Chapter 319: A Hostage Situation

The moment Samael emerged in the skies above Dragonhold, every god felt it.

His presence crashed down on them, and the air itself seemed to grow heavy even for them who were divine beings.

The gods scattered throughout Dragonhold’s skies began disappearing one by one.

Within seconds, the skies above Dragonhold were empty save for Samael himself.

Adam’s power was protecting them, relocating every god away from the fallen angel’s proximity before he could strike.

Samael watched in silence as they all vanished.

His expression remained neutral for a moment, neither pleased nor frustrated by this development as if he had expected this to happen.

Then a grin crossed his lips.

“Affecting multiple gods at once,” he muttered to himself. “How long can you really keep this up, Adam?”

He knew it was only a matter of time before the strain became too much.

Samael stretched his hand forward, and another portal formed before him, ready to carry him elsewhere.

He resolved to keep hunting them down until Adam burned out. But just as Samael was about to step through the portal, he stopped.

His eyes narrowed and his head turned back toward Dragonhold below.

Something had caught his attention. It was faint. Almost unnoticeable, but it was there.

The presence of a dragon.

The portal behind him closed as Samael dismissed it, with his full focus now directed downward toward the source of what he’d just sensed.

He descended rapidly, dropping through the air until he hovered just above ground level in one of Dragonhold’s destroyed districts.

And there, standing frozen in terror before him, were two women.

Laela and Arianna.

“Oh?” Samael said with a grin spreading across his face. “Hello there.”

Both women stared up at him with eyes terror stricken expression on their faces.

Their bodies had gone rigid with fear and around them, the other members of Ravens Grave were in similar states of paralysis.

It felt as if blinking or even taking one single step could would spell their ends.

Bernard who couldn’t handle that pressure had even collapsed.

However, Samael paid them no attention whatsoever. His focus remained entirely on Laela and Arianna as he studied them both with interest.

“Uriel had this same presence when she began seeing that other dragon,” he said casually. “So I know when I sense the presence of the black dragon from you both.”

What Samael could pick out was the Dragon Bond between a dragon and their lover—or in Aiden’s case, lovers.

It made those bonded individuals carry a unique presence, one where you could sense the power of the dragon around them like an aura clinging to their very being.

The Longinus floated beside Samael as he stretched one hand forward toward both women.

A force seized them immediately.

Gravity pulled Laela and Arianna off their feet and dragged them through the air toward him.

Samael’s hand closed around both their necks the moment they reached him. He held them suspended in the air before him like dolls, with his fingers wrapped tightly enough to cut off most of their airflow but not enough to kill them outright.

This power he’d just used, this control over gravity, came from Umgadi’s absorbed fragments.

The Archon’s divine power had revolved around control of the cosmos and the fundamental forces of the universe.

Gravity being one of those fundamental forces.

Both women struggled against his hold, trying to pry his fingers loose, but Samael’s grip didn’t budge even a fraction.

He leaned in closer until his face was mere inches from theirs, with that devious grin still.

“Now tell me,” he began politely. “Where are those fucking creatures?”

——

——

Elsewhere, within a dense forest far from Dragonhold, some High Gods and Archons appeared in flashes of light.

At the center of them all was Adam.

The All-Father looked visibly strained, with sweat dripping down his face.

His Story Weaving power was currently accommodating every single god still alive across the world, passively relocating any of them who came within Samael’s proximity before the fallen angel could strike.

And it was draining him faster than almost anything else could have.

He also couldn’t undo the effect for even a brief moment to catch his breath. If he did that, if he allowed even a single second of lag between deactivating and reactivating the Story Weaving—Samael could strike during that gap and kill whoever happened to be nearest at that exact moment.

Va, one of the high gods who had been brought to this place, immediately moved toward Adam with concern

“Father,” Va said urgently. “The place your power pulled us from was Dragonhold. The fallen angel is there.”

His voice carried genuine worry because Aeris was still in that city.

Thera turned toward Adam as well and spoke firmly. “Father, we can’t let harm befall those people.”

Adam clicked his tongue in frustration.

“There’s only so much I can accommodate with my power, Thera,” Adam said. “I’m already at my limit with the people of Eden.”

Gaia stepped closer then, with her expression serious as she looked directly into Adam’s eyes.

“We were only able to wake you because of the Black Dragon, and the only people he truly cares about are in that kingdom. We owe him this.”

Adam looked at Gaia for a moment without responding.

Then he exhaled, nodded, and lifted his golden pen to the floating tome to write another line of event;

“All those the Black Dragon care about from the Kingdom of Dragonhold will be brought to this place.”

This Story Weaving wasn’t like the one he’d used to manipulate events surrounding the gods themselves.

That one carried with it a passive effect protecting the gods and required constant maintenance.

But this new story was different, a one-time effect meant only to grant temporary reprieve and escape for those Aiden cared about most deeply within Dragonhold.

It wouldn’t need ongoing maintenance once executed because it would simply happen once and be done with immediately.

Moreover, Adam knew Samael’s true targets were the gods, not the humans of Dragonhold. So even if the people Aiden cared about vanished from the kingdom, it would be of no real consequence to Samael.

The moment Adam finished writing those words, he felt another drain and his vision blurred for just an instant.

In Dragonhold, people began disappearing without warning.

One moment Katherine was sitting on the ground cradling Piers’ body. The next moment she vanished, along with everyone else around her.

But it wasn’t just Ravens Grave members who vanished.

The effect spread throughout the entire city, pulling away everyone in Dragonhold. Even people Aiden had never spoken to, but who lived in the kingdom he’d come to protect.

They counted among those the Story Weaving deemed worthy of saving.

The interpretation of “all those the Black Dragon cares about” had been broader than Adam intended.

Within seconds, the city became completely empty.

Within seconds, the city became completely empty, leaving only three people; Samael, Laela, and Arianna.

Still there, exactly where they had been.

—-

Back in the dense forest where Adam and several other gods stood, chaos erupted instantly.

Thousands upon thousands of people appeared all at once in complete disarray.

There were a few screams here and there as terrified citizens looked around wildly, trying to understand what had just happened to them.

Thera acted immediately.

She used her seismic sensing ability to search through everyone who’d just arrived, feeling for vibrations through the ground beneath their feet.

Her power allowed her to detect anyone whose legs touched the earth. She could pick them out individually, identify them and locate them precisely.

She searched for two specific people.

Laela and Arianna. The women Aiden was married to and the ones he cared about most.

But she couldn’t pick them out anywhere, immediately called out toward Adam.

“The women he is married to are not here!”

Adam sighed, realizing what this could probably mean.

“Samael must’ve gotten to them if neither of them are here,” he said. “My power can’t override his, not with the difference in our levels. If Samael is holding something back directly, there’s nothing I can do to affect it.”

Thera’s face went pale.

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