Chapter 1431: The Home They Never Had

On the ground, Silas watched the others disappear into the distance. At last, his calm facade broke.

He rushed to Adrian and pulled his brother into a tight embrace.

Years of pent-up tears poured from his eyes, quickly soaking the fabric at Adrian’s shoulder.

"I’m sorry," Silas said. "I failed you."

His embrace tightened as his voice began to tremble.

"Let’s go find Mom, okay?"

Adrian had already been shaking with fear.

But once Silas held him, the trembling grew even worse—not from fear this time, but from overwhelming joy.

Adrian raised his arms and hugged his brother just as tightly.

"Silas."

He felt the presence surrounding his brother and finally smiled for real.

"That feeling is gone."

"I’m so happy."

Adrian had never been happier.

Resting in his brother’s arms, his body finally relaxed after years of tension. His eyes slowly closed, and his breathing grew quiet.

Like a child who had finally come home, Adrian fell into a deep sleep in Silas’s embrace.

Then, without a sound, he slipped away.

Silas sat there holding him for a long time.

Only when he could no longer feel his brother breathing did he carefully lower Adrian to the ground and lay his body flat.

Silas took out a photo album he had treasured for years and placed it beside him.

Then he looked down at his palm.

The energy sphere Ethan had left him was still there.

Silas held it as his gaze shifted between its glow and his brother. For a long time, he couldn’t make up his mind.

The energy sphere had no intention of waiting.

While Silas was distracted, the white energy transformed into a thin thread. It traveled up his arm, entered his body, and burrowed straight into his mind.

The energy began destroying him from deep within his consciousness.

Silas didn’t resist.

He even smiled faintly, his expression finally at ease.

It felt good to have met someone willing to listen to his story before he died.

Even at the end, Ethan hadn’t fully believed everything Silas told him.

But he had chosen to believe the part about Silas’s family, his mother, and Adrian.

The energy continued to spread through his mind.

Silas turned one last time to look at Adrian lying on the ground.

Then he burst out laughing.

His laughter grew louder and louder before breaking into sobs. Silas laughed and cried at the same time, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

His brother had actually died long ago.

The day Silas began to change—the day power and its oppressive weight consumed him—Adrian’s heart had already left this world.

Only one fierce obsession had kept him alive.

Adrian wanted to see his brother return to normal one last time.

He wanted to see the Silas he remembered.

That obsession, combined with the influence of Silas’s power, had sustained him year after year.

Now, at last, he had gotten his wish.

And he could finally go home.

Perhaps the brothers would find their mother. Perhaps they would find a place without comparison, wealth, or power, where they could quietly live another kind of life.

But such a life could only be found after death.

The real world had never been willing to offer them that chance.

Whenever someone believed they had finally become strong enough, someone stronger would always appear. Even those who eventually reached the top were no different from the most ordinary person when death arrived.

In the end, everyone faced the same destination.

The small animals and marine life around the island had already been relocated.

That was one reason everyone had left in such a hurry.

Of course, there was another very important reason.

Auri was starving.

On Seraphina’s back, Ethan looked over his shoulder at the rapidly shrinking island. A small button rested in his palm, and his thumb slowly pressed down.

Click.

A strange pulse came from the island and quickly caught up with Seraphina in flight. Crushing pressure descended on the dragon’s back, forcing everyone’s body downward.

Even Seraphina couldn’t maintain her altitude. She partially folded her wings and descended toward the ocean.

A moment later, the pressure vanished.

The last remaining creatures around the island were driven away by the pulse and fled into the distance.

Then came the deafening blast from behind them.

Boom!

A massive mushroom cloud surged into the sky.

The explosion forced the ocean outward, creating a circular wall of water that expanded in every direction. Seraphine immediately raised a barrier around Seraphina and everyone on her back.

Even through the barrier, the shock wave shoved the dragon forward for a considerable distance.

The white smoke and columns of water gradually fell away.

The island was gone.

A vast crater was all that remained in the middle of the ocean. Seawater poured violently into it from every direction, forming an ever-widening whirlpool.

Elira looked down at the button in Ethan’s hand, then turned toward the mushroom cloud that still hadn’t dispersed.

She pointed back and forth between them.

Her meaning couldn’t have been clearer.

"Master, that..."

Ethan calmly shook his head.

He pointed ahead with one hand while secretly crushing the button with the other. Before the fragments could fall, an energy sphere engulfed them and reduced them to dust.

All evidence destroyed.

"How could I possibly do something that powerful?" Ethan asked with a perfectly serious expression.

"The brothers probably did it themselves."

Everyone fell silent.

Even Seraphina turned her dragon head to look at him midflight.

Did he really feel no guilt whatsoever saying that?

Ethan had already tried faking his own resurrection once. A few skeptical looks weren’t going to defeat him. He pointed toward the ocean ahead, trying to change the subject.

But everyone knew his tricks by now.

No one looked forward.

Every eye remained fixed on Ethan.

After being stared at for so long, even Ethan began to feel uneasy. He coughed, then finally switched to a subject that could genuinely distract them.

"How about I tell you the full story?"

He sat up straight on the dragon’s back.

"Silas gave me the complete version. What you heard probably wasn’t nearly as detailed."

That got everyone’s attention.

They gathered around Ethan, found places to sit, and quietly waited for him to begin.

The story continued as they flew.

One day passed.

Then two.

Several more days and nights came and went.

By then, Ethan and the others had almost given up hope of seeing anything but ocean ahead.

They weren’t picky anymore.

A beach, rocks, a swamp—anything would do, as long as it was a piece of land large enough to stand on.

Seraphina was growing more exhausted with every mile. Feylora could continuously replenish her energy, but she couldn’t erase the mental fatigue of flying for so long.

At this point, sheer willpower was the only thing keeping Seraphina’s wings moving.

Finally, a shape unlike the ocean appeared on the distant horizon.