468: Chapter 8 Under the Moon 468: Chapter 8 Under the Moon Three years ago, in the skies above Alandia.
Someone burrowed through the earth with all their might, utilizing their one prideful superpower in the shameful act of fleeing.
Their liver and guts were torn asunder, their soul shattered.
The enemy pursuing them was beyond anything they could have imagined.
It was too absurd.
No matter what, they couldn’t strike it, couldn’t harm it—all the powerful seniors had fallen one by one.
Beneath that human guise hid a true monster.
Its ruthless manner of combat was akin to the fiends of myth.
“Huff…
huff…
haah!”
Someone emerged from the ground, gasping for air.
The moon hidden by clouds, the metallic earrings they had bought in the afternoon jingled, jolting them from their fear.
Had they escaped?
They must have.
It was so late, the cover of night should have enabled their departure.
Even a monster shouldn’t be able to pursue them this far…
They gradually adjusted to the dark environment.
Then, involuntarily, their eyes widened.
Their pupils constricted with intense tension, emitting a croaking noise.
For what they saw before them, for that figure standing with its back to them.
“How can this be.”
A weak, powerless voice of disbelief.
“Why—!”
The person turned around.
That face was unquestionably the one they had seen not so long before—
An instant later, the world turned topsy-turvy.
Everything in sight was dominated by bright red.
·
The unbearable heat, the suffocating stuffiness, and the hot air made the atmosphere appear strangely distorted.
The cicadas outside the window called feebly, expending their energy at the end of summer, turning their dwindling life into noise under the scorching sun.
The air conditioner in the house shook, making an ominous noise.
The green light signaling its operation went out, and the cool air gradually faded.
In less than five minutes, the room was as stifling as if it were under the midday sun, with no trace of coolness.
The sunlight filtering through spaces in the leaves fell upon the face of the boy.
“…”
He did not speak, lying in the hot room, his clothes soaked with sweat, allowing the light to scorch his retinas.
Merely with hollow eyes, he stared at the ceiling, like a corpse already devoid of life.
Buzz, buzz.
The cell phone next to the pillow started to vibrate.
Gongsun Ce didn’t move.
He still lay in bed.
Buzz, buzz.
The unanswered call continued, the vibration persistent, stubborn like the caller’s personality.
Gongsun Ce remained as if unconscious.
Finally, the phone stopped vibrating as the caller gave up.
The youth with gray hair still gazed at the ceiling, his eyes devoid of any spark of life.
Those eyes watched the not-so-distant past, looking at the city that lay in ruins afar.
Close his eyes and he would fall into a dream.
Dream of the seven bell towers and the Evil Dragon, the Black Sword that severs all.
Open his eyes, and he would fall into memories.
Seeing the crystals that flooded the city, the people in sorrow and pain.
He wasn’t deliberately ignoring the call; he simply didn’t hear it, couldn’t grasp the reality in front of him.
Where was he?
In the skies above Alandia?
Or was he still shrouded in the mists of Supibia, within that disaster…
Right, he must still be in Supibia.
Gongsun Ce thought vaguely.
It made no sense.
He shouldn’t have come back.
So many had died while he lived on—such a thing shouldn’t happen.
He must already be dead.
The dream-like confusion he currently felt was the brief yet prolonged illusion before death…
“—Ah Ce!”
A familiar voice exploded in his ear like a clap of thunder.
Gongsun Ce’s body jolted, and at once, the dream-like haze dispersed, the shout pulling his vision into clarity, back into reality.
“Ah.” His words were sluggish, “I’m here.”
He fumbled around with his hand, finally grasping the phone.
His brother’s face appeared on the screen.
That beautiful hair had all turned black, looking very strange.
“What’s the matter, big brother?”
“What’s the matter?
I’ve been calling and you didn’t answer, forcing me to almost hack my way there, what are you playing at?!”
He had called?
He hadn’t heard it.
Now that he thought about it, the room was very hot.
“Sorry.
I didn’t hear it.”
His voice was particularly hoarse as he spoke.
His throat felt dry as if scorched.
It seemed like he hadn’t spoken for a long time.
When was the last time he spoke?
He couldn’t remember.
“I’m fine, big brother.
You don’t need to worry.”
The young man with long hair on the screen sighed tiredly.
“Ah Ce, it’s been over a week since you got back.”
“Ah.”
“Have you been staying home all this time?”
“Ah.”
He responded unconsciously.
Probably, right.
It feels like it’s been a long time since he opened the door.
“Go out,” his brother said sternly, “get a haircut, have a meal, do anything, even get into a fight, but don’t continue to stay at home, like you’re dead!”
“Okay.” He nodded.
But he didn’t move from the bed.
Mo Yuankai rubbed his forehead, as if he wanted to roar, but then he moderated his voice, merely sighing again.
“Would the Dawn Knight want to see you like this?”
“…”
Gongsun Ce blinked and fell silent.
Just as Mo Yuankai was about to speak again, he heard a voice.
“Alandia…
would ruthlessly reprimand me using her usual methods,” he said.
—Refusing to face life, denying the problems around us, we call such emotions cowardice.
Her voice echoed in his ear.
Had she said this before?
It didn’t seem so, but imitating her was easy.
She always thought clearly.
Praising the good, despising the evil; acknowledging the true, rejecting the false.