Heir Of Chaos

Dale watched as the worm threw Sera around. If her focus had been entirely on the beast, perhaps it would have barely been able to cause her that much trouble. However, because she was too fixated on him, it managed to attack her relentlessly.

This weakened her, allowing more of the worms’ attacks to land in an endless cycle.

Dale’s plan was as deadly as it was effective and it was all put in place the moment Matt described his ability to him.

Unlike how he had described it, Matt’s ability skill [Empath] was vastly more powerful and insidious than the owner had realized it to be.

[Empath: Alter the negative emotions of entities around you.]

If there was one thing to learn about the AIDE’s descriptions, it was that the more vague the ability skill was, the more potential it had.

Matt was unlike Dale so he had taken the description at face value and used it as such.

The key verb in the description was ’alter’. Alteration implied an increase or reduction. Heck, it could probably even extend to changing the emotion entirely.

That wasn’t something that Dale could start explaining at the moment, though.

Aside from that, the ability skill could affect any ’entity’ with emotions. Emotions were unfortunately a sign of intelligence.

The worms had shown a form of intelligence so by all means, they must have had emotions.

That realization was the final nail in the coffin of his plan.

So, under his guidance, Matt focused on the position of the colossal worm Dale had seen on his first day there.

They waited for Sera’s arrival. Once she did, Matt hid his presence in the shadows and waited.

Once they were together, particularly with Porter who was arguably the only one who could have stopped the plan from coming to fruition, Matt used his ability skill.

Before, he had always visualized it as a dial he turned to reduce anger and suspicion. This time, he rotated it in the opposite direction, causing blind rage to fill the worm.

It charged head-on at Dale, Sera, and Porter. As expected, Sera sensed the encroaching presence and tried to use Porter’s portal to escape.

Dale couldn’t let that happen so he had no other choice but to take Porter out of commission, if only temporarily.

He was lucky enough to have managed to use Porter as a shield from Sera’s punch. Despite the body softening the force that got to him, his bones were still broken.

It was worth it, however, he had played an Ascended.

But it wasn’t without its consequences. If Sera actually killed the worm, he was as good as dead.

And if the worm killed her, it would come for him next. With how much his body hurt, he doubted he could survive just a single blow from it.

’Fighting either of them was never part of my plan.’ That much was obvious. All he wanted to ensure was that the worm kept Sera occupied for long enough.

Dale’s eyes looked to the top floor where Matt was currently trying to reach out to the military through his phone.

Sera didn’t know about Matt and that was something that he could use.

Golden energy burst out of her skin, coating her body in an armour made of the energy. The formation of the suit made it seem like a second sun had ignited within the desert.

The light pushed out every trace of darkness and drowned the world in gold.

Dale had to shut his eyes. He could move but decided not to, conserving his strength was of utmost importance.

As the light died down, his jaw dropped.

Sera was coated in golden metal with a small crown floating above her head. A long sword hung loosely from her hand.

She swung it slowly yet it crossed the distance between the edge and the worm in an instant. It crashed against the flaky exterior and recoiled.

Ripples passed through the large surface of the worm, and it charged in at her, unaffected.

Sera swung her sword multiple times over but nothing changed.

All it did was land on its skin and bounce off. Dale raised an eyebrow, ’Is that the power that this worm possesses?’

The worm he had barely managed to kill earlier didn’t have the elastic skin property, else it would have been more difficult to kill.

’Does this mean that not all beasts have abilities?’ If it truly did, then they weren’t taught that at all in Theory of Mysticism.

Dale lifted an arm over his eyes to protect them from the windy updraft of their clashes. Their fight was starting to reach a crescendo.

That meant two things — neither of which was favourable.

The fight was about to end and they were about to kill one another. Dale gritted his teeth but forced himself to watch.

It wasn’t like he could do much anyway. Despite his eyes being fixed on them, he struggled to see their movements.

Perhaps if he had his sabers he would have been able to distract either of them to ensure that mutual destruction was imminent. Alas, life hardly went according to plan.

Sera’s wings flapped and she appeared further in the sky. Her sword disintegrated into energy and materialized into a giant bow.

She placed her feet against the wooden curve of the bow and gripped the string with her hand.

"Beast. Be culled." Her voice crackled in the air as she pushed against the bow with her feet, drawing it.

The string of the bow creaked, groaning under the force she used to pull it.

Yet she persevered through the pain, undoubtedly fueled by an insatiable urge to kill Dale.

He was a little flattered. ’To think I have a woman obsessing over me this much.’

At the same time, the worm coiled around itself and launched itself into the air. It was quite magnificent to watch.

Several cuts on the worm bled, causing it to look horrible and malignant... perhaps it was.

Nonetheless, the visage was quite poetic. It was like the horrors of the underworld were rising against the angels of Heaven.

And he, a normal human and witness to the great battle, hoped both of them would die.

Dale shifted slightly and groaned as his bone poked against his skin. ’Ah, if wishes were horses...’

The worm was only a few meters away from Sera when more specks of golden energy flowed into the drawn bowstring.

It weaved itself into the string and fixed the small damages that were starting to affect it.

Sera weakened her legs and the string snapped back in place, launching her forward. She fell in a streak of golden light, weaving her armour into an arrow.

The worm swallowed her and fell back onto the sand.

It started to break away but before it could get far, cracks spread on its body. Golden light seeped through the cracks.

The worm thrashed around as it was being destroyed from the inside. Its belly started to swell and with its last bits of energy, the worm raised its head into the sky and—

"Fuck!" Dale shut his ears as an indescribable sound ripped through the air, bursting his eardrums and throwing him completely off balance.

Every orifice in his body bled yet he forced himself to keep his eyes on what was happening.

The dying scream of the worm rocked his organs, causing him internal damage and he was sure he wasn’t even its intended target.

With a flash of golden light, the worm burst apart, throwing pieces of its flesh in all directions.

As Dale watched the pile of flesh, his eyes landed on Sera who was completely covered in blood... both hers and the beast’s.

A small shimmer among the chunks caught his attention... it was a large crystal similar to what he had seen in the worm that was killed by the vulture.

Except this one was far bigger. So naturally, it would have a stronger effect.

Maybe it would help him Awaken but for him to even try, he needed to survive what was coming next.

Sera’s head snapped at him and she charged in. Her usually calm demeanor had been thrown aside and she didn’t seem as fast as before.

’Fuck me. Just my luck.’ Dale slammed his palm into his leg and used Energy Pulse. He had used his ability skill to heal himself before so who said he couldn’t do something similar now?

The natural operation of a broken bone was for it to heal unaligned but with his power, it would heal perfectly.

As the pulse traveled through the bone, a sharp pain shot through his leg, causing him to fall to his knees.

’It didn’t work?’ Perhaps he had put too much faith in his ability.

Before he could adjust and try to come up with another move, Sera was upon him with a blade made from energy.

Dale was weak, in pain, immobile, and on his knees. It would be an easy execution.

"Die. Pest." She heaved her sword at him and swung his hands, gripping the blade. Energy Pulse left his hand into the construct, yet it had no effect, other than keeping her in place.

A glint flashed in Dale’s peripheral vision and a small knife plunged into Sera’s neck.

Matt turned the knife.