Chapter 50 - First Draft

Chapter 50 - LOT

“They’re Iron Rhinoceroses! Careful, they are extremely resilient to regular attacks!”

“Dodge from the side, use your Fire Strikes on their necks!”

“Pull this way, pull this way!”

Shouts filled the air, amid the clash of blades and small explosions of flame as Jack and the various warriors still in the area charged towards the Central Ceremony Building.

They were roughly a mile from the building when they exited the coliseum. When they were bout halfway from the stronghold, a swarm of Spirit Beasts had appeared, a large group of huge Iron Rhinoceroses.

The unexpected ambush was being masterfully handled by the Magma Clan regular members, however. Despite many of them being injured, they were still the elites of the clan, and all of them were talented.

In addition, their were several dozen Magma Clan guards, and a few officials remaining. While none of them were exceptionally talented, all of them had had years of experience and had quickly formed three different teams. One to carry the wounded, and the other two to protect the group carrying the injured.

Jack, alongside most of the new recruits, were put on teams carrying the injured. Almost all the Magma Clan fighters here were integral members that had Natural Abilities related to magma or fire, and would function better as a result alongside each other.

That wasn’t a decision Jack had made, however.

It was, instead, one made by the warrior currently standing at the forefront of the first group.

Kenneth Raie.

*WHOOSH*

With a wave of his hand, a five meter tall wave of molten magma burst into existence, slamming into several charging Iron Rhinoceroses. The metal Spirit Beasts had a high level of resistance to fire, but even a heat resistant Spirit Beast would suffer under the effect of molten magma.

Iron Rhinoceroses were a beast Jack recognized, ranked 867th on the Sacrom Ranking. They were extraordinarily strong, and extremely durable. They could easily uproot huge trees with a shake of their thick necks. Each beast stood seven meters tall, veritable giants of muscle, and were covered in enormous, thick steel plates.

The charging Iron Rhinoceroses stumbled, several of them bellowing or roaring out in pain as they collided with the wall of molten magma. A number of them simply collapsed, the deadly heat melting down their limbs and killing them.

“Weak.” Kenenth’s voice cut through the chaotic battlefield, filled with dismissiveness as he looked at the attacking Spirit Beasts.

Roughly 3 dozen or so Iron Rhinoceroses made it through the wave of magma, and continued charging at the groups. Each footstep the beasts made left a small crater in the ground, the enormous force required for them to move causing the earth to tremble.

*WHOOSH*

The two defending teams let loose with dozens of balls of fire, large collections of flame a few feet wide that slammed into the Rhinoceroses, causing a few to stumble. The deadly heat weakened the armor protecting their bodies, but wasn’t enough to take most of them down.

“Take this!”

Off in the middle of the group, another figure Jack recognized launched a unique attack of his own. A beam of bright red fire blasted out of the finger of Lector Mones, the son of Burn Lord Bellando. The laser-like beam of fire slammed into the weakened outer armor of one of the Iron Rhinoceroses, and instantly penetrated it. The Rhino went down like a rock, collapsing.

The duo each led one of the respective groups, and successfully managed to push back the Spirit Beasts, killing more than a dozen of them with the support of the other clan members. Arial was with Jack’s group, helping take care of some of the injured, as were Bale and Evan.

In the distance, Jack made out a few groups of guards fighting with other Spirit Beasts. It seemed a vast number of beasts had been unleashed, all around the Stronghold. How they got here was a mystery to Jack.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the Central Ceremony Building. Jack, alongside the others carrying wounded, quickly barged in.

The inside of the building was set with a large, grey stone entrance hall. It was deserted at the moment, with most of the guard moving off to engage the enemy. There were several long stone tables, with ornate chairs lining them. Detailed tapestries covered the walls, and two large doors opened up to hallways on both the left and right side of the entrance hall.

While the Central Ceremony Building was a heavily secure area during normal times, due to the nature of the building and what it contained, but in times of war it seemed that the guard on the building was lowered. Most of the treasures stored here had a more symbolic or historic value to the Magma Clan, rather than actual value.

It was a golden opportunity, however, in Jack’s eyes.

“Quick, set the wounded down here! Tarpin, Doldra go inform the defending groups we’re all secure. New recruits, tend to the wounded as best you can!” Arial’s voice barked out commands as she set about organizing the remaining defenders. She glanced aside at the new recruits before ignoring most of them, motioning for Jack to wait with them.

The tactics of the internal Magma Clan members meant that fighting alongside them required a significant ability to resist heat. It was safer to just leave the new recruits inside to guard the wounded than try to figure out their skills and work them into a team live.

Jack’s eyes flashed. He looked to the side, where Bale and Evan were standing, making eye contact. He then made a slight motion with his hand, towards his Space Sealed Pouch, looking down.

A moment later, a small compass appeared. The marker on the compass spun around briefly, before pointing off in a direction vaguely in the direction of the left door.

He looked up again, and then made a slight jerking motion towards the door.

Quickly and silently, Jack, Bale, and Evan broke off from the group, in the chaos as the wounded were being treated, and left the entrance hall through one of the two side doors.

..

Liren appeared out of thin air, stepping into existence at the base of the volcano. He adjusted himself, taking another look at the Central Ceremony Building. He lowered his presence to an absolute minimum, trying to avoid any and all detection.

With the massive ongoing battle that was breaking out, he was unlikely to be spotted, but if he was it could prove irritating.

Just as he was about to clap his hands and warp again, a sixth sense went off in him, tingling.

Ever since he had absorbed the Master Seed, Liren’s physical abilities had grown exponentially. Darfur had given him little information, except to say that the Seed helped pull out all the potential a warrior had, in their physique as well as in their Natural Ability, removing limits. It also allowed you to draw energy from the Void, and use it to become even stronger.

