RISE OF EROS-Chapter 648 - 647

The room was shrouded in thick gloom, barely lit by torches dancing in a non-existent wind. The rough stone walls absorbed the echo of each footstep, and the heavy air of the underground seemed to breathe alongside the three leaders who had arrived.

Seated at a circular ebony table, the three survivors of the Purgatory dome kept an uncomfortable silence. Each occupied their usual place, but the absence of two empty chairs was more noticeable than ever.

One belonged to Lortad, fallen just a few moons ago; the other, to the recently captured leader, whose name was safest not to mention out loud. With each loss, the power they once held began to falter.

The Leader in Red slammed his clenched fist on the table, letting out a growl filled with frustration. His scarlet cape fluttered slightly with the movement as if sharing their fury.

"This cannot continue like this. Two of us have fallen, and now the Ancestor Dragon has declared us enemies of all realms. Purgatory is no longer a secret," his voice echoed through the room, bitter and sharp, as he added, "We are a target."

The Leader of Green, whose bearing contrasted with his companion’s aggressiveness, bowed his head. His dull green, almost reptilian eyes moved slowly, studying every corner of the room as if he expected to find a lurking shadow.

"It wasn’t just the Ancestor Dragon. He may have exposed our goal, but someone from within Purgatory is sabotaging us," he said, with an eerie calm, and added, "Lortad’s and the other’s falls cannot be simple accidents."

The Leader of Blue, the quietest of the three, remained silent for a moment. His navy blue cape hung stiffly as if carved from stone, and his icy gaze studied his two companions before speaking.

"Carcom," he sneered and continued, "He’s not here for a reason. We suspect him, and we weren’t wrong. Carcom hasn’t been on the right side for a long time."

At the mention of the Traitor Dragon’s name, the temperature in the room seemed to drop. The three leaders shared a silent knowledge: Purgatory’s bad run, the capture of the most recent leader, and the exposure of their goals couldn’t all be mere coincidences. Someone was moving the pieces against them.

"We must act before we become easy prey," the Leader in Red continued. "If Carcom is playing against us, we will find him and eliminate him. We can no longer afford to trust anyone, not even our own."

The Leader in Green nodded slowly as he said, "The problem isn’t just Carcom." Pausing briefly, he continued, "With the Ancestor Dragon openly speaking of our existence, all power hunters and soldiers loyal to the crown will be looking for us."

He paused again and finished by saying, "We need to hide our network and reorganize our operations. If we stay here, we will be next." The Leader of Blue finally raised an eyebrow, as if he had already considered all this long ago.

"I have already taken certain measures," he announced and added, "Our resources have been moved to the port cities of the east. Jails, towers, dungeons... Places where no one would look."

"And the agents?" asked the Leader of Red, calmer, but with a frown. "There will be a purge. No infiltrator will ever undermine Purgatory again," the one in Blue answered coldly.

Pausing for a few seconds he continued saying, "In fact, I have given the order to capture Carcom. If he is the source of this storm, we will make him pay." A shadow of approval crossed the face of the Leader of Red. It was what he wanted to hear: direct action, without beating around the bush.

The Leader in Green, for his part, leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes for a moment. "Carcom won’t be easy to catch," he said in a deep voice, adding, "He was one of us, and he knows all the hiding places and codes. He’ll move pieces before we can touch him, and above all, he’s not weak."

"It doesn’t matter," the Leader in Red interrupted. "If Carcom is guilty, I won’t stop until I burn every inch of this world to find him. His betrayal will not go unpunished," he growled. Continue reading stories on novelbuddy

The Leader in Blue also nodded, but it was the one in Green who finally asked the question that hadn’t been asked yet, "What if we’re wrong?" Silence returned to the room, but this time with greater weight.

They all knew Carcom’s nature: his betrayal had been barely a suspicion, a shadow in their ranks that he believed was acting for his own benefit. And yet, none of them could deny that his absence coincided with his downfall.

"We will not be wrong," the Leader of Blue said coldly. "If the price of our survival is the blood of an innocent, then so be it," he added disinterestedly.

Slowly, the tone of the discussion died down. The torches continued to illuminate their faces, revealing the hardness of their expressions and the determination that had returned to their gazes.

"We will regroup," said the Leader of Red, rising to his feet with a sharp movement. "Purgatory has not fallen. No matter how many enemies appear; our objectives will be met," he said.

The Leader of Blue and the Leader of Green exchanged a last glance before following suit. Neither dared to say it out loud, but the weight of the empty chairs was still present.

"Let the hunt begin," the Leader of Blue muttered, before disappearing into the shadows of the room. One by one, the three left the chamber, leaving behind a table surrounded by empty chairs and a silence thicker than before.

The torches flickered one last time before extinguishing themselves. Meanwhile, Carcom was in his secret hideout that no one knew about, healing his wounds. The leaders of Purgatory didn’t know, but the dragons had all the missing remnants of the fallen god.

He had been paying attention to the dragons and waiting for the moment when the ancestor of the dragons left the clan to steal them and that was what he did when he saw that the ancestor dragon was not present.

Unfortunately, the dragons were more hidden than he believed. Once considered the greatest genius of the dragons, Carcom was under the delusion that other than the ancestor dragon, there was no one more powerful than him, but he was wrong.

His arrogance and the partial assimilation of the remnants they had obtained from the chaos zone had given him the certainty that, if the ancestor of the dragons was not there, he could do whatever he wanted.

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Therefore, upon noticing the absence of the ancestor of the dragons, he entered the territory of the dragons to seize the remnants they protected, but he encountered powerful resistance.

He may have been the best genius of his generation and he was powerful, but he did not know many things. The dragons did not only depend on their ancestor to maintain their dominance.

There was a small group of dragons that were not far from the power of the ancestor. Although they were not far away, it is being too gullible, the truth is that the difference in strength is abysmal, but these dragons were not weak.

They were the so-called 5 dragon kings and Carcom was no match for any of them even fighting one on one. Each dragon king protected a remnant of the fallen god and there were still two free dragon kings to protect the clan.

When Carcom arrived in the dragons’ territory with the aim of taking advantage of the ancestor’s absence, he encountered one of these kings and barely escaped with his life.