Note: FOAB ans (Father of All Bombs), Aric is saying the abbreviation to not let Lilith read his mind.
I would like to thank my patrons, Luis fuentes, MillionLittleE, Michael & Danielle Warvel.
Thanks to your support, I am able to get an art for Seraphina. I personally like it and I think she did well. The artist is @xourieh
Also, sorry for the extra long chapter today but I honestly was in the zone. Hope you enjoy it.
"HAH...HAH...HAH...HAH..."
30 minutes have passed and my mana is half at this point.
Aric reloads his assault rifle, We have been stuck in this barrier and my wife is still fighting with that demon non-stop while maintaining everyone's protection.
Surely by now she is running out no?
Aric took aim and fired blue lightning rounds at Lilith, each one exploding on contact as Sebastian's body was now engulfed in black flas.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Seraphina dodged instantly, shielding herself with her cocoon. Unlike her battle with Kylien, she wasn't sweating but then again, Lilith wasn't going all out either.
Then ca a scream so unhinged and maniac like,
"HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE! HAHAHAH! VERY FUN! LET'S TRY THIS, SHALL WE?!"
Lilith erged from the smoke, her body visibly knitting itself back together from the blast. Her eyes twitched with delight.
With a single snap, black flas coiled around her arms, accompanied by ancient glyphs that floated and pulsed in the air.
Seraphina's eyes widened while Aric felt confused but also felt sothing was wrong.
Lilith started to chant,
"By my na, Lilith, I summon the first fla upon this world.
Cinder of the lost, spark of the forgotten.
Heed my call and reduce all in your path to ash."
Seraphina, Aric and Evelyn all attacked at the sa ti to disallow Lilith's chant but she protected herself in a forcefield like shield that stopped every bullet and spell from coming through.
Hairline fractures split across her barrier as a massive serpent of black flas erupted from the earth, Lilith standing tall on its head.
"Burn."
The serpent unleashed torrents of black fireballs while Lilith summoned teors of fla, each one hurtling toward the civilians inside the box. Seraphina knew that if even one hit the barrier, people will die.
Without hesitation, she unleashed her Cocoon of Darkness again but this ti, it expanded to a colossal 300 ters in width and length, engulfing everyone within its protective embrace.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"HEHEHEHE! WHAT'S WRONG, MS. DARKNESS?! CO ON! LET'S PLAY!"
"STOP PROTECTING THEM AND FIGHT !"
She hurled even more teors at the cocoon.
"CO ON! STOP HIDING! FIGHT ! FIGHT FOR REAL!"
The impact was so great that the air pressure was felt through the cocoon and Box.
Aric's mind raced. He knew Seraphina couldn't go all out if she had to constantly worry about protecting everyone.
I need to do sothing. She can't fight freely while wasting mana maintaining this barrier and shielding all of us.
Co on! Think, dammit! Stop letting Vayne's essence cloud your judgnt!
What can I do to give Seraphina a clean 1v1…?
Gotta think fast too since this demon can read our minds.
Lilith cackled, "That's right, boy! Think of a way to let your little wife co play with ! Once she's done, I'm coming for you next!"
"God, you're fucking annoying, you know that?!" Aric shouted back.
And then it clicked.
I need to drop the FOAB.
"Seraphina! Co here! I've got a plan!"
She dashed over while making sure the cocoon stayed strong, "You better have sothing good!"
"It is, but I need you to make the strongest goddamn shield you've ever made. The shockwave alone might knock everyone else unconscious—at least, based on my calculations. I need that shield to hold while you maintain the barrier."
"I'm going to drop the FOAB."
Seraphina tilted her head, her face scrunching in confusion. "A...F...O...A...B? What is that? So kind of food?"
"No. I can't tell you what it is since that demon can read our minds but I need you to just trust . I need you to throw the FOAB at that demon."
He scratched the back of his head, "...Only problem is, it weighs about 8000 kilos."
"WHAT?! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO THROW THAT?!"
"You've been soloing the demon for half an hour without even breaking a sweat. You're the strongest person I know. Use your tendrils. Sling it. Slam it. Yeet it to hell!"
"But it's Eight. FUCKING. Thousand. Kilos." Seraphina repeated, deadpan.
"And also—what the fuck is 'yeet'?"
Aric smirked, "Don't worry about it. Just... fling it like you're mad at it."
"Anyways, this is our shot to let you fight without restraint. Once the FOAB goes off, you should bring that demon away from here and fight all out."
Evelyn then interjected, "Your Grace. Perhaps he's right. You're fighting with one hand tied behind your back. You've been shielding everyone, attacking, and countering that demon all at once."
