Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Chapter 282: Survive What Comes Next

Heavy silence lanced through the tower as if a single sound would send it crumbling to dust.

Flattering sounds echoed as the Faceless Monarch stood at the center and locked glances at each person in the room, the Lords, Overlords, and finally the Monarchs.

Blood rushed out of Leon’s dual heart and spread through his body when the red-robed Faceless Monarch pulled his attention away from him.

Sharp air flew out of Leon’s nose when the Faceless Monarch shifted his focus toward the five floating Monarchs.

Hei Yung placed a hand on Leon’s shoulder, then leaned toward his left ear. "Remember, say the truth only."

He pulled his hand back when one of the Shards materialized before Leon as if it were there before the ages of time.

"Leon Storm. Son of the Destroyer. It is time." The ground at Leon’s feet ejected when the Shard slammed its staff on the ground.

Leon hissed the moment he placed his first step on the raised ground. A faint grey smoke bounced off the surface as countless portions of the floor began to rise upward, forming a hanging stairway.

With every step he took, faces of Li Mei, Lily, Zoe, and his father reeled through his head, encouraging him.

The moment he stopped at the last step, a golden ring bar materialized around him and formed a heavenly transparent cage.

’So this is what they do here,’ he thought when he captured all the faces of the white-robed people, the Skywarden Sect, then shook his head.

A black glow flashed out of Leon’s eyes when he turned his gaze to the pink-robed Monarch, who resembled the Serakel but in a higher version.

Sola’s snake tongue sliced through the air when she leaned forward and focused on the human inside the Seol-Mujin high court bars. "Let’s not waste the council’s time. We all know why he is here."

Five of the remaining Monarchs turned their gazes at her, but the Faceless Monarch of the Shards did not.

Zarek, the Eclipse Sect Monarch, placed his black crystallized arms on the floating table and locked his gaze from Sola, the Lotus Maw Monarch, onto Leon. "Five separate signatures of the Destroyer’s mark occurred while you were out of Agatha."

The air flowing through the Lords of the Lotus Maw Sect grew cold when the name sank deep into their heads. They turned shocked glances at each other as if hearing the name of someone they had long awaited to destroy but had no power against.

A concussive wave of crystallized air sliced through the corners of the tower when murmurs rose from the Lotus Maw Sect.

A faint smile tore on Sola’s face when she shifted her snake gaze from Zarek and turned to her people. With a single glance at the front row, three Lords of her sect blasted like bloated balloons.

The murmuring Lords of the Lotus Maw Sect all grew extremely silent when the two Overlords with green blood on their faces turned sharp glances at their backs.

"Good." Zarek turned his gaze from Sola, then focused on Leon. "Explain."

Leon’s arms remained at his sides, while he carried an extremely calm face. "I can’t."

Rainbow colors glowed around the barrier set aside by the rings Leon stood in when a crystallized black beam of light surged from Zarek and slammed on the rings. "You can’t, or you won’t?"

Saliva snaked down Leon’s throat when he watched the rainbow glows for a second before turning his attention to the crystal-skinned Monarch. "I don’t have an answer for something I didn’t do."

Lord Hayes of the Cobalt Sect stood up to speak but sat down quietly when he saw his Monarch’s gaze on him. He sat back down the moment he remembered what Sola did to her cherished Overlords. ’He has answers. He just does not want to say, like any other guilty person would do.’

Zarek asked Leon about the 11th Alchemania incident, which brought long-hidden memories back into Leon’s head.

The eyes that stretched through the skies and the screams that tore through the land as the solar energy erased half of Alchemania all slammed into Leon’s mind, but he composed himself.

When Zarek raised his hand, a panel seeped out of the floating table and filled the interior walls of the tower. "What about this, the Death Pit."

’So they did cast a video and brought it. Huh,’ Leon thought, glancing from one screen to the other, while a faint smile slowly stretched on his face.

The video paused when it reached the section where Leon dashed out of the gold beam and slammed Tiger against the titanium walls of the Death Pit.

Zarek leaned in his seat when he saw the faint smile on Leon’s face. "Why did you spare him even when you knew you could just kill him in seconds?"

Leon moved a step forward and placed his right palm on the transparent barrier the rings had. "He wasn’t worth it."

’Interesting.’ Zarek folded his hands on his chest, then shook his head.

Eleazar, the Monarch of the Zenith Sect, the yellow-robed people, leaned forward. "Your mother. Where is she now?"

Bloodied veins lanced through Leon’s eyes when the question rang twice in his head. "She is in Thule."

"And her condition?"

Sharp flow of blood spread through Leon’s body when his mother’s smiling face appeared in his head but transformed into a creepy, grim grin. "I don’t know. It has been long since I went home."

Eleazar’s smile faded when he saw a flicker of black glow in Leon’s eyes. "Do you have any sibling carrying the same power as you?"

"I DON’T KNOW!" Sharp air flew out of Leon’s nose with a faint mixture of the golden energy and crashed part of the ring. But they repaired themselves. "My mother is crippled and blind. My sister is just eight years old. How are they supposed to live a life with such power? Tell me what you actually need and stop wasting my time!"

Lord Hei Yung’s eyes sank into their sockets when the robes of the Zenith Sect rose up slightly. The ground beneath the tower shook while heat plummeted through the room as if fire buried beneath the earth wanted to sprawl out.

The tremor in the base of the tower seized when the Faceless Monarch placed his right palm on the table. A faint red glow seeped through the swirling blackness of where there should be a face when he shifted his full attention to Leon.

"Do you want to know how your family is?"

All the sweat seeping out of Leon’s veins calmed. "Yes."

"They survive what comes next."