Chapter 362: Chapter 358 – Fire in the North
The northern front was the brightest hell.
The low-hanging gray sky was never truly dark. Every few seconds, Thor’s lightning struck from the cracked clouds, tearing the air with blinding white light. Each flash sent shadows racing wildly across the ground, stretching and shrinking like terrified living creatures. The thunder arrived late, slamming the battlefield with heavy booms that rattled bones.
Beneath that sky, two dwarf armies collided like twin mountains hurling hamrs at each other.
Nocture’s black crystal hamrs t the enemy’s golden thunder hamrs. Every clash sprayed purple fire and blue lightning; the sound CLANG! CLANG! echoed like a death bell being struck over and over. The ground cracked beneath their feet, stones shattered, and shards of tal flew together with chunks of flesh and blood.
Among the dwarf ranks, the elves fought in an entirely different manner.
Nocture’s shadow elves were never truly visible. They appeared as faint distortions in the air, as shadows too dark among the rocks, as a sudden chill at the nape of an enemy’s neck. anwhile, the enemy light elves moved like living torches, their bodies wrapped in dazzling holy radiance, their arrows leaving bright white trails in the sky.
And above it all, in the flashing heavens, the war of winged beings raged without rcy.
Four of Nocture’s zombie angels with tattered, hole-riddled wings clashed against two enemy archangels. The eight wings of each archangel shone like miniature suns, their holy light scorching the air around them. Every flap created pressure waves that knocked the ground troops below to their knees.
Yet the zombie angels knew no fear.
They spun, dove, and struck like long-dead birds of prey that no longer cared about wounds.
Far above the chaos of blood and screams, Aurellia stood alone.
She was at the peak of the highest cliff, where the northern wind blew the fiercest. Her red robe fluttered slowly, its edges flickering like restrained flas. Her hair moved only slightly, but her face remained calm, almost expressionless.
Her magic staff was planted in the ground beside her, its crystal tip dim, as though asleep. Aurellia did not touch it.
She simply gazed downward.
Her once-warm golden eyes had turned a deep, dead purple the color of a lifeless twilight. Within them, the light of battle reflected like a shattered mirror, fractured into tiny, emotionless flashes.
She gave a small smile.
"So much light..." she murmured softly. "Yet it remains so dark inside."
No one heard her.
On the elf battlefield, the fighting reached its climax first.
An enemy light elf drew her bow to full draw; holy light flowed along the string and the arrow.
SWOOSH!
The light arrow shot forward, leaving a blinding white trail that split the air. But the target was never truly there.
The targeted shadow elf had lted into the shadow of a rock before the arrow arrived. A fraction of a second later, she reappeared behind the light elf, her body half-transparent like dark smoke.
SHRRRIP!
A black shadow arrow pierced the enemy’s back. The holy light extinguished instantly, like a candle doused with water. The light elf’s body collapsed silently, eyes still open, empty.
The Nocture shadow elf rely gave a small nod before vanishing back into the darkness.
Elsewhere, two enemy light elves attempted to hold their ground with a ritual.
They stood back-to-back, arms raised, voices resonating together.
"Light of Athena, banisher of shadows!"
A white circle of light ford around them, rapidly expanding. Shadows nearby eroded and vanished, forcing the Nocture shadow elves out of hiding.
For a mont, the light elves smiled.
And that was their fatal mistake.
From the remaining darkness outside the circle, dozens of black arrows shot out simultaneously.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The arrows struck the light circle. Cracks appeared, spreading like spiderwebs across glass.
CRACK!
The light circle shattered into fragnts. The light elves who had ford it didn’t even have ti to scream as shadow arrows pierced their bodies from every direction.
"There is no place to hide from the darkness you yourselves created," Aurellia whispered from afar, her voice swallowed by the wind.
Now it was the dwarves’ turn.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Nocture’s crystal cannons roared, spewing thick purple beams that tore through enemy dwarf lines. Each shot ripped bodies apart, shattered formations, and hurled soldiers into the air like ragdolls.
But the enemy struck back.
KRAKOOOOM!
Their thunder hamrs smashed the ground, summoning lightning from the sky. Small cliffs collapsed, earth exploded, and bolts struck indiscriminately.
One Nocture crystal cannon shattered into pieces. Its dwarf operator was thrown back, body slamming against hard rock with the sound of breaking bones.
Yet he rose.
His skin charred, one arm limp, but his eyes still glowed with a dull green. The undead poison forced the dead body to keep moving.
A spare cannon was pushed into position.
A giant enemy dwarf, fully blessed by Thor, charged forward. His body crackled with lightning, his massive hamr humming with blue energy.
"FOR THE NORDICS!"
CRASH!
The hamr struck the ground, creating a crater and a wave of lightning that struck ten Nocture dwarves at once. Their bodies burned; so were hurled far away.
Yet one by one, they rose again.
Eyes glowing. Teeth clenched. They charged together.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Hamr t hamr. Fire and lightning mixed, showering the battlefield. Nocture dwarves fought without shouts, without emotion. They had already died once. Fear had been left far behind.
The enemy began to retreat.
Not because they were outnumbered, but because of sothing worse: despair.
They saw their wounded comrades never rise again, while their opponents kept advancing even with broken arms or scorched chests.
On the cliff, Aurellia finally moved.
She slowly raised her right hand. A fla ignited at her fingertip, small, calm, yet dense like the core of a star.
"Ti to give them a little... warmth."
She snapped her fingers.
WHOOOOOOSH!
A wave of fire surged from the cliff like a dark lava river. The fire did not burn the air. It devoured light. Any Thor lightning it touched was instantly snuffed out, as if sucked into nothingness.
