Farewell

"Boom!"

The Royal Palace wall exploded. Bricks slammed into the floor, and gritty stone dust swirled through the corridor on the howling wind.

Xia Lun strode into the corridor, his black eyes sweeping the area. But it was deathly quiet, with no sign of an enemy. The Holy Flame Battle Standard in his left hand brightened slightly. He glanced at it, then noticed the Holy Flame's pure white radiance forming a phantom trail along the corridor, much like Tracking Focus. Without hesitation, he sprinted after it. A dozen seconds later, he found Renee in a corridor on the top floor.

Renee knelt on the floor, hands pressed to her chest and head bowed in prayer. Though she was perfectly still, the pure holy light around her flickered faintly. Xia Lun had worried that King Guewen might be lying in ambush, but when he saw the charred severed hand still twitching on the floor and the gray ashes beside it, he immediately guessed what had happened.

At the sound of footsteps, Renee whipped around. She froze for a moment, then spread her arms in delight.

"Xia Lun, I—"

Before she could finish, the ground began to shake violently. The wind wailed, and the brilliant Beam outside grew thicker. Xia Lun stared in shock as the paintings and carpets around them floated up as though weightless!

Renee cried out. The pale Oath Moon and dark red Moon of Oblivion nearly aligned, gradually blotting out the sun. Stars flashed and spun wildly across the black vault of the sky. Space itself seemed to stretch and thin, and even the Echoes scattered throughout it grew sparse!

With his perception at 29, Xia Lun heard the Planet's mournful cry, like a whale's lament. Beyond his sight, mountains had begun to collapse. The tides had fallen