Chapter 537: Heaven to Hell

An unstable pulse of Spirit Qi erupted from her body in the next moment.

Understanding exactly what was about to happen, Celestina grabbed Christina, channeled Spirit and Soul Qi into her voice, and shouted so loudly her words reached every part of the manor, "GET CLEAR OF THE ENEMY!"

Scooping up her Third Disciple, Celestina kicked off the group and leapt backwards just before two very large, very powerful explosions went off.

The Spirit Initiates from the Raging River Legion, Forest Ranger Legion, and Balfour Family Guard nearby also thankfully managed to retreat in time, one of them carrying the seriously injured Prince Landon with them, but the devastation of 2 Mid-Rank Spirit Initiates self-destructing left this section of the Dunne Family Manor on the verge of complete collapse.

Staring at the crumbling walls, shattered hallways, and quickly spreading flames before her, Celestina frowned deeply and hurriedly expanded her Soul Sense to check on the rest of her strike force.

Given how important this mission was, Celestina had gone all out, bringing 40 Spirit Initiates from 2 different major cities situated on the banks of the Lorren with her, including 5 masters at the Peak Initiate-Realm.

The only reason Allina Crest, her trust adjutant and strategist, wasn’t also with them tonight was she was currently away with Lucas in Torren Ridge, helping him with a logistics problem which had recently become a major issue for the Balfour Family.

In addition to these powerhouses, Celestina had brought another 20 Mortal Realm soldiers with her, all of them having training as field medics in anticipation of there being quite a number of wounded tonight among both the allied and enemy sides.

Bringing such a powerful force into an enemy kingdom in a clandestine manner would definitely not be looked upon very kindly, but given the potential benefits, Celestina felt it was worth the risk. She was also counting on securing critical evidence and a number of witnesses that would ultimately allow her to justify her actions when the inevitable inquiry follow.

Now, however, it seemed that despite bringing overwhelming force with her, things weren’t going to go exactly according to her plans.

Expanding the range of her Soul Sense to scan the entire manor, Celestina was relieved to discover that all her Spirit Initiates were still alive. She was less enthused about the fact that several soldiers from the Third and Fourth Battalion seemed to have been killed in the enemy’s final act of defiance.

Still, considering the fact that she had detected 4 enemy Spirit Initiates and nearly 100 Sea Establishment Realm assassins inside the Dunne Family complex when they first charged in, such losses weren’t unacceptable to the seasoned General.

The problem, however, was that almost all the Life Auras belonging to both the high-ranking civilians and the soldiers of the Darr Kingdom had disappeared.

Celestina very much wanted to go after the enemy’s leader and settle this, once and for all, but knowing that her chances of finding them and then capturing them alive were exceedingly slim, and understanding that the situation here in the Dunne Family’s manor was about to get very complicated, she ultimately decided against pursuing the suspected mastermind.

Salvaging this debacle had to be her first priority; after all, she couldn’t let Lani’s final words become prophetic.

Whoever was behind the village attacks and the assassination attempt tonight clearly wanted to spark a war between the Darr and Rockwell Kingdoms, and even though that war might be inevitable regardless what happened here, Celestina knew that the longer she could delay that dreadful future, the better it would be for everyone.

Glancing over to her side, Celestina was relieved that at least Prince Landon had survived, though his condition was now much worse after having to roughly and rapidly be removed from the blast zone.

The young prince’s word alone probably wouldn’t be sufficient to silence the voices of discontent on the Darr Kingdom’s side, but it would certainly go a long way towards that end.

With a tired sigh, Celestina stood up, carrying Christina in her arms carefully as she ordered, "Regroup in the main hall. We’ll figure out what to do next once we’ve finished tending to the wounded."

The rest of the strike force saluted formally before they, and the Balfour General, quickly began making their way towards the largest gathering of Life Auras in what remained of the manor.

.....

Pain.

Excruciating pain.

That was what Norah Dunne was currently feeling.

Severe burns to her torso and the entire right side of her face.

A missing right eye.

A missing left leg.

Dagger wounds across her chest.

Shrapnel embedded all over her body.

It was no exaggeration to say that any one of these would have been the most horrific injury the viscount had ever suffered in her life, and now she was experiencing them all at once.

Even if she survived tonight, unless she received repeated treatment from a High-Rank Grade 2 Spirit Doctor, she would likely be left crippled and disfigured for the rest of her life.

That alone would have been enough to crush Norah’s spirits, but unfortunately for her, it wasn’t just physical wounds she had suffered tonight.

With enormous difficulty, Norah turned her head to the side, and through her one remaining tear-filled eye, she watched as a team of medics desperately tried to save her son.

As for her husband, his lifeless corpse was lying nearby.

There was a sheet covering Kapel’s figure, but Norah knew that beneath that thin veil, the partner she had shared a bed with for the last few decades had a huge hole in his chest where his heart used to be.

Earlier tonight, Norah had been dreaming about her family’s rise, about being able to befriend a genuine royal prince and through him climb the Darr Kingdom’s social hierarchy.

Now, her home was in ruins, many of her long-time servants and confidants were dead, and her family was teetering on the brink of destruction.

The fall from Heaven to Hell had been merciless and unforgiving.

Just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, however, the medics stopped working on Jasper, all of them lowering their heads as they stepped back from his unmoving body.

"N-No... H-Heavens’ please no..." Norah couldn’t take it anymore and passed out, wondering as she lost consciousness if it wouldn’t be better if she never woke up again.