NOVEL NEXT Chapter 143: undying flame
At the southern battle ground, the bright little of the galaxy ray striking the horizon as the day reach it peak. The Primordial beasts stood still behind Nyxander rear, their hulking shadows cast like mountains of dread, to listen to the conversation between him and his subordinates, wondering how, why, Nyxander's subordinates were able to stand untouched beneath the crushing weight of the dreadful energy emanating from the beast king.
"Ha… yeah, sure," Nyxander said, his voice cutting through the thick silence like a blade through still water, then turned his back on them. "Then I'll leave them to you." He began walking away, each step carrying the weight of quiet certainty.
As the distance between him and the colossal beasts shortened, danger bloomed. One of the Primordial beast's horns began to glow, gathering power like a storm before the break, ready to strike Nyxander with a swift, deadly beam.
Then, FWUMP! an axe, spinning vertically like a wheel of steel fury, slammed into its head from the left. The impact jerked its massive skull heavily to the right, forcing the beam's trajectory to skew wildly, its unleashed energy carving into one of its fellow colossal beasts instead, ripping into the left side of its head with a scorching blast.
As though nothing had happened around him, Nyxander walked past the chaos, his focus pulled forward, drawn as if by invisible chains, to his destination: the beast king.
The beast struck by the axe staggered but regained its footing, its roar shaking the air, while the wounded beast beside it groaned under the agony of the beam's wound. The axe, like a loyal predator returning to its master, curved back in a hollow arc and found its way into Karl's waiting hand.
Karl stretched his right arm, catching the weapon with practiced ease as he, Kola, Theodric, and Lunara closed the gap towards the colossal beasts.
"Hi guys." Karl's words were wrapped in bloody intent, his tone rolling out like the low growl of a predator. The Primordial beasts, eyes narrowed and breaths like distant thunder, fixed their attention on the approaching warriors.
One of the beasts suddenly shot out a compressed gust of wind, its speed and density warping the air around it. The attack hurtled forward like a cannonball forged from the sky itself, the air at its edges folding inward, as though bending the fabric of space.
Then, BANG! it came within inches of Karl, when Kola burst past him, his arms crossed like a living shield. The compressed air slammed into the center of his defense, the force rattling the ground. Kola's feet skidded back in slow, stubborn inches, so subtle that only the keenest eyes could track it.
Seconds dragged like hours as Kola bore the full weight of the attack. Then, a yellow aura ignited around his crossed arms, his body absorbing the strike's raw energy, shaping it, holding it within the narrow window of time they had.
WHOOSH! His arms whipped outward in a clean, slicing motion, cleaving the attack apart and sending its force spilling harmlessly to either side. His left knee bent from the recoil, sweat breaking across his brow, his breath steady but heavy, as the attack dissolved into nothingness.
"From here on, we will be your new opponents," Karl said, his voice low, edged, and carrying the promise of violence. A dangerous smile spread across his face as he gently tapped his right shoulder with the rod of his axe, like a man greeting an old friend before the slaughter.
Kola's arms still trembled, his left leg quivering like a reed in the wind, his entire weight leaning desperately on his right leg for balance. Then without mercy three Primordial Beasts unleashed their fury, each hurling beams of pure, unbridled energy: one blazing with searing light, another tearing through the air with razor-sharp wind, and the last roaring like a cosmic furnace.
Karl, wasting not a heartbeat, swept Kola's right arm across his neck and wrapped his own left arm tightly around Kola's waist. With a powerful leap to the right, he carried them away from certain death, his feet barely grazing the earth before launching again. On the opposite side, Theodric and Lunara darted left, shadows chasing their heels, leaving behind the ground they had stood upon
BOOM!
The earth split open, coughing out smoke and fury, leaving behind a yawning crater large enough to swallow an entire village whole.
Without hesitation, four knives cloaked in immortal energy sprang from Theodric's garments, propelled by the snap of his hand. At the same time, Lunara's hands dove into her robes, drawing twin daggers, blades that drank the light around them, before she wrapped them in her own pulsing energy. Together, they surged toward the towering beasts.
But the Primordial horrors would not yield ground so easily. One lowered its massive head, its horn crackling with violent arcs, and from it erupted a devastating surge of lightning, a strike so fierce it split the very air.
