Chapter 17 – East Venerable Cloud Rider

 

…

Beneath the beautiful vast expanse, boundless ocean appeared in full vitality. The royal blue water reflected the entire horizon. It was like a canvas; it was calm and almost stationary yet breath taking. Visible but tiny waves made this body alive and full of life.

Whoosh. The ocean nourished different living things. The school of fishes and large coral reefs underneath were visible. Small islands scattered in all directions like shells on the beach. Floras survived and propagated on these islands, giving these lands a look of paradise.

Suddenly, a tiny dot disturbed the current canvas. It gradually became larger until it had the shape of a man. One noteworthy was that he was floating in the sky. Faint image of winds appeared below him.

Sometimes, he would pedal his foot as if he was striking a ground. This made him speed up and maintain his flight. Sceneries passed, as if the entire world revolved around him. The man hid his hand in his pocket. He had a faint smile on his face, giving him a more youthful appearance.  He appeared lackadaisical, if not for the grim face.

The man stared at the far distance and accelerated. Suddenly, his eyes twinkled.

Roar. The wind blew and clouds gathered. Then a faint figure of a dragon gradually appeared below this person. The man crouched before striking his foot on air. Like a shooting start, he traveled in large distance in a blink of an eye.

Instantly, the world darkened like a curtain being pulled down. Images of celestial bodies appeared and replaced the vast expanse.

Then titanic waves emerged because of pull and push of these behemoths. The ocean trembled for its unfathomable power.

But it was not enough. The man and dragon pierce through it like butter. A large body suddenly appeared. Its razor-sharp jaws snapped towards the man and dragon.

The man then pointed his finger. The Beast unexpectedly stopped midair only to explode in a fountain of blood and gore. Not only that, the finger gained momentum and became bigger until it thrust to the vault of the sky. The dark sky trembled and then shattered like glass a moment later.

The man and dragon were still accelerating and gaining speed as the time passed. But the debris of the shattered celestial bodies suddenly changed direction. They blocked the path of the man.

One breath away, the debris combined and turned into a gigantic hand. The giant hand appeared ancient. Similar features of a human hand were visible. It loomed upon the ocean, casting a shadow of despair. The giant hand paused for a second before barreling towards the man and dragon.

The man narrowed its eyes. Concurrently, phantom of dragons appeared behind him. They roared and clawed towards the sky. As if the whole sky ripped open, a dome-like hole appeared. The dorm exuded holiness and serene brightness. From the dome, a huge finger came down and thrusted towards the hand!

Boom. Inevitably, the finger punctured the hand.

But it wasn’t able to destroy the latter. Tiny cracks appeared on the hand but still continued its direction.

However, another finger came down from sky. This finger shot straight through the hole, making it larger!

Then two fingers came down. This time they paused before superimposing each other. The combined strength of the fingers speared through the previous hole, resulting in a massive explosion!

A large part of the hand disintegrated. But as if it wasn’t enough. The man plunged down his two hands.

Suddenly, from the dome, a blinding light shone down. Ten fingers emerged from the light before shooting towards the hand. The hand could only survive two of the strikes before turning into pieces!

Thus, the remaining fingers barreled towards the void. The void trembled and a cryptic shadow emerged before escaping on another distance.

He followed without hesitation.

The two flew across the ocean until they exited the water boundary. They fought and chased, leaving destruction in their wake.

The shadow thought. “That damned bastard, he said his plan were impeccable and yet I came across the big fish!”

The shadow glimpsed at the man.  His features chiseled perfectly. His pair of eyes radiated fatal attraction. He had a good frame with six feet height. He wore a common azure robe, yet he made it look elegant. His long hair waved behind him along with the winds. He was enough to be called a god among men.

He is East Venerable Cloud Rider.

Cloud Rider gazed at him as if his pupils boring through the mind, reading his intentions.

The shadow-incarnation was depressed. He doesn’t want anyone to find anything about his intentions and arrangements. But somehow, fate played a joke. No, that damned bastard played against him.

“Hey, slick guy! Why sneaking around the Mortal land? Do you mind if we chat?” Cloud Rider asked. His voice was gentle and comforting. But his tone had a hint of mocking.

The shadow-incarnation grinned. He thought that things were still within his grasps if he played right.

