MCDWTBS Chapter 81

Chapter 81 Who could have imagined that it was built in Sky City…

Sky City floated above Capital Star, resembling a giant airborne island. A pair of pure gold bird wings surrounded the island, protecting the magnificent city in the very center.

This wasn’t Serra’s first visit to Sky City, yet he was still awed by its grandeur. As a human, he couldn’t help but wonder how this city floating in mid-air managed to defy gravity and how it was constructed. These questions fluttered in his mind, causing him to furrow his brows.

He didn’t feel well, a mysterious and inexplicable nausea crawled up from his abdomen, blocking his throat. Sky City’s resplendent architecture seared his eyes; everything was pure and immense, like an epic poem praising the Chong civilization.

Serra shook his head, trying to shake off the discomfort. If he felt completely at ease right now, he should be questioning his mental health, considering he had just signed an order to initiate a war.

He knew that near the distant Heavenly Palace Star, rebel armies were raiding the Heavenly Palace Star’s affiliated planets, aiming to destroy the Holy Legion formed by the church.

This would be the first battle in the revolution of the Female Chong and Sub-male Chong.

Serra clenched his teeth, swallowing the metallic taste in his throat. He lowered his hand, his slender fingers in white gloves picked up the cane representing Duke Noah’s authority, and slowly stepped out of the airship.

The location of the Highborn Court was at the highest point of Capital Star, a grand structure resembling a Gothic cathedral on Earth. The entire building was forged from extremely rare pure white stardust. This pure white stardust was the high-purity energy stone left behind after a few meteorites burned up. In the interstellar market, even a piece the size of a fingernail was worth a fortune, but the Golden Feather Royal Family had the ability to build a massive structure with it.

Serra held the cane in his right hand, his left hand behind his back, and slowly entered the meeting hall. He wasn’t early; the other invited male Chong nobles were already seated, surrounding a large round table, conversing in small groups.

As Serra walked in, he first looked up at the hazy dome. A light that felt extremely familiar enveloped the entire building, its flowing, flame-like radiance selflessly showering every male Chong present.

Serra’s cold fingers suddenly warmed up; he frowned, unsure where this strange familiarity came from. Most of the other nobles around the round table stopped their bustling conversations and focused their attention on Serra as he walked towards the table.

Silent scrutiny and prejudiced gazes were nothing new to Serra; he took a seat at the round table, too lazy to acknowledge any of the noble male insects. He knew that the real mastermind was Colean, and most of these noble male insects were not to be feared.

So, whether the noble male insects were whispering to each other not far from him or subtly mocking him, he didn’t care, simply placing the cane horizontally on the round table, waiting for the truly important protagonist to appear.

The empty seats at the round table were gradually filled by noble male insects, and the warm light enveloping Serra became more and more pronounced. His constitution as a male insect couldn’t compare to that of the Female Chong and Sub-male Chong; his physical strength wasn’t much different from that of carbon-based humans. These days, not being by Edwin’s side and bearing the enormous mental pressure of guiding the revolutionary army, Serra had not only lost a lot of weight due to irregular meals but also often felt cold and had stomach pains.

But miraculously, after sitting by the round table for a while, bathed in the light falling from the transparent dome, he felt unusually warm, but this comfortable feeling only made his brows furrow even more.

A young noble male Chong near him was praising the greatness of the Golden Feather, saying that only the royal family had such wealth and confidence, and only the royal family were the true darlings of the Mother Goddess! The young male insect was animated, and Serra’s gaze slowly fell on his young face. He could tell at a glance that this young male insect hadn’t officially inherited his father’s title; he was probably the most talented descendant of a high-ranking family.

Receiving the young male insect’s wary gaze, Serra shifted his gaze. His gaze swept across all the male insects at the round table for the first time, and he discovered that most of them hadn’t officially inherited their titles. Whether they were older or younger, already had a title or were just heirs, their talents were all exceptional among the current male insects of the empire.

Suddenly, Serra stood up from the round table, he looked up at the dome, a dazzling light stinging his eyes. His mental tendrils spread out from the void, appearing around him in a posture of defense and protection, making the male insects present very dissatisfied, thinking that Serra was just showing off his power, threatening them.

