Rivers of the Night - Chapter 673

Capítulo 673: No Match

Theron continued to stand in silence, his hair continuing to billow in streams of hair strands and Mana. It didn’t feel like he was a human, but rather more like a spirit—a sort of existence that might have been humanoid in nature, but was anything but otherwise.

But then again… Theron had never been human to begin with. Maybe this was just his truest form. Maybe this was what his mother had meant by a mane all this time.

At this point, Theron wasn’t even particularly angry with his situation. It felt like for every enemy he dealt with, two more appeared. It was relentless.

But this was his life. It had always been his life.

Why would he get rest…?

He could rest when he was dead.

But before he died, he planned to take all his enemies with him.

He had felt like something was off about Ilzan earlier, but because he was killing so many people at the same time, it was impossible for him to spend the necessary time to understand exactly what was wrong with him in specific.

Without a choice, back then, he had had to let Ilzan go, as the effort he would need to spend on one person wasn’t worthwhile when it was far more effective to kill as many as possible.

But it was a good thing he didn’t.

He couldn’t even handle one Dome of Heaven Realm expert back then, even while heavily suppressed. If he had forced Ilzan to reveal his identity, what would he do then?

Now, though, the chickens were coming home to roost.

Yet, Theron was impossibly calm. The hilts of his blades hung loosely in his palm, the tips of his fingers rolling the handles across the peaks and divots of rough skin that lined them.

Ilzan’s steps came to a stop 20 meters from Theron. Such a distance might as well have been nose to nose, but given their reaction time, it was also enough for him to bail out if he really needed to.

His head tilted up to the skies, and he found the Dagger Call Platform hovering ahead, not quite above his head, and yet not too far either.

“What an interesting little contraption. A treasure that directly targets the soul and suppresses it. Where have I heard of that before?” The smile on his face deepened. “Are you related to that woman?”

Theron’s expression didn’t change, but inwardly, he felt something stir.

That woman? Was he referring to Goddess Sacharro?

Theron knew very little about the higher cultivation realms, but what he knew for sure was that Goddess Sacharro was no Dome of Heaven expert. Whatever she was, she was impossibly far beyond that—maybe even sitting in a realm all her own.

It just felt unfathomable to Theron that she could possibly have an equal.

The likes of Ilzan couldn’t possibly know her. From his understanding, the best of the Umbra were only at the extremities of the Dome of Heaven Realm, and Ilzan certainly wasn’t that.

Ilzan was sent here for a reason, but as far as Theron could tell—even though he wasn’t aware of the exact sequence of events—Ilzan was unlikely to be some high-ranked member of the Umbra.

For one, he was a Fire Mancer, not a Dark Mancer. He might be related to them, but given the fact his Resonance had deviated, he was unlikely to be a true Umbra. Maybe an illegitimate child, or maybe a random mutation. Either way, he wouldn’t be elevated to a top position in the family.

So how would he possibly know someone of Goddess Sacharro’s status?

But then again… how did Theron know someone of her status?

“No answer?” Ilzan asked with a smile, his handsome face looking relaxed. “I guess I could just capture you and ask—.”

“I understand,” Theron suddenly said.

Ilzan blinked before he too “understood.” “Oh? Do you want to give up? How tactful of—.”

“You’re here to protect her.”

Theron didn’t look in the direction of who he was speaking about, but the constricting of Ilzan’s pupils made it obvious that he was more than correct.

Nodding to himself, Theron knew that this farce was over.

“I’m not sure why you and those like you have such a fondness for talking so much. But I wonder what the Patriarch of the Umbra will think if he knows that you allowed her soul to be controlled by someone else?”

Ilzan’s pupils shuddered.

He had said just earlier that Patriarch Nightingale was a nice pawn. But what he didn’t know was that Patriarch Nightingale’s King Soul Lamp had landed in Theron’s hands.

He probably dismissed the idea because he thought that Patriarch Nightingale had died at the hands of a Demon Chosen, and Theron had already proven himself to not be one. So he had thought that he was safe from dealing with that.

If the Demon Chosen chose to suppress Lyrah with it, then they could deal with that situation when it came, but it wouldn’t necessarily come back to bite him even if he failed to do so.

But now, he had spoken such words out loud and with such confidence in hopes of regaining control of the situation. Ultimately, he had made a mistake… just like Melani had.

Patriarch Umbra wouldn’t send Ilzan to protect Lyrah and have him use Patriarch Nightingale to control her. That didn’t make any sense.

It was more likely that Patriarch Umbra’s wives knew of Ilzan’s existence and pressured him in other ways. Whoknows, maybe Patriarch Nightingale was actually smart enough to use this to his advantage as well.

Regardless, it was checkmate.

Theron’s words were ambiguous only to those not in the know. To Ilzan, it was like the Reaper’s palm across his throat.

Would this make Ilzan think that he was, in fact, the Demon Chosen?

Yes.

But that was a bridge Theron would have to cross when he was a long ways out of here.

First, he needed to survive—and he was no match for Ilzan.

Unfortunately, his brain was more than a match.