Elven Lies II Chapter 165: The Unfinished Business

Chapter 165

The Unfinished Business

The air loosened.

Slowly.

Like something suffocating—

had finally stepped away.

No one spoke. Not after what had just left—

nor what remained.

The ruins stood.

Broken.

Quiet.

Watching.

“Move.”

Not loud.

Not harsh.

Final.

Hans’s gaze found her.

“Take them.”

A glance toward the scattered survivors.

“The infected.”

Then—

“Your father.”

Chris didn’t wait.

He was already moving.

Zilong leaned into Chris’s support.

Slower than before.

Weaker.

Hans looked once—

then away.

“I hope you understand.”

He whispered.

And Zilong.

He just nodded.

Giving in to Chris’s support.

Delimira doubted.

“He said you are Parvian—”

“He can think whatever he wants—”

A pause.

“But you need to hurry—Wear the imperial robes.”

“It will silence lesser men.”

Then—

“Or threaten them.”

“You’ve learned how.”

She didn’t thank him.

He didn’t expect her to.

“I thought… my mother hired you.”

“You’re being paid.”

A pause.

“That’s enough.”

She held his gaze.

Something didn’t fit.

But this wasn’t the moment.

“Farewell, Lady Winters.”

“You’re not coming?”

“No.”

His gaze shifted past her.

Toward what remained.

“I have unfinished business.”

They felt it—

before they saw it.

Movement. Not scattered.

Measured.

The Eclipse.

They closed.

Fourteen. Each one enough to end a battlefield.

Behind them— their troops moved with purpose.

A path opened and everyone left.

Except Hans.

He waited.

Till everyone was off.

“Now, gentleman.”

He turned.

“I believe your aim is my neck now?”

“You know too much—almost everything I wish to know.” Xandor stepped through.

Whole Eclipse watching.

All fourteen squads.

Surrounding him.

They could see it.

Hans broken.

The strain.

The cost.

Yet there was hesitation.

Hans read them.

Exhaled hard.

“I’ve said this before. If I have the ability to enter the den with the beasts. Then I have the capability of slaying it too.”

He pointed above.

“Enjoy the show.”

Not a spell.

Not a meteor.

Something else.

Resurfaced.

“What’s that?” A captain asked.

None answered.

Only staring above.

Before it was overshadowed by Solunox.

Hiding behind its massive size.

Now it was clear.

It wasn’t falling.

It hung there— wrong.

A massive bloom in the sky.

Gold.

Blinding.

And at its centre—

something black.

The petals trembled.

Not in the wind.

In strain.

“…we are the target,” someone whispered.

The black core pulsed.

Once.

Then again.

And from within—

something began to grow.

Thin at first.

Then sharper.

Steel.

Hundreds of them.

Pointing down.

The air thickened.

The ground beneath them—

felt… targeted.

Even the captains—

stopped moving.

Except Xandor.

His eyes never left Theodred.

Hans said nothing.

Xandor continued.

“You’re not him.”

A step forward.

“And that…”

He pointed upward.

“is not his work.”

“Questioning me doesn’t change the outcome. Lord Commander.”

Something in Xandor stilled.

“Parvians sent their greetings.”

—Skyfall—

The shields were down.

The fall of Anfaleen made sure that.

Hans didn’t look up.

He didn’t need to.

He had already seen this outcome.

The petals snapped.

Not outward—

Inward.

The entire construct—

collapsed into its own core.

For a fraction of a second—

it vanished.

Then—

the sky screamed.

It came down.

Not as one.

But as a storm.

Light.

Heat.

And steel.

The first spike struck.

No explosion.

Just penetration.

Then the second.

Then the third.

And then—

the sky broke.

Steel rained.

Not scattered.

Directed.

Each impact—

found flesh.

Cutting armour.

Like paper.

Someone ran.

Too late.

Someone raised a barrier.

It shattered before forming.

Someone screamed—

it didn’t finish.

Then—

one of them detonated.

Not loudly.

Not at first.

A pulse.

Then—

everything around it vanished.

The next followed.

And the next.

Each spike—

a delayed death.

Explosions bloomed across the battlefield.

Out of rhythm.

Unpredictable.

Unavoidable.

“Scatter—!”

Too late.

“Barrier—!”

It shattered mid-formation.

“Retre—”

Gone.

Above—

the construct trembled.

Its petals—

collapsing inward.

The black core—

swelling.

Unstable.

Someone looked up.

And understood.

“…run.”

It didn’t descend.

It dropped.

Like something—

that had lost the right to stay in the sky.

The air bent around it.

Light distorted.

Sound disappeared.

For a moment—

nothing happened.

Then—

the world folded.

Not shattered.

Not torn apart.

Folded inward.

And then—

everything was pushed back.

Stone.

Flesh.

Fire.

Sound.

All of it—

thrown away from a single point.

When it ended—

nothing stood where it had.

Only absence.

Hans unearthed.

Far from the Node.

High enough—

to see what remained.

