NOVEL NEXT Chapter 136: The Unseen Variable
"Yes." They all scattered, darting toward every corner of the battlefield where the worn-out Celestials where, aiming to retreat from. Then
"RRROOOOR." "RRROOOOR." "RRROOOOR."
Three guttural roars erupted from different edges of the war-torn field, echoing like the cries of titanic beasts awakening from ancient slumber. The remaining twenty-one able-bodied and four injured (from the Thanacrites' assault) Primordial Beasts stirred restlessly, their massive forms casting long, ominous shadows as they appeared to pause, sensing, receiving, deciphering some invisible signal pulsing through the air. Even as Nyxander and the other Celestials were caught in their strategic exchange, the ground beneath them seemed to hum, responding to some unseen command.
The behemoth that Nyxander had previously struck down now slowly rose, defying its own fallen state. Sand cascaded from its body like a soft rain, while dust coiled around it in ethereal wisps, an aura of menace that pulsed like a living force.
Suddenly, eleven Primordial Beasts that had been slowly spiraling in a circular formation since the beginning of the clash parted ways. The moment they opened their ranks, a vile and overpowering energy burst forth from their center, spilling across the battlefield like dark ink staining the air.
All at once, the Celestials, both those retreating and those offering aid, felt their souls jolt violently within their flesh. It was as if their spirits had been yanked from their bodies, trembling on the verge of separation. Paralysis struck like a cruel enchantment. Muscles stiffened, breaths faltered, and time itself seemed to fracture under the weight of that cursed energy.
Only Hung managed to wrench his head around slowly, inch by painful inch, with agonizing effort, like trying to move through liquid steel, to catch a glimpse of the source. The other Celestials could only watch helplessly as the massive beasts marching, no longer interested in their surroundings, drawn to the origin of the surge, unable to understand the how, why, or where they were headed.
"Luckily, we retreated this far before such energy was unleashed," Hung thought, his inner voice a fragile thread in the chaos, gritting his teeth as he twisted his neck forward. "Or we would have had our souls shattered before we even understood what hit us." With immense effort, he forced his voice past the weight crushing his lungs.N"Everyone, push forward! If these beasts fully unleash their power, we'll be crushed to dust!"
The other Celestials, dazed and trembling, caught a flicker of reason in his voice and began to move. Slowly. Desperately. They dragged their paralyzed bodies inch by inch, like marionettes tugged by invisible strings of sheer willpower.
Even Nyxander, who stood nearest to the advancing beasts, glanced down at the back of his right hand—his skin prickling not from fear or battle frenzy, but from the raw majesty of the energy saturating the air, not just energy, it was domination incarnate.
"Don't tell me…" he murmured, his gaze narrowing. "This… this is the energy of a beast that has just stepped into the Fourth Realm… the Sovereign Realm?"
He turned slightly, casting a brief look at the retreating Celestials, their movements sluggish but driven. "We made the right call," he muttered, his voice barely above the chaos. "Had we hesitated longer, the loss we feared might have paled compared to the catastrophe we narrowly escaped, a disaster carved in a single moment."
Suddenly, "Vaaarm." a deafening roar, like the wail of a thousand collapsing worlds,erupted. A massive wave of echoing force spiraled outward from the core of the beasts like an ancient horn of doom, forming a horizontal tornado. The whirlwind yanked heavy debris into its wrathful spin and carved a jagged trench across the battlefield. Even the trailing winds, the mere remnants of that monstrous release, were strong enough to toss faraway retreating Celestials through the air like feathers in a storm.
Nyxander, who was also caught in the storm's violent embrace, managed to resist its wrath by crossing his arms over his face, anchoring himself firmly into the trembling earth beneath. His boots dug into the fractured soil like roots gripping for survival against a hurricane. Slowly, he peeled his arms away from his face, his gaze slicing through the haze, expecting to witness the monstrous scale of the Primordial beast that had unleashed such raw fury. But to his surprise, the skies, where their colossal forms usually towered, held nothing.
Then a voice, low and weighty like distant thunder, rolled into his ears.
"You… Are… Different from them."
Nyxander's eyes snapped downward, his body stiffening like stone struck by lightning. And there it was, a Primordial beast, no longer a grotesque titan but now standing in a humanoid form, towering at roughly fourteen feet. Its glowing purple eyes shimmered with eerie clarity, star-shaped pupils floating in the black sea of its irises, like constellations suspended in cosmic voids. Yet despite the transformation, the creature's limbs, however, betrayed its origin,cstill wrapped in the sinewy, monstrous form of a beast, its legs like gnarled trunks of ancient trees.
Around it, a transparent, spherical energy spiraled like a slow-moving bubble, refracting light with a mystical shimmer. The very air bent slightly around its presence, as though reality itself was unsure how to contain it.
"What the hell…" Nyxander muttered, awe creeping into his tone like cold wind into an open cloak. "Don't tell me those comic book tales… about beasts evolving after centuries… are actually true."
His eyes flicked over the creature's details, from the short, obsidian rhino horn jutting from its forehead to the powerful beast-like legs that crushed the cracked earth beneath them. Each one a contradiction of savagery and sentience, of primal instinct and growing intellect.
"You… Are… a… Primordial." The creature's voice crawled out of its throat like a prophecy long buried in the dust of time.
Nyxander's breath hitched. "Hummm… It… can even speak?" he whispered, his voice a tremor of disbelief wrapped in wonder. For a moment, the world paused, Primordial and beast facing one another, their ancient bloodlines crossing in silence beneath the bright galaxy.