"What."
"You're kidding right."
Ren finished recounting what Tang Yue had told him back in the mansion, which made everyone except Roxy recoil in horror.
"This is bad, real bad, we need to think of something."
Olivia said, turning towards Roxy, who was lost in thought.
"Roxy."
Olivia said while nudging her, earning a look of frustration from Roxy who wasn't happy about being interrupted.
"What"
Roxy grumbled at Olivia.
"We need to stop your evil friend before it's too late."
"Oh, that won't work."
She replied and then when back to calculating something before she was interrupted by Olivia once again.
"Why won't it work."
"Because its already too late."
Roxy replied, as if on cue the whole island started to shake violently making them fall onto their rears with the obvious exception of Roxy who remained standing straight as she continued to think.
Soon the shaking ceased and everything seemed to return to normal. The others seemed confused.
"Wait we're not falling."
"Did she mess up"
Olivia and Yang Chen exclaimed, clinging onto a tiny bit of hope. At this point Roxy stopped thinking and picked up Ren by the back of his collar, his feet dangled in the air as he looked around in surprise.
"In around five minutes, this island will go tits up."
She said flatly, causing the others to once again panic and flail their arms around. Roxy sighed at their stupidity and continued to explain.
"While this island will definitely fall, there's no way a kingdom located on a floating island hasn't prepared for such an event. By staying here, you actually have pretty good odds of survival."
She said, causing the others to stop running around like headless chickens
"Where are you going."
Olivia asked Roxy, who looked like she was taking Ren somewhere.
"Hunting that bitch down, surely she's thought of this much, so most likely this isn't her full plan and shit will go down once the island reaches ground level. I need to find her before then, the brat might be useful, so I'm taking him with me."
Roxy said, disappearing along with Ren before Olivia had a chance to respond. While the others started to work out their next move, Yang Chen was the first to speak up.
"I'm sorry to leave you guys at a time like this, but I need to warn my sect, knowing them, they might be able to help somehow."
He said apologetically, Olivia and the others didn't seem to mind and after a short goodbye, he sprinted off. It was at this point Tang Yue's eyelids began to flutter, as she slowly came around.
"I… need… to warn… my father."
She stuttered while trying to stand up, Olivia rushed to her side and helped her up.
"It's too late, the island's going to fall any minute now."
Olivia broke the bad news to her, Tang Yue froze as the realisation of what her words meant struck her, she began to burst into tears.
"everyone's… gonna… die."
She wailed into Olivia's chest, who took her time comforting the heartbroken princess.
"Not necessarily, Roxy mentioned that the kingdom might have prepared for this possibility."
After hearing that the situation could still be salvaged, Tang Yue wiped away her tears before freeing Olivia. All was not lost yet.
"I need to speak to my father, you all are coming with me."
Tang Yue stated calmly, she took off her ring, which represented her identity as a princess and injected her aether into the purple crystal embedded in it. The group was wrapped in a mystical purple radiance as their surroundings blurred.
"ugh… where are we."
Olivia grunted as her vision cleared.
"The palace hall."
Tang Yue's voice came from next to her. Olivia looked around the massive hall that surrounded them, if she wasn't mistaken this was the same hall that the banquet took place in, without all the tables and guests it looked completely different.
"Princess is that you, where have you been this whole time, the nation's been put into a state of emergency."
A short stout man in green robes rushed towards them, waving his hands around frantically. He was followed by an entourage of guards who looked similarly worried.
"Minister Wu, treat my friends who are injured, also tell father I want to meet with him."
Tang Yue barked her orders, the man named Minister Wu signalled to the guards who immediately rushed onto the scene and carried away Li Hongji and Zi Xi who had suffered a minor concussion from being knocked out previously.
"Princess, I'm afraid that his majesty is busy with urgent matters so I won't be able to contact him right now."
Minister Wu explained to her, causing Tang Yue to pause.
"This is about the island falling right."
She said, causing the minister to raise an eyebrow.
"You knew."
He asked, shocked that the princess knew about something he had only learnt a short while ago.
"Yes, I knew, just tell me if we can stop it."
Tang Yue asked, causing minister Wu to furrow his eyebrow.
"Stop it… no, but we can minimize the damage by slowing down the descent."
The minister stated calmly, causing Olivia and Tang Yue's eyes to light up.
"Go on."
Tang Yue prompted, causing the minister to explain further.
