In the midst of the raging battlefield, Zephyr and Athena looked straight at each other.
The atmosphere around them was intense and suffocating, and everyone around them felt like soone was covering their faces with a pillow.
Athena's pretty eyes squinted, and then she kicked up so rocks from the ground. Those rocks flew like bullets through the air.
Zephyr moved his vambrace-covering arm and smacked the rocks off the air. Those rocks were stronger than ordinary rocks, as they had a deep crimson hue on them.
'When she kicked those rocks, she infected her own Kraft into them. If I hadn't coated my vambrace with my own Kraft, those rocks would've shredded through and destroyed my arm. 'What a tricky maiden. She isn't known as one of the most skilled rcenaries for nothing.' Athena started moving. Her feet rapidly covered the distance. She stabbed her sword forward, and it t with Zephyr's blade with a loud clang.
However, Zephyr's eyes bulged wide open as if he got surprised by sothing.
The small area around him turned incredibly heavy, and his knee buckled under the imnse pressure, forcing him down on his knees.
"The Gravity Blade." Athena ethernally said and placed the blunt side of the sword on Zephyr's shoulder.
Zephyr crashed on the ground, flat on his stomach, and felt the weight of the world crushing down on him.
Those from Zestruction who saw it happen were surprised and wanted to go help their guild master, but the gravity around that area was too intense for them to even take a single step forward.
A distance away, fighting the allied forces of Battle Maidens, Digby and the rest of Crimson Hounds didn't have ti to pay attention to the ongoings of other fights.
However, they both felt the imnse aura of power emanating from their fight. The whole area around the two Grand Lords was inaccessible to anyone else.
Digby smashed his blade through his enemies, carving a path of destruction through the battlefield.
Sowhere else, Knoxx and other newbie rcenaries from the faction fought smaller scale battles with other weaker rcenaries.
There were parts of the battlefield where they couldn't just go. If they did, they might encounter an enemy that they would just die in a matter of seconds.
Thus, they had to carefully plan their movents and choose their battles wisely.
"Damn, Knoxx!" Alan finally reached his friend after having to fight countless enemies. "This ain't working!"
"What do you an?" Knoxx asked while looking around the battlefield with a heavy expression.
The battle seed extrely even, but they were running out of stamina.
"This fight might seem even, but we're losing!" Alan said. "The frontline army of Battle Maidens is still standing, and so of their strongest rcenaries have yet to fight!"
"That's why it is our job to carve a path there!" Knoxx pointed to the distance. "See what Digby is doing? He is trying to make a path to there so we can include them in a battle."
"But it ain't working!" Alan said. "Maybe retreat is in order."
"We're just foot soldiers!" Knoxx angrily shouted. "We're in no position to make orders. We listen to orders. Period. And our orders are to keep fighting!"
"Cursed!" Alan swung his sword and entered another painful duel with a mber of Battle Maidens.
At the center of the battlefield, the heavy gravity kept breaking the ground.
With a groan of pain, Zephyr rose back to his kneeling position, fighting against the increased gravity that threatened to crush him into the earth.
Athena swung her blade, but Zephyr grabbed the blade with his bare hands and, with a roar of defiance, started standing up.
Soon, he was standing tall and strong, head-taller than Athena.
"Hmm, I see." Athena said with her pretty voice. "It seems I underestimated you."
"Underestimating fellow Grand Lord? I never expected you to be so foolish." Zephyr said
coldly.
"I honestly consider you the weakest Grand Lord." Athena said nonchalantly. "However, you indeed have the strongest will. I have to give you credit for that."
"Hmph!" Zephyr raised his fist, and a halo of gold light surrounded his fist.
'Gold Kraft...' Athena looked serious. 'With his strongest will, he was able to put himself under torturous training. In the end, he managed to reach Gold Kraft. However, that's all he
has.'
Zephyr's arm extended forward, and his fist punched through the Mana Air; it didn't hit Athena in the face, but still, the air bent around her as if she were struck.