Along with this, Liren gained an extremely sensitive sense for the world around him. Part of this was because of his strengthened grasp of his Space Natural Ability. The other part, however, was a sort of odd, sixth sense, almost as if he was seeing into the future. It, for some reason, felt related to his Spirit.

This sixth sense was telling him to dodge backward, immediately.

Liren followed it without thinking, his body teleporting a few feet behind him. Short range teleports, with no preparation, were an extremely high level technique that Liren had only partially mastered, but he felt he had no choice.

*WHOOSH*

A microsecond after Liren warped a few feet away, a blur of silver light blasted into the spot where he had been standing.

Liren didn’t wait, and immediately twisting his fingers, drawing on his Natural Ability. Immediately the space around Liren solidified, becoming extremely durable. He went on full alert, drawing upon his Spirit to enhance his body as he looked around.

In the ground next to where he had been standing, almost completely buried in the rock, Liren could make out a small, silver feather. At the sight of this his eyes opened a fraction wider, betraying his shock.

An instant later, a man appeared before Liren, arriving so quickly his body seemed to blur into existence.

“Why hello there, young lad!” A lean, silver-haired man, wearing sharp, brown silk pants and a black silt shirt stared at Liren with a cheerful smile. He had a handsome face, with piercing green eyes and a slim but strong chin. His voice was charismatic, and filled with warmth.

“James O’Bald. Silverwing.” Liren said back, his voice cold.

“What do you want?” His hands twisted again, preparing himself to act at a moment’s notice. He didn’t allow a hint of fear or worry to creep into his eyes.

The man standing before him… was one of those peak existences. One of the ones he needed to avoid till he grew strong enough. At least, till he gained what he needed from the Central Ceremony Building.

The man’s cheerful smile faded from his face as he stared at Liren. Gradually, the smile on his face twisted. His hands began to tremble, and a strange, almost insane light appeared in his eyes.

He began to laugh.

“Hahaha… hahaha… HAHAHA!” His laughter had a deeply unsettling, discordant tone,

“What do I want, you ask?” Silverwing queried, tears of insane joy appearing in his eyes, as he continued laughing.

“Hahahaha!”

Silverwing’s voice lost its charismatic edge, and instead become a harried, distorted voice. Liren didn’t blink as he listened to the ghoulish laughter, his eyes fully focused on the man before him.

“Oh my lad. I broke free from fate today.” The man said, the twisted smile from his face returning back to normal as he looked at Liren.

“I broke free… And I realized something. I can feel it. I can feel HIM.”

The man shuddered, rubbing his arms as if in disgust. His odd actions were incredibly unsettling, putting Liren on edge. The silver haired man turned around for an instant, looking at the stronghold that was currently under attack. Liren almost tried to leave in that moment, but before he could manage, the man turned back to face him, grinning an even larger grin.

“And I can feel his touch on you. He… he isn’t here. But you… you have spoken to him, haven’t you? You’ve seen him?” He continued,

“He… he is the reason for everything. I realize it now. The pain I’ve been through, the strength I’ve gained, I can feel his touch. Helping me. Guiding me. Manipulating me. I foolishly thought I was at the helm, yet in reality, I was but a passenger.” Silverwing paused, running his hands through his hair.

“But no more. His strings cannot tug me. I will not lie down to die. I am free.” His eyes focused on Liren, looking at him, and then looking deeper, looking into him.

“And I will kill him.” Silverwing snapped his fingers. Immediately, an object materialized in his hand, pulled from a Spatial Ring.

Liren swallowed as he stared at it.

It was a human head. A man in his early twenties, with long blonde hair, and what appeared to have been a handsome, if vain looking face.

“They said he was an important person. A Holy Prince of the Light Clan.” Silverwing shook his head sadly.

“A Holy Prince, yet filled with such vile darkness. How unfortunate.” He snapped his fingers again, causing the head to vanish back into his Spatial Ring.

“And now you, my lad. A young warrior from the traitorous Space Clan. A warrior that is beloved by Fate. I thought your kind had died off for the most part. Yet I am unsurprised to see that same darkness in you.” He gave Liren a warm, friendly smile.

“I’m afraid I’ll be needing your head now.” The man’s arms seemed to flutter. Abruptly, hundreds of silver feathers began to flow from his arms, flying into the air above them. A beautiful pair of silver wings gradually formed on the man’s back as he jumped into the air, hovering a few meters above Liren.

An awe inspiring aura began to spread out from the man, an aura of extreme physical strength and power such that the air around him seemed to shiver.

It took but a split second for there to be more than ten thousand silver feathers, all floating in the air. All pointing at Liren.

A strange darkness began to fill Liren’s eyes as he stared at this. The air around him became slightly distorted, twisted black energy filling the space he solidified.

Before anything could happen, however, another figure slammed down roughly 30 meters away.

A huge, muscular figure wearing a set of red robes, standing nearly seven feet tall landed, and began walking towards them. He had a rough jaw and face, with piercing red eyes.

“You’ll be getting nothing, Silver brat.” Lionel roared, his body blurring as he blasted forward, slamming towards Silverwing. Twisted black energy caused the air around the red robed man to distort, giving off the same feeling as the energy Liren had drawn on.

The floating man glanced at the red robed warrior that was charging at him, and then at Liren, a derisive look in his eyes.

“Ah… fate once again, eh?” His voice was quiet, yet Liren could hear every word in crystal clear clarity.

“I am not the same man as I was before…” He continued. His hands blurred as he moved almost too quickly even for Liren’s enhanced eyes to track. The silver feathers floating in the air flashed and fluttered about, turning to point at the charging Lionel.

“DO NOT THINK YOU CAN OVERWHELM ME NOW, GREAT LORD OF THE VOID!”

In the instant the two began to fight, Liren quietly clapped his hands and vanished.