“To think I’ll see the legendary East Venerable Cloud Rider personally is an honor. They say that you are anywhere in the world. It looks like the rumor is true. Greetings, friend from Mortal Lands.” Then the shadow bowed with neither subservience nor arrogance.

Cloud Rider harrumphed. “Why bother greeting? I know you are up to no good.  Be direct. You didn’t even tell me your name yet.”

The shadow smiled again. “Friend, it is not that I don’t want to tell you my name.” He shook his head. “But–I have more things to do. I shall leave first.”

Cloud Rider smiled. Though the shadow was leaving, his gaze hadn’t left on Cloud Rider, so when he saw Cloud Rider smiled, it startled him.

His eyes narrowed. He sidestepped and reached a few tens of meters. He formed fist and white light gathered in it. Then he punched in the empty space.

Swoosh. Cloud Rider’s figure formed in front of him right after the punch stroked.

Cloud Rider lifted a palm. It was slow, but as if predicted, his palm met the fist. Negating any kind of damage!

The shadow blinked. But with his blink, the entire world turned dark and then become resplendent light!

He formed his other first. Light gathered on the fist. It formed a world. He filled the world with life, but one second later, it experienced calamity!

He invoked the calamity force, powering his fist to an infinite degree. Then he punched!

Cloud Rider laughed. He seemed taking a good time.

“You think you can touch me?” He sidestepped. But as if distance stretched to a million times. Or as if they could never be in the same place.

The fist zoomed through space and tailed behind him, but to no avail.

Cloud Rider sidestepped again. Instantly, he was beside of the shadow. “It is not my specialty to receive. I’m more into giving.” He punched. Twice, Thrice, Umpteenth times!

Millions of punches showered through space into the ground, creating holes like dragons fighting and trudging upon the earth, leaving a destroyed visage.

The shadow crossed his arms. His feet were moving obliquely while dodging. After the many steps, he kicked.

The blow speared through the void until it formed into the form of unicorn charging through the lands with its mighty horn piercing through any obstacles!

It was at first colored black, but it soon became white. Soon, the unicorn was compressed until its horn alone was left. On the tip of the horn, the calamity force was invoked. It was so devastating that those who had seen it would have their hearts instantly punctured!

The force involved feelings of mortality, the primal life of the wild, full of danger and nerve-wracking. It rushed with never ending desolate!

“Using Will? I like that!” Cloud Rider pointed. “The Mortal Lands is nothing for you to play with. If you wanted to play your machinations, do it elsewhere.”

He waved his finger above his head, then down below his chest, making an incomplete circle. The incomplete circle calmly floated in space. Cloud Rider tapped on air thirty-six times while simultaneously blowing through his mouth a large puff of smoke. The smoke became thirty-six rings and fused to the incomplete circle, making a tambourine. He waved the tambourine and rung thirty-six times.

The sound-produced vibrated and became a dragon passing through time!

First it zoomed through with a speed of sound, light, and broke through space. It sauntered with majesty as if it was the king of the universe, no one above it. It was then compressed until it only left a tooth. The tooth then rushed to meet the horn.

All of it took time to explain, but only a moment passed.

Shoo! The tooth slashed the horn. The horn pierced the tooth. They cut through space like cutting fruits. Multiple exchanges happened in split second.

But no matter how the horn pushed forward, it was stalled and repelled back by the tooth. It became a stalemate.

“Will… complete.” The shadow muttered. His face became grimmer as time passed. Thus, he could only grit his teeth and put on his one last card.

“My Will can pierce through anything.”

“My Heart invokes the calamitous force.”

“My Path is journey from darkness to light.”

“I believe in sacrifice, it honed my personality, refined my character.”

“It became who I am. Obstacles? Scram!” The shadow bellowed like a dragon. His voice echoed with emotions, pain, determination and belief. He would enter the needle’s eye if necessary.

“But, so what? This is my home. You scram!” Cloud Rider determined voice sounded like creaking woods, bending steel.

There was no room for anything else. One wrong move and they would instantly be defeated. They could only resolve to fight!

“Let’s end this.”

“Die!”

The shadow shouted. He performed numerous seals in his hands. Each seal represented clear sky. They scattered and gathered in almost an instant. They formed a miniature black hole, engulfing and tearing the whole surrounding.

