"ARLO!"
Several anxious shouts echoed in every direction. Nobody knew what was going on.
One second, the world seemed to be on the verge of destruction, another second, the world returned to normal. The terrifying lightning tribulation that covered the entire skies of the Lunar World disappeared without a trace. The spider-web cracks that formed and spread out in space were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, within the scorched ground was a bottomless abyss that stretched for thousands of miles. It looked like the gaping maw of a terrifying ancient beast.
And at the opposite edge of the bottomless pit was a figure encased in golden ice. Evangeline's naked figure was nowhere to be seen.
Ari was the first to arrive before the golden ice. The ground beneath her seemed to shrink as she instantly flashed beside Arlo. A few breaths later, Anna, the fat woman in make-up, and Arthur, supported by Martins, appeared beside him.
"Son..."
Rita wept as she embraced the golden ice. Looking at the two crystalline tears that appeared to have been frozen at the edge of her son's closed eyes, she felt like her heart was being pierced by thorns.
"My son...my only child..." Her choked sobs resounded clearly within the silent world. "I am so sorry you have to suffer alone."
Arthur, who always looked confident, as if even if the world were to fall, he would be able to lift it, was now pale. It was unknown if it was because of his injured state or if it was because of his son. But his red and wet eyes spoke volumes of the reason.
"He seems okay..." Ari who had arrived first and had already investigated Arlo's condition, paused for a moment as she chose her words wisely. After all, she was talking to a mother who had been separated from her child for two months, and now that they finally met, she couldn't even share a moment with her child.
"It is weird. There is no threat to his life, but it doesn't appear like he is just unconscious either."
What she said was what the others felt too. Even with their deep knowledge and experience, they couldn't explain the situation.
"Dear..." Arthur rested his hand on Rita's trembling shoulder.
"I know." Rita cut him off. She didn't need others to tell her. With her great affinity to the laws of time, she could clearly feel the surrounding essence of time enveloping Arlo, like a mother gently cradling her offspring.
A ring on her finger flashed with a silver light, and a golden scarf appeared in her hand. Looking at the young face before her, she touched the ice affectionately, before gently placing the scarf around it.
No one bothered suggesting breaking the ice. With their senses, they could feel that whatever was happening to Arlo was beyond them, and they didn't dare to act impulsively and place his life in any danger. Besides, they truly could not feel any threat to Arlo's life. Instead, they could instinctively tell he was transforming. Whether it was a good transformation or not, only time would tell.
"Old man, are you there?" Arthur suddenly called out.
"Old man?"
"Oi, old fool, answer and explain what is going on. This wasn't part of the deal." His voice quivered slightly in suppressed anger.
However, no matter how he called, no one responded to him. It seemed even the artifact spirit was slumbering.
Rita continued kneeling beside Arlo as she caressed the ice in silence, her thoughts unknown.
Suddenly, Arthur and the others raised their heads as they gazed at the sky.
"Guests have arrived," Anna said coldly, as a sneer formed on her face.
"It is normal. A few days ago, the secret realm closed shorter than usual, not to mention Arlo and his team's accomplishment. Very few were able to bring out any treasure this time, and a lot of geniuses with immense potential had even died. For them to come now and at the same time shows that they had met beforehand and planned on coming together. Arlo's sudden awakening must have simply quickened their arrival."
With their powers and senses, they could all sense the spacecraft that had appeared outside the Lunar World. Normally, they would have even come a while ago to demand an explanation for what happened in the secret realm, but it wasn't for no reason that the Lunar World appeared deserted for a planet its size. The vampires were feared across many worlds, and no one dared to barge into their home world, especially humans. Despite being the only higher world in its star zone, the Lunar World appeared to be barren. Aside from the vampires and the werewolves in their territories, only the magical beasts could be found, and that too only in the central continent. As for the humans, they hid in a minor world, in fear of being killed or consumed for their blood. That they hadn't completely abandoned this world for another safer one showed their great attachment to the Lunar World.
The spacecrafts could only remain outside, as none of them had any confidence in entering this world on their own. This just went to show how they greatly feared Scarlett and her race. Even now, these experts at the peak of their races still didn't dare to enter until they received permission.
Suddenly, space fluctuated wildly a great distance from them.
"Oh! Someone dares to directly teleport here?" The fat woman voiced in surprise, but when the group saw who stepped out from space, they were frozen.
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"We are representatives of the Osmont galaxy. We ask for permission to land." A voice that seemed to come from the heavens suddenly shook the skies, however, Arthur and his team acted like they didn't hear it.
It wasn't until after a few breaths, that their frozen expressions suddenly gave way to ugly looks. Without any hesitation, Ari flashed to the front of the group as she summoned a shield and erupted with earth essence.
A wave of earth rose to the sky to form the shape of her summoned shield, thousands of meters high and hundreds of meters wide. The huge earthen shield shone with a dirty brown glow that they gave an aura of an immovable mountain.
About half a kilometer away from their position, a waist-length dark-haired man watched the group's reaction with a cold look.
He ignored the conjured shield and as if his eyes could pierce through the earth barrier to see what was behind it, they rested on the golden ice. His eyes seemed to lose their focus as he watched the space in front of him.
Like this, time slowly passed.
Arthur's group remained alert. Despite being the strongest humans in the whole dark galaxy, the indifferent looks on their faces couldn't hide the light of apprehension hidden within their eyes as they gazed at the dark-haired man.
The people in outer space continued to ask for permission to land, yet they received no reply whatsoever. Nevertheless, they didn't dare to enter and could only continue asking for permission in vain.
