Chapter 1358: Like the Night Ends
Qianye could no longer tell apart race and age. All he knew was that they were enemies.
He had forgotten how many wounds he had sustained, nor how much blood he had shed. Pain no longer existed, only numbness. His heart was a sea of deathly cold and silence, seeking the most efficient way to take life.
A beautiful vampire girl appeared before him, adding a bit of color to the battlefield. However, this color faded away very quickly, so much so that Qianye couldn’t even remember whether she had retaliated or what the outcome was. All he could focus on was the next enemy.
All of a sudden, he heard a soft crack. The noise rumbled like thunder in his ears and woke him up. He looked back to find a werewolf soldier swinging his axe at the flagpole.
Qianye was furious!
Before he could take action, however, a werewolf count dragged the soldier away. He pointed at Qianye while shouting at his subordinate.
Qianye didn’t understand the entirety of their conversation since they were talking in the werewolf language. The rough meaning was that they would need to kill Qianye in order to dismantle the flag.
The werewolf soldier looked embarrassed. He soon charged toward Qianye in a frenzy and was quickly turned into a corpse.
This small interlude cleared up Qianye’s sluggish thoughts. He glanced at his surroundings and thrust East Peak into the ground, unleashing countless sanguine threads throughout the battlefield!
It was just that there were too many dark race soldiers. Even Life Plunder could only clear away a small portion of the mountaintop.
The soldiers charging up were stunned and soon plunged into despair.
Tap, tap, tap!
A continuous string of gunshots echoed atop the mountain. Just like crops being reaped, the Evernight soldiers collapsed in droves. Counts, marquises, and ordinary soldiers—everyone arrived at the same fate.
All the dark race experts were shocked. It was the Tempest!
This time, the Evernight soldiers could not keep up with the Tempest’s speed. If the fight before was a battle, then this one was more of a one-sided massacre.
Dominica's expression shifted repeatedly. He simply couldn’t understand why the Tempest would last so long. Qianye was firing the gun alone, without any comrades to supply him with energy.
The duke finally approached the battlefield, but Qianye kept on firing without pause. A black tome materialized above his head, its pages flipping as blood energy poured into Qianye’s body like a waterfall. The power transformed into the Tempest’s wrath which in turn wiped out everything in its wake.
The duke tried several times to make up his mind, but in the end, he never dared to rush into the battlefield.
Qianye shot him a glance before looking away. Dominica felt his face burning; it would seem he was no different from an ordinary soldier to Qianye. Perhaps he was even less than an ordinary soldier for he didn’t dare enter the battlefield.
The destructive power of the Tempest destroyed the Evernight army’s will to fight. For the first time in three days and nights, Qianye had no more enemies to fight.
He put down the Tempest and replanted the tilted flag.
All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind filled the heavy banner and sent it fluttering in the wind.
There were dark race corpses all around the lone peak, piling up from the bottom of the mountain like a big slope. The souls of a hundred thousand warriors had ignited into brilliant fireworks that illuminated the one and only royal standard.
Everyone knew that the king beneath this flag would collapse at any moment, but no one could tell when. Perhaps in the next minute, perhaps never.
The reason one Evernight soldier after the other had thrown themselves forward wasn’t to kill Qianye. His name would be untarnished even if someone did manage to kill him. All they wanted to prove was the pride and dignity of the long-lived races, something that could not be profaned.
It was just that Qianye was still standing while countless Evernight experts were already feeling exhausted.
It wasn’t quite fear but a tiredness born of despair.
The Tempest wouldn’t last long—clear skies would follow the most violent of storms.
If he were allowed to close the curtains in this manner, then there would only be one main character in this show. The countless experts of Evernight would be reduced to background characters. Few cared about how the later generations saw them, but it was extremely important under these circ.u.mstances.
Dominica slowly drew his sword.
Before he could take the field, however, a wave of cheers erupted throughout the area and countless soldiers fell to their knees. “Her Majesty! It’s Her Majesty!”
Countless dark golden spider lilies appeared in the air, forming a radiant path from the fortress to the lone peak.
Nighteye appeared on the other end of this road with Awakening Dream in her hands. Her peerless aura stifled everyone as she slowly walked along the floral road and onto the mountain peak.
As she came to stand before Qianye, they each carved the other’s figure deep into their hearts.
“Can you still fight?” she asked.
“Enough for one last attack.” A pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye. A speck of darkness emerged from the tip of his feathers and spread over the entire plumage. The legendary pair of black wings had once again appeared in this world!
A complicated emotion appeared briefly on Nighteye’s countenance. “Very well! I shall use the Black-Winged Monarch’s inheritance to offer sacrifice to my blade.
