Chapter 171: The Legendary Horsemen I

The men underneath the rifts were every bit as perplexed by the sight of the giant fireball as the rest of the citizens.

While the powerless made their way into their homes, the knights took up arms, preparing for an inevitable collision.

They never expected the ball of fire to completely ignore them, and head directly for the portal to the elven realm.

It smashed into the rift, but it struck against a powerful barrier. Ripples of energy danced across the surface before disappearing harmlessly.

Looking closely, the men could see a figure wreathed in flame, striking the barrier with the fury of an enraged giant.

Wings of fire billowed from behind the warrior’s back, longer than two men stacked atop each other.

Just because he failed once to break through the barrier, that did not mean he was in any way ready to give up.

He continued to strike against the barrier, roaring bloody murder into the night as his fists slammed into the surface. The midnight hour became filled with the sound of booming thunder.

Despite all of the noise, the men below clearly heard the only sound that mattered.

*Crack!*

A hairline fracture spread along the barrier to Ilim. The guards below were finally spurred into action.

“Mages and archers open fire!”

“STAND DOWN!”

Jiaoying landed in the middle of the square, hard enough to crack the ground underneath her. As soon as she landed, she emitted a powerful pulse of aura.

She stood up in all of her glory and made every man nearby drop to the ground, their eyes rolling to the back of their heads.

She was no taller than she had been when she first woke up that morning, but the scale of her presence was enormous.

Jiaoying appeared as an engine of harm and horror. Her body was splendidly powerful, wrapped in flawless jade skin and powerful tattoos that were an inky black.

Her garments were frightening and beautiful.

A sleeveless deep red dress with a faded gold belt depicting a skull and chains. The pauldrons nestled on her shoulders depicted the snarling faces of lions. They were so ferocious, so lifelike, that with a glance one could almost hear them roaring.

Her cape billowed behind her majestically as she walked through the crowd of unconscious men. She didn’t even spare them a second look as she turned her head toward the sky.

“Bear… Are you-”

“I am not out of control.” Solomon replied through clenched teeth as he continued to punch. “Not yet anyway. But don’t ask me to calm down because I will-”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Let’s get our love back.”

Jiaoying hadn’t knocked out the men just because she could.

She had done it because she knew full well that there was a chance for her to cause a historic incident. The very last thing she wanted was for her emperor to have to deal with the fallout from everything that she was about to do.

Hoofbeats came from behind as Dakota galloped into view, her full armor already donned.

“The others are on their way back! I can feel it, they’re pushing their mounts as fast as they can run.”

Solomon unleashed a final, defiant yell as he punched through the barrier; shattering it like glass.

He looked back at his sister for one, final moment.

“They’ll have to catch up. And pray there’s still something left for them to do by the time I’m done.”

–

The landing pad in Ilim was as quiet as always. Not even the chirping of insects could be heard amidst the humid atmosphere.

It was almost time for the shift change when everything went to hell.

With no warning, a flaming meteor descended from the sky and struck the middle of the platform.

When the smoke cleared, Solomon stood in the midst of the platform.

He didn’t bother donning his mask or changing his appearance. He wanted everyone to see exactly who had come to bring judgment.

His armor appeared suddenly, along with the weapons that seemed to thirst for destruction just as much as their wielder.

Solomon clenched his fists, his voice a throaty growl.

“Where… is…”

Walls of arrows shot towards Solomon from every direction.

His weapons flew into action, but their jobs were limited.

Because the arrows could not pierce Solomon’s armor, his face was the only thing that needed protecting.

Greatly annoyed and aware that things could get more dangerous the longer he waited, Solomon went on a full assault.

He snatched his sword out of the air, then lunged toward the nearest barricade with an aura of flame suddenly billowing from his back.

With a single swing, Solomon cut in half the wood bastions that had stood for decades.

Flames lashed out from every swing of his blade, quickly turning the woodland home of the elves into the perfect kindling.

The arrival of Jiaoying and Dakota only added to the chaos.

As soon as they showed up, they didn’t bother asking questions. Rather, they attacked any area Solomon had left undamaged.

They didn’t need to speak and announce what they wanted. Solomon’s booming voice was more than loud enough.

“WHERE IS YARI?!”

For the first time in his life, Solomon did not feel like an immortal, a warrior, or some great conqueror.

He felt true fear. And that fear made him very small.

He was the immortal one. Yari wasn’t.

If she got hurt because he wasn’t there to protect her, then… he didn’t know how he would survive that. Not when he had only just found happiness after Rena.

Solomon’s fear turned him into an engine. He did not lose control as he would have in the past, and yet, he couldn’t exactly stop his body either.

If anything, he was hyperaware of every cut, every crush, and every second that went by.

Because none of those things brought him closer to Yari.

The slower that things seemed to go, the more he pushed his body.

It got to a point where he was operating at such a high level of physical exertion that his armor’s base appearance became limiting.

Sensing this, it temporarily changed into a new state to better fit its wearer.

Years later, this appearance would become his most infamous. It would help spark the legends of the four horsemen, and their leader, the Sun God.

The elves would know him as Fléau. The humans would call him Aporia. But there would be another group in the future. One that would see him as something far greater than a simple engine of destruction.

To this race, he would be Kshama. The one who brings mercy.

But today, there was only damnation.

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