The dark-haired man adorned in matching robes looked to be gazing into the distance yet seemed focused on the space before him when he suddenly shook fiercely. After reading the series of messages that flashed on the invisible screen before him, the iciness on his face increased by several notches.
For the first time since he arrived, he shifted his eyes from Arlo before studying the group before him. But when his eyes rested on Arthur and he noticed his injured state, the cold light in his eyes suddenly intensified manifolds.
"Not good," Martins shouted as he quickly crushed a jar in his hand. Immediately after, a crimson aura that caused heaven and earth to change color enveloped him.
The dark-haired man in the distance didn't seem to notice all this, as his eyes remained fixed on Arthur, as if he was the only one in his world.
His eyes still flashing with a cold light, the dark-haired man raised his foot to take a step, only for him to be frozen still. He wasn't the only one as the expression of Arthur and his group distorted briefly before returning to normal.
In another direction, a wild fluctuation appeared in space, and soon after, two figures appeared.
Both figures were women. One was about three meters tall, with snow-white hair and pale skin. Her ruby eyes widened slowly as she took in the world around her. The second woman, who had purple hair and a short but busty figure, also shared her reaction. Their bodies were covered in blood, and both their faces shone with exhaustion. Yet, the terrifying killing intent they were giving off caused the air around them to freeze.
A pin-drop silence enveloped the area.
Rebecca was the first to react. When she saw Arthur and his group, the angry look on her face gave way to stunned surprise. But when she saw the dark-haired man, her purple eyes contracted into slits, a look of fear flashing on her face.
"DIE!"
An angry cry shook the area. Scarlett, who had enveloped the entire world with her spiritual sense and had connected with the world's will, roared as she disappeared from the spot.
Her body bent forward, and her legs moved so fast that they turned into a blur. Her movement looked more like a monster's than a human. Despite looking so tired, she appeared before the dark-haired man in an instant and slashed her fingers, which turned into sharp claws forward.
The dark-haired man only followed her movement with cold eyes, and it wasn't until the claws were about to tear into his face that his eyes shone with a dark glow.
A massive figure with a blurry outline appeared behind the dark-haired man. With lightning-fast movement, its hand moved before catching Scarlett in an iron-grip. No matter how Scarlett struggled, she couldn't free herself.
"You are courting death!" Another fierce cry shook the earth as purple lightning covered the entire skies.
Before the lightning could even fall, Martins had already appeared beside the dark-haired man, his body shining like a crimson sun on Earth. As his sword, covered in the same aura, slashed forward, space was easily split like a knife cutting into a soft bread.
For the first time since his arrival, the dark-haired man spoke:
"Evil God Possession!"
The burry figure behind him instantly solidified to form a figure covered in a hooded black cloak. With one hand still grabbing Scarlett, two red eyes flashed underneath the hood of the colossal figure as a wave of evil energy spread out in every direction.
RUMBLE!
Purple lightning fell from the skies while a crimson light pierced through the cloud of evil energy. But just as a scythe materialized in the other hand of the massive hooded figure, a black gate appeared behind the dark-haired man and before he could react, he was forcefully sucked into it
Martin's eyes widened slowly when he saw his target suddenly disappear. Thankfully he was able to stop his attack, but the same couldn't be said for Rebecca. The lightning snakes as thick as an adult's thigh fell before Scarlett, the shockwaves sending her flying into the distance.
"Sister!" Rebecca's anxious cry shook the area. Only she knew how tired Scarlett was. Not only did she singlehandedly take down Pride, but she had even been the one to deal the killing blow to Sorrow. Not to mention the billions of Corrupted that had been annihilated by her spiritual energy.
A figure silently appeared behind the flying Scarlett, before catching her in his embrace. Scarlett coughed a mouthful of blood as her ruby eyes shone with a fierce glow.
Shaking the hold around her waist away, Scarlett's cold voice filled with hatred resounded in the area.
"Bastard, he only appears when the situation is favorable for him and runs when it is not."
Arthur smiled wryly when he saw Scarlett push him away and ignore his existence.
"We are representatives of..."
Before the voice coming from the skies could even finish, Scarlett's angry cry cut it off.
"FUCK OFF!"
If Arlo and the others were here, they would be shocked senseless to see the always cold Scarlett curse.
But those present understood her emotions. Not only was the Lunar World in a state of destruction but hundreds of thousands of vampires had lost their lives. They didn't number much in the first place, so losing so many vampires would greatly affect the race and impact their activities in other worlds.
The spacecrafts outside space seemed to shake from Scarlett's cry. Still, they didn't leave and merely retreated a great distance from the planet.
"Why are you so angry?" A sensual voice suddenly reverberated within the ears of Scarlett and the others. Scarlett was just about to curse for the second time when she suddenly froze.
"Ohoho! I see the little rat got away!"
Following the direction of the voice, Scarlett, Rebecca, Arthur, and the others suddenly understood why the dark-haired man had quickly escaped. Only Rita remained indifferent to what was happening around her as she hugged her frozen child in silence.
"Master..." Arthur, Scarlett, and Rebecca voiced out at the same time.
A red-haired woman with matching skin, wearing scanty clothes smiled at the group.
"How many times will I tell you to call me 'Mama'?"
END OF VOLUME ONE:AWAKENING (TWO MONTHS)
AN: We have come a long way. It has been over a year since I started publishing FAA and I would like to use this opportunity to thank all those who have been following the novel.
FAA will resume on the 8th of next month. I want to use this period to edit the novel and make some minor corrections in the story. Also, I need to rest, as I have been having some health issues lately, which was why I didn't update any chapter last Sunday.
I promise to come back with a more engaging, exciting, and fast-paced volume. Until then, take care.✌️