“This isn’t all.” Qianye dropped the Tempest and produced Dragonsgrave along with a small box. A supreme daybreak aura shot into the sky as the casing was flipped open.
Nighteye’s expression shifted drastically. “The Longevity Monarch’s power?! Very well, I can finally test myself against a heavenly monarch’s power again."
As though he heard nothing, Qianye pushed the bullet into Dragonsgrave and performed a weapons check. After confirming that everything was ready, he looked up at Nighteye.
The ice in Qianye’s eyes seemed to melt as he saw her, but the frost quickly reformed and settled.
Nighteye didn’t attack immediately and waited quietly until Qianye was ready. “Ready?”
“The last step.”
Qianye unleashed a long howl.
The black wings behind him dispersed, its countless luminous feathers merging into Dragonsgrave like the raging tides.
Gasps echoed through the field and many experts who had thought their victory was certain became restless. Even Domnica grasped his sword so tightly that his fingers were turning pale.
It was at this moment that the Wings of Inception and Dragonsgrave became one with the power of the heavenly monarch. Qianye’s final shot was likely comparable to an all-out attack from a heavenly monarch.
Nighteye held her blade in great focus. This was the first time she was going all out since her awakening.
Far off in the distance, an airship was flying over at great speed. It was just that no one could pay attention to it at such a juncture.
Nighteye cried out, “Let’s do this! Both the Empire and Evernight will witness our battle!”
Qianye’s eyes reflected Nighteye’s figure, shrouding it in shades of blue.
His reflection was also in Nighteye’s pupils, ravaged by blades of dark golden blood energy.
The Eye of Destruction against the Eye of Control!
No one knew the outcome of this showdown, nor did they need to know. At this silent moment, Nighteye could no longer move, and that origin bullet had left its chamber amidst a maelstrom of destructive power.
This shot was an acc.u.mulation of Qianye’s entire lifetime. It was unstoppable.
A blade radiance appeared in Nighteye’s hands, a flash that stunned the entire world.
In their daze, everyone seemed to have dreamt a deep, beautiful dream. There, they saw the pinnacle of power that they sought as experts. That shot was a perfect marriage of day and night, the ultimate destruction.
That bullet flew into the air, tore through the cloudy sky and into the boundless void.
Countless experts sighed—they had finally seen the ultimate pinnacle of power, even though it was only possible as a dream.
Then, the dream awakened.
They snapped back to reality as they gazed at the hole slowly closing in the sky. Why was that last shot fired into the air?
In the blink of an eye, countless eyes returned to the battlefield and the flag.
Life finally returned to Qianye’s eyes, almost as though he were smiling. He was standing as straight as a javelin beneath the flag—the muzzle of Dragonsgrave was aimed at the sky and the Awakening dream had pierced right through his chest.
Nighteye’s hands trembled uncontrollably.
She suddenly let go of the blade and caught Qianye in her arms. “Y-You…. why…”
Qianye said softly, “It has been difficult. There’s no other way, so I can only choose to escape…”
“I know, I know. I won’t make it difficult for you anymore.”
Qianye looked at her with gentle eyes. “I… let you down. It wasn’t… intentional… but I still… didn’t know how to face you. Perhaps escape is the only release for me.”
Nighteye could no longer control herself. She embraced him tightly, saying, “I know, I know everything. I never blamed you. Let’s not talk about that anymore, okay? Don’t leave me. I beg you, don’t leave me.”
Qianye stroked her face gently. “You’ve awakened, you’re no longer her. I just couldn’t accept this fact… this kind of parting… isn’t so bad…”
“No, no! I did awaken, but I’m still Nighteye! I never changed!”
However, Qianye’s hand sank down and his voice faded away. Evernight Continent and Lighthouse town appeared in his vision. He had returned to that little tavern, with a half-lit sign that read Red Spider Lily.
He had returned to where they had first met.
“Ah!!!” Nighteye roared at the sky.
A thunderous explosion erupted, reducing the near-indestructible mountain peak to half of what it was.
The experts instinctively erected origin power barriers to protect themselves from the terrifying power. By the time their vision cleared up, the summit was empty, and the two were nowhere to be found.
The sound of rumbling engines arrived from over the horizon as countless airsh.i.p.s came into view. From their insignia, it would seem that the first, second, and third fleets of the Imperial Guard had arrived in full force.
The flagship rushed over at stunning speed, leaving the main fleet behind and paying no heed to the countless dark race forces that had assembled ahead.
At the helm, Song Zining was leaning on the par.a.p.et. His hands suddenly went cold when he saw the mountain top.