Chapter 208: The Crack
The change came without warning and it overtook the battlefield in a single moment that felt overwhelming beside the fight itself.
One second, the sky still held its natural color beneath the chaos of clashing steel and bursting Ether, just a little bright. The next second, it changed completely as if something had seized control of the sky.
A deep crimson spread outward in an instant and swallowed the blue without resistance. The light that followed carried a heavy and suffocating tint that washed over everything below.
The ground, the scattered bodies, the weapons raised, all of it became drenched in red. Even the towering crystal wall reflected that unnatural hue. Its once pale and steady blue glow was now distorted into darker color, like blood sealed beneath glass.
The Ether within it pulsed unevenly, reacting to the oppressive atmosphere pressing down from above.
The battle itself faltered as the change settled in. It didn’t stop because of an order or strategy, but because every single person felt it at the same time.
Their movements slowed, then halted entirely. Their blades froze in the middle of their swing, arrows lowered before release, and the chaotic noise of combat weakened into an uneasy silence.
One by one, heads tilted upward as confusion spread across the battlefield. No one could ignore the sky that had changed and with it came a presence that pressed heavily against their senses.
Michael stood at the front, his body going still for a brief moment as his eyes lifted toward the crimson sky. The reflection of that unnatural red filled his eyes. For a split second, his breath stopped in his chest.
Around him, the others reacted in much the same way. Their expressions tightened as dread crept across their faces. Their bodies tensed without fully understanding the cause.
It wasn’t just the sight that unsettled them but the feeling that came with it. A vast and undeniable pressure that settled over everything.
Myles’s eyes followed the same instinct to look upward. The sky stretched endlessly above him soaked in red, and the weight behind it pressed into his chest in a way that felt completely unnatural.
His companions stood close, their expressions just as grave, their silence filled with the same realization.
As the silence lingered, Michael’s gaze slowly dropped back down to the battlefield. That was when he saw him.
Red stood there as if nothing had changed. His head never once tilted upward to acknowledge the transformation above. The grin on his face remained unchanged and unwavering as if the crimson sky was nothing more than a backdrop he had already expected.
Because for him, this was indeed not a surprise. This was his doing.
Red began to move with slow and deliberate steps as he walked forward. His presence seemed to spread, impossible to ignore.
At the same time, a thin, bloody aura started to seep from his body. It didn’t burst outward in a violent surge but instead rose like mist, curling and shifting around him in fluid motions.
The air around him felt heavier, tainted by something that didn’t belong to this world anymore.
Those closest to him reacted and stepped back almost unconsciously.
The reaction spreads outward without anyone needing to say a word. The space around Red opened as people moved away.
It looked almost unnatural, like a tide parting around an immovable force.
Red walked through that opening with ease, as if his presence alone was enough to shape the battlefield around him.
From where he stood, Michael saw everything clearly and the realization hit him immediately. Red had grown stronger. He got something far more overwhelming.
He now somehow had the ability to change the environment itself. Turning the sky red was not something simple.
The weight of that understanding settled heavily in his chest. For a moment, fear surfaced within him.
But it didn’t last long.
Another image rose in his mind and replaced it. Her face appeared clearly, filled with pain, her voice breaking as everything was taken from her while he could do nothing.
The memory burned through him, and the fear that had begun to form was consumed by rage again.
His grip tightened around his fire spear, the shaft creaking faintly under the pressure as heat began to rise from it.
The red light reflected in his eyes, but it no longer shook him. It only fueled the anger building inside him.
Red finally stopped a short distance away, his grin widening as his gaze locked onto Michael with clear amusement.
"You like the new color I added to this battlefield?" he asked.
Michael didn’t respond. He simply stared back.
His grip tightened even further, a faint cracking sound escaping from the weapon as the tension in his body rose sharply.
Then something happened again.
Myles noticed it first. His eyes sharpened as he focused on Red’s face, catching the brief distortion that others might have missed. Red’s skin turned. Thin cracks spread across his cheek, resembling dry earth splitting under extreme heat.
Beneath those cracks a faint glow pulsed, like molten lava simmering just beneath the surface.
Myles’ expression hardened as he took it in. His grip tightened slightly, and a heavy realization settled into his mind.
"This strange power is already affecting him that much." He thought. Then he involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
The crack was thin, barely visible at first glance, yet it carried a weight far greater than its size. The crack revealed a clear and undeniable truth that Red had stepped into a level far beyond anything they could see, even in this chaotic world.
It wasn’t just a change in appearance but a shift in his power, something bigger that pressed against everyone’s senses nearby.
The survivors closest to him began to notice and understand. Their expressions tightening as more fear crept in.
They felt it in the air, in their bodies, and in the way their instincts screamed at them the warning that the man before them was no longer something they could face.
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