Chapter 231:

December 24th, 625

Midnight

The border of Christmas Day. For me as an earthling, at least. 

“Just 30 miles! We need to make it with this push!”

“The Steeds are almost dead!”

“Push them anyway! Keep fucking moving!”

The cold tried to nip at me despite the temperature control of my clothing. I felt chilly despite being perfectly warm. 

“Swarm on the left! They’re flanking!”

“Someone get up a barrier! We need to preserve numbers!”
“Two more Steeds down!”

Totenstahl warmed my hands, glowing a wrathful red as I swept its barrel across the hordes around us. It was unloading at almost 1600 rpm and yet it felt like I could never do enough. 

The screams echoed through my Aerial. 

“Brigadier Kapil is dead!”

“Don’t let them surround us!”

“Just keep our fire forward! Don’t let them stop us!”

I could still see 24 Steeds around us, all that remained of our force. We had fought for almost two days straight, and I was running on two hours of sleep and cigars. It was a tragedy that I didn’t have any real stimulants. 

I had to force myself awake with my Psyka. It made me want to vomit. 

“Another Brigaider-Class!”

“Fuck! It just took out eight Steeds!”

“Nonnen is engaging!”

 I refused to look back at those who were getting drowned by monsters, just making sure that we didn’t end up the same way. 

“20 miles left!”

“Our Steed is dying!”

I heard Harsha’s yell, taking a second to think. 

All the other Steeds were dying too. Some were already slowing down as they ran out of juice. Some had their wheels destroyed by well placed Scythers. 

The only direction empty of hoarding monsters was forward. There were some Hog Riders earlier that had come to chase us down, and while they had eliminated half our force by themselves, they couldn’t survive long under my concentrated fire. 

If we allowed the Steeds to fall back one by one, we’d be slowly picked off without being able to mount a proper resistance. We needed to all turn around and fight. 

Of course, the last time I had tried to do that and trust in the integrity of those around me, I had almost gotten my team killed. 

And I didn’t trust these other generals. I could see them steering away, attempting to break off the path and find technical terrain so they could escape the hordes and tread their own way back to the stronghold safely, using the rest of the force as bait. 

I responded. 

“Get off the road! Turn south!”

“Are you telling me to abandon the force?!”

“Yes! Now fucking go!”

Without any more hesitation, Harsha whipped the wheel and shot off road. I focused my fire, cutting down the few enemies in our way. 

Tana tailed us in the other Steed as I yelled over my telepathic connection. 

“Nonnen! Get back here! We’re splitting!”

“Roger.”

I got a response, a body suddenly launching itself toward us from the distance. Nonnen flew back like a catapulted rock, landing nearby and taking one more step to jump on top of the Steed. 

For a moment we had reprieve, but a significant portion of the hordes chased us. We wouldn’t be let off that easy. 

I took a few seconds to duck down and look at the passenger compartment. 

There were some holes in the walls and armor but the occupants were safe. 

“Are you guys alright?!”

Polly and Jasmine looked up at me, both of them curled up between the seats on the floor. It was safer there than by the walls that the Scythers could easily cut through. 

They had both been terrified before, but now they were too tired for any obvious emotion. 

Polly gave me a thumbs up. 

“Good. We’ll be disembarking soon! We’ll have a little less than 20 miles to cross on foot! The knights will carry you two, so just get ready to leave!”

I left them with that, focusing back on the enemy and throwing some volleys their way to give us some breathing room. Umara cast area spells to cause more chaos and slow them down, area magic detonating with brilliant fire.

We crossed over some rough terrain, breaking line of sight with the original path and officially diverting off on our own. Sure enough, I heard nothing from the other generals except for commands to head to a checkpoint along the path of the underground Rail lines. To get there it would be a free for all.

They were all idiots. The fact that they let it devolve into this was proof of their stupidity. I had no sympathy for those who were willing to sacrifice an entire base for their survival. They should’ve died at their posts, taking down the Scourge with them. 

Perhaps if I had just killed them all before they could plan their escape, we could’ve taken control and mounted a fight. Even something as simple as a tactical retreat would’ve been better than this catastrophe. 

If only we had fielded enough weapons. Perhaps none of this would’ve even been considered. 

I yelled. 

“Keep heading south! We need to get to the forests!”

“Do those even exist anymore?!”

“Better pray they do! They’ll be saving our lives!”

I shifted to burst firing as my Psyka started to dwindle. Pretty soon the knights would be taking more of the heat and Umara and I would be able to rest some. 

While running, of course. 

After some time Harsha shouted. 

“Is that it?!”

I turned around, looking in the distance to find a dense field of folded trees, like they were dead in a desert. 

My eyes narrowed, recognizing them, but shocked that they were out here.

Nonnen spoke the words on my mind. 

“Is that the Black Forest?”

