Ka-Ka-Kacha—BOOM! Lightning split the sky!
Rain poured down across the academy, smashing into the marble paths and fractured fountain as thunder rolled across the darkened sky of the capital city of Llynun.
Petra stood motionless in the storm.
The rain soaked through her hair and clothes, but she did not move.
Her back was straight, but her expression was void.
Behind her, Nebula stood silently beneath the falling rain, her black eyes fixed on Petra's still figure.
For some reason, she trembled ever so slightly...
The atmosphere felt heavy as Petra slowly closed her eyes.
She reached out her hand, and her senses spread through the many invisible threads that connected her to the world around her.
Petra checked for them, but didn't find anything…
She tried again, then frowned.
She tried again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and—
Tock—!
Petra finally frowned, realizing that she couldn't sense the twins at all.
Her stomach twisted, and her fists clenched so tightly that they almost bled.
Nothing…
The connection was gone!
Completely gone!!
She felt her stomach drop.
"…It must be a 'prison stone'." She muttered in a deep voice.
That was what Owen had once used on her during the first calamity. It would undoubtedly result in the disconnection of Petras many tracking methods. Up till now, it was one of the only methods that she had no countermeasure for!
Petra paused, then lifted her hand slowly. Invisible waves of mental energy rippled outward from her body, spreading across the city like a series of silent echoes.
Petra displayed a precision unlike anything she had shown until today.
Buildings, streets, people! Her senses scanned everything!
And then—
She found them...
The escaping Azurefell Family!
Hundreds, no, thousands of them! There were just too many! Countless members of the Azurefell family were moving throughout the city, all scattering in different directions like ants leaving a recently disturbed nest!
Petra's eyes darkened. A black haze had started to swim deep within her gaze…
Her fingers moved slowly as a shadow gathered in her palm.
Dark-element elemental energy condensed, then formed a series of intricate runes that should have far surpassed Petra's third-order cultivation level.
She pressed down her palm and released the spell!
The spell expanded outward like a ripple through the rain, reconstructing faint illusions of the recent events across the surrounding area.
This was a fifth-order spell called 'Echoes!'
Ghostly images flickered in the air as a recent scene was quickly recreated around her.
Nebula was silent as she watched this unfold.
She didn't dare to move.
She didn't dare to speak.
Although all of Petra's actions could be said to be normal, something about her was definitely not right.
She watched as the scene from not long ago reappeared like mist.
She saw several figures moving. She saw the doors of the surrounding buildings opening and closing, the figures of many carriages coming and going, and she saw the image of countless people appearing and disappearing, all enacting their daily lives in an extremely condensed span of time.
This was not a one-for-one recreation.
At least for Nebula, there was too much information condensed into a few-second smear to understand.
As for Petra, although she understood everything with a horrifying degree of accuracy, there were still too many of them, too many targets, and too many directions to determine their destination!
She watched with desolation as the scene of Lilly and Luna being taken away flashed past her eyes.
Over and over again, like watching a movie…
Although it was still not enough to determine a target, there were three things that she was sure of!
First, Lilly and Luna had been taken by their father specifically! Either that, or he was willingly used to make them let down their guard! Second, the Space Stone that was used to trap them had been passed through many hands, making it impossible to determine who possessed it in the end! Finally, although Nebula was very, very strong, there seemed to be something suppressing her, not allowing her to display her full capabilities without paying some kind of price! Petra was sure that Nebula weighed this against the possibility of Petra personally rescuing Lilly and Luna in the future, so she chose not to act in the end, trusting her little master and allowing herself to face any punishment in the future. Even Nebula probably didn't expect her little actions to allow Petra to glean so much information from them.
Regardless, Petra couldn't determine which group had taken the twins in the end!
Her face slowly blackened.
"…I see. So, you were already prepared to act against me, huh?"
She felt her feelings for the Azurefell Family slowly twist as a wave of rage slowly built up in her brain.
She had to forcibly hold herself back.
She glanced over her shoulder, looking back at the school for just a moment, her eyes flickering, then turned back to the destroyed fountain.
Petra couldn't help but tremble.
After a moment to breathe, Petra reached into her pocket.
She took out a series of bottles, found one, then put the others back, before shaking out two of the fifty small seeds that had been stuck together in the bottle.
She crushed the two rune-engraved medicinal seeds between her small fingers.
Crack! A ghostly green energy burst outwards! Tiny threads of spectral energy scattered into the rain and rushed across the city, chasing the fading traces left behind by the kidnappers! For a moment, they successfully followed the trail. As they approached, they branched off, slowly tracking each of the individuals that had even the slightest 'traces' of Lilly and Luna.
But just then—
The signal dispersed in an instant! Like a gust from god, the wind blew, and the threads of green light faded into the storm, dissipating into nothingness.
Petras' head drooped, concealing her pitch-black face.
She trembled, not from the cold, but from the deep, unfathomable emotions that were far stronger than the storm. She was not in a good state. There were far too many branches and too many paths to track. In the end, only a vague direction remained, still leaving her with hundreds of possible targets to hunt down and massacre!
Even if she could teleport, there were still too many for the current her to catch...
She could jump away and grab a target, but she knew that there was no way that the vast majority of the escaping Azurefell family members knew more than her.
Petra slowly looked up at the storm.
The cold rain fell onto her face.
She felt numb.
Her gaze twisted.
The rain continued pouring down from the sky.
"…This rain…"
Her voice was quiet, too quiet, like the deepest murmur in the depths of the darkness…
"…is it intentional? Is it intentionally interfering with my search…?"
