Aurafall: Fragments Of Power-Chapter 44: Countless Colors [9]

"Hmm... who knew the way to Primoria’s prison was such a beautiful place?" a young woman said as she enjoyed the view around her.

She was currently sitting on a large brown hawk with golden eyes, wearing armor on its face and a few other body parts. The hawk glided through foamy clouds, occasionally passing through them and making them puff softly before dispersing into white dust behind them.

"Truly, it is beautiful. You Primorians are surely wonderful creatures," the hawk replied.

"And you, General Yariel, are the most wonderful of them all," the hawk added.

Yariel was a young, chocolate-complexioned woman with shimmering amber eyes that matched the fierce intelligence of her mount. Her dark hair was braided and swept into a high, commanding bun, kept perfectly in place despite the rushing winds of the high altitude.

Even in this moment of quiet observation, she wore her ceremonial navy and gold combat attire—the heavy gold plates of her pauldrons and belt catching the sunlight and the glow of the crimson orb, casting glints of brilliance against the soft white of the passing clouds.

Her hand rested casually on the hilt of a massive golden longsword, its blade etched with the ancient runes of her station. She looked out over the sprawling landscape, a cheerful smile playing on her lips.

"Stop flattering me, Ravenna."

Ravenna the hawk chirped, the sound almost resembling a chuckle.

Truly, the view was beautiful; the clouds were in different, indecipherable shapes, yet blissful. The crimson orb’s glow and the sunlight contrasted, creating a captivating light that settled over the sky.

Yet hidden in this beauty was nothing but ugliness: the ugliness of those who lived in this beautiful world. The politics, tricks, sins, and deep secrets—it was bizarre how these deeds blended seamlessly with the beauty of the world.

’Humans truly are wonderful.’

"We are here," Ravenna announced.

Yariel looked forward and saw it. At first, it looked like the head of a green cockroach, but as they drew closer, it revealed itself as the peak of a mountain covered with green moss.

The mountain was so huge that its peak was shrouded in the mist of clouds, spanning back down to great lengths.

Ravenna increased her speed and dashed toward the peak. The summit was triangular but enormously wide and large. On this wide platform, a small round dome had been built.

The dome wasn’t much to write home about, as it was just a round black rock the height of an average human. It didn’t even take up much space on the stone platform, but guarding the rock were five Aura Farmers.

"Why sheathe your weapons like fools when you could just summon them whenever you want?" Yariel hissed, seeing the five Aura Farmers, and unsheathed her own sword.

Ravenna wanted to say something but kept it to herself, then landed on the platform, sending a gust of wind flying through the air.

The Aura Farmers, who had noticed the two guests from a distance, unsheathed their weapons and frowned.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!"

Ravenna didn’t reply. Instead, her rider jumped down and walked forward, her smile changing into a mischievous one.

"I greet you, handsome men. I’m Yariel Zahara, a surviving member of the assassinated Zahara Family and a General of the Atlantis Family. And she here is Ravenna, a creature from one of the lower worlds—Sky Tide, World of Flights, to be precise," she said and bowed, with Ravenna also lowering her head.

Then they raised them back up.

"I don’t care if you’re the wife of Jean Atlantis. You have no business in Primoria Prison, so be gone, or else you’ll be tagged as a criminal and face the consequences!" one of the guards yelled.

Yariel tilted her neck. "Why are you being so rude? I was really nice, you know?"

She then started crying like a baby, with Ravenna petting her. The guards stared at them in awe before one of them—a gaunt, bald man—yelled again.

"Enough of these glass shenanigans! Be gone! Or else you’ll be reported to the high rankings!"

Yariel stopped her fake tears and turned back to the guards.

"If I remember clearly, I mentioned I’m a General of the Atlantis. Did I forget to add that I was sent by Jean Atlantis himself?"

The guards paused and straightened. "Hmm... why has he sent you to a prison?" the bald man asked in suspicion.

He hadn’t even closed his mouth when suddenly Yariel blurred into lightning and appeared behind him.

Vertically across his neck, a crimson line appeared and blood spilled.

"Eh?"

Then his head fell from his body and rolled toward one of the guards, who stared at the head and his colleague’s frozen, surprised face in horror. The man’s remaining body fell to the ground, lifeless.

"To kill you," Yariel replied, although the questioner was dead.

Suddenly, the guards attacked all at once. She blurred again, leaving electric lightning in her wake.

One guard, a stocky man with a greataxe, swung blindly at the space she had occupied a microsecond before. He hit nothing but air.

"Too slow, handsome," Yariel’s voice whispered directly into his ear.

He felt a slight sting, like a cold, surgical caress against his throat. He tried to turn, but his legs suddenly felt like heavy rocks. He looked down to see the golden runes on Yariel’s longsword glowing into his very marrow.

A bolt of lightning leaped from the blade, frying his nervous system instantly. He collapsed, smoke rising from the joints of his armor.

The other three guards converged, their weapons glowing with various aura colors—greens and muddy browns—but compared to Yariel’s brilliance, they looked like flickering candles in a thunderstorm.

The first guard was cleaved from shoulder to hip. The second had his head pulverized by the flat of her heavy golden pommel. The third, the youngest of the group, was left standing for a heartbeat, staring at the empty air where Yariel had been.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was warm, almost motherly.

"Don’t worry," Yariel whispered, her amber eyes reflecting the crimson orb above. "You’re not handsome."

She pulled her hand back, and the boy fell, his heart stopped by a precise discharge of static electricity into his body.

Yariel stood amidst the five corpses, not a single drop of blood on her navy and gold attire. She flicked her sword, the lingering gore vaporizing into a red mist as the blade’s heat cleaned itself.

She gazed at the dead bodies, her expression becoming one of comical somberness.

"Ah, Jean is such an evil bastard. Why allow me to kill such energetic men?"

Ravenna rolled her eyes. "Get those disgusting thoughts out of your head, Yariel. They’re dead. Do you ever think of anything but lewd nonsense?!"

Yariel giggled and walked to the dome; then, her shoulders slumped.

"How do we lift this up and go inside? It looks like it weighs a million tons."