“I think it is. Head toward it!”

The Black Forest. I had only ever seen it outside Strongohld Charlie in the direction of Scythe’s Peak. I wasn’t sure how it had grown so far down south, though then again, maybe it had migrated due to the Scourge’s biomat. I had only expected a normal forest.

We approached, but that’s when the Steeds started slowing. 

“We’re out of juice!”

“Everyone get ready to disembark!”

The Steeds slowed even more, the White Crystals completely spent. Shitty engineering. With my Mana Engines, they would be able to drive indefinitely and faster. 

They slowed to a halt. 

“Everyone off!”

I jumped off, the ammo pack on my back making me land with a heavy thud, and threw open the side door, Polly and Jasmine scrambling out with my help. 

“Harsha and Tana! You’ll be carrying them! Everyone else is on escort duty! Let’s get moving!”

Polly and Jasmine were scooped up by the two knights. Our two Chiefs, Simeon and Ephras, jumped out with us and followed in a formation. 

Simeon had proven to be an invaluable warlock during our retreat, but even he was starting to reach his limit. On the other hand, our knights were almost completely fresh, except Nonnen.

They’d be putting in most of the work now. 

We all started running into the forest. There was no clear cut path so we had to trample a lot of the foliage below us. I used my boots to jump and glide over most of the obstacles. I was once again glad I splurged on them. 

The hordes gave chase behind us. Now that we were going slower they were able to catch up. There had to be at least two thousand of them. 

Umara glided over to my side, all of us holding the same speed. 

“John, they’re going to surround us.”

“I know. Get ready to hold them. It doesn’t look like there are more beyond, so if we can kill these then we’ll be in the clear.”

“I’m starting to get worried.”

I looked at her. She was wearing her mask and witch hat, but her anxiety was clear. 

I nodded. 

“Understood. We just need to keep fighting. We’ll make it.”

“Alright…”

She drifted away, taking back up her original position. 

Then the hordes reached us. 

“Contact!”

“Attack and move! Don’t get locked!”

I spun around and used my boots to glide backwards while burst firing, sending rounds into the clustered hordes and doing what I could. 

Despite moving backwards and continuously shooting I was able to navigate through the trees and terrain just fine. My Aura, able to visualize everything around me by itself, kept me on a proper path. 

In time we ran deeper into the forest, as did the hordes. However, despite whittling them down, my anxiety grew. 

That’s when I realized how horribly on edge I was. It had just been so high that I stopped noticing it, like tinnitus. 

My heart was pounding as I noticed the sun start to come up, light seeping between the trees. In response, the massive folded leaves started to unwind, creating a solid canopy that drank the light. 

It was bright white, clean and pure as if it came from an angel. 

It was soft on my skin. I didn’t know how but it made my skin comfortable. It made my skin soft. 

It made my skin so smooth. It made my skin soft even though my coat was comfortable it made my skin peel. It was cold but it made my skin soft. It made my skin boil even though it made my skin soft. It made my skin melt off my bones but it made my skin soft. 

It made me cry. It made me happy for my birthday. It made me vomit. It made me happy for the funeral. It made me scream. It made me happy for her death. 

It made me happy. It made me happy for his mutilation it made me happy. It made me happy. It made me happy when my mom died it made me happy. It made me happy that my brother vomited his heart it made me happy. IT MADE ME SO HAPPY. It made me happy how I ripped out Umara’s trachea with my teeth it made me happy. I LOVED BEING HAPPY.

I needed the light for love. 

Go toward the light. 

I needed to drink the light for healing. 

Go toward the light. 

I needed to peel my skin for the light.

Go toward the light. 

I needed to open my arteries for the light.

Go toward the light.

I was bleeding for the light. 

Go toward the gun. 

I was dying for the light. 

Pick toward the gun. 

I had to die for the light.

Pick toward your gun.

I would die for the light. 

Pick up your gun.

The voices were loud. The light was bright.

Pick up your gun.

The light smelled like rotting fluids.

PICK UP YOUR GUN.

The light was pulling me toward a pool of my ROTTING FAMILY.

LEVEL YOUR GUN.

I needed to shoot the ROT of my FAMILY. 

DEFEND AGAINST THE LIGHT.

I needed to SHOOT THE FUCKING LIGHT.

LUX MENTIS MEAE OCCIDERE.

WAGE WAR AGAINST THE LIGHT.

I opened my eyes within the bulwark of my Mind Palace. All around me was light, and within the light were monsters. 

Unholy Light. 

My eyes burned as I looked around and saw the monsters tearing at the walls of my Palace, my Stronghold. The walls were melting, but they were holding. I could feel the sting in my brain, like those walls were my flesh, fleshy claws tearing at them with acid. 

My heart rate skyrocketed as I realized what was happening. Beyond my Mind Palace I could see my friends a distance away, the light washing over them, tainting their minds. 

