Chapter 556: Terror of the Runic Sage
Damien Nomrad was feared by the three Human Kings solely due to his monstrous cruelty and his maddening resolve to pursue his craft, no matter the cost.
The Runic Sage was perhaps the cruelest human to have ever lived; that madman alone had terrorized the entire Human Lands when he was at the peak of his power.
There was not an inch of land in all of humanity where the old Runecaster had not spilled human blood, all due to the pursuit of his study in the field of Bio-Rune Engravement.
The number of humans who had been brutally experimented on by the Old Runecaster was numbered in more than a staggering 10 million... lives.
Compared to such atrocities, which Damien had committed in his mass experiments, the so-called inhumane acts of the Vex family would look like the job of a greenhorn.
And that was not even the worst part; rather, the loss of the 10 million lives was only the prelude to something more harrowing...
Because there was a time in the past when Damien Nomrad had almost threatened all of humanity itself, in his madness.
Leonidas forced himself to stop that dreaded line of thought, and sighed because none of it mattered anymore.
His eyes gazed darkly at Axel Nomrad once more; now that it was confirmed that the Runic Sage was dead, Leonidas would end the Nomrad family, just out of caution; a second Damien Nomrad must not emerge no matter what.
There were many more reasons; when a mere Runecaster showed such inconceivable battle prowess, it made the Royal Family look somewhat pathetic in comparison.
The grandson of the Runic Sage was also meddling with Leonidas’s plans to kill the Valkyrie. The Sun King was beyond infuriated by all of it.
Unknowingly, from the moment when Axel Nomrad appeared, the Suncrest King’s attention had been shifted away from the Valkyrie, and the Absolute Runecaster had become a greater threat to kill in Leonidas’s eyes.
Underneath, however, something else was bothering the Sun King, which he did not want to admit; he could feel a dark foreboding spreading through the air since the moment when Axel Nomrad had arrived on the battlefield.
***
Sophia watched on in disbelief as the majestic figure of Axel slowly glided downwards and landed right in front of her; she was still crawling and in a bloodied state.
Axel bent down and held his hand forward. Sophia looked at the hand, then at Axel’s face, which was cold and expressionless; and there was something wrong with him.
As if he could barely maintain that expression.
He seemed different from his usual bright self, at least the version of Axel that Sophia was familiar with.
As if something within the Runecaster had snapped.... she could almost feel the bubbling volcanic rage contained within his handsome visage... about to erupt.
She hesitated for a moment, but eventually took his hand; she did not even have the strength to get up or stand properly.
Axel’s hand shivered for a moment, and he quickly held her by the shoulder, his expression grave; Sophia’s condition was worse than he thought.
Due to her special physique and bloodline, even his Runic Eyes could not see through her, so it was difficult for him to understand her real condition at a glance.
He quickly brought out a pulsing white medicinal pill, shining with a white hue.
Filled with a great amount of pure life force.
Axel held it in front of her mouth and spoke for the first time, "Take it...."
Sophia did not look at the White pill; rather, she looked into his mesmerizing runic eyes. There was a complicated emotion in her eyes, and the same was for Axel. Seeing her gaze, the Runecaster smiled, "You really don’t look so cool right now, Miss Sophia.... and we can’t let that be now, can we??"
She did not respond, but opened her mouth and swallowed the white pill directly, taking it from his hands.
The moment she did so, the element of the All-Encompassing Darkness within her churned, like a hungry swarm of snakes; it devoured all the pure life force from the pill and channeled it onto every part of her physical body as well as the abstract Soul Sanctum.
To her pleasant surprise, the life force contained within it was so vast and pure that her near-death state healed rapidly, like a dry sponge sucking in all the water it came in contact with.
In a matter of 5-10 seconds, she was as good as new, with a burst of energy; all the dirt, grime, and blood sticking to her figure was dispelled. Axel gently let her go, and she could stand with her own strength once more.
Her beautiful face wore a complicated look as she questioned, "The Pill, it contained... your own life force?"
Axel’s smile widened as he looked at her with a hidden, deep longing and asked instead, "Can you do me a favor?"
Sophia hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded, and Axel added promptly, "Your energy reserves still need time to restore; you’re not completely recovered yet."
"I will handle the High-Lich.... you can take care of Osiris," added Axel resolutely after a pause. His tone seemed more like a foregone conclusion than a suggestion.
Sophia frowned at him deeply because, unlike everyone else, their close contact meant she could feel Axel’s true level: he was only at the peak of the 2nd phase.
Not only that, according to her senses, Axel was still much, much weaker than her own.
After a moment of thought, she said, "Let’s fight the High-Lich together; the demon seemed to be only keen on watching for now...."
Axel shook his head and firmly rejected her proposal, "No, you have to kill Osiris first...."
She snarled at him, "But you will be...!!!!"
But before she could finish her sentence, Axel cut her off, "Did you forget who I am??"
He chuckled, "I am the Descendant of the All-Counter...."
Axel suddenly brought out a long black sword from his storage space, etched with golden runes. He gently flicked the weapon’s body, and a crystal-clear metallic hum spread through it.
SHING!!!
He held it out, and Sophia took it, surprise visible on her ever-so-stoic face.
Axel said, "I named it after you, and it’s called Seraphina..."
Sophia was taken aback once more and opened her mouth to say something. Yet...
She did not know what to say or how to say it; looking into his enchanting runic eyes, which continuously shimmered with gold and blue, she saw him come closer. She wanted to move back, but her body seemed frozen, her mind lost in those divine eyes.
The Handsome Runecaster whispered into her ears, "Don’t think too much; honestly, though, I’m just trying to be a bit cooler, since you think I am quite pathetic."
"So, let me show how cool I can be for you if I want to..." said Axel and gave her a cheeky smile as he turned around, walking in the direction of where the High-Lich had been blasted to....
"You?? you...." Sophia stammered when she heard his words, her cheeks turning a shade of red in embarrassment.
She couldn’t believe that Axel, at that time, actually heard her- the words she said when Axel became unconscious after a brief clash of theirs, when he first came to meet her in the royal palace.
And now, since she knew that Axel had been concealing much of his strength at that time, she became even more embarrassed by the thought of it.
Sophia bit her lower lip as she gazed at his back, his figure moving towards the danger without any hesitation. Her feelings became complicated, for she was still having difficulty in associating this Axel with the version she knew previously.
It was still the same person but with two different sides.
But then worry bloomed in her heart.
Sophia knew of the King’s great distaste for the Nomrad family, Damien Nomrad in particular. She understood why Axel had been hiding his true power and obviously the runic eyes. Because if he did not do so, the King would spare no effort to kill him.
That made the situation even more complicated for her; the obvious questions arose in her heart: why did he do it?
Why did he save her, why risk it all for her?
For the first time in her life, she wanted to genuinely trust another person, even if Axel had ulterior motives; a part of her still wanted to trust him.
Yet she could not do so, at least not completely, because of her cautious nature.
Sophia shook her head, and she was forced to stop her complicated train of thought; this was not the right time or place. She needed to have a proper talk with Axel after all of this was over.
Gradually, resolve appeared in her eyes, and Sophia turned around, the powerful rune sword named Seraphina in her hands; her face returned to its cold, emotionless state, her gaze akin to that of a ruthless killer.
Peering through the distance of multiple kilometers, her gaze locked onto the hovering skull-masked demon.
Since Axel wanted her to kill this demon first, she would do exactly that and join him right after.
BANG!!!
Sophia shot forward at the demon with maddening speed.