Theodric's pace quickened, outstripping Lunara by two long strides. Around him, his four knives spun faster and faster, their orbit so swift they formed a radiant ring of steel and light, humming like an ancient ward. The lightning slammed into the barrier, crackling against it, the impact shoving him back and threatening to rip his feet from the earth. The electric fury hissed and spat, trying to swallow him whole.
Then, like a shadow breaking free from his back, Lunara sprang forward. She cut through the air like an arrow released from the taut string of a war bow, her daggers gleaming like captive moons. At the very peak of her leap, she spun, a perfect, deadly arc, both arms stretching wide, steel gripped at the very tips of their handles. Her right hand struck first, the dagger leaving her fingers with the force of a hurricane's heart; the spin carried her left hand forward, releasing the second dagger in flawless rhythm.
The first blade sliced through the wind as though the air itself parted in fear, striking deep into the Primordial Beast's head beside its horn. The second followed, piercing the opposite side with equal malice. From both wounds, agony bloomed, sharp and venomous, like a thousand scorpion stings as her energy seeped into its flesh.
The beast howled, thrashing its colossal head in frenzied pain. The beam from its horn veered wildly upward, ripping through the surrounding and slicing apart dust, wind, and cleaving every particle stand above it into ribbons.
Theodric, still locked in resistance, was flung into the air by the sudden motion. The beast reared again, vertical and raging, fluke aiming to smash him from the air. But before it could strike, Karl launched himself upward, snatching Theodric mid-air and soared higher, just enough for the monster's deadly beam to pass harmlessly beneath them, scorching the space they had once occupied.
At the mist of this chaos, Kola emerged atop the beast's colossal head, just behind its towering, battle-worn horn. His stance was like a mountain rooted in the storm, unwavering and resolved. With a single stride toward the horn's right flank, his elbow bent, his right fist shrouded in a fierce halo of immortal energy, muscles coiling like a predator ready to pounce. Then, he yanked back and struck forward.
BAAM!
The blow landed upon the dagger already wedged halfway into the beast's head. The blade, as though urged by vengeance, plunged fully into the creature's skull, swift as a bullet breaking bone, while the handle splintered from the sheer violence of the impact.
The beast's massive head slammed to the ground with a quake, the sound echoing like a war drum across the battlefield. Dust burst outward in a choking cloud as the creature's roar tore through the air, a guttural, primal sound laced with agony.
Still growling, still resisting, the beast's eyes burned with defiance. Kola wasted no breath. He slid across to the opposite side of the horn, his left fist already sheathed in the same immortal energy, gleaming like molten metal beneath the light. As he reached the edge, his arm lashed out, his strike smashing into the hilt of another dagger buried partway into the beast's hide.
The blade sank deeper with a sickening crack, piercing bone and brain alike.
"ROOOOORRRR…" The beast's voice faltered into a dying moan, the sound hollow, as though the world itself acknowledged its fall. Its colossal frame shuddered once, then collapsed.
Kola rose to his feet, standing tall atop the slain beast, his silhouette radiating the silent, unyielding aura of a warrior who had just conquered a giant. Karl, Theodric, and Lunara felt the heavy knot in their chests ease for the first time since the battle began.
Yet, the other Primordial beasts, for the first time in countless years, witnessed a member of a "lesser race" slay one of their own. Shock rippled through them, forcing them into an unconscious retreat, two steps back, as though the very air around Kola had become too sharp to breathe.
But the respite was brief.
A blinding electric beam ripped through the air, aimed straight for Kola's position. His instincts screamed before his mind could register, his gaze snapped toward the oncoming strike, and his body moved in the same breath. He launched himself from the beast's head, the world a blur beneath him.
The beam struck where he had stood, hitting the dead primordial beast.
A deafening explosion erupted, a white-hot bloom of light and thunder that shredded the air like a firecracker. The blast wave slammed into Kola mid-air, hurling him away with brutal force, heralding the next wave of chaos before the first had even settled.
Meanwhile, Nyxander had already closed the distance between himself and the Primordial Beast King, leaving his subordinates to weather the storm behind him.
"Sorry for taking your time," Nyxander said, his tone quiet but edged, like a blade wrapped in velvet.
"Humm…" the beast king growled, his voice a cavernous rumble that vibrated the air.
"Never mind," Nyxander continued, his eyes narrowing into a razor's focus. "The thing is… I'm here now. And you needn't worry about the ones behind me."
The beast king's massive brow furrowed, his gaze sharpening. The ground trembled faintly as both figures began to exude raw energy, the space between them quivering beneath the weight of two titans about to collide.