Eternal Elysium

Without any knowledge or preparation, a team of six awakened had managed to kill a corrupted beast.

This was unusual but not impossible to happen.

Everyone was painfully aware of the danger they possessed after all.

After the beast fell, the group hastily left the ruin, opening routes different than before.

"You have also planted bombs?" Chris asked.

Maira and Enzo nodded, their faces going pale for a moment as they heard a huge explosion coming from the way Asher and Chris had arrived from.

By then they had already come far from the ruin and started to watch it carefully.

Then a catastrophic scene happened.

A surge of flames escaped through the hills and the ground shook as the hill started to fall, showing the ruins hidden inside of them. Then the flames flickered, melting the ground and the explosions engulfed the surroundings before the ruins fell deeper inside the earth.

Watching from afar, the group looked at the scene with a terrific look on their faces.

They had planted the bomb.

Everyone had come across groups of monsters and eggs laid in the ruins. Asher and the others have made the same decision and chosen to destroy the place.

Killing everything inside at once and sparing no one.

The soldiers watched the scene unfold with longing eyes. Rage, relief, a sense of fulfillment, and a lot of such emotions spread like wildfire as they watched the ruins' destruction.

Some cheered and some wept silently, knowing how many had been left behind in this.

But as it ended, calmness followed afterward.

Asher, meanwhile, remained asleep. He got the necessary treatment to keep himself alive by awakened Sula.

However, it was only the minimum she could do.

Her ability took a toll, a heavy toll, on the target. After all, her ability was to heal herself, not the others. A price would be exacted, and in current conditions Asher would suffer heavily if he were to lose any more stamina.

The rest lasted for two days as the group remained still near one of the smaller hills in the mountain regions. Asher, on the other hand, had managed to wake up by the early morning after a day's rest.

He remained still in his bed for some hours, his body a wreck in several places. Excess blood loss has almost been avoided but internal wounds were not easy to heal.

For sometime his eyes had remained dull, still taking the toll of freezing the corrupted beast time. His team had come to check on him once, taking turns. The meetings went quietly, even ordinarily, if one were to say.

It was simply a kind gesture, a small worry but nothing more than that. Asher had clearly understood that.

But he didn't mind that honestly.

He was used to it.

Everyone was different. Unlike Liber and his group, Enzo and the others had lived entirely a different kind of lifestyle, one which was filled with blood and betrayals.

Even the act of coming to visit Asher, unlike last time, was already a massive improvement in their relationship. Or so Asher thought, at least.

Then, as they moved through the road crossing the mountains, tremors hit the group.

Asher raised his head to look at the source of the quakes, as he was being helped by his sword as a makeshift cane to walk properly.

In the sky he saw a person standing.

No one could see who it was, as the distance was just too big to see.

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Even if one were to squint their eyes to look past the clouds, it would still appear as a tiny dot in the air.

"That's Commander Alos." Captain Maira whispered, giving a strange look.

Just as those words registered in the group's mind, a gust of wind followed.

The wind howled loudly as a storm brewed in the air, taking the form of a tornado. A strange light then appeared through the chains of mountains; from there a being large enough to crush boulders by its foot appeared on four legs. Its skin was covered in dark fur, its eyes shone darkly, and its claws were sharp like obsidian. The strange light that appeared melted its surroundings in thin air.

The group watched in awe as the tornado moved like a spinning wheel, landing directly on the monster moving through the mountains. The monster swayed its body, blurring in the razor-sharp winds. Then with a big roar, the monster skin darkened and a dark blizzard followed, making the land colorless and melting it away.

The tornado struck again, a fierce tug-of-war happening between the powers that filled the land.

Dust raised in the air covering their silhouettes, and then a loud sound followed as wind hit the group standing afar.

The monster has escaped.

***

Looking around, I found myself sighing heavily for the last few hours.

The place was a small room with medical supplies lingering around the corner.

Even though many of the vital injuries had been healed, I had been asked to stay for tonight and rest here in case the healers missed something. A natural recovery was always better than the one forced by an ability, was what the doctors told me.

