Rivers of the Night-Chapter 434: Peace

Thessa’s pupils shook as she swung to meet his blade, her flames swirling around her. Flames formed a halo to her back, then they separated and concentrated themselves into concentrated balls that shot out toward Theron in waves.

She retreated and tapped out the point of her blade several times, trying to regain some distance.

But her flames had hardly taken shape when they fell to the ground in perfectly spherical balls of ice, colliding with the soft, burning grass with dull patting sounds.

Deng. Deng. Deng.

Chi.

Theron’s blade speed suddenly accelerated, deflecting every one of Thessa’s thrusts with a tap of his own before he parried it, his wrist twisting and nearly disarming her of her blade entirely.

The princess’ arm shook and pain shuddered up the length of her bone. The twist and spin were so violent she nearly felt her ligaments and tendons snapping in place.

Inwardly, she couldn’t help but wonder just when Theron’s blade mastery had reached such a height. It felt like she was a child before him.

His attacks were too measured, too swift, and they embodied Water in a way that stifled her. She was so distracted by trying to stay alive that she didn’t even notice that her heat was becoming a chilling wasteland.

And then the blade appeared at her neck.

It hadn’t even been a half-dozen exchanges, but her life flashed before her eyes, her body being thrown into a vat of icy waters as she shuddered from head to toe.

So easy? She was going to die just like that? Theron didn’t even seem to have cast a single Spell. He crushed her like he was some sort of elite Flux Mancer who spent all his days honing his blade.

Chi.

Theron’s eyes flashed, the subtlety of the sound not escaping his attention at all. His Third Eye was on the verge of a fifth breakthrough, and its sensitivity had only increased. Sneaking up on him was even more difficult than doing so against a Divine Realm expert.

His wrist flicked to the side and up in a fluid change, moving with a swiftness and dexterity that made it seem almost as though he had no bones in it at all.

Deng.

An arrow of blackness was deflected to the side as Thessa hurriedly increased the distance between the two of them, not wanting to get any closer at all as she held the bloody mark on her neck.

Theron’s Third Eye surged across an entire kilometer before he found what he was looking for. A young woman standing there with a bow and arrow in her hands.

Sadie.

A second arrow fired, but Theron didn’t move. That was because the arrow wasn’t aimed toward him at all.

Instead, it tore right through the back of Thessa’s knee, causing her to scream out in pain as she was pinned to the ground in one of the most horrifying ways possible.

In one breath, Sadie saved Thessa. In the next, she practically crippled her for the foreseeable future.

Theron looked toward the mysterious girl for a long while. He still didn’t understand this woman. How she appeared at the most opportune times. How her power always seemed to be unfathomable to him. Her reasons for doing things...

He understood none of it.

But right now, he didn’t care. He didn’t have the time to waste on this.

Walking to Aeryn once again, he picked him up by the neck.

"Write it down. Now."

Aeryn gritted his teeth. But this time, he obliged. The words Theron had spoken before had quite some truth to them.

Soon, what looked almost like scribbled nonsense had appeared before Theron. It wasn’t much unlike what he had seen from Beifong’s notes.

In an instant, Theron had already memorized it all.

In truth, he had memorized the other booklets as well. But he neither had the time nor patience necessary to use them.

’This should work with...’

Theron pulled out a Bloomstone, but as he was doing so, he seemed to finally notice the changes to the Secret Realm on his finger.

’What’s this?’

The ring had changed. Before, it was just the library within. But now the library was just one treasure of five floating in a chaotic cloud of black and violet that sparked with crimson lightning from time to time.

There was something particularly ominous and sinister about it as well, but once again, he didn’t know why it was giving him this feeling.

Theron tried to get his mind to enter these new treasures, only to find himself stonewalled.

’An orb of black... a looping thread... a tower—wait.’

That tower, it looked familiar. He tried to enter it with his mind and found himself almost sucked in.

Quickly, he stopped himself, pulling back.

Was that really... the Luminescent Tower? How had it appeared here?

"Are you not going to fulfill your promise? If you don’t hurry, she will die." Sadie’s voice drifted in from afar.

Theron frowned. "They want me to witness it. They are working on my timeline, not theirs. I can take however long I want."

"I’m sure you know that that’s not true. If you take too long, they will just assume you aren’t coming and kill her to prove a point."

"... Then why aren’t you doing anything?"

"Me? I’m not strong enough."

Theron’s frown deepened.

"In this world, only you can, really. I’m not ready yet."

"Who are you really?" Theron asked.

"I’m Sadie Nightingale." She said with a smile that almost reminded Theron of the innocent little girl he met so long ago.

"You seem... different."

Sadie fell into silence and then looked up into the skies.

"... A lot of things are different after you break into Gold Mancy... maybe too many things..."

Theron’s eyes narrowed. But before he could ask more, she just smiled.

"Let’s just limit the sins on your heart as much as we can, okay? Do your best. I guess... that I’ll be seeing you pretty soon. Hopefully you find the peace you’re looking for."

Theron stood in silence for a long while.

Peace?

He wasn’t looking for peace.

He was looking for revenge.

With a flicker, he vanished.