The Record of Unusual Creatures

The situation inside the sanctum could be vaguely seen now.

After going through the light green energy curtain at the front entrance of the pyramid, Hao Ren saw the sanctum was brightly lit and the vast hall had neat rows of massive equipment and many robed figures running about, and further in the hall, was an orb of light.

After looking back at the phantoms of old that was quickly turning back into the Black Forest one last time, the group swiftly entered the hall with Rheia leading.

Rheia was still closing her eyes and only reminded everyone else to follow behind to avoid being tripped by the ruins in real space. Hao Ren on the other hand quickly scanned through the hall.

He noticed the massive building did not had that many people in it, and the vast space was actually reserved for those mysterious equipment of unknown usage. Two rows of massive and glowing rectangular pillars were lined up in the hall, and there were plenty of moving light and changed runes on the surface of the pillar, and between the pillars were silver-robed, giant ‘technicians’ that were up and about as the surging energies leap at the top of the pillars and were being focused and collected at the end of the hall.

There was high platform there, and on it was a beautiful female that was clad is a magnificent regalia.

The female seemed to be the master of the hall, she held a silver staff in one hand as another held another item by her side. She was looking at the main door of the hall, as a overwhelmingly powerful life force emanated from her body as were released to the plaza outside the palatial hall.

So this was the source of the life energies released by the pyramid. A very powerful nature-type spellcaster.

And behind the lady, was the source of the light Hao Ren saw, and it was actually a metal prism that was brimming with energy and the prism was embedded into the platform that she was standing on as countless of complex runes spun around and a low hum rang from the prism, echoing throughout the hall.

Vivian suddenly tapped Hao Ren by the shoulder and pointed towards the platform that the lady was standing on. “The blood scent is from there.”

Before Hao Ren said anything, Rheia nodded softly as she turned over to that direction with her eyes still closed to ‘look’ at the place. The image of the area immediately shuddered and in the Inbetween of reality and falsehood, a blurry silhouette of a body appeared there.

It was a human and was laying face down, giving no clues whether if he was dead or alive.

The soldiers heaved a sigh of relief. It was a human, and while his status was unclear, it was far better than an unknown monster.

Hao Ren frowned as he walked towards the unknown figure.

By the time he got close only did he realized that the fallen human was an armored warrior.

He had brown curly hair, and his skin slightly black while the armor he wore was different from most of the armor worn by the soldiery in the world. It was a black light plate, and seemed to be made out of many pieces of flexible metal and between the gaps of the armor were glowing light, and on his waist was not your usual knight’s sidearm, or one handed sword, rather it was a meter-long truncheon, and other than that there were no other weapons, as it seemed like that black truncheon was his own weapon.

Hao Ren and his team of course could not tell who the knight was, but Charlemagne immediately gasped, “This is… a Knight of the Broken Blade?!”

“This is a Broken Blade knight?” Hao Ren was surprised, “The one under Princess Constance?”

I have seen a Broken Blade knight before, when I was young,” Charlemagne nodded. “Their armor is very unique, I won’t be wrong.”

“What is a Broken Blade knight doing here… How did he get here without getting swallowed by the phantoms…” Hao Ren was shocked, and quickly checked the knight’s for any injuries. There was a massive pool of blood near him, and the knight’s armor was equally rent, and clearly he had escaped here after suffering heavy injuries. “He is still breathing! Quick, keep him alive!”

“Weird, his wounds are healed…” but Vivian’s noticed something was off, “I can only see damage on his armor, but the wounds on his body had already healed… and aside from the blood on the scene, I don’t see any signs of bleeding on his body…”

“Healed?” Hao Ren frowned, “And he is only out cold now?”

The MDT immediately flew off Hao Ren’s shoulder, “Let me have a look.”

As the MDT went over to check on the knight’s condition Hao Ren refocused his attention to the phantoms within the hall.

He saw silhouettes of the monsters by the gate, and the soldiers at the final defensive line had already been engaged in combat, as the unreal cacophony of explosions and slaughter came through the energy screen at the entrance as a doomsday-like aura enveloped the entire hall.

Yet the gigantic figures busying around the rectangular pillars were not affected by it, as they were unfazed in their duty to adjust each and every pillar, transferring all of its energies into the mysterious equipment behind the female figure.

Hao Ren saw a silver-armored soldier came before the platform and bowed before the lady, “Holy king! The final defense line is hard pressed.”

The magnificently dressed, and beautiful woman was clearly the holy king that the defenders were selling their dear lives for.

“I know” the lady known as the holy king nodded. “You may leave. Everything will come to pass.”

