Ascension of the Dark Seraph-Chapter 300: Coup De Grâce (1)

Moments earlier.

Leandra stepped out of the VIP section and searched around the empty corridor.

On the side, half-running towards the exit, she found the woman she was looking for, Ciri.

She noticed Ciri running out when the big screen showed Caldaros ignoring the woman who was clearly in trouble. Contrasting to his cold and heartless cue, Lucivar tried to save her, but he was too late to do that, and the woman was killed.

From the pieces, Leandra began to understand what Lucivar's plan was.

To create a crack between Ciri and Caldaros.

But she didn't know the reason why he was aiming for this.

Defeating Caldaros was certainly his end goal, and yet, she couldn't find any correlation to having Ciri change her mind about Caldaros. It would mentally harm Caldaros, yes, but in a direct confrontation, it might lead to trouble.

Anger might give Caldaros the edge against Lucivar.

'Regardless, if I want to be where Lucivar is going to be, I need to be beside her.' Leandra thought.

Reaching outside in silence, Leandra trailed after Ciri and found her slumped against the wall beside the front entrance—one hand bracing herself to stay upright. Her shoulders trembled with quiet sobs—the sound of her hiccups could be heard even from Leandra's hidden vantage point.

It seemed that watching what Caldaros did left quite an impact on her.

Ciri continued.

Surprisingly, she decided to leave the premises, taking a bus to get as far away as possible.

Leandra also got into the same bus, sitting at the very back where she could keep her eyes on Ciri.

A hat she found on the bench earlier was all it took for her to go unnoticed.

But then again, with her eyes blurred by tears, Leandra doubted Ciri would even realize she was there.

Since the tournament was ongoing, and it attracted a huge chunk of people to watch, there were not many cars and bikes on the street. In fact, it was empty, allowing the driver to step on the gas and drive faster than normal.

Along the way, Leandra looked out of the window and watched the blur of buildings passing by.

For the longest time, she couldn't forget about what happened that night in Veloria City.

She still remembered the woman of light as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

How that woman begged her to stop Lucivar from going on this path of darkness.

Clearly, something is going on with Lucivar, something beyond normal comprehension—and Leandra needed to do something. It's not like she could forget about it, especially when she saw how that night, Lucivar seemed to undergo an awakening.

An awakening into something that he shouldn't be.

'I may not know him that well, but he wasn't always like this. I need to understand him. What pushed him to change this drastically, and his hidden situation? Maybe that's only an excuse to make sense of what I'm doing. But one thing is for certain… I want to help him.'

Leandra gazed ahead at Ciri. 'And she will give me some insights to you, Lucivar…'

A purple hue suddenly blinded her from the side.

Instinctively, Leandra raised her hand to shield her eyes from the blinding light, and when her vision had adjusted, she saw it—the sky itself had split open. A beat later, the city's emergency sirens wailed to life, echoing with urgency, warning all citizens to evacuate.

A purple dungeon was forming above the city.

Naturally, the bus abruptly screeched and turned around.

In a panic, the people inside screamed as the driver tried to turn around aggressively.

But instead of managing, the bus tumbled and flipped over, crashing into the street barrier hard.

Leandra held on.

Compared to the other, normal people in the bus, she wasn't worried as she was a Hybrid, and would come out of an accident like this fine. Once the bus stopped screeching, the people inside recovered; two of them were knocked out cold, while the other one was still conscious.

"H-Help…"

He choked, feeling his head throbbing in pain.

Seeing this, Leandra checked on Ciri, who seemed perfectly fine, before she went over to help.

She kicked the back door open and helped the man to step out.

Just when she was about to help Ciri, Leandra frowned.

She couldn't find her anywhere!

Confused and also worried, Leandra went around the bus—and felt a surge of relief when she saw Ciri was walking on the highway with tumbling steps. Despite the accident, the emergency siren, and even the sky splitting open, she kept walking forward.

It wasn't that she had no fear, but due to her condition, she wasn't fully aware of her surroundings.

"I need to get her to safety," Leandra muttered, her eyes narrowing as she glanced skyward. "I do not think Lucivar has anything to do with this. He can't be. This must be an unpredictable variable… which means he's not making a move. Not yet. Unless he's forced to. Or worse, unless this somehow benefits him."

Out of nowhere, Ciri's body glowed with sunlight.

Before Leandra could understand what was going on, she dashed away, leaping down from the highway.

"What? I thought her powers were only activated when she's attacked!"

Gritting her teeth, Leandra quickly channeled her ether and chased after Ciri.

Both of them coursed through a tide of panicked civilians, weaving through a sea of bodies rushing in the opposite direction. Ciri moved with fluid urgency, darting left and right, vaulting over cars, as if she were desperate to reach a place only she knew.

