Chapter 219: Aftermath
Kai exited the tent and went to the neighbouring tent.
He stepped inside under the others’ gazes and only let out the breath that he had been holding unconsciously when gravity closed the door flap behind him. Despite his stoic face, he wasn’t fine inside.
He was nauseous and dizzy.
Learning Bree’s secret struck him like a lethal blow.
More painful than any blow he suffered from the seniors in the battle earlier.
It was true that Bree didn’t seem to have any malicious intention, nothing like Matilda during the Blood Rite, but it was still bad intention that brought her to him. And that’s hard to really stomach, as getting close to her was one of the few good things that had happened to him ever since becoming an Angel.
Now, even that was ruined.
For what it was worth, earlier, Bree looked like she was really concerned.
And when she said she would return everything, she sounded really genuine.
"But how can I trust her? I can no longer trust her words when most of them had been blatant lies from the very beginning."
Every single good thing that Bree had done for him was now under scrutiny.
Kai would always wonder whether she was really doing it out of her kindness to him, or was it because she wanted him to be indebted to her. For that—there’s no way forward. Better for him to end it now and save himself from even greater pain.
He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his mouth.
And then, he exhaled through his nose.
Once his eyes were opened again, there was no longer the flicker of warmth or kindness.
Just a cold, hollow sensation as he fixated his gaze on the corpses on the other end.
Kai had already fed Damas and Makos to the House of Night, and now, four more to go.
He still hadn’t devoured Sabas, Asher, Rob, and Fimos.
Despite not having enough time—Bree was still able to drag their corpses out of the Sky Gate, knowing that he would probably want to devour them, exactly like he did with the Star Beast in the Dead Range.
It’s a shame that he couldn’t get his hands on the Noble Star Beast.
But that’s not important.
At least he still has four more Awakened Supernals to feed to the House of Night.
And three of them were Grade-3 Awakened Supernals.
Kai placed his hand over the first corpse and cast Deep Slumber. Darkness encompassed the corpse from below and broke it down. He closed his eyes to feel the energy produced. Then— he guided it into his Primordial Lock.
His intention was to perfect his second Primordial Lock.
It was already active, but still rough around the edges.
Kai was going to smooth it out and complete it, and perhaps his stats would rise again.
For the next fifteen minutes, Kai processed the energy he gained.
Just as he had hoped for, devouring the four corpses was exactly enough to fully polish his second Primordial Lock. A surge of mana swelled from within, spreading across his body and making his body feel hot.
Once the heat receded, he opened his eyes and opened his status window.
...
[Status]
Name: Kai #####
Rank: Grade 2 Awakened
Bloodline: First Son of the Primordial Night
Primordial Lock: 2 (4%)
Legacy Skill: Deep Slumber
Legacy Imprint(s): Nigh-Phantom, Dark Discharge, Black Starfall
Incomplete Ending: -
Complete Ending: Perfect Slash, Stone, Retribution, Reckless Ruin.
Path: -
Ending Fragment: -
Usable Exp: 3,480
Quest: Enter the Second Daughter’s Domain
...
[Physical Stats]
Strength: 60 → 65 (+25)
Speed: 64 → 70 (+50)
Dexterity: 101 → 109
Constitution: 70 → 95
Mana: 399 → 400 (+15)
...
Kai inspected his physical stats and smiled.
As expected, smoothing his second Primordial Lock had allowed his body to make use of the mana inside even better. His overall stats had barely crept upward, but it was still a very much welcomed growth.
Then, his attention was fixed on his constitution stat.
It had surged by twenty-five points.
A far greater increase than the rest.
"Must be because of completing the Retribution Ending Fragment."
Kai remembered the brutal body-forging he had endured under Kaelmorath. Completing the Retribution Ending Fragment had granted him the Reckless Hardening effect. His body could become harder the more reckless he became in battle.
One of the key things that helped him fight Damas and Makos earlier.
Seemed like it also came with a natural benefit of increasing his constitution base stat.
"And though I’m smoothing my second Divine Lock—my mana stat raised the least out of all. How is that even supposed to make sense?" He shook his head, not understanding how this worked. "Even then, an increase is still an increase, I guess."
It was a good thing that he was now stronger.
But Kai still couldn’t compare his physical stats to anyone.
He only knew Bree’s physical stats as she said back then, but she might also lie about them.
Just as he thought that, he saw a section in his status window was blinking at him.
It was the Deep Slumber.
Kai tilted his head and tried tapping it with his mind, and another panel was opened.
His eyes bear witness to six names.
All of them are the ones he had recently devoured.
Realizing this might be the key to satisfying his curiosity, he selected Asher—and a new status window materialized before him. Not his own. Asher’s. He had suspected this was possible, but seeing it unfold before his eyes still struck him with quiet surprise.
