Chapter 552: RESURGENCE
Upon witnessing the death of the Divine Valkyrie, who was the ultimate symbol of hope for almost all of humanity for countless ages, humanity’s mythical champion who appears only once every thousand years, the thousands of third-phase soldiers lost all their will and drive to fight.
If even their greatest symbol of hope and protection could be snuffed out like that, then why would they continue fighting? Even 4th-phase existences felt despair at that shocking sight.
Because the Valkyrie’s death was no simple matter; it was equivalent to the death of humanity’s future protection.
The weak and strong, everyone on the Unified Armies’ side, were drowning in hopelessness. Powerhouses in mid-battle dropped to their knees; that was just how much of a silent pillar of support the existence of the Valkyrie was.
Yet, in contrast, waves of loud and jeering cheers echoed from the other end of the battlefield. All the humans from the minor kingdoms’ side, watching this impossible scene from the Ghost Armies camp, could not hold back their joy.
The outcome of the Valkyries’ deaths painted two distinct pictures of humanity: the races’ pathetic tendency to fight one another and to ignore the bigger problem.
The humans of the minor kingdoms, in their own misery and desire for vengeance, had forgotten that the Valkyries were the only beings who truly guaranteed humanity’s survival upon the occurrence of a dreaded continental war, when all the races would fight the Demon Empire as a united front.
Lumina Suncrest, who watched this, immediately blacked out, unable to handle the impossible event of seeing her closest friend and named sister dying in such a brutal manner.
Her mind would rather believe it was a nightmare and shut down, rather than accept this cold reality.
Thorian, who was barely managing to keep himself alive against Zena Karmann’s overwhelming might, was shocked and terrified.
Enrick Samartan set his hatred aside for a moment and witnessed the scene with wide eyes.
Jaden Redmar, who was struggling against the beastly Zen Karmann, upon seeing the Valkyrie’s death, his mind was rattled in ways no one else could understand.
Jaden had predicted hundreds of outcomes, hundreds of possibilities of different things happening in different sections of the battlefield that gradually affect the war in different ways.
But this... was not something he thought of; he did not even imagine it in his wildest dreams. The very idea of it being true seemed like blasphemy, even for a cold and logical individual like him.
Even the Dark Trio, who hated the Suncrest royal and wished its doom with all their hearts, had such reactions upon witnessing the Valkyrie’s death; one could only imagine the impact this news would have if the mundane people of humanity heard of it.
Heinz, who sat deep within the Human camp, watched this scene through a magical screen projection.
His expression was incomparably grave as he looked at the scene with squinted eyes, an ominous feeling rising within him, but he did not fully believe what he saw, as if he knew something most did not.
The Calamity Warlord sighed with a grimace, "Something.... bad is about to happen.... I can feel it."
Lucien had dropped to his knees, seeing Sophia die, for a part of his very own future depended on her, and he knew somewhat of his father’s displeasure with her and his desire to kill her.
But he did not think that Leonidas Suncrest would resort to such an extreme action to the point of colluding with the enemies of humanity, to do what?
To kill their greatest future protector? Lucien did not understand; his face was twisted into a hideous grimace, unable to accept her death just like that.
He did not even care about the powerful attack that was coming at him from Wangnan Baek, whose powers had soared to an unprecedented degree due to the Valkyrie’s death.
Just as the Corrupted Elf was about to injure the Golden Prince critically, his heart skipped a beat, his body froze, and his heart completely stopped beating.
He felt it, in his every single cell, a wave of rage, hatred, and purest of malevolence, so unfathomable that for a moment, his mind felt like it was being overwritten.
A terror unlike any other came from his very bloodline source.
He lost all the strength and adrenaline that had been powering him to keep fighting.
His knees hit the ground, just like it happened with Lucien, whom he was fighting against, albeit for different reasons in both their cases.
Wangnan’s hands trembled under the overwhelming wave of negative emotions emanating from the bloodline’s source; the Corrupted Elf genuinely felt... scared.
The same thing happened with...
Zena Karmann, Zen Karmann,
Conner, Elira, Theron and Caelan.
Neil Croft, the twin souls Lebron and Leroy
Ken Dusker and Vyra Vanelis
Every single entity who had a Seed of Sin within them or Axel’s demon bloodline in any manner. Felt truly scared.
But the feeling only lasted a few seconds and vanished right after, as if it had never happened, and maybe it was just a misconception.
Zabiur, the High-Lich, held the torn head of the Valkyrie in his bone hands; the black marks of his skeletal palms were printed on Sophia’s once-beautiful face. Her eyes were still wide open; the last emotions she felt were still visible in her eyes.
A mix of pain and boundless hatred.
The Deathly Hollow tossed her head towards Osiris, not even sparing the demon a glance. But there was a strange glint in the Lich’s eyes, carefully hidden.
Zabiur flicked his bone hands to dry them from the disgusting blood of the Valkyrie.
Osiris caught Sophia’s head, but his hands trembled greatly, so much so that he could not hold onto it and his hands slipped.
The ripped head fell from the skies, leaving a trail of blood droplets in the air as it plummeted down faster and faster.
Osiris looked at his trembling, bloodied hands.
There was a flash of profound fear in his demon red eyes, but he quickly hid it.
Zabiur, uncaring of what Osiris was doing, was about to disappear and finish the rest of his job to kill all those that managed to live from the Unified Human Academies Attack.
But at this moment, the Demonic voice of Osiris rang out, almost like a tired sigh, "Did you hear it? Did Prime Nexus assure her death?"
The High-Lich stopped in his tracks; he gave Osiris a brief questioning look until his eyes narrowed in apprehension, realizing the validity of the question posed by Osiris, because he had indeed not received any notification from Prime Nexus stating the Valkyrie’s death.
Zabiur’s gaze immediately shifted downwards to the falling head of the Valkyrie.
The instant his gaze locked onto the lifeless eyes of Sophia’s falling head, her eyes both moved at once; the dead gazed back at the High-Lich.
It was just like they say: if you gaze at the abyss long enough, the abyss will gaze back at you.