Book 4 Chapter 29.2 - Evaluation
Under the support of Ledesma's guards, the cleanup process of Midnight City was carried out rather smoothly. Ledesma's death allowed the army's senior officers to understand how powerless the weapons they relied on were, as well as making them sensibly choose to dispel their thoughts of taking advantage of the crisis. Meanwhile, Lora, who had the greatest battle strength in the five membered committee, after receiving news of Ledesma's death, surrendered in an extremely straightforward manner.
What left Su rather surprised was that he unexpectedly saw Victor. Victor stayed an entire month in the dark prison cell full of water, yet he was unexpectedly still alive. It could be said to be a miracle. However, he paid quite the heavy price for it as well, the torment of these harsh conditions degenerating his previous six levels of power to only three. Even if he could recover his abilities somewhat, they would still never reach their former heights. Meanwhile, the remaining two members of the committee had already died at the very start of Ledesma's seize of power. Victor was included in Ledesma's plans, yet what was shocking was that Victor, who had always been on good terms with Ledesma wouldn't agree to cooperate no matter what he said, and as such was thrown into the prison. Ledesma was hoping that he would surrender, yet what he ended up encountering was Su's return.
When Su asked Victor why he refused to cooperate with Ledesma, his reply was that he firmly believed that Su would return. If that happened, cooperating with Ledesma would undoubtedly result in death, while if he refused to cooperate, Ledesma might not necessarily kill him. When he heard Victor's reply, Su simply chuckled. Then, he told him to set his mind at ease and focus on recovering. He promised that once Victor fully recovered, Midnight City would be handed to him to manage.
After tentatively stabilizing Midnight City's circumstances, an entire day of time was used up. When night descended again, Midnight City, with its corpses dragged away and bloodstains cleaned, became bustling and noisy with activity again. Under the intoxication of alcohol and confusion, everyone quickly forgot about the chaos that took place yesterday morning, throwing themselves into a never stopping state of partying just like before.
In Ledesma's office, Su stared at the gradually clamoring Midnight City, and then he suddenly sighed. "We will stay for two days at most before returning to Steel Gate."
"So quickly?" Madeline asked, somewhat surprised.
Su nodded and said, "En, you know that I'll be a father soon. However, that little thing… if I'm not by its side, it truly doesn't make one feel at ease. If we stay here for too long, I fear that something might happen to Li."
Behind Su's back where he couldn't see, Madseline made a face, but her voice was still deadly earnest as she responded, "We should return a bit sooner."
Su who was always using the panoramic view to watch his surroundings naturally noticed Madeline's little act, but he simply treated this as the naughtiness of the little girl.
Darkness fell.
Under the same dark sky, ice and snow could still be seen everywhere on the great continent's northern region. Under the snow peaks, three bonfires were burning. Under this type of cold night, the continuously throbbing flame didn't really bring those at its side much warmth.
O'Brien was sitting next to the bonfire, borrowing the light of the flame to read 'Revelation'.
"It has been said that I exist in the past, future, but also the present. I've died, revived, and in this way, became eternal. It has been said that I have the keys to many worlds, and can continuously open the great doors between connected realms…" O'Brien softly read, his pleasant voice drifting into the distance with the night wind. Meanwhile, his own body's energy seemed to match his reading, rising and falling gently like a tide.
His voice wasn't loud, but this type of voice that carried power traveled quite far into the distance. Not only could Alan who shared a flame with him hear him, but even Persephone and Eileen who were a bit further away could as well.
Right now, it was peaceful and quiet, as if the battle that had just ended had never happened.
The gentle and pleasant voice seemed to dispel quite a bit of the night's coldness as well. However, the contents of 'Revelation' still stood out from all others. Each time one heard O'Brien read 'Revelation', those who heard it would all feel an indescribable feeling, as if they touched upon the edge of a mysterious world. However, no one would interrupt O'Brien's reading at this time, because his voice truly gave one a sense of peacefulness, pouring all of his attention into this greatly worn scripture. On the other hand, this was also a method for O'Brien to train and gather power. As pages of 'Revelation' were flipped through, his power slowly and steadily grew.
Next to the bonfire, Alan was currently using his hands to flatten the uneven surface of his shield. The heavy alloy shield had a good amount of ductility, and as such, the bumps on the shield disappeared one after another without damaging the shield's physical properties. Alan's upper body was bare, exposing his developed muscles that were like steel reinforced bars. On his back were some deep and terrifying wounds, seemingly new injuries, but they were all already starting to glose. Only, from time to time, due to him exerting too much force, one or a few injuries would split open again. He concentrated on the restoration of the heavy shield, but he would quietly give Persephone a look without noticing. These small movements were all captured by Eileen's eyes.
Eileen was sitting by another bonfire a hundred meters out. She removed her long pants, only relying on a spacious shirt to cover her body, completely exposing her legs that were enough to make one's throat dry, as if she didn't mind others seeing her secret parts at all. On the inside of her thigh was a terrifying wound. The flesh covering the wound was currently growing extremely quickly, but the light continuously flickered about in that area. Whenever they appeared, the newly grown flesh would be once again blasted apart. This was a wound torn apart by Persephone's energy spear, so Persephone's energy still remained inside, preventing the injury from healing. Eileen's long and fine fingertips burned with small bits of flames, carefully picking out the bits of energy hidden within the wound, and then destroying them. As a true master of the Magic Domain, by relying on her control over energy, Eileen's hands were like the most precise surgical equipment. However, she had a bitter smile on her face as she treated herself.