Summoning the Holy Sword

Gazing at the young lady who grinned wittily while looking back at him proudly, Rhode was completely speechless. He extended his hand and held his forehead helplessly. Not only was he having a headache, but his stomach was also starting to turn…

“Welcome back, Your Highness Erin. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Yes, I’m back, Your Majesty Rhode. I didn’t expect you and Her Highness Lydia to pick me up personally. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.” At this moment, Erin no longer looked like a BOSS capable of destroying an entire international metropolis without batting an eyelid. On the contrary, she seemed like a lively, playful, and gorgeous young lady. Rhode didn’t want to comment on her disastrous actions because what’s done was done. Besides, no matter how much this young lady looked like a human now, she was still a genuine dragon and ordinary humans were mere lowly creatures in her eyes. Even though she often grinned and was friendly toward anyone, that was precisely her way of looking down upon the inferior humans. It was just like how humans treated cats and dogs. One might smile and caress an adorable cat or dog, but it didn’t mean that one treated them as smart creatures who could communicate with one on equal footing. And now, humans and pets were no different to Erin.

“Where’s the slate?”

Rhode got into business quickly. Since it wasn’t his country that was attacked by her, but was a region on the other side of Earth instead, it didn’t matter to him even if they plunged into an abyss of misery. That was why Rhode changed the topic and began asking about proper matters.

“It’s right here, Your Majesty, including the other three I’ve got.”

Erin said with a chuckle. She stretched out her hand and four slates appeared out of thin air above her palm, hovering silently before their eyes. Gazing at the four Akashic Slates, Rhode knitted his brows and sized them up. Then, he extended his arm. Along with this movement of his, the last piece of slate appeared over his palm. Shortly after, there seemed to be some force of attraction between the five slates as they began to overlap gradually, stacking up like building blocks and becoming a brand new presence.

“This is…”

Looking at this scene, Erin, Lydia, Canary, and the rest widened their eyes in astonishment.

In a bright, flashing radiance, the five pitch-black slates fused into one, losing their plain appearance and transforming into a huge, three-meters-tall, black stone door. The stone door and its two doorposts were engraved with an array of ancient symbols and markings. A blue radiance surged from the inside and the huge stone door instantly exuded a mysterious and primitive vibe. Even though it was erected on the spot, it made one feel like one was inside a historical site, where even the gentle wind brushing against one’s ear was filled with the murmurs of time. Not only that, but also at a glance, the ceiling and floor also seemingly gave off a sense of solemnity that bore the weight of a long antiquity.

“What’s wrong?”

Rhode’s heart sank upon hearing the rare fluster in his younger sister’s voice. Upon hearing his doubt, the younger sister tried to calm herself down, let out a sigh, and muttered softly under her breath.

“Big Brother, just like I said. Our subjects didn’t possess the power to activate the Akashic Slates, which was why we stored our power in them for activation. The key should be fused as a pair with the fifth slate, which is the one that Miss Erin brought back. But the slate doesn’t have any signs of a key. This means that it has been separated. The only person capable of doing that is…”

The younger sister’s voice turned a little deeper.

“My then dependent, who is also the Presence Deity Warden, Marybelle.”

Although his younger sister didn’t speak further, Rhode fully understood what she meant. He had always been curious as to why only six Deity Wardens were in charge of the Seven Fantasy Boundaries. It seemed like one of them followed his younger sister’s order and transmigrated to another world with the slate. But due to some reason, the mission failed and the seven Deity Wardens lost one of their members and only six of them remained.

But…

“Presence Deity Warden?”

“Yes, Big Brother. Among the Deity Wardens, Marybelle mastered ‘presence’. She is able to judge the existence of all things in this world. If she thinks that it doesn’t exist, then it doesn’t. The reason why I created her was to prevent illusory boundaries that would lead to invasion of Chaos. She and Christie are my favorite children. She was also the strongest among the sisters…”

… Presence Deity Warden.