Cloud Rider also simultaneously performed steps forward while drawing circles on his left and right side. Then like a fountain, a tremendous amount of World’s Energy gushed out. He performed a palm, so gigantic that could hold the heaven!

A phantom of a dragon appeared behind him. It bellowed with god killing intent!

Then tornadoes howled and clouds churned beside him. They look like cloud wings from the distance. Then, he stroked.

The black hole met the boundless palm.

Boom!

The entire surroundings torn asunder!

There was no saving if a normal person closed by a hundred miles from it.

However, the shadow had limited energy because he was only an incarnation. No matter how strong he was personally or profound his attack, it was useless.

The palm gradually crushed the black hole like crushing rocks with a hammer!

Then it pushed forward to the shadow with unyielding force. It was like a catastrophic might of nature on earth!

The shadow was dismayed but still he accepted the outcome. “Cloud Rider! It’s true that I have plans but it is not necessarily bad for your land. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what you think. Even my flesh rot, even my bones broken. Her dying wish, I’ll fulfil it! No matter what it takes!” The shadow enunciated until he disappeared along with the wind, leaving the place in utter decimation!

Cloud Rider calmly looked at the scene. “I didn’t know that there are still others who know that ritual.” He thought about the seals that the man made.

“An Outsider or one of our own?” The Venerable harrumphed. He erased the unnecessary thoughts. Right now, his mission was to save the County of Hopes and Dreams.

…

Ayill woke up seeing himself chained, tortured brutally. Somehow he gained a little strength and tried to break the chain for naught. Then he tried breaking his wrist so it could slide down the cuffs, however, the exhaustion, hunger and pain knocking him unconscious. In his dreams, he saw his drunk father finally lost it and beat his mother.

Suddenly, Ayill sank into the ground and after a long time, he fell straight to an abyssal deep.

Plop. The water was viscous as he felt the sticky and gelatinous liquid touching the surface of his skin. Then he felt something in his throat, choking, and thought it was phlegm. He tried hard to belch, but he himself felt his strength draining and his eyes drowsy. The phlegm in his throat was coming out. But he felt dying. No matter how close the phlegm from coming out, death felt closer. Maybe on that day he already died.

Gasp. He woke up, knowing that it was all a dream–a dream from the past. Truly, he was awake now. The pain from Sarah’s fist broke his ribs. Thus, it forced his body to shut down. He was shrimping inside a tree trunk, filled with cold sweat as the chilly night’s wind passed by.

Ayill removed his clothes. A skinny, full of scar body became visible. He brought out an ointment and spread it to his bruise. It was painful, but Ayill was expressionless. He resembled a lone wolf more than anything else. A wolf that licked its own wound.

He thought about his mother. Then he thought about Sarah. He didn’t have a reason to be furious at her. She was innocent, but she became a pawn of his drama.

He gnashed his teeth as his hatred increased once again. Suffering seemed to be his world now. He couldn’t worm his way out.

“Next time… next time, I WILL KILL HER. I will…”

“DEFINITELY!” It was more like a howl than a promise. Another injury was added. Not to his body, but on his soul.

…

The story of Academy of Hopes and Dreams was very familiar to everyone. They said the academy had been around since the founding of the county.

It was designed with a museum as its inspiration, evident with its artistic interior. They also hired renown sculptors every time to make statues of past teachers-cum-principal of the school.

But there was a legend that the museum-like appearance wasn’t the intention of its creator.

In the legend, the building was not yet a school. It was just a regular tall building. The people before didn’t follow any sorts of order or morals. In fact, anyone wanted to be on top of others. So, it was not a joke when one rich guy wanted to have a house bigger and taller than anyone.

But the rich guy died right after they finished the structure. Immediately, rumors spread and said that the building housed a terrifying secret.

Everyone loved secret, hence, there were many attempts of finding and what secret unfolding inside the structure. But these attempts failed.

Somehow, a disease appeared and everyone sought to find where its origin in order to treat it.

Fortunately or unfortunately, every clue pointed towards the building.

To learn the reason of the disease and the disappearance, one group brave and entered the building before promptly vanishing. Another followed. And soon more groups entered.

To no avail.

