Chapter 378: Goodbye

The little time Nymeria spent with Raj (Taranis) in the Forest of Gumiho, unknown to her, slowly shattered the defensive wall she had built around her heart.

The smile, the happiness, the relief that had died with Taranis fifteen years ago began blooming again in her heart. With every moment she spent with him, she wished to reveal his true identity and the responsibility he carried as the Prince of Hundred Sky Mountains.

But she had no choice but to remain silent. Taranis was weak. Too weak. If he were to regain his memory now, he would surely wage war against the Empire, but given his current power, he would not survive it.

Now that Nymeria’s illness had been cured, she wanted to train him herself, but after being absent from Hundred Sky Mountains for too long, Aurelion had already begun searching for her. She had no choice but to leave Taranis if she wanted to keep his identity safe.

The vision changed, and this time Taranis found himself inside the room of the inn, the same room where he had slept with Nymeria before she left.

Nymeria was crying, embracing Raj tightly while he gently patted her head. Once Raj fell asleep, Nymeria carefully parted from him, making sure he would not wake up.

She sat at the desk and began writing a letter. With each word, countless tears fell from her eyes. Her breath came in short, heavy gasps while she tightly covered her mouth with her other hand, making sure her voice would not wake Raj.

In the past few months, Nymeria had realized that Raj’s Tree of Divinity was barely alive. He had lost the talent to reach his previous strength at the same speed. Yet she desperately wanted him to grow stronger and arrive at Hundred Sky Mountains before she was wed to Ignis.

Although she knew it was almost impossible, she still gave Raj an unachievable condition to meet her.

Reach the Transcendent Realm within two years.

Achieving that condition would mean Raj (Taranis) had regained his talent and that he would be ready to take on his responsibilities.

After writing the letter, she placed it beside Raj, moved closer to his face, and whispered in a low tone, a smile on her face,

“I have missed you, Taranis.”

Leaning further, she softly pressed her lips against his and left the room.

“I’m sorry, Nymeria,” Taranis muttered, clenching his fists. The guilt of not recognizing her, the frustration of not being with her when she needed him most, and the sadness of seeing her suffer for all these years made him feel utterly helpless and pathetic.

His heart was being torn apart with every tear that left Nymeria’s eyes.

The vision shifted again, but this time instead of moving further ahead, Taranis was standing at the destroyed Sentinel Line.

Except for a small pillar, the entire Sentinel Line had crumbled and fallen to the ground.

In the sky, thunderous clouds roared in fury, while on the platform Taranis saw his own body, a dead body, lying on the floor. Beside him, Voltrex sat on his knees, his half opened eyes fixed on Aestra in front of him while a pool of blood continuously leaked from his abdomen.

Aestra was in no better condition. Her breathing came in heavy gasps. With one hand she tightly held her stomach. Tears fell from her eyes, which were fixed on the corpse of her son before her.

Nymeria walked toward the duo, her hair glowing with a bright white radiance while her Soulforce soared unnaturally high.

Her pupils transformed into slit lines, and several cracks appeared on her body as if she were breaking apart. With just her breath, the air particles froze and began falling to the ground in the form of snowflakes.

She sat beside Aestra and touched the wound on her abdomen with her hand. Highly concentrated Divine Soulforce entered Aestra’s wound, freezing it instantly. The ice did not stop there. Once her wound was sealed, the ice covered Aestra’s entire body, sealing her inside a pillar of ice.

A mouthful of blood spilled from Nymeria’s lips.

Knowing she did not have much time, she immediately turned to Voltrex and touched his abdomen as well. The Soulforce entered Voltrex’s wound, stopping the bleeding, but just as she was about to seal him too, a booming explosion occurred and the last pillar of the Sentinel Line fell.

Along with the platform, Nymeria and Taranis’s entire family fell from a height of thousands of meters.

Dust and debris flew everywhere as the pillar crumbled to the ground.

“Find them and make sure all of them are dead,” Kharos, the emperor, said. The sword in his hand flickered with lingering bright light after he used it to bring down the pillar.

The other knights of the empire quickly began removing the fallen debris to find the corpses of Voltrex and the others.

“Found them—” one of them shouted, but before he could complete his sentence, his entire body was instantly frozen.

Kharos, Hector, Adam, and the remaining knights turned their focus toward their frozen comrade as they immediately took fighting stances.

Nymeria stood before them, covered in blood from head to toe. Her eyes had already returned to normal after using the last ounce of Soulforce to freeze the knight. Her breathing was heavy and she seemed barely conscious.

Some of the knights rushed toward Nymeria to subdue her while others turned their focus to the three bodies lying behind her.

It did not take long for the Eternal Sage knights to subdue Nymeria, who was barely alive and only as strong as an Awakened Sage.

