Notorious Return
Vrruuu- thud thud. Machinery sounds went off as the darkness slowly dissipated. The people under the debris saw lights appear in their retinas as they coiled within a small compartment. When their eyesight cleared up, a figure finally appeared, making them feel at ease as they couldn't employ their Spirit Sense. Their Fighter's captain spoke out immediately, "Team leader! We- are we rescued?"
"Mn," Heian Ciemnosc nodded at the captain before setting his gaze on another member of the Fighter's piloting team. The captain looked back and saw a short-haired beauty with pale skin, otherwise creamy white with a bronze touch. She had her eyes closed, and nobody needed Spirit Sense to know she was a goner. The captain fell silent and only heard the young woman's name when the team leader spouted it. "Linda..."
"Team leader... I'm useless," the captain said, already tearing up from his lacrimals as he looked away in shame. The other 3 in the same compartment moved around it to look at Linda. Seeing her 'peaceful' expression, they fell silent while feeling vacant inside their hearts. Heian Ciemnosc picked Linda up, held her in his arms before his chest, and pecked her lips, his mouth remaining stagnant for several seconds before departing. He looked at the captain and calmly said, "It's not like that. You did well, so few died in the suicidal attack you employed... It just happened her time had come... May we fight together again and not on opposite sides."
Heian Ciemnosc's last few words echoed inside their hearts like a chant as they looked at Linda's face, their whole selves one with their deceased, fellow teammate. Heian Ciemnosc walked back to his Ornament and slowly placed Linda's body on a stretcher before walking to his seat. His COs, wife, and Fera were silent as he nodded to Violet, who then gave instructions to take flight. The other survivors were rescued and hopped into the Ornament. They were treated by Victor and Violet, while Gloria and Fera learned under them. None were alchemists, but they were slightly trained by Heian Ciemnosc in order to know how to deal with the injured. Their problems weren't the same as civilians.
They saw another 5 already in stretchers looking at them inside a room close to the smallish engine, and they later knew these were another Fighter’s team members from a crashing Fighter. They had only 1 casualty, unlike the suicidal Fighter, which lost 3 team members. It was their captain. When the suicidal Fighter’s team heard this, their captain felt saddened again, but he was a Concealed Ornament Team member and didn’t dwell on the past for too long. All his mind was on about was Linda’s arrangements.
They were Heian Ciemnosc’s people, and with every captain perfectly understanding each of their team’s members, how could they now know their circumstances? He had to prepare heavy and hefty sums of treasures and money to her knowns at the very least. Then, he would have to honor and keep going for Linda and the other fallen team members.
Both teams’ Fighters were left behind, but not without taking the remaining ammunition, if any, and placing a self-detonating mechanism with a couple missiles from the inside at the weakest and most important places of each Fighter. Although the suicidal fighter was at the center of the big explosion back then, it still managed to survive with 3 chunks of metal, some with machine guns still attached.
After the Ornament picked the teams’ survivors up, they immediately went at full speed towards the Medium City, where the rest of the small group already knew of their victory. Additionally, the Medium City had dispatched hundreds of Frigates. It wasn’t just to keep the City and its surroundings safe but to apprehend the violators. And for whatever reason, when the small group spoke about their situation to the Medium City, the Featherface Pavilion immediately sent their City’s forces outside to deal with it.
After knowing this, Heian Ciemnosc only went a few rounds with Elena and Sakura until they fed him enough dark Power Energy to fill ⅛ his reserves. This amount was ‘full’ for any other Spirit Rebirth realm 10th stage cultivator. Heian Ciemnosc then used his insanely large Spirit Sense after it evolved, with Heian Ciemnosc breaking into the Spirit Rebirth realm and right into the 10th stage, for that matter — to find the survivor’s shelter compartment.
Now that those things were over and the Ornament hurried towards the City, they went at full speed but would still need at least 4 or 5 days before arriving there. With the Rychly Transporting Formation Array, they would’ve reached the Medium City in under a few hours. But after being left all alone, they could only go in the usual way, the same they used when coming to the mist’s territory.
