appearance of the scroll turned the prison upside down. That was on top of the chaos unleashed by the cults. Danger was everywhere. Tanael sensed many strong presences all over the place. Some of them were so powerful that he would forsake any thought of fighting should they meet.

That was what he knew of. What about those who hid their presence and laid low? The waters around here were very dangerous now.

However, the scroll’s emergence was a lure like no other. Tanael was very tempted but strong as he was, he was not the biggest fish around. Those powerful beings would soon fight each other for the possession of the scroll.

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The scroll said the one who obtained it would usher in a new age, the Age of Heroes. What did that even mean? What kind of power would the scroll grant? Control over fate? Able to meddle with the past and future? Tanael did not know. There was no record of all these things that he knew of and he had a lot of soul searched knowledge and books from loot.

The current layout of the Tower was quite confusing. After the scroll bore a hole to the deepest layer of the Tower of Remorse, the previously separated dimensions, the prison floors seemed to be a bit more connected.

Tanael was in the center of a shopping mall, he was able to see the other prison floors from where he was standing. The scroll was very far up, floating in the sky of the Tower of Remorse. He was on the fifth floor after destroying the command center and eliminating the vice-warden.

The scroll was like a bright star hanging on the rainbow aura sky. The face that it manifested to speak had faded after it finished.

“We’ll make our way up and observe the situation. Either way, we can't escape from here. Let’s go.”

“Damn it! It would be nice to have some Victa right now. It’s like going into a forest full of monsters naked,” Raha'ak the half-demon grumbled.

“Deal with it,” Guador the orc grunted.

Gosden, the painter, was on the orc’s shoulder and didn't seem to care about what happened in his surroundings. Left on his own, the man walked like drunk and strayed from the group. Tanael asked the orc to carry him like a potato sack. It was a light baggage for the ripped orc.

The eleven who were no longer Pathseekers were a given but not even the six had enough power to defend themselves. They could only follow Tanael like baby ducks.

With the prison as wrecked as it was, Tanael reckoned moving up the floors was going to be easier. However, a great change happened on the fifth floor.

The Forest of Punishment, the prisoners that had been turned to trees, were carried away by the current as the land itself moved. Tanael could see a mound forming at a distance, growing in size by the moment. With his Euryale Sight Arte, his sharpened eyesight was able to see things with more detail.

An earthen giant with three skeletal heads was forming. The power of the giant was unreal and still growing as it absorbed countless human trees. Tanael saw a group of people that was still safe around the giant, like on an island of calm in landslides.

Those necromancers... Death Society? The leader figure must be Norgard. What is that giant? The three skulls each have the power of Level 5! What are the Lichzen followers up to? Not good! At this rate, the giant will swallow the whole place, including me with it!

“Whoaaaa! That looks bad!” Raha'ak said out loud.

“Move your feet more than your mouth!” Yunis said while running.

“It’s useless. We can't outrun the earth-tide with normal people’s speed!” Beria Teslin said while running and gasping for breath.

“AAAAAHHH! We’re going to die!”

“I should have stayed in my cell!”

“Fuck!!! I’m going to die sober!”

The eleven that took Tanael’s second deal were in a hopeless situation as the land got sucked up by the undead giant like an antlion pit. Tanael tsked and made a move. He pulled a glass lantern from his inventory item and the eleven got absorbed into the lantern. The eleven seem to be turning into pinky-nail-sized people inside the lantern.

“You’ve had magic items like that this whole time? Why are we walking all this time?” Beria Teslin the Harkelan noble, said to Tanael with disbelief and a bit of accusation.

“Shut it! It’s hella expensive!” Tanael retorted back. “Now get inside!”

The rest of the six also got absorbed into the lantern. After he was freed from the seventeen human baggage, Tanael sprinted with the speed of a Level 4 mid Pathseeker and outran the undead giant’s AoE.

He was coming into the Tower of Remorse for a jailbreak. Common sense dictated that he should take into account what he needed for bringing the prisoners that capitulated safely outside. Therefore, he had prepared the inventory item for living people. It was pretty rare, even for him, and truly expensive. It was more like a transportation device and a one-off usage too boot. But he couldn't afford to lose his sworn Level 5 minions, so now was the time to use it.

He attached the lantern to his belt and it dangled on his right butt like a certain decapitated head in God of War.

Obviously the Death Society was preparing something big. He did not want to stick around.

***

Grausam, Marlborough, and Gregory.

These three Level 5s were the closest to the Aurora Scroll when it appeared.

The first two flew towards the legendary artifact with undiluted greed in their eyes. Gregory chose a wait-and-see approach. Unlike them, he was not in good condition after the grueling fight. The two big shots from the Warbringers and the Death Society were repulsed by an invisible wall once they got close.

Naturally, obtaining the scroll is not accomplished by a simple grab and run.

The scroll was doing something different again; the energy it exuded was mind-boggling, even for someone as experienced as Gregory. The two cultists still did not give up and tried various methods at their disposal. Gregory made good use of the unexpected reprieve to recover as much as he could.

Aurora Scroll... This must be the thing from the prophecy.

He recalled the eternity of the prophecy that he heard:

Earth will rage, sky will weep, man will fear, as it is born. If the daughter of light is there without intercession, guided by untainted destiny, a sliver of greatness will fall into her grasp. The shadow in the form of man will not surrender it without a fight. Sweet defeat, swift and fleeting. Death stalks the stalwart mentor. Broken shell will contain either hope or emptiness.

The earth was raging.

Gregory saw something emerging from the depths of the Tower of Remorse, a gigantic skeleton with three heads, shrouded in the aura of death. Attached to his body were the earth and bodies of the wailing prisoners. As it grew and clawed its way up, the monstrosity caused little earthquakes.

For the Demon God of Death and Suffering, the Tower of Remorse was like an altar of worship to him. How many years since its founding and how many prisoners have entered these cells? It might be for the sake of redemption, but the prisoners suffered nonetheless. The avatar of Lichzen thrived like maggots on a dead body.

The sky was weeping.

Although the rain of blood had been replaced by the aurora borealis with the artifact’s emergence, Gregory felt that rain of blood had begun falling again. The droplets that fell on his body were undeniable proof.

The old general sensed this was the work of the blood demoness. Sure enough, a red light flew out from the broken Tower of Remorse. A woman with blood-red angel wings emerged triumphantly. Gregory felt as if the blood in his veins was coursing in reverse from dread.

And the men were fearful.

Because the artifact had broken the Tower of Remorse, the prisoners, those not from the fifth floor thus still had regular bodies, were escaping en masse. Like ants coming out from their burning nest, the joy of their escape was overwhelmed by the terror of what was to come.

Furthermore, there was the appearance of the new Demon King.

Warden Myers had contacted Gregory before he moved to prevent the creation of a new Demon King. The general feared the warden had lost his life. The long silver-haired and silver-eyed Demon King spread fear and madness upon the prisoners simply by leisurely walking.

Gregory sensed a spatial anomaly and saw his disciple and her friends appear nearby.

“Freya.”

“Master? What’s going on?”

Gregory felt it in his bones.

The pieces have been assembled and the stage is set. My death is near, but what do I have to fear? Freya will obtain the Aurora Scroll and lead the world to a new age. I have no regrets.