Volume 5 - Chapter 11 (in-editing v3)

Volume 5 - Chapter 11

(If you see any typos that slipped past me, let me know! Long chapter)

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Shin teleported into existence just a few meters above the Southern Wall, touching down just before the ruined section the Apex had destroyed. He landed with cat-like grace, before leaning slightly against the parapet as he caught his breath.

‘Woah there. Steady.’ Shin’s lungs heaved as his whole body ran flush, his veins bulging as his muscles flexed.

When Shin actively drew upon the Power of Strength, he felt like he could do anything. It was a rush, pure euphoria running through his veins. He felt like he was king of the world, it was intoxicating.

‘Control.’ Shin chided himself as he clamped down on the feeling, channeling his inner Micheal.

He decided to name this move his ‘Super Strength’ mode. By drawing heavily upon the Conceptual Power of Strength, he could greatly enhance his physical stats and Abilities.

‘If I attain Mastery over Strength, I’ll be able to keep this mode on 24/7.’ It was something he was intuitively aware of the moment he first activated Super Strength mode.

Shin let out a breath as he felt the raw power fade away. He could only maintain the mode for around 25 seconds before he needed to back off. His body wasn’t strong enough, and his connection to the Concept of Strength wasn’t yet powerful enough, to maintain it any longer.

‘Still. I can go in, go out, go in, and go out.’ Shin nodded, a ferocious smile making its way onto his face.

‘It’s incredible.’ He had practiced combining his Expand Ability and his new Conceptual Power a little bit before going to bed last night, but it was nothing like using it in the field.

Despite this being his first time using it in combat, thanks to his Ability slot, he already possessed some basic level of control and practice. It almost felt natural using the Abilities together, expanding his Melding Plate Arm to an enormous size, all in one moment.

“My arm is holding up well.” He touched the Artifact that had replaced his left arm, rubbing his fingers along its metallic surface. He had grown used to the metallic arm, to the point where he was unsure if he even wanted to replace it in the future. It was incredibly useful to have, more so than his regular arm had been.

Shin turned his focus back towards the Apex as he saw the enormous creature begin to move.

‘I sent it flying, but…’ Shin couldn’t help but frown.

‘It’s already back on its feet.’

The enormous creature was a sight to behold. A faint line of cracks along the left side of its chest and neck was the only indication of the massive impact it had just tanked. The Apex’s dense, outer shell had absorbed most of the attack.

Now, the entire mood that surrounded the Apex had changed.

Shin felt slightly unnerved as the Apex turned its head towards him, staring him down while standing absolutely still. The lazy, curious attitude the creature had possessed was nowhere to be seen.

Now, it was raw, focused concentration.

“I ain’t scared of you.” Shin lied through his teeth, already preparing his teleportation path in his head, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

It only lasted a few seconds, but the Apex finally broke eye contact as it felt a few more fireballs slam into its legs. Shin spotted the casters, Void Natives dressed in drab grey robes and wielding staffs. A few of them had climbed up onto a raised stone platform in the middle of one of the main streets that intersected with the Southern Gate.

‘Wow! Real Wizards!’ It was his childhood dream come true, albeit under less-than-ideal circumstances.

The Apex glanced at the Wizards, then towards Shin, and then to its immediate surroundings. Its dark gray eyes scanned the area unnervingly, moving with intelligence that belied its bestial nature.

Then, as Shin watched intently, waiting to gauge its next move…

The Apex looked up at the sky and…

Screamed.

“Yeah, no. I’m out.” Shin teleported almost instantly, leaving the horrible monster and its echoing scream behind.

Meanwhile, the harsh, keening screech spread across the entirety of Axellion in an instant.

Apex Void Predators were all known, unique entities on the Third Layer.

Before Eon, the King of Heroes, decimated their population 63 years ago, there used to be dozens of Apex Void Predators.

Now, however… only 8 remained.

The strongest 8, each with their own unique abilities and powers.

As the Apex screamed towards the sky above, dark, stormy clouds immediately began to condense and gather, revealing its identity.

Barsoth - The Stormbringer.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Wind and rain whipped away at Micheal’s face as he exited the Wyden Inn.

“He’s not here, either.”

The Wyden Inn was located near the Southern Gate, exactly as the note claimed. It was a large building, two stories tall and entirely made of wood, with a bar and walled off entrance. Micheal had spotted it easy enough, and moved inside to search it after being dropped off, while Shin distracted the Apex. The Wyden Inn was directly in the line of fire had the huge Void Predator continued its rampage unchecked.

What he found there, however, was disappointing.

