Rising god
Chapter 69: No Rest

Chapter 69: No Rest

The journey back to Dawnless was a blur of exhaustion and focus for Baines.

Within mere hours, his battered form crossed the threshold into the organization’s stronghold. As he briefly took in the surroundings, his sharp eyes caught on the intricate markings of magic circles etched into the ground around the organization’s building, their glowing runes pulsing with a soft, ethereal light.

’He finished it,’ Baines nodded and not even going any further, he was greeted by Wick. His loyal subordinate stood waiting, his expression a blend of relief and concern in it’s skeleton like face. It knew Baines, he wasn’t the emotional type. Asking if he was alright could even anger him. So it just stood.

"Good job," Baines said, his voice steady and laced with true gratitude. It was reasons like this he found Wick valuable.

As Baines nodded in acknowledgment once more, he passed by the third executive. The man’s eyes lingered on Baines, taking in the dried blood crusted on his skin, the tattered state of his clothes underneath the robe, and the unkempt tangle of his hair.

"Won’t you rest for a while?" the executive asked, his tone tinged with worry. Baines’s current appearance was a stark contrast to his usual composed demeanor, messy, disheveled, and like a warrior pushed to his limits.

Baines didn’t respond. His silence was answer enough.

Wick suddenly muttered a series of arcane words under his breath, his hands tracing the air as he activated the large magic circle etched into the center of the room.

A sharp Zippp... sliced through the air, and in an instant, they vanished, leaving the third executive standing alone.

He let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping. Baines was younger than him, yet the man’s relentless drive never ceased to amaze, and worry him.

’I hope he doesn’t fall,’ the executive thought, his gaze drifting to the fading glow of the teleportation circle.

Baines and Wick reappeared undetected in the heart of the Dragon’s Pit, where the volcanic lair nestled deep within Darkan laid.

The air was thick with sulfur and the distant roar of dragons, the ground beneath their feet boiling from the molten core below. Baines’ voice cut through the silence, a telepathic command to Wick.

-Wick, tell me what has happened.

-For security, most of the dragons, including the largest, have been dispatched around the capital and beyond,

Wick replied, his mental voice calm and precise.

Baines nodded, his mind calculating. ’So before they respond, we can finish.’ He was about to proceed when a sudden notification flashed in his mind.

[ALTERNATIVE METHOD HAS BEEN DISCOVERED]

’What do you mean?’ Baines asked, his heart quickening with anticipation.

[UPGRADED SYSTEM CAN DISABLE SECURITY MEASURES]

His eyes gleamed with intensity. This was an opportunity he couldn’t ignore.

"Wick, begin setting up the teleportation circle around it. I’ll find a way to detach it from the ground," he ordered, his voice firm.

Wick nodded and moved with practiced efficiency, while Baines turned his attention to the task at hand. Still cloaked in his hidden state, he placed a hand on the base of the volcano, its heat searing against his palm.

’Eye, how can I uproot it?’ he queried his internal system.

[ANALYZING...]

[AGING REVERSAL TECHNIQUE CAN BE USED TO DECAY THE GROUND AROUND IT. ABSOLUTE CUT TO DETACH FROM THE GROUND]

Baines nodded and concentrated, gathering his decay energy around his hand. It coalesced for ten seconds before turning into a dark, viscous liquid that dripped onto the lava rock below. "Withering Touch," he whispered, and the effect was immediate.

The ground began to transform, the molten stone crumbling into dry, decayed rock. He added three more drops, each one sinking deeper, the decay spreading like a plague.

Moving at ten-meter intervals, he repeated the process, watching as the corruption connected and expanded.

By the time he reached the hundred-meter mark, the decay had woven a web beneath the volcano, turning vibrant rock into ash-colored dust.

The largest and strongest dragons were on patrol, ensuring order in the capital, meaning they couldn’t arrive anytime soon.

As for the rest currently present, they were still too weak to withstand the fire here, leaving them too distant to intervene. Even for Baines, the strain was immense, he had already set his mind to use it as endurance training.