At a crossroads, Leandra turned left and soon realized that she was now in the suburbs.

Not the fancy area where the tournament was being held.

Leandra stole a glance at the sky and realized that the situation was getting more dangerous.

If the two of them went further than this, they wouldn't be able to evacuate in time.

Picking up her pace, her feet exploded with controlled ether, and she managed to grab Ciri's hand before she could dash again. Once she got a good grip, she yanked Ciri back hard, forcing her to stop. "What are you doing? We need to evacuate!"

"You…" Ciri's eyes squinted. "What are you doing here?"

Ciri, with a tear-stricken face, recognized who Leandra was.

She was with Nerissa outside the toilet.

Although she didn't know what Leandra was doing here, she didn't want to evacuate.

All she wanted to do was keep going to the place she had in mind. freёweɓnovel.com

But Leandra's hand held firm.

"If you stay here, you're going to die! Do what you need to do later. After the purple dungeon."

"No, I need to get something! Please, let me go!!"

"Are you deaf?! Do you not hear what I said?! You'll die!"

"I don't care! I don't know what your relationship with Lucivar was, but I'm sure he did something! He did something to Caldaros! My Caldaros would never abandon someone in need of help! I have to free him from Lucivar's influence!"

Upon hearing this, Leandra was stunned.

She was wondering what made Ciri cry like this, but to think that it was for this reason.

'Lucivar… She's a good person. Don't break her,'

Just as she was about to let go, a flaming big boulder streaked through the air and crashed beside them.

Kaboom!

Both Leandra and Ciri were thrown away, bouncing across the street a couple of times.

Once they came to a stop, Leandra lifted her gaze just in time to see Ciri already back on her feet.

She sprinted away—this time toward what looked like a park.

Gritting her teeth, she took off after her, but halted abruptly when she realized Ciri wasn't just running into the park. There was a festival ground inside the park, and she was heading straight to it. Leandra was confused as to what could be there that could possibly free Caldaros, but she followed suit.

Inside, Leandra found Ciri inside a tent located behind a performance stage.

She was rummaging through a box of her belongings.

Seems like she was a part of this festival.

Just then, her hands settled on a photo, which seemed to be the thing she was looking for.

But as Leandra was about to say something, she heard someone calling her name.

No—shouting her name.

Stepping out of the tent, Leandra was surprised when something crashed right in front of her.

She prepared herself to fight, thinking that it was a Crosser, but it wasn't.

It was Ravenna.

"Ravenna?! What are you doing here?"

Outside of the park—Leandra could see Bakar already using his ability to make himself more muscular and bigger, grabbing hold of several cars with his strong grip and throwing them at the falling debris. His body was already riddled with wounds.

Ravenna was also in a similar situation.

From the looks of it, the two of them have gone through Hell to reach here.

"Are you here for me?"

"Yes and no."

Strugglingly, with a painful groan, Ravenna climbed back to her feet.

"No time to explain. Where's the woman?"

"The woman? You mean Ciri? She's inside."

Pivoting her body, Leandra made way and pointed at Ciri, who was standing in confusion.

She didn't know what was going on, for a lot of people were here.

Ravenna pushed Leandra aside and grabbed Ciri's hand forcefully, and took out an emerald ring.

At the sight of the ring, Ciri's expression paled as she could feel an unbelievable amount of corruption coming from it. She tried to pull her hands away, even using her powers to do so, but Ravenna was not having any of it.

Bam!

Viciously, Ravenna drilled a fist into her stomach.

It took Ciri's breath away.

And in that moment, Ravenna was able to put the ring on her finger.

Like a parasite, the ring tightened up around Ciri's finger and enveloped her with an invasive energy.

"Did Lucivar put you up to this?" Leandra asked.

"Yes," Ravenna nodded and slumped to the ground. "He said to put that ring on her."

Before Leandra could ask more, a thunderous crash resounded outside.

Even from within the tent, the impact was impossible to ignore—two figures came hurtling from the sky, smashing clean through the upper floors of a building before crashing onto the street in a tangle of wings and fury.

The dust hadn't even settled when their silhouettes became clear.

Twin sets of wings gleaming with power.

One pair has a radiant set of wings, while the other has a mix of emerald and bronze.

It was unmistakable—Lucivar and Caldaros.

Somehow, their brutal fight sent them crashing here right on time when all of them gathered.

"CIRI!!"

Caldaros shouted at the top of his lungs.

One of his arms was hanging, his shoulder seemingly dislocated.

"Ciri where are you?! I can't sense you!!"

Upon hearing this, Leandra turned to Ciri before fixing on the emerald wing she was now wearing. A sudden realization struck her, and slowly, she crept over to Ciri and covered her mouth.