The corner of his brow twitched.

My dear little sister, this ‘hack’ of yours is just too powerful, don’t you think? A thing exists as long as she thinks it does and doesn’t as long as she doesn’t think it does? Will the Dragon Soul Continent not exist if she thinks so? This ultimate killing weapon is just too OP. But now…

Rhode had nothing much to say about this Deity Warden who was most likely dead.

“What should we do now?”

“We have to find the key. Since they have uncovered the slates, I suppose there are clues to the key too. Big Brother… we…:

“Alright, since you want to look for it, then let’s do it.”

After hearing her words, Rhode let out a helpless sigh. Honestly, he had no intention of heading back to Earth, which was also why he didn’t chase Erin when she pursued the space shuttle earlier and chose to wait for her return. Rhode felt complicated now. Perhaps he wasn’t feeling emotional due to being on the moon that was far away from the mundane world. But after returning to Earth, he had to face the tough issue of whether he should stay or return to the Dragon Soul Continent? After all, Earth was his home. In the past, he didn’t consider this question too much since he was in an entirely different world. But now, he was only hundreds of thousands kilometers away from his real home. Compared to the distance between both worlds, this distance between the moon and Earth was nothing. However…

For him to give up everything and abandon Marlene and the rest? He wouldn’t do that, of course, which was why he remained on the moon. What the eye didn’t see, the heart didn’t grieve over. But now, since his younger sister hoped for him to look for the key, he could only let go of this dilemma that was deep inside his mind.

At this thought, Rhode let out a long sigh. He extended his arm and put away the Door of Akasha. At this moment, the tightly-shut door behind him opened. A yawning young lady waddled into the room and everyone turned to her.

“Sister Heart, how’s the situation on Earth?”

The first to question was naturally the two Bubbles ‘who wished for the whole world to be in chaos’. Back then, the video of Erin attacking the city was streamed everywhere in the world by the satellite, so they also witnessed her domination through the screen. It went without saying that the Bubbles made a big fuss in excitement and didn’t treat the pitiful people as fellow humans at all.

That was why if one wasn’t properly educated during puberty, it would be real trouble after their antisocial personalities formed…

Upon hearing the two Bubbles’ questions, Orchid Heart yawned, rubbed the dark circles under her eyes, and said, “Earth is in complete chaos. The governments of various countries are currently asking the party involved for an explanation. After all…”

Orchid Heart gazed at Erin who stood at the side with a smile.

“… no one can remain calm after witnessing what happened.”

That’s right, just as Orchid Heart had said, all of Earth was in chaos. If Erin only attacked the city and left right after, the situation would be similar to Hollywood movies where monsters suddenly showed up and attacked humans. Perhaps their presence signified the disaster that human’s destruction of nature would cause… and so on and so forth. But the problem was with the statement Erin left behind before she left that turned the situation toward a completely different direction.

Of course, Erin didn’t understand the languages of Earth. But she didn’t need to know them because it would be enough as long as she used her mental power to transmit her message into their heads. After the destruction, Erin gave a warning to hundreds of thousands of people and it went without saying that it caused a huge commotion. It might be treated as hallucination if only one or two people heard it. But after so many people heard her threat at the same time, it proved that it wasn’t any hallucination. In the midst of panic, everyone began fleeing as far as possible because according to that enormous dragon, they were all implicated! The damn politicians must have done something to anger that terrifying monster and now they had to suffer the punishment!

Almost at the same time, the video of Lydia demolishing the Americas Region on the moon had spread all around, which stirred up a hornets’ nest. Although neither the power of faith nor spiritual spells existed on Earth like in the Dragon Soul Continent, religion was equally developed, especially for the self-proclaimed ‘chosen ones’. And now, after witnessing the messenger of God attacking them, many were devastated…

And now, in a small white house on the other side of Earth, the atmosphere was equally tense.

“How long do you intend to keep it a secret?!”

