The Villain's Story

Chapter 697: [697] Kizmal(9)

”They listened to you, and came because you asked them too, even if Lanesha advised you to bring them. But what are they doing?”

She continued, and Alan didnʼt have a chance to speak.

”They already spent a year training, and do I need to remind you how long the lifespan of a human is? A year may not be a significant amount of time to us, we could blink and decades could go by, but not for them.”

And now, he didnʼt know what to say, he was still stubborn on not letting them challenge the fragment, but he couldnʼt argue against what she was saying.

It was the first time she had ever seen her so calm, and not raging at every given moment, and she wasnʼt talking nonsense either.

At most, awakened lived to only a hundred and fifty years old, those were the standard ones, awakened that never reached their full potential, the peak of their talent, the ones who did, [A] rank and above lived longer, with each increase in rank adding a significant amount of years to their life, but still.

The lifespan of a human being could not be compared to that of a dragon, which was limitless. A dragon was not immune to time, but time was not an adversary to a dragon, rather a helping friend, a blessing.

They got stronger with time, humans got weaker, like most other species. In his cohort, only he, Kazikato, and Alexander could truly afford to spend a long time here.

But even then, why should he let them go there, so they could lose their lives? They didnʼt need to spend time here, he could always send them back, and he had tried, only they refused to do it.

If they were like that, it was a much better idea to just let them wait. In his eyes, they would die there. They werenʼt like him, no matter what.

What chance did they have if even Alan had to fear for his life there? They didnʼt have his mana, his strength, his abilities, his regeneration. They werenʼt him in any sense.

He had to save Kazikato there as well, and even then he was barely able to do it. He was certain he couldnʼt save everyone. The giant was fearsome, and every action was lethal.

The field of electricity around his body, his mountainous size, his scalding blood. Each was lethal, and Alan was only at the tip of the iceberg.

”I canʼt control it.”

As he was lost in thought, Arielʼs voice interrupted him, pulling him out.

”I canʼt control my wrath, it only seems to calm down with Kazikato, and itʼs unbearable with you... Only after I shared my drop of ichor with you does it...subside, for a while.

You... make me lose my temper, your face does.”

He didnʼt have an answer to that, but he understood it. Though he didnʼt memories of every loop, he knew he, or rather Aranus under the control of the abyss, killed her children.

He didnʼt know much about it, he didnʼt have memories, or visions of every iteration, but he did know Aranus had killed her children, every child. Even Lanesha.

He had personally seen Valus and Lanesha die in a dream, or a vision, only Kulak was unknown.

”This wrath of mine is a price I paid for killing someone, Itʼs uncontrollable, and bearable. I only had to deal with one before, but now it is here as well. Itʼs why my children donʼt visit anymore, only Lanesha does, rarely.

It makes them fear me, and I hate it. But it subsides when Kazikato is here, and now it does the same for you, the moment you absorbed my ichor, the moment Lanesha chose you as her son, you became part of my family.”

Alan silently listened to her, waiting until she was done, and slowly taking in more information, Alan knew the origin of her ʼwrathʼ now. It was always strange, how a being like her was always angry, now he knew it was something she got from the Shape Shifter of the Divine, Trickster of the Profane.

The passages explained how he was a wrathful existence, how his wrath had caused him to do something he should have never done, and how Ariel killed him.

That ʼsomeoneʼ she killed was him, and perhaps by doing so, she inherited, or was cursed by his wrath. It was odd to think about, but reasonable at the moment.

It also reminded him, he had to ask her many things.

”Youʼre the heir of this house, and thatʼs something you donʼt fully understand yet. Why do you think I designed these trials?”

He raised his head, and answered.

”To make sure Iʼm worthy of that armor? What was it called, the palanquin of death?”

The same one Aranus wore, although he wondered why, he was sure Aranusʼs scales were the best kind of armor there was.

One had to consider practicality along with defense as well, freedom of movement was important. An armor like that, while dashing and menacing, was not the best thing to move around in.

The scales of a dragon provided defense along with freedom of movement. Alan normally hated wearing armor as well, he hated how hot and stuffy it made him, and how it restricted his movement. Arken had taught him to prioritize movement, and he couldnʼt really do so in a bulky suit of armor.

The weight was nothing to him, but there were other issues. Due to that, discovering the Heavenly Sky Spear art was a blessing for him, it allowed him to create an armor around his body, one was ethereal, and didnʼt affect his movements as much.

But then again, artifacts did have special abilities, he missed being able to chuck out a sphere of chaos whenever he wanted, one of the skills that belonged to his previous armor.

One that was a sorry sight now, he had put thing under some serious...abuse. Aranus probably wore the Palanquin of Death because of its abilities. And considering who the creator of that armor was, sacrificing some mobility was nothing.

It definitely had overpowered abilities, as it should!

”You know, Iʼm able to read your mind here, right?”

He heard her laughing instead, Alan was confused, even if she did read his mind and know what he was thinking, what was there to laugh at?”

”You would be surprised to know that it offers almost no defense against any physical, mental, and spiritual attacks. I sacrificed defense for something else.

Though the abyss did steal it because of its abilities, I took them away the moment it did. It simply recreated the outer appearance afterward by itself.

It didnʼt even the creativity to create something new, Haha!”

She continued to laugh for a while, her laughter was lethal, when a being of such a size began

to laugh it was bound to do something to the world, had it been Earth, it would already be

gone.

But the realm could still handle it, Alan suffered as well, but it wasnʼt as painful as he

expected it to be.

Nevertheless, it was the first time he had heard her laugh.