"Well, the reason the island floats in the first place is due the large deposit of wind attribute crystals underground. Because of the Aether veins, the crystals have a constant supply of energy causing the floatation phenomenon."
The minister explained patiently, his decades of experience in politics showed, his words were clear and easy to understand, it was at this point Tang Yue's eyes lit up as she realised what this meant.
"So, if the breakers of the nation, my father included, were to work together to supply their Aether into the crystals we will be able to just barely control the descent."
The princess quickly caught on. The minister gave her a curt nod, letting her know she was right, causing Olivia and Tang Yue started celebrating. Even Li Hao who hadn't said much this whole time, couldn't help but smile at the good news
"Princess, I do beg your pardon, but how did you know about this crisis."
The minister asked, just as Tang Yue was about to answer him, the ground began to shake. They felt a sinking feeling in their stomachs as the ground slowly began to separate from their feet.
***
"Where are we."
Ren asked Roxy who had now put him down, they seemed to be in a dense jungle and were surrounded by a thick network of shrubbery and trees.
"A small abandoned island that used to be a military base. Conserve your strength, unlike the main island, this one doesn't have an array so the air is really thin. the demon beasts shouldn't bother you as long as you where that bracelet I gave you"
Roxy answered him, making Ren think back to when he first laid eyes on the floating island and noticed the smaller islands next to it. The bracelet Roxy was talking about was a bangle, made out of Rosewood from the pink tree back in the village.
"Will this island fall as well."
Ren asked, wondering if the other islands would be affected by the main one. Roxy thought about it for a while before replying.
"No each island is independent, which is why it makes the perfect place for that harlot to hide. She loves to watch the chaos from above without getting her hands dirty."
"Seems like master knows her well. Why would she do something like this."
Ren continued to question her, which made her a bit frustrated but, in the end, she was the one that got Ren caught up in her problems, so she owed him some type of explanation.
"Elves are pure beings, so their easily corrupted, turning into dark elves. Normally the corruption makes them lose all rationality, but something is keeping her from completely losing it."
"Wait she's an elf, elves exist."
Ren asked curiously, he had only heard about elves in fairy tales but he already had a sneaking suspicion that Roxy knew more then she let on, but after seeing her unwillingness to reply he changed his line of questioning, once his master clammed up, it was impossible to get anything out of her.
"Can we change her back."
Ren's logic was simple, since she was corrupted, she should be able to be purified again but Roxy's next words dashed his hopes.
"It's impossible. To corrupt an elf, you need something to of an extremely vile nature, something that shouldn't exist in the first place like wise a cure is something that shouldn't exist either. That's why I need to figure out what's behind her corruption… before putting that harlot out of her misery."
Roxy looked somewhat sad when she said that last part, obviously that woman was someone close to her, talking about killing her, must not be easy for Roxy. Ren noticed her mood so decided to mention something else that had been bugging him.
"What role do I play in all of this."
This was what he was most curious about, in the face of that woman's strength he doubted he would be of much use but Roxy still brought him along which meant she had some sort of plan in mind.
"While fighting her, I need some time to scan her body and figure out what's behind all of this, that's where you come in brat, I need you to distract her for around five seconds. I'm confident enough to win in a fight but our levels aren't that different, so doing both isn't an option for me."
"I understand that, master, but I don't think I'm strong enough to do that."
"You can with the help of this."
Roxy said, handing him his violin that she materialised out of thin air, upon seeing the look of confusion upon her disciples face she decide to clarify.
"Since some of her personality remains and she recognised me, surely some of her memories are there, the violin was a big part of her life so hearing you play might prompt a reaction. Anyway, that's the plan, or do you still have more questions."
She said, knowing the meticulous nature of her disciple well. Ren thought about it for a while before responding.
"I don't have my sword, since it was caught up in the explosion it might be destroyed, also can I take of my ring."
Ren asked, his sword was gone and there was not much he could do about it, but the suffer-ring restricting his movement would surely be a bad thing when the stakes were this high.
"you goddamn brat, I thought I told you take care of that sword… no matter a gift of mine isn't so fragile, we can recover it later. About the ring though, hmm… its best if you keep it on. But I'll deactivate it"
Roxy grabbed his ring hand tightly, and soon his body felt unnaturally light and full of energy.
"I'll go ahead, once you get accustomed to your strength head over to the military base north of here, when you see us, we should be fighting, so try not to be noticed, I'll leave it up to you when to begin playing."