“Everyone fled.” It wasn’t exactly a surprise. Even now, the city was overtaken with the sounds of ringing bells warning of the attack. Everyone inside the Inn had long since fled.

‘So who launched that attack?’ It was a conundrum.

It wasn’t as if Grandmasters grew on trees. Where was Bastien?

Micheal knelt down and picked up a chunk of wood, examining its sliced edge. Bits of dust and grime clung to it, falling away as he let the rain wash over it.

‘It’s a clean cut.’ This was the location the slash of white energy had appeared from.

He held the piece of wood up, angling it so it matched with one of the corners of the Inn. As he lowered the piece, he could see a missing chunk in the Inn’s wooden roof, exactly where this chunk had been sliced from.

‘It’s definitely Sword Energy.’ Few other things could make a slash this fine, down to an incredibly exact edge. He ran his fingers along the wood, finding it perfectly flat, and confirming his suspicions.

A faint noise made Micheal spin around, Lightshorn appearing in his right hand in an instant as he stood up.

“Any luck?”

Micheal lowered his sword and shook his head.

“Nothing.” He stored the chunk of wood in his Spatial Ring for later examination.

“He’s not here.” Micheal shook his head.

Bastien was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean the trail was lost.

‘He’s probably still in the city proper, if Jay sol Arget hasn’t already gotten to him.’ Micheal kept his attention spread to his surroundings. He didn’t know what to expect when he faced down his first Endwalker, and he didn’t want to be caught unprepared.

“The Apex is swinging back around. It’ll be here in a few moments. What’s the plan?” Shin asked back.

Micheal took a few steps back and then leapt forward, jumping more than a dozen meters into the air, and landing atop the partially caved in roof of the Wyden Inn.

Indeed, like Shin had said, the Apex was currently barreling in their general direction.

‘It’s headed for the Wizards.’ Several Wizards assigned to the local guard force had constructed a small defensive stone tower in the middle of the street, and were lobbing Spells at the Apex as it charged them. Dozens of Guardsmen dotted the area near the Wizards, some of them shambling backwards in fear as they saw the Apex approach.

‘Neither the Duke, nor his Knights, are present.’ Micheal frowned as he examined his surroundings.

Hundreds of small homes and shops lined the streets, simple stone and wood constructs. Most of them had green roofs, made from a common type of wood, Seko Trees. Each roof had a large, bowl-shaped section of wood, where rainwater was gathered and stored. Water was a valuable resource on the Third Layer, given the general lack of rivers and lakes.

‘They sounded the alarm a while ago.’ The fact that almost all civilians had fled made that clear.

“We’re going to help them stall it.” Micheal made the decision on the spot. Shin nodded at his answer, a fierce smile forming on his face.

The Knights of the Round Table were headquartered in Axellion in their early days, before Aaron Bartram died. Bastien should also be somewhere in the city proper.

‘If I answer the Call now, I’ll make a great first impression.’

Duke Armon held an ambiguous, almost slightly favorable opinion of Humans. The Shop they possessed was of great interest to the man. Helping save his city would put them in the Duke’s good graces.

‘This should make them more willing to cooperate, whether it’s the Duke or the Round Table.’ He needed to project an image of bravery and strength.

“Take me to the tower.” Micheal pointed at the stone tower the Wizards had constructed.

“On it!” Shin grabbed ahold of Micheal’s shoulder and, abruptly, they vanished.

Micheal blinked as he was greeted with an abrupt, cacophony of sound.

“Hit the damn thing’s ankles, aim lower! 15 seconds, then get ready to abandon- oi!” A large Void Native clad in full metal armor was in the midst of barking orders when he noticed Micheal and Shin’s appearance.

“We’re Free Mercs, come to answer the Call.”

Outsiders weren’t traditionally recognized as Knights unless they were part of a large Knight Company. There were also many Void Nobles who took issue with any Outsider claiming to be a Knight in the first place. While Free Mercenaries, or ‘Free Mercs’ as they were called, weren’t held in as high repute, it was an identity Micheal and Shin could claim that wouldn’t come with the baggage claiming to be a Knight possessed.

There were many other benefits to being known as a Knight, but none that Micheal would need.

“You’re the one that lobbed it in the chest earlier.” The big man grunted, his eyes briefly landing on Shin, before turning back towards the charging Apex. It was roughly 20 seconds out from hitting them.

“Name’s Bellor, Commander on scene. Can your friend fight as well as you?”

Shin smiled widely, talking over the crackling energy emitted by the Wizards just a few meters away.

“He’s even better!”

“Get ready to evac!” Bellor bellowed, before turning to Micheal and Shin.

