Hao Xuan, like the others, looked up to see a parted sky. It looked almost biblical...

There were a few stars and 3 different suns visible in the distance but their light never reached down even though he could see them, which made no sense.

The space between the parted clouds was twisting and turning like it was about to spit something out. He focused on the spot and everything went black for a second.

Hao Xuan's ears started ringing and his vision became blurry.

As he knelt in between Mihael and Ignac, trying to listen in on their conversation, his head was pounding like a jackhammer. A migraine accompanied by the pulsating pain that came and went in waves.

He could hear their words but not focus on them or understand what they meant.

"What's...going on..."

He sat down where he was. His vision had gotten so bad that he could barely make out rough shapes and could only hear vague echoes. These along with the migraine left him all but crippled at the moment.

"Ensis! Come here!" he yelled in panic and held out his hand.

But it wasn't Ensis that answered his call.

"Hey handsome, don't worry, I'm here."

A sweet voice came into his mind and a petite hand tightly grasped his.

"Focus on my voice, it's fine. Everything will be fine," the voice came again. With no other option, he did just that, and soon the only thing he could hear was her voice.

"Who are you?" he asked out loud. He wasn't even able to stand right now so talking through spiritual sense was next to impossible.

"You don't remember? After all those nights we spent together?"

*Giggle*

"The princess?"

Hao Xuan obviously had no idea what she was talking but he recognized her voice with the last sentence.

"Hehe, call me Ceni, or darling."

"Argh!"

There was another surge of pain followed by the sensation of a hot liquid going down the side of his face. A vein had burst on his forehead from the pressure but as soon as it did, the pain lessened significantly.

"Don't worry, I'm here," Ceni's voice came again and he could feel her gently wiping away the blood from his face.

"T-Thank you..."

The vision was starting to return so with Ceni's help he stood up.

It felt awkward as he tried his best not to rely on her as much as possible but she wouldn't let him go.

He could feel her hair brushing past his face and inadvertently took in a whiff of her perfume.

It smelled like....fruit? Like every kind of fruit all at once and for some reason he got really hungry from it.

*BAAANG*

The ground shook beneath his feet and a bang so loud that even he could hear came from the front.

He raised his hand instinctively and created a barrier to surround himself and Ceni but there was no impact.

"Don't worry, take your time. Uncle Giles is here, just...relax."

Her words penetrated the very depth of his psyche and he couldn't help but relax. The barrier vanished and his vision almost returned to normal, albeit not his hearing.

The first thing he saw was Ceni's smiling face looking back at him. She winked upon seeing him looking at her.

"Don't fall for me just yet, the thrill is in the chase," she said through spiritual sense, leaving Hao Xuan completely speechless.

He ignored her and looked up to see something that he would remember for the rest of his life.

Between the parted clouds floated a ship, a battleship! It was several times larger than the one they were on, at more than 15 kilometers in length.

It was also a different design. Theirs looked more 'steampunky' whereas this one was much more modern. (Pic in authors notes)

But it wasn't the ship that Hao Xuan would remember, rather the people that came out of it.

About 300 meters above the runway floated more than a thousand soldiers all dressed in the same white armor.

There were no energy fluctuations that could be observed from them so they were obviously flying naturally. A thousand profound realm cultivators covered the entire sky like a net.

And at the very front was a handsome man that seemed to be in his late twenties. He had fiery red hair and held a bronze galatine in his right hand which was giving out a horrendous amount of killing intent.

Just a few dozen meters in front were the 15 hooded figures standing against him. Mihael's expression looked quite similar to when a person eats something bad and they realize it only after swallowing it.

He couldn't hear what they were saying but Mihael's worried expression and the red-haired man's angry one summed it up quite well.

The red-haired man raised his galatine and a bright red light enveloped Hao Xuan's entire vision. That was the last thing he saw before passing out.

****

Authors Notes:

Battleship for reference: https://urlzs.com/EKKr6

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