Chapter 215: The Wedding (4) – I Don’t Think We Are Making the Wedding

Chapter 215: The Wedding (4) – I Don’t Think We Are Making the Wedding

Nero stood at the Khan marina a short distance from the castle. His large figure was covered in a loose, long dark robe with a hood as he stared off in the distance over the water.

A clan leader approached him from behind, “You are certain these are your wishes? We could be of great help. Truly. You do not have to do it this way.”

After witnessing Nero bloodbend, the clan leaders treated him as their de facto emperor for they knew if he could bloodbend, he also bore the title of BloodStar Immortal.

Nero grunted, “Empress Xenia intends to wed me. I will not serve as an embarrassment at her side. Whether I need your help or not is irrelevant. I will be retaking the BloodStar Empire alone as a display of my worthiness and as a wedding gift to our empress.”

The clan leader bowed his head, “Of course. Your two requests have been arranged. We will provide transport to the mainland, and once we drop you off, we will make the call.”

Nero nodded, “And you are certain your inside man will do as he’s told?”

The clan leader affirmed, “He will. The blood troughs will be open throughout the capital and main shipping port.”

“Then I am ready to go.” Nero stepped on to a small yacht owned by Constance, and the clan leader and several of his most trusted men boarded behind Nero.

They took the yacht out in broad daylight shuttling across the waterway between Khan Island and the BloodStar Empire. The water was calm and smooth, the sun bright and simmering, and the breeze cool and refreshing. It was a perfect tropical day.

Eventually, they approached the main shipping port of the BloodStar Empire where they found a small maritime blockade. The clan leader looked to Nero, “We can try to break the blockade; however, they will likely fire upon our boat, sinking it.”

“Stop the boat here.” Nero walked to the back of the boat and stood on the lower ledge at water level as the top layer of ocean water washed over his feet atop the platform.

The clan leader shouted to Nero from above, “Swimming from here would be a tall task. The shore is more than a half mile away, and even if you bypass the blockade, military activity is teeming near the main port and capital thanks to our encounter last night.”

Nero removed his robe throwing it aside revealing his massive, muscular body. Even his masculine mane of chest hair couldn’t completely hide his bulging chest muscles. His body was cut with a low body fat percentage; however, rather than a chiseled and vascular body, his muscles were like thick boulders of mass covered by rough skin which epitomized supreme strength built through experience.

Nero stood in the sun, his hair blowing in the breeze, as he surveyed the blockade. To the BloodStar forces manning the blockade, Nero looked like a hulking bodybuilder preparing for a swim in nothing but a pair of short and rather snug crimson shorts.

The maritime guards took little notice of Nero. Once their attention moved away, Nero raised his hand, “Sword.”

The clan leader immediately brought a long scabbard housing Nero’s sheathed sword and handed it to him. He secured the leather strap diagonally across his chest with the sword resting on his back.

Nero then looked to the clan leader, “Make the call to your inside man in 15 minutes. To fail me is to fail our empress. Do not fail.”

The clan leader shook his head vigorously indicating he understood; however, before he could respond verbally, Nero dove off the back of the boat into the water and began to swim at a brisk pace towards the nearest blockade ship.

Nero swam with conviction at an Olympic-athlete pace even with the drag of his sword on his back. As he approached the BloodStar ship, soldiers mobilized, and a loud speaker activated:

“Attention! Stop! You are swimming towards an active-duty BloodStar Destroyer! Further approach will result in hostile actions!”

The man’s voice on the loud speaker repeated the message several times; however, Nero continued towards the ship at breakneck speed.

A loud thunk could be heard in both the distance and nearby. They both looked over to a large pipe painted crimson red. As they did, the pipe’s top half slid aside layering over the bottom half of the pipe with a loud ‘thunk’ and ‘clink’ as it opened and locked in place.

The similar ‘thunk’ and ‘clink’ was like a domino effect as the sound rolled through the castle grounds and down to the main plaza near Xenia’s commemorative monument which still stood.

Ramses had an immediate look of concern, “Someone has activated the blood troughs? But who?”

“There are no more blood benders in the world, so why?” Zara was as much confused as she was concerned.

The blood trough system was a hidden but ever-present piping system laid throughout the capital concentrated near the main plaza and castle. The troughs served as just another measure to ensure invading the BloodStar Empire was completely hopeless. Designed to be filled with the blood of their enemies and subsequently used against the remaining enemies, a true BloodStar would find excess blood to be used as a weapon all around them during an invasion.

Ramses’ phone then beeped. And Zara’s next. Both looked down to see a notification which read: “Blood trough system activated.”

“What the fuck?” Ramses remained confused, “This can’t be right.”

Zara was speechless. However, as both stood at the landing in front of the castle, an eruption occurred in the distance.

Both immediately looked up to see a red glowing column of ki rising out of the ocean and up into the sky.

Next, Ramses phone rang off the hook as his top general called him on his phone. Ramses answered it immediately, “General, what was that?”

“King Ramses! Are you with the Queen? Are you both safe?! A powerful ki user has attacked and destroyed one of our ships in the blockade.”

Ramses and Zara looked at each other before Ramses responded, “We are safe. Is the attacker the same from last night?”

“It is unclear at the moment. I have sent a troupe to the beachhead to impede the attacker while we mobilize our forces in earnest.”

Another loud explosion went off in the distance. Ramses and Zara both jerked their heads up to see a huge explosion of bright light over the beach head.

The general’s voice suddenly became noticeably more distressed, “I know you have a wedding to make. A very important one. However, I must kindly ask you to meet me in the command center at once. I just received a very alarming report.”

Zara clenched her teeth, “Tell us. Who is it?”

The general sighed, “Preliminary reports from a surveillance team are reporting the attacker is... Nero.”

Ramses and Zara looked at one another, eyes filled with fear. Both of their phones vibrated with another alarm which read: “Blood trough system 1% filled.”

Ramses responded to the general, “We’ll meet you there ASAP.”

He hung up the phone, and Zara bit her lip, “I don’t think we are making the wedding after all. Let’s get Jarek on the phone immediately. We are going to need all the help we can muster.”

Ramses nodded and began to ring Jarek; however, his call kept going to voicemail. He continued to power dial Jarek desperately hoping he would pick up; however, time and time again, it went to voicemail.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.