The battlefield descended into a chaotic nightmare. The ECD forces, already overwheld by Carn's relentless assault, now faced an army of grotesque stone demons.
From the rooftops, the gargoyles hunted with terrifying precision, snatching screaming soldiers into the shadows. On the ground, Carn turned the war-torn street into his personal playground, reaping lives and transforming them into his minions.
Despite the mounting losses, the crew of the Abrams tank refused to falter. Their advanced radar systems locked onto Carn, tracking his movents even as he shrouded himself in blinding light. The tank's turret swiveled, aligning its barrel with the demon lord.
*BOOM*
The thunderous roar of a high-velocity armor-piercing shell shattered the air as it struck Carn square in the chest. The impact was devastating, launching him backward and slamming him into the ground with brutal force.
Carn felt the sheer power of modern weaponry for the first ti. The shell, though unable to pierce his body, stunned him for a second. The flattened burning tip of the projectile embedded itself in his chest, glowing like a molten brand.
Calmly, Carn reached for the bullet, attempting to peel the shell off him. But as soon as he touched it, his entire body froze.
Soone was watching him.
Even though his light spell was still active, the tank's thermal imaging system had locked onto him, revealing his outline and movents to the gunner seated inside. The turret adjusted, tracking him once again.
Inside the Abrams, the gunner finished loading a custom-made shell designed specifically to combat alien or supernatural threats. The crew murmured into their comms with grim determination.
"Firing explosive mana shell."
*BOOM*
The second shell detonated with a deafening explosion, engulfing Carn in a blinding white fla that rapidly turned invisible to the naked eye. The intense heat rippled outward, incinerating nearby corpses, lting traffic poles, and reducing armored vehicles to slag. Even battlesuits designed for extre conditions were rendered useless.
Yet, amidst the inferno, Carn was unscathed. His gray eyes locked onto the tank, scanning its interior for life signatures.
Two humans…
Upon identifying the number of enemies within the vehicle, Carn took a mont to take a breather and prepared to teleport directly inside the tank.
Before he could act, a new presence descended from the sky.
With a thunderous crash, the ground quaked as an imposing figure landed fifty ters away from Carn's position. Clad in gleaming black armor that pulsed with ethereal energy, the entity was ECD-333 Gawain. Having leaped across the city, he now stood in the heart of the battlefield.
The sea of invisible flas licked at Gawain's polished armor, but instead of being consud, the ethereal knight absorbed the heat, converting it into Aether that swirled like dark mist within his form.
Gawain strode toward Carn. Upon reaching him, the knight knelt on one knee, extending a hand toward the demon lord.
"Demon Lord Pebble, I do not wish to be your enemy. Could you please restrain your anger and listen to ?"
Carn, still pinned beneath the massive tank shell, glanced at the knight's outstretched hand. His stone face remained impassive, but his gray eyes flickered with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.
"Restrain my anger? You people tried to kill and my family just to appease that power-tripping detective. Should I have stood still and let them finish the job?"
Gawain's ethereal gaze softened slightly, feeling partly guilty, "No, that's not what I ant."
"Rather than let them kill and my family, I'd rather slaughter every single ECD agent, burn their facility to the ground, and take my family to live with in the Aether World. I'm done with this planet!"
Gawain sighed deeply as he understood Carn's feelings and burden. He had faced countless beings consud by rage and despair, but Carn's fury was justified.
It was Arthur's fault for cornering Carn. They could have talked amicably with Carn first instead of bringing the entire force to threaten him and his family.
"I understand your anger. And I don't bla you for it. Your actions are... reasonable, given what you've endured. That's why I'm here, trying to speak with you instead of confronting you as an enemy."
Carn's expression remained cold. He shifted his gaze to his minions, who already wiped out the reinforcent. They would soon collect the corpses and turn them into new gargoyles.
Gawain pressed on. "But listen to , Demon Lord. If you turn your back on this world now, it won't just be the ECD hunting you. The Lich King is on the verge of invading this realm, and once he does, there will be nothing left for anyone—here or in the Aether World. His undead legions won't stop until every soul is devoured, every land scorched. I need your strength to stop him."
Carn scoffed. Although he had planned to deal with the Lich King, he had no intention of cooperating with entities or people from ECD or the US governnt anymore. He then made up an excuse to reject the offer.
"The Lich King? That's no longer my concern. This world is not the world that I once cherished. You want to save it? Be my guest. But count out."
"And what do you think will happen when the Lich King's forces convert every population and animal of this world into his minions? Do you really think they'll stop at just this world? You may escape now, but eventually, they'll go after Mother Tree again! Fighting them here is your only chance to protect your family and the life you want to build."
Carn paused, his crimson eyes narrowing as Gawain's argunt began to sink in. The knight's reasoning held a bitter truth.
If this undead legion originated from the sa Aether World he had once ruled, their grudge would almost certainly target the dragoons, the Mother Tree, and the Kirins. The fallout would be catastrophic.
The Mother Tree, a keystone of balance, sustained half the Aether in the Aether World. Without it, the delicate equilibrium would crumble. Half of all Aether would vanish, and the rest would fall under the dominion of divine spirits who Carn despised with every fiber of his being.
He inwardly wrestled with the logic. As much as he wanted to dismiss Gawain's plea and stay stubborn, the potential devastation was too great to ignore. For once, Carn admitted to himself that he should abandon his vain pride for once.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a deafening roar cut through the tense air.
BOOM!
The tank had finished reloading. The next shell slamd directly into Carn's head, detonating on impact. White flas erupted again, spreading invisible flas across the intersection.
Carn's composure shattered. His voice was low and seething as he growled, "Let kill those two pain-in-the-ass idiots first and a thousand more, then we'll talk."
"WAIT! NO!" Gawain shouted.
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