Raven looked at him with a pure serenity smile, her face lit with brilliant radiance. Those red eyes of hers could captivate even the hardest of stones.
She nodded and said to him.
"I like your confidence, where has it been all this while." She paused and threw a long blank gaze towards Sura.
"But I'll remind you that we are dealing with a strange being right now. What exactly is your plan?"
Before Northern had the chance to respond, she pressed on, looking at the young children that were being guarded by Lamla right beside Sura.
"Are you even ready to kill someone you taught?"
The question caused a tight sensation in Northern's chest; he was restraining himself from holding his chest and trying his best to maintain his cool regarding the situation.
He exhaled and calmed his entire demeanor, such that Raven was shocked with the sudden air of calmness around him.
"It's fine… I'll manage somehow, as for what my plan is..." was what he said as he went back.
Raven stared at Northern's back with a worried face, noticing belatedly that he had gotten slightly taller than he used to be.
'Have we been here long?' she asked herself.
Northern got to where Ulzred was laid, picked the boy up and gave Sura a frightening glare, contorting all his lines in a grim manner.
"You better not be lying to me… killing you will be the start of your suffering. And trust me, I can make you suffer even after death."
He walked away with the boy king in his arms, soon disappearing towards the volcanic mountain, shrouded by the dark mist caused by the after effect of the black flame.
Sura smiled and turned to Raven who was now walking towards him with a vicious crimson light reflecting in her eyes.
She stopped in front of him, said nothing and just stayed there like a statue.
After a couple of awkward minutes for Sura in particular, he made some awful attempts to talk to her.
But she responded to none of it. After a while, he got tired of trying and gave up, waiting for Northern's return.
Northern got to the base of the volcano. The heat in this region was searing; it seemed like a second skin that was melting into the lower layers of his own skin.
The Night Terror armor seemed to make it more difficult to endure.
Northern had discovered that the armor did well against cold but was very weak towards heat.
Aside from that fact, he didn't think there was any other weakness to it.
Of course, with Limitless Void's defense, now he wouldn't have to worry about getting attacked.
Practically nothing can get through to him. But he essentially also understood that there are attacks that can bypass his [sense] as well as attacks that his instincts could react lately to.
So he did well to humble himself in a situation . And yearn only to be stronger.
After sighting a small boulder of stone, Northern laid Ulzred there in a sitting position.
It was amazing how the ground and rocks themselves were not hot despite the heat of the volcano. If anything, they seemed cold.
It reminded Northern of what Raven said the glacier mountain behind the ice palace had felt like. Hot instead of cold.
'Maybe it's a property of the rift themselves.'
Northern tried to wake Ulzred a couple of times, tapping his exposed arm as he was shirtless.
After a couple of taps, the boy slowly opened his eyes, groaning a little.
Northern felt his heart throb the moment those words came out.
The boy was still slightly asleep; whatever the drug that Caladhel used on him was, it must have been incredibly strong.
Because Ulzred had literally slept throughout this event.
He was awake now, however, and was undoubtedly glad to find himself with his teacher.
Northern allowed a melancholy smile and patted the young boy's head as his words came out with a sharp tingling sensation in his throat.
"If you ever get the chance to be reborn… I want you to hold a grudge towards me, hate me and seek nothing but my destruction. At least it would make me feel less of a piece of shit that you are not capable of forgiveness."
He smiled wistfully once again. The young boy on the other hand seemed lost; he didn't understand what Northern was saying.
Not that he didn't know the words, he just didn't get why those words were coming at a time .
Before he could speak however, crimson blood dripped down his mouth.
He tried to speak nonetheless, but gurgled, opening his mouth with a widened and paled face.
His hands grabbed the dagger that had been silently embedded in his chest, trying to pull them out.
But Northern was holding them into his chest with a much stronger force.
Then he sluggishly stretched his hand forward, only to smear Northern's face with his blood as he crumbled to the ground.
Northern looked up to the dark sky, feeling a cold tingling sensation on his cheeks as tears streamed down his face.
Once again, he felt something drift far away from him; his eyes became dark and it looked like some flame of brightness barely maintaining the light in his soul had been extinguished.
The Chaos and Void in him was relentless, taking everything that made him human and turning him to who knows what.
But Northern in that moment was not sure what the future held for him, but he made a vow, to himself.
As long as he continued to live and breathe the air of this world, his sole purpose shall be the extinguishing of rifts, and all the masterminds behind it.
Be it the gods he met from the beginning, the Tyrants, or the Origins. Hell, he didn't even care if it's Ul.
"I will stop at nothing… I will inflict suffering upon them. One that their soul wouldn't be able to bear. They will cower and beg me with their heads on the ground. I will destroy them. All of them!"
Northern gritted his teeth as he spoke, his eyes formed with a frightening resolve, cold, at the same time burning viciously in his eyes.
This resolve of his wasn't just about what had transpired with Ulzred.
Starting from the nonsense Rughsbourgh pulled, the viciousness of the rift, even outside of it was no better.
Everywhere, everyone was leading a life towards ruin and right now, it was beginning to piss Northern off seriously!