Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “There’s something I want to discuss with you.” Hogg said with a laugh. “Recently, your mother and I are preparing to go travelling through some of the material planes for a tour. Would you and Delia like to accompany us?” There were simply too many material planes, and many of them had their own unique attributes. Some had unique races, while others had different, unique cultures.

  To go touring the countless material planes of the universe was far more interesting than simply remaining in the Infernal Realm.

  “No need.” Linley laughed, refusing as he shook his head. “This kid…” Hogg couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle resignedly. His mother, Lina, said with a laugh, “Hogg, don’t force Linley. He can go whenever he feels like it.”

  Linley had a divine fire clone, and was able to enter any material plane he desired.

  Linley bade his parents farewell, then left by himself.

  Within a secluded courtyard. This was the place where Linley normally trained. He stood there, atop the grass, spreading his fused divine sense across the entire Infernal Realm. “Ten thousand years…such a long journey…” Within Linley’s mind, images of his history, starting from when he was a toddler, began to flash past. “Father. Grandpa Doehring. Bebe. Wharton. Delia. Boss Yale. George. Reynolds…” All of their appearances floated through his mind. These people had imprinted themselves deep within Linley’s soul.

  But suddenly, Linley thought of someone. “Mother!” When Linley thought of his mother, Lina, Linley couldn’t help but sigh to himself. Although his mother, Lina, quickly grew close with his father, Hogg, after the passage of countless years, there was still a certain distance between Lina and Linley and Wharton. Lina didn’t truly hold any motherly love towards her two children, Linley and Wharton.

  How could Linley and Wharton not tell? “Alas. That’s because Mother lost all of her memories from before she was an Angel.” Linley sighed in his heart. But right at this moment…

  “Whoosh!” A figure descended from the skies. “Lord Wodred.” Linley saw that the newcomer was the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred.

  The black-robed Wodred had a smile on his face. “Linley, last time, during the Planar War, the six Emissaries you sent out were extremely effective. I know that you spent centuries in your search for the six of them. I’ve never come to thank you for what you did…”

  “Lord Wodred, I had to find Emissaries for myself eventually.” Linley laughed. Linley was on excellent terms with the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.

  “Haha, enough of that, Linley. I definitely owe you a favor.” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, said with a laugh, “If there’s anything you need, as long as I can accomplish it…you can have me do it. In fact, even if you want to learn some supreme secrets, I can reveal them to you. But of course, you can forget about learning my ‘Spacetime Paradox’.”

  Wodred was quite forthright about this. Although ‘Spacetime Paradox’ was inferior to the fused innate divine ability of the Four Divine Beasts, it still increased one’s power a thousandfold. Even someone like Linley, upon learning this technique, would be able to threaten the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. Thus, Wodred couldn’t possibly teach it to him.

  “Haha, Lord Wodred, even if you didn’t say that outright, I wouldn’t possibly have asked you to teach me your supreme technique, just because I helped out a bit. You, Lord Wodred, put far too much effort into devising it.” Linley laughed calmly. “Right. After the Planar War concluded and Lord Orloff lost, did he have any sort of special reaction?”

  “Him? What sort of a reaction could he have? Same as always; he stays in his Orloff Gardens, absorbed in training and research.”

  The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, let out a sigh. “Orloff, that madman. He has no idea what being ‘tired’ even means. To be honest, of the Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, Orloff is the only one who makes me feel uneasy. You can never know what sort of supreme technique Orloff might come up with, because that madman simply can’t be judged in accordance with normal logic.”

  Linley couldn’t help but laugh. He could feel the Chief Sovereign of Destruction’s discontent. He had worked so hard to develop his supreme technique, ‘Spacetime Paradox’, and yet wasn’t able to defeat Orloff. But of course, that was only because Orloff had an Overgod artifact.

  “Enough about him. Just now, when I came over, I saw that you were in a rather poor mood. You had a rather unhappy look on your face. Did something troublesome occur?” Wodred smiled.

