Return of the Mythic Bloodline

Chapter 484: Petals and Snowflakes

Ding...

"You have completed the second quest of the series Doomsday!

Doomsday Quest #2: The Boss Monster of the San Francisco Dungeon Break has wreaked havoc upon the city. Stop it before it leaves the city.

Status: completed

[Claim the reward]"

"It was easier than I expected," Raj whispered with a brief sigh as his eyes returned to normal and his upstraight hair fell to the force of gravity. The orbs behind his head vanished into thin air. The throbbing pain in his head appeared again as the voices of death turned ominous once more.

A mild groan escaped his lips from the pain.

He reached closer to the fallen corpse of the Death Knight. It was slowly decaying away, turning into black ashes as if it couldn’t keep its form without the soul.

"Prime, summon your subordinates and absorb all the yin energy from this place," Raj ordered as he put the longsword of the knight into his inventory.

Heeding its master’s order, Prime summoned a squad of five trolls from its shadow. It left the squad to Raj before moving closer to the decaying corpse of the Death Knight, where it opened its mouth wide and began absorbing the yin energy.

Meanwhile, Raj analysed the situation of the awakeners spread across the ruined city around him. From the raid of fifty A Rankers to AAA Rankers, ten S-Rankers and one SSS Ranker, only four awakeners had survived.

Lord of the Ocean, Noah,

Leviathan Rocky,

Blood Demon Aryan and

The Lion King Theodore.

Theodore’s condition was the most critical among the survivors. Raj took out a set of healing ointments from his inventory and handed them to two trolls from the group.

"You put the ointment on this guy," Raj said, pointing at Theodore. "You, on that guy." He pointed to Rocky.

"You three, absorb the yin energy from the bodies of the Soul Eaters."

Once the orders were given, Raj moved towards Noah, the only conscious awakener.

---

"D-did you...cough-cough... really d-defeat that monster?" Noah asked, holding his bleeding torso.

"Don’t speak, your injury will get worse," Raj said, applying an ointment to his wound. "Thanks for airing this raid live. Otherwise, I would have lost my brother today."

Noah groaned in pain from the burning sensation the medicine left on his body.

"Wh-what is your real r-rank—"

Noah was about to ask when he was suddenly interrupted by the vibration of his handset. His body was too weak to even move.

"Please help me pick up the call."

"Is it more important than treating your wound?" Raj asked, his eyes lowered at the scar across his torso.

"It’s from the association. It must be important."

Raj pulled the handset out from his waist. It was made of a metallic body and carried numerous dents on it, as if it had been specially designed for awakeners. No surprise it had survived this fierce battle.

Raj pressed the button on the handset.

"This is Jason, the vice chairman of the American Awakener’s Association. Am I audible?" A loud, hurried voice came through the handset.

"Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear," Raj replied.

"Am I talking to Mr. Raj Singh?"

"Yeah."

"Sir, you need to leave the city this instant. A Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile is heading there. It will arrive at the location within thirty sec—"

"Oh, I can see it clearly alright," Raj said, cutting him mid-sentence, his eyes fixed on the sky where he could see a glowing star-shaped object whose size was growing with each passing second.

The colossal dungeon barrier surrounding the city was slowly vaporising into the air, dissolving in drifting waves of fading mana. As the final fragments of translucent energy crumbled away, golden rays of sunlight poured through the ruptured sky. The warm light cascaded over the battered city, painting rooftops, shattered streets, and towering walls in a radiant golden glow.

"What the hell were you people thinking, launching a nuclear bomb when we are still in the city," Noah snarled before coughing out a mouthful of blood.

No response came from the other side. Until a minute ago, even the Awakener’s Association hadn’t been aware of the incoming strike.

"Th-these bastards," Noah muttered, clenching his fists.

Turning to Raj, he continued, "You can use teleportation, right? Take your brother and leave the city."

"You don’t want me to take you with me?"

"You must have expended quite a lot of your strength in the battle. I can’t possibly ask you for such a favour now," Noah answered, lowering his eyelids.

In the sky, the missile had already breached the barrier, hurtling toward the ground at a terrifying speed.

"Well, there is no need for running away," Raj whispered, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "It’s time for the heroines to take the stage."

Just as he said those words, a spiral of plum blossoms materialised before them, revealing the figures of two ethereal women from within.

Nymeria unsheathed her sword and flew into the sky toward the missile with smooth, elegant grace.

"Sword of Snowbane: Chapter Six

Coffin of Eternity!"

As she moved past the missile into the open sky, a thick barrier of ice materialised along its surface with the arc of her blade, completely encasing it within.

It was different from the ice barrier of Gentle Touch, the First Chapter. Coffin of Eternity had not only sealed the bomb but everything contained inside the barrier. The flame on the booster at its tail was still visible, flickering silently behind the frost. It was as if time itself had frozen inside the barrier.

"N-no, this isn’t enough to stop a nuclear bomb," Noah cried out. "Once the bomb hits the ground, it will deton— Hey, what are you doing?" He demanded as his eyes fell on the absurdity of Raj.

He was sitting cross-legged on the ground beside him without a care in the world.

"Just lay back and relax," Raj said in a calming tone as the ice-encased missile continued its slow descent.

Noah, now completely baffled, was about to lose his composure when Ume also flew into the air.

With an elegant motion of her hands, hundreds of petals materialised in the sky, surrounding the ice barrier. The missile’s descent gradually slowed to a stop and it began rising upward, carried along by the flow of petals.

Once it reached high into the sky, the petals wrapped themselves around the barrier in a dense, blooming shell.

A pink glow began emanating from them, so bright that the sun seemed pale in the background.

And then, it exploded.

"Aghhhhh!!" Noah screamed, shutting his eyes in terror.

"What the hell are you screaming for?" Raj snapped, his meditation broken. "I almost suffered a Soulforce deviation because of you."

"Wh-what? Why am I still alive?" He mumbled, thoroughly confused. As he looked into the sky, he was left completely stunned. No words left his mouth at the scenery unfolding before him.

The sky was painted in a rare blend of pink and white. Countless petals of plum blossoms along with shining, diamond-like snowflakes rained down from above in an ecstatic, serene motion.

"At this point I can’t tell if I’m conscious or just hallucinating," Noah whispered, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open.

---

Indian Awakener’s Association, New Delhi...

"Do you know the identity of these women?" Saya asked, her eyes wide in a rare expression of shock.

"No, we have no record of these awakeners in the Association Database," Reyaan answered, equally stunned, unable to tear his eyes from the spectacle on the television.

---

"Hey, how long are you going to sleep?" Raj said, shaking Aryan by repeatedly kicking his thigh.

"Y-you little shit... can’t you see I’m badly injured," Aryan muttered in a low voice, slowly opening his eyes.

"What about it? You are a blood leech. Losing a few litres of blood shouldn’t mean anything to you," Raj said with a smug grin.

"L-leech!? People call me Blood Demon, High Vampire, and you have the nerve to call me a leech?" Aryan snapped, clutching his injured sides, his face twisted in disbelief.

Raj’s teasing smirk only widened in response, which caused Aryan more pain than any of the injuries he had suffered.

"Just you wait, you little shit. I will fucking beat you to pu—"

Before Aryan could finish, Raj suddenly pulled him into a hug.

"Never do something this reckless again. You are the only elder brother I have."

"Y-yeah, I’m sorry," Aryan murmured, releasing a long sigh.

After a brief pause he said,

"Don’t think I have forgotten about those two girls you are living with."