Chapter 28: Finally, It is over.

"W-what's going on!? W…we didn't do anything wrong"

"Can anyone please tell us what's going on!?"

The group of thugs were currently at a lost of why they were called to the gates. With the mysterious things that are happening to the town, why are these guards isolating them? Are they taking advantage of the current confusion to get rid of them? Was this all just a ploy by the city guards to get rid of all the criminals that are scattered throughout the city?

With these thoughts on the thugs' minds, they started to panic.

"Y..yo, Guard Leader Bai. We will be kind and double our donations towards… J…just, please let us go…"

The fat man of the group pleaded as he brought out a bag of coins from his pocket. He was about to give this "donation" to the Guard Leader, but the guard leader just immediately swatted his hand away.

"Quiet, scum! I have no idea what you're saying!", Guard Leader Bai almost sweat buckets as he feigned ignorance. If General Diao ever heard that he was getting "donations" from various suspicious groups in the city, he would surely lose his job. He kicked the fat man that had no plan to stop talking outside of the gate to shut him up.

"General Diao, sir! This one seems to be the leader of this riff raff group. I remember them having one more member, be we could not find him anywhere. The group refuses to talk as well, sir!"

The fat man rubbed his butt in pain. He was starting to get piss offed because guard leader was treating them unfairly, what about all the bribes that their now deceased boss gave to him? Did that all mean nothing? He remembered they even shared a drink with Guard Leader Bai once.

The fat man quickly stood up and looked at Guard Leader Bai with an angry expression. The fat man was about to lash out on Guard Leader Bai when he realized who the guard leader was reporting to. He instantly shut his mouth and his body became as stiff as a board as he saw a giant of a man staring at him.

It was General Diao, literally a towering existence that sent shivers down the spine of every criminals in the city. The fat man almost shit himself. It was a good thing that guard leader Bai kicked him when he did, if not, then their secrets would be revealed to the worse possible person.

What exactly did the esteemed General want from them? Wait, could it be…

The fat man was stunned as he finally noticed their surroundings.

He looked around as he saw the weird division made with light and the gigantic pillars the encapsulated their city, but these things were not what made the fat man gape in shock.

On the other side of the light, he saw a boy that he was very familiar with. His eyes widened as he stared at the bloody figure of the boy.

He looked backed towards his group, as if asking if they were seeing what he was seeing. But he did not need to ask, as his group also had the same expression as him.

"I…isn't that…"

"Oh, you know the boy?"

General Diao who has been observing the whole reaction of the thugs finally spoke up as he interrupted the fat man.

"I asked you a question, fat vermin. Do you know the boy?", General Diao's tone grew even more domineering.

The group started to feel a heavy chill ran down their spine as the General questioned them.

"N..no! We…we d-do not know who this boy is!", the fat man found it hard to lie in front of the General. He averted his eyes, hoping that the general does not take notice of his stuttering.

"You lying scum! It was your group that I saw that day lying in the ground! Even the reports from the bystanders said that they saw your group dragging a blonde kid down an alleyway! The boy smacked each of your balls, and you sought revenge by killing his grandfather!", Guard Leader Bai immediately released a torrent of words.

For Guard Leader Bai, this was his chance to get rid of this group. It did not matter to him whether they really were guilty of killing the boy's grandfather. He just wanted them gone so that they will no longer have a chance to expose his corruption.

"W-what!? No, we truly do not know the boy…r-right, guys!?"

"Y-yes!"

The group continued to feign and deny all the allegations against them. They were about to deny some more when they heard a small voice from the distance.

"Look, grandpa! It's those pedophiles!"

The group immediately started to sweat buckets when the bloody boy started to identify them one by one in great detail.

"That's the fat man that was going to tie me up. Those other three did not really do much…hmmm… where is the tall one that talks a lot… hehe. Grandpa, I smacked all of them in the balls just as you said", the boy chuckled as he talked to the severed head he was holding on to.

"!!!!"

The group's expression became even more twisted when they saw what the boy was holding.

"W…what, impossible!?"

"Ssshhhh. Shut up!"

The fat man quickly shushed one of his friends.

"Oho. The boy seems to know about you, and you said you lot say you have not met him?", General Diao placed his shoulder on one of the thugs.

"T…this… we…we know him... i-it's just that… he w-was too bloody that we could not recognize him!"

"T-that's right! A…and… what the guard leader Bai and the kid says… i..it was just an accident. It was our fault, no harm d-done! T-there is no way we would k-kill anyone because of that!"

General Diao sighed as he once again listened to the group reason their way out. It was confirmed already. The group had an alteration with the child, but whether or not they were the ones who killed the boy's grandfather was not yet concluded.

But General Diao was getting tired of listening to these people talk. General Diao's hand, that was placed on one of the thug's shoulder, slowly climbed up towards the head. General Diao's humongous hand wrapped the thug's head entirely.

And then, all the people watched in horror as General Diao slowly lifted the man…and squashed his head like it was nothing.

"Now, we will ask again. Did you kill the boy's grandfather?", General Diao calmly said as the thug's body dropped from his hand.

The remaining thugs shook their bodies in fear. This was the second time that they lost their friend by having their heads literally get blown off their bodies. First it was their boss, whose head was blown off from a bottle of alcohol thrown by a mysterious cultivator.

"W…we were ordered to by a mysterious cultivator!"

"W…wang, s-shut up!"

