Chapter 896: Vharakha [1]

"Hueeeeeek!"

The next screech was louder.

Aoife’s shoulders jerked as the sound struck her ears, her hands tightening against the railing before she could stop herself. Around her, people staggered into one another, their cries barely audible beneath the noise filling the arena.

Then the light began to disappear.

It started near the uppermost seats, where a dark shadow passed over the people standing by the exits. Their faces vanished beneath it, followed by the railings and the paths behind them as the darkness continued to spread.

Aoife slowly raised her head.

Something was moving across the pale sun.

At first, she could only make out a long, uneven shadow. It stretched farther than she could follow, small gaps appearing along it through which the light continued to pass.

Feathers.

Aoife’s lips parted as she realized what she was looking at.

The edge of a wing.

It kept moving, covering more of the light until the second wing came into view. Between them, a massive body hung above Karah Togg, its lower half still hidden behind the highest platforms.

For several seconds, Aoife forgot to breathe.

The creature’s wings barely moved. They stayed spread across the sky, their ragged feathers moving slightly and revealing patches of pale flesh underneath.

Something white ran down the centre of its chest.

Bone.

It was a long bone.

Several curved ribs pushed through its flesh, surrounding a hollow that vanished into the darkness of its body. Beneath them, two enormous claws slowly uncurled.

"That’s..."

A voice reached her from nearby.

Aoife barely heard it as the creature lowered its head, revealing a long, bare neck that bent towards the city. Its face was almost entirely white, the hooked upper jaw extending well past the lower one.

Then an eye moved.

The pressure grew heavier.

"...!"

Aoife’s knees bent before she could brace them. She gathered mana through her legs, desperately trying to remain upright as the stone beneath her fingers began to crack.

Beside her, Anne caught the railing with both hands. An’as’s pupils had shrunk, his gaze fixed on the enormous figure while Evelyn struggled to pull herself away from the railing.

Aoife had never felt anything like it.

She couldn’t even tell how far away it was. The body appeared to hang just above the city, but the more of it she saw, the less certain she became.

"N-no... That’s...!"

An older man stood a few seats away, one hand pressed against his throat.

His eyes remained fixed on the creature, and his lips kept moving even when no sound came out.

He wasn’t the only one.

Several people had gone pale in the same way. A woman backed into the steps behind her and fell, but instead of standing, she kept pushing herself away with her hands.

"Va..."

The word passed between them.

Aoife couldn’t make them out, but she knew what they were trying to say. Or at least, what the creature was.

’It’s that...’

The Primordial Beast lurking beyond Karah Togg.

But why...?

"W-why is it here?"

Aoife looked up again.

Only a narrow curve of pale light remained around the creature’s body. The rest of the sun had disappeared behind it, leaving the arena beneath a shadow that stretched far beyond its walls.

The older man’s hand slipped from his throat.

"V-Vha... rakha!"

A name she couldn’t make out.

But Aoife understood it was very likely the name of the creature that stood above the sky.

"N-no."

Aoife’s grip over the handrails tightened as she bit her lower lip.

"This is really bad..."

***

"W-was it you? Were you the one⎯"

"No."

Julien answered calmly, his head tilted towards the sky.

Leon stared at his back for a moment before trying to follow his gaze. Above them, the enormous wings continued to spread, but Julien seemed to be looking somewhere beyond the wings.

Somewhere further.

Leon couldn’t tell where.

The wind picked up, pulling at Julien’s clothes as sand dragged across the ground around his boots. He remained standing in the same place, barely moving while another tremor passed through the arena.

Leon tightened his grip around the sword.

The warmth inside his body hadn’t stopped. He could feel it moving through his arms, but every so often, something beneath his ribs tightened, forcing him to hold his breath until it passed.

Ba... Thump!

He felt the beat of his own heart starting to slow down.

This time, he had to lean against the blade.

"Y-you..."

Tharvek’s voice reached them from the side.

He had turned towards Julien, his shoulders rising and falling as the dark veins continued to spread across his face. One had reached the corner of his mouth, pulling at the skin whenever his jaw moved.

Julien didn’t look at him.

"It’s futile."

Tharvek’s fingers curled.

"...What?"

"...I commend you for trying to fight it, but you were nothing but a pawn."

For a moment, the sand stopped moving around Tharvek’s feet.

"Not just you, but everyone here. Me included."

Leon looked between them, his brows drawing together. He didn’t understand what Julien was talking about, but something in Tharvek’s expression changed as the words reached him.

"What?"