...
[Status]
Name: Asher Mingri
Rank: Grade 3 Awakened (88%)
Bloodline: Atreus the God of Hollow Feast
Divine Lock: 3 (43%)
Legacy Skill: Stealer Feast
Legacy Imprint(s): Hollow Slash, False Crown.
...
[Physical Stats]
Strength: 130
Speed: 133
Dexterity: 123
Constitution: 91
Mana: 160
...
"I fed him to my Primordial Lock. I guess it’s not surprising that I can gain access to Asher’s status window." Kai shrugged and then placed a hand on his chest, right above his Primordial Lock. "This thing is fascinating."
He shook his head and focused on Asher’s physical stats.
"Not much higher than me."
Considering that Asher was a Grade-3 Awakened Supernal, Kai thought his stats would be a lot higher, but it seemed he had been underestimating his bloodline too much. Even his mana stat was double that of Asher’s.
Damas and Makos should have similar physical stats to him, or a bit lower.
And the distributions would also be different, but overall, they wouldn’t be that far off.
"No wonder I held my own so well against them. This would place my overall strength really near the peak of a Grade-3 Awakened Supernal. And my mana..." He paused, letting the sheer thought settle. "It might already rival an Aspirant Supernal’s. That’s a full rank higher."
Now, it clicked to him why even Professor Hera was surprised by his mana stat.
It was truly monstrous.
"Kaelmorath must be really strong to kill Asher easily," Kai rubbed his chin, recalling how it only needed one slash for Kaelmorath to take Asher down. "I should check his status window. If the Deep Slumber could check the status window of those I devoured—I doubt it could not check the Nighborns I comprehended."
Kai put that thought on the back of his mind when he heard the sound of an engine from the sky.
Seems like the ships had arrived.
He stood and went to the exit, but paused before he exited.
He looked over his shoulder, scanning the inside of the tent, and was glad to see that the Deep Slumber had also devoured the blood that had pooled under the corpses. Other than the scent, nobody would know that there had been corpses in this tent.
Kai nodded and walked out.
Outside, the porters were still in their spots. Not moving even an inch.
"What are you guys doing?" Kai raised a brow. "Come on."
"R-Right!"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Drop the polite speaking. I’m the same age as you guys."
Kai waved his hand and went over to where the ships were landing.
He didn’t bring much, so he didn’t have any luggage.
Midway through, he spotted Bree, who was sitting near the food pot with Barbara beside her.
For a second, their eyes met, but Kai’s gaze didn’t linger.
As soon as the ships landed and the boarding ramp descended with the hiss of engines, a figure wearing a decorated military uniform stepped down. He was wearing a uniform very similar to the lieutenant who brought Kai and the others to the Second Sky.
And from the other ship, surprisingly, was the same lieutenant.
He scanned the remaining Angels and whistled, "If this is what’s left of you guys, then it must be one rough Sky Gate."
"Something like that." Kai scratched the back of his head.
Even though his wounds had healed—his clothes still hung in tatters. A clear sign to anyone who saw his appearance that he had crawled through the underworld and back. But what no one would guess was that the damage hadn’t come from Star Beasts.
Angels did this—the seniors.
"Who is in charge here?" the other lieutenant asked.
Everyone glanced at Kai except for Barbara before Grines cleared his throat.
"I am."
"Fill in this report, and we can go on our way."
Grines and Panas went to the left ship after the report was filled out without a hiccup, while Kai and four others went into the ship on the right. As Grines said, they were going to return to the First Sky together.
Going through the layer separating the Second Sky and the First Sky was still worrying.
Bree was nauseous again, but there was nobody beside her now.
And the rest of the way was uneventful.
Most of them were mainly silent other than the few occasions when the lieutenant asked them about what they experienced. It was a good time to unload the burden of stress from whatever happened earlier, so Kai and the others chose to close their eyes and rest.
It was almost nighttime when they arrived at their first destination.
"We’re going to refuel first—before we continue to the Eventide Academy." The lieutenant let Kai and the others know before walking down the boarding ramp to smoke.
Both porters stood up and stopped before Kai.
"We’ll be going first, then."
"Thank you for sparing us."
"What happened is not spoken of ever again," Kai said sternly.
Both nodded and quickly scurried away, not wanting to stay for even a second longer.
Surprisingly, one of them stopped and turned to look at Kai again.
"Phantom of Ixos, are you sure you won’t use this chance to check on her?"
"Check on her?"
"Layra..."
Kai’s brows furrowed together—forgetting that there was something ominous around Layra. He contemplated for a second, took in a deep breath, and then stood up. Might as well see what exactly is going on with Layra. I’m here already, anyway.