“Your Majesty, the boy is dead,” one of the knights announced after checking Taranis’s heartbeat. “B-but Voltrex is still alive.”

The knight unsheathed his sword and just as he was about to pierce Voltrex’s heart—

“Stop,” Kharos ordered. “I destroyed his dantian when I stabbed him. There is no need to kill him. Apprehend him.”

“B-but Your Majesty, he is too dangerous to keep alive,” Rhaegar said, who had barely survived the Heaven’s Wrath after killing Taranis. He skidded his foot as he moved toward Kharos.

“We can use him to avoid war with the Hundred Sky Mountains,” Kharos revealed. “Before this, I was confident of securing a victory against the Hundred Sky Mountains since they would no longer have the Thunderbanes to protect them.”

He clenched his fist as he continued, glaring at Taranis’s corpse.

“We have lost too many warriors because of that brat.”

“So you intend to keep him as a prisoner to blackmail the Hundred Sky Mountains?” Rhaegar completed his words.

Kharos nodded as he turned toward Nymeria, who was being forced to her knees by the other knights. The heavens had begun roaring again as Nymeria was brought to the brink of death. Cold, bone chilling storms surrounded the atmosphere, daring the empire to kill one more child of the heavens.

“Father, if we also kill her, the heavens might forsake the empire completely,” Hector said, his voice laced with worry.

Kharos also seemed hesitant to kill her, but if they allowed her to live, she might become a problem in the future.

“I have a better plan, Father,” Adam said, stepping forward with a smirk on his face. “Ignis provided us with the information about Taranis, Voltrex, and Stormir because he wanted to marry this woman. Look at her closely. She no longer possesses Divine Soulforce. She must have destroyed her Tree of Divinity for temporary strength. She will not live long. Why not fulfill Ignis’s wish so he will not trouble us in the future?”

Adam moved closer to Nymeria and said, “Take the Soul Oath that you will never reveal anything that happened here and marry Ignis El Flamebane.”

“Hah! Do you think I will be intimidated by someone like you?” Nymeria shouted, fury burning in her eyes. “I will kill myself before I ever serve you.”

“Is that so?” Adam muttered with a playful smirk as he unsheathed his sword.

Nymeria closed her eyes as he raised the sword high into the air.

Stab!

“What the hell are you doing!?” Nymeria snapped as Adam pierced the sword through Voltrex’s shoulder.

“If you do not agree to take the Soul Oath, I will kill him as painfully as possible. We are taking a huge risk by keeping him alive. Do you not think you need to give us some kind of reason not to kill him?”

“You wretched demons!” Nymeria screamed. “How could you be so cruel to the person who protected your lands for the past thirty years!?”

Instead of replying, Adam stabbed Voltrex again, this time closer to his heart.

“Next time, I will stab his heart,” he muttered with a smirk.

Just as he was about to drive the blade down again—

“Wait! I will take the Soul Oath!” Nymeria replied, clenching her fists.

“Hah! You should have agreed sooner,” Adam scoffed as he sheathed his sword.

“But I have a condition,” Nymeria said. “I will agree to take the Soul Oath if you let me bring Taranis’s and the Queen’s bodies back.”

“You are forgetting something, little bitch,” Adam muttered as he grabbed Nymeria tightly by the cheeks. “Beggars are not the choosers.”

“If you will not agree, I will kill myself right here,” Nymeria replied, placing her tongue between her teeth.

Adam stared at Nymeria silently for a few seconds before replying with a sigh, “Alright. Since I am the benevolent prince of the Azure Sun Empire, I will agree, but…”

He continued, the corner of his lips rising, “you can only take either Taranis’s or Aestra’s body back. Choose.”

It was already a miracle that they had agreed to let her take at least one body back. It broke Nymeria’s heart, but she had to make the decision. The obvious choice was Aestra, who, unknown to the empire’s people, was still alive, but the thought of abandoning Taranis was breaking her heart.

After thinking for a few seconds, she hardened her heart and made the decision.

“Alright.”

“Now then, if anyone asks you how the Thunderbanes died, you will say they were killed by demons. You will also take the Soul Oath that you will marry Ignis El Flamebane and never reveal in any form what happened here.”

Nymeria placed her hand on her chest and took the Soul Oath.

Taranis, who was witnessing the entire treachery unfolding before him, trembled as the premonition of what seeing these memories would cost him surfaced in his mind.

“N-no… This can’t be happening!” Taranis mumbled, his hand moving to his mouth, his eyes widening in horror.

Suddenly, the vision distorted again and he returned to reality.

“N-Nymeria, those memories, why—”

Nymeria slowly moved her forehead away from Taranis’s and placed her finger on his lips.

Her face carried a bright smile, and a tear rolled down the corner of her eye.

Along with the tear, blood flowed from her eyes, nose, and mouth as she whispered in a barely audible voice,

“Goodbye, Taranis.”

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