“We just need to hold for one more minute. Two Knight Companies are inbound to assist.” Micheal noted that the man made no mention of the missing Duke, the Hero that was expected to defend Axellion in the case of an attack. This implied that they couldn’t rely on him showing up to help.

“Got it.” Micheal returned as he focused his gaze on the approaching monster.

‘I can’t risk using the Crown here.’ It would leave him vulnerable to a surprise ambush by Jay sol Arget.

“Shin! Take us up!” Micheal yelled. A split second later, they were high in the sky above the stone tower, gazing at the charging Apex below. The storm whipped the air back and forth, pelting them with rain as Micheal and Shin slowly began to fall.

“S’vol Reize.” Micheal cast the 2nd Circle Spell, Mana Blade.

A small, faintly glowing, silver sword appeared in the air, hovering just above him. In his right hand, he held Lightshorn, while in his left, he flexed his Silk Strider Glove, ready to emit lines of titanium thread.

“Don’t get too close. I’ll take its main focus. Also…” Micheal narrowed his eyes as his supernatural intuition pinged.

“Avoid staying on the ground too long. Try to stay up high, and keep an eye out for another Grandmaster.” Shin gave a salute before vanishing.

Micheal plunged downward, his two swords, one of Mana and one of metal, glowing brightly, leaving a faint, white trail through the rain, like a comet crashing down from the sky.

‘Temporal Bubble.’

Micheal spawned a flurry of Temporal Bubbles to rapidly accelerate his fall, using his Cloud Stepping Shoes to fling himself downward. He held Lightshorn out in front of him, aiming precisely as he prepared to attack.

There was a single, quiet moment that seemed to stretch on for eternity.

A moment in time where Micheal felt all of his senses stretch forward, his mind processing every single movement made by the Apex.

And then…

The battle was upon him.

Micheal clenched Lightshorn tightly, Grandmaster Sword Energy teeming off the blade as he began to cut forward. The Mana Blade above him mimicked the same movement, following the path of Lightshorn as he layered the attacks on top of each other.

There was a consensus, on the Third Layer, that the best spot to attack an Apex was its ankles. The enormous monsters relied on their legs a great deal. Seriously injuring an Apex on its lower leg was typically enough to force the creatures to retreat.

However…

‘That’s only if you are trying to make it retreat.’

Micheal’s eyes gleamed as he activated his Temporal Bubble Ability again, surrounding himself in accelerated time.

‘I want to do something even greater.’

A tiny fraction of a second was all he needed as he cut forward, sending two enormous slashes of white sword energy. It was beautiful, two white slices of raw power that merged together, splitting apart drops of rain and crossing through the air in an instant.

‘Let’s make them see me as a Hero candidate.’

The Apex twisted as it sensed the impending attack, but not before Micheal’s sword strikes slammed down directly into the deadliest weapon an Apex possesses.

Its tail.

Micheal ducked backwards and jumped off the air to his side as the Apex twisted its entire body, creating a storm of flesh as it reacted to Micheal’s attack. A massive, black arm crashed through the air directly towards Micheal, a sheer wall of boney flesh aimed precisely at him.

‘Temporal Bubble!’ Micheal drew heavily on his Ki as he spawned another flurry of Temporal Bubbles, half interspersed between him and the Apex’s arm, slowing down time and delaying the attack, while the other half accelerated time as he arrested his fall and jumped to the side.

An enormous gust of wind slammed into Micheal like a hammer, knocking the breath out of him as he began to spin away from the Apex, its giant arm just barely missing him.

Micheal stretched out his left hand, sending several metal threads burrowing through the air until they sank into the side of a half destroyed, two story building. In the same movement, he spawned half a dozen more Temporal Bubbles along the path of the metal threads.

With a yank, Micheal pulled himself forward, just as his senses and instincts warned him.

Another gust of wind blew Micheal away as he just barely avoided a followup strike from the Apex, sent soaring through the air unnaturally quickly. A second later and he touched down hard onto the roof and immediately flung himself forward again, using yet another Temporal Bubble to dash away.

Behind him, a loud, warbling yell of fury shook the air as the Apex smashed down hard on the ground, sending up a veritable wave of debris and stone, all while the storm above intensified, a mix of rain and lightning pouring down on those below.

‘Did I get it?’ Micheal flipped himself through the air before finally coming to a halt, landing atop a still intact building, a large bar of some sort.

He squinted as he looked past the wall of stone and dust, his keen senses letting him zero in on the raging Apex.

“Damn.” Micheal swore as he saw the aftermath of his attack.

The Apex’s long, sinuous tail was still connected to the enormous creature. What had changed, however, was the enormous gash near the base of the tail.

