I quickly brushed the question off my mind as the screen displayed before
[NOTIFICATION]
TI BEFORE YADRED’S REBIRTH: 35 MINUTES LEFT.
REBIRTHING.
Thirty-five minutes. Ten had already passed since it first appeared, a silent reminder ticking away at the edge of my mind.
I looked across the battlefield ahead. It stretched endlessly before , a tapestry of chaos and death. The Forsaken Knights moved like phantoms through the throngs of void creatures, their ash-dark auras flaring as they struck with brutal speed. For every voidling that fell, a dozen more poured forth from the crimson beam stabbing into the earth beneath the Tower of Rebirth.
The tower itself lood high above, an abomination against the ashen gray sky. Its grotesque spires twisted upward, clawing at the heavens. The base pulsed with an eerie crimson glow, a rhythm that thrumd in my chest like a second heartbeat. Beneath it, the tower beam tore into the earth, a violent wound that refused to heal. The air shimred with unnatural heat, each pulse warping the fabric of reality around it.
I turned to Geralda. "Do you have any pills that restore energy?" I asked, keeping my voice calm despite the urgency boiling beneath my skin.
Her golden-flecked eyes locked onto mine, sharp and piercing as though she could see straight through . She didn’t hesitate. With a simple gesture, she stretched out her palm, and ash-dark energy began to swirl. It coalesced into two pills, their surface flickering like embers.
"Take these," she said, her tone asured and calm, almost detached. "Each will boost your energy recovery for an hour."
I nodded, accepting them with a quiet word of thanks. Her expression didn’t change, but there was sothing in her gaze.. a weight, an unspoken understanding.
I glanced back at the battlefield. "We need more n," I said, my voice steady.
Without waiting for a response, I swallowed one of the pills, feeling its effect almost imdiately. Energy surged through , burning away the exhaustion that had been creeping into my limbs. The second pill, I dematerialized into my storage for later.
Then, I summoned my Mist Sword. The familiar weight of it settled into my hand, its form wreathed in a pale, shifting haze. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I let my detection spread outward.
I felt everything.
The chaotic movents of the void creatures, the precise strikes of the Forsaken Knights, the tremors of ichor-soaked earth beneath their feet... it all painted a vivid picture in my mind. Every breath, every drop of ichor or what seems like it, every particle of sand shifting in the wind... I sensed it all.
As I exhaled, mist began to seep from my body, rolling out in thick waves that enveloped the battlefield. The world around blurred, consud by the haze. This wasn’t just a distraction
"The battlefield is yours," I whispered, my voice lost in the mist.
The air grew colder, heavier. almost suffocating...
Then ca the growls.
At first, they were faint, like whispers carried on the ashen wind. But they grew louder, deeper, more raw. Shapes began to erge from the mist, monstrous figures stepping through as though from another realm. Their pale blue eyes pierced the gloom, ghostly lights cutting through the fog.
The Roars had joined the war...
***
When Geralda had told about Gary being an Oga Roar, the leader of all Roars, the thought had lingered in my mind. If Gary commanded the others, then perhaps. I could tap into that connection since I had devoured his larvae worm absorbing so of his traits abilities. It was unknown whether it will work. But eventually it did.
I reached out, calling to the Roars scattered across the regions, and they ca.
I opened my eyes, taking in the scene before . The battlefield was a vision of chaos: Forsaken Knights, void creatures, and now Roars, their tar-like bodies rippling with dark energy as they tore through the voidlings with feral intelligence. The tide was shifting.
I turned to Geralda, my decision already made. "I’m going in."
She paused briefly, before stepping forward, her figure slightly taller than an average human stood before , her presence commanding. Her armor... a void-black suit etched with intricate ash-gray patterns, seed to pulse with subdued energy, clinging to her like a living thing. Her golden-flecked eyes bore into mine, unreadable yet intense.
"I have sothing to give you," she said, her voice calm. Before I could respond, she placed her forehead against mine.
I froze.
A flood of energy surged into , vast and indiscernible, like a storm threatening to overwhelm my very existence. My knees buckled, and I staggered under the weight of it. When she pulled away, I managed to steady myself, though my breath ca in ragged gasps.
"What... what did you do?" I asked, gasping, my voice barely above a whisper.
She smiled faintly, a ghost of an expression. "You’ll know when the ti cos."