During their trip there, the Ornament was silent but already healing. After treating everyone and ensuring their safety and that no sequelae would follow, Gloria and Fera were put in bed for further treatment. They had learned, and now they had to heal. The other COs were completely fine. Only Aleksander was slightly hurt after taking care of Gloria. Or else, someone barely at the Obsidiafying realm compared to the other COs at the peak of the Spirit Rebirth realm.
Even Aleksander was nearing the peak, already in the later stages. Aleksander became the old-generation CO with the worst cultivation base after Heian Ciemnosc’s path exploded in an uprising. However, it wasn’t without secondary effects. It was unnaturally, after all. After Heian Ciemnosc banged nonstop for days and arrived back at the Medium City, he noticed his cultivation base’s… for the first time… shaky foundation!
He felt slight trepidation and urgency at all times! It was a first for Heian Ciemnosc, but it made fucking sense. His cultivation base didn’t grow stage by stage, even if it did rapidly under a few seconds or minutes. But the latter would already be detrimental to anyone’s cultivation. However, Heian Ciemnosc did the unthinkable and directly jumped an entire realm without knowing even the 1st stage, 2nd stage, and so on.
Naturally, although the former situation wouldn’t be a problem for Heian Ciemnosc’s cultivation base, the latter was much too unnatural - and the current Heian Ciemnosc was, for sure, incapable of making do with it as with the former. When he arrived at the City, he didn’t waste any second, immediately leading his people back to the space station.
Another gigantic vessel was there to pick them up - and with Heian Ciemnosc’s situation, it traveled faster than their previous trip to the Sanz Kingdom. In less than a few days, just 2 in total, it arrived in the Wrath Nihility Academy’s Universe. The trip was exceptionally calm but somewhat silent, but many were still cheerful. Before, the CO Team might have been seen as the most elite among the First Step forces, but now… Now, it was their role model. For life.
. . .
In the large vessel, as it landed on the largest space station orbiting the Blackotia Kingdom. Heian Ciemnosc felt like it was a smaller one after witnessing the Sanz Kingdom up close.
It was the 4th year since Heian Ciemnosc attended the Academy, in the 2nd month’s 3rd week and only a few hours before the last week until the end of the month. By then, Heian Ciemnosc was expected to travel into space again and represent them, partly, in the upcoming event between Overlords of the same Existence. Right now, however, he was sitting on his bed with his beloved wife. Elena, cuddling on his chest.
“... As you can see, millions are packed up before me as the transporting ship has arrived. All these have watched those videos since they came out, crazily waiting for this Concealed Ornament Team to show themselves. It hasn’t been seen since the victories in the 10 year war. Before that, many Eons went by without a situation like this. One could say the Wrath Nihility Academy is blooming like it had never done! Here I have a Student, ready to talk about the Concealed Ornament Team’s team leader. Niko, what are your thoughts?”
As the reporter spoke, several frames popped around the screen showing Heian Ciemnosc’s Fighter battlefield against hundreds and hundreds of enemy Fighters. The scenes that were completely dark at nighttime and only flashes could be seen were highlighted by the monitor showing every Fighter. The Academy’s side was highlighted with blue and a golden glow. While the enemy had a white glow and yellow outlined shapes.
Those frames were no small thing, and Heian Ciemnosc could tell his Concealed Ornament Team had recorded them. There were other angles from high above, which he credited to his wifey. However, there were no sights of Heian Ciemnosc killing Greg, much less any image of him creating a sudden dome that swallowed even silence into its body. Elena’s birdy tool Taeo, her Flood Dragon’s subjugation, and being struck into the sky were not shown.
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Birdy tool Taeo was already in Heian Ciemnosc’s pockets, soon to be repaired. On the other hand, the Flood Dragon was resting somewhere in the vessel with tons of food served to him, some of which Heian Ciemnosc prepared for this fella to eat away when in a leisurely mood. The Flood Dragon wasn’t terribly injured, but it was left with a terrible after-effect once everything was over. Elena treated it spoiledly like her child. Thus, it was only natural that Heian Ciemnosc had to spoil it slightly.
Besides, who knew if Elena’s Flood Dragon and Heian Ciemnosc’s Jing Evan would be besties in the future. Even with the former’s pride, it wouldn’t deny Elena’s wishes if she wanted it to be Evans’s buddy. Much less would it slight Heian Ciemnosc. It felt some sort of primitive respect and fear whenever it looked at him.
