Chapter 25 Giving Death
The Lord Class Black Lightning Wizard stood still, his eyes widening. An order from the Headquarters sent from this distance? Even sending an order from a single world away required an extremely skilled Fate Wizard. The Black Lightning Headquarters was at least two worlds away, and across one of the longest World Bridges in the 30,000 Worlds.
That could only mean this message had been sent by someone that was at least a Pseudo-King Class Fate Wizard at the bare minimum…
"It's from the Fate Headquarters, on the order of the Wizard King himself."
Lord Hadrion blinked, and then put his full focus and attention on Larah, no longer wasting his time with stray thoughts,
"Relay it, immediately."
Immediately Larah began to speak,
..
"A Mid King Classss? All teams are to pull back immediately?" Shadow Mask's eyes widened, and he immediately clapped his hands together, darkness rushing towards him as he floated in midair. He stood flying where he had been this entire time, gazing down upon the world while his shadowy creations searched for the green scaled dragon.
Shadow Mask's eyes widened even further as he listened in to the report Larah was telling Lord Hadrion. A direct command, sent down from the Mad King himself.
The shadowy blob that was eavesdropping on Lord Hadrion and Larah vanished, dissipating in the air.
"Come, my ssshadowssss. Retreat immediately. We are… leaving…" The dark figure pulled out without a second thought, his only concern his own safety.
..
"We are to pull back immediately? The beast is suspected to be a King Class Dragon?!" Eren's eyes were bloodshot as he listened to Laura's report, one of his two Grandmaster Fate Wizards. He was currently standing in a small, forested area on the ground.
Behind him, pale-faced and frozen still, not daring to move, stood the form of Byrus, one of his Titan subordinates, and Mayne, his other Grandmaster Fate Wizard, as well as a few subordinate Wizards.
Just moments ago, Larah, the Grandmaster Fate Wizard by Hadrion's side, had sent one of his own a message through Fate, informing Laura and Mayne of the orders from the Wizard King himself.
The huge Titan shook with rage as he stared down at a small, burnt corpse, an insane light glowing in his eyes. Laura continued to relay the message.
"It can transform?" As he heard this tidbit from his Fate Wizard companion, a deadly calm seemed to suffuse the Titan. A light of understanding appeared in his eyes.
He slowly turned to the south, towards the direction of the World Bridge.
"If it truly was a King Class beast, there is no way it would be running away… It would simply destroy anything in its way." He clenched his fists, unwilling to back down.
"Sundering Magic: Bore."
BOOM
With a casual wave of his hands, the forest before him was obliterated, three dozen trees blasted into wooden shreds, clearing out of the way. His subordinates all stumbled backwards, the small shockwave from the strike knocking against them.
Before Eren, in clear view, was the enormous land pillar that was the World Bridge.
He turned away from the World Bridge and walked over to the burnt corpse lying on the ground. His massive, three meter form shivered as he crouched down, kneeling.
"My beautiful Greta…" He hugged the corpse gingerly, his hands moving with care. He held her body to his chest for a brief moment, a single tear falling down his cheek.
A long moment passed as the enormous Titan lay still.
Eventually, he placed the corpse down, wiping the tear from his face. His eyes were cold and dispassionate as he looked down at the burnt body.
"Sundering Magic: Hand." As soon as he spoke aloud, holding his hands together to cast a spell, a powerful, transparent image of a hand appeared, floating in mid-air.
He motioned with his own hands, causing the giant magic hand to stab into the ground scooping out a huge, two meter wide and long hole.
He picked the corpse up and placed it in the hole, and then motioned again, causing the corpse to be buried completely.
From a Spatial Pouch he had attached to his waist, he withdrew a long, silver sword, easily a meter and a half long in length, with a gleaming edge. He stepped to the front of the grave and stabbed it into the ground, just off from the body.
"This day. This day. On this day, let it be known that Greta, my darling Greta, died." His voice was choked with emotion.
"On this day." All of the surrounding beings, whether they be man or Titan, bowed their heads in respect.
