The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

After the loud sound of clashing metal, the monstrous and seemingly relentless figure finally fell.

Constance’s long sword had broken into two. At the very last moment, she enchanted the might of thunder into the blade, and as she found an opening after Grand Duke Owen risked his own life to cover her advance, her blade managed to pierce through Berentine’s chest plate.

The rampaging power of lightning surged into Berentine’s body through the opening and tore everything within the armor apart, regardless of what was underneath, whether it was still human or not. After taking multiple heavy damages, the final blow depleted his vitality, and even the power of annihilation could not get him to stand up again.

Constance was slightly dazed as she stared at her broken blade as if she never snapped out of her battle trance. Only until a soldier behind her dropped his weapon did she realize that everything was over.

She looked at the throne hall, or the ruins of the once throne hall. Everywhere were broken walls and torn tiles, the entire hall was torn apart in the earlier battle, and the half-destroyed dome hung precariously above, while the remaining half lay shattered on the floor.

The rain poured in from the gaps of the dome and washed against the ruined hall. Thick blood mixed undiluted with the pouring rain.

Amid the broken ruins, arms and legs of buried soldiers were exposed. The owner of the limbs had sold their lives to buy Constance chance after chance to attack, and now they lay lifeless entombed beneath the ruins, while the surviving warriors moved shakily about as they gathered the dead.

Charlemagne had lost an arm, with a stump of ice near his shoulder to stop him from bleeding out, he held himself up using his sword in his right arm and looked down at Duke Owen.

“What you looking at boy? I’m not dead.” the old general let out a painful smile as he lay on the ground. “Compared to the wound earlier, this is but a scratch. But… can anyone come and shield me from the rain?”

Constance walked toward Duke Owen as the latter, with much effort, raised his arm in a wave, stopping her in her position. “Your Highness… No, Your Imperial Majesty, go to your father. Death will not take me.”

Constance nodded and went to the Dragon Soul Emperor, Berentine’s side.

She bent down as she used her sword to steady herself, and looked at the man clad in black armor. He was as large as she remembered, but there was frailty, a weakness she never remembered. As the rain poured onto the cold armor. As water flew through the gaps in the armor, his life was fading away as well.

The taint of annihilation had faded away, but Constance was sure of that as the soldiers killed or wounded by Berentine had not mutated, and in other words, the person inside the armor was her father.

She held her hands out, wanting to remove Berentine’s armor, but the latter unexpectedly lifted his hands, stopping her movement.

“Don’t open it, my beloved Connie, I’m a horrifying monster now.”

“It has ended, father.”

“Yes, it has finally ended,” A rasping voice came beneath the helm, and with every word, his voice softened, “It has finally ended…”

He demurred for a few seconds, before once again speaking with a soft, gentle voice, “Connie, I have something to tell you…”

“I already know,” Constance placed her hand on Berentine’s chest. “About my origin.”

“…Do you hate me?”

“I never would,” Constance shook her head, “The Inheritance needs to be completed by a heritor… and I could never be happier to be your daughter.”

“Is that so… that’s good.”

A faint light appeared behind her and Constance immediately felt the air around her became warm, she then heard Rheia’s voice. “I cannot save him.”

Constance’s hand shook, imperceptibly, before answering softly, “… I know.”

Berentine saw the silhouette appearing out of thin air behind Constance, but he was slowly withering away and could no longer see the real form of the silhouette. He only saw an orb of light; an orb of light emanating warm and wondrous powers stood before him, and it was walking toward him.

Constance saw Rheia walking towards Berentine’s side, and finally said the first request in her life to an outsider, “Bless him, please?”

Rheia turned back to look at Constance, a faint smile on her face, “You seem to have worked out my identity?”

“After touching that armband,” Constance quietly looked at Rheia in the eyes, “I could ‘see’ some things.”

Rheia nodded, “Go, do what you need to do, I will stay with him.”

Constance led her knights and soldiers away from the ruined palace, and under the shroud of rain, only the tiny goddess and the last, dying heritor.

Rheia squatted beside Berentine, “Just say whatever you want, I will do my best to fulfill it. You people deserve this much.”

