Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  Black panthers were extremely rare, after all. There were only two types; Blackstripe Panthers, and Blackcloud Panthers.

  “Big brother Ley.” Jenne’s face was slightly flushed, and she looked expectantly at Linley.

  “Let’s talk inside.” Linley said with a calm laugh.

  All of them entered the castle. Since he had turned sixteen, Keane had officially taken over the management responsibilities of the city, and by now, he was a qualified city governor.

  Last year, Keane had taken a beautiful wife. At the time, Keane had wanted to invite Linley, but unfortunately, he had no idea where Linley was living.

  “Jenne, you’ve become a magus?” Walking in the hallway, Linley laughed as he asked her this question.

  Given Linley’s spiritual energy, he could immediately sense the aura of a magus coming from Jenne. The aura wasn’t particularly strong.

  “Right. A water-style magus.” Jenne’s eyes shone with excitement. “Big brother Ley, after you left, I didn’t have anything to do. Afterwards, I realized that with you being so powerful, if I couldn’t do anything and kept on being a hindrance to you, that wouldn’t be a good thing. So, I went to have my elemental affinity and my spiritual energy tested. I didn’t expect that I was suited to train in water-style magic.”

  When she was young, Jenne had been constantly suppressed and held down by her aunt, and thus didn’t have the chance to train in magic at all.

  Nobody had any idea that Jenne had the capability of becoming a magus.

  “But my talent isn’t very high. After five years, I’m still only a magus of the third rank.” Jenne said quietly.

  Generally speaking, from infanthood until adulthood, one’s spiritual energy was continuously growing. But for geniuses such as Linley and Reynolds, even if they hadn’t trained in magic when they were young and only began once they reached the age of eighteen, they probably would have immediately started off with the spiritual energy of a magus of the third rank.

  Eighteen years of growth, combined with five years of training. And yet, she was still only of the third rank.

  Her talent could only be considered to be average, perhaps a bit higher than your ordinary magi.

  “Big brother Ley, have a seat.” Keane enthusiastically invited Linley to sit in the seat of honor. “Let me make some introductions. This is my wife, Irene [Ai’lin].”

  Seated next to Keane was a very beautiful young lady, who had a pair of pretty blue eyes. Right now, this young lady was looking at Linley with curiosity. When she and Keane had first began their courtship, Keane often would talk to her about Linley.

  “Big brother Ley.” Irene said courteously.

  “Keane, everyone, just sit down and relax. Don’t stand on so much ceremony.” Linley said with a calm laugh.

  Everyone sat down, but Keane continuously stared at Linley. Keane knew very well that the purpose of this trip had to do with that five year agreement he had made.

  Five years having passed, Jenne was now twenty three. Because of training in water-style magic, Jenne’s skin was now glistening, making her even more beautiful. And the now twenty three year old Jenne now had a more womanly aura.

  During these five years, Jenne had many suitors.

  And not just from the prefectural city of Cerre. Whenever Jenne and Keane went to attend the yearly events of the clan at the provincial capital of Basil, there would be many people who would attempt to flirt with or make passes at Jenne.

  But Jenne still refused to pay any of them any heed.

  “Jenne.” Linley looked at Jenne, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. “I imagine you still remember our five year agreement. Jenne, I’ll tell you right now, in my heart, I truly can only envision you as a younger sister who needs someone to cherish her.”

  Jenne’s entire body trembled, but in the next moment, she began to laugh.

  Next to her, Keane and their housekeeper, Lambert, both let out a low sigh.

  “Big brother Ley.” Jenne said. “I feel very fortunate to have a big brother like you. No matter what, no matter where, I’ll follow you. I just hope that you won’t discard me before I get married.”

  Linley slightly trembled.

  But he immediately understood that Jenne truly had made up her mind to follow him. But judging from what Jenne was saying, over the course of these five years, Jenne had already mentally prepared for what he had said today.

  “Then you’ve decided to follow me and leave here?” Linley asked.

