Northern paled as the snow-laden forest unfurled beneath him, revealing a hidden terror. His pupils dilated, trembling with shock.
There had been a monster here all along?
'But why hadn't it moved before now? Of all tis... why now?'
There was an eerie pattern to the way these creatures had been erging. Everything that had gone wrong seed as though it had been waiting, biding its ti-until the mont they
ca.
A wicked, unreasonable premonition crept through Northern's mind.
But this wasn't the ti to dwell on it.
The creature lood before them, massive and imposing, stepping forward with slow, deliberate force. It resembled a giant turtle-if a turtle could stand on two legs, hunched slightly like a grotesque mockery of human posture.
Its body bore the texture of knotted wood and gnarled bark, its form seamlessly blending with the forest as though it had grown out of the very trees themselves. No wonder its camouflage had gone unnoticed, even by those who claid they could see all things.
Its eyes were black pools, devoid of light, yet brimming with unhurried malice. A presence that did not just threaten destruction-it assured it.
The earth quaked with each step. As it advanced, its massive arms spread outward, shattering trees with ease, using them as leverage to tear itself free from the forest's embrace.
It was colossal. Unlike anything he had ever faced before.
The last towering creature he had encountered an enormous dummy-was nothing compared to this. That had been rely big.
But this one...
There was sothing in its dark, abyssal eyes. Sothing subtle. Sothing that made Northern's unease coil deeper into his gut.
Imdiately, Northern snapped his head back, his voice slicing through the frozen stillness
of the travelers who stood paralyzed, watching the horror unfold.
"What the hell are you doing?! Run!"
They trembled at the sheer force of his hoarse, commanding voice.
"Run!! Cross the bridge!!!"
Only then did they break free from their shock, dragging their trembling bodies up the bridge's stairs in frantic desperation.
Northern's gaze flicked to Roma, who stood unmoving, a contemplative look shadowing her face.
"You too!"
She hesitated, biting her lips.
In that mont, the forest turtle shifted, and from beneath its enormous feet, smaller creatures gushed out in a twisted, almost artistic cascade-fluid yet grotesque. They ran with unnatural speed, their movents jagged and unpredictable, closing in on the bridge far faster than their towering progenitor.
Northern's expression darkened.
He turned back to Roma.
"Don't mind what you see. I'm more than enough to take care of all this."
She didn't respond, but the strange look on her face didn't escape him.
With a sigh, Northern turned forward, and in an instant-one clone appeared. Then another. And another. Until a line of Northerns stood before the bridge, shoulder to shoulder, their presence like an unyielding wall.
Roma's face turned bone-white.
'What in the stars...?'
She couldn't even suppress her shock-not that she tried. A deep, consuming chill spread through her body as the scene unfolded before her eyes.
'Clones?'
She had seen Northern wield ice, she had seen him summon fire. She had seen him fly. She had even seen him tear rifts into the air.
'What exactly is this guy? Who is he? There's no way this is just a Sage. Is a Sage even supposed to be this strong?'
Her mind was a storm of questions, and for a mont, she simply froze, her eyes dimming, overwheld by a realization that defied all sense.
Then-
"See? I don't need your help. You'll only be a hindrance, so shoo."
His insensitivity shattered her daze like a hamr through glass. She snapped her head to him, her disgusted grimace deepening.
"You could have said that in any other way but that..."
She didn't wait for a response. Without another glance, she turned sharply and began climbing the stairs.
Northern remained still for a mont, frowning.
'Which other way could I have said it? And why the hell was her face red with a frown?'
Shaking his head slightly, he looked at the clone standing beside him.
The clone paid him no mind, its gaze locked onto the incoming wave of monsters.
They were closer now. Closer than ever.
And finally, both lines crashed.
The smaller monsters were more humanoid than the towering horror itself-straight- backed, yet their movents were jagged, erratic, making them wholly unpredictable. But unpredictability was a realm Northern and his clones had long mastered. That was, after all, the very essence of Chaos Footwork. Unpredictability through chaos. Even the one who executes it cannot predict it. Until it happens.
Northern had refined the footwork into two explicit forms.
One, where he surrendered to chaos-let its waves carry him.
The other, where he seized control of chaos-beca the wave itself.
The latter was a major breakthrough he had achieved within Sura's rift. But the first... the first
was sothing he had continued to hone.
Because there was a level of unpredictability that ca from estranging even oneself in
battle.
Fool yourself, and you fool your enemy.
That was the principle Northern had been building upon for a long ti.
A cacophony of destruction erupted as the lines connected. Across the battlefield, it was like jagged tendrils of devastation, snaking wildly as walking trees collided with an army of
Northerns.
So clones wielded weapons. Others did not. But they commanded fire and ice like extensions of their very being-as though they possessed a second set of hands.
Or perhaps... a third.
There was a limit to how much power the clones could wield. But for these mindless mobs? It
was more than enough.
They shared his body. They could do everything he could do with it.
As for Northern himself...
After assuming his new na, he walked forward with unhurried ease, casually slapping away
the twisted humanoid trees that dared cross his path.
With a flick of his wrist, their bodies tore through the air, sent tumbling hundreds of ters
across the frozen ground.
His gaze remained locked on a single creature.
And it seed he wasn't the only one who felt this looming confrontation.
The forest turtle clenched its massive, clawed fists. Its hardened body stiffened, crackling
with raw, terrifying power. The air trembled with subtle shockwaves as its sheer presence
distorted the atmosphere.
Northern did the sa. Well... not quite.
The clench of his fist didn't ripple with the sa brute force.
Instead a dark chain unraveled from his wrist, whipping into the air with violent grace. It spiraled outward, twisting with raw energy, sending crackling streaks of lightning tearing
through the frozen battlefield.
Then-
Northern took flight.
And in the sa instant, the forest turtle charged forward.
The two forces collided-
And the world exploded in a cataclysm of shockwaves.
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