Slowly, an extremely heavy Aura began to form, on the palm of Eren's hand. He held onto the sword as he formed this Aura, transferring it to the sword.
Gradually, this Aura spread to the surroundings, imbuing a Lord Class Aura within the area, driving away any nearby wildlife.
Any being that could give off an Aura was one that was incredibly powerful, at the least at Lord Class. An Aura was seen, in general, as a physical manifestation of might. The stronger one's Aura, the stronger one's Soul Spell Matrix, and therefore the stronger any being's overall might.
Any creature that sensed a being with a powerful Aura would retreat, their natural self-preservation instincts firing.
At higher levels, an Aura could even be used to physically attack an enemy.
Eren sighed, deeply. His eyes turned pitch black as he slowly shifted away from the grave, gazing south.
An almighty, powerful aura began to gather about him as he stared at the enormous pillar, small blades of energy forming around his head.
He clapped his hands together.
"Sundering Magic: Ruler's Eyes." Red light blasted out of the Titan's eyes as he took on a mystical appearance, floating in the air off the ground. Eren's face moved up and down the land pillar, as if searching for something.
After a few intense, split seconds, Eren smiled cruelly, no mirth visible on his lips.
"CONDENSE!" He shouted out, holding his bulging arms wide.
Gradually, his 3 meter tall body began to shrink, condensing in on itself. His extremely muscular form shifted inward as his body shrank, becoming incredibly strong.
From a monstrous 3 meters tall to a much more normal 2 meters tall, Eren transformed, his robes shrinking with him.
The innate Ability that powerful Titans gained, known simply as Condense, and one of the reasons Titans were a dominant, fierce race despite their low numbers and relatively low sensitivity to magic.
By condensing their enormous body's to a smaller size, Titans were able to massively increase their strength and durability. The only cost was the rather fierce drain on one's energy.
Eren, a Titan with a Lord Class Soul Spell Matrix, could only maintain this form for around 30 minutes.
Still, in his eyes, that was plenty of time.
"Sundering Magic: Heart Seeking Spear." In Eren's hands, a slim, deadly spear made of pure, white light formed. It gave off a powerful, rippling Aura, one that pressed down on everyone nearby.
His form shivered and vanished as he blasted forward, heading towards the World Bridge at a breakneck pace, leaving behind his subordinates.
..
William's eyes opened wide as he felt his spell explode into smithereens, enormous waves of energy wracking his vision. His heart dropped with fear as he felt the overwhelming aura that had appeared, almost as if it was bursting apart the heavens themselves.
He swallowed hard as he held his right hand out, gritting his teeth with determination. He traced the Aura, his sensitivity to magic reaching its peak.
"It's now or never." He made his choice. That dragon had given him this new life.
"Light Magic: Heaven's Armor." He cast one spell, feeling a huge amount of energy drain from him. Magic, glowing white armor descended, covering his body.
"Light Magic: Disturbing Light" He threw a beam of light towards the World Bridge, and vanished.
..
'I'm getting close.' Dorian thought as he rushed upward.
His clambering Red Salamander legs ate up the miles in no time at all. He had already scaled two thirds of the height of the visible portion of the World Bridge, and was nearing the area where the portal existed, transporting the World Bridge into fractured space.
The closer he got to this section of the bridge, the more uneasy he felt.
The edges of the portals were quite far from the bridge. He couldn't judge it accurately, but he guessed they were at least a mile or two away, maybe three.
As he studied them, trying to get a better understanding, once again he felt an odd, tingling sensation in the back of his mind, like a sixth sense going off, warning him.
He looked around, unsure what to do.
A split second later, a huge shockwave slammed into him, blasting him a hundred meters away. Rocky debris, dirt, and grass rained down, cascading in the air in a chaotic mess, while a few nearby trees shuddered and snapped, broken.
Dorian had no time to react at all as he landed down hard, smashing into the ground. He managed to cover his face with his arms, but the rest of his body was peppered with shards of rock, several of them stabbing into his arms and legs.