But when hope was lost, a strong man appeared. He had terrifying powers–he could lift the mountains with one hand and make rivers with the other. The man ordered someone to reconstruct the building into the museum and ordered everyone to regularly change the designs of interior. He also planned to place sculptures and other artworks inside, befitting of its new purpose.

But when the man saw the finished building, he changed his mind. He said. “The building should be a school instead.”

Several people believed the man, with his prowess, found the secret. But instead of removing it, he suppressed it by reconstructing the building into the museum. However, there was a small group who believed the sculptures instead who suppressed what laid underneath. They had a belief that the spirit of the teachers lived on as sculptures.

“The academy is the symbol of our peace and morality.”

As long as the academy remained standing, there still hope for them. Many people believed. Ryan believed it too.

That was how confident he was of Von.

The centipede’s tail had already crushed many mansions in the vicinity. However, the latter was down and was limping away. As for the ape, it was struggling to remain conscious. It wiped his bloodied mouth and eyes.

Draconic aura surged in front of them. It was Ryan.

Golden and ash-colored lights surrounded Ryan’s body. Looking closely, it were scales.

“Pendragon…” The ape used its remaining legs and jumped. His very being shouted at him to run!

The data showed Ryan’s information. Even though he knew that Ryan was strong, but it was not this strong!

He trembled as he felt himself weakening. There was no more will to him to fight. All he just wanted was to run, run away from this monster of a human!

The centipede also sensed the danger and tried to dig through the ground. It sensed more than the ape and knew that Ryan was on verge, a tiny yet uncrossable step to Venerable!

However, before they could even escape, they heard something that caused them to shake. Their ears kept ringing because their souls screamed so much that they became deaf to it.

“Mystery of Dragon.”

Suddenly, Ryan’s right hand changed. It turned into a massive claw with gold and ash-color scales. Each claw was as long as spears and radiated supreme authority. The rabbles trembled, feeling the power the claw had.

Ryan stared blades at the scampering duo. It was typical murderous intent, devoid of other emotion. For him, they were just additional bones.

“Penta Claw.”

Whoosh. Ryan’s body became a blur. At the moment, onlookers could only see five golden-ash spears shooting towards the two creatures with intense intent.

“First Spear.”

The ape shouted, one of his arms became red to the point that it looked like blood. However, his face became pale to the point he resembled a ghoul.

Nonetheless, he didn’t hesitate and punched one of the spears. It was his land stand.

Pshk. On normal occasions, this arm could punch through mountains. Alas, it did nothing against the spear. The spear skewered the ape to the ground. It was nothing fancy, just pure strength. Blood spurted like a fountain; the ape became paler as he felt his soul leaving him.

The centipede saw this and wormed towards the ape to help the latter escape. It thought it was impossible for the spear to do something to it because it was underground.

Alas, the centipede underestimated Ryan.

“Second Spear.”

One spear thundered the ground. It was like drill, dusts precipitated, excavating a large part of the land!

Roar. A large groan of pain sounded as the centipede trashed and went back to above ground. Only to cry in alarm as it saw three spears homing towards it!

“Third Spear.”

The centipede clumsily used its tail to meet one of the spears. But in the last moment, it severed its tail.

Another spear headed to his body, but the centipede couldn’t care less anymore. It used its body as a sacrifice as its head went and swallowed the ape. Then, the centipede transformed into a smaller figure and hastily wormed through the ground again. It doesn’t matter as long as it lives, the centipede thought.

“Transformation Art? Quite handy. However, you’re dead.” A voice sounded just beside the centipede’s ear. It shocked the creature so badly that it rattled its consciousness. Even the ape inside the centipede had lost its will to live. He thought, delay this monster? It was more like we were just an appetizer to him.

“The Last Spear.”

The female face on the centipede cried, it sounded like a cry of mercy. Anyone would feel pity on her, as if she were a lost soul. But Ryan didn’t have any of that. His face maintained strict and stoic.

Boom. A vast cloud of dust shot upward. Onlookers dodged to side. They looked up and saw that the dust cleared in a second.

Up in the sky was Ryan, whose hand speared through the lifeless body of the centipede. The female face on centipede’s body looked as if her soul was extinguished. Her grey eyes showed despair and hate. But it was over.

…