The air shifted. A terrifying pressure pressed down on the battlefield like a divine curse. Dozens—no, nearly a hundred—Expert-rank soldiers descended in unison from the hovering warship. Their armor glead, their weapons humd with dense mana, and their synchronized steps sent tremors through the earth itself.
Alden’s grip on his sword tightened.
’This... this pressure. So many high-level auras all at once...’
Beside him, Charlotte’s face paled. Even her usually sharp tongue fell silent for a mont as the sheer weight of the enemy numbers overwheld her.
Draven blinked rapidly, his previous grin from the win nowhere in sight.
Ava, already wounded, nearly stumbled as her knees buckled under the invisible weight of impending death.
Their instincts scread one thing:
’Run.’
But none of them moved.
They couldn’t.
Just a few ters behind them, nestled under a sturdy do of hardened earth, were over a hundred terrified civilians. Ethan had cast it in haste, using a rare spell to create a temporary sanctuary. But even they knew—it wouldn’t last. Not against even one of the soldiers now surrounding them, let alone an entire army.
Inside the do, terror reigned.
A mother held her two children close, rocking them as they cried silently into her robes. An elderly man gripped his prayer beads tightly, whispering hymns to the Goddess of Light under his breath.
"We pray for deliverance... for rcy... for protection..." dozens of voices murmured together.
An adolescent boy bit his lip until it bled, his eyes darting to his unconscious younger sister lying beside him. A teenage girl sobbed, clutching a photo of her family.
Faint tremors shook the do. The muffled echoes of battle—the clashes, the roars, the screams—all seeped into their refuge like a slow-moving storm.
Back outside, Draven broke the silence.
"...What do we do now?"
No one answered imdiately.
Then, Seraphina stepped forward. Her blue hair whipped in the breeze, her icy gaze set on the enemy formation.
She took a deep breath.
"We fight."
Charlotte’s head snapped toward her, disbelief written all over her face.
"Are you insane?!" she snapped. "Don’t you see their numbers?! That pressure?! That’s not a wall we can climb over, that’s a tidal wave—we’ll get flattened in an instant!"
Seraphina t her glare, unfazed.
"So you want us to run away and let those innocent people behind us die?" she asked coldly.
Charlotte’s lips trembled, but her voice remained defiant. "I’m saying we think rationally! Ava is exhausted—she almost died just monts ago!" She gestured toward the brown-haired girl, who was clutching her side, blood staining her clothes. "Do you expect her to survive another battle like this?"
Seraphina faltered.
For the first ti, she couldn’t respond.
A heavy silence fell between them.
Then—
"...Looks like we don’t have much of a choice," Alden muttered, stepping forward with a wry grin, fire already crackling in his eyes. "We’re already surrounded."
The mont he said it, the soldiers finished forming a full circle around them. There was no escape. No hole in the net.
Alden clicked his tongue. "Tch. Bastards really know how to make an entrance."
Then—
WHHHHHHHHHSSSSSSHHH!
Ice erupted outward as Seraphina raised her hand. A massive frozen do ford instantly around the earthen barrier and their small group. It shimred with blue light, thick with mana.
She poured everything she had into it.
Her legs buckled the mont it stabilized. Seraphina collapsed to her knees, sweat dripping from her brow. Alden and Charlotte rushed to support her.
"This barrier..." she gasped. "Won’t last. Two... maybe three attacks... that’s all it can take."
No sooner had she said that, the soldiers surrounding them began chanting in eerie unison. The air thickened. Dark runes glowed at their feet. Mana surged.
A massive black orb materialized—dense, humming with volatile energy.
It launched forward.
BOOOOOOOM!
The first impact shook the ground like a teor strike. Cracks spread across Seraphina’s barrier. The second shot struck, and the cracks deepened—spiderwebbing all over the do.
The third—
CRAAASH!
The barrier shattered with a resounding blast, shards of frozen mana scattering like glass.
"Agh—!" Seraphina winced, the backlash hitting her.
But before the deathblow could fall—
THUUUUUMMMMM—
A new do snapped into place around them.
