Chapter 576: Erdania

Chapter 576: Erdania

Response



The moment Ryun grabbed hold of her, Erdania reacted. She released her authority, her Soul expanding outside of her body and flowing through the floor, through the walls, through every solid piece of Essence around. The very meaning of Reliability seeped into the shells of each individual Essence grain. Ryun’s Authority washed over everything else.

She focused on safeguarding the people in the range of the attack. Her and Ryun’s power filled the world.

His body vanished as he diffused his existence, then surrounded them. Erdania felt as he threw himself at the explosion beneath them, suffocating it with his very being.

A Reaction Engine, a small one, she concluded as her mind made sense of the information she got from Ryun over the bond.

Ryun’s being was destroyed, then regenerated in a surge as his perks activated. Even as lessened as his survivability powers were, it was more than enough.

He fed the Reaction Engine, keeping it constrained and preventing it from growing, from spreading and destroying other Essence by feeding it his own.

Erdania moved, her perks activating and her will smashing into the world. She shattered the building around them, turning the stone to dust in an instant by pulling any Essence related to Reliability from it, collapsing the bonds of anything solid around them, turning the structure into a pile of collapsing dust. Gravity bent, and every person in range was pulled upward into the sky, out of danger as the air shook from the struggle between two forces below with a roar of sound.

She manipulated the world ready for any follow up attack.

Then everything went quiet, the Reaction Engine’s explosion winked out as its fuel was spent. Erdania felt Ryun’s authority, his being moved immediately, heading out of the city to their home, to Selia.

Erdania dropped the people she rescued on the ground and followed.

They stood in a large tent, in an open field not far away from where their home used to be. The entire territory was buzzing with activity. Airships flew above them, their entire fleet.

Warriors were doing the same on the ground. The city, no, the entire Sect was on high alert. Messages went out, some through Far-link Orbs, others by way of airships or runners, but by the end of the day, the entire Sect would be ready for war.

Erdania stood next to a table that was covered in the reports, while Ryun and Selia sat on a bench nearby. Selia was, thankfully, fine.

Erdania’s fear had spiked hard when she realized that all of them had been targets of what could only be an assassination attempt. Selia had already been checked over by Tarsh Yuron and their own healers, both she and the babies were fine. The relief that Erdania felt in that moment frightened her. It reminded her of the loss they had suffered in the past, and that no matter how powerful they got, they could still die. It was a sobering thought.

Ryun hadn’t left Selia’s side since they met up, the attack had been hours ago, and he, or at least a part of him, sat next to Selia with a hand on her thigh. His side of the bond was closed down tight, the three of them had a rule about things like that, they didn’t hide things from one another. But... she had felt his anger, the rawness of it, and knew that he was only shielding the two of them from it.

People entered and exited the tent often, bringing more reports or just relaying the news. The atmosphere was wary, they had suffered losses. The attack had struck their research facility as well. The place where they were holding the recovered miniaturized Reaction Engines, or at least where most people thought they were. Not many even knew that they had them, so it should be easy to figure out how the information got out. There was only a handful that knew that the Reaction Engines weren’t actually there. But seeing as the attack happened there anyway, they at least knew that their inner circle wasn’t compromised.

Two dozen people lost their lives there, less than could’ve. The research facility wasn’t yet fully operational, so they were lucky in that regard.

The tent flap opened, and Anrosh walked in quickly. She wore her full gear, her armor rippling in all the colors of the rainbow.

“Tell us,” Selia said.

“We ran down the list of people with access that we believe were involved with placing the Reaction Engines, three that we believe most likely were found dead not far from the bomb locations. It’s as if they just dropped dead mid-stride. All three of them joined the sect within the last five years, and had no issues raised before.”

Anrosh started her report, her dissatisfaction with it was clear on her face.

“What about your prisoners?” Erdania asked, referring to the squad that was sent to kill the researchers that had come to ask for asylum from the Sect.

“Not if you get hit before you have a chance to react,” she put her hand over Ryun’s that was still on her thigh. “If you haven’t noticed, warned us...”

Ryun narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

Anrosh cleared her throat. “There is more, Vitor has summoned all Sects for an emergency gathering, at Dragon’s Peak.”

“He summoned us?” Selia asked, her voice dropping dangerously.

Anrosh raised her hands. “I don’t think that he intended it to come across as an order. I think that he was shaken. He... I didn’t talk with him for long, but with the way he spoke, I suspect that his brother is dead, or at least injured.”

Selia blinked, her expression calming. Vitor’s brother, Hitor was the Sect Head of the Dragon Heart Sect, one of the strongest factions in the world, a leader among the Sect Heads. If he was dead...

“I’ll go,” Ryun said slowly, his voice coming from all around them without his vessel’s mouth even opening, the first words he spoke since they made sure that Selia was alright.

“Ryun,” Erdania started, but Ryun shook his head, his control slipped for a moment and the raw, hot anger spilled over their bond making both her and Selia wince. He quickly blocked it, but Erdania could still feel its effect. As if something had stabbed her right in her head. She too was angry but that... In all the years they’ve spent together, she never felt such intensity of emotion from him. Usually, Ryun was the calmest of them, the one that felt the least.

“They attacked us,” his voice came from his vessel now, mouth moving. “They nearly killed...” he glanced at Selia’s belly, then his vessel rippled as if he barely had enough control to keep it manifested. “If they’ve attacked the Sects, a response is required.”

Erdania looked at the others in the room, there wasn’t much that she could say to that. He was right.

“Go, we need to learn more about what is happening,” Selia started. “I’ll stay and make sure that the Sect is secure.”

“I—” Erdania started, but Ryun interrupted her.

“Will stay with her,” he said. “I don’t want her alone here.”

Erdania wanted to argue, but... She didn’t want to leave Selia alone either.

She saw Selia open her mouth to say something, but then paused as Erdania let her emotions flow through their bond.

Selia sighed and nodded.

“I’m coming with you,” Anrosh said.

Ryun looked at her, his face still with no expression at all. “You’ll—”

“Be by your side,” Anrosh interrupted him. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise. That’s where I’m meant to be, I’m your Herald. The sect will be secure with Selia and Erdania here, I’ve already asked Karya to come to Consequence and take my position, and Nayra is headed to our borders with your warriors. We are on the other side of the core, any army coming at us will have to get through either Dragon Heart of two dozen smaller Sects. We’ll see them coming. At most we have to worry is assassination, but we are alert now, it won’t happen again.”

Ryun didn’t say anything for a few long seconds, then finally he inclined his head and stood.

“We go,” he said tersely. “Now.”

“I already have our fastest airship prepared,” Anrosh answered.

Erdania took a deep breath. It was going to be war once more. She had to prepare, and there was still power to be gained. Her Class waited for her, it was time to advance it.