“Yeah, I’m Niko, hello~.” At this moment, on the TV, a frail-looking student whom Heian Ciemnosc deduced to be in the Spirit Formation realm early stages appeared beside the reporter. He looked at the camera excitedly but kept looking backwards at the vessel behind them. The reporter looked at Niko and said, asking him. “Well, is there anything you want to say to the CO Team Leader in case he hears you? Or to the public?”
“Hell yeah,” Niko took the microphone device from the reporter, making the latter’s eyebrows jump, but he kept calm. Niko faced the camera and bowed before starting. “First and foremost, I want to apologize for what I’ll say later. So, I’ll begin by paying my deepest respects to the fallen Concealed Ornament Team members who fell for the sake of the Academy’s students and safety. Your symbolic return here will be in ours, students’, hearts for a long while!”
“Ahem. Now, as I promised, the following words might be unconventional.” Niko looked at the ground nervously, shyly pulling his uniform’s collar until he gathered enough courage to look fixedly into the camera. “Heian Ciemnosc, if you are willing, you don’t have to look into girls only. Here, lonely boys like me want you to *peeeeeep* until we’re *peeep* and our *peep* are destroyed by your glorious *PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*...”
“...” Elena’s face was indifferent but baffled as she looked and heard the TV. On the other hand, Heian Ciemnosc smiled helplessly at first, but his expression quickly eased. When it was enough, the reporter chipped in and took the microphone device back into his hands, bashing the lewd Student away. He sweated as he looked at the camera and wiped some of his forehead’s sweat before saying. “Cough, cough, cough. That was something… alright!”
The reporter’s head turned backwards, and his left arm extended erect, pointing at the vessel’s extensive main hatch. “Now! I just received news the Concealed Ornament Team is about to come out! I am seeing millions of students starting to move… They’re making a long line in the middle. It is quite wide as well… Aha! They are making way for their heroes! They are so organized~... Look, look! The hatch is opening! It’s coming down as a rampart. They are carrying the symbolic funeral items. Let’s take a look!”
The reporter’s last words were spoken as the angle changed to show another point of view with a couple hundred meters tall hatch slowly falling. A smallish female voice replaced the sound of the crowd after a minute as the hatch was fully lowered, and the small group of students could be seen walking outside. In the middle, the COs accompanied the rest of the team with several coffins between them.
There weren’t corpses inside those coffins. After what happened, Heian Ciemnosc gathered everyone in the vessel and explained the following. Their fallen comrades, those belonging to the Concealed Ornament Team, wouldn’t be bidden farewell as others. Since it was his Team, he could decide such things. After getting an inkling of his new abilities, Heian Ciemnosc chose to use his ‘dark flame’ to bring his fellow team members a proper burial.
Thus, amidst their journey back to the Wrath Nihility Academy, Heian Ciemnosc engaged the small group in a ceremony, allowing everyone to witness his dark flame for the first time, as not even Alyona saw through his dome back then - and Elena was looking in the other direction.
These other ‘funeral items’ were simply how the Academy and their knowns could grieve them. They died in the battlefield, and some didn’t even have anything remaining from their rests. But even as some of these team members’ families and friends were civilians, the ideologies of spirit and nature were too into the world’s image. Thus, just having a coffin with their image and a few pieces of information was enough to ease their grief.
Of course, the images from when those who had their bodies complete, such as Linda, were recorded by Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes and dark Soul, which he would later present to them. He didn’t allow anyone else to do this, which he could easily sense with his Spirit Sense. Naturally, his breakthrough into the Spirit Rebirth realm wasn’t just an immense boost to this Spirit Sense range. He could tell many other things with just a momentary scan.
At this moment, the COs pulled those coffins along. The most notorious one was the girl they heard unfortunately died when already in safety, Linda. Her image was also the most slightly larger than the others. There were data written on their coffins, such as their merits, death, character, last few actions, and their position within the Concealed Ornament Team, not just in terms of hierarchical status.
