"He's not here," Zara looked up from her papers, a slight smile curving her lips at seeing the tray. "He should be with Lucien, they had to review those population reports he forgot yesterday."
i and Lila exchanged a look, an unspoken concern passing between them.
"Let's go to Lucien," Zara decided, putting down her docunts on the couch and closing the door. "If anyone knows where Elio is when I don't, it'll be him."
♢♢♢♢
They found him organizing several scrolls, his concentrated expression softening at seeing them.
"Elio?" Zara asked without preamble.
"He went to the wind deposit a while ago," Lucien responded. "Diana ca to get him, apparently they found sothing important..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
The first explosion shattered the air.
They ran toward the parapet, their hearts beating in unison with growing terror.
There they saw it…
The sky, normally clear above the first barrier, was plagued with dark silhouettes. Dipterus, hundreds, thousands of them, their shadows reflecting against the clouds like a living nightmare.
"No..." i whispered, her hand covering her mouth. "The barrier... how?"
Beyond, where the second barrier should be, an endless tide of monsters poured toward the city. The roar of battle already began to fill the air, screams and explosions mixing into a cacophony of horror in the distance
"ELIO!" The cry of the three girls seed to tear the air itself.
"The deposit!"
Zara and Lila were already running toward the stairs.
"We have to reach the deposit!"
Lucien moved with surprising speed, reaching them before they got to his office door. He opened it and extracted three vials that glowed with a familiar radiance.
"So of the transformation potions we've been gathering, also take a million mana each," he explained quickly, pressing the items into their hands. "Find Elio, but split up, find and feed the missing deposit. I'll organize the defense, we'll try to save everyone we can."
"But you won't co with..." i began.
"There's no ti!" Lucien's voice cut through their doubts. "If we don't reach the civilians who are outside..." He stopped, the weight of what was at stake reflected in his eyes. "Go, I'll catch up later!"
They separated in the chaos, Lucien heading toward where the first defense groups were already forming. The three girls headed toward the deposits, their hearts hamring against their chests.
"Diana..." Lila murmured. "Why did Diana tell that?"
Above them, the sky continued darkening with more and more monsters while they prepared to eliminate any that stood in their way. Ti was running out, and with each passing second, the sensation that they had fallen into an elaborate trap only grew.
A silent prayer ford in their minds. 'Please, don't let us be too late.'
♢♢♢♢
"WHY?!" The prison transford into a giant hand, a perfect alloy of tals that not even she at level 19 could break. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
The girl didn't fight against her prison. Her eyes, filled with resignation and sothing deeper, more painful, fixed on Elio's.
"For love, of course."
The voice didn't co from Diana.
Zahyla descended from the crater, her human form moving with that alien grace that characterized her.
♢♢♢♢
The artromus poured into the chamber like a living tide, their transford forms occupying every available space near the exit.
The echo of the battle outside resonated against the indestructible stone walls, a constant reminder of what was at stake.
Elio maintained his position, his mind processing the situation with crystalline clarity despite the rage that threatened to cloud his thoughts.
Above them, beyond the crater in the chamber's ceiling, chaos unfolded. The Locus and Dipterus he could see in the air must have entered by hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, taking advantage of the barrier's fall.
The city would be under total siege for a while. Find more to read at empire
Would the people outside have ti to enter the barrier?
Yet, Elio had almost 100 artromus to worry about first.
At their center, Zahyla floated with casual nace, but Elio's eye caught the subtle tension in her movents. She wasn't as comfortable as she pretended.
"One million," Elio murmured, his voice calm cutting through the clamor of the exterior battle.
His eyes fixed on Zahyla, studying the subtle changes in her posture. "The first ring weakens you. Your resistance... it's only one million now, isn't it?"
A flash of irritation crossed Zahyla's face before she could hide it behind her usual predatory smile.
The restriction had left her at level 10, half the power she had grown accustod to in the second ring.
"As perceptive as always," she responded, floating with a casualness that didn't quite hide her tension. "But does it matter? You're alone, trapped, and even with my power halved, I have an army."
Elio let his gaze sweep the chamber, evaluating. Nearly a hundred artromus, each with resistance comparable to their first encounter.
Zahyla still had a million resistance; it was a lot, yes, but no longer invincible.
'Only 47 hits, 752 mana points... I have enough.'
Dangerous, but not invincible. Not anymore.
A laugh escaped him, sharp and with uncanny humor. The sound made several artromus shift uneasily.
"You know what's truly ridiculous about all this?" he asked, his voice carrying an edge that made even Diana look up. "After everything, the planning, the manipulation, the betrayal, you've actually given exactly what I needed."
Power coursed through his body like electricity, making the air itself seem to vibrate with its intensity.
"A chance to face you at your weakest point, in an enclosed space, with no one I need to protect."
Diana, still trapped in her tal prison, couldn't contain a tear that slid silently down her cheek. Elio's words resonated with additional aning for her, she was no longer soone he considered worthy of protection.
He had discarded her, like the traitor she was.
Zahyla's smile faltered slightly. "You can't possibly think you can..."
"I don't think," Elio interrupted, his sword igniting with a cold blue fla that reflected in his eyes. "I know."
"It's ti to end this... You also know, I only have 5 minutes."
Diana held her breath, recognizing the expression on Elio's face. It was the sa one she had seen when he threw everything into delivering the final blow. It was the look of soone who had calculated all the probabilities and was willing to bet his life on an impossible move.
Elio's eyes released a blue glow as they bled.
The mont stretched like crystal about to break, each instant charged with the weight of lives and destinies hanging on a knife's edge.
And then, Elio moved.
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