20demayo Chapter 167 The Conversation Between Layton and Srian
Chapter 167 The Conversation Between Layton and Srian
Chapter 167 The Conversation Between Layton and Srian
Through the communication stone, Silian's voice clearly carried shock and a hint of barely perceptible wavering. She was obviously completely unaware of the "massacre," which was entirely different from what she had been told.
"A massacre? What did you say? A massacre? What exactly happened?!"
Sillian's voice came through the communication stone, and for the first time, a clear crack appeared in the usual stern questioning of a white wizard, filled with surprise and disbelief.
"The war waged by the Duchy of Nar against Arthur was a registered secular conflict, bound by certain provisions of the Secular Convention of Ecar."
How could such a horrific and utterly illogical act as the massacre of an entire city happen?! Kate City—what on earth happened in Kate City?!
Grand Duke Longqi, as if afraid that the truth would be revealed, cried out and tried to distort the facts, his voice sharp and hurried.
"Sirius! My good daughter! Don't listen to their nonsense! They're insane! The Arthurians have colluded with the dark wizards!"
"They are evil! They want to kill us Nar people! They're lying! They're just making excuses for their evil invasion! Save me! Please save us!"
Layton Arthur let out a cold laugh that was extremely sarcastic and desolate, sounding particularly jarring and desperate through the communication stone.
"Lies? Excuses? Heh—hahahahaha!"
His laughter suddenly became more manic and painful, as if all the pent-up grievances and anger were exploding at this moment.
"Sirius Nar! Drop your haughty, otherworldly white wizard act! Ask the master of this palace yourself! Ask your dear, blood-stained father!"
Layton's voice suddenly rose, filled with the force of a tearful accusation, each word seeming to be scalding blood, squeezed out from between his teeth, and hurled at the person on the other end of the communication stone.
"Ask them! After Kate City was forcibly breached by your master Dahl, whom you hired at great expense, using inhuman force! After only unarmed civilians, women and children, and dying wounded soldiers remained inside! What did your 'valiant' army, Nar, do to them?!"
"They playfully set fire to every house that could be burned! They drove the panicked civilians to the central square like livestock!"
Then, armed with spears, bows and arrows, and even swords, they engaged in a bloody hunting game that lasted a full day and night! Not even infants in swaddling clothes or the elderly with limited mobility were spared!
"Our great general fought valiantly but was captured. Unwilling to suffer humiliation, he resolutely committed suicide for his country! And his head—his head—was impaled on the spears of your Nar soldiers and displayed around the city!"
"The entire city! Nearly 100,000 innocent people! Their blood stained every brick of Kate! Their cries and pleas were too painful for even the gods to bear! Is this what you call a 'reported secular conflict'?!"
Layton completely lost control of his emotions. His body trembled violently, his eyes burned with hellish flames, and his fingers, pointing at Longch and the royal family members, convulsed with extreme agitation.
"And now! You, the radiant flame residing in the eternal tower, basking in its dazzling light and countless praises, come to question why we seek revenge?! To accuse us of using excessive methods of revenge?! To uphold the so-called right to survival of these beasts in human skin?!"
"We are simply using the methods you Nar people taught us! Using the most primal and fair laws of this continent to pay for this blood debt! To avenge this blood debt that will never be forgotten!"
On the other end of the communication stone, there was a deathly silence.
All that could be heard was Sirian's suddenly heavy and incredulous breathing.
Clearly, the bloody scenes described by Layton were not the same as the "legitimate and compliant" secular wars she knew.
Several seconds passed before Sillian's voice rang out again. Her voice had lost its previous sternness, becoming somewhat dry and even—
With a slight tremor.
"—This matter—I—I will investigate it thoroughly! If—if what you say is true—"
She seemed reluctant to talk about it, but a strong sense of responsibility compelled her to continue.
"Even so, revenge should not be carried out by introducing dark wizards and committing even larger-scale massacres! This will only create more hatred and death! Stop your actions immediately, Layton Arthur! Otherwise, you will face the Tower of Eternity—"
She didn't finish her sentence.
Layton interrupted her with a laugh that was one of utter disappointment and complete resolute defiance.
"Investigation? Halt?"
"Too late, Silian. You were the ones who first used supernatural powers to intervene in the secular war! When the blood of Kate City has dried up, when my people are dying in despair, where are your 'order' and 'investigation' in the Eternal Tower?"
"Now, the order from the Silent Forest has arrived. And the Duchy of Nar—must pay the price."
Thinking of how his resistance had been a laughing stock in front of that "master," before Sirian could respond again, the last trace of wavering in Layton's eyes vanished completely, replaced by utter coldness and resolve.
He suddenly raised his hand, and a powerful surge of shadow energy instantly erupted, not striking Long Qi, but precisely hitting the still glowing communication stone!
"Snap!"
The communication stone was instantly eroded, shattered, and turned to dust by the powerful negative energy!
The glimmer of hope that had just appeared on Grand Duke Longqi's face was completely shattered, turning into even deeper despair.
Sirian's voice stopped abruptly.
The last connection was completely severed.
