Chapter 355: Just His Name (2/2)
“They colluded with a noble house to convict an innocent h justice said firmly “Their blatant abuse of authority for their own personal gain deserves this and worse”
I stepped toward the cell, despite not being entirely sure I even wanted to, but Nico stopped me He reached out to touch my arm, but stopped “I think it would be better if you waited out here”
I was al a step back, I nodded Once he and the high justice were inside, the doors began to close At the last ed, hardening like it was carved out of pale one, and I watched as yellow rooves between the doors, ceiling, and floor
There was a wooden stool next to the doors, so I sat down My ures in the room I’d had my own mana core for such a short period of ti it terrified me beyond words To discover that mana exists—and learn how to restructure the physical world with a thought—only to lose that power…
The Alacryans couldn’t have understood Even Agrona, even Nico…
On Earth, I had learned early on that, although I had a relatively large ki center, that poould never be ht the Legacy was
Agrona is no different
I dug a palht Maybe it was true that Agrona hoped I would useit would be my power He knehat I really was And he wanted to shohat I was capable of
They’re constantly hiding things Like right now What is Nico doing that he doesn’t want you to see?
Once this thought had invaded my brain, I couldn’t escape it I was just as curious to knoas happening inside that room as I had been hesitant to enter it I listened closely, but there was a layer of deviant winda sound barrier around the cell
As I focused on the mana, it rippled, and the sound ofat the acade to focus my ki in different environments, and how the water distorted the voices of those outside the pool It sounded exactly like that I swam close to the metaphorical surface, and the voice becah the barrier of sound, and suddenly I could hear Nico as if he were standing right next toyou remember about him Don’t leave out the smallest detail” Nico’s voice was deep and hollow, like he was speaking fro voices answered, each one more desperate to be heard than the last
“—cruel cleverness in his eyes as he—”
“—sat like a statue, like he never feared for a—”
“—ht be an unadorned, ‘cause we never did sense his mana or—”
“—exuded such a terrible pressure—”
“Stop Stop!” Nico snarled The cell went quiet “If you keep shouting over each other, I’ll burn out your tongues so only one rueso what he had to do “You, tell me how this ascender ca and clearing of throats before a thin, nasally voice answered “A servant of the Granbehl Blood brought us a strange story…of an ascender without any blood ties, who seenature” The speaker paused, breathing heavily “They suspected that Ascender Grey had sled a relic—”
The voice choked off as stone and bones both cracked I could feel the weight of Nico’s rage through the warded doors
When Nico spoke again, his voice was strained “Why was I not informed of this ascender’s narin Caelu
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Nico snarled under his breath, and I heard soft steps as he began to pace
Standing, I moved tentatively toward the doors The steel bolts retracted as I approached, and the doors swung open Inside, the high justice had shrank back against the curved wall, her head down Nico paced back and forth in front of the four reoatee, had been impaled by three black spikes His blood ran in dark strea into cracks in the floor
“He’s dead,” Nico said fir back the other way “But he’s like a freaking cockroach If anyone could survive…” He spun again “Even if he survived, he couldn’t have co”
“Nico, what—”
He snapped his fingers and pointed atto speak to himself “He could have found an ancient portal, still active…but even he wouldn’t be self-absorbed enough to use that nanal fire in the dark…”
Is this the ed through uts I grabbed his wrist with a shaky hand “Nico, what did you do?”
He wrenched his ar his teeth at me like an animal “Shut up!”
A uardian’s as all twisted, boiling rage It was the trapped beast screarass and vines and trees that retake the world when hu inside me It was too much like my ki in my last life: uncontrollable, explosive, relentless…
I had learned to touch every kind of mana Even the so-called deviants, the use of which seerona had warned me away from the beast will Perhaps soht in the rooreen of the forest beneath a thick canopy, and a single e toward Nico
The fury ed He recoiled from me as if he’d been burned
“Cecil, are you okay? I’h his liht returned to nore “I’m fine”
Nico cleared his throat and faced the four prisoners The old woman had fainted, and the fat ht unprotected between the sudden surge of force from Nico and me
He’ll hurt you
That didn’t matter Nico’s spirit was shattered He wasn’t himself But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be healed with time
“What did this ascender look like?” Nico asked, addressing the central prisoner, a frail old man
“Pale blond hair…” the old man rasped “Golden eyes, e, perhaps, with sharp and proud features…”
Nico frowned, his eyes losing focus as he tried to picture the al,” the old ”
Nico scoffed, a vicious sound that clawed the air “Like a king, you say?” Nico’s body erupted, his sudden swelling rage no longer able to be contained byfro!” he roared “We have only Sovereigns here!”
I could see theitself into a frenzy inside the prisoners’ flesh All of the on the inside On the outside, they writhed in silent torreat to even screa heavily, and with every exhalation, the air around hih justice had already scrambled backwards out of the cell to avoid the black fire She could only watch, unable to speak out in defense of the justice she claimed to represent
“Useless old fools!” Nico shouted, his voice cracking The old an to blister and crack, and little black flames leapt out of the wounds as the soulfire devoured the
“That wasn’t necessary,” I said, soft but firm I didn’t want to draw Nico’s fury, but I wasn’t afraid, either “They didn’t deserve to be burned away by your fear and rage”
Nico closed his eyes His breathing slowed, and the fla him like a deadly halo receded back into his flesh and faded “They are nobody They are entirely insignificant” His voice was utterly devoid of eain…” I said, my voice barely a whisper “Why does this man have such a hold over you that just his na reaction? Who is Grey?”
Nico, his back to me, seemed to shrink in on himself “He was our friend…”
He turned, and for just a er’s face that Nico wore I only saw his eyes, red-ri with tears I knew the sadness in the at me now the same way he used to look at me, helpless Desperate
“And he was the one that murdered you, Cecilia”