After saying that, Roxy vanished into thin air, only to reappear in the sky above the ruins of a stone fortress, that looked like it was on the verge of collapsing in on itself, the ruins were located in a massive clearing in the jungle. Nature had tried its hardest to reclaim the area, and one could see vines growing along the walls of the fortress.
"I thought you might show your ugly mug."
The black-haired elf named Elena made her appearance opposite Roxy, the two of them looked like gods floating above, able to control the fates of anyone below with the flip of a palm.
"you're the ugly one, but before I end you there's one thing I want to know."
Roxy said confidently, the black-haired woman gestured for her to continue, as if nothing mattered to her.
"Surely you knew that making the island fall wouldn't be enough to destroy Ventus, what's your game."
The black-haired lady began to chuckle in response.
"I guess even the famed goddess of destruction couldn't see through my plans, since there's nothing you can do to stop it, I don't mind enlightening you. Were the explosions the only thing in those attacks."
She said while grinning, her words made something click in her head and her expression turn foul.
"The beasts… Once the island hits the ground all the breakers will be exhausted and defenceless, if the kingdom was attacked by demonic beasts at that point it would be…"
"A slaughter."
Elena finished Roxy's sentence with a nasty gleam in her eyes. Roxy's expression took a turn for the worse, but something still didn't add up.
"Although a lot of people would die, with your strength you wouldn't be able to teleport enough beasts to overrun the kingdom."
Roxy retorted, but Elena's evil grin only grew wider.
"That would be true a few days ago, but now I managed to retrieve a certain artifact, the remnants of a dragon soul, I'm sure your aware of the vitality of those beasts. With that at the heart of a formation taking down a kingdom or two isn't a problem"
Elena started laughing like a maniac. Roxy was left stumped, a dragon soul, she had no idea how Elena got a hold of that item but if the elf was telling the truth, frankly the kingdom was fucked.
"Now all I have to do is delay you for long enough, while I won't be able to win, I'm confident of this much, I don't mind being a martyr if I can realise his dreams."
She said to Roxy, whose dreams she was talking about Roxy had no idea, all would be revealed sooner or later, she just hoped Ren would be able to pull through otherwise there really was nothing she could do.
"Enough chat, let's dance."
Roxy said, her aura surging rapidly seemingly without a limit, Elena responded in kind.
"At least we can agree on that."
***
Back in the kingdom of Ventus, things were progressing smoothly, everything considered. Despite the ongoing crisis the majority of the citizens had faith in their ruler, they remained in their homes while soldiers patrolled the streets. The island was due to make landfall soon and the kingdom's breakers where hard at work, controlling the descent.
Olivia, Li Hao and Tang Yue were patiently waiting in the medical bay of the royal palace for the injured to be treated, by now Tang Yue had already explained her story to the minister, who stormed off angrily once he heard that this was a conspiracy that involved the subjects of their kingdom.
Shortly afterwards they were informed by one of the nurses, that Li Hongji had regained consciousness, Li Hao was the first to burst through the doors and rush to his side.
This room was one of four treatment rooms in the medical bay, each room had four beds and where identical, the treatment room itself was quite spacious, two of the beds where occupied by the still unconscious Zi Xi as well as the now awake Li Hongji, who was staring listlessly out of the window next to his bed.
"Young master, I'm so sorry, I should have realised…"
By now, Li Hao had realised he had been deceived by Li Ming and the guilt was eating away at him, Li Hongji who was initially caught off guard by his sudden visitor, slowly put his hand up to stop Li Hao from continuing.
"Enough, I don't blame you for being deceived by my uncle… we all were. Tell me what happened to the rest of the family."
Li Hongji stated with an unnatural calm, his previous experiences had sucked everything out of him. In response to his question Li Hao froze, his blank expression and the grief in his eyes spoke volumes to Li Hongji.
"I see, we're the only ones left huh."
Li Hongji who was laying down, forced himself into a sitting position, where he laid eyes on Tang Yue and Olivia who had entered the room and had just finished checking on Zi Xi. A bitter smile spread across his face.
"First, I was saved by Roxy, and now again by all of you. I really am a hopeless man."
He said with a pitiful expression on his face, it was clear he just wanted to sulk and feel sorry for himself, but Olivia refused to play along.
"That's not true at all, your life being saved by someone shouldn't be looked down, what you do with your life from now on, is what's important."