Like that, he pressed on for three days, the decay creeping further with each drop. The volcano was so large, he even had to increase the intervals he dropped the decay.

Wick joined him after completing the teleportation circle, his assistance accelerating their progress.

By the end, the ground beneath the volcano was a fragile shell, a single step threatening to collapse it into unknown depths.

’We must finish before the decay spreads more than usual,’ Baines thought, noting the relentless advance of the corruption.

"Wick, give me," he commanded. Wick understood instantly, detaching the Slave chain and donning it himself. "Release,"

Baines muttered, and with a resounding Clang... Clang, chains erupted from the weapon, sprawling uncontrollably.

They coiled, twisted, and extended, wrapping around the volcano’s base with a life of their own.

To Baines’ shock, the chains didn’t stop, their length seemingly infinite as they returned to him. ’What is this?’ he wondered, realizing the true scope of a god’s weapon for the first time. Truth was, he had never bothered to check after that day he got it, his only use for it was the ethereal chains.

Shaking off his astonishment, he approached the lair’s entrance and placed his hand on the lock.

[DISABLING...]

After five tense minutes,

[DEFENSE MECHANISMS SUCCESSFULLY DISABLED]

The message flashed before his eye. The chains, as if sentient, dug into the ground, cracking it like weak sand. A rift opened, ten meters wide, its depths shrouded in darkness.

The decay continued, halting only after reaching a kilometer. Baines commanded the chains to secure and surround the volcano, then descended into the rift with Wick, who summoned a sphere of light to guide them.

Drawing his nameless sword, now in a rapier form, Baines employed the second skill of the Absolute Cut technique. "Break," he intoned, thrusting forward.

BOOOM!

The ground rocked, the noise deafening. ’The noise is too loud,’ he thought, glancing upward in. He couldn’t attract attention at this point.

Then, Wick said something, "Master, I have used a silencing formation around the volcano."

"Silencing?" It wasn’t something he had heard of.

"Yes, using the pills, I can employed their effects into formations, silencing formation is among."

"Good job," Baines nodded, revealing a smile.

Now, he could act with reckless abandon. He released unholy hell on the roots. Small and large holes were dug, the chains coiling in digging them further, and Wick assisted from the opposite direction.

After a long amount of time, the whole volcano tilted, only to he held bound by the chains.

"Wick, let’s go."

...

In the grand arena of the Darkan, the spectators consisted from those all over the empire. Shouts and cheers echoes as their fervent eyes locked on the people standing the grand pit.

Today was the preliminary match day, and all seats were already occupied.

The younger generations under the age of 25 gathered in groups for the pleminary match. This was the only time they would have to form teams, however it still irked those geniuses.

However, at the moment, their focus wasn’t even on the seat of honors where the legendary Malakars sat, or the rules the referee was explaining, it was all on the younger generations on the Darkans side.

Naturally, Tasha was among and her cousin, Ronick alongside some other descendants and other talents in the clan. They looked with all curiosity.

Which among them was Jin?

No one was bold enough to ask, until,

"Which among you is Jin?" A large young man with a tinge of red skin from the titanos family, while boldly pointing at them.

At the same time, the question was being asked in the seats of honor.

The largest seat had been given to the Malakars. And the woman seated on it, the oldest living and most mysterious person in the current Malakar, the veiled mother, Verra Malakar.

And unfortunately for the Darkan head, she was the one to ask.

"Which. Child. Is. It. Among. Them."

All heads turned as she asked.

’Shit,’ he wanted to bury himself at that moment. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say, half the people present were for him.

At that moment, Tasha shouted it, "That spineless bastard is not attending this tournament."

At that moment, the whole arena went silent.

From shock to disbelief, then shock again. Then more shock until it sank in.

The leaders in the seat of honors turned to the Darkans head for answers.

And at that same moment, in the same Darkan family estate, a particular mountain, no a lair suddenly disappeared like smoke in the air.