At its base, the Apex’s tail was roughly 4 meters thick, close to double Micheal’s height. Micheal’s surprise attack had sheared through roughly 1/3rd of the tail, cutting through the tough outer shell and exposing hardened white bone.

‘It’s not enough.’ Even as he watched, outer black shells surrounding the tail began to expand, shielding it from repeat attacks. The injury itself was serious, and would take many hours to heal, even with the powerful healing factor Apex’s possessed.

However, it wasn’t enough to prevent it from using its tail entirely.

‘Still. That’ll slow it down.’

This was the first real injury the Apex had taken in its entire rampage and battle thus far. Even Shin’s surprise attack only damaged its thick outer shell.

Micheal charged forward once more, jumping off the air as he sprinted towards the Apex. He dodged back and forth between several flying chunks of stone before ducking to the side, running parallel to the monster.

Here, in the Apex’s vicinity, the first thing he noticed was the noise.

It was loud. Incredibly loud.

From the raging storm above, to the wake of destruction the Apex created, to the bells ringing from every direction, to the unpleasant screech of metallic shell against grinding stone.

The chaotic noise brought back unpleasant memories to Micheal, of his time serving in a Knight Company here on the Third Layer in his first life.

Enormous battles, confusion, and the ever-present terror left behind by roaming Void Predators.

‘I can’t even get close.’ Micheal frowned as he jumped to the side, dodging what was left of a home as it crashed down on the street, scattering bits of stone, wood, and metal.

The Apex obliterated a force of at least 60 Guardsmen in an instant, wiping out most of the defensive group that was trying to fight it off. The makeshift tower that had housed that Wizards was nowhere to be scene, destroyed in its entirety. The Wizards had stopped casting, potentially dead, and Micheal couldn’t see Commander Bellor anywhere.

The Apex had thrown itself into a frenzy, whipping its arms and legs around as it crushed everything that came into range.

The sheer physical menace that the Apex represented was almost impossible to describe.

‘I don’t have the physicality to keep up.’ Maybe it would be different after he obtained the Body of a Grandmaster, but as it was now…

He couldn’t even approach it, not while it was whipping up a frenzy. Attacking from a distance was viable, but he needed to get closer if he wanted any chance to land a strike on its tail.

‘I need more power.’

Almost absently, Micheal’s Mana Blade jerked forward and sliced apart a flying chunk of stone as big as he was, splitting it in half before it could hit him.

‘That, or I use the Crown.’

He had just arrived on the Third Layer. On its face, it was already unreasonable that he was strong enough to fight an Apex as much as he was.

The fact that he could seriously consider fighting it off with the help of an Artifact was absurd, but that just went to show the incredible power inherent in the Crown of the Angel King.

“Giaaaant!” Micheal glanced to the side as he heard Shin’s voice.

“Throw!” A huge boulder, Expanded to an enormous 11 meters tall, flew through the air and collided with the frenzied Apex, smashing into its sternum. The impact staggered the Apex, but only slightly, before it shrugged it off and continued charging. In its frenzied state, it was practically unstoppable.

‘It’s headed for the reservoir.’ Micheal spotted the large structure about a mile and a half in the distance.  

Every City-State on the Third Layer possessed, in one form or another, a large reservoir where excess water was stored, to provide during dry spouts. The City-State of Axellion had multiple large walled off sections where water was stored. The Apex, in its blind fury, was crushing everything in its path as it charged towards the South Reservoir.

And it was at this point…

A minute had passed.

Out of the corner of Micheal’s eyes, he spotted a familiar face sprinting down the same street he was standing on, jarring his recognition.

A very famous, familiar face.

A grizzled man with black hair, and a thick, black beard, dressed in plain, gray metal armor, wielding a pair of large scimitars. He was of Indian descent, with a slightly darker skin tone, and piercing, brown eyes.

‘They’re here.’ Micheal thought, recognizing the man by the large, jagged scar that cut across his nose and cheeks.   

One of the humanity’s greatest warriors, a hero of great renown that led the Knights of the Round Table after Aaron died.

One of the heroes mankind put their hopes into, before his death to Sion on the Fifth Layer.

Yama.

The 2nd-in-Command of the Knights of the Round Table.

A human who specialized 6 of his 7 Ability slots into one, specific thing.  

Yama clapped his hands together loudly as he placed himself between the reservoir and the Apex, summoning a wave of golden energy that enveloped his body.

And then…

A split second later…

187 Clones of Yama appeared.

Some had otherworldly appearances, constructed of various types of Elemental Energy, while others were identical to Yama, sharing his same appearance. A myriad of shapes and forms, all under the control of the man himself.   

Yama, the Infinite Knight, entered the field of battle.  

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