Chapter 200: Tell Hitogami that the Dragon God and I will kill Him sooner or later
When the king's carriage slowly began to move, everyone had already taken their respective positions.
The nobles' positions were arranged around the carriages. The king's carriage maintained a vast distance from the others, further emphasizing the king's status.
Darius's carriage was located relatively in the middle.
In this manner, the procession of the king and the nobles started advancing toward the streets of Ars, preparing to head onto the avenue filled with tulips.
As they began to move, the enormous knight order also followed the carriages column by column.
Dan Feng saw this and silently followed as well.
Now, all that remained was to wait for Roxy to release her magic to draw everyone's attention.
...
The street-patrol procession was mighty and grand, its scale astonishing.
The king's carriage led at the very front of the formation, appearing especially majestic.
Wherever they passed, tulips drifted down from the sky like snowflakes, as if spreading a carpet of red-purple across the earth.
This was not merely a simple street-patrol ceremony; it was also a form of tribute to the hero Ars.
Because the throne of the Asura Kingdom had always been inherited by the descendants of the hero Ars, offering these beautiful flowers to the king was likewise a gesture of respect toward the hero Ars.
And the name of this royal capital happened to be Ars as well, so every offering made to the land of this city could also be regarded as a memorial to the hero Ars.
The king sat inside the carriage, smiling, and frequently waved in greeting to the residents lining the streets.
His appearance caused the entire city to boil with excitement. Cheers and shouts rose one after another, showing that this king was deeply loved by his people.
Today Ars was unusually lively. From early morning the sounds of people never ceased.
Crowds poured onto the streets, eager to catch a glimpse of the king's presence.
Roxy also stood among the crowd. Her gaze was fixed tightly on the direction from which the king would appear, while she silently accumulated the magic power of Thundercloud Accumulation within her.
When the king's carriage finally entered her field of vision, Roxy drew a deep breath and prepared to release the magic.
In her heart there was only a single thought: "Dan Feng must kill Darius!"
If they succeeded in killing Darius, there would be one less apostle of Hitogami in the future—and one who held the power of a kingdom at that.
In this way, they would take another step closer to the goal of killing Hitogami.
The moment the magic power within Roxy's body began surging toward the sky—
In an instant, the sky seemed to be covered by a gigantic black curtain. The originally azure sky was swallowed in the blink of an eye by thick dark clouds.
Sunlight was blocked by the rolling clouds, and the whole of Ars was shrouded in darkness, as if the end of the world had arrived.
This sudden change plunged Ars into dimness. The once-prosperous streets also became gloomy and dark.
People stared up at the sky in terror, their hearts filled with unease and confusion.
This eerie scene was precisely the prelude to the release of Thundercloud Accumulation, the spectacle unique to Saint-rank magic.
If a little more magic power were poured in, torrential rain and world-shaking thunderbolts would pour down from the heavens, bringing a violent baptism upon the city.
Yet that would harm innocent civilians—something neither Dan Feng nor Roxy intended.
The residents on the streets were drawn by the sudden change in the sky. One after another they stopped what they were doing and craned their necks to stare at the increasingly overcast heavens.
Thunder continued to accumulate within the dark clouds but refused to fall, waiting for Roxy's remaining magic power to be output.
Fierce winds raged across the skies of Ars, howling through every corner.
They swept up the tulips scattered on the ground and flung them high into the air, creating a peculiar rain of flowers that looked extremely spectacular.
"What on earth is going on? Why did the sky suddenly turn black?" someone in the crowd cried out in panic.
"This must be magic! Under normal circumstances the sky couldn't become this dark all at once!" another person echoed.
When the claim that "the celestial anomaly is magic" spread rapidly through the crowd, people's panic was instantly ignited.
Nevertheless, even though their hearts were filled with fear, none dared act rashly, for they firmly believed the king certainly had the ability to resolve everything.
"Enemy attack! Protect the king!!!" voices immediately rang out within the knight order. Naturally they could tell this was magic, so they at once ordered the protection of the king.
In an instant! All the knights began charging toward the king's carriage without the slightest hesitation. The knights assigned to guard the other nobles immediately broke away from their ranks and followed the rest as they rushed in the direction of the king.
Darius noticed the situation on the street and poked his head out. Seeing the surrounding knights all hurrying in one direction, he thought to himself, "Could it be that the king has been assassinated?"
"The 'benefit' that Hitogami-sama spoke of… wouldn't it be that I become king?"
After all, apart from the king, the highest authority in the Asura Kingdom currently belonged to him, Darius. Once the king died, he would only need to manipulate things behind the scenes and could temporarily take over the king's position under the pretext that the prince was still immature.
Thinking this, Darius revealed a punchable smile and then leisurely hid back inside the carriage, waiting for his good news.
Just then, Dan Feng, who had been concealing his form nearby, instantly appeared beside Darius's carriage.
Darius's guard knights had long since joined the ranks protecting the king. Therefore, at this moment Darius could be said to be completely isolated and without anyone to rely on.
Dan Feng slowly pushed open the door of Darius's carriage and stepped inside.
When Darius noticed that his carriage door had been opened, he merely thought the wind was too strong and had blown it open, so he paid it no mind.
However, the moment Darius closed the door again, Dan Feng's figure suddenly appeared right in front of him.
Darius was badly startled by this abrupt scene. His heart gave a violent thump, and his entire person felt somewhat dazed.
After he recovered a little and looked carefully, he discovered that the person who had suddenly appeared before him looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
Darius's brows furrowed slightly, and he immediately asked, "Who are you? Why did you suddenly appear in my carriage?"
Faced with Darius's questioning, Dan Feng appeared exceptionally calm.
Dan Feng carried no weapon in his hands, so Darius was not afraid of him. He himself possessed Intermediate Water God Style swordsmanship and had not the slightest fear of the person before him.
However, with Darius's half-baked skill he was still unable to perceive the vast battle aura circulating around Dan Feng's body.
"Me? The one behind you should be more than familiar with me, shouldn't he?" Dan Feng's cold voice slowly entered Darius's ears.
The one behind Darius naturally referred to Hitogami.
"The one behind me?" Before Darius could even ponder who the one behind him was supposed to be, Dan Feng's right hand instantly summoned Cloud-Piercer.
Even in such darkness, Cloud-Piercer still flashed with a cold gleam.
"Go down and tell Hitogami that the Dragon God and I will kill Him sooner or later." Dan Feng's icy tone pronounced Darius's fate.