Olivia said, trying to comfort him, when she looked at him, she saw the face of a man who had lost everything, it reminded her of when she first met Ren. Sensing the gloomy attitude of the room, Tang Yue also said her bit.
"That's right, even though I came to save you, I instead had to be saved by Roxy, the only way I can make it up to her is live a good life to show her that her efforts weren't wasted. You haven't lost everything because you still have your future."
She said with her hand on her chest. Her words made a single tear role down Li Hongji's cheek that he immediately wiped away. He was lost in thought for a while, but eventually turned to Li Hao who was by his side.
"Li Hao, what should I do."
He asked him on the verge of tears, Li Hao put his hand On Li Hongji and looked him dead in the eye.
"The answer to that question is something you must find by yourself Young Master, but no matter what you decide I will always be there for you."
Those words were the breaking point for Li Hongji and he burst out crying, all of these amazing people where in his life, yet he felt powerless, right then and there he vowed to himself that he would live a life he could be proud off.
The emotional scene was interrupted by a loud booming voice that seemed to be broad cast across the whole kingdom
"All residents brace for impact, I repeat brace for impact."
Upon hearing those words, everyone in the medical bay prepared themselves, Li Hao grabbed Li Hongji and embraced him tightly the girls dropped to the floor and covered their heads.
BOOOOOOOOM
A loud violent crash reverberated throughout the island, the ground shook violently knocking everyone who was still on their feet to the ground, all the windows shattered and for a while all you could hear was the shattered glass raining to the ground, soon screams and moans began to fill the kingdoms as the ones living in poorly made buildings were trapped under the rubble of their own homes.
"Is everyone alright."
Tang Yue shouted, she was one of the first to get back up and immediately checked up on everyone's wellbeing. She glanced over at Zi Xi but other than a bit of dust on her face, the sleeping beauty looked fine.
Muffled responses came from every direction, but she could gather that they were alright relatively speaking, breathing a sigh of relief, she slumped back down on the ground. A short while later soldiers swarmed the interior of the medical bay, presumably to check up on the princess.
If it weren't for Tang Yue's insistence on remaining in the medical bay, she would have been relocated to a safer area, even then, the medical bay was one of the safest places in the palace due to its construction so they were all relatively lucky.
"I'm fine, check on the others."
She shouted, shoving away a soldier who was trying to patch up the minor scrapes she had suffered during the landing. The soldier complied when he saw that she was genuinely fine and rushed over to the others. A short while later everyone in the room including the princess was covered in bandages, which was a slight overkill in Tang Yue's opinion, but the soldiers remained adamant.
Around half an hour later a guard wearing a silver helmet, who was originally part of Minister Wu's entourage burst through the doors and made an announcement.
"By decree of the king, all able fighters and medical personnel are to gather in the palace hall… Oh princess, I don't think this applies to you and your friends."
The authorities tone he had started with, immediately softened once he recognised Tang Yue. The princess replied swiftly making her intentions clear.
"I'm coming."
She said firmly causing the soldier to have a complicated expression but eventually relented.
"As the princess wills it."
"Wait I'm coming along too"
Olivia jumped in, causing the soldier to frown.
"With all due respect, are you able to fight."
The soldier asked in the least offensive way possible. Olivia didn't reply, but simply bent down and picked up a piece of stone rubble and closed her fist around it, when she reopened her fist the piece of stone had been crushed into gravel.
"Somewhat."
Olivia replied gleefully, happy that her training sessions with Roxy had paid off. On the other side of the room Li Hao gave a meaningful glance to Li Hongji.
"Go."
Li Hongji replied without much thought, just because he wasn't in good shape didn't mean he wanted to be a burden to the others.
"Yes, young master."
Li Hao said with a smile, before turning around and walking over to the solider.
"I don't know if I will be much help but I'm still a peak rank 1 breaker."
Li Hao said to the soldier, who gave his muscular figure a glance before giving Li Hao a nod of approval.
The doctors, nurses and remaining soldiers gathered in front of the soldier wearing the silver helmet alongside the princess and friends.
"What happened."
One of the doctors asked the soldier who had gathered them. All he could do was shrug his shoulders in response.
"I haven't been made aware myself, as a soldier I can't possibly hope to guess the king's intentions. Seeing as everyone is ready, I hope you will follow me to the hall."