  Jenne paused for a second. After all, she was very close to her brother, Keane. In her heart, she couldn’t bear to part with him either. But after taking a glance at Keane and seeing how happy and loving he was with Irene, Jenne’s worries melted away.

  “I can follow you away at any time, big brother Ley. Big brother Ley, where do we go first?” Jenne asked.

  “We’ll first pay a visit to a small town near the provincial capital of Basil.” Linley replied.

  “The provincial capital of Basil?” Keane started, then immediately said, “Big brother Ley, our Jacques clan will organize a yearly gathering at the provincial capital of Basil each year. It happens every year on November 15th. The day will come in three days. Big brother Linley, would you be willing to let my sis go with me one more time? It’s in the same direction anyhow.”

  Keane looked expectantly at Linley.

  Keane really couldn’t bear to be parted from his sister. He knew that Linley roamed the world. Once his sister left with Linley, who knew how long it would be before the two would meet again?

  Having grown up alongside his big sister, their affection was naturally very deep.

  Linley looked at Keane, then looked at Jenne. Finally, he nodded. “Fine. We’ll go to the provincial capital of Basil together. After you finish attending your clan’s annual gathering, Jenne will leave with me.”

  “Thank you.” Keane said gratefully.

  While Linley took up residence for a few days within the prefectural city’s castle, the Radiant Church’s forces that were hidden within the prefectural city of Cerre were very excited.

  “That Linley actually came to the prefectural city of Cerre. This is wonderful.” A white haired man said, his face covered with excitement. “Five years, five full years. We’ve finally found Linley.”

  The Radiant Church had been searching fruitlessly for Linley for five years. Sadly, due to their lack of manpower within the O’Brien Empire, their forces were primarily concentrated in places such as prefectural cities. Naturally, they wouldn’t be able to discover Linley, who was hiding within a countryside village.

  However, in this prefectural city of Cerre, the place where Linley had once stayed for quite some time, the Radiant Church had a good amount of people present.

  “Hurry and send a message to Lady Lyndin in the countryside. Tell her that Linley has arrived at the prefectural city of Cerre.” The white robed man immediately instructed his subordinates.

  Lyndin and the other five Angels, upon arriving at the O’Brien Empire, had searched everywhere for Linley for two full years, but had found nothing. In the end, with no other choices, they had settled into a small town near the prefectural city of Cerre, ready to act at a moment’s notice.

  As soon as they received any news, they would immediately head out.

  They would kill Linley no matter what the cost, even if it meant they would have to die with him. This was their fate as Angels.

  Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 43, The Gathering in Basil

  That night, Linley had dinner at the main hall of the governor’s castle.

  “Keane, Jenne. Come outside a moment.” After finishing dinner, Linley called out to them, then walked out of the main hall to the quiet rear gardens.

  Keane and Jenne exchanged glances, then followed Linley to the gardens as well.

  The gardens at night were very peaceful and quiet. Looking at Jenne and Keane, Linley smiled. “Jenne, Keane, there’s something I mus
t inform you of.”

  Keane and Jenne stared at Linley, puzzled.

  “The Radiant Church and I have a deep hatred between us. We will not rest until one or the other is destroyed.”

  These words from Linley immediately stunned Jenne and Keane. They knew that Linley was no ordinary man, but they had no idea that he was diametrically opposed to the Radiant Church.

  The Radiant Church was, without question, an enormous entity.

  Lowering his voice, Linley said, “Five years ago, when I fought with the Radiant Church, it most likely resulted in them becoming aware that I am in the O’Brien Empire. Five years ago, the forces of the Radiant Church became aware of Haeru’s existence. I believe that just based on this alone, they should have discovered how I had followed the two of you to the prefectural city of Cerre.”

  Many people knew that back then, a mysterious expert with a black panther companion had protected Keane and Jenne on their journey to Cerre, allowing Keane to assume the position of city governor.