His mind was dazed and everything blurry as he tried to focus, looking towards the source of the shockwave.
A huge, fifty meter wide web of cracks, centered at a large ten meter wide crater had formed on the World Bridge. Dust and debris rose from the crater, painting the air a dim brown.
Standing in the midst of this crater was a red-skinned muscular humanoid with short white hair, wielding a glowing white spear, emitting an Aura that was devastatingly powerful. The air itself seemed to twist and distort very slightly around him.
"YOU! KILLER! OF! MY! GRETA!" A powerful voice thundered out, shocking Dorian once more due to its sheer volume. He felt his eardrums tremble and rupture slightly, his body automatically regenerating them.
Even if he wanted to, Dorian was completely unable to physically react for a brief moment. Despite the fact that he had been on guard, carefully looking at his environment, the sheer surprise and impact on his body sent him temporarily into shock.
The power that the being in the crater held was simply too great.
"DIE!"
In the instant that the red-skinned man yelled out, several things happened.
The red-skinned man's arm blurred as it threw the white spear it held in its hand forward. The spear twisted in midair, shivering along its entire length as it blazed directly towards Dorian.
Dorian managed to recover enough to forcibly activate the remaining King Class Aura remnants in his Soul, unleashing a powerful, Aura that slammed back into the one the attacker was giving off.
At the same time, he made his body transform, knowing he'd been found out. Using his practice from before, he willed his body to shift into his much stronger Myyr Dragon form, without having to waste time telling Ausra.
The transformation took only an instant, his Red Salamander form stretching and expanding, elongating to that of a 3 meter large emerald-scaled dragon.
The Aura he unleashed caused the man to stumble back, his eyes shaking. He leapt backwards more than a hundred meters, temporarily retreating.
The white spear crossed the distance between Dorian and the red-skinned man in a fraction of a second.
Before that fraction of a second ended, however, another person appeared.
A man wearing a plate of glowing, white armor, giving off a faint, calming light, came into existence right in front of the flying spear, just a few meters away from Dorian. The man's hands were held out in front of him, as if he was trying to block the spear. He looked like a heavenly angel from legend, mysterious and calm.
THUD
WHOOSH
The spear collided with the figure in white armor, slipping between his hands. Immediately the man was thrown backwards, colliding with Dorian. The armor seemed to absorb the majority of the force, causing Dorian to fall only a few meters. A small shockwave rang out at the impact and speed of the attack.
A ringing sound echoed in his ears as his visions wavered and then restored itself, his hearing gradually creeping back.
Dorian, for the second time, struggled to his feet, his heart pounding. He continued to give off the awe inspiring Aura of a King Class beast, the remnants he had absorbed from the dead Wizard's bones. He glanced around blearily, trying to get his bearings.
The man who had saved his life lay on the ground next to him, a large white spear struck through his chest. His white armor was crumbling, glowing particles from it dissipating in the air. After a moment, the spear vanished.
Slowly, that glowing white armor faded.
Revealing a face Dorian recognized.
A slim, handsome face with piercing blue eyes and a warm, friendly smile. The face of the Wizard he had saved, left behind in that forest.
He stared at the man in complete shock.
"William?" He sputtered out, in disbelief,
"You saved me?"
William Robel glanced up, an exhausted look in his eyes. His face was pale as he grabbed at his chest. The spear had drilled a large hole straight through his heart, shattering his innate barrier in an instant, even through the strongest protective spell he knew how to cast. Blood began to spurt from the wound, a gruesome sight.
He shrugged as he looked at Dorian.
"Yea-yeah," He coughed, blood spattering out of his lips,
"Yeah, I did. Though it might all be pointless in the end. I did." The young Wizard in his twenties gave him a crimson smile, filled with pride.
"Why?" The only question Dorian could think of as he stared at Will, his draconic body shaking.
The Wizard gave him an even larger smile,
"Because it felt like the right thing to do."
His eyes gradually closed, and his head laid back.
His chest rose once more, and then fell.
And did not rise again.
.