Chapter 378 - City Of Music
With bored expressions, the entire group of Avancians watched Sayu hover above them. Twirls of purplish winds wafted around her, forming a small tornado inside the hall.
She was waving her hands in the air, laughing in amusement. There wasn't any more changes in her body apart from her skin and aura. Her clothes and figure were still the same.
"How pitiful it is for you," Sayu chuckled. "You're all under my spell."
Ed was picking his nose, "Are you done?"
The grin on Sayu's face was instantly wiped out just by his words. "W-What?"
"Which one of us actually believed you?" Elliot scoffed. "Ghost? Myth? What is this, a hundred years ago?"
"What?!" Sayu growled. "You mean, no one fell for my trap?"
Elliot looked at each one of his friends, all having the same look on their faces. Stoic and disappointed. He shrugged and replied, "I guess not."
"But I convinced you!" Sayu tried to reason. "What about when you were all scared just a moment ago? When Viper attacked you because you think he was possessed by a ghost. You didn't want your friend to die."
"Uh, hypnosis?" Ed scoffed. "Miss, please try harder."
Hope walked out from behind a crater while carrying a raging Viper with him. The boy was gritting his teeth while trying to break free from the much larger man's arms. Hope put Viper down while the latter kept on trying to wriggle out of his grasp.
"Mr. Ed, please do the honors," Hope said, pinning Viper on the ground.
"Nullify," Ed tapped Viper's forehead with his sword. Green mist gushed out from Viper's mouth, making the boy open his mouth and roll his eyes to the back of his head.
After the mist was cleared, Viper fell asleep on Hope's arms. The latter sighed and carried the boy in his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Be careful with him," Florencia and Christina chorused. They looked at each other, face reddening at the same time before looking away.
"I do this with Mr. Moon all the time," Hope chuckled. "You don't know how many times I carry him."
"Well, Sayu," Lance mocked. "Hypnotism is a very common and easily countered magic. We see this all the time in the West. You think you can trick us with such things?"
"You even tried to hypnotize us by making it look like a disaster was occuring," Ed slammed his sword to the floor, piercing it with his violet blade, "Nullify!"
Sayu screamed while the same green mist seep out of the walls. There were sharp screams coming from the entire castle as it shook, or looked like it was shaking. The light from the hall flickered, on and off until all the mist vanished into thin air and the light settling with on.
"Now that that's settled…" Elliot trailed off while he brandished his sword and pointed it at Sayu. "Who are you and why are you doing this?"
With a defeated look on her face, Sayu lowered her head and arms. She was still in the air, levitating above them as she let silence fill the room for a few seconds. "I am… a general."
"A general?" Elliot repeated. A burst of red light lit up in his sword as he walked closer to Sayu. Lance tried to stop him, but he shoved his arm away. "What general?"
Sayu raised her head, revealing amethyst gems replacing her orbs. Sharp fangs replaced her teeth as more scales replaced her skin on her face and her body. It was darker and thicker, as if she was a lizard.
She floated behind her and raised her arm, trying to look for something until her hand found a cloth. She pulled the cloth down, revealing a much larger space inside the room.
In the new space, there was a ten meter stone that was shaped like a woman. The woman had robes as her clothes, and her long wavy hair trailed to the bottom of her bare feet. It was looking down with its palms clasped together, like it was praying.
"The Amethyst Maiden," Elliot gasped. "What is it doing here?"
"I'm the general of the Diamond Emperor and this kigdom is my domain! And I have absorbed the power of the Amethyst Maiden!" Sayu yelled. She raised her arms on either side of her, making the lights of the room burst into several explosions, letting the darkness swallow the basement.
The red aura from Elliot's sword lit up the place, and soon all the other weapons lit up with their aura. They grouped together and stood side by side, forming a circle to see all the sides.
"Sayu!" Elliot yelled. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Because I can," Sayu whispered. Her voice was airy and it had an echoing tone to it. She hid her presence and only let her voice pass through their ears from all the angles, making it hard for them to locate her.
"The Jade Emperor took over the northern kingdoms, all five of them," Sayu said. "The Diamond Emperor cleaned up the rest on the south. And this kingdom was one of them."
"They were right," Elliot whispered to Lance. "The East has been taken over by the two emperors."
"And where did you learn that information?" Sayu's face suddenly appeared in front of Elliot.
The boy swung his sword, firing his Lotus Blast attack in an instant. All his slashes passed through Sayu's face. She was grinning as she disappeared into the darkness once more.
"You really think you can defeat me in my domain?" Sayu chuckled. "Oh, wait, not my domain yet."
A sound of wood tapping on wood echoed around the dark room. It was monotonous for the first few seconds until the sound gained momentum and suddenly, Sayu whispered, "Realm Domination! City of Music."
The sound of the wood gained a tone. Not long after, it turned into a music just like the one playing outside of the castle. Drums, bells, and all the instruments filled their ears as the cheers started to sound under the music.
There was a hole in the fabric of the darkness that had a bright light from outside. The hole widened and showed the scene outside of the castle. It was like they were in the middle of the city again.
People walking in the streets, bands playing the same music in different places, lanterns were hung from across the paths. They were in the middle of the joyous capital city of Shyako.
"Lance, what is this?" Elliot gasped, shaking his friend's arm who was in deep utter shock.
It wasn't common for Lance to be like this. The first time they saw him with wide eyes and fear in his aura was when Aviditio stole his skill. And now it's happening again.
"Impossible," Lance whispered. "This is a complete and perfect Realm Domination."
"What can we do?" Elliot asked.
"We can overpower this like what we did before," Connor suggested. "We just need to focus our power together and suppress this."
"We can't," Lance grunted. "This is a perfect Realm Domination. This is an entire realm. A world of its own.. All we can do is pray."