CHAPTER 35: END OF THE CAPITAL (2)

The dome pulsed.

The vibration traveled through the ground, rising along the walls, and reached the sky tinged with red. The sound was low, almost inaudible. But Kyrian felt every beat of the dome as if a pounding heart were hammering.

It was at that moment that the fifth smoke point was born.

The instant the thick, colossal smoke rose from the lake in the center of the city, the air became unbearably heavy. The smell of iron filled every corner, and the veins of everyone in the city suddenly began to tremble, as if they wanted to burst through their skin.

Kyrian heard the moans, heard the screams, but could not move a muscle.

To his eyes, everything was seen in a cruel way.

The blood threads, once almost invisible, were now fully exposed for all to see. Thick, living streams, flowing from the body of every inhabitant of the capital, whether human or animal, heading toward the dome.

They rose like crimson rivers, merging in the air and converging on the newly ignited source in the lake.

Initially as small, subtle lines. But in seconds, they became torrents.

And around Kyrian, one by one, everyone fell.

His mouth opened, trying to say something to the others who fell to their knees, coughing up blood and with eyes losing their shine. But no words came out.

Before he could think of doing anything, Lina, who was on his back, toppled forward. Her body’s weight fell against him, her head rolling over his shoulder until it rested on his back, completely lifeless.

Kyrian’s eyes widened.

She was... dead.

The blood threads had drained her faster than he could react, he didn’t even see the last expression she made, her final smile.

Harken was the second. The old warrior resisted for a few more moments, even completely injured. Clenching his teeth, the veins in his neck were completely swollen. Before collapsing, he turned his eyes to Kyrian and, with a breath of voice, murmured:

"Say hi to my stupid son..."

Harken fell.

The blood was ripped from him in a silent explosion, and his body too became an empty shell in seconds.

Kyrian watched in silence. His heart pounded rapidly, only to be controlled moments later, inevitably. He wondered if he should cry at that moment. But it seemed that even for that, his body had no will.

He had no choice, he couldn’t save any of them.

Perhaps he could, using the remaining particles left in his eyes and applying the blood comprehension he had received. But the person would only live a little longer before having their blood absorbed again.

Moreover, whom should he choose? Elyria? Lina? Harken? Kael?

It was useless. Kyrian knew it was not in his hands.

So he did not move. He just watched.

One by one, the Order fell. Trained, proud warriors who had defended the kingdom of Valor for years now fell like ants. Their blood was ripped into thick streams, swallowed by the sky.

Darien fell seated, his eyes wide, unable to believe this would be his end.

He looked at Kyrian.

"You know... I always hated geniuses like you... even now you are completely fine... But live... live so that at least someone still remembers us." His body then fell backward, in moments, it was dry, empty, without a drop of blood.

Kael was farther away. Kyrian saw him fall, with a melancholic smile on his face. He said nothing. He just left in silence while looking at Elyria, but despite his smile, his face was full of tears.

Kyrian saw what he felt. Was it regret?

Elyria was the last.

She raised her gaze to Kyrian, kneeling, even with blood running across her face, her voice still strong and steady.

"Kyrian, hide. And survive until this disaster ends. I don’t want the student my brother treats as a son to die here. Much less the Royal Order, which I’ve always cared for, to lose all its members."

When she finished speaking, the last flicker of life left her eyes, but her body still remained upright like a spear.

Everyone else had already gone.

Kyrian was standing alone, in the midst of dry corpses.

Silence.

It was the most terrifying silence he had ever felt.

Kyrian just stood still, observing. He did not cry, he did not scream. His eyes followed every thread of blood, every final whisper of each dry shell that was once a life.

He would carry the weight, the memory of everyone, with him. A weight he didn’t know exactly how to bear.

He remained still for a long time. Until he sighed.

A long, deep, heavy sigh. The longest since his mother’s death.

"..."

"I am still... absurdly weak, aren’t I? Mother?"

His voice came out hoarse, almost soundless.

All the bodies shriveled and dried after all the blood that sustained them was gone. What remained were fragile skeletons covered with wrinkled, dead skin.

Kyrian breathed, the air reeked of iron, the ground filled with corpses where he could barely step.

He walked. One step after another, until he reached a green area that had not been consumed by the red.

No haste. No words.

He just acted.

One by one, he lifted the bodies. Harken, Elyria, Lina, Kael, and Darien. Each of them.

He carried them there. Without caring for the effort or time. He dug with his hands. Until he opened a hole large enough to bury them.

************************************************

In the cave, Wei Feng opened his eyes.

His body, which had previously bent like that of an old hunchback, now stood tall, upright. His wrinkled skin still betrayed his advanced age, but now he no longer had a body about to fall dead.

Now he looked like a man in his seventies. Respectable, with the aura of someone who still had the strength to walk.

He raised his hands. Feeling the veins pulse with fresh blood without interruption, and then from his finger, a drop of blood emerged, transforming into an extremely fine needle.

He threw it at the wall, which it pierced effortlessly, the blood needle splitting into countless smaller droplets in all directions. Part of the wall cracked, turning into smaller pieces falling to the ground. The blood then gathered again, returning to Wei Feng’s hand.

"Finally..."

His lips parted in a thin smile.

"Half of the blood absorbed by the blood core formation... only twenty percent of my life essence recovered. But that is at least another ten years."

"Now... the moonflowers. They will make my cracked meridians revive."

He stood tall, his step firm for the first time in many years.

"How much strength will I recover in this filthy place? It doesn’t matter. I need to find a way out of these lands as quickly as possible. And then, in the coming years, I must break through again. Only then... only then will I have a few more good years of life."

Wei Feng then climbed the cave stairs. Each step echoed like a war drum.

When he emerged near the lake, the scene was one of destruction. The entire city was dead. The blood dome still pulsed. The fifth smoke is still absorbing the last traces of life.

Wei Feng closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. His mind connecting slightly to the dome.

Then he opened them again, his body turning toward the moonflowers.

He took a step. Smiling.

"I found you. Moonflo-"

He stopped. His eyes shifted slightly to the left of the direction of the east gate. His gaze narrowed.

"Hm...? What? How the hell is there still someone alive?"

Wei Feng immediately quickened his steps, heading toward Kyrian at high speed.