This one shimred faintly—not with magic, but with refined technology. Glowing panels extended from a disk embedded in the ground, forming a shield with humming circuitry.
Everyone turned to Draven.
He grinned, holding up a small remote. "I built it myself. Holds against Expert-rank attacks for a while. Not forever, but it’ll give us ti to breathe."
"You... what?!" Charlotte and Seraphina just gawked.
Then Charlotte said, "Even top-tier companies struggle to build tech like that!"
Ava nodded with tired eyes. "You saved us again..."
Alden smirked. "You know... you’re kinda aweso in your own way. You know that?"
Draven scratched the back of his head, clearly blushing. "C-C’mon guys, it’s not that big of a deal."
Then Alden’s smirk turned sharp. "No wonder that bastard Alex works you like a slave."
Draven’s smile twitched.
---
anwhile
Ethan clashed against Sephira’s blazing whip and Jas’s space affinity along with his uncanny daggers.
The sky trembled with every impact.
Black and red flas crackled. Ribbons of distorted air bent space itself.
Sephira scread as Ethan’s fist slamd into her gut, sending her hurtling backward, crashing through three trees.
Jas ca in from behind, slashing at Ethan’s neck with a dagger infused with dark energy—
CLANG!
Ethan caught it between two fingers.
"Nice trick," he said, his voice unnervingly calm. "Too bad it doesn’t work on anymore."
BOOM!
His palm ignited in golden fla, sending Jas flying back with a sonic boom.
All the cuts on Ethan healed instantly. Bruises vanished.
Both Sephira and Jas lay battered, their clothes singed, blood trickling from lips and limbs.
They stared at Ethan with wide eyes.
’What... what the hell is he?’ Sephira thought, horrified. ’Nothing we do works. He regenerates... almost instantly and he doesn’t seem to get tired at all!’
The skies wept fire. The forest trembled.
Ethan hovered, dark wings flaring behind him, his gaze never leaving the enemy below.
But then—
WHRRRRRRRM...
From the warship’s hull, dozens of Expert-ranked soldiers descended in perfect formation. Their synchronized movent made the world feel suffocating. The pressure they exuded was a choking blanket of death.
Sephira, coughing blood, grinned maniacally.
"You see that? Your doom has arrived. And soon, the Heralds will also co," she rasped, flas flickering around her charred arm. "No matter how strong you are... you’re alone."
Jas, blood trailing from his cracked lips, chuckled beside her.
"You’ll be captured again. Just like last ti," he sneered. "Used. Sliced open. Dissected. You and all your little friends will also beco lab rats."
They both laughed, unhinged.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed, voice ice-cold. "I’m not the sa as before."
He dashed forward, trying to break away and reach his friends.
But—
CLANG!
Sephira’s whip coiled around his leg.
Jas appeared instantly, blade slashing across Ethan’s path.
Ethan parried, fire erupting from his palm.
BOOM!
Jas was launched away—but Sephira followed with a flaming cyclone.
Ethan cut it apart mid-air, trying to bolt toward the now-exposed do—
SHNK!
Jas reappeared again, a dagger grazing Ethan’s cheek.
Sephira scread and slamd down her whip, explosions crackling.
Ethan took the hits. He didn’t care.
"I don’t have ti for you!" he growled, blasting both away with a pulse of golden fire.
He surged forward again.
But they returned. Again. And again.
’Tch—why won’t they just stay down?!’ Ethan thought in frustration. ’Every ti I move, they’re there. No matter how hard I hit them—they’re like roaches!’
He knocked Sephira into the dirt with a flaming uppercut.
He broke Jas’s arm with a brutal twist mid-parry.
But still—they rose. Blocking his path.
Then it happened.
His gaze darted past them—
And his blood froze.
The ice barrier Seraphina had cast—it shattered.
And through the smoke, a blur moved.
Fast. Silent. Deadly.
’No...’
Daniel.
The Master-rank Ethan had downed unconscious in two hits earlier.
He was running toward the civilians at full speed, eyes locked on the earthen do.
’Not them. NOT THEM!’
