Mieko's group arrived not long after, and their three-masted sailing ship came to a steady stop at that seemingly ordinary stretch of White Beach on Angel Island.
Mieko only gave the beach a quick glance before turning to the sailors and navigators beside him. "Odin and I are going down. You stay on the ship and stand by."
"Yes, sir!" the sailors and navigators answered in unison. They'd been on the ship for a full week and were inevitably a bit stifled, but no one dared disobey Mieko's orders.
"Move out!" Before Mieko even finished speaking, his body was already flashing toward the beach like a bolt of lightning.
At that moment, more than a dozen people in strange uniforms—each with a pair of wings on their backs and bizarre weapons in their hands—hurried in from the distance.
"Who exactly are you people?" The middle-aged man in the lead wore a grave expression as he demanded.
Mieko didn't answer directly. Instead, he curled his lips into a teasing smile. "So you're the so-called god's guard of this 'Land of the Gods,' huh?"
"We're not the god's guard. We're only the patrol of Angel Island. It looks like you came from another Sky Island, but you've already trespassed into our territory illegally…" the middle-aged man explained.
"Have your so-called 'god,' Gan Fall, come see me!" Mieko cut him off impatiently, voice cold.
"How dare you be so disrespectful to our god—arrest them immediately!" The middle-aged man's face darkened at Mieko's arrogance, and he barked an order at the patrolmen beside him.
"Yes, sir!" The patrol soldiers moved at once, raising their weapons to Mieko, ready to strike.
"Zzzzt…" Mieko couldn't be bothered with any more talk. Dazzling lightning erupted around him and instantly swallowed the patrolmen who tried to seize him.
Bang, bang, bang… With a series of heavy thuds, one patrolman after another collapsed onto the soft Island Cloud, charred black from head to toe—alive or dead, no one could tell.
"Th-this… what happened… They… they're all dead…" The only middle-aged man spared stared at his fallen companions in terror and hurriedly crouched to check them. The moment he saw their horrific condition, his face went deathly pale. He looked up in horror at Mieko—Mieko hadn't even lifted a hand. The man stumbled back several steps without thinking.
"Mieko-sama, should I eliminate him?" Odin arrived at the edge of the beach as well, both hands gripping his massive sword as he asked bluntly.
"No." Mieko shook his head lightly. "Leave him. I need him to lead us to that so-called god's island, Upper Yard." He stepped forward a few paces, grabbed the trembling middle-aged man by the collar, and said evenly, "If you know what's good for you, take us to Upper Yard obediently. Otherwise, I'll turn Angel Island into a sea of blood…"
His tone was flat, but it carried endless coldness—faintly laced with a killing intent that made one's spine go stiff.
"What?!" The middle-aged man, who had been planning to cling to his integrity and die before yielding, turned pale on the spot. He stared at Mieko's icy face, panic and fear flooding him, and yelled at once, "No! As long as you don't go wild, I-I'll guide you…"
As long as he led them to the god's island, "god" Gan Fall-sama would naturally step in and deal with them. No matter what, he couldn't let them slaughter freely on Angel Island.
"Smart enough." Mieko nodded faintly. He wasn't actually going to start a massacre on Angel Island—he wasn't some lunatic like Enel. Besides, sometimes the right amount of threat worked better than swinging a fist.
…
Not long after, the three-masted sailing ship that had just dropped anchor set sail again, following the direction the middle-aged man indicated, racing toward Upper Yard.
"My lord… why are you going to Upper Yard?" The middle-aged man stood at the bow, his heart in his throat. He stole glances at Mieko's calm face while probing carefully.
"You're a prisoner—where do you get all this nonsense?" One sailor, clearly hot-tempered, lifted a leg and kicked the middle-aged man hard, sending him tumbling across the deck several times.
"U-Upper Yard… we're here, my lord!" The middle-aged man struggled back to his feet and pointed to a lush island not far ahead.
Towering trees rose into the sky, dense forest everywhere. And the land—unlike the misty, cloud-wreathed ground of Birka or Angel Island—was completely different. It was actual soil, something rarely seen on Sky Island. The god's island Upper Yard, known as the "Holy Land," was the island right in front of them.
"So this is the soil Birka doesn't have…" Odin and the sailors stared at the green island and the earth they'd never seen before, exclaiming in amazement.
Soil was nothing unfamiliar to Mieko, but to Odin and the others—people who had never seen it—it was a fresh novelty, the same kind of shock Mieko had felt the first time he saw Island Cloud.
"Who goes there?!"
Just as Mieko's group had set foot on the Island Cloud, a squad of the god's guard in uniform suddenly appeared before them, blocking the way.
"Captain Huck, it's me!" The middle-aged man in front lit up at the sight of the god's guard. He knew their strength was far beyond the patrol's, so he ran over and shouted loudly, "These invaders killed the rest of the patrol and forced me to bring them to the god's island—otherwise they said they'd start a massacre on Angel Island…"
BOOM!
Before he could finish, a bolt of lightning shot from Mieko's fingertip, piercing straight through the man's forehead and leaving behind a charred black hole. The lightning didn't stop—it continued on, blasting through several huge trees.
"I'll leave this to you." After tossing out a single line, Mieko rose into the air and shot straight into the depths of the forest.
"You damn invader—don't let him get away!" The god's guard squad leader named Huck's face changed sharply as he roared.
"Sorry—your opponent is us!" Odin gripped his greatsword with both hands and charged forward like a gale.
Huck leveled his spear at the rapidly approaching Odin and the sailors by the shore, issuing a cold order: "Take these invaders down first!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Arrows flew out like a cloud, weaving Cloud Roads through the air. Wearing special Cloud Shoes, the god's guard soldiers slid swiftly along the Cloud Roads, surging toward Odin and the sailors.
"Gale Slash!"
Odin sneered and began spinning in place like a whirlwind.
(End of Chapter)
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