With that the soldier turned to leave with the group following after him. They quickly arrived in the palace hall, clearly, they were among the last to arrive. Hundreds of people where already gathered there including the high-ranking members of the army.
On the left side of the hall there were around fifty people with pale faces, who looked like they were severely exhausted. It was obvious that these were the high-level breakers that had assisted the king in controlling the islands descent.
The hall was filled with whispers of confusion, as people aimlessly tried to figure out why they had been brought here, the high-ranking officials who were in the know, had expressions filled with despair.
Soon the King arrived on the centre stage and the hall turned silent his face was deathly pale and sweat dripped down his face, next to him was a young soldier that was splattered in blood, he was visibly shaken and his blood-stained hands were shaking uncontrollably. The king walked up to the front of the stage and addressed the crowd.
"First, I want to thank everyone who joined me in stopping this crisis, I would have liked to have done more to thank you but unfortunately that's no longer an option… As some of you know this was a vicious attack on our kingdom but the attackers plot runs deeper than we all could have imagined, the brave young man by my side is a soldier sent as part of a squad to investigate the area surrounding the kingdom once it landed. He has a clearer idea of the situation then me so I hope you will all listen to his story."
The king said, bringing the young soldier to the front of the stage, initially the soldier looked too scared to speak, but the king gave him a warm gaze that made him a little more relaxed.
"Wen…Wen Lin… I am part of the… uhm scout regiment. We travelled by horse around a kilometre away from the kingdom, we came across a horde of demonic beasts, hundreds of thou- no… sorry thousands. We turned back, but some of them were faster than our horses, the others held them back, they said one of us had to make it back and warn everyone."
The man burst into tears, the king embraced him compassionately and his eyes turned serious as he started speaking once more.
"Thanks for that, it mustn't be easy for you and your comrades… their sacrifice will not be in vain."
Realisation of what the man's story meant hit the crowd, wails of grief and despair filled the hall as the crowd lost hope, all the strongest fighter were exhausted, the kingdom was doomed.
Sensing the mood of the hall, the king raised his hand and the crowd fell silent. The king had done a lot for this country and everyone in the room respected such a ruler. Once the hall was completely silent, he resumed speaking.
"By now the beasts would have reached the walls, thanks to the brave soldiers and volunteers defending the wall, they will buy enough time for the remaining citizens to evacuate towards the centre of the kingdom.
If nothing is done the beasts will reach the capital in a few hours. I gathered you here today to fight alongside me. I realise I'm asking a lot of you, which is why this is not an order but a plea for help. If you decide to walk away, I will respect your decision.
We all have family inside the walls, we can't abandon them in their time of need. Yes, some may consider it a futile effort, with the state we're in, we won't be able to slow the beast horde down at all, frankly it would take a miracle for this kingdom to survive…
but still no matter if the odds are minuscule, no matter if we have the same chance as the sun not rising tomorrow. No matter if the chance of victory is nigh impossible. We can't hope for a miracle without fighting for it.
As long as we fight hope isn't lost and I will never lose hope. I will fight till my last breath with or without you. So, tell me have you lost hope."
With that, the king's passionate speech ended, and the hall fell silent, everyone looked at each other, not wanting to be the one to voice their opinions first. The silence continued for a long time. Until it was broken. The blood covered Wen Lin wiped his tears revealing a fierce look in his eyes.
"I haven't lost hope… I won't let my comrade's sacrifices be in vain. I will fight."
Wen Lin steeled his nerves, the crowd burst in to murmurs, they admired the courage of the young man in front of him.
"I will fight."
"so, will I"
Tang Yue stepped forward and declared, Olivia followed shortly after, causing everyone to turn their heads.
"Princess you mustn't"
Various officials rushed to her side, trying to stop her, but at this moment the king stomped his foot causing them to freeze in their tracks.
"ENOUGH, my daughter has made her choice… as much as it pains me to say this, right now I couldn't be more proud of her."
The kings powerful voice reverberated throughout the hall. He sent a bittersweet smile Tang Yue's way. Seeing the princess come forward like that stirred something within the others in the hall.
"I will fight."
"How can I let the princess fight to protect me while I cower behind her.
"it would be my honour to fight alongside the king and princess."
"If we win stories of my bravery will be heard far and wide."
Various shouts began to fill the hall, more and more people came forward, until the whole hall was filled with shouting and cheers. Tears began to roll down the cheeks of the king.
"I'm proud to have been a ruler of such a great kingdom."