Chapter 135: Chains of Salvation

Rion’s eyes widened in utter disbelief as the purple flame began to devour Nothing."What the fuck?!"

He was able to understand that it had devoured Nothing because the darkness that had covered the sky had vanished from the area touched by the flame, and a further path had become visible.

It was as if the dark was being burned away, revealing what had always been hiding beyond it.

"There’s more?!" He exclaimed and noticed that the humanoid body had begun to change.

Suddenly, eerie dark feather wings jutted out of its back and using them, it continued the flight.

The purple flame devoured the Nothing, and it moved upwards.

Rion couldn’t understand what it was trying to do or how it was even doing that. He had seen that the flame could devour anything, but not even in his dreams had he expected that it could devour nothing.

He looked back and saw that the Nothing was repairing itself.

"Blasted hell..." he mumbled and looked to the front.

After some time, something else fell into his vision.

It was a red and black barrier, and beyond it was land...

The humanoid monster neared the barrier, and the flame latched onto it.

Sparks and hisses came out as they touched each other, and as always, the purple flame tried to devour the barrier, but its fangs were too weak.

Just as the flame gnawed at it, its fangs cracked, and the humanoid monster began to fall.

For the first time, Rion saw sorrow and disbelief in the humanoid monster’s eyes, but just as it was falling, a speck of its flame managed to break through the barrier, and the humanoid monster shook violently.

The flame could now break the barrier, but the humanoid monster was falling down in a daze, its wings had already stopped working, and it was descending directly towards Nothing.

Its eyes locked onto the speck of the flame that had entered the barrier, and it commanded the speck to go further inside.

The speck drifted upwards and vanished from Rion’s vision.

The humanoid monster opened its arms wide, and its body began to ripple.

Its monster-like features began to vanish, and it began to look more humane.

But it was still falling, however, just as it was about to reach the darkness, the sound of rattling echoed from the inside of the barrier and an ancient chain shot towards it.

Swoosh!

The humanoid figure clutched the rusty chain, and the chain retracted, pulling it towards the barrier.

Purple flames poured out; the humanoid monster streaked and struck the barrier.

The barrier ripped for a few moments before a wide hole appeared in it, and the humanoid monster crossed the barrier.

It rolled on the ground for a few moments, and for the first time since its birth, it was in a realm without monsters and savagery.

Screens appeared before Rion.

[Ding!]

[You have entered a signable location while being in the stabilising mode.]

[Your current location is being found!]

[The location is virtual!]

[Searching for the protocol to perform!]

[Searching...]

However, Rion wasn’t looking at them; instead, he was checking his surroundings.

The jagged ground was dark, laced with ghostly white veins that pulsed ominously running through it like fractures.

The scorched trees stood crimson, their branches bearing pale, ashen leaves.

Rivers of magma flowed like living serpents, while ash fell from above like a rain of dread.

The sky was dark as it had neither moon nor sun.

"What is this place...?" He mumbled, and the humanoid monster suddenly began to move.

A few moments later, Rion’s gaze fell on a gigantic skeleton with stains of golden blood clinging to the bones.

It was strapped to a pillar with enormous ancient nails and various sizes of ancient chains, and one of those chains was now in the humanoid monster’s claw.

It rattled the chain near its ear, and for the first time, it mumbled, "T...he... R—"

However, before Rion could hear the whole of it, a blinding red light filled his world, and the sounds of cracks echoed in his ear.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and found himself back within the purple fog forest.

His headache vanished, he looked around, and his gaze fell on Haden, who was crouching beside the child that The Remnant had taken over.

He stepped towards Haden, and a screen appeared before him.

[Ding!]

[Your virtual location has been found out!]

[Sign in at <Prison of The Great One>?]

[Error! Error! Error!]

[You are no longer at the location!]

[Unfortunately! You cannot sign in!]

’Prison of The Great One? Is it talking about that skeleton?’ He thought, and suddenly a voice fell in his ears.

"Rion..."

Rion gazed at Haden and mumbled, "Father..."

His eyes shifted towards the child, and he asked, "Is he fine?"

Haden looked into Rion’s eyes for a few moments before he nodded and asked, "Are you fine?"

Rion’s lips parted to say that he is fine, but the words halted in his throat.

He opened and closed his lips for a few minutes, and Haden said, "Let us go back, son."

Rion looked at Haden with a heavy expression and nodded.

The withered ground and the dried, lifeless wood cried under their steps, and Haden, who had the child in his arms, said, "The Remnant won’t be able to ruin your feast anymore."

"I see..." Rion mumbled without focusing; he had too much to think about.

’What had he seen?’

’Who had he seen?’

’Why had he seen that?’

’What was that place?’

’How did the purple flame of that humanoid monster become corrupted?’

Lastly, ’How did it reach the red and black mountains?’

Worry flashed into Haden’s eyes upon seeing Rion’s troubled face but he didn’t have any words to say to him.

The duo of father and son continued their walk in silence until Rion suddenly asked, "How are Dhaevrak and The Remnant connected?"

Haden’s jaw tightened at the question. He glanced at Rion and thought, ’Should I tell him?’

A few more minutes passed as Haden pondered whether he should tell him or not, and he finally spoke, "They...