The fire struck the densest point of the enemy formation.
FWOOM!
A red explosion blood like a deadly flower. Armor lted, flesh vaporized, bones turned to ash in seconds. Screams were cut short, swallowed by the blaze.
The enemy line broke.
Those who survived ran, but the fire pursued, licking at their heels, dragging them back.
FWOOM! FWOOM!
Two more waves of fire ford giant walls, splitting the enemy force in two. Those trapped inside only had ti to scream before vanishing.
In the sky, the zombie angels finished their task.
Tattered wings collided with radiant ones. One zombie angel lost half a wing yet continued attacking. Its claws tore open an archangel’s chest.
SHRRRIP!
The holy light lted away. The archangel fell like a teor.
The last one had its throat bitten.
CRUNCH!
The light went out.
Aurellia watched calmly, fire still dancing at her fingertips.
"Still not enough to summon you, Queen."
She raised her hand higher.
FWOOM!
The final, largest wave of fire launched like a dragon. Hundreds of lives vanished. The battlefield fell silent.
Lightning flickered weakly. The footsteps of Nocture dwarves echoed among the ashes.
Aurellia lowered her hand. The fire died.
"The northern front is nearly cleaned," she murmured. "You may keep drinking your tea, Sylvia."
She gave a faint smile.
The north had beco a sea of fire and ash.
....
In the castle garden, the atmosphere remained as calm as before. Thin black mist still drifted among the dark-blooming black roses, the pool of dead water reflected faint purple crystal light, and the fresh scent of black mushrooms mingled with cold gusts carrying the distant sll of the battlefield.
Sylvia gently set her teacup down on the small obsidian table. The tiny clink rang clearly in the garden’s silence. She glanced toward all four directions of the city, though the castle walls and thick mist blocked any direct view. Her pitch-black eyes narrowed slightly; the Chain of Abyss around her wrist trembled faintly like a waking snake.
"It seems the war is almost over," she said flatly, her voice still soft but carrying an unmistakable cold edge.
Sofia, resting her head on Sylvia’s shoulder, looked up. Her golden eyes glowed gently, but a small crease ford on her forehead. "Already? Too fast."
Alicia, still leaning against the dead tree, let out a soft, soundless laugh. Her half-transparent spirit body shimred faintly. "They are strong, but Nocture isn’t an opponent that can be finished with a single breath."
Stacia, floating low with gray mist swirling around her body, nodded slowly. Her fallen angel black wings opened slightly. "Velthya, Zark, Celes, Aurellia... they’ve already cleaned up most of it. But "
" This is too easy," Sylvia cut in. She rose slowly, her black dress flowing like dark water. "They must be holding back their main force. The Alliance of Light won’t surrender so easily."
The Little Treant in Sofia’s lap raised a small branch. "Plop plop..." (Indeed... a big sll is coming.)
All eyes turned to the sky.
At that mont, two powerful pulses throbbed through the air like two giant hearts suddenly stopping. The faint holy light lingering on the northern horizon extinguished instantly. The two archangels fighting Nocture’s zombie angels had died.
But their deaths were not the end.
WHOOOOOOSH!
The sky above the northern territory split open.
Ten blinding white beams descended simultaneously like spears from heaven. Each beam coalesced into a towering figure eight wings, pure crystal armor, long swords radiating light so intense it burned away the surrounding mist. Ten archangels appeared at once, their auras so heavy the ground beneath Aurellia’s cliff cracked.
And at their center, larger than the rest, a gigantic avatar ford from lightning and storm.
Thor.
Not rely a blessing. The avatar of the god himself, a fifty-ter-tall body, gleaming golden armor, Mjolnir in his right hand crackling with endless blue lightning. His eyes blazed like twin small suns, and thunder rumbled from his mouth even before he spoke.
All that power appeared directly above Aurellia’s position.
Aurellia, who had been calm until now, felt a faint tremor in her fingers for the first ti. The remaining fire at her fingertips flickered uncertainly. Her deep purple eyes widened slightly.
"Ten archangels... and Thor’s avatar..." she murmured softly. Her breath hitched not from fear, but from sharp alertness. "They really played their trump card."
She gripped her magic staff tighter. Fire reignited around her body, wilder and more restless this ti.
And at that mont
CRACK!
Space to her left shattered like glass.
Celes stepped out from the dinsional rift, her silver-purple sword still dripping blood that vanished before it touched the ground. Her silver hair fluttered; her purple eyes narrowed with excitent.
"Looks like you need a playmate, Aurellia," she said with a sweet smile.
Behind her, an army of otherworldly zombies poured from the rift six-ard faceless beings, living machines all moving as one hungry organism.
KREK... KREK...
Heavy footsteps sounded from the right.
Zark erged from the thick fog, his black coat unmoving despite the fierce wind. Behind him, thousands of old Earth zombies stood in perfect ranks, their plasma weapons glowing faint blue-black.
He gave Aurellia only a small nod.
GRRRRRRR!
A wolf’s roar echoed from behind the cliff.
Velthya leaped onto the cliff top, landing with a BOOM! that cracked the ground beneath her claws. Her silver fur was wet with blood, her yellow eyes blazing wildly. Behind her, the lycanthrope clan lined up hundreds of half-transford werewolves, their howls rging into a single deadly chorus.
Velthya grinned widely, fangs gleaming.
"Looks like the real party is just getting started."
Aurellia took a deep breath. The fire around her stabilized once more, this ti denser, fiercer.
She looked to the sky ten archangels hovering calmly, Thor’s avatar raising Mjolnir, crackling endlessly with lightning.
The main battle had truly begun.
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