NOVEL NEXT Chapter 426: Starfall
A shockwave erupted outwards, rolling like an invisible tide across the battlefield.
In an instant, everything caught in its radius simply ceased to exist.
Houses, rubble, invaders, even fleeing citizens, every living thing, every structure, faded into nothingness. Their existence unraveled, undone, as if they had never existed in the first place.
The battlefield was scoured clean in a massive circle around him, a void of silence left in its wake.
Aurelius stood in the center of it, chest heaving with controlled fury, silver mask gleaming through the haze of smoke.
"This city is mine!" He snarled, his voice carrying like thunder. "And I will unmake the world itself before I let it fall."
Kant lowered his staff, the glow of his runes reflecting off his pale eyes, awe and dread mixing in his expression.
Maren stepped forward, licking her lips with a grin. "Then let's remind them why Carthage has endured for more than three hundred years."
"Yes." Aurelius said calmly. "Let's.
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Snow whipped across the hilltop where Death and his companions stood, the air charged with the scent of fire, blood, and ash from the chaos below.
The battlefield stretched endlessly, a canvas of ruin where the armies of Carthage clashed against the horde Death had assembled.
Steel rang, magic tore through the skies, and smoke coiled upward into the morning light.
Death stood at the forefront, his aura a constant shadow that rotted the life out of everything beneath his boots.
Beside him, Luna's hand brushed his, her violet eyes bright even in the gloom.
And behind them, Gaia leaned against her staff, breathing hard, still weakened from wrenching Carthage's layers into the open.
Tam sat cross-legged a few paces away, eyes shut, his body dripping water as faint metallic groans rumbled beneath the soil.
This indicated the Iron Legion growing in strength as they dragged whatever metal they found on the battlefield into the ground to be used to create more Iron Soldiers.
Atreides, however, was restless. His body glowed faintly, light bleeding from his pores as if the sun itself couldn't contain him.
He watched the battlefield with a wild grin, his teeth white in the glow of flame.
"Look at them," he said, voice booming like rolling thunder. "Scrambling. Dying. They're gnats waiting to be scorched. Tell me again why I'm still standing here when I could be turning that city to cinders?"
Death's lips curved faintly beneath his hood. "Patience, Atreides. Timing is everything."
As if the world sought to answer him, a wave of temporal energy tore across the horizon.
Time itself shivered, the world flickering for a breath. Whole structures faded, erased in an instant, soldiers vanishing like dust scattered to the winds.
Even from the hill, they could feel it. Aurelius had entered the battle.
The glow in Atreides's body flared. "Finally."
Without waiting for anything else, he launched into the sky with a roar, streaking over the battlefield like a star set loose.
Heat rolled off him in waves, and men on both sides threw themselves to the ground, shielding their eyes as his radiance cut a burning swathe across the war.
He saw them almost immediately, three figures of immense presence standing like titans among ants.
Aurelius, his silver mask gleaming, Kant, shadowed by his writhing chains of darkness, and Maren, her sword glowing with compressed energy, her calm gaze fixed upward.
"Found you." Atreides growled, his body blazing brighter as he gathered his power. A miniature sun swelled between his hands.
He hurled it as he descended.
The air screamed as beams of white-hot fire split the skies, cascading down towards the three elders like rivers of stars.
Maren stepped forward, her cloak fluttering around her armor.
A ripple of probability bent reality itself. The blazing beams, which had once been unerring, flickered, splitting and scattering.
Fire rained across the battlefield instead, vaporizing stone, tearing apart entire streets, and wiping out a whole layer of Carthage in a single volley.
Atreides struck an instant later, slamming into Kant's barrier of writhing chains.
The chains coiled upward, forming a shield of pure blackness that groaned under the strain.
Heat seared against it, the world glowing red from the pressure, until the chains snapped outwards like snakes, lashing at Atreides.
He snarled, flames wreathing his arms as he grabbed the chains and burned them to cinders.
Maren's numbers, the condensed laws of probability etched in light, wove around his body like constricting bands. They pressed against his glow, dragging him down.
He roared, his heat intensifying until the numbers themselves warped, dissolving into sparks.
Atreides landed, the earth buckling under his feet. Steam and fire poured off him. His eyes, burning white, locked on Kant and Maren.
"Two against one. That's more fair than I expected."
Aurelius glanced once at the battlefield, then at Atreides. He turned, his cape billowing, and walked away.
His voice could be heard even through the noise. "Handle this. I have larger prey to hunt."
And Atreides streaked forward, heading for the leaving Aurelius, but was forced to back off as Kant and Maren stepped forward.
Kant's chains lashed outwards, blotting the skies in streaks of black, while Maren's probability fields bent reality, making Atreides' attacks flicker and scatter, not managing to hit anything that mattered.
Atreides countered with raw, overwhelming force, his flames searing the ground into glass, his fists sending shockwaves that splintered stone and carved canyons into the battlefield.
Every attack leveled dozens of soldiers, crushing both invaders and defenders.
The ground shook as if the mountain itself wanted to flee.
The sky burned with Atreides's light, shadows twisting beneath Kant's chains.
Atreides swung a blazing arm, fire exploding outward in a wave.
Kant countered, forming a net of chains that drank the flames, bursting apart as Atreides tore through them.
Maren slid under the attack, her blade slicing through the probability of the attack hitting, ensuring her strike would land.
Atreides twisted, the slash carving into his shoulder, burning as the wound sealed almost instantly.
He laughed, a booming roar that shook the street. "Yes! This is what I came for!"