  Even Chief Sovereigns had emotions and personalities. Although the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts were rather arrogant and aloof, they, too, needed friends. After Linley had displayed his power, their attitude towards Linley had changed somewhat as well. In addition, because of the Planar War, Wodred had come to view Linley as the second most powerful figure on his side.

  As for who the number one figure was, that was naturally Wodred himself. And so, because they were on somewhat closer terms now, they became more casual in their manner of speech as well.

  “Oh? There is indeed something rather troublesome. Only, there’s no point in telling you.” Linley let out a sigh. His mother had become an Angel, but her former memories were lost. There was nothing that could be changed about that.”

  “Why don’t you give it a try?” Wodred said with a laugh. Linley let out another sigh. “This has to do with my mother. When my mother was in her material plane, she was seized by the local Light-aligned religion, and her soul was sacrificed to the Sovereigns. My mother became an Angel, and a Twelve-Winged Angel at that! I once sought out Augusta and paid a very high price to have him restore my mother to her freedom. She does have her freedom now, but…my mother’s former memories are forever lost.”

  “What did you say?” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, actually frowned.

  “What? Is there a way for Angels to regain their memories?” Linley couldn’t help but grow rather excited. “How could he have possibly chosen to let your mother regain her free will?!” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction stared solemnly at Linley. “Linley, let me tell you this. To release an Angel and let the Angel regain freedom, there are only two methods…and I daresay that Augusta wouldn’t choose either of them!”

  Linley was stunned. “What…what are you saying? But that day, Augusta seemed to have been badly injured…his soul…”

  “Haha…”

  The Chief Sovereign of Destruction began to laugh coldly. “An injury to his soul? That was nothing more than a pretense! Linley, I can tell you one thing; if an Angel truly regains free will, then that Angel will naturally regain its former memories as well!”

  “What did you say?” Linley’s face changed. “This…how can this be?”

  “Your mother doesn’t have her memories back, which signifies one thing; your mother is still under control, and hasn’t regained her freedom at all!” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction laughed coldly. “As I see it, your mother is just obeying his orders. She’s intentionally putting on a pretense of being free; that way, without having to pay any price at all, Augusta was able to make you pay a heavy price. Why wouldn’t he want to carry out such an excellent bargain?”

  Linley’s face changed dramatically as he listened. “And, given how poor the relationship is between you and him, why would he have to worry about keeping his word to you?” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction snickered.

  “But, but Orloff was also…” Linley said hurriedly. “Orloff? Orloff had something he wanted from Augusta, and in addition, Augusta has helped out Orloff multiple times. Orloff owed Augusta a favor. You tell me. Would Orloff help him, or help you?” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction laughed coldly. “Orloff doesn’t get involved in any worldly affairs or struggles, but that doesn’t mean he’s this wonderful, altruistic person.”

  “Let me put it to you simply. You were completely and utterly deceived by Augusta!” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction said.

  Book 21, The Peak – C
hapter 39, Linley’s Fiery Rage

  He had been completely and utterly deceived?

  “It was fake? A lie?”

  “AUGUSTA!” Linliey felt a surge of nameless fire instantly fill his chest. That BASTARD! Augusta had actually dared to deceive him in this matter!

  The nearby Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, snickered. “Linley, can it be that you don’t know what sort of a person this Augusta is? Overbearing, greedy, sinister. For the sake of achieving his goals, there’s nothing he won’t do. You actually trusted him that easily?”

  Linley’s forehead was deeply furrowed as he frowned. “I know all these things. Only, Orloff was present, and I rather trusted Orloff…however, it’s too late. Lord Wodred, why is it that you are so certain that Augusta deceived me? Why is it that Angels will definitely regain their memories upon regaining their freedom?”

  For now, Linley couldn’t fully believe all these things, as they were just words coming from a single person, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.

  The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, said with absolute certainty, “Linley, I’ll tell you this. One of the seven Sovereigns of Light has allied himself with me, and so I have a great deal of knowledge regarding Angels.”