She glanced at the do, still rattling from the teor impact,
"If we're going to survive this, you need to go all out. Let handle the civilians. I'll make sure they're safe once you release them from the barrier. Assuming Aric's calculations are right and we all get knocked out... we'll regroup after we recover."
Aric closed his eyes to find the knowledge on the FOAB from his brain.
You morized the ingredients and blueprint. Find it Aric. You burned into your mind the mont you stumbled across that military archive in the dark net.
Aluminum powder. Polyr-bonded HMX. Fuel-air separator. Composite casing with high thermal yield.
I need to detonate it in mid air, so I will attach another bomb to go along with it.
Lilith who heard all of this was overwheld by this otherworldly knowledge and felt her brain being overloaded,
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN THINKING ABOUT!?"
I need it to explode mid-air for maximum overpressure effect. Wait—is she reading my mind right now?
He smirked like Vayne, HAHAHAHAHA. I'M GONNA FRY YOUR BRAIN, BITCH!
Aric decided it would be best to recite the theory of Schrödinger cat,
Schrödinger's cat is an experint in quantum chanics that illustrates the strange implications of quantum superposition. It imagines a cat in a sealed box with a radioactive atom, a Geiger counter, and a vial of poison. If the atom decays—
Lilith grabbed her head and trying to shut off the mind reading,
"STOP IT YOU FUCKING MONKEY!"
Aric manifested the FOAB with a landing on the ground to make sure it doesn't explode.
A heavy silence settled.
Seraphina. Evelyn. Penelope. Borin and everyone in the cocoon looked at the monstrous device. They felt a sense of dread looking at sothing so alien and nacing.
They were also dumbfounded to say the least.
"…By ancestors' beards" Borin muttered, "What in the stinkin' depths o' the Forgefather's arse is that thing?"
He turned to Aric with a grunt, "Ye plannin' to kill the demon or blow a hole clean through the continent?!"
Aric shrugged, "Well... technically, this isn't the strongest one I have."
Penelope's voice cracked as she stepped back, her face pale,
"I—I'm sorry, Lord Vayne, for my language, but... what do you an that's not the strongest?! This looks like the most terrifying thing I've ever seen and I used to work for Lady Callista!"
Evelyn who was hardened from all the shit in life was also afraid looking at this,
"Yeah...I second that actually...even though I don't get why it makes feel afraid..."
Seraphina, who had been fully on board with the plan a mont ago, found herself hesitating,
"…You're telling that this—this abomination of a weapon, isn't even your worst one?"
"And, you trust to throw it, while also shielding everyone, maintain my barrier?"
Aric raised both hands in a placating gesture. "Look. It looks scary and is scary. Actually, from where I co from, it's so scary it's banned from warfare entirely."
Seraphina facepald. "Not helping."
"Right, okay—thing is, she heals really fast, even with my bullets. I can't go toe-to-toe with her, and to be honest, only you could. Maybe Evelyn, too."
"This is just a reset button. A way to let you fight without restraints."
"Is it dumb? Possibly. Do I have better ideas at the mont? Ehhhhh… I an, yes, but they involve biological weapons or experinting with air particle manipulation and neither of those are great when I need to experint it."
"You're ranting." Seraphina cut in flatly.
"Right. The point is—this is the best option I see where we all survive, possibly kill that bitch, and you don't have to burn through mana protecting us. Well, you would need to burn extra to make sure the do is the strongest defence you will ever make."
"But my point stands."
Seraphina exhaled slowly and twisted her tendril to wrapped around the FOAB. She lifted it off the ground with so struggle.
"This is really fucking heavy by the way. You owe a week of chocolate after this."
Aric gave her a thumbs up, "Deal. Now hold it steady."
He crouched near the base of the bomb, putting a C4 on it with a built-in detonation tir. Aric pressed a few buttons and set it to thirty seconds.
"When I tell you to throw it, open a hole in your do and throw it. Then imdiately close the do back and make sure it is the strongest shield you ever made."
"I'm reminding you again, Seraphina. You cannot hold back."
Seraphina gave a nod, "Okay."
Aric then steady his sniper rifle and used Overdrive on three electric bullets. This bullet is so condensed with mana that it will pierce through most shield.
"20 seconds. Seraphina open the do to where Lilith is. I will give you the signal to yeet it to her."
Lilith, who had just recovered from the ntal whiplash of quantum theory and warhead specs, noticed the sudden opening in the do and grinned.
"Oh? Are you finally coming out to play?"
Aric smirked, "Yeah. Let's play."
BANG!
In 0.1 seconds, Lilith flinched. Her instincts scread at her to get out.