The soldier left as the ‘holy ling’ lifted the platinum staff high before slamming it down.

A loud ‘thud’ rang as the sound of the platinum staff impacting against the platform echoed across the hall, and the holy king’s voice followed, “The people of Haersonca, the final moment is here! We have nowhere to retreat, and we need not retreat any longer! The world’s continuity lies within this battle, and I shall be with all of you, for our descendants, for their future, and the future to come, and for eternity! Raise your weapons!”

A massive surge of life energy exploded out from her body, and this power was never seen before, as it was so overwhelming that it became a visible light green wave and crashed out of the hall like a violent storm, spreading all across the battlefield with the pyramid as its heart.

On the plaza of the pyramid, and the city beyond the plaza, even the scorched earth that had been consumed by the Black Forest, countless of dead soldiers who had yet to become one of the black pines rose up again…

Warriors that should have been deader than dead once again stepped onto the battlefield with this powerful life force, and as expected, unleashing such a powerful miracle was not without its cost.

The holy king started shuddering as the arm holding the staff exploded after not being to contain the powerful magics as fragments of flesh and cloth splattered onto the planet. Following that was her body as it started to come apart as countless of horrifying wounds started appearing on her body, as her mortal body could no longer withstand the pressure and were torn asunder, and within a few seconds, she was lifeless.

But she did not ‘die’.

The overwhelming and will-driven life form still swirled around the platinum staff, and the energy had turned into an uncontrollable storm, and the holy king within the eye of the storm too were caught within as her torn body were forcibly reformed and given life, before the law-defying life force once again tore her body apart, before reforming again… in a repeated cycle.

Finally, the holy king’s body was completely annihilated by the storm of life, and yet from her remains a plant life was quickly growing as it grew from a tiny sprout into a sky-scraping giant tree under Hao Ren’s shocked gaze, and soon covered after of the hall.

Finally the metal prism behind the holy king was charged to the maximum and a short hum later, a strong white light blasted out from it.

And all illusions stopped.

Rheia had not open her eyes, and yet everything in the hall disappeared, the glorious temple, the valiant soldiers, the mysterious ancient equipment, everything disappeared in the white light and in its place were a gloomy and silent ruins, and the wreckage among the ruins.

The only thing that did not change was the sky-scraping tree before Hao Ren. It grew in the middle of the ruins, and the roots had totally covered the raised platform while its canopy covered half of the palatial hall.

Between the canopies were greenish light gently flowing.

No one said anything before this marvelous scene, as final images of the phantom of the past shook everyone to the core, and being only a bystander while immersed in the entire thing amplified the shock many folds.

Hao Ren and his crew was doing fine, but Charlemagne, Awenna and their men had totally lost the ability to speak.

Lily blinked and blinked, before being the first to break the silence, pointing at the giant tree before her, “The life energies of the Black Forest…”

“You’re right,” Hao Ren too was looking at the giant tree, and even without any supernatural sensors, he could feel a powerful life force was emanating from the interior of the tree, and it was spreading to every corner of the Black Forest, “and she is still emanating life energies until now… We have arrived at the heart of the Black Forest, and this is the place of the wellspring of life and the temple of life is in the legends.”

“When did that happened?” Vivian asked the key question.

“Unable to determine,” With the illusion over, Rheia opened her eyes. As she looked at the ruins she shook her head, “After going through destruction and rebirth, the timeline had been severed, and many things no longer have any causality, so everything happened here is an illusion lost in time that cannot be determined to be true or false. Even if we believed that all these had happened before, we can no longer look for any clues.”

“But we can at least be sure, that all this happened before the formation of the Umbral Realm. As there were orbital bombardments, I am sure that that was the scene where the denizens of this planet fought against the Mad Lord…” Hao Ren said, rather assuredly.

“If that is the case, the level of this war is far too low,” Rheia shook her head, “Orbital and surface attacks done in tandem… it is a brutal fight under normal circumstances, but as a universe-ending apocalypse, it is not up to par.”

Vivian too joined in, “Perhaps this is just a small part of that apocalypse.”

Rheia had nothing to disprove that guess.

What they were discussing was clearly beyond your average L’Haronnean’s understanding, and while she heard everything, Awenna was totally confused, as she looked at Hao Ren and Rheia, she asked, “What… are you talking about.”

“The Basilica of the World Tree had recorded some legends,” Hao Ren answered casually, “I will tell you about these legends once things have calmed down, but now… let us check on the condition of that Broken Blade knight. MDT, any idea why is he unconscious?”