  Linley listened quietly, and the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, said with a solemn expression, “Angels are reborn from the Angelic Resurrection Pools! Every single Angelic Resurrection Pool is connected to the soul of its Sovereign of Light! Thus, every single Angel born from the Angelic Resurrection Pools are under the command of their Sovereign of Light.”

  Linley nodded. The Chief Sovereign of Destruction continued, “There are different levels of Angelic Resurrection Pools; there are only two high level ones, and only these two are able to give birth to Twelve-Winged Angels. These two were both taken over by Augusta, who controls them personally.”

  “There are two ways to allow your mother, a Twelve-Winged Angels, to regain her freedom. One is to kill Augusta! Once Augusta dies, the Angelic Resurrection Pools will become items without masters, and so the Angels linked to it will have their souls released as well. Naturally, they will regain their freedom.”

  Linley nodded. He knew about this method. “The second method is to have Augusta remove his bond with the Angelic Resurrection Pool which is connected with your mother’s soul. Once his bond is released, the Angelic Resurrection Pool will become an ownerless item, and all of the Angels that were born through it will also lose their spiritual connection to Augusta, and thus regain freedom.”

  The Chief Sovereign of Destruction laughed coldly. “Linley, once the bond with the Angelic Resurrection Pool is broken, every single Angel that pool has ever created, including your mother, will regain their freedom!”

  “Your mother is a Twelve-Winged Angels, while there are only two pools that can give birth to Twelve-Winged Angels. You want Augusta, for the sake of your mother, to relinquish his bond with an Angelic Resurrection Pool for Twelve-Winged Angels? That means he would lose half of his Twelve-Winged Angels. They would regain their freedom and no longer be under his control!” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction snickered. “If he really had let your mother regain her freedom, then during the Planar War, how could he have been willing to send out a total of 1200 Twelve-Winged Angels?”

  Linley now completely understood. There was, in reality, only one way for his mother to regain her freedom; to make it so that the Angelic Resurrection Pool linked with her soul became an ownerless item. And there were only two ways to do that; the first, to kill Augusta. The second, for Augusta to relinquish the pool. But how could Augusta possibly give it up? Giving it up meant giving up all of the Angels that pool had ever created.

  “Bastard!” Linley couldn’t help but growl and curse. “No point in being angry now.” Wodred laughed coldly. But Linley was frantically calculating certain things in his mind. One thought in particular constantly circulated through his thoughts. Kill Augusta! Kill him right away!

  “Lord Wodred.” Linley said hurriedly. “The Angels that the Sovereign controls; can the Sovereign kill them just by willing it?”

  “Not necessarily.” Wodred shook his head and laughed. “It depends on where the Angel is. If the Angel and the Sovereign are on different planes, then the Sovereign won’t be able to kill that Angel.”

  Linley suddenly understood. It was like the master-servant bond which was used to control magical beasts. Upon the bond being established, the master could easily cause the magical beast’s death. However…if the master and the servant were on different planes, they would at most be able to vaguely sense each other’s location. There was no way they would be able to communicate through the soul, nor would the master have a way to kill the servant.

  Linley and Bebe, on different planes, weren’t able to speak through their soul connection either.

  “Whew.” Linley internally let out a sigh of relief. On the surface, though, Linley looked quite calm. Bowing, he said, “Lord Wodred, I truly must thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I might have been deceived by Augusta for an extremely long period of time.”

  Linley and the Chief Sovereign of Destruction chatted for a while longer, and then Wodred left. Soon afterwards, Linley sent his wind-type Sovereign clone away from the Infernal Realm, to pay a visit to the Chief Sovereign of Death in the Netherworld. Half a day later, Linley immediately invited Beirut and Bluefire over to discuss something.

  “What did you say!?” Beirut and Bluefire were both so shocked, they rose to their feet. “Right. I was deceived.” Linley shook his head. “An Angel who truly regains her freedom and who is no longer under control will regain her former memories.”

