Universe's End

“Down!”

Harrison dropped low as a fire spewed out, burning away swathes of monsters.

“On your left!”

Another voice called out, Flair’s turn to move out of the way, diving to the right as Jharrel shot past him, skewering a monster.

“Damn things just don’t stop,” Flair muttered, striking a monster as he activated Flame Chariot a moment after.

War had come to Ehkorrus.

Three weeks prior, Flair and the rest of their group had been going about life as usual throughout the volcano they had called home for some time now, when suddenly a messenger from Ehkorrus had appeared, relaying the details. A near peer to the Lord Founder, the Bird, had come for a fight, planning to take advantage of the looming wave one hundred. They’d been recalled to Ehkorrus, as day by day, citizens were shipped out from where they’d just come.

That had been a month prior, and the fateful day had arrived.

And Founders above, was it unlike any battle or wave Flair had experienced before. In the past, the monsters had come as a horde, like a mass of violence that posed danger through sheer numbers.

Now? They’d been organized; the one responsible could be seen just by looking up to the sky, the world trembling as they collided.

Beams of light and projected weapons crashed into each other, a constant explosive force that, had it not been occurring overhead, would have torn apart the opposing forces faster than either side could.

Down on the ground, tens of thousands of wild monsters were supported by thousands of armored elite monsters, which in turn were supported by humans and those who looked like humans. Siege weapons had been raining down fire and magical chaos toward Ehkorrus, the magical defenses stopping the projectiles, physical or magical, from ever making it past the walls.

But just the fact that they were facing a wave in which the enemy was unleashing siege weapons was a stark contrast.

Yet when it came to siege weapons, a savage grin appeared on Flair’s face, because Ehkorrus wasn’t one to be bested in that department. Plantlife throughout their walls returned fire, blasting beams of red, silver, or even golden energy back, weaponizing starlight, sunlight, or renewal energy.

Which was swell, but it wasn’t even the most impressive display.

That went to the gunners. Platforms raised above the walls and oversized crossbow-like things had been constructed. Empyrion Casters was what they’d been nicknamed, after the fallen Khan of Blue Lightning; they’d light up with electricity before launching metal rods with the sort of fury one would expect from a peak-tier seven or maybe even a tier eight. They had another name, one that Flair had overheard from the Chief Protector.

Rail Gun.

Each time they charged up, the resulting explosive force slew all but the most durable and strongest of monsters, and even then, they were horribly maimed and made far easier to dispatch.

Thoom. Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.

“Brilliant incoming,” Morales called from nearby. “That’s on you, boss man.”

“Thanks,” Flair shouted back, scanning the battlefield before finding the monster that Morales had spotted.

Oh, that was the other part of the problem. The ‘Brilliance Touched.’ They weren’t quite to the level of an Alpha variant monster, but when even an average equal-level monster wasn’t something anyone other than the talented faced, the fact that they were a step above regular monsters made it that much more difficult.

Leaving it to people like Flair to handle.

The monster in question looked like a cross between a monkey with a pig’s face, wearing light armor, and carrying rudimentary sickles.

Tsk.

Launching himself toward the monster, each of his steps was accompanied by a tiny magical circle surrounding his foot strike, cutting the excess fire in return for greater speed, something only possible after years of training in the mountains and the Lord Founder’s clear directions.