Only silence followed her question.
Petra slowly exhaled—!
She knew one thing, and that was that she couldn't act rashly! She couldn't rush! What mattered most right now was to restrain her 'true' emotions! She couldn't continue to let them leak out like they were right now! She needed to breathe, to relax, to focus and think!
Because if she didn't—
Her eyes slowly lost their color as a shadow seemed to consume her...
—She would definitely destroy the entire Azurefell family completely!! Ka-Ka-Kacha—BOOM!
* * *
Across the city of Llynun—
The storm continued to rage...
Rain swept across the rooftops and streets, while thunder rolled through the sky. Despite the wrath of the rain and the wales of the wind, concealed deep beneath the sound of the storm, something else, a silent shadow, had silently appeared! It was brief, only appearing for a fleeting moment, but—
A single ripple of unimaginably sharp bloodlust had silently spilled across the city like a raging tide!
It was so perfectly concealed that almost no one noticed!
Mm, almost...
* * *
Royal Palace—
Far away from the academy, within one of the many inner studies of the Hellion Empires Royal Palace, the Emperor suddenly paused his writing and looked up with a small jump.
A soft hum echoed through the chamber as the golden sceptre resting beside his figure faintly trembled. The Star Crown, one of the Seven Treasures of the Cross Continent, had suddenly reacted to something that he himself couldn't detect.
The emperor slowly lifted his hand, touching the sceptre with narrowed eyes.
Buzz!
"…Hm?"
A faint sense of unease crept into his heart.
It was not a clear threat, and he couldn't put his finger on the source of his unease, but…
The emperor turned slightly in his seat.
"Has anything unusual happened today?" He called out.
An attendant nearby immediately knelt.
"No, Your Majesty! Nothing unusual has been reported aside from the storm!"
The emperor remained silent for several seconds.
His eyes slowly drifted towards the distant city skyline, peering out through the nearby window.
"…I see. Then, what is this twisting sensation in my gut?" Something had happened, something big!
* * *
Quiet Courtyard—
On the edge of Llynun, within a quiet courtyard surrounded by stone walls, the shirtless Kilemin suddenly stopped training, steam rolling off his body, and looked into the distance.
He frowned.
His eyes drifted towards the Royal Academy of Magic...
After a moment, his frown deepened.
The rain fell steadily across the courtyard space, evaporating before it could land.
"…Hm?"
For a moment, he simply stood there, looking at something no one else could see. He focused, his body rippling with a golden light distinctly different from Elena's, then looked away.
Then he lowered his head slightly.
"Tsk! This brat…"
He shook his head, finding himself incapable of wiping the frown from his face.
"…How troublesome! I just hope that she can restrain herself…"
"Seriously, why is it always the cute ones that are the most ferocious? Indeed, how ridiculous…"
* * *
Meanwhile, in a luxurious residence within the depths of the noble district—
A young man dressed in golden robes suddenly paused.
The young emperor of the dragon race, 'Atllin D Ras Aureuco', for the first time in his life, stiffened in his seat, causing Lilit to look over with a confused face. He had never seen the young emperor make such a strange expression before!
His cup slipped from his hand as he suddenly stood up.
Clink!
Tea spilled across the table.
"…What…? What is this!" Cold sweat suddenly formed on his forehead, causing Lilit to widen his eyes.
For a moment—just a moment—He had felt something 'watching' him!
It was something vast, something terrifying! It was far too 'large' to understand! Like the shadow of a monster slowly opening its eyes! He couldn't even tell if it was truly looking at him, or just around him! The feeling vanished as quickly as it had appeared! The eyes were closed in an instant, yet the young master still trembled slightly!
Like humans, dragons too had 'primordial fears', and for the first time in his life, Atllin had felt one of these primordial fears manifest in physical form! He would not be mistaken! It wasn't the fear of darkness, death or bugs, instead it was an indescribable sensation, something focused on the unknown!
"…What the hell was that…?"
He couldn't help but feel the tremble in the deepest depths of his bloodline!
Ka-Ka-Kacha—BOOM! Outside, the storm continued to roar across Llynun!
* * *
In an unknown location---
This was a large chamber designed for astromancy, or the study and deduction of the stars!
It was shaped like a wide cylindrical observatory, its ceiling opening up into a towering glass dome that revealed the distant night sky above. Through the crystal glass panels, countless stars rippled in the darkness, their light pouring down into the chamber like a quiet river of silver starlight. Simple golden railings curved along a large upper balcony that wrapped around the wall, which was reachable by two elegant spiral staircases that followed the curve of the room and descended towards a central floor. Filling this floor stood several delicate brass instruments, astrolabes, and star charts carefully positioned to measure the shifting patterns of the sea of stars.
In the center of the room stood a divination platform.
It was a circular stone dais that rose slightly off the floor, supporting a large brass orrery (model of the Solar System) that slowly rotated. Small glowing spheres orbited a central axis, each one representing celestial bodies mapped to magical anchors. Hundreds of thin rings engraved with runes drifted slowly around the mechanism, adjusting themselves as new calculations were made. Above it, a focused beam of pale starlight descended from the dome and illuminated the instrument directly, as if the heavens themselves were feeding the strange and unfathomable device with information.
From this place, astrologers could observe the movement of the stars, calculate fate, and read any disturbances within the flow of the world. Every orbit, every flicker of light, every slight deviation could reveal a change in history.
This was the heart of the Quella Quint Family, or more specifically, the residence of the legendary Qulanira Quella Qint!