As the small group of 10,000 moved further into the space station, the millions of students’ heads turned along their movement. The 2,000-big smaller group that went to the mist was unfazed, let alone the 15 Fighters’ students who remained behind at the last hurdle. Those were even more stoic, only caring about their fallen being shown. Beside Linda’s coffin, her Fighter’s captain looked down, only occasionally lifting his head to see the attention she was received as commended.
“Ah, I forgot we are being expected to come out at the end of everyone else,” Elena exclaimed after she seemed to remember something when Fera appeared at the rear, walking side by side with Violet and Esteban. Those two COs were the only ones not around the coffins, pulling each of them honorably. They accompanied Fera, whom Heian Ciemnosc received a notification to treat very well as if he was meeting his ‘him’ from another organization. Thus, she was placed in their stead. Of course, Elena didn’t know that. Because it was something Heian Ciemnosc selected at the last moment before the vessel was stationed.
Naturally, the notification came from the Academy, and Heian Ciemnosc was no one to treat his future daughter-in-law poorly. She was already learning to be proud unless she met the one, but there was still work to do. As Heian Ciemnosc continued cultivating her, she would grow to be a big mommy who could reign over Universes with her husband always in her mind by the moment his first son with Elena was born.
“Nevermind that, tell me, have you decided?” Heian Ciemnosc shook his head and pulled Elena’s small, pointy nose, which gained more charm after maturing her little face. Elena scrunched that face up but didn’t shake her head away from his clutches. She just acted cutely, serening his heart. She pushed herself up from his body and faced him directly, a few pale blonde strands of hair crossing her face. “I have a few suggestions, but can you take it out before I can decide?”
“Nope, you have to tell me your decision before you can see it again. Do you think it was actually just easy to help create it? You just threw it away after being knocked down, seriously.” Heian Ciemnosc shook his head and lightly berated Elena in a low voice. Elena pouted with an ‘ew’ face before starting to act seductively, “Alright, I have made my choice.”
She spoke as she looked into his darkest eyes. Her brown ones continued to glue themselves to stare at them further as she closed her body and face to his, slowly pushing him softly into the bed. “I thought about it and decided to name her… Destructive Wind of Darkness.”
“Pffhm~,” Heian Ciemnosc snorted from his nostrils and grinned like a motherfucker at its name, it was a bit overextended, but it wasn’t wrong. Besides, he could always know her well-being whenever he wanted. As of today, it was limited to a range away from him, and he could only guess how extensive that range was with his dark Soul, but nothing else. In the future, he might be able to do as he can with his Myriad Darkness Materialization.
“That sounds just fine. How did you come up with it?” Heian Ciemnosc asked her after looking at Elena’s brown eyes, still shining with expectation. When he spoke, praising her, they turned mesmerizing in his eyes. She opened her mouth with a grin, showing her left canines. “With my halberd, made with my husband’s help, with helping my Wind element cultivation and being so powerful even as its components and nature are immensely weakened, I only think about destroying our enemies together. What better name than that?”
“Mn, nothing beats that.” Heian Ciemnosc said, arranging the pale blonde hair strands on her face. Elena’s eyes became hazy as she murmured, “Dark Wind for short, perhaps… Then, will you release my pitiful Destructive Wind of Darkness?”
Tshing. Heian Ciemnosc waved his palm as it faced the ceiling. A 30 cm miniature Dark Wind appeared as Elena’s eyes were like a magnet attracted to it. Her loving eyes were gone, just like that, and she ignored the Heian Ciemnosc she was straddling without panties and wearing a dress just to get cozy with him. She picked her Dark Wind and held it to her chest. Not even 3 seconds later, an anxious Elena released its full size and looked at Heian Ciemnosc, rubbing back and forth on him, not because of lust but excitement.
“Let’s fight! Hubby, lower your cultivation base, and come on! Who cares about fame? Leave that to our fallen. We must keep getting stronger, and your cultivation base is shaky. Disappointing! Tsk, tsk. How could you fall so low? My love?”
‘... You’ll pay for this.’ Without Elena’s knowledge, Heian Ciemnosc pledged to make his wife suffer, but that would have to wait after their sparring session. Actually, he could just ‘rape’ her as soon as he ‘barely’ defeated her. Mn, that sounded just fine.
…