Chapter 14: Meeting Second Leader Yurnal

Cold sweat running down his neck to his scorched back, Zax racked his brain in an attempt to make up what happened, who was helping him in the shadows?

‘Hurry, Zax, accept this map and follow its directions!’ An unfamiliar sounded through the communicator he received from Gid Chu.

‘Someone from the chain?’ Zax thought, not asked. The answer was obvious but still unexpected. ‘What the heck did he use to create these extravagant explosions?!’ Glancing sideways, the three moons, which from afar were now the size of marbles, remained prominent and without a hint of dissipation.

Opening the file, it was actually an encrypted formation Zax had to assemble in his Inner Panorama to reveal the map.

‘That’s too far!’ Zax exclaimed. The converging location, whether it was a base of the chain or a temporary meeting place, was at an undersea cave in the Seer Don Ocean, basically the other side of the continent. ‘Hey, did you even consider who pursuing me?’ He sent to member of the chain who contacted him.

‘Yes, don’t worry. I can’t help you get there faster so I rather not expose myself, but those explosions were generated from detonating three Pure Cores of three scales Deformed Beings, comparable to fourth level Martial Mortal. Elder Master guaranteed that with your speed you’ll manage to escape. I, however, not as fast, so yeah ... Just follow the directions and don’t simply head straight to the cave. Though Elder Master did not have more of those Pure Cores, he did had countermeasures for Sublime Soul Sense that other members of the chai-’

‘Enough talking!’ A new, feminine and impatient voice interrupted. ‘Follow the map, Zax. I’m Lusiana, my companion is Eviatar. We are leaving. Good luck!’

‘Lusiana? Eviatar?’ Zax called via his communicator but the two no longer responded. ‘Perhaps the fluctuations from the blast zone influencing the long range communication’. He assessed, disgruntled. Memorizing the road on the map, he erased it from his Inner Panorama. ‘If Senior Gid had Pure Cores of such caliber, why did he not give me one for emergency?!’

...

“Nooo!”

“Archbishop, help!”

“Cardinal, save me!”

The bloodcurdling screams were suppressed by the still resonating roar of the three explosions. These were the voices of seventeen third level Martial Mortals of the original thirty eight who accompanied Cardinal Northstar and the four Bishops.

The seventeen, among them three were envoys of the other four powers, were caught by the nearest explosion’s radius and were set ablaze by the pure energy, which demonstrated fiery characteristic. Besides them, not one of the leftover, Martial Mortals came out scratch free. While the lightest of injuries were superficial burns, the most severe were limbs and internal that burnt to crisp.

“Tend to them! Tend to them!” Archbishop Silternja shouted furiously at his four Bishops and sought after Cardinal Northstar, who with great difficulty, due to caution, tried to bypass the three moons.

“Northstar!” Finding the Cardinal still in the radius of the first moon, Archbishop Silternja called his name in incensed confusion. “Why haven’t you gone after him, yet?! If we’ll lose the Galactic Communicator, we won’t be able to communicate with His Holiness and you won’t be able to return to the Holy Palace!”

“Don’t lecture me, Silternja!” Cardinal Northstar snapped. In a form quite similar to the Archbishop’s Angelic Emissary and hands stretched forward he was resisting the closest explosion while going across it. “Not only these detonations were of three scales Deformed Beings’ Pure Cores, they were condensed to maximize their intensity and spare the planet”.

Transforming to his Angelic Emissary, Archbishop Silternja rocketed as he circled the three moons via a wider circumference in hope of being faster than the Cardinal and to not lose sight of Zax.

Eventually, the two reached past the third moon simultaneously, but by then there was no more trace of Zax that they could follow with their eyes. With no target they could only float aimlessly while contemplating what to do. Some time passed before the four Bishops rejoined them.

“Silternja”, Cardinal Northstar opened dejectedly. Upon hearing him, a shiver ran from the top to the bottom of the Archbishop’s spine, as if he could tell the consequence of the forthcoming words. “The chase has failed”.

“Cardinal”, one of the Bishops, a golden eyes woman whose only her white face shown, restlessly. “Without the Galactic Communicator how are we suppose-”

“Return to the Grand Abode”. Archbishop Silternja cut her mid speech. Signs of lassitude were prominent on his face and the manner he carried himself once he returned to his old man form. He turned to the direction of Onzengvas city and when his eyes concentrated on the horizon, the expression in them emitted menacing intent, a reflection of the devil behind the saint.

...

Warm sun light cause the splashing waves to sparkle as if their foam was a cluster of shining pearls.

In contrast to the Down Ocean, the still fairly dangerous Seer Don Ocean was a sight for sore eyes to those who had visited the former. Heck, just by putting his feet in the cold seawater revitalized Zax’s spirit, washing away the strenuous vigilance he maintained until arriving to the western coastline of the Eastern Continent.

Although he took the long and safer route the map presented him, ultimately he was not chased and so had not got the chance to discover what countermeasures Gid Chu prepared for him, apart from learning of two or three places where Sublime Soul Sense cannot work in due to natural disturbances in the worldly attributes of those area, which he could not explain.

‘Don’t dilly dally, Zax, we are waiting for you in the undersea cave’. Gid Chu sent through the communicator.

‘Right, I’ll be there in couple of seconds’. Zax affirmed and proceeded to tell to himself. ‘Right, it’s about time for me to get paid, and then... ‘ His heart was filled with excitement.

Traversing fifteen kilometers from shore and submerging into the depths of the cold Seer Don Ocean, Zax found the undersea cave in an unassuming flat area in the bottom of the ocean, concealed from unwanted attention by a myriad of unfathomable formations.