I doubted it was true, but still I was staying here and resting in my bed.

The peace was rather welcoming from my side.

No beasts trying to tear me apart, no sound of swords clashing and explosions happening around.

This almost felt like a blessing.

Just then, I turned my head and caught sight of my fists. On my left hand, dark lines crawled across the skin, mingling with burns and new scars etched deep into it.

This was the outcome of my fight with the corrupted beast… by using the artifact baton of thunder. Its power, while devastating, left a huge effect on me.

It held two abilities, each different from the other.

First was the power to levitate something, even partially control where the levitation would go. But it was not that strong and consumed more essence the heavier the mass of the target was. However, I can make use of it better than anyone when I combine it with [Kairosflow]. Albeit I still needed to stand still when using this, otherwise it won't work.

Temporarily but I can throw the enemy afar at an astounding speed!

That was more than satisfying enough.

The second ability, however, was better, as it covered one of my fatal weaknesses. The ability to throw bolts of lightning from the sky, a devastating attack that even destroyed the corrupted knight in a single strike. To use a power as strong as this, I needed to be a little closer to the target.But this was not the negative effect of the artifact; it was entirely different.

The price of using it was severe. Each strike drained my essence far too quickly, leaving me wracked with backlash. Pain would surge through my arm like fire, and afterwards, my body would betray me—I wouldn't be able to move for half a day.

I had an inkling where this artifact power stems from… But I was not sure if it was true or not.

Jacob… His powers were eerily similar to this.

But then—

"Captain Asher, how are you feeling right now? Any issues?"

A feminine voice entered my ears as I turned my head at the source of the sound.

A woman with soft and delicate features walked inside the room, holding a clipboard in hand. She was wearing a white coat above her military uniform with her ginger hair tied in a ponytail.

I smiled softly and shook my head slightly in slow motion.

"Everything is alright, Miss Nasi; I am feeling well."

"That's good to hear." Nasi nodded and looked at the papers briefly in her hand before speaking regretfully. "Sadly I was not present when you were admitted here; otherwise I could have let you rest in your room instead of staying here."

"That's just bad luck on my part; you don't need to feel sorry for that, Miss Nasi." I said with an even tone and raised my left hand to scratch my cheeks.

Nasi nodded.

"Yes, I am aware of that—hmm, what's that on your palm, Captain Asher?"

"Yes?"

I muttered in confusion and took a look at my left palm; in between the scars, something was written on it.

'19'

It was a number.

I frowned seeing this and took a close look at it.

19… 19… 19…

"Who wrote it in my palm?" I whispered, looking at it in confusion.

"You don't know who wrote it?" Nasi asked back.

My head suddenly started to throb as I watched it closely and then shook my head.

"I—I don't remember."

Nasi frowned, her brows raising slightly.

"Alright, I will ask the staff around if someone has pranked you, Captain Asher."

I nodded hearing her words and licked my lips before saying.

"Thank you; please let me know if you find something."

"I will."

Knock—

Knock—

Someone knocked on the door, grabbing our attention. Nasi frowned and then walked closer to open the room door and found a guard standing there. He leaned closer, whispering something I couldn't hear properly.

"Oh, thank you. I will let him know." Miss Nasi nodded before turning to face me, a small smile blooming on her lips.

"Captain Ashers, your friends from Temple have come to meet you."

'Friends? What friends?'

I couldn't understand the meaning of her words, as I don't have anyone I know from Temple to come here this far. After all, only a limited number of people knew I was here, and in Temple I barely had anyone I would call a friend except Franz.

So, who—

Then the door opened—and my jaw dropped as two figures stepped inside.

A young woman with long yellow hair that shone like gold under the light; her face was fair and tinted with red around the corners of her cheeks, giving her a delicate yet beautiful look. The other was a man who looked to be in his twenties, his black hair softly falling off his face but not covering it entirely; his expression held a certain calmness and confidence as he followed the woman's lead.

They both were people I knew, someone I was actually close with.

'This… Is this a shock treatment?'