"N..no! We did nothing! Why should we be killed by something we did not do!?"

One of the thugs could not help but blabber in fear. A cornered mouse will always squeak the loudest, this is true in almost all situations.

"A mysterious cultivator?", Finally, it seems they were right on their assumptions. General Diao was curious of this mysterious cultivator, so it seems that things were not as simple as them seeking revenge for their broken balls.

"Y-yes! It was… a man that was w-wearing a fancy blue robe! H-he threatened us and even killed our boss!"

The thugs started to kneel one by one as they once again started to reason their way through the situation even though they were already caught.

"B-but…you have to believe us… we…we did not do it! W-we visited the boy's house, true. B-but when we heard rumors that the boy h-had the support of the Golden Pavilion sect we became afraid and did not pull through with the plan!"

"P-please, you have to belie-"

Before the pleading thug can finish his words, he felt a cold sting around his neck. He ignored this feeling and continued to talk, but to his surprise, no words were coming out of his mouth. He then caught glimpse of his friends, he saw as their heads cleanly, and smoothly separated from their necks.

And soon, his vision shifted as if the world around him started to spin, and then… darkness.

All the guards were stupefied. It was only a second ago that the thugs were pleading for their life, and now… all of their heads were rolling on the ground at the same time.

What just happened?

Only General Diao had a different expression on his face. His thick eyebrows were sticking to each other and his mouth was twisted in a weird manner.

He saw it. No, he caught a glimpse of it. It all happened in less than a second, if General Diao was not concentrating on the thugs right at that very moment, then he would have surely missed it.

He saw a blur dashing its way through the kneeling thugs. Yes, even to him, it was a blur.

General Diao then looked at the direction where the blur stopped. Right in front of him, or more specifically, below him.

He looked below as he saw Viel, still holding his Grandpa's severed head.

General Diao was about to say something when Viel turned his head towards him. Viel's face seemed eerily devoid of emotion, but from his eyes, blood no longer flowed. Instead, it was replaced by tears.

"Can you please hold Grandpa Ling for me?", Viel raised Grandpa Ling's head and handed it to General Diao.

As soon as General Diao gently held Grandpa Ling's head. The dome of light, the pillars, and the sound of chain surrounding the city instantly disappeared, like they were never even there in the first place. Only the markings of the dome and the holes made by the pillars remained, as if it was a grim reminder of how close they were to their doom.

General Diao sighed. Finally, it was over. The hours they spent here almost felt like a year. With all of the things happening, General Diao had no time to relax even for a second, 'less he might miss something very important.

"It is alright now, boy. Let us handle this. I will make sure to set up a funeral for you Gra-"

And then, General Diao stopped his words.

His eyes widened as he noticed that Viel was already directly right in front of his face, floating. Viel's eyes were already parallel to his.

But Viel did not stop. Viel continued to slowly ascend towards the skies. General Diao watched in shock as Viel's silhouette became smaller and smaller until he was only as small as a grain of salt in his view.

Viel…

Viel was now above the clouds.

General Diao could only repeat the words that Viel was muttering before he started to disappear to the distance.

"Blue robes, Li Zhao, Young noble….

Soul search?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the city, the people celebrated as the weird happenings in their city finally disappeared. The people were jumping and hugging each other now that the heavy pressure they were feeling was now gone. The chain noise was also completely gone, allowing them to move freely without being deafened by loud noises of metal.

"Finally! We can finally get back to sleep…"

"Ugh… I am so tired…."

"The government better have a good explanation for this or else…"

"Haaa�� so it's still dark… well, time to drink again…"

Different complaints and feelings flowed through the city as the citizens started to relax. And soon, the people started to go back to their homes one by one.

But suddenly, the remaining people outside heard a loud gasp.

"W…w..w..what's that!?"

"Hah? Now what?"

The remaining people looked towards the direction the man was pointing at. At first, their faces were filled with confusion.

Why was this man overreacting while pointing towards the moon? Did he became crazy with all of the weird things that happened tonight?

But then, their jaws opened wide in shock.

Their jaws opened wide in shock as they realized why the man was exaggeratingly pointing at the moon.

All the people present could not help but have only one thought…

Since when did they have two moons?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Moments before, above the clouds, Viel was floating. His hair waved as the cold pierced his skin. The tears that were falling from his eyes turned to ice. Forming lines on his face, as if the tears were meant to be eternal.

[Jack: Soul Search]

Viel looked below, not a hint of expression can be seen on his face.

[Searching….]

[Success. Target is 1,969 km away from the Player's position]

Viel closed his eyes as he felt Li Zhao's existence.

It was as if the man himself was standing right in front of him. He could feel him. He could feel where he was.

Viel released a breath as steam came out of his mouth.

Then he slowly raised his fists…

[WARNING: The chosen skill is way above the Player's maximum limit]

Suddenly, a very tiny speck of light appeared above Viel's palms as he opened his fist. It looked like a firefly that was isolated from the rest of the world.

[WARNING: Player is reaching critical levels. Immediate termination of the skill is advised]

And then, the ball suddenly double in size. Now resembling a gem, glittering on the horizon.

[WARNING: Critical levels reached. Please terminate current skill]

Once again, the ball doubled in size. Now resembling a giant pearl, shining through the endless sea.

[WARNING: Please… do not proceed]

And then it doubled, again…and again…again.

[Viel… Please stop]

Until it resembled the moon.

[Lu Yi: Star Obliterator]