This time, his voice was louder.

Julien didn’t answer.

He continued looking up, his eyes following something Leon still couldn’t see. The side of his face was visible now, and Leon found himself staring at it for a moment.

There was hardly any expression on it.

"Look at me!"

Sand lifted from the ground as Tharvek shouted in Julien’s direction.

It gathered around Julien’s ankles before climbing higher, pulling at the torn edges of his clothes. Leon straightened immediately, moving the sword away from the ground, but Julien didn’t react.

He didn’t even lower his gaze.

Tharvek took a step closer.

The gray covering his fingers thickened, small cracks forming along its surface as more mana poured through his body.

"Do you think you can just arrive out of nowhere and say a bunch of nonsense without suffering any consequences?!"

Julien’s clothes snapped against his legs as the sand around him spun faster.

He remained unmoving.

Leon’s fingers tightened around the hilt. He was close enough to see the grains scraping against Julien’s boots, close enough to hear Tharvek’s breathing grow rougher with every passing second.

"Answer me!"

"Hueeeeeek!"

The shout disappeared beneath the screech.

Leon bent forward as the pressure struck him, his sword sinking into the sand before he could stop it. His knee struck the ground. Somewhere in the stands, something broke, followed by the sound of people falling against the seats.

The shadow above them moved.

It was coming closer.

Leon lifted his head, expecting to find the creature looking down at the arena. Instead, its neck had turned, the long white head moving towards something higher up.

Its claws opened a little farther.

It wasn’t looking at them.

Leon slowly turned towards Julien, whose gaze remained fixed in the same direction as before.

"Where... are you looking?"

His voice came out weakly.

Julien didn’t answer immediately, and Leon forced himself to follow his gaze again. This time, he looked past the sand drifting around them, towards a narrow opening beneath one of the enormous wings.

The light was weaker there.

Without the pale glare filling his eyes, he could finally make out something suspended above the city.

Two figures.

One remained almost perfectly still. The other was moving, one shoulder jerking as she struggled.

Then the wind caught her hair.

White strands spread across the darkness, and Leon’s breath stopped.

"...K-iera?"

His foot moved before he realized it.

A sharp pain passed through his chest, forcing him to catch himself against the sword, but his gaze never left the figure above.

It was her.

The man beside her was holding her by the jaw, keeping her face turned towards the arena. Her fingers were wrapped around his wrist, and even from below, Leon could see how desperately she was trying to pull it away.

Then he noticed the veins.

They ran along her throat and across the side of her face, standing out against her pale skin whenever her hair shifted.

Leon’s lips parted, but before he could speak, Julien’s voice reached him.

"That’s what awoke it."

Leon turned towards him.

Julien blinked slowly, his gaze remaining on the two figures.

"...It’s coming for her. It’s... scared of her."

The words settled heavily inside Leon’s chest.

He looked up again.

The creature’s head lowered farther, its eye moving towards the small figure struggling beneath the remaining light. Kiera pulled against the hand around her jaw, and the enormous head tilted slightly, following the movement.

Leon tried to straighten. To move.

His fingers were trembling around the sword, but he forced his knee away from the ground and dragged a breath into his lungs.

"Then we have to..."

His voice trailed off as Julien finally moved.

Only his head.

His gaze lowered towards Tharvek, who was staring at the creature again. The sand still moved around him, but it had lost its earlier force, spilling unevenly against the ground as his hands opened and closed.

The veins had reached both sides of his face.

Julien watched him for a moment before looking towards the stands.

Leon followed his gaze.

Near the front rows, a man was pulling at his collar with both hands. A dark line had appeared beneath his jaw, disappearing under the fabric as he struggled to breathe.

A few seats farther away, a woman gripped the railing. Her sleeve had slipped back, revealing several black veins running along her wrist.

There were others.

Leon hadn’t noticed them before.

He had been too busy looking at the sky.

Now, as his gaze passed over the people closest to the arena, he could see the same dark lines appearing beneath their skin.

Some were still faint.

Others had already spread towards their faces.

Julien’s gaze lingered on them before slowly returning to the two figures above.

Dawn’s head turned slightly.

His golden eyes passed over the arena, moving beyond Tharvek before coming to a stop.

On Julien.

For several seconds, neither of them moved.

The enormous creature continued to approach, its shadow sliding across the remaining light while the people beneath it struggled to stand.

Dawn’s hand remained closed around Kiera’s jaw.

Julien’s jaw tightened before he eventually muttered,

"...This isn’t how you should do a cleansing."