Chapter 124: Mortal Divinity.
Andrea’s entire body was pushed backwards, her feet carving deep trenches through the snow as she struggled to hold the blade in place. The force behind the beam was enough to make the air around her distort, while the frozen ground beneath her cracked from the pressure.
The runes etched along the pristine white blade suddenly turned blood red, one after another igniting as the immense heat of the laser spread through the weapon. The blade itself began glowing beneath the force, but it didn’t break.
Instead, the surface of the sword reflected the beam like a mirror, forcing the enormous blast to split apart. A portion of the beam was violently deflected upwards, another tore sideways across the battlefield, while several smaller streams scattered in different directions. Wherever they passed, the frozen ground was instantly carved apart, sending snow and ice exploding into the air.
Hundreds of Eidolons and perhaps just as many humans were pulverised by the redirected beam.
Ryan had only just made it out of the small crater, leaving the pile of Eidolon corpses behind, when he saw the sheer destructive scale of the beam as it swept across the battlefield. His expression changed as he watched the devastation spread through the frozen wasteland.
Daisy screamed at the top of her lungs as she tried her hardest to move Camila and Malik out of the beam’s path. In the end, the three of them fell behind Yuri, which coincidentally kept them from being fried by the blast.
The beam stopped as abruptly as it had appeared.
Andrea’s sword was glowing bright red, its surface covered in cracks. Then, under the strain it had endured, the blade finally snapped, breaking into countless tiny pieces. The runes etched into it had been completely obliterated, no longer capable of supporting the weapon.
Andrea’s hands were burnt in multiple places, and even her armour looked like it might fall apart. She was completely spent after blocking the beam.
"Andrea."
Yuri flashed beside her before she could fall and caught her.
Andrea wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced at Yuri.
"That’s it. It’s time to draw them to the camp."
Hearing her say that made Yuri raise her head and look towards the camp. Somewhere along the battlefield, the humans had eventually been pushed back far enough that they could see the wooden barricades with their naked eyes.
Atop the barricade was a red-haired woman waving a flag. Yuri could even spot more soldiers preparing for their return, but she knew that wasn’t all of the plan.
So she looked towards Malik.
His short black hair had grown wildly and was beginning to flutter in the wind. His eyes were hazy white, completely devoid of pupils, while a cold chill continued spreading from his body. Daisy and Camila both stepped back, staring at him with unease.
"Malik, you good, bro?" Camila called out nervously.
The Eidolon Chief stopped dead in his tracks. A cold chill had spread through his spine, but this was no ordinary fear. It was an unfamiliar sensation, one that made it clear that whatever he was about to face would no doubt end him.
The New Eidolon Priest wasn’t that far ahead. Seeing that the Chief himself had stopped moving, he quickly crouched towards the siege weapon. It was lying on the ground with its barrel still facing Malik and the others.
He quickly reached the activation runes, but they were still cooling down, preventing him from even touching the weapon. He wasn’t sure if activating it would still be possible, but he desperately wanted to prove himself to the Chief, and to do that, he wanted to kill those pesky humans.
So he activated the weapon anyway.
The moment he did, a powerful gust of heat blasted directly into his face, throwing him far into the distance. The weapon shook intensely as the runes across its body suddenly turned bright red.
The Chief’s expression changed.
"Noooooo! You fooool!"
Yuri flashed away with Andrea without hesitation, leaving Malik and the others to fend for themselves.
The weapon’s blast wasn’t nearly as powerful as the first one, but it was still strong enough to erase everything in its path. Daisy and Camila watched the enormous beam coming towards them, and for a moment, they both believed this was going to be the end.
Malik suddenly raised his hand.
The beam spread apart as if it had collided with an invisible, unbreakable force. The enormous blast split around them, passing on either side of their bodies before continuing into the distance.
Camila’s eyes widened.
"What da"
She couldn’t even find the words to describe what she was seeing.
Malik’s body slowly began rising into the sky, and the siege weapon beneath him rose with him.
The Eidolon Chief stared from the distance, his eyes wide at the spectacle before him. Even Yuri was stunned by what she was witnessing.
The only person who seemed remotely composed was Andrea. She had expected the very least from Malik.
Malik himself was completely different. It was almost as if he had been possessed. Even his voice had changed, becoming deep and unnatural, like iron scraping against stone.
"Dormant Ability, Mortal Divinity."
The moment those words sounded across the battlefield, everyone stopped fighting and looked towards the sky.
That was a fatal mistake.
The ice beneath them suddenly began shooting into the sky, enormous chunks tearing free from the frozen ground and occasionally blasting through random bystanders, killing them on impact.
Malik slowly closed his fist.
The siege weapon suddenly began creaking.
Its enormous metal body started bending inward as though an immense pressure was being applied from every direction. The runes covering its surface flickered before gradually dying down.
The ancient weapon collapsed in on itself. The enormous structure was crushed under the invisible force before falling silent, its runes completely extinguished.
"We see, I see, she sees."
Malik repeated the words three times, each one louder than the last. It was strange, but Andrea knew what was happening. Malik had spoken random words like these the last time he used his ability.
"Order everyone to retreat. We’re done here," Andrea said indifferently as they both made their way back towards the humans, with Camila and Daisy not far behind.
The battlefield was a devastation, but they couldn’t stop to carry their dead or help the wounded. They all needed to retreat quickly before Malik’s ability ran out of time. Whatever was happening to him wouldn’t last forever, and remaining on the battlefield any longer would only put everyone at greater risk.
Malik continued rising into the sky, and as he did, hundreds of Eidolons followed him as if strings had been attached to their bodies. Their enormous bodies were lifted from the battlefield, helplessly suspended beneath him as he continued ascending.
Then he casually waved his hand, almost as if he were swiping through empty air. The Eidolons suddenly twisted backwards, their bodies bending violently as their spines snapped in two. Malik released them just as casually, and their corpses began raining down onto the battlefield, crashing into the snow one after another as the remaining Eidolons stared in horror.
"Noooooo!"
The Eidolon Chief roared angrily and leapt forward, grabbing his enormous axe before racing towards Malik. The moment he was close enough, he jumped sky-high, his massive body rising through the air as he raised his axe above his head. He swung with all his might, the wind following the enormous weapon, and even the space around it seemed to sink as the axe descended towards Malik.
But it was stopped dead in its tracks, not by any flashy ability, but by Malik’s bare hands. His fingers closed around the massive axe as though the enormous weapon weighed nothing, and Malik finally raised his head for the first time, looking straight into the Chief’s eyes.
"I see nothing but the soul."
The Chief’s enormous body was suddenly blasted backwards into the distance. He couldn’t even understand what had happened as the wind raged through his ears and the distant sounds of his army chasing after the fleeing humans reached him.
He roared and turned upwards, swinging his axe once more. Somehow, he knew Malik was already there, but there wasn’t much difference between the two attacks. His axe was caught by Malik’s bare hands again, and with a light squeeze, the runes covering it began to break apart, falling towards the ground like shattered glass.
The Chief’s signature axe suddenly twisted in Malik’s grip before breaking apart completely, leaving him with nothing but the handle. He squinted and kicked at Malik, and luckily managed to use the momentum of the attack to escape his range before blasting back towards the ground.
His powerful body kept him alive, but by the time he crawled out of the crater, Malik was already there, floating several metres above the ground.
"She sees all of us.... There’s no escape".
The chief didn’t understand, nor did he care about what malike was saying, so he simply flung the handle away and roared angrily at Malik.