That bullet—if it hit, would make her feel pain. Real pain. Sothing she hadn't felt in centuries.
What the fuck? Why am I scared of this?
Even so, she dodged the sniper bullet but this was Aric's within calculations. He activated foresight and saw her future movent.
15 seconds left. The mont I shoot, she will dodge to the right.
Lilith didn't have her mind reading on anymore on as she was afraid of being overloaded from Aric. She couldn't predict the shot that followed.
BANG!
She dodged the first.
BOOM!
But not the second.
Aric scread, "NOW!"
Seraphina hurled the FOAB with everything she had.
"HMPH!"
The FOAB cut through the air like a teor in reverse. Lilith's eyes widened as she just was shot through the chest and her healing had slowed down.
She saw the FOAB coming right at her face, "H—"
BOOM!!
A blinding white-hot blast devoured the sky, blooming into a massive mushroom cloud of pure annihilation. The shockwave didn't co imdiately.
A second passed then,
WHOOMMMMMMMM!!!
The air pressure slamd into the do, flattening Seraphina's barrier. Inside the do, almost everyone was flung back and knocked unconscious.
Evelyn steadied herself with ice chains to hold her down while Penelope passed out mid-scream.
Borin, Aric and everyone else fell unconscious.
Seraphina steadied herself with her own tendrils while pouring 1/3 of her mana to make sure the do was her strongest defence and expanding everyone's Box.
Black veins spread from her wrists as she scread against the shockwave,
"UGHHHH! FUUUUCK!"
Evelyn was struggling to hold on, "YOUR GRACE! YOU'RE PUSHING YOURSELF TOO HARD!"
"SHUTTTT UP!" Seraphina scread, her voice cracking.
"I HAVE TO PUSH MYSELF! I DIDN'T KNOW THE FOAB WAS THIS STRONG!"
"You're corrupting yourself!"
"I CAN HANDLE IT!!"
And after a couple minutes, the shockwave stopped and Seraphina deactivated her barrier.
"HAH...HAH...HAH..."
"Hey! Are you okay?!" shouted Beth, the old woman who once cheered for Aric when he gave her heating.
"I'm fine...rescue the others!" Seraphina said firmly.
Beth dragged an unconscious boy onto her back and everyone else helped as well.
"Aih, carry them!" barked Adam, Aric's engineer. "Soone look after Miss Penelope! She's out!"
Mira groaned as she tried to lift Aric, "Ughh... co onnnn, why are you heavier now, Lord Vayne? I swear you weren't this swole before!"
But then—A shadow slamd into the earth, cracking the ground in a shockwave that blasted everyone off their feet.
Seraphina reacted instantly, flinging her tendrils outward to catch everyone and putting them down gently.
What ca out from the smoke was Sebastian. Or rather, just half of him as his other half had been obliterated from skull to shin.
Yet it was regenerating itself.
Lilith stepped out of the steam, arms spread wide, laughing like a lunatic.
"HAHAHAHAHA! HOW INTERESTING! THAT MAN PUSHED TO A PLACE I NEVER THOUGHT I'D FEEL AGAIN!"
Seraphina's voice had anger and confusion, "Are you fucking serious? How are you not dead?!"
Lilith turned to her, grinning with a psychotic glee, "Oh, I was dead. For a good second."
She tapped her forehead, "Whatever the hell that magic was—it was spectacular. You forced to burn through half of my reserves just to survive it."
Her eyes glead with admiration and hatred,
"And let tell you, sweetheart…if it wasn't for your barrier or you stupid shield, the people, this entire town and maybe everything for miles would've been annihilated.
"Now, do a favour and wake that bastard up. I want to thank him personally."
Seraphina summoned a dark coffin to restrain her, shadows slamming shut from every angle.
But Lilith wasn't letting it close.
"Ms. Darkness. Let be clear. From this mont on, you better bring your best."
Her magic amplified a hundredfold and Sebastian's body fully regenerated in seconds as she shattered the coffin from within.
She locked eyes with Seraphina, "Because I'm not taking you lightly anymore."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will be on thursday (I have no more etings to attend so it will be on schedule)
Next chapter will answer the question about Nathaniel interference.
Also, I hope the FOAB was sothing logical enough and I wanted to scale properly so I used the last suggestion by Saku on Royal I believe.
So I hope this is properly scaled. The patreons loved it but I am always open for suggestions and corrections.
Like grammar, syntax, flow and honestly even sentences. I take suggestions seriously.
Thank you for reading Reincarnated into a Failed Marriage. Thanks to your support, we have crossed over 160k views on Royal Road, and .
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