An old man in a military uniform slammed the table, glaring fiercely at the tall, skinny man like a wolf. Facing his snarls, the man narrowed his eyes and swept a silent glance at him.

“This is a top secret, to begin with. We have been working on this plan for decades and never released it to the public!

“Back then when that monster attacked the moon bases, you should have told us and we could’ve prepared ourselves! See what happened now! The entire Americas Region is destroyed and half of our city is gone. Tens of thousands of people are dead and this is only based on preliminary data with more to come. And yet, you’re still trying to keep it a secret?!”

Gazing at his quarreling staff, a middle-aged man clad in a suit and seated by the table crossed his arms with a grim expression. Seated beside him was a glamorous woman in luxurious clothes, gazing helplessly at the screen ahead where tens of thousands of civilians were raising banners and protesting on the streets. Amongst the clamoring crowd, the intermittent voice of the report could be vaguely heard.

“Tens of thousands of civilians have gathered at First Avenue. They’re requesting to… immediately… get… response. They claim that the people have the right to know the truth… Not only that, but all countries also… expressed concerns… over… incident…”

“Mr. President, it is time for the meeting.”

“I got it.”

At this moment, the man seated by the table stood up slowly, gazing at his staff with complicated gazes. He felt a lot of pressure on his shoulders because this was the first time he faced strong warnings and interrogations from other countries all at once. Even though international politics didn’t involve any friendship, this time, even his closest allies had stripped off the tender-hearted veil. Well, they couldn’t be blamed for such reactions. Even though Erin attacked his territory, her final threat was to all mankind! Although no one knew what this country did to cause such a huge catastrophe, Erin’s words clearly told them that if this continued, it would be the end of humanity!

No one wished to be implicated for no apparent reason. All the higher-ups of various countries were aware of how powerful Erin was, as she wasn’t hurt at all by nuclear warheads. On the other hand, the angel was even more terrifying. Even though people didn’t know whether she was related to religion, it was apparent that her powers were enough to destroy all human technologies. The dragon only needed a few minutes to destroy half the city and didn’t seem exhausted at all. No one wished to provoke such a scary monster.

As the moon princess, Erin was indeed smart and crafty. She purposely showed her ability to communicate with humans for them to break out into internal conflict. One had to admit that she read the situation well. If she led an army into Earth, no matter how exaggerated her words were after her attack, humans would stand united and resist the enemies. But now, only Lydia and her showed up before the humans. Besides, she proved to them that she could be communicated with, so as long as humans appeased her, they could avoid further disasters. And now, Earth was in complete chaos due to her actions and became even more dangerous. If the country that enraged the dragon wasn’t willing to comply, it would only lead to the start of war between countries. Although a war was terrifying, losing a country wasn’t considered much in comparison to the dangers of losing all mankind, wasn’t it?

Moreover, it was they who attracted those foreign monsters in the first place! When settling disputes, one shouldn’t involve third parties, so all the more reason they wouldn’t be condemned for starting a war. This was why all countries righteously sent out diplomats, demanding that they attached utmost importance to the overall situation. Not only that, but some countries also sent out fleets to the high seas, ready to attack if they had the audacity to not obey. This was completely a military threat. But even so, they were careful in their actions. After all, if they were pressured into a corner and made history repeat itself, everyone would be doomed together.

“Currently, this is the situation on Earth. Governments of various countries are requesting the involved party to hand over detailed documents of the entire plan. They’re also hoping for us to find a way to link them up with both of you.”

After describing the situation on Earth briefly, Orchid Heart yawned again as though she wasn’t cautious of Lydia and Erin. She extended her hand and rubbed her eyes like she was about to fall asleep. Then, she looked up at the crowd, before shifting her gaze to Rhode.

“Alright then. What do you intend to do, Rhode?”

“… We have our own things to handle.”

Facing Orchid Heart’s question, Rhode pondered in silence before giving an answer.

“But… I think we may need to make a trip to Earth.”