Evening falls on the Arglohandre. One day after Lapunta was destroyed. The army won a complete victory.
An obnoxious wind blew past like a fastidious man, bringing along the dust and ashes of Lapunta. Reind had burned the body of that great villain, absolutely not leaving him any chance of being reborn. Arglohandre was now only these ruins, but that was its new dawn. No more Lapunta, which means the sun will rise again here. Just now, Reind could see the rays of sunlight that had begun to strongly penetrate through the dense clouds in the sky. Permanent loss will not be refundable, but it will be a new beginning. The pain will scar, even though it will remain an unforgettable mark, but at least the scarring proves that the wound has healed, and it will not bleed anymore.
The sound of footsteps on the gravel slowly approached the pyre. She was Nermesis, one of Lapunta's loyalist, who narrowly escaped Glamgmar's palace.
...
"Someone broke into Glamgmar!" Rowaque looked a little panicked, his hands casting spell in fear.
"Can we make it in time?" asked Uknen with a serious look on his face.
Rowaque closed his eyes, trying to catch the slightest movement. The louder the footsteps sounded, the more the intruders were only a short distance away. He turned to look at the ritual they were trying to complete. Just a little more! They are only one step away from achieving results. But unfortunately, they basically didn't have time to complete the ritual.
"They're coming to us soon!" Rowaque replied.
“What do we do?” Nermesis asked. "We can't let them destroy Lutes' soul and body!"
"Yes, they won't!", replied Uknen calmly. The hands continued to work on transplanting Lapuntas' soul into Lutes' body, while the mind tried to think of a way. “Preserving His soul is the most important thing, the rest is not important.”
“Uknen, what should we do?” Rowaque asked.
"We can't let him resurrect," Uknen replied bluntly. "At least, not now."
“You mean…?”, Nermesis seemed to guess Uknen's intentions, just not daring to think it was true.
Uknen didn't answer, he used all his power extracted from the soul fragment to pull out a small piece, Nermesis and Rowaque immediately understood the problem, focusing their eyes on the Space-Time portal that they worked so hard on to half open. Uknen couldn't hold it for long, so he used all his strength to pull out the fragment of the soul that was extracted earlier and put it in there. Their strength can only do so much. When the soul fragment has successfully entered, it immediately closes. Uknen turned to Nermesis and said:
Stolen novel; please report.
“I need you to do something…”
“Everything for Him,” Nermesis replied.
Once again, Uknen ignored Nermesis' words without an answer. He picked up a holy knife, then brought it to his mouth, whispering some sort of spell. When he was done, he brought the tip of the knife and made a long cut in the chest where Lutes' heart was. Strangely, the blood did not ooze out at the incision site. Uknen used one hand to brake the two sides of the flesh right at the cut, and the other hand to go inside Lutes' body. A moment later, Uknen pulled his hand away with Lutes' heart still red. The incision also heals automatically. Uknen put the heart in an empty jar, then gave it to Nermesis, instructing:
“He will need a horseman to assist him when that time comes. Nermesis, I need you to be with Him."
"Me?", Nermesis was surprised.
“This heart…”, Uknen handed it to Nermesis, saying gravely, “This is what remains of Him that you can help protect. This great piece of soul is already attached to this body, we don't have time to take Lutes away. But you and this heart can.”
Nermesis received the heart in her hand, her hands trembling, her face full of worry. She asked:
“What am I supposed to do next?”
“Nermesis, you have to take it to a safe place, perform the Rebirth ritual, remember?”
“Remember,” Nermesis nodded.
Uknen nodded, then cut off his left little finger with the knife just now without any preparation. He took the severed finger and put it in the jar, then passed the knife to Rowaque to do the same. Finished, he continued:
“When the time has come, things will continue to go as He wishes…”
"I know," Nermesis replied. “I will do anything.”
“You have to go now. Do you still remember the secret way?”
"Still. What about you, and Rowaque?"
“Rowaque and I will be here.” Uknen turned to look at Rowaque as if they had already decided. "Someone's going to have to stay behind to make sure they don't come after you."
Nermesis was silent. She had a sad look on her face, but there was nothing she could do about it. She held the jar in her left hand, crossed her right hand on her chest, and loudly shouted:
“Long Live The Emperor!”
With that, Nermesis went to a corner of the wall, using magic to open the seal of the secret gate there. Immediately, a gate leading to the secret tunnel opened, just enough for one person to enter. She climbed down, and before closing the gate, Nermesis glanced at her two partners who were about to die for the big game. She nodded to the two of them one last time, then left. In the tunnel, Nermesis also heard the sound of doors breaking, some sounds of battle, and then nothing more. Their mission was to buy time for her, Nermesis' job was to ensure one day His return.
Only that!
...
Nermesis stood silently watching the desolation. Her face was expressionless, as silent as a statue. After a while, she put on her hood, added a crutch to cover her face, and quietly left.