Her nose started bleeding, and her pretty face started caving in on itself.
Boom!
She got thrown high into the air like a rag doll and looked like she got seriously hurt.
"Lady Athena!" The won of Battle Maidens scread in fear.
They felt furious and couldn't believe that soone would dare to hit their beautiful guild master.
'What a powerful Kraft!' Digby thought from far away. 'He doesn't even hit the target to hurt them. It must be difficult to fight soone like that.'
'Athena is a very experienced fighter and has been in thousands of fights, but even she was taken off-guard!'
In the air, Athena twirled and swung her sword down. A wave of gravity shot out from her sword and slamd down at Zephyr, forcing him back on the ground.
"Argh!" Zephyr punched through the gravity, and the air started bending like it was stretching like rubber.
Beautifully, the increased gravity shattered like glass and freed Zephyr from its oppressive hold.
A small distance away, Athena landed back on the ground and wiped the blood off her nose. She then smiled, and her beautiful smile made the hearts flutter of everyone around her.
'Sis, don't exhaust yourself.' She heard a voice inside her mind. 'I've seen the outco of a fight, and it isn't worth it so early in the war.'
Athena looked over her shoulder and saw her sister, Wrath, speaking through telepathic spell.
'Alright, sis.'
Wrath let out a breath of relief. She was aware of how stubborn Athena was, but luckily, they had already discussed the plan for today.
She had seen the future and knew how the fight would go.
However, she was only able to see one future.
It was too exhausting to see multiple futures, and while they were able to change the future
she saw, they couldn't know the next outco completely.
They had already changed the future, and things had headed in an unknown direction more and more. She didn't know whether they would win in this new future, but at least they knew
what to expect.
'We need Athena's strength.' Wrath thought. 'I hope this new future doesn't end worse than
before.'
Zephyr watched as Athena walked away and frowned. 'Why would she stop fighting? This is not the Athena I know. What're they planning?'
-
The wind picked up speed and almost unrooted the trees from the ground.
At that mont, a winged shadow flew over the forest with insane speed and headed towards
the mountains of the north.
As soon as the winged shadow flew past, the wind stopped completely, leaving the forest
eerily silent.
A deer jumped out from the bushes, nippled the grass, and then turned towards the sky. It saw
the winged creature flying away, and imdiately scurried back into the safety of the trees.
---
The fight kept raging on, but there was strange sensation in the battlefield. It looked like the strongest rcenaries from both sides had stopped fighting.
It was only the foot soldiers fighting, who were usually rcenaryn to Grandeur-ranked. The wind whooshed from the south, and moved Wrath's short hair side-to-side. She slightly moved her blindfold to hide her eyes even further.
'What's with this suffocating air?' Desire wondered as she touched her throat.
She felt like she had so difficulties with breathing, as if every ti she tried to breath,
sothing was blocking her lungs.
Athena walked back to her soldiers, clad in her armor, and then turned around to look towards
the sky.
"Hmm..." She turned around again, and arrived by her sister's side. "The air is stuffy."
"Yes, I haven't encountered sothing like this before." Wrath said.
"I have." Athena squinted her eyes. "With King Moriarty."
"..." Wrath lowered her head slightly.
"Has he already reached that kind of strength?" Athena asked.
"No." Wrath said. "However, his strength has increased exponentially. We underestimated
him. Everyone did."
"I thought he wouldn't be able to impact the war in any way..." Athena frowned. "If we allow him to grow further, Zestruction will be incredibly dangerous."
"It'll be up to you whether we will win this fight or not." Wrath said. "Unfortunately, I can't
tell the outco."
"If I cannot kill so newbie, why the hell have I been training?" Athena said.
At that mont, the wind stopped as if the ti had frozen.
A distance away, within heavy clouds, a winged creature soared through the clouds.
"?!" Zephyr turned around and looked over to the sky. "Who?"
The aura seed familiar, but also unfamiliar because of the strength of the aura. It was the
strangest kind of strength he'd ever sensed.
Reviews
All reviews (0)