  “Are you certain?” Beirut and Bluefire both said in unison. “I’m very certain. This news was brought to me by Wodred, and just now, my wind-type Sovereign clone went to the Netherworld to pay a visit to the Chief Sovereign of Death. I personally raised this issue with her, and the Chief Sovereign of Death personally told me that there were indeed only two ways to have an Angel regain her freedom. In addition, upon regaining freedom and upon breaking free from the bewildering soul control of the Angelic Resurrection Pool, they will naturally regain their former memories.” Linley said in a low voice.

  Beirut and Bluefire exchanged a glance, a hint of shock in their eyes. “Since even the Chief Sovereign of Death says it is so, then it seems it is true.” Beirut said in a low voice. “I didn’t imagine that we’d actually be deceived like this.” Bluefire frowned.

  It was one matter if someone else deceived them, but the deceiver was Augusta! Augusta, with whom they had an irreconcilable grudge to begin with! Beirut and Bluefire both felt this way, and Linley felt this way all the more! After all, he was the one who had handed over the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts!

  “Linley. What is your decision?” Beirut asked. Bluefire looked towards Linley as well. “Wait.” Linley growled. “Wait?” The two couldn’t help but be puzzled. “My father and my mother will go for a tour of the material planes. Once they leave, I will make my move.” Linley said calmly.

  “Right. For now, your mother cannot be trusted.” Beirut nodded as well. Now that they had a plan, they naturally would carry it out.

  Half a month later.

  Hogg and his wife, Lina, were personally escorted by Linley to the interplanar teleportation array. Holding the Sovereign medallion which Linley had given them, they were teleported to a material plane and began their touring journey. They had no idea…that upon departing, a terrifying storm would arise in the Higher Planes.

  “Father and Mother have departed.” Linley’s gaze was abyssally cold. Beirut and Bluefire, by his side, exchanged a glance. “Mother is not in the Infernal Realm; even if Augusta came here, he wouldn’t be able to kill Mother. As for the people of the Skyrite Mountains…I’d like to ask the two of you to help out. As long as Augusta attacks from trillions of kilometers away, I imagine you two should be able to protect the Skyrite Mountains.” Linley turned to look at them
.

  Beirut couldn’t help but begin to laugh. “Haha, Linley, Sovereigns aren’t even able to kill a Paragon from trillions of kilometers away. There is a limit to their attack power. How could Bluefire and I be unable to protect the Skyrite Mountains?”

  “Then I’ll stop worrying.” Linley finished speaking, then immediately flew towards the teleportation array. “Linley, be careful!” Beirut and Bluefire both sent towards him.

  “Stay in the Infernal Realm, and wait for me to contact you.” Linley’s form disappeared from within the distant teleportation array.

  Bluefire turned to look at Beirut, then said with a frown, “Beirut, I don’t know why, but…I feel a sense of dread. I hope nothing amiss will occur on Linley’s journey.”

  “Nothing will!” Beirut said with absolute certainty. “Augusta is nothing more than the Chief Sovereign of Light. His Overgod weapon isn’t suited to his nature; how strong can he possibly be? As long as he doesn’t run into Orloff, there won’t be any problems. In addition, Linley is a person who knows when to advance and when to retreat. And, most importantly of all…he has his fused divine sense, which vastly surpasses an ordinary Sovereign’s divine sense.”

  “Right.” Bluefire relaxed slightly. With the fused divine sense, Linley would be able to easily locate his enemy, but his enemy wouldn’t notice Linley’s arrival.

  The Divine Light Plane.

  “Bang!” A figure suddenly flashed past the skies, advancing forward at such speed that even the divine plane’s spatial fabric trembled. A sky-blue robed Linley, his face emotionless, his gaze cold, stared into the distance.

  “The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, isn’t here!” Linley’s fused divine sense was able to easily discover that at the residence of Augusta, the Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta was by himself within his lavishly adorned island, enjoying the ministrations of his maids. As for the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, the only one who Linley was concerned about? He wasn’t there.