Chapter 11: Chapter 10 - An Ex From Hell?

CHAPTER 10

An Ex From Hell?

Cape Taenarum, Mani Peninsula, Greece.

It was deep into the night. Soft drizzle fell upon the rocky cliffs of Cape Taenarum. In the distance, the silhouette of an ancient lighthouse sat right at the tip of the long, narrow peninsula jutting into the dark Mediterranean Sea.

Chilling wind howled, and strong waves crashed against the rocks, spreading resounding booms like distant thunder across the area. Yet the air felt still and heavy, and it was eerily silent and desolate, creating that ‘not fully alive, not fully dead’ atmosphere—befitting the Gates of Hades legends there.

At this moment, a group of ten black-cloaked people skillfully treaded on the rugged terrain, heading toward the lighthouse. It was a quite a strange sight—who in their right mind, in this advanced cultivation world, would walk on some rocky cliffs by the sea, on a rainy night, by foot?

Not far ahead, an even stranger sight unfolded—a huge, tall wave suddenly rose up, crashing against the lighthouse at the edge of the cape. But even more strangely, after the wave receeded back into the sea, everything there was just as dry as it was previously. It was as if there hadn’t been any big waves crashing there at all—like it was all an illusion.

Witnessing this peculiar scene, the group of ten weren’t shocked. They instead quickened their pace, half-leaping and half-running. As they got closer to the lighthouse, they could see tall, dark figures lining in front of its limestone base, watching them silently and indifferently.

There were precisely a dozen people in this new group, each with different hair types and eye colors. But they all had three things in common—first, none of their hair was straight; second, they were all tanned and athletic; and third, they all wore the same set of teal-gold warrior robes, which was derived from the ancient greek ionic chiton and himation (cloak).

The middle-aged man standing at the front held a tall bronze trident in his grip, looking like the leader of the pack. Upon the arrival of the black-cloaked group of ten, his sea-green eyes immediately focused on the smallest figure. Although cloaked, one could still see the long and wavy locks of fiery-red hair hanging down the sides of the person’s face.

Feeling the gaze of the middle-aged man, the cloaked person looked up, revealing a face of peerless greek beauty.

This young lady was indeed stunning, however right now, glaring blood-red patterns adorned her pale cheeks, and the irises of her big eyes shone with a familiar, eerie blood-red light.

Well, wasn’t this appearance a bit too similar to Yuriel’s when the Asura Demon Poison relapsed a few times previously? And this girl even looked around the same age as Yuriel...

“You’re here.” the middle-aged man said as he turned his gaze from the girl toward the tallest cloaked figure in front of him.

“Let’s start.” a man’s emotionless voice replied.

The middle-aged man sneered. “Always so cold, huh?”

He didn’t say anything more, instead banging the bottom of his trident against the ground. Sea-green light flashed, and the teal-clothed people disappeared. They then reappeared in mid-air above the turbulent sea a few hundred meters in front of the lighthouse.

The tall cloaked man snorted. With a burst of gloomy grey fog, the ten appeared next to the teal-clothed people.

The middle-aged man once again banged his trident—this time against the empty air, though—and sea-green light bloomed out, enveloping an area with a radius of several kilometers, forming a protective barrier.

“We’ll begin now.” the middle-aged man announced.

He nodded at the other teal-clothed people—seven nodded back. They all closed their eyes, then slowly moved to face the western horizon, solemnly putting their hands in a prayer position. They then started chanting in an ancient language—it started soft, but gradually became louder and louder, in tune with a certain melody. The wind’s howl softened, and the waves became gentle. A heavy, ancient divine presence rapidly submerged the whole area.

A second later, the sea shook, and the wind howled again—the previously calmed down area became even fiercer than it was.

A vortex formed in the deep waters below. Very quickly, it widened, turning into an immense portal-like pit leading into a seemingly bottomless pitch-black abyss.

The seven people who just performed the ‘ritual’ to open the pit collapsed at this moment. With a wave of his trident, the middle-aged man summoned a sea-green ocean-wave-like energy to catch them.

“Your turn.” he glanced at the tall cloaked man as the seven disappeared along with the ocean-wave-like energy.

Except the latter, the red-haired girl, and one other person, the seven others all took a step forward in unison, then started whispering a somewhat creepy ancient chant as they stood in a line, facing the pit.

Instantly, the surrounding air stilled. A silent, hair-raising aura crept out of the dark pit, making the remainder five teal-clothed people feel a chill run down their spines. They subconsciously floated back a little, distancing themselves from the black-cloaked group—and more importantly, the pit.

