Ch 31 : πππππβπΎ πΎππ»
Chapter 31 : πππππβπΎ πΎππ»
Gift of the King: the royal power Alfira inherited. Obviously, far too powerful for her. I had already suspected that she copied my abilities that day in the throne room...
As I return to reality, the god rises from the debris of the coliseum, which had been pulverized after the impact of Alfira's punch. The creature looks furious, its body twisting in rage.
The sky... changes.
It turns black, as if the light itself had been devoured. No brightness pierces the darkness covering the capital of Iveralmn. Only the glowing orbs floating around the arena and the blinding light emanating from the godβs body remain.
Behind him, suddenly, wings unfold.
A powerful beat makes them tremble, and the god rises above the arena, dominating the skies, his imposing aura crushing the city beneath his presence.
"Aley! Letβs take him down!" Elvaria shouts, a wild smile tugging at her lips. Her pupils are dilated, her excitement palpable. Sheβs burning with the desire to strike him down.
And, I must admit, so am I.
Despite the screams of terror and the cries of the citizens around us, my entire focus is locked on the monstrous creature. It hovers in the darkened sky, motionless, watching us with an intense gaze. But I remember the last time such a scene unfolded, in Aqualida. It ended badly.
I grip my mithril sword, drawing it cautiously.
"Elvie, draw your weapon. Weβll attack at the same time," I say, but I realize she has already unsheathed her blade. Sheβs ready to leap, impatient to dive into the battle.
Suddenly, the creature raises its arm. An imminent attack.
"Flash Step β Quick Step!" we shout in unison, our bodies disappearing in a fraction of a second. The air tears apart under our speed, a deafening crack echoing through Iveralmn, shattering the sound barrier.
The god, surprised, halts his movement, attempting to counter by bringing down a massive arm on us.
"Aleystria... die." His words strike me like a blow. He knows my name. That means Iβve fought him before, maybe even killed him... This isnβt the first time.
I tighten my grip on my sword, channeling all my strength into a cataclysmic strike. The blade slices through the air toward the god, but he dodges and immediately retaliates with a light blade, as fast as lightning.
I canβt avoid it.
The impact hits me square in the chest, sending me crashing into the ground with unbelievable force. My body rebounds at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
"Aley!" Elvaria screams from afar, but I donβt have time to respond. A red flash suddenly splits the darkened sky and slams into the god. An explosion roars, lighting up the heavens. Elvaria has already launched her assault, striking the god with devastating power.
Enraged, the monster retaliates with overwhelming fury, but she parries each of his blows with frightening ease, her smile widening with every blocked attack.
The god seems to have forgotten my existence. A mistake.
I plant my feet into the ground, feeling the earth crack beneath me as I prepare my counterattack.
"Quick Step!"
My body becomes light, ethereal. I launch myself into the sky with inhuman speed, my sword poised to deliver a devastating strike. The shockwave that follows my blow sweeps away the darkness from the sky, clearing the shadows in an instant, revealing a brilliant blue sky.
The god, shocked, freezes for a moment before regaining his senses. But already, his fist slams into my abdomen, sending me flying into the heavens like a comet. My body tears through the clouds, creating a gaping hole in the sky.
"STRIA!" Elvaria yells, her voice piercing through the chaos.
She disappears in a silver blur, transcended by superhuman speed. Her strikes are so powerful that each one, if aimed at the capital, would cause unimaginable destruction. The god, overwhelmed, chooses to flee to the ground, his gigantic body crashing into the arena.
As soon as he touches the ground, the other adventurers, also galvanized by the action, swarm him from all sides. They canβt fly, but their combined strength is enough to surround him, weakening him further.
Feeling cornered, the god rises again, but this time, his form transforms.
He grows, his silhouette shifting into a colossal titan, his stone body covering miles of land. His feet crush the ruins of the arena, an immense shadow stretching over the capital.
"BRWARG!" His cry reverberates like a shockwave across all of Iveralmn. A sharp pain shoots through my body, and I am thrown several meters away.
But as I rise, Elvaria transcends everything it means to be human. Her speed surpasses the limits of the skies as she charges toward the giant.
"STRIA!" she murmurs, striking the titan with unmatched power. The impact is so violent that it shakes the entire continent, warping the distant mountains. The titan trembles, cracks spreading across its immense stone body.
Seeing the urgency of the situation, the god summons several gigantic swords made of divine energy, sending them in a barrage toward me. I donβt have the luxury of dodging them, as each blade could destroy the capital.
I have to parry them all.
"Will to Live!" I bring my sword down on each blade, creating magical shockwaves that disintegrate every projectile. The sound of my parries resonates like a storm, each impact strong enough to clear the clouds from the sky.
"Elvaria!" I shout. "Give it everything youβve got!"