  This wasn’t a secret. It wouldn’t be strange at all for the Radiant Church to find out about this.

  “I suspect that the Radiant Church has definitely hidden quite a few people within the prefectural city of Cerre.” Linley said calmly.

  From the moment he had decided to come to the prefectural city of Cerre, Linley had already made certain plans.

  That Stehle had exchanged blows with him before. After that fight, the Radiant Church would certainly have realized how dangerous Linley was to them. If they didn’t send people immediately to kill him as soon as possible, then the Radiant Church really would be a pack of fools.

  “Then what should we do?” Keane and Jenne were both rather bewildered.

  “Jenne, first of all, let me ask you. Do you still want to follow me?” Linley stared at Jenne.

  Jenne nodded without any hesitation.

  Linley nodded slightly. “I’m afraid that within your castle, the Radiant Church has spies here as well. That’s what I want to let you know…that I plan to leave the prefectural city of Cerre tonight.”

  “What?” Jenne looked at Linley in astonishment. “Big brother Ley, you plan to leave by yourself?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll just head out slightly before you do. I’ll head to the provincial capital of Basil first. I’ll take up residence in the eastern side of the city’s Nile [Nai’er] Hotel. When the time comes, you can find me there.” Linley was very confident in his ability to deal with the Radiant Church’s men.

  However, he couldn’t take Jenne and Keane along with him.

  If he brought such a large group of people, he would be as good as harming Jenne and Keane.

  “The Nile Hotel of the eastern city. This is a very famous hotel. I know where it is.” Keane nodded. Over these five years, he had paid quite a few visits to the provincial capital.

  Linley had made these plans long ago.

  Right now, whether or not he killed the Radiant Church’s forces wasn’t important. After all, killing those people didn’t make a huge difference to the Radiant Church.

  If he encountered them, he would kill them. If he didn’t, then forget it.

  As for Jenne, by the time they reunited with the five Barker brothers and Zassler, Linley would no longer be concerned about any schemes the Radiant Church might have to play.

  “Then I’ll leave now.” Linley laughed.

  “Immediately?” Jenne and Keane were startled.

  “Immediately. That way, the Radiant Church’s men wouldn’t have any idea.” Linley chuckled, then transformed into a black blur, flying through the air and disappearing from the rear gardens.

  At the same moment, the Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, as well Bebe also departed at high speed.

  Three black blurs flashed over the prefectural city of Cerre’s twenty meter tall walls, easily crossing over to the other side. Although the city walls were useful against ordinary combatants, to experts on Linley’s current level, they were nothing more than a fairly high door stop.

  Riding on Haeru’s back, the night wind howled past Linley.

  “I’ve discovered that I rather like the feeling of travelling by night.” Feeling the cool wind blow against his face, Linley felt very much refreshed.

  The light of the moon seemed to make the world covered by a layer of thin gauze, making everything seem so dreamlike.

  This night, there were people riding on horses at high speed heading to other places as well. These were the people who were rushing towards Lyndin to give her the good news. However, there was a distance of over a hundred kilometers from the prefectural city of Cerre to the town Lyndin was staying in.

  Linley had only arrived in the prefectural city of Cerre at nightfall. The supervisor for the prefectural city of Cerre only received the news at around 6 o’clock at night. By the time he sent someone out, it was already 7 o’clock.

  At around 8 o’clock at night, Linley had left the prefectural city of Cerre.

  At this time, that messenger was still on the road. By around 9 o’clock, the messenger finally managed to arrive at the town where Lyndin and the others were staying. The town was lit by fires. The poor man who had been blown on by the cold wind of November finally felt a hint of warmth.

  “Lord Lyndin.” The messenger man arrived at Lyndin’s residence. Seeing Lyndin at the doorway, he immediately jumped off his horse. “Lord Lyndin, something important has happened. We’ve already discovered that Linley has arrived at the prefectural city of Cerre.”

  The eyes of Lyndin, who had been standing there coldly, suddenly lit up.

