NOVEL NEXT Chapter 425: Titans Joining The Battle
The fight spilled down the street, the cobblestones cracking and the walls collapsing under the sheer violence.
Thorn slammed the gravity mercenary against a wall, his bone arm crushing the man's ribs with brutal force, but in an instant the mercenary shifted the gravity upward, sending them both soaring.
They crashed against the wall of a half collapsed building, then fell.
Thorn twisted in midair, charges flooding his legs, and landed in a crouch.
The mercenary hit the ground with unnatural lightness, his gravity cushioning him.
"You're annoying." Thorn growled, spitting blood.
"Stronger," the mercenary rasped. "But not enough."
They lunged again, meeting each other with a blow heavy enough to crack the street.
Meanwhile, Lilith and the woman spun in a deadly ballet.
Knives and katana clashed again and again, sparks flying.
The woman's echoes lashed at Lilith from impossible angles, but Lilith's Pull resonance twisted her blades in return, catching the phantoms and dragging them off their scripts.
"You've grown." The woman muttered between clashes, sweat dripping down her chin.
Lilith grinned, blood dripping from her arm. "So have you. But not enough."
With a sudden surge, Lilith feinted one knife low.
The mercenary blocked, only for Lilith to yank the blade back mid-swing.
It buried itself into the woman's thigh. She screamed, staggering, and Lilith was already on her, slamming another knife into her ribs.
Ren tore free of another crushing gravity press, his Push resonance bursting outward in a thunderous shockwave.
Purple lightning flickered briefly as his armor writhed, his swords glowing with force.
He charged the mercenary man as Thorn slammed him from the side.
For once, the gravity knight couldn't shift quickly enough.
Ren's blade cut across his chest, splitting armor. Thorn's bone arm followed, snapping his jaw sideways.
The mercenary gagged blood, staggering as Ren rammed both swords through his torso and twisted, vines wrapping to shred his insides.
The man collapsed, gravity releasing with a sickening snap.
Not too far from them, Lilith's opponent shrieked in desperation, slashing wildly as her echoes doubled and trebled in the air, becoming a storm of blades.
Lilith danced between them, her resonance pulling her own knives into a cyclone around her.
She stepped into the maelstrom of attacks, dodging them by a hair's breath, then shoved both knives deep into the mercenary's chest.
The woman gasped, her last ghostly echo vanishing as her body went slack. Lilith shoved her off, breathing hard.
A strange silence seemed to fall on the street, even as the sounds of the battle had somehow grown louder.
Bodies littered the ground. Carthage soldiers and invaders had tried to interrupt the duel, but all lay shredded, cut down in the whirlwind of the fight.
Ren stood hunched, swords dripping blood, vines twitching.
Thorn wiped gore off his bone arm with a grimace. Lilith dragged her knives back to her hands with a flick, blood glistening on the blades.
Then, from the haze, a lone Carthage soldier charged with a broken spear, roaring.
Thorn didn't even blink. He backhanded the man contemptuously with his bone arm.
The soldier's head snapped sideways, neck breaking instantly, his body flopping bonelessly onto the stones.
Thorn spat. "Pathetic."
Ren exhaled, green eyes narrowing as he glanced down the ruined street. "No more distractions. We keep moving."
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The war room stank of sweat, ink, and desperation.
Aurelius stood hunched over the great map table, his silver mask gleaming under the dim lanterns.
Gaia uprooting the city had broken the lines through which light had been sent through the city. But right now, they didn't need it as much. They were already getting more natural sunlight than they needed.
His gloved fingers clawed at the parchment before him, shifting wooden tokens across the inked grid of Carthage's layers.
But no matter how he moved them, no matter how he tried to maneuver the little carved soldiers and markers, there was no victory to be found.
Not without him stepping into battle himself.
The city was a wound, its defenses gutted by Gaia's impossible feat.
With all the layers peeled open and exposed to the sky, there was no longer a natural funnel to force invaders through.
Every wall, every street, every home was now a front line. Coordination between the scattered layers was impossible.
Kant, dressed in pale armor beneath his scholar's cloak, stood beside him, relaying the constant stream of updates from the battlefield.
"Another district has fallen. Our forward defenses in the second layer were torn apart by the Iron Legion. Reports say the enemy numbers double by the hour. Entire streets are gone."
Aurelius growled low in his throat, his hands pressing harder into the map until the wood cracked beneath his palms.
"The Hall of Archives has collapsed." Kant continued grimly. "One of Death's generals is suspected to be leading the attack there. Carthage's banners were torn down."
Across the room, Maren sat on a stone bench. Her armor was already donned, the dark steel designed with blue etchings.
She sharpened her curved sword with smooth motions, the sound of steel against whetstone rasping softly through the room.
Her eyes never left Aurelius, though her expression was blank.
"Another quarter," Kant said quietly, "overrun by the invaders. Thousands gone."
Silence followed. The sound of the whetstone was all that remained, grating softly.
Finally, Aurelius straightened. His silver mask caught the lantern light, his eyes burning beneath it. His voice was low when he finally spoke.
"No more maps. No more reports. This is beyond their ability."
He reached for the stand at his side, where his black and silver helm rested. He grasped it, and placed it over his head.
The mask of the Warden of Law fused with the helmet, transforming Aurelius from strategist into executioner.
Kant let out a shaky exhale, relief flickering across his face despite himself. "At last. The battlefield needs you."
Maren slid her whetstone away and rose to her feet, her sharpened blade catching the light.
A rare, savage grin curved to life on her lips. "It's about time we stopped watching others bleed for us."
Aurelius flexed his gauntleted fingers once, the glow of temporal power rippling faintly across his hands. Then, with a single word, he gave the command.
"Come."
Together, the three elders left the war room. Their heavy armored steps echoed down the corridor, soldiers snapping to attention as they passed.
Then, they emerged into the open air of the battlefield.
The city around them was filled with chaos. Flames and smoke blotted out the sky, screams rose from every direction, and the sounds of clashing swords rang like endless thunder.
The ground itself trembled as the battle raged on.
Aurelius raised his hand.
The energy of time surged around him, a ripple spreading outward from his armored body.
The air thickened, the seconds themselves trembling in his grip. Every heartbeat, every moment bent to his will.
Then, with a roar that seemed to tear reality itself, Aurelius slammed his hand down.