Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 500: Ants

Chapter 500: Ants

Through dimensions, through the Slums, a giant sea appeared. An ungodly swarm of magic that made the ends of his hair stick up. How far was he? Where did he want to go? It was impossible to tell. The only certain thing was that he was here: the King of Players had arrived.

"No need to panic." Dasha went to the corner of the room and ripped open the wall. On the second skin wall were Egyptian symbols, pulsing at the moment of feeling the air. "All symbols are connected here. The entrance to this Territory is open, but..."

Drawing, redrawing, and adjusting.

"I should be able to communicate a shut-down from here..."

Ting!

It worked. The message was sent and the Territory was closed. Although the sea of massive Qi was still there, it became blurrier, as though Dasha had shut the door. Xavier was breathing in and out, in and out, a hand on his brim of his hat.

"Can he still come in here?" Dasha asked.

"There is nothing in the world that can stop the Kingslayer, not even a paltry Territory like this. Even so..." Xavier drew in a breath. "We should be but little ants in his gaze."

Previously, they were a small home to be toppled over. To shrink themselves was vital and necessary.

"So...it is true. Daughter is keeping an eye on the Kingslayer."

The Kingslayer, the mightiest of players. The Kingslayer, whose origins and mystery were unknown. The Kingslayer, who slaughtered nobles and divinity alike.

"..."

Xavier did not answer, so Dasha answered for him.

"Daughter was letting him stay over at Les Murmures as a contingency, wasn’t she? Against the Caliph, I surmise."

Xavier breathed, the second sign of life in minutes. "The Seven Great Mysteries...they perpetuate our world’s commonfolk and spies, whether in the heavens or the Underground. Among them is: Where did the Kingslayer go? Some believe the king swam through the Current of Darkness. Others believed he locked himself in the Heavenly Tower. I know not how, but Grace succeeded in finding him and convinced him to stay."

"Grace did?"

Of all people, her? That did not seem to follow any logic.

"I’m impressed," Dasha said.

"Even Daughter was. She did not expect the King to appear, but since he was in our presence, she convinced him to use Les Murmures as his home. She didn’t say it out loud but, as you said, it was in case the Caliph ever came knocking on our doors. Without the Kingslayer, we would all certainly die against him."

To be able to protect the Whispers was his role and the Kingslayer was but a contingency. He did not join the Whispers. He did not claim them as friends. He simply used their home as their home, nothing more. In fact, the king’s lack of involvement was what necessitated Dasha’s power. The Kingslayer was a contingency against the Caliph and the Great Sin would eventually be a contingency against him.

The immense Qi above seemed to twist like a hurricane. It was so mighty that even Dasha contemplated if he could ever surpass it. To become a contingency against something like that...

’It doesn’t even feel like Qi. Just what is that?’

Dasha narrowed his eyes, scanning and judging what he could register. "His Qi wavered ever so slightly. What is he doing?"

Xavier sat down on the bed and put a hand to his face. "Wait it out. Do not intervene or observe. One wrong look and you’re dead."

The first time he heard his name in Les Murmures, Dasha went the other way knowing that the Kingslayer was an impossible entity in this world. The strongest player in human history.

Dasha Pang was strong. Dasha Pang was the Great Sin.

He was no monster like the Kingslayer.

BOOM!

The alternate dimension shook. Something massive happened up above.

BOOM!

When the King descended, the ants could only dance until his rage calmed. Dasha inhaled, sat down, and mediated.

***

In emergencies, the Whispers could communicate to one another. A psychic link that bound them. Today, such an announcement had been sent during the Kingslayer’s appearance. What he did, where he had gone, all of it was announced.

Xavier could not believe it. Him and Dasha alongside the two children of Old Rocco, Omar and Elias, went to the west of the Great Wall. That was where Gyges, the Long-Limbed, was and who was said to be able to extend his arms to both sides of the Great Wall. A giant Dasha would never have been able to cross.

Until today.

Gyges the Long-Limbed was dead. His giant corpse lay in a new formed hole in the Great Wall. People of the Slums and the people of the Central Underground walked over the corpse.

"Even when killed, the four giants should be able to come to life in some hours with the power of the Great Wall but..." Xavier bit his bottom lip. "It seems the Kingslayer has shattered even that."

"I thought the Great Wall was indestructible," Omar said like an innocent child.

"It seems that was only the case because the Kingslayer had not attacked it," Dasha replied. "Come, let us go. Before the hole in the Great Wall fills itself."

The rest could not feel it but he could. The Great Wall was alive. It would repatch its wound.

********

"How long ago was it now? Ten years? I believe so. Maybe a little more. When that orphan of the Demon Sect arrived and sat with us. He was not one of us, he was like a cat hurrying in and out when we pleased. My wife and I laughed and decided it was okay. One day, when the scavenging orphan ate, he arrived.

The Kingslayer.

I did not know what to expect. My wife did not either. Would he slaughter us? We were of the common people but there were faint rumours of my wife having a sliver of a succubus’ blood. Trying to explain away her beauty like that was blasphemous. Yet I could not help worry when he descended.

I realized the words of mankind would always attempt to be cruel that day.

The boy from the Heavenly Demon Sect was kind. So too was the Kingslayer.

He sang to us. Songs that in the coming years I have heard more and more. Hummed, sung, and muttered. The Songs of Time, the king called them."

- Markey, Owner of in the Dark Sector, 160 HE