Chapter 328: Coffin & Sceptre
Zena and Fero were no stranger to threat. But the sight of the dismantled weapon made them retreat over ten metres.
"Why didn't you tell Lee about this?"
Hudson raised his query after confirming the weapon with his own eyes.
"The Sceptre of Doom has collapsed. It was dismantled after the disappearance of continents. Since the world thought that it was the end of the notorious continents' legacy, they dismantled it into four pieces and gave it to a bunch of faithful travellers who were assigned to bury them in a distant land, beyond anyone's reach.
But the earthquakes and the followed events probably awoke a bit of this weapon's power and the Trolls, mainly known for their thirst for power, came seeking its origin.
Since they failed to traverse the clogged waterlines, they did not reach the coffin.
I can only name it serendipity that it reached our hands."
D collapsed on the floor on all four and Ruella rushed to support him. But as she extended her hands to reach him, D gestured not to.
"It's okay. I am the Dimension Sovereign after all. My soul is many times stronger than any cultivator could be."
Saying this, he pushed his torso up and stood up after a few attempts.
As he rose, his eyes briefly glanced over the four pieces of the sceptre.
"But how do we bring back the original Sceptre?"
This question riddled Dnekewy's mind and he asked himself as he regained his breath.
"You don't know?"
Ruella asked with concern brimming her voice.
"Not that I don't know, but we don't have a necessary vessel to begin the process."
"A vessel?"
Ruella's question made the beasts who ran to a distance come back with curiosity. Fero was cautious when he stepped towards the coffin.
"The Sceptre of Doom was created from the sentient metal of Exiriado. Its powers overshadow a pinnacle Deity grade weapon without any enchantments.
Just like how powerful it is, it needs an equivalent vessel that could withstand its power.
An example is the Great Devil herself. She sacrificed her remaining lifeforce and her entire being to revive the Sceptre back to its peak and to deal a powerful blow. The damage inflicted by that single attack turned the tides like heaven and hell.
Unless we have such a powerful presence to kick-start the reforging process, we are helpless."
D stared at the four identical pieces lying peacefully in the coffin. It exuded enormous pressure and that conveyed that it was still worthy of breaking the continents in half at peak force.
A series of light tremors were felt by D as he saw Aero walking to the coffin with anger and frustration in his eyes.
Growl.
Aero growled while staring at the inside of the coffin. His eyes were fixated on the broken pieces of the Sceptre of Doom.
But what happened next was beyond anyone's expectations!
Like a chameleon's tongue, Aero's neck stretched in a flash and came back in an instant. When D was surprised by this action, he was stunned to see that a piece was now missing.
The eyes were open wide as D raised his head to see the missing piece in between the jaws of the wyvern.
"Spit it-"
Dnekewy shouted but was cut off as he witnessed a wave of dense energy flowing from the piece of Sceptre. It was so dense that he could see its presence moving through the air.
Ruella also witnessed this visible manifestation of power. But her eyes then caught the sight of Pyro and Cryo walking towards the coffin.
D had frozen solid as he had no idea what to do when he saw the other two grabbing two more pieces of the Sceptre with their jaws. His mind was basically blank.
"Happy?"
D asked as his hands rested on his hips. He looked like a disappointed mother looking at her naughty triplets.
Looking down, there was only one piece in the coffin. With a curve at its one end, D deduced that it was the piece that decorated the top-most portion of the Sceptre.
After turning his head right and left, D caught the sigh of Fero and Zena in a distance.
"There is one more remaining. You want it?"
The question was an indirect mocking to the trio who understood the underlying meaning. D pointed at the remaining piece and asked with a frown.
Hudson walked to the coffin from his behind and peeked into the coffin to see the last piece. At a glance, he felt an attraction to the plain greyish-silver textured piece of metal.
Instinctively, he stretched his hand and reached to touch the Sceptre's head.
"Don't."
D stopped Hudson from touching the Sceptre's piece at the nick of the time with a swat. The action pulled Hudson from a trance-like state and it was then he realised what he had almost done.
"You and I are only wisps of our complete souls. I, the Dimension Sovereign could withstand the pressure. But you will surely fail to tolerate the pressure.
I am afraid that you would probably disintegrate your soul at the slightest contact."
Hudson took a step back with fear as D's words fell in his ears. The True Druid was frightened by the dismantled piece's destructive capability.
"Just because we don't know how to activate the weapon, we don't have the luxury of sitting back. Lee might be in deep trouble."
Ruella paced forward and walked to the coffin as she spoke. With determination sparkling in her eyes, she extended her arms and took the headpiece of the Sceptre.
Just as she took it in her hand, it began to vibrate intensely and produced a humming noise. The Draconic Wyverns initially found this humming mildly irritating but then found it as a lullaby to ears.
But then, Hudson found something interesting. Every step the trio took forward, the headpiece was humming in resonance with it. He also found that the distance decreasing between Ruella and the trio caused the vibrations to intensify exponentially.