She pulls back in the sky, concentrating all her energy. Her body begins to glow with a golden light, an aura of silver and red emanating from her. She shines brighter than all the stars combined.
Suddenly, a sharp sound tears through the air as Elvaria propels herself at impossible speed. She transforms into a red-silver lightning bolt, leaving behind a trail of destructive magic. Her speed is so great that no attack can catch up to her.
She closes in on the god, her sword before her, ready to strike.
The titanβs divine attacksβmagic circles, arrows, and spears of energyβrush toward her, but theyβre ineffective. Elvaria outruns them all, her figure becoming nothing more than a flash of light. She reaches the giant and drives herself into its immense stone torso.
The impact is titanic.
A shockwave of such intensity that it shakes the entire continent erupts, warping the landscape and the mountains on the horizon. The magic pursuing Elvaria explodes behind her, clashing with her own energy.
"Elvaria!" I shout, but thereβs no answer.
The giant titan staggers. Even with its colossal size, Elvaria has inflicted enough damage to make it falter.
"How... how are you still alive? You were supposed to have killed each other!" the god screams, his voice betraying panic.
What he just said interests me, but I no longer have the luxury of thinking. This fight is coming to an end.
"Will to Live! Will to Live! Will to Live!" I whisper, activating all my skills. A luminous aura starts to emanate from my body, raw, untamed energy. Beneath my feet, the capital of Iveralmn trembles. The citizens, frozen, lift their eyes to the sky, witnesses to a battle of divine scale. The arena is nothing but a memory, a space crushed beneath the feet of a titan, but we must finish this.
"Will to Live!" I scream, repeating the incantation, then...
I charge.
A trail of light forms behind me, my transcendent speed creating shockwaves so powerful they warp the space around me. Explosions ring out with each of my steps, like claps of thunder.
"Aleystria! Youβre nothing but a murderer! A traitor among the gods!" The titanβs voice thunders through the skies, but his words are drowned in the tumult of my determination. I donβt listen. Nothing can stop me.
I am a comet. Energy radiates from my sword as it shines, gleaming, unstoppable. The god makes one last attempt at defense, but his efforts are futile. I raise my sword, the air splitting under the weight of the imminent strike.
Then, I bring it down.
A simple movement.
A chilling silence fills the space, then...
The apocalypse.
The sky rips apart, the air fills with red and black. A beam of unimaginable power tears through the atmosphere. The shockwave it generates surpasses anything Iβve ever seen. The impact is cataclysmic: an explosion of such magnitude that it could annihilate an entire continent. The blinding light of the beam exceeds comprehension, its intensity capable of melting mountains, razing entire lands.
The capital trembles under the blow, the energy from the strike warping reality itself into absolute chaos. The sound of the explosion is drowned out by its own intensity. The whole world seems to stop, for just one moment, in deafening silence.
The sky turns colorless, the entire world loses its hues... before a pure red invades the horizon, followed by an abyssal black, the two shades embodying absolute destruction, the colors of death, chaos, and the god of destruction himself.
A ray of destruction as massive as the energy of a supernova spreads across the sky, erasing all trace of what once stood in its path. Absolute power, the apocalypse itself.
The ground quakes, the citizens of Iveralmn look up at the sky in horror and fascination. They are witnessing a divine spectacle, a battle beyond their mortal comprehension.
And then, everything falls silent.
A few seconds pass... or perhaps centuries.
I stand frozen, my chest heaving. I look at my hands, still trembling after unleashing such power. The god is gone. This is not a figure of speech; it's reality. He no longer exists. My attack has erased every trace of him. No stone, no flesh, no magic. Nothing.
"What⦠what have I done?" I whisper. The eyes of the citizens are on me, on Elvaria. Terrified, admiring, disbelieving.
Suddenly, a familiar voice breaks the silence:
"Hello, Aley. Elvaria. Do you remember me?"
I turn my head toward the source of the voice. It's Varilis, the priest from Aqualida, the one who had helped us in our last battle. My heart stops.
"You probably guessed, given my presence here, but yes, I transferred the magic of the citizens of Iveralmn into you for your final attack." He smiles, still wearing that enigmatic grin.
I feel my muscles relax as the truth hits me: the god had ceased to exist, erased from the world just like the final boss of the Aqualida dungeon. My attack had simply annihilated him, wiped him from memory.
βShit, Elvaria!β I shout, suddenly seized with panic. She hadnβt responded earlierβ¦ Is she hurt? Was she hit by that torrent of magic that chased after her?
βVar!β I turn to him, desperate. βSend everyone to find Elvaria! She took thousands of magical attacks!β I scream toward Varilis and the citizens. The ones who had been fleeing moments ago are now hypnotized, fascinated by the titanic battle they just witnessed. Their eyes are glued to us, unable to look away.
I descend from the sky, landing on the smoking ground of what remains of the arena. I rush off, frantically searching for my partner, the worry consuming me.