Inside the hall, only the desperate sobs of the members of the Nar royal family and Layton Arthur's cold, iron-like command remained: "Continue."
The chilling command, like a final death knell, shattered the last shred of hope for the Nar royal family.
The shadowy claws tightened suddenly!
That was not a physical compression, but a terrifying binding and extracting force that directly acted on the very essence of the soul!
The dark wizard apprentice standing behind Layton once again lifted the constantly spinning black crystal vessel that exuded a greedy suction force, and the blasphemous incantation was chanted out at a faster speed and in a sharper tone!
"No--!!!"
Grand Duke Longqi let out his last desperate howl, his obese body convulsing violently, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.
He clearly felt his "existence" being brutally torn apart and stripped away, plunging into a cold, void, and endless abyss!
This kind of pain far exceeds physical torture; it is the most thorough trampling and annihilation of the soul!
The same applies to other members of the royal family and nobles.
Their pleas and cries became distorted and intermittent under the extreme pain of their souls being forcibly ripped out, eventually turning into a silent struggle of despair.
Their bodies lost life at a visible rate, their skin turned ashen and withered, maintaining the expressions of extreme fear and pain they had before death, like horrible specimens that had been instantly dried out.
The rich and pure soul energy, mixed with their extreme fear, resentment and unwillingness that erupted before their death, turned into visible wisps of pale mist, wailing as they were sucked into the black vortex of the vessel.
The vessel hummed contentedly, and the runes on its surface lit up one by one, as if it had drunk its fill of fine nectar.
Within a dozen or so breaths, the hall fell completely silent.
The royal family members who were wailing and struggling just moments before have now turned into hollow, dried-up corpses in various poses on the ground.
The magnificent palace became their collective tomb, its luxurious decorations contrasting sharply with the extreme, terrifying stillness.
The feast of revenge reached its bloody climax.
Layton Arthur watched all this indifferently, the burning fire of revenge in his chest seemingly finding some release at the moment his enemy was completely annihilated!
But what follows is a deeper, colder emptiness.
He personally carried out his revenge, but also plunged himself into eternal darkness.
He slowly turned his horse around, and the iron hooves of the Nightmare Warhorse pounded the cold ground, making a clear echo.
"Clean up all areas of the royal palace."
His voice was devoid of any emotional fluctuation, as if everything that had just happened was merely a dusting.
"Gather the souls of all the remaining resistance fighters. Ensure Lord Hick's firewood is plentiful."
The dark torrent obeyed his commands, like a highly efficient death machine, and began to spread to every corner of the palace.
Screams and desperate cries rang out again, but they were sparser and weaker than before, like dying groans.
The downfall of the Nar royal family is a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, far away in the Tower of Eternity, the communication stone in Sirian Nar's hand completely lost its light. The last desperate cries and Layton's cold words that came through were like icy thorns, deeply piercing her heart.
She stood frozen in place, her beautiful face drained of color, and the knuckles of her fingers, gripping the now-malfunctioning communication stone, turned white from excessive force.
Massacre of the city —
Black Wizard —
Father King————
family----
Each word struck her mind like a hammer blow.
She had always believed it was a secular war governed by rules; she trusted the order of the Eternal Tower, she trusted her father—
But Layton's tearful accusations, the extreme pain and hatred that could be felt even through the communication stone, and that final, abrupt, desperate scream—
All of this points to a terrible truth that she is unwilling to believe, yet cannot completely deny.
A chilling current, a mixture of shock, anger, shame, and a hint of indescribable fear, instantly swept over her entire body.
Her body trembled slightly.
It wasn't out of fear, but because of the intense shock of a belief being completely shaken.
"How could this be—?"
She muttered to herself absentmindedly.
A few seconds later, a raging fire suddenly ignited in those clear and determined eyes!
It was no longer a pure flame of light, but a mixture of anger at being deceived, shame at the possible crimes committed by the family, and extreme hatred for the dark wizard and Layton Arthur's extremely cruel methods!
"Layton Arthur!!"
She practically gritted her teeth as she squeezed out the two names.
Regardless of the truth, the dark wizards of the Silent Forest have openly intervened in the secular war and carried out such a large-scale massacre, which has completely crossed the line!
And she, Sirian Nar, as the representative of the Eternal Tower and the princess of the Duchy of Nar, could not stand idly by!
"Prepare the saddles immediately! Assemble my squad!"
She turned around abruptly, her voice sharpened by intense emotion, carrying an undeniable determination.
"Return to the Duchy of Nar as quickly as possible!"
"At the same time, in my name, I urgently notify the Supreme Council! The Silent Forest has blatantly violated the alliance, intervening in the secular war with extremely cruel methods, its intentions unclear! I request—the highest level of attention and judgment!"
She has to get back immediately!
She must find out the truth! She must—prevent an even greater disaster from happening!
A fire ignited by revenge is about to set off the most intense and long-suppressed conflict between white and black wizards!
The "firewood" that Hick was hoping for is becoming more and more plentiful.
And Silian, this "blazing light," is being forced onto the path of burning most intensely, in the very way he most desired.