The smile faded as her gaze shifted in the opposite direction of the battlefield. She looked toward the Forsaken Heart, the kingdom where Yadred’s Kingdom was.
"I can’t stay here," she said, her tone carrying a finality that needed no explanation.
I nodded. There was no need to ask why. I could sense it too.... sothing powerful, sothing dangerous, was approaching from the other side.
"Good luck," she said softly, her voice almost lost to the din of battle. "0924."
I watched her walk away, her form disappearing into the ashen haze.
Then, I dematerialized into mist.
It was ti for my plan to take shape.
******
I drifted through the battlefield as an unseen specter, my form a shroud of mist weaving through chaos. The muted world felt cold, yet alive with dreadful intensity. In this form, I was almost undetectable, untouchable.... a shadow that heard everything. Every shift of dirt beneath a knight’s boots, every hiss of the void creatures breath, every clashes... each sound invaded my senses.
A blessing, perhaps. A curse, undeniably.
I could not escape it. My hyper-sensitivity consud . Even now, as I attempted to narrow its range, the cacophony of battle roared in my head... a relentless tide of details I could neither turn off nor drown out.
Ahead, a clash demanded my attention.
A forsaken knight, his massive greatsword gleaming like a shard of moonlight, fought shoulder to shoulder with an Alpha Roar. The two moved with a chilling synchronicity that defied their inherent differences. The knight’s swings were calculated yet brutal, each strike tid to complent the Roar’s fluid, almost predatory movents.
Together, they brought down a colossal void wyvern, its shriek cutting through the chaos before its broken body crashed to the ground. The wyvern’s void ichor spilled out, hissing as it devoured the soil beneath it.
I forced myself to look away. Their fight was not my fight. My path was my own.
[NOTIFICATION]
TI BEFORE YADRED’S REBIRTH: 29 MINUTES LEFT.
REBIRTHING.
The screen hovered before , a reminder of the clock I could not stop. My movents quickened in response. The mist enveloping surged forward, carrying faster across the battlefield. My form lted into the air, weaving past knights, void creatures, and Roars alike.
But then..... my detection scread.
Above , the sky tore open.
The ashen gray heavens... already fractured by streaks of red, yellow, and white lightning... beca a canvas for sothing far worse. Darkness, thicker than the void, spilled into view. From that abyss, stars... if they could be called stars, descended. Their void light was no comfort, no beacon. It was a devouring presence, an illumination darker than darkness.
And they fell.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each impact shook the earth. Winds howled, tearing through the battlefield as if driven by an unseen will. Dust and debris filled the air, cloaking the figures who had landed in an oppressive haze. The energy radiating from them made the very atmosphere tremble.
I stopped. My mist coalesced, my form materializing back into flesh. My feet touched the cracked blood soaked muddy trembling ground as I stood still, watching the dust settle.
Five figures erged.
They were armored head to toe in void-black plate, their presence warping the space around them. The ground beneath their feet burned.. not with fire, but with the sheer weight of their existence. Blades rested in their hands, their edges shimring with a volatile, multicolored light that flickered like dying stars.
Their movents were deliberate, each step asured yet nacing, as if they had all the ti in the world... and I did not.
I stood my ground, my mist sword already materializing in my grip. Mist energy seeped from my body in waves, swirling at my feet like restless phantoms.
They stopped a short distance from , their formation unnervingly perfect. And then, as one, they spoke.
Their voices were not voices at all.... they were an event. Deep, resonant, each syllable felt like a hamr against my chest, shaking the very fabric of the battlefield.
"Your Wandering Ends…."
"O ye Wanderer"
The words hung in the air like a curse, a sentence carried on the weight of an ancient oath.
[SYSTEM]
THE FIVE HANDS OF ALTRONOTCH HAS DESCENDED
Boom!
Lightning streaked down once more, its deafening roar splitting the heavens. The light... if it could still be called that.. illuminated the battlefield for a brief, horrifying mont, casting long shadows that seed alive, clawing at the edges of my vision.
My grip tightened around my blade. My heart pounded, but not from fear. No, this was sothing else... a dark anticipation.
I stared them down, my breath steady, my mind clear. Whatever they were, whatever power they wielded, they stood in my way. And no matter what it took, I would reach that tower.
I let the mist rise once more....
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