Ethan let out a roar and tried to break through.
But once more—
CRACK!
Jas appeared, slashing through Ethan’s side.
Sephira flanked him, her whip coiling like a serpent.
’Enough of this...’
Ethan gritted his teeth.
’I could’ve ended this ages ago... but I was holding back. I thought I didn’t need it. I thought I could save it. But not anymore. Not if it ans losing them...’
He closed his eyes.
And spoke.
"Let there be light. In its brilliance, I ascend beyond flesh and ti—one with the eternal fla, reborn as the one true God... the Luminarch."
BOOOOOOOM—!
The skies cracked open.
Golden flas erupted behind Ethan, wings of phoenix fire stretching across the heavens. Scaled, draconic armor engulfed his body—shimring gold over radiant muscle and celestial heat. His hair grew long, flowing like molten sunlight.
Every step shattered the earth.
Every breath pulsed with divine wrath.
He looked like an angel of judgnt.
A god of war descended upon a sinful world.
Jas and Sephira froze, their blood running cold.
’What... is that form...?!’ Jas thought in terror.
’W-We need to run—!’ Sephira’s instincts scread.
But they couldn’t move.
Because Ethan did.
In a golden blur, he was already behind them.
SHHHHNK!
Jas scread as his shoulder was impaled by a golden blade.
Celestial Sunblade—a legendary weapon, once wielded by the First King of Humanity—now glead in Ethan’s hand.
Ethan twisted the blade.
CRACK!
Jas’s shoulder dislocated, blood spraying.
Before Sephira could react—
BANG!
A kick to her spine sent her flying through a boulder.
She crashed. Rolled.
CRACK! SHNK! BOOM!
Ethan didn’t stop.
He appeared again. And again.
Every ti Sephira or Jas tried to escape—he was already there.
Bones broke. Swords slashed.
Their screams echoed through the forest.
Their limbs twisted unnaturally. Ribs cracked. Flesh scorched.
"Didn’t you want to dissect ?" Ethan whispered, voice like divine judgnt. "Let’s see how you like it."
He turned—eyes locking onto Daniel.
The man was just ters away from the civilians.
"Not today," Ethan growled.
He raised his hand.
"Inferno Bind!"
A golden circle expanded from his palm.
Chains of searing fla burst from the heavens, wrapping around Daniel’s limbs.
"AAAAAAGHHHHH!" Daniel scread.
The divine fire ignited his body bit by bit—burning through armor, flesh, even mana defenses.
He fell to his knees—bound. Screaming. Burning alive.
Ethan turned back to Jas.
He raised his blade—ready to end it.
But then—
KRRRRRRRRRRRNNNGGG—!
The ship’s hull opened again.
And this ti—it wasn’t soldiers.
It was power.
A crushing, unnatural aura flooded the entire forest.
The skies dimd. Birds fled. The ground itself trembled.
Even Jas and Sephira—bloody and broken—laughed.
"Finally..." Sephira coughed, grinning with bloodied teeth. "They’re here."
Ethan froze. "Who?"
Jas looked up, a manic grin spreading across his fractured face. "You didn’t think we’d co unprepared, did you?"
He chuckled.
"You’re not the only one who’s an avatar of a god."
Then—two black blurs shot out of the ship.
Moving faster than sound.
Ethan’s eyes widened. ’What the—?!’
At the sa ti, he saw it—
The flas binding Daniel?
Breaking.
’No way. That spell shouldn’t be breakable—not unless—’
A voice echoed in Ethan’s mind.
[My heir. You must retreat. Imdiately.]
He blinked. "What—?"
[The two approaching... are avatars of an Outer God.]
Ethan’s heart pounded. "You’re saying... they’re blessed too?"
[Yes. And their synchronization with their divine essence is far more advanced than yours. You’ve only awakened recently. They... have mastered their powers.]
Ethan felt sweat trickle down his face despite his divine form.
’So that’s what this is...’
He gritted his teeth as two figures stood in front of him—an aura radiating from their bodies so intense it cracked the air itself.
-----------
A/N:
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