471 Today I Stand Alone

White Serpent Tower

Island X

Inside the Throne Hall, red and white-armored Kai was seated on his high-back throne majestically. His eyes were closed, his breathing calm and composed. With every next breath, a light trail of blood flames kept slithering out of his nostrils, diffusing in his surroundings.

1 week had already passed since he had ordered Cersei to march toward the south, letting her command a Company of Undead. She had returned after a successful venture two days ago.

Now, Kai planned to go to the Samurai's Hut, his heart brimming with confidence.

It was then it happened.

Kai's closed eyes suddenly snapped open, his entire body becoming taut. A great uneasy feeling took over his heart. A feeling which had remained unknown to him since his arrival at Island X.

"Cersei," Kai called out, his voice echoing throughout the Tower.

Shuuuuu!

A shadowy, black-armored silhouette blurred into existence in front of Kai. Cersei's helmet vanished inside her armor and her gaze landed on her lord.

"Go back," Kai commanded, lifting his palm toward her.

The beauty's eyes narrowed. Of course, this "Go back" didn't mean returning to duty. Kai was commanding her to disappear altogether.

Stronger than a Captain she might be, but even with armor Cersei was helpless against Commanders. Moreover, since the matter of her getting captured by Shadow Lord, Kai had decided to be extra careful regarding the Book during certain moments of unease.

This was one of those moments.

Cersei pressed a round switch on her chest. The entire armor on her clicked and clanked before becoming a ball in her hand, leaving the skin-tight shadow armor on her body.

Then she pulled an earring off her left ear and put both the ball and earring on Kai's palm. "Be careful," she said, knowing well that something incredibly grave must have happened for him to send her back.

When Cersei had gone, the earring on Kai's palm transfigured into the Tales of Beedle the Bard.

"Petyr."

Space rippled to Kai's side and Petyr walked out. He bowed and then his figure blurred. In the next moment, he assimilated with Kai's soul under the effect of ACT — Relentless Love.

It didn't end there, though.

Kai leaned down and his hands melted into his shadow, the darkness undulating like dark waters. From it, he pulled out two katanas, each more exquisite than the other.

"I sense something amiss," Sounga, the evil dragon spirit, said, letting out a purple glow. "Oi, kid! If you are planning to use me to kill weaklings, then this Dragon swears—"

The noise of several plates of metal rubbing on each other drowned Sounga's angry shouts. Kai stood up, and with a pop, vanished.

When he reappeared, Kai was already standing at the top of the White Serpent Tower, his feet resting on a board with the shape of an eagle's wings. This board's edges were hideously sharp. Kai had used the 6 Yautja Ceremonial Daggers to add another layer of sharpness.

The sun had already set, he realized. The clear skies had gone dark, and from further down, he could see monstrous clouds galloping toward him. Occasional flashes of light, followed by distant, fading gurgles, told Kai that a thunderstorm was imminent.

Sudden weather changes were a typical sight on Island X. What's the reason for this uneasy feeling then?

Rumbleee! Crack!

Thunder cracked as if clouds had burst apart inside Kai's ears. The wind became a tempest, and then sheets of rain began pouring out from those dark monstrosities, drenching everything under the skies.

Wielding Murasame in his left hand and Sounga in his right hand, Kai licked the rain off his face and smiled. This is not natural, he concluded. Which old friend has come unannounced, I wonder?

Suddenly, a formless ripple originated somewhere and swept by the entire Island X. The moment this ripple came into being, it instantly arrived at the White Serpent Tower.

Kai felt a jolt in his heart. Hmm? His burrows furrowed. Shadow Realm Jamming? No. It's different.

Kai quickly dived into the Shadow Space and saw that he couldn't access any branded shadow outside a 1 km radius circle. This was something new, making him curious. Till now, whenever the Star Beast Brotherhood jammed Shadow Realm, he couldn't even access Shadow Space, much less teleportation using Shadow Link.

As remaining within Shadow Space consumed his MP, Kai flew out and hovered above the head of the White Serpent's statue propped at the top of the Tower.

Which one is it? Kai asked himself, rain slapping across his hard face. Which General has come and from which Army?

The entire sky answered him.

Kai's head snapped up, and what he saw made him raise his eyebrows. The dark clouds had gone red. So red, in fact, that it felt like they were burning. It was as if someone had lit a flame behind a transparent black veil.

And then the clouds burst apart.

ZOOOM!

3 enormous meteorites fell toward Kai, leaving behind a burning trail in their wake. The entire sky lit up with an orange-yellow-red color because of them, an invisible pressure rocking the entire space.

This wasn't all, though.

As Kai's mouth pressed into a thin line, a gargantuan amount of weight fell over him. It was as if he had suddenly gained 10 times his weight.

Indeed. In the same 1 km radius circle around Kai, the gravity had increased by 10 times.

Kai behaved as if he had sensed nothing, and kept hovering above the tower, his gaze planted hard on the 3 meteorites. However, the undead weren't as absurd as Blood Demon.

Other than the Level 3 Reanimated Corpses, all undead's knees buckled, rooting them to the grounds. Kai had never counted on them for him to frown upon their situation, to begin with. All the undead were cannon fodder and were pretty much useless in a fight of this caliber.

Just as the meteorites arrived 500 meters above the tower, their heat arrived first, scorching Kai's face. He lifted his hand and pressed a switch on his right arm.

Thrummmmmm!

The entire tower trembled, and a spherical dome appeared around the White Serpent Tower. The spherical dome comprised countless hexagonal shields made of Mana.

One moment, the 3 meteorites were still falling, space burning in their surroundings. In the next moment, they already kissed the spherical dome.

BOOM!!!

Everything shook. All beings trembled.

But the spherical dome didn't break.

Kai's smile widened. This Mana dome was a product of his and Rintaro's decades' worth of research and experiments. It could even hold its ground under the barrage of a General for 15 minutes.

Kai was still marveling at the sight of rubble and fire scattered in the skies when his heart once more jolted. It was as if someone had gripped and squeezed it.

This time, however, he didn't get the time to ruminate over this uneasy feeling.

A sun had risen over the horizon, Kai saw. Clouds got torn apart, the downpour vaporized, and the wind became a sea of heat.

Even the night couldn't stand against the light and heat.

From that sun, a single ray of sunlight trailed through the sky in slow motion as if time had stagnated.

The moment this ray of burning sunlight landed on the Mana dome, with a resounding bang, it shattered like an enormous mirror.

And as the pieces of the dome rained down, for the first time, Kai realized why he had been getting the uneasy feeling.

He had thought that a General had arrived. He wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right, either.

A General had indeed arrived. But he wasn't alone.

The sky was covered with them, their figures reflecting the shining heat. All of them had arrived at once, sharing the same ambition.

Today—they would eradicate the False One.

"Incredible!" Kai's eyes shone, his figure rising toward the sky, toward those figures. "What an honor! What a remarkable honor for you all to come for me together!"

This sight felt too familiar.

This sight could make one feel deja vu.

There was a time when Kai had been surrounded by incomprehensibly powerful figures. A time when he could fly; a time when he was wearing red armor.

Kai felt as if he could hear the gurgles of that old thunderstorm approaching him from behind.

However, in the end, this day wasn't like that. Not at all.

Things had changed. Times had changed. He had changed.

Today, too, he stood alone.

But today, he alone was enough.