NOVEL NEXT Chapter 142: The burning flame
Under the bright galaxy light, the once-quaking ground turned still, as if nature itself had paused to observe the scene. Hildred, fists clenched tightly with the tension of coiled steel, stepped forward from his Astro force. Each step landed with the weight of silent determination, like a warrior trained to march through fear, not around it, but the glistening sweat tracing down his brow betrayed the storm brewing within him
Everything fell into a heavy silence, the kind that crushes sound under its weight, and makes every breath feel borrowed. Even the surroundings seemed to hold their breath, save for the occasional, distant growls of the Primordial beasts echoing beyond the smoke-choked haze of Born Dust, an eerie lullaby in an otherwise breathless void. Tension coiled in the air, alive and pulsing, its rhythm rising and falling like the chest of a sleeping giant.
Then, without warning, the intermittent roars faded into nothingness.
Hildred's eyes widened, his instincts screaming, every fiber in his being rising to full alert. His body tensed, senses sharp as the steel edge of a drawn blade. He couldn't fathom the silence that now reigned behind the thick veil of smoke. Then suddenly, from beyond the haze, a blinding 1.27 meter diameter translucent white rod with wind like appearance pierced through the dense wall of smoke like a divine spear falling from the heavens. It hung in the air for a heartbeat.
Instinctively, Hildred's knees bent, lowering his stance, his feet kissing the earth with firm intention. He braced himself like a man expecting the sky to fall. But before comprehension could fully form, the rod melted midair, slumping downward like a snake made of light, then snapped into motion, spinning violently like the blades of mystery forged propeller, slicing through Born Dust with a scream of wind and fury.
The smoke parted in a screaming whirl. Born Dust was thrown into chaos. The spinning rope's cyclone created a vertical tornado, tearing through the air, its force so brutal it nearly uprooted Hildred. Only his anchoring stance, arms crossed in defense, kept him grounded. The wind howled as stones and debris pelted him like celestial shrapnel, and his feet slid back, carving grooves into the earth as if dragged by invisible chains.
He crossed his arms to shield himself from the barrage of grit and stone, while a colossal trench canal carved by chaos, formed between him and the emerging behemoth. Even his distant Astro force, far from the blast, was caught in its aftermath, They felt the sting of the storm's remnants. Debris rained down like judgment, and they too had to guard their faces against the dust's wrath.
Slowly, almost reverently, the storm began to fade. Dust floated down like ash from an unseen fire. The air cleared, revealing a scene as if they weren't prepared for.
Across the rift stood a horde of Primordial beasts, their presence suffocating, their gazes cold and condescending, as if they were god inspecting an insect, its eyes shone with timeless malice. Hildred stared back, his figure dwarfed, yet unbroken, unblinking, his chest rising in slow, even breaths. His Astro force behind him, equally stunned, watched in silence, their stared wide-eyed, as though the sight before them defied every expectation they dared to hold.
Both sides stood still, locked in a frozen gaze. And in that moment, the world around them seemed to retreat, abandoning the battlefield to these titanic presences. The only movement was the whispering wind, curling around them like the breath of fate.
"I don't think the Astro Lord looks alright..." muttered one of the Gravity Astro members, his voice laced with unease. He stood beside Dunstan, quiffed hair tousled by the wind, black-brown pupils reflecting the faint tremor in his spirit, and a thin, vertical scar healed just above his right eye like a silent tale of battle past.
"The Astro Lord may seem that way because the war has yet to begin," Dunstan replied, his tone calm but edged with something weightier, like steel sheathed in velvet. "He's simply measuring his opponent."
Dunstan slowly turned to his right, eyes settling on the young soldier beside him. "Rex, as my right hand, you've had more opportunities to meet him than most. You should already know, retreating, or seeing fear as a choice, has never been part of his nature."
Though Dunstan's voice was smooth and even, his heart thundered against his ribs like a war drum. He could hear each beat reverberating in his chest, a traitorous rhythm betraying the weight he carried beneath his composed exterior.
"I know..." Rex muttered, glancing ahead. "I mean, this time... things feel different. Off. Like the calm before a storm, but one we've never seen."
"So how is the preparation?" Dunstan asked, shifting the weight of command back to strategy.
"Almost done," Rex answered. "Most of the weapons are locked and ready for use."
Their gazes lifted once again toward the distant figure at the frontlines, the Astro Lord, a silhouette of silent defiance against the gathering chaos. A bead of sweat rolled down each of their cheeks, glistening like fallen stars in the heat of dread.
All around them, the Astro forces moved with urgency, soldiers and specialists scrambling, racing to catch up with the very man buying them time with his presence alone.
At the heart of the battlefield, Hildred stood firm, his eyes unblinking as they locked onto the colossal figures approaching. Opposite him, a horde of beasts lined the horizon like a living storm cloud, each one trembling with anticipation and snarling with primal rage.
At the vanguard stood a primordial beast, towering, grotesque, and majestic in its horror. It exhaled with such force that it heated up the blowing dust into swirling vapor, staining the air with a gray haze. Still suspended above it, a 3,000-foot-long translucent rope shimmered, stretched taut from its massive, glowing horn. Yet strangely, the rope did not touch the horn directly. It hung in the air, as though some unseen force, an invisible medium, held it in place, waiting for the moment to snap.
Hildred still locking his gaze at the horde of Primordial beasts when the beast with the large translucent rope swung the rope through the air towards Hildred's direction. The rope side-winding through the air like a serpent enraged, its body dragging a wall of howling wind behind it like a storm's herald. Hildred's eyes widened, the super speed of the approaching rope betraying its monstrous size. Without hesitation, he crossed his arms across his chest, shrouded his body with his immortal energy, then boom, he exploded into the air, narrowly avoiding the translucent whip.
"Heaven's Dominion Fist: Aegis of the Firmament." The immortal energy cloaking his body suddenly hardened, shimmering like tempered glass, forming a shield of celestial force, an invisible bulwark able to deflect or absorb blows as if heaven itself guarded him. Twisting midair, Hildred spun like a drill, carving through the hurricane wall summoned by the whip's swing.
The instant his feet touched ground again, he bolted forward, refusing to gift his foes even a breath's moment for retaliation. But then, time itself seemed to pause for a heartbeat. His gaze snapped downward just as his right foot was about to land. A flicker of something unnatural caught his eye. Without thinking, he hurled himself to the right, his body surging with desperation-fueled might, just as a mountain-sized spike of earth exploded from the spot he had abandoned.
Hildred twisted through the air like a dancer caught in a cyclone, landing in a strained somersault to his side. Dirt burst around him as his boots scraped for grip, he had barely avoided being impaled. His new position now directly faced another Primordial beast. From its crown-like horn, radiant spears forged from condensed light burst forth in a relentless volley toward him.
"Heaven's Dominion Fist: Judgment Barrage." With a roar that shook his lungs, Hildred met the assault head-on, his fists a blur as he unleashed a storm of punches. Each strike burned with immortal energy, clashing against the light-forged spears in a symphony of radiant collisions. Every impact sent vibrations down to his bones, the recoil numbing, but he refused to waver.
His arms throbbed, fists glowing red from bruises like molten iron fresh from the forge. Sweat lined his brow, trickling down the side of his face. His heart pounded like a war drum in his chest. Yet, despite the pain, despite the fatigue, the fire in Hildred's eyes remained, a blaze that could not be extinguished.