Serra didn’t give them another glance, he loudly asked:

“Where is Colean? Why isn’t he here yet?”

Not a single male insect answered him; most were silent in fear, a few buzzed and whispered to each other, obviously knowing nothing about it. Serra picked up the cane, about to leave the round table, but saw the Female Chong Prince Ilote push open the door and walk in with a formulaic smile.

“Duke Noah, please take your seat. His Royal Highness will be here soon, the meeting will officially begin after half past noon.”

The moment he stepped into the hall, Serra saw flames streaking across the ground in his peripheral vision. His heart raced, and before he could do anything more, he could only stand by the round table and shout at Ilote:

“Don’t come over! Step back!”

Saying that, he suddenly shot out a black tendril, sweeping Ilote, who had just stepped into the hall, out! Ilote obviously hadn’t expected such an attack to come from Serra; his crimson eyes widened, his delicate face still carrying a hint of surprise, his body already flying out of the door. At the same time, the clock hanging high on the round table pointed its hands to half past noon, and a faint sound like a match being struck fell into the ears of every male insect around the round table. Although it was very faint, it made their souls tremble inexplicably.

–Too late.

The thought flashed through Serra’s mind. Sure enough, the next moment, scarlet flames soared into the sky, forming a burning wall of fire, enveloping Serra and all the other male insects in the center.

The tendril that Serra had swung out to push away Ilote was cut off halfway, the remaining half covered in dazzling flames, writhing and making a silent hiss, like burning vines, falling to the ground and trembling. The soul-burning pain didn’t make Serra frown; he summoned more mental tendrils without expression, but his power was restricted by the wall of fire. His mental tendrils couldn’t pour out like a waterfall into the increasingly hot air; only a few tendrils surrounded him.

The other male insects around the round table were far less calm than Serra; most of them were screaming in panic from the sudden change, their skin burned by the suddenly hot air. The heatwaves in the air rippled like water, making everything within sight seem illusory.

The terrified and painful screams of the male insects came from his ears. Serra closed his eyes, feeling that the light that had made them feel warm was now turning into real flames, burning their bodies as soon as it touched their skin. They also released their mental tendrils, but those colorful and weak tendrils were ignited like matches as soon as they touched the floating flames. Accompanied by painful howls, those tendrils turned into subtle energy, suspended and rising in the air, gradually merging into the blurred sky.

At this point, what didn’t Serra understand? He had underestimated Colean, no, it should be said that they had all underestimated the royal family.

Who would have thought that the shrine built above Sky City was actually a graveyard? And Colean was gathering the noble male insects not to discuss the so-called plan to deal with the church. He was doing it for a sacrifice, treating these noble male insects as lambs to be sacrificed to an unspeakable power.

Serra frowned and gathered his tendrils, letting those black mental tendrils form a huge cocoon, protecting his fragile male insect body. His mental tendrils were much stronger than those of other male insects. Even if they were stained with fluff-like flames, they wouldn’t be exhausted like matches immediately. Those poisonous vine-like mental tendrils would also extinguish the flames on each other, hissing in pain and anger, like murmurs from the abyss.

After a few breaths, the screams of the male insects gradually disappeared. Serra didn’t need to look up to guess what had happened. He felt the power evaporating from those bodies that had turned to ashes flowing upwards like dew against the current, drifting towards a brilliant dome. He was shrouded in his own black mental tendrils, looking up at his surroundings.

The magnificent building flickered in the firelight of the flames. The door of the conference hall had already turned to ashes under the tearing force, revealing Colean’s face, high above under the guards, and Ilote’s astonished and panicked face beside him, slumped on the ground with blood at the corners of his lips.

Ilote’s crimson eyes were filled with horror, and an unsuppressed sense of guilt. He remained slumped on the ground, his usually elegant and calm demeanor gone, his eyes full of unconcealable panic.

He and Serra stared at each other in silence for a moment, without any need for words or explanations. Serra understood that today’s so-called meeting was a sacrificial ritual arranged by Colean. As for who he wanted to sacrifice these most talented male insects of the empire to, and what purpose he wanted to achieve, Serra didn’t know yet.