There was nothing left to watch.

His gaze lingered—

not on the destruction,

but on what survived it.

A pause.

Then—

he turned away.

His blessing of the wind.

Now in control.

It lifted him.

Carried and sent him toward the Concordia Node.

Not as Theodred.

As Hans.

But the battlefield did not remain empty for long.

The Nodes.

The reinforcement.

They arrived expecting a battle.

They found none.

What remained of the Council Node—

was not a ruin.

It was absence.

Only one thing stood.

The Node Stone.

In a crater.

The pulsing heat spreading miles.

“Where is the Node Master?”

“Anfaleen should be here—”

“He was holding them back—”

“Damned Eclipse.”

The outer shield was working.

“This means node master is alive.”

“Its a relief then.”

“We need his permission to enter.”

But when the dust settled.

After few hours.

They could clearly see past it.

Nothing obstructed them.

There was no stone building.

No castle remains.

Just in the line of sight.

They found the Node Stone.

Still standing.

And before it—

someone else.

Xandor.

Not standing.

Anchored.

The light of the Node—

didn’t reject him.

It held him.

Threads of energy—

binding.

responding.

Not resisting.

“…that’s impossible.”

“He’s a terrorist—”

“He shouldn’t even be able to—”

“Where is Anfaleen?”

No answer came.

Only silence.

And the absence of someone who should have been there.

Xandor didn’t look at them.

His focus remained on the Node.

Holding it steady.

As if letting go—

would end everything.

“This energy—pure raw energy of the sunstones”

“He’s… stabilising it.”

A low voice.

“If he wasn’t—”

“…it would’ve reacted with it.”

Meanwhile.

The wind carried the first departed, from the ruins.

No one looked back.

The path was uneven.

Broken earth.

Scorched patches where nothing remained.

Delimira walked ahead.

White robes catching the wind—

the golden griffin glinting with every step.

She didn’t speak.

Behind her—

Chris adjusted his grip.

Zilong’s weight leaned against him.

Not unconscious.

Just… spent.

His breathing was steady.

Controlled.

Pain held in silence.

Once—

his eyes opened.

They met hers.

Briefly.

Neither spoke.

Something wasn’t right.

Not the battlefield.

Not the destruction.

Him.

The man who stepped out of the Spirit World—

was not the one who had entered it.

She couldn’t explain it.

But she felt it.

The people followed.

Quiet.

Too quiet.

Some limped.

Some leaned on others.

But all of them—

were alive.

That alone felt unreal.

“He… saved us…”

A whisper.

“Parvian prince. Hans…”

Another.

“He’ll fix us… right?”

“He has to…”

“He promised.”

“The Prince sent him…”

“The knight of light”

“With Xandor…

Her steps slowed.

He joined Xandor.

Under her mother’s request.

That was the story.

It was suspicious.

But that was it.

But the man she had just seen—

Did feel odd.

He had a plan.

And an unquestionable goal.

She knew someone like him.

Her grip tightened around the edge of her robe.

The insignia caught the light again.

Parv.

Authority.

Responsibility.

And now—

questions.

Something didn’t align.

And this time—

she wasn’t going to ignore it.

The first day passed in silence.

Then the second.

Then the third.

The pace slowed.

Not by choice—

but by bodies that had already endured too much.

They rested more often.

Walked less.

No one complained.

They were going home.

There were no red demon sightings.

Only the participants of the red demon trial.

Stopping.

Staring.

And then leaving after seeing what she was wearing.

By the time Concordia’s outer ridges came into view—

no one spoke.

Not from fear.

From exhaustion finally allowed to exist.

Concordia did not lower the shields.

It watched.

The outer ring lit first—

lines of light carving across the ground.

“Hold.”

Three hundred stopped.

Not by will—

by pressure.

Eyes followed them.

Not with welcome.

With calculation.

They had sworn to protect people from the other side.

Now—

that same nightmare stood before them.

Delimira didn’t slow.

“They are not the red demons. Stand down.”

“I have matters to report to the Node Master.”

The gates did not open.

But neither did they fire.

“They stay outside the shield.”

“Until we understand what they are.”

They were guided—

not welcomed.

Space given.

Distance enforced.

Like handling something fragile.

Or dangerous.

Only she entered the node.

The Node Master was expecting.

What really happened there.

***

The wind carried him far.

Faster than any road could allow.

For a while—

it was enough.

Then—

it wasn’t.

His altitude dropped.

Slight at first.

Then again.

And again.

His grip loosened.

The control slipped.

Something inside him—

refused to answer.

Not injury.

Not exactly.

Cost.

He landed.

Not by choice.

The ground met him harder than expected.

He didn’t rise immediately.

When he opened his eyes again—

the light had changed.

Once.

Twice.

…more.

He exhaled slowly.

Too much.

He had pushed too far.

When he rose again—

the wind answered slower.

But it answered.

And that was enough.

Concordia stood ahead.

Already awake.

Already moving.

Already aware.

They had made it.

Before him.

***