“Give me a dream,” a weakening voice came beneath the thick, black armor. “A dream of the past… a dream of those I had forgotten, the things of the past eras… Wrench my soul dry, tear it apart, whatever, I want to meet them again… Meet those old friends everyone had forgotten about.”

Rheia gently placed her hands on Berentine’s forehead. “Sleep, my child. Sleep tight.”

The darkness lasted for a long time, so long that people started doubting if there was light. They started to doubt if the world was just a veil of darkness all along, but in the end, the light of dawn came.

He opened his eyes, as he felt that he had dreamt a very, very long dream. He could not remember anything of the dream, but a gentle voice rang beside his ears, just like a mother.

That voice had coaxed him to sleep, and that voice woke him up.

He saw all around him was a massive plain as a bright sun glowed radiantly across the verdant plain in a warm and cozy light.

There was a banquet on the plain, and all sorts of people were gathered by the long table, they held wine goblets in their hands, as they exchanged banter and laughter.

Their faces were blurry, as everyone felt somehow familiar, but yet he could not remember any of their names.

Suddenly, the blurry faces became clear, and the names of everyone present came into his mind.

He got up and walked towards the long table, as his black armor fell onto the ground pieces by pieces. He was surprised to find himself sleeping in his odd getup, but his footsteps did not stop.

The people around the table had noticed his presence, as they all turned over and raised their goblets, calling out to him.

Tumen, Tiamat, Haersonca… Everyone was present.

They were drinking merrily as they told some seemingly ancient things that had happened just yesterday. They continued drinking into the night until the stars dotted the sky and the beautiful darkness veiled the horizon.

He looked up, lost in the view of the stars.

“Come,” Someone had grabbed his arm. Turning over, he saw the ever-powerful Tiamat stood beside him and behind Tiamat, was his smiling friends. “Everyone is waiting for you.”

Haersonca, the tallest of the lot too smiled at him, “Let’s go, it’s time for us to leave.”

He broke into a grin.

It was time to go, and his friends had left a long time ago, and he was late for far too long.

He then started walking, with his friends, towards the world basking in starlight…

The rain had died down, and the low rumble in the sky had disappeared. Rheia was still in her original position, with one hand on Berentine’s forehead, and the other holding the latter’s right steel gauntlet.

A moment later, she let out a gentle sigh and stood up.

Berentine’s helm fell to the side as it lost its contact, and the various parts on the armor slowly shattered and fell away, and within the armor’s cavity, were nothing.

“You can finally rest in peace.”

The dark clouds in the sky had faded away, like a heavy lead shell being slashed into two. Even without any sunlight, the light from the divine barrier shone upon the world that was turned upside down within a mere month.

A ray of light entered the ruined palace and basked the soldiers who were resting beside their weapons. A second ray pierced through the dimensional border, through the remaining clouds, and landed on the disintegrating ancient starships.

“All units have ceased combat,” the combat AI reported.

The sea of clouds in the world’s depth had totally disappeared, and the distorted and chaotic dimension was rapidly healing, and the ancient echoes of the past could finally be released from thrall of this twisted dimension.

The dark traces of corruption quickly faded away from their bodies as warriors and vessels from different eras slowly disappeared under the light. The connection between the world’s surface and the world’s depth became even closer than before, and from the sensors outside, Hao Ren could clearly see the continents of L’Haronne.

This was not the sign of a dimensional collapse, rather, this meant that the distortion of the world had been corrected, and the world’s depth created by the cycle of annihilation was no longer needed, and it was quickly being restored as a part of the normal dimension.

Lily and Vivian gawked at the changing skies, and words failed them.

Hao Ren too was lost staring at the scene outside, he saw the terrifying warped skies above the chaotic dimension slowly restoring, as the stars returned to their former looks, while with the recovering stars as the backdrop, a large, argent starship suddenly appeared. Its thrusters were spewing bright flame as it slowly gained speed into the distance, and on the starship’s hull, ‘The Revelation’ glowed brightly under the starlight.

Hao Ren stared intently at it until it and the rest of the echoes of the past scattered into light particles and disappeared into the stars.

Nolan looked down, as she stared at the data from the monitoring station she had left at the planet’s core. It was sent from the “Heart of God” a few seconds ago, and there were just two simple sentences.

“The last of the conduit of annihilation has been destroyed.

“The war is over.”