SON OF THE HERO KING

Chapter 630: New Future

In the Astral realm, the Norns were all lying down on the ground, breathing hard, the results of hours upon hours of them using their full power while sparing nothing.

“Did we… succeed…?” Verdandi asked, her voice hoarse, blood incessantly spewing out of her tightly closed eyes.

“Shouldn’t we be the ones asking that? You are the one who can see the present.” Groaning in pain, Urd’s voice did not have its usual soft timbre. She was the least tired out of the three sisters, with enough energy to even move for a short period if she so wished. However, she had no will left in her to move even an inch.

Like her sister, blood flowed out in torrents from her closed eyes, eyes that had momentarily gone blind. With the state of her ocular functions, she should be unable to see anything. However, being a demigod had provided her with additional senses, both magical and physical, and she could use them to get a good feel of her surroundings.

After witnessing the giant with a thousand eyes for the very first time, Urd knew that what Skuld was plotting was no joke. Even equipped with such knowledge, however, she never expected the events to escalate as they did. Both her and Verdandi’s eyes were destroyed, resulting in a loss of their vision. The good news was that it was only a temporary setback for the sister. But for the foreseeable future, the pair of sisters were rendered useless, unable to use any of their fate-peeking powers.

Speaking of the future, “Skuld… Are you alright?”

A forced cough was the only indication Skuld could give, indicating to her sisters that she was still of this world. At the same time, that action told the sisters just how bad their youngest’s condition was.

Out of the three sisters, Skuld undoubtedly sacrificed the most. It was to such a degree that they felt being alive was nothing short of a miracle for the youngest.

Skuld’s current appearance made her hardly recognizable. Similar to her sisters, she was crying a river of blood, but things did not stop there. Her blood was flowing down from her lips and even her ears, while her body looked so emaciated, that one would think she had been starving for months.

If those were the extent of her damage, then her sisters wouldn’t be much worried about her. The wounds, albeit more profound than anticipated, could still be healed. The main crux here though was Skuld’s aura. It was so weak that it seemed like a candle that could be blown away by the smallest breeze.

“You look like shit.” A cool feminine voice resounded from the skies above. A heroic woman with dragon wings jutting out of her back slowly descended inside Tartarus, the prison of the spawns of Chaos. Even with their inability to see anything in their current state, it was easy to realize that it was none other than Tiamat.

No one could replicate the unique, majestic aura that belonged only to her.

“Hahahah…” Skuld gave a weak laugh as she felt Tiamat land next to her but was not able to do much less. This action of her alone was enough to sap most of the energy she had managed to gather.

Tiamat glanced at the wounded Titan with undisguised pity in her eyes.

Her relationship with Skuld was not friendly by any definition. Skuld had never tried to hide her hatred for Tamat, similarly, Tiamat never bothered to cover her disdain for the diminutive Titan.

Even so, was it because she was quite lonely? Tiamat found her relationship with Skuld to be entertaining. Few in the entirety of existence could act so forthright in front of Tiamat.

“You power… Is this state of yours temporary?” Tiamat asked as she examined Skuld, a faint imperceptible hint of worry flashed in her eyes. The Dragon Empress could not even sense the faintest embers of Skuld’s powers as she was. Not to mention the King rank, her power levels had even dropped below a random Duke’s.

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If she had to give a comparison, she was barely at the level of a newly awakened human.

For an exulted Titan as ancient as creation itself, someone who had both witnessed and survived all the wars that shaped their current world, her current state was a shocking setback, in more ways than one would expect.

Unlike creatures of Order who could train to increase their power, Titans, and Chaos Spawns could only devour and evolve. It was one thing in times of war but in the peaceful times they lived, getting back her powers would be a nigh-impossible task for Skuld.

“I…Regret…Nothing.” Skuld opened her mouth and spoke those words with more difficulty than one could even imagine. She lifted her trembling hand, demanding the Empress to help her up.

Reluctantly, Tiamat decided to entertain her wishes, lifting all three Norn sisters at the same time for good measure. A stream of water moved under her silent command, enveloping the three sisters and washing away all the blood and dirt before evaporating instantly.

“I infused some of my energy in the water. It should help you girls in recovering for the time being.” Though Tiamat’s healing prowess was not comparable to Kiyohime’s, as the creator of all dragons, Tiamat still had a high level of mastery in the draconic healing arts.

“Thank you.” Skuld still seemed quite weak and her appearance was fragile but at the very least, it did not seem like she was about to pass out and die at any moment.

“So, can you tell me what exactly you did?” Tiamat asked but Skuld only smiled in response.

“I would love to answer you… but please… answer one question of mine first.” Skuld said.

Tiamat’s eyebrow arched at her response, “Even at death's doorstep and weaker than an ant your sassy personality never dies.” In a way, it was impressive in and of itself.

Tiamat would have normally slapped anyone else who gave her such an unruly attitude, but she found herself extra forgiving when it came to Skuld.

She sighed, “Go on.”

Blood started flowing from her lips again but Skuld showed no care. She only had one question, one thing she needed to know more than anything at the moment and it was…

“Can you still see it?” Skuld asked weakly.

Tiamat stopped short, realizing what Skuld was asking and her gaze immediately shot up towards the sky.

Though the sky of Tartarus showed nothing but red clouds, this changed nothing for Tiamat as this entire place was inside her dimension— The Sea of Stars.

She started searching, again and again, looking through all the stars representing dragons until… she found what she was looking for.

The star that belonged to Sol.

She was startled to realize that the star had more than tripled in size, dwarfing all other stars in her dimension. Even those belonging to the Four Dragon King paled in comparison to the star of her beloved grandson.

It was a pure behemoth of sparkling white, shimmering with power and unbridled radiance.

But more than the change in color or size, what made Tiamat truly gasp in surprise was…

“I can’t.”

In the past, she was able to gather hints about Sol’s fortune. But now, she found that to be impossible. It was like a haze was obstructing her sight, blocking her from gathering any information on him.

Even the current size and color of the star were more akin to the last information that was imprinted on her dimension before the haze covered everything from her eyes. Chances were high that Sol’s star could have been even larger at the moment.

“Hahaha… I see.” A crazed laugh escaped Skuld. So much so that Tiamat wanted to point out that Skuld could see nothing since she was currently blind.

The laughter mixed with a bloody cough continued for a while before Skuld stopped. Her chest heaved up and down showing how tired she was. But Jubilation filled all her veins.

After all— they had finally succeded!

All this pain. All those sacrifices. Everything she had done was for this very moment.

Darling… I am sure you would have been happy if you could see this.

Skuld silently mourned the future that would never come to be, even though she felt happy that such a future would never come to pass. The sadness was overshadowed by jubilation and hope for the future.

And yet, this was not the end. There was still much to be done and from now she would not be able to rely on her powers.

However, Skuld felt not even an ounce of fear.

The future may elude her from now on, however, she had exchanged her future sight so that her darling may become all-seeing.

“You asked me what I did, right?” Skuld spoke, a state of inner peace washing over her mind and soul. A sincere smile bloomed on her face as the peace that soothed her broken existence.

“I…No…We helped create a new future.”

One that would lead to a world filled with joy and happiness for them all.