Standing between the two cloaked people, the red-haired girl suddenly clutched her head, frowning in pain. The two near her immediately noticed this, and quickly held her shoulders with practiced swiftness. The tall man pointed at the center of her forehead, sending greyish-white energy into her head, trying to stabilize her mind.

“Celosia, dear, hang in there...” a woman’s nervous voice sounded from the cloaked figure to the red-haired girl’s left.

“Don’t worry, my daughter, Lord Hades will definitely help you.” the tall cloaked man to the girl’s right said.

Yeah, seemed that the two were the red-haired girl Celosia’s parents. But well, Celosia didn’t seem to be able to hear them—blood-red murderous aura swirled around her ferociously, and even the whites of her eyes were starting to become bloodshot, making her look more demonic and scary.

Without warning, the surrounding air heat up, and Celosia’s black cloak caught fire. Within seconds, it turned to ash, disappearing in the wind. Celosia’s appearance was fully revealed—her peerlessly beautiful face, her long wavy fiery-red hair, and a set of black-white shirt and trousers with elaborate design elegantly accentuating her figure.

Right now, her originally pale skin was shining with a fiery light, and glowing cracks spiderwebbed on the surface, making it look as if her skin was dry ground, and magma was beneath it. Her clothes were strangely intact, though—it seemed that they were made of a special fire-resistant material.

Her mom cried out anxiously, staring in horror as goldish-orange magma-like substance seeped out of the cracks on her daughter’s skin.

Magma covered her skin, dripping down her chin and fingers like blood. Meanwhile, her hair was as if it had turned into flame, dancing behind her back wildly. Her blood-red eyes were also shining like two blazing meteors.

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“Don’t... hold me.” she said through gritted teeth.

“Celosia...”

Her parents were in anguish. But they knew that if they got burned by the fierce magma and fire, Celosia would be very sad. And so, they let go of their hold on their daughter and took some mid-air steps back.

Celosia’s dad glanced at the dark pit not far in the sea in front of them. Shadow-like see-through dark energy wafted out of it quietly. But that was it.

“Your Excellency, are you really going to abandon my daughter?” he shouted—a bit angrily—at the pit.

“Lord Hades!” Celosia’s mom also shouted, teary-eyed.

Nothing. Still only some dark energy and no god of the underworld.

The nearby teal-clothed group watched them, their eyes starting to reveal sympathy. The middle-aged man quietly sighed. Even though he and Celosia’s dad were rivals, after all these years of rivalry, they had come to know each other so well they could be said to be really good friends.

Suddenly, a faint, low rumbling sound reverberated. At first, no one noticed it, but when they laid their eyes on the surface of the dark sea below...

“The sea is boiling...” the teal-clothed men and women whispered to each other in a hushed tone, fear and shock apparent on their faces.

“It’s Lord Hades!” Celosia’s parents looked at each other with relieve, happiness, and nervousness—after all, it was still not certain whether the lord of the underworld would help their daughter or not...

Deep rumbles shook the sea, great waves surged, plus the water was boiling. It would take no time before a devastating tsunami hit Cape Taenarum, or even the whole of Mani Peninsula.

“Wade, quick!” Celosia’s dad shouted at the middle-aged man.

“No need to remind me.” the latter grumbled, then said to the other teal-clothed people, “Let us calm the waves near the lands.”

A flash of sea-green light, and they were gone—off to the beach of Cape Taenarum to face the incoming tsunami. Meanwhile, the seven black-cloaked people who had been whispering the ancient chant finally collapsed, and were immediately teleported away by Celosia’s dad.

“Do we need to continue the Chant of the Souls?” Celosia’s mom asked.

Her husband shook his head. “No need. His Excellency is answering us.”

As if on cue, the deep rumbling sound became louder, as if something deep beneath the seabed was rushing up. Sensing something, Celosia turned in the direction of the portal-like pit.

“Mom, Dad... Stay away from it.” she managed to say with difficulty.

Her parents were absolutely unwilling to leave her alone, but they knew that they couldn’t do anything to help her—they didn’t even fully understand what was happening. And so, they disappeared within a burst of greyish fog.

Celosia quickly rushed toward the dark pit and stood in mid-air right above it. A split second after that, a pillar of blazing magma shot out of the dark pit, engulfing the girl, piercing the night sky above.

A few long minutes later, the pillar of magma disappeared.

Along with Celosia—and the portal pit.