  “Linley?” Lyndin was both shocked as well as overjoyed.

  She had waited for five full years, to the point of being numb. And then tonight, this report had come out of nowhere.

  “Syke [Sai’ke], Syke! All of you, come out.” Lyndin’s cold voice rang out a few times, and the other five Angels immediately rushed over.

  These six Angels were all wearing human bodies, and thus their power was limited to that of a warrior of the ninth rank.

  But their essence was still that of the Angels.

  They would definitely obey orders. For the sake of the glory of the Lord, they would be willing to sacrifice their lives at any time.

  Upon hearing that there was news of Linley’s return to the prefectural city of Cerre, the other five Angels grew excited as well. Their mission was to kill Linley.

  “Let’s go, we head out immediately.” Lyndin immediately ordered.

  “Yes.” The other five didn’t hesitate at all.

  Lyndin and the others didn’t bother about the messenger. The six of them, relying on their legs, immediately began racing towards the direction of the prefectural city of Cerre. As combatants of the ninth rank, without question, the speed they could reach was much faster than that of horses.

  The next morning.

  Within a very ordinary manor in the prefectural city of Cerre. The previous night, Lyndin and her people had taken up residence here upon reaching the prefectural city of Cerre.

  “What? Linley disappeared?” Lyndin stared coldly at the white-robed man in front of her.

  The white-robed man immediately said, “Lord Lyndin, the people we stationed within the city governor’s castle didn’t know either. They only found out this morning that Linley and his two magical beasts disappeared. Most likely, they’ve left the prefectural city of Cerre.

  “Bam!”

  Lyndin angrily smashed a fist against the stone desk in front of her, smashing it into tiny pieces. The other five Angels were extremely angry as well.

  The six of them had spent over five years here. They had just received word of Linley’s arrival, but then in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared again.

  The white-robed man was somewhat nervous now. He knew that the six people in front of him were very powerful. Even the Northwest Administrative Province’s supervisor had to obey the orders of these six people.

  However, the white robed man didn’t know
that these six were actually angels.

  Only in the moments before the deaths, when Lyndin and the others chose to go all out, would their true power as Angels be put on display.

  “Investigate. Go investigate. Find out where Linley has gone. Also…activate every resource we have in the entire Northwest Administrative Province. We must find Linley. Linley must be somewhere within the Northwest Administrative Province.” Lyndin said in a cold, deadly voice.

  “Yes.” The white-robed man immediately assented.

  They hadn’t been able to find Linley for five years. Lyndin had even begun to worry if Linley had perhaps left the O’Brien Empire. After all, given they had found no trace of him, there was no way they could be certain as to where he actually was.

  But at least they now knew for sure that Linley was in the Northwest Administrative Province.

  Just as Lyndin was feeling furious at her helplessness on the third morning, they received word from the provincial capital of Basil.

  “Linley has appeared within the provincial capital of Basil.”

  As soon as they received this news, Lyndin’s other colleagues grew excited.

  “Lord, shall we head out now?” The five looked at Lyndin expectantly. Lyndin was the captain of their squad. In fact, amongst the Descended Angels, Lyndin could be considered a fairly famous person.

  The Angels that would descend into bodies that could only support the ninth rank were almost all Two-Winged Angels. Only three of them were Cherubim, Four-Winged Angels, and of the three, Lyndin was the only female one.

  “That McKenzie is in the provincial capital.”

  Lyndin frowned. “McKenzie has reached the Saint-level nearly sixty years ago. From our reports, his power can be considered a mid-stage Saint-level. If he were to interfere, things would become complicated.”

  “Lord, if we were to go all out, killing McKenzie shouldn’t be too hard.” Another nearby Angel, the one known as Syke, spoke out.

  “Right. When going all out, we can allow our bodies to collapse and utilize all of our true power. The five of us are all Two-Winged Angels, while you, Lord, are a Cherub. Although it will only be for a short period of time, it should be enough to kill Linley.