But what he did know was that when he himself discovered that Colean hadn’t arrived on time, and that the so-called meeting atmosphere was wrong, he wanted to leave, but Colean sent the unknowing Ilote into the venue, leaving Serra briefly in place.

And it was just this difference of seconds that made Serra lose the possibility of leaving. The only thing he could do was to throw Ilote to a safe place a second before everything happened, and that was the only reason Ilote survived.

Serra didn’t know what to think. He had thought that even if Colean was ruthless and unscrupulous, he wouldn’t send the noble male insects—his biggest backer and trump card as a royal family—to the sacrificial altar, let alone sacrifice his closest Female Chong brother to drag down Serra’s actions—which was why Serra was distracted the moment Ilote appeared, wanting to leave.

He didn’t expect Colean to be so ruthless, even sacrificing Ilote without caring.

He was hopeless. Only now did Serra realize that he had once again underestimated the baseness of human nature. There was no room for saving a life like Colean’s.

Ilote was also still immersed in the horror of the near-death experience. His eyes were fixed on Serra, his crimson eyes reflecting Serra’s burning black tendrils, his whole body trembling uncontrollably. Colean, who was also looking at Serra beside him, frowned slightly, seemingly not understanding why Serra hadn’t turned to ashes with the other male insects, jealousy and disgust nakedly displayed in his eyes.

He rarely minded Ilote’s inappropriate and unruly reaction. Instead, with some false pity and demeanor, he took off the expensive crimson cloak on his body and personally bent down to drape it over Ilote’s shoulders. Ilote trembled violently, his limbs twitching uncontrollably under Colean’s embrace. He almost crawled towards the direction of the hall on his hands and feet, wanting to find a way to deal with the wall of fire that was trapping Serra—

–He knew who had saved him just now, he knew that if it weren’t for Serra, he would only be a pile of ashes dissipated in the air at this moment.

But after crawling out two steps, the back of his neck was grabbed by Colean, whose face was twisted. Colean bent down, like a good brother who understood his brother, gently embracing Ilote into his arms. His movements were so gentle and inclusive, but his crimson tendrils were firmly tied to Ilote’s neck and wrists. His hands gently caressed Ilote’s back, his half-lowered gaze reproachful yet silent, like a father who was helpless and indulgent towards a naughty child.

If it weren’t for the fact that Ilote in his arms was struggling hysterically like a dehydrated fish, this scene would have looked too beautiful.

The blood on Ilote’s lips was like a flourishing stream, staining his chin and white front, his eyes filled with guilt and pain staring fixedly in Serra’s direction, his trembling lips opening and closing, but unable to say anything under the restraint of his neck. Serra couldn’t help but worry if he had seriously injured him when he threw him out just now, but now he could only feel guilty in secret for a moment, after all, he could only be secretly worried at this point since he had no power to act.

The mental tendrils around him were twisting and screaming as they burned, the protective circle around him was getting smaller and smaller, and the heat of the flames almost burned his respiratory tract. Serra met Colean’s contemptuous and wary gaze after the heatwave, and still had the leisure to raise the corners of his lips. He looked at Colean’s solid mental tendrils, and the speculation in his heart gradually became reality.

The beneficiaries behind Colean’s sacrificial action weren’t just him. The worst-case scenario was that the royal family and the church had cooperated. The energy of these noble male insects who had turned to ashes, as well as the energy that Colean coveted, Serra’s own energy, was flowing towards the dome.

Serra simply sat cross-legged under the protection of the remaining mental tendrils. He raised his head to face the dome, but didn’t try to look with his eyes again. He closed his eyes tightly, and his mental power surged towards the unreachable dome like a tide. He tried once, twice, until—

—He saw it. Above the dome, pure white stardust was carved into the shape of a hexagram, with countless bizarre runes arranged within, like a giant array.

Serra opened his eyes, his caramel-colored eyes suddenly turned flame-like crimson, and the snake-shaped arm ring on his left arm suddenly flicked its tail, emitting a dazzling and blinding red light.