Everything had returned to normal.

***

Hermes’ secret base.

“...so all I can say is, I’ve awakened my power successfully. I’ll definitely tell you about that Crown of Cosmos thing, but not now.” Yuriel was saying.

“Alright then, take your time.” Edward said as the other two nodded.

“So, are you going back to Longdon now?” Lee Jihoon asked him.

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “I doubt I can go back­, shining like this.”

Yuriel laughed. “Don’t worry, Shining Prince, you’ll be back to normal after meditating for a while.”

Edward was relieved, but also speechless. “Why are you also calling me... that? No—how did you even know about that stupid nickname?”

Yuriel couldn’t help but laugh again. “During the awakening, I sort of merged with my future self—so I know what will happen in the future, though the memories are a bit fuzzy. But there will definitely be some events that differ with the original timeline, so life will still be fun.”

The three young men all stared at her. Yuriel felt a bit awkward.

“Anyway, what date is it now?” she quickly changed the topic.

“Thirtieth of December.” Lee Jihoon said.

“And you were here the whole time?” Yuriel looked at Edward.

“Of course not,” he said. “I woke up the day after our little trip to the Emperor Li Clan, then went to attend my family’s Christmas Eve party. I returned yesterday to check on you, but ended up being knocked unconscious by some mysterious power—I woke up just now, before you.”

Yuriel nodded, then suddenly smiled and asked, “Hey, do you want to stop by Greece before going back to Longdon?”

Edward froze. “Greece?”

“Your ex might need some help, you know?” Yuriel shrugged.

“The ex from hell?” Lee Jihoon raised his eyebrows, grinning strangely.

“What help does she need?” Edward shook his head. “She’s too powerful to be in need of help.”

“Well, even the most powerful needs help at times.” Yuriel said.

“Yeah, Shining Prince, go help her.” Lee Jihoon nodded enthusiastically.

Yuriel glanced at Edward. The guy was looking anywhere else but them.

“Edward,” she sighed. “I don’t want you to regret this, so I should just tell you—Celosia Hades is also poisoned by the Asura Demon Poison.”

“What?!” Edward’s eyes widened, instantly looking at Yuriel in disbelieve.

“She’s currently in the underworld.” Yuriel added. “And will definitely appreciate some help.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” he said, glaring at Lee Jihoon.

Nerdy Hermes grinned wider. “Let’s go~!”

“Tie Li, do you want to come along?” Yuriel asked the guy.

“Who doesn’t want a trip to Hades?” he shrugged.

And so, Yuriel, Edward, and Tie Li, the trio was back on a short adventure—this time to the underworld. Lee Jihoon, after some consideration, decided to tag along. Like Tie Li said, who doesn’t want a trip to Hades?

“So ‘the trio’ is now ‘the quartet’.” Yuriel commented.

“Hey, I was also part of the group when you snuck into the Emperor Li Clan! I was the hacker!” Lee Jihoon protested.

“Enough talking. Get to work!” Edward snapped.

“Wait—are you sure you’re going like this?” Yuriel blinked.

Edward grumbled something as he rushed into the Flash Lift and disappeared from the living room—off to the cultivation chamber.

Yuriel grinned, then said to Lee Jihoon, “We’re going to Ammoudia.”

“A village in Epirus? I don’t have any branch there.” Lee Jihoon scratched his head. “But we can first Flash to my branch in Ioannina, then to a local Flash Station in Margariti. After that, we ride my terracar (our normal, non-flying car) to Ammoudia.”

“No problem. As long as you can remove all trace of us there.”

“Of course.” Lee Jihoon smiled proudly.

Two hours later, Edward was back in the living room, not shining anymore.

The quartet didn’t waste time, and quickly got on the Flash Lift and went to the Flash Array in the waterless ocean trench outside. A flash of white light—they appeared on the secret Flash Array inside the Zeus Electronics’ branch in Ioannina, Greece, and they quickly went to the nearest Flash Station.

Yuriel and Tie Li, who had never been in Ioannina, studied the intricate ancient greek architecture of the Flash Station building as the quartet waited for the eleven p.m. Flash to the Margariti Local Flash Station in Terminal Margariti’s waiting area.

“First calling for Terminal Margariti!” a clear voice rang out.

The quartet immediately got up and stood on the Flash Platform—where the Flash Array was carved on—along with two other people.

“Second calling for Terminal Margariti!”

“Third calling for Terminal Margariti!”

With a flash of white light, the six disappeared.