Rivers of the Night
Chapter 441 - 441: Information

Ancestor Nightingale's eyes opened wide, his shock evident on his face, his heart racing out of his chest.

The moment Ancestor Thistle fell to the ground, the clouds rolled, Laws practically foaming in the region.

Almost on instinct, Theron summoned the Alpha, and it moved without even looking at him, tearing into the Laws that dissipated and Ancestor Thistle's corpse with naked abandon. For a moment, it looked like a beast without the slightest hint of intelligence, more feral than it was sentient.

Blood flew and the sound of crunching bone echoed.

Slowly, Theron turned away from Ancestor Thistle's remains, his eyes landing on Ancestor Nightingale, who was trembling from head to toe—not out of fear, but instead due to the chill.

It felt like no matter what he tried, he couldn't grow warm. His robes were soaked through, and despite the fact he should have been able to easily evaporate it with his Mana, let alone his Mana Domain, it just… wouldn't go away.

Every time he made even the slightest bit of headway, another clone would explode around him, coating him with more icy cold water.

He felt like a mortal trapped at the bottom of the ocean, not the slightest hint of sunlight reaching him as the current rolled by, licking away more and more of his warmth without a care. Even the tip of his spear was trembling. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to stabilize it.

Theron looked at the man, confusion evident in his own eyes. He was sure… he had been so certain that the Nightingales had hidden powerhouses.

When he fought their Crown Prince, he had sensed something within the man almost awaken. He had thought for sure that whatever that secret was would reveal itself with Ancestor Nightingale. But…

Why was he so weak?

Theron thought that it was odd the moment Ancestor Nightingale chose to team up with Ancestor Thistle. Their relationship had always been odd to him—or more accurately, the relationship between the Nightingales and Thistles.

They seemed to be enemies, but sometimes they were willing to work together.

That just seemed to be the normal political sparring. They would still vie for control over the Empire and its territory, but there would be no Empire if they didn't unite against enemies first.

Simple enough. Theron could accept that.

But he had been so sure that there was a deeper layer to the Nightingales. If their Ancestor wasn't privy to that deeper layer, then who was?

Sadie? The Crown Prince? Were they the only ones?

That seemed… incorrect, somehow.

Theron found himself growing more confused when Ancestor Nightingale actually stopped trembling all of a sudden. He focused, ready for battle, only to find that the light in Ancestor Nightingale's eyes had actually dimmed completely.

'What…?'

He was dead.

WHOOSH.

BADOOM.

The clouds above cracked with thunder, this time even more obvious than it had been for Ancestor Thistle.

The Alpha flickered and vanished from behind Theron, diving toward its second Ancestor of the day with a ravaging desire in its eyes. It wanted nothing more than to eat up everything that was these Ancestors.

Its teeth and body began to freeze over, but it actually didn't stop for a moment.

Theron snapped out of his daze for a moment, waving a hand to retract his chilled Water Mana. Only then did the Alpha eat even faster, its cultivation starting to increase by leaps and bounds.

From the Fourth Resonance to the Fifth, and then from the Fifth to the Sixth.

It was only then that it began to show signs of slowing down, coming to a stop after it finally reached the Seventh Resonance.

It raised its head to the skies, unleashing a howl that matched the cadence of the thunder.

BADOOM!

Theron looked up to the skies, his confusion only deepening as the first droplets of water descended. However, he shook his head. He had to focus.

Slowly, he walked out of the battleground.

Up ahead, he found Sigil still nursing heavy injuries. In fact, he seemed to be on the verge of death already.

It had been just a simple punch, but it seemed that Theron hadn't known his own strength clearly enough back then. It practically shredded his inner organs to pieces. He had been slowly bleeding out from the inside for the last half hour.

The irony that the most innocent of the Thistles had probably suffered the most wasn't lost on Theron.

Cruel.

Maybe he really was worthy of such a label.

With a look toward Sigil, he flicked a finger, casting [Aqua Resonance] and healing him. He didn't say another word, instead walking toward Aeryn, who had already leapt up anxiously, rushing toward his sister.

Theron allowed him to take her off of his back as the tears flooded the Vermouth Clan's heir. Or, maybe at this point… he was their Patriarch.

"Laya? Laya? Talk to me. It's me, your big brother's here."

His voice came out in a shouting whisper, as though he was doing his best to catch Malaya's attention without actually disturbing her.

"She will likely die in three days unless there is a Divine Realm Poison Mancer you can find. Unfortunately, I cannot heal her."

If he could control Malaya's blood like he could the Harmon Clan's, it might be possible, assuming her other organs hadn't atrophied as much as her muscles. But he couldn't.

Aeryn's head snapped up when he heard this.

"No, no. You definitely know one, right? You've seen the wider world, you're much stronger and faster than me, you can do it. Right? Right?!"

Aeryn seemed to have forgotten to control the sound of his voice.

"If you could find a Poison Mancer immediately, a high-tier Gold Mancer would be enough. So, I said Divine Realm assuming you use the entire three days."

Giving Aeryn all the information he needed was the best Theron could do for them.

"You… you… this is all your fault!" Aeryn's roar came anguished, as though to peel away the layers at a man's heart.

But those same chilling eyes looked back at him.