Chapter 271: Before The Flood Of Night (9)

"It’s settled then," Izanami said calmly after outlining the two possible routes the Accord could take, though no immediate conclusion was reached.

In fact, four whole months slipped by as they painstakingly weighed the pros and cons of their options.

Ultimately, their choice to go all out in an assault on the Orin Star System carried far more drawbacks than advantages, and could even be seen as straying from their original goals.

Still, they had invested too much time and suffered too many losses to walk away empty-handed.

As they left the Realm of Yomi to ready themselves for a massive assault, they were quietly wagering that, if they pulled it off, the rewards would be nothing short of monumental.

Meanwhile, the time spent in discussion allowed a select group of individuals to finally reach their targets simultaneously.

---

"Hmm?" Melvin’s brow rose as his Dreamer’s Rift descended through the upper atmosphere of the world of Loreua.

"Who else was supposed to be coming here?"

Before him, across the skies, hung two other Dreamer’s Rift starships, distinct from his own in marking and line, yet unmistakably of the same origin.

All three vessels came to a halt high above the supercontinent of Loreua.

When their occupants stepped into open air, the skies filled with a small cluster of figures against the thin cold of the upper winds.

Liliana was the first to step from her ship, disguised as the Red Lady, her gaze scanning the skies with the same intent as Melvin’s.

Melvin arrived through his own rift, clad in white robes and the stillness of winter, black hair stirring in the high winds, white swords steady within his dark eyes.

From the third ship emerged General Salvatore, pale, with short black hair and dark red robes, flanked by a female vampire and two male companions.

The moment Liliana spotted the two men, a smile spread across her face.

"Hmm, I guess Luna was right," she said, making her way straight toward her father. Luna had mentioned earlier that she would arrive in this world at the same time as her father and his companions.

Still, seeing Melvin was quite a surprise—after all, she had never actually met him before.

Even so, it wasn’t difficult to put the pieces together from the obvious clues.

On top of that, she’d heard plenty about Melvin from Amber—how he was the first disciple of Akasha and all the stories that came with that name.

In that moment, Salvatore’s eyes widened as he stood with his three companions.

He never imagined Liliana would appear here, especially after giving her a badge that could summon her to him—a badge that had clearly gone unused.

Even so, the events of the past year still weighed heavily on him, making it hard to pull himself out of the haze, especially with the many mysteries of the Dreamer’s Rift, a starship he still couldn’t quite understand how he’d ended up in.

As Liliana approached, his shock lingered, but he instinctively opened his arms, ready to greet her with a hug.

"Lil—"

HUMMMMMM!!!!!!

The rest of her name never left him.

In that instant, divinity burst from his body in a powerful upward rush—pressing against the skin of everyone nearby as if the air itself had shifted in altitude.

A deep, blood-red radiance exploded outward, so dense it seemed to soak into the very sky, casting sharp crimson glints over Melvin’s pristine white robes, Liliana’s bloody coat and hat, and the wide-eyed, stunned expressions of their three companions.

The light didn’t scatter; instead, it curled inward, layer upon layer, wrapping itself into a cocoon.

In just a few heartbeats, the General vanished from view, encased within a blood-red cocoon suspended in the sky, humming with a steady, low vibration.

Its surface was sleek and unmoving, yet streaked with slower pulses of deeper crimson, like veins carrying some mysterious change, as though whatever was inside was being transformed one heartbeat at a time.

His three companions recoiled a step in open shock.

"What... why’s he evolving now? w the female vampire asked, her eyes widening at the sight of the cocoon.

"Did he rank up?" one of the men asked, shaking his head firmly.

"No, there’s no way he just broke past Cosmic Union right there in the middle of the sky."

Liliana eased her pace, one eyebrow lifting as the crimson shell greedily swallowed the light surrounding her father.

She was still piecing together the timing when Melvin drifted forward, his eyes locked on the cocoon with icy familiarity.

"Well, this has Master’s name written all over it," he said flatly.

"Akasha?" Liliana asked, her eyes narrowing as she studied him fully for the first time.

"That’s your master, isn’t it?"Understanding settled over her expression, clear and certain.

"And... You’re Melvin, right?"

"Um... Akasha?" Melvin asked, raising a brow.

The name felt strange in his mouth... almost foreign even.

Liliana shook her head slowly, a softer smile curling her lips.

"The mysterious.... Lord Dream."

Her gaze drifted back to the blood-red cocoon, still trembling high above in the air.

’When did Father even meet him?’

The thought nudged at her mind as she pieced together the strange timing of it all—how her arrival seemed to align so perfectly with Luna’s cryptic words and this sudden, inexplicable evolution.

Everything, just as Melvin had said, had come straight from Akasha—but the questions of when and why clung stubbornly to her thoughts.

Then another possibility bloomed in her mind, tentative yet dangerous.

’Wait... Did he do this for me?’

The notion settled in her chest, equal parts hope and possessive claim, and she made no move to push it away.

The female vampire looked toward Liliana, one brow raised, patience already thinning in the cold upper wind.

"Hey... Lily, how long is this going to take? From the way you two are talking, it sounds like you already know what’s happening."

Her words snapped Liliana out of her thoughts, but before she could respond, the cocoon split open.

HUMMMMM!!!!

The blood-red shell peeled outward in wet sheets of light and divinity.

In that moment, General Salvatore descended from the cocoon... completely changed.

His hair had gone pure white with red ends, pale skin marked by red tattoos along the line of his neck, and when his eyes opened, they were pure white, holding small red dots at their centers.

"What... what is this?"

For a long moment, he lingered in stunned amazement, his gaze drifting inward as much as outward, taking in the redesigned framework of his own being—the enhancements, the elevated status of his star, the fresh lineage, and everything that came with it.