Chapter 1534 — The Resonance Between Two Brutes

Ashfall City would open its gates to every invited visitor—provided the visitor was capable of finding the gate for themselves.

This was the rule the Lady of Night had set for the Empyrean City, and part of the authority of "Shadow" and "Nightfall." Just as practitioners of the Holy Light must conform in word and deed to the essence of the Light if they wish to touch that searing radiance without harm, so too in this realm that pressed so close to the Shadow Godrealm must visitors conform to the way of shadow if they were to successfully open this city ruled by eternal night.

The nearer one drew to a god, the more potent and the more inviolable became such "symbolic acts" and "prescribed orders."

The good news was that the invited visitors possessed both wit and luck enough, and had successfully found the gate hidden amidst light and shadow. The bad news was that these visitors also possessed courage and imagination beyond all necessity—and the way they opened the door was shocking.

It also dealt a great shock (physical) to Prince Nash, administrator of the Empyrean City.

A chill night wind swept over the dim palace, and in that wind Prince Nash grew a little more clear-headed. He came to the edge of the terrace and looked up at the "sky," and saw that vast black land hanging inverted above his head, and upon that land he could still make out stretches of continuous lights—the encampment of the mortal visitors who had come to this place.

It was nightfall now, and the influence of shadow power upon this land was at its peak.

Since Lady Night's awakening, Ashfall City—this city that had once taken physical form in the real world—had returned to a kind of "mythic state." By day it concealed its traces; by night it appeared as a sort of "reflection" above the city's former "ruins." It was, in a sense, the last lingering trace left in the mortal world after the Violet Dream receded, and at the same time the entrance the mysterious Shadow Godrealm kept in the mortal world.

"...I must consult the Lady of Night," Prince Nash said after a moment's hesitation, giving a slight nod to Bernadette floating at his side. "The visitors have taken an unexpected action. It does not entirely accord with the operating laws of Ashfall City—the Empyrean City has now returned to its mythic state, and setting foot in Ashfall City is half a step into the Godrealm. Even if only for the visitors' own safety, the opening of the gate must be handled with rigor."

Bernadette nodded. "All right, then ask—I'll keep watching those people on the surface with the Eye of Nightfall."

As she spoke, the magical intelligence drifted two steps to the side; her mind had already linked to a magical mechanism somewhere in the dim palace, and she began to watch the surface-dwellers' next moves through a monitoring spell. Prince Nash, meanwhile, simply stood where he was and waved a hand. In an instant the inverted land above his head dissolved like smoke, replaced by a field of deep starry sky—he gazed toward the darkest quarter of those stars, then released body and mind into reverent communion.

The switch between starry sky and land did not affect the state of Ashfall City itself, and this was precisely part of the true "essence" of the Empyrean City—indeed, of Lady Night's authority. Substance and phantom, reality and reflection—all boundaries of this kind were blurred and malleable before the Lady of Night. The so-called authority of shadow was in truth the authority of light and shadow. Ashfall City could be the projection of the land, and the land the projection of the sky, and the sky—the sky could all the more be the projection of Lady Night.

Amid the boundless expanse of stars, a cool yet gentle gaze seemed to look down. Prince Nash felt that gaze, and his soul trembled faintly; then he told his mistress everything that had happened here. After a moment's wait he received a reply, and the faint sense of being watched subsided—the starry sky vanished, the inverted land reappeared above the dim palace, and Bernadette's voice came from beside him: "You communed quickly enough. What did the Lady of Night say—why is your face like that?"

Prince Nash's expression was more than strange; he stared at Bernadette almost blankly, his tone drifting: "I told the Lady what the visitors did..."

Bernadette frowned and studied him. "Yes, I know. And then?"

"The Lady said to me: Badass."

Bernadette: "......?"

Prince Nash: "...Don't look at me like that. I don't know why either."

"Don't you think... the Lady has been a little odd ever since she awoke?" The silence on the terrace lasted no one knew how long before Bernadette finally could not help breaking it. "I know it sounds a bit rude, but you know as well as I do—last time the Lady even hosted a group of lost mortals at the throne, and lately she... Of course, my judgment may be off. After all, I was created only after the Lady fell asleep, and all I know is what's recorded in the Great Library. But you should know what the Lady was originally like..."

"Perhaps the long slumber has changed the Lady of Night somewhat, or perhaps in her long life she has actively wished to try something new," Nash said with a shake of his head. "In truth, the Lady's temperament years ago was already rather unusual among the gods. Of course, her situation then may not have been quite so severe... Never mind. We should not discuss such presumptuous matters. Since the Lady has acknowledged the visitors' actions, it means such behavior will not provoke backlash from Ashfall City—open the gate, Bernadette."

...

"I think something in that city is watching us," said Maggie at the edge of the camp. She had already assumed human form, and now she suddenly lifted her head and frowned at the inverted city in the sky. "There's been a faint sense of being watched ever since a moment ago."

Beside her, Mo Jin was busy layering shields, resistances, and blessings onto the several mage eyes he had summoned. Hearing this, he too glanced up at the sky, and the old mage shrugged, looking unruffled. "Normal. A city that size floating in the sky, and the legendary 'Ashfall City' at that—there's bound to be something 'alive' in there. And we made enough racket knocking on the door just now. It'd be strange if nothing in the city were watching."

"Then why haven't they taken any action?" Dai Lan frowned from the other side. "Didn't you say this was an invitation from Lady Night? How did it turn into this? You fired anti-air guns at the sky, and Ashfall City answered with silence..."

"How should I know? It's not as if those few shells happened to kill everyone in the city," Mo Jin said, puffing at his mustache. "That's Lady Night's gatekeeper, after all. A few small-caliber anti-air guns should amount to no more than a hearty knock on the door for a city like that... All right, the mage eyes are ready. I'll send these things up and have a look."

As he spoke, the old mage waved a hand at the sky, and several fully equipped mage eyes drifted wobblingly away from the group and began flying toward the inverted city. A normal mage eye was usually no bigger than a man's fist, but each of Mo Jin's had been worked over until it was about the size of half a carriage, layered all around with every manner of shielding spell—which made Maggie mutter, "Every time I see them, I have to say, it's a wonder they can still fly."

Mo Jin waved a hand at that. "Of course they can fly. Magical shields have no weight. They just look thick..."