They were trying, but they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves in time. I needed to help them. 

I was the master of the mind. I would not allow monsters to defile the minds of those in my presence. 

So I reached out, into the minds of everyone around me. Umara, Feiden, Tana, Polly, Jasmine, Jaya, Harsha, Simeon, Ephras, Nonnen. 

I reached into their minds, forcefully, breaking past their defenses with the power of my illusions. They tried defending against the monsters and they weren’t sure if it was me. 

I took the burden of decision away from them. I wrapped up their minds, I projected my own, and I placed them within the protection of my bulwark. 

They all appeared within my Mind Palace, all of them confused, some of them hurt. 

Then they all looked toward me, the monsters around my walls multiplying for every person who I had to protect. 

But I would protect them. I was the master of the mind. I would not let their minds be defiled. 

……

Umara barely realized what was happening. 

She wondered if she was going insane, and then she felt John reach out. He had cut through the insanity around her and she had let him pull her somewhere else. 

Next thing she knew, she was at the top of a massive base. When she looked around she saw things she didn’t recognize, and the reality of what was around her imposed itself unto her mind. 

She saw the walls made of Grade 5 Titanium Alloy, mounted with autocannons, missile launchers, large bore cannons, point defense, and anti-air turrets. It utilized radar arrays in order to guide surface-to-air intercept systems, all culminating in an Iron Dome Defense System.

They weren’t weapons that existed in this world. 

She looked and saw the others with her. Everyone from her squad to Polly and Jasmine were present within the protection of this bulwark. 

It was protecting their minds from the hundreds of thousands of monsters outside. They were supposed to only be visualizations but regardless of how it looked, John was going to singlehandedly defend against the mental corruption of the light. 

She looked at him. He looked as he normally did, his face twisted in rage as he overlooked all of the monsters clawing at the walls. 

Then, he screamed.

“FIRE!”

Every weapon across the walls exploded in unison. Autocannons roared as bullets drove through the monsters at several thousand rounds per minute, reducing their targets to slush and red mist. Missiles and artillery fired volleys into the hordes climbing on top of each other mindlessly. Everyone could feel the ravenous hunger and greed of the monsters. 

They could also hear their cries. 

They could hear the voices of their families and friends, children and loved ones all screaming in pain and agony as if they were the ones being cut down by these mechanized machines of death. 

The artillery was merciless. Each shell delivered Sarin Gas, a potent nerve agent capable of killing a subject within 10 minutes of inhalation via respiratory paralysis.

The missiles and large bore cannons delivered high explosive payloads, dozens of monsters being blasted to chunks with every explosion. They came from all sides, unceasingly, despite the begging cries from them to cease the pain and suffering. 

There was no mercy in John’s actions. Even when some of the monsters came to them with the images of family, he slaughtered them all. 

Umara’s eyes fell on all the weapons he used. They were death made metal, delivering such volumes of devastation that she had a hard time fathoming it despite the results being right in front of her. 

Then, John turned to her, to all of them. 

“I am the master of the mind! My War Machine will not fall! So go and do battle!”

The sky started to darken with his words. He pointed up. 

“The Black Forest gives us darkness. The Spirits give us aid! Use them, and slaughter those of the Unholy Light!”

With his words their consciousnesses were shifted. 

Umara’s eyes snapped open. She realized that she was lying on the floor, completely unscathed. 

When she looked up, she saw the others, all of them close by her, clustered together and being guarded by a large group of Flickers. 

They came in all shapes and sizes, Umara recognizing Pup among them, tearing apart a new enemy. 

Umara recognized them too from the descriptions John had given her. They were supposed to be called Flesh Bugs, disgusting entities created by the King of Unholy Light. With but a touch they were able to kill and transform their victims into more of themselves, conglomerations of bone and organs, amalgamations of endless suffering and sorrow. 

They would come to you with the voices of those you loved, come to you in their defiled image, to tempt you and make you lower your guard. Umara saw her vision straining when she saw some of their figures. She saw some of the Flickers tear apart her sister limb by limb, but John’s mental defense continued to kick in, erasing those images and revealing them for the horrors they were. 

These enemies weren’t as powerful as the real deal, she thought. She had a hard time using her Aura to its fullest but she knew there wasn’t a King in the area. 

Instead, she looked in the distance, through the darkness created by the light drinking canopy of the Black Forest, and saw a demon. 

It was dressed in silver armor, with wings of feathers radiating pure white light. It looked like an angel, told observers that it was an angel, that it was here to bring happiness and eliminate their pain. 

But it was a mere mockery, a devil that tempted them, wanting for nothing but their death so it could twist them into a perversion of life. Unfortunately, it was also sitting at Authority 11.

She stood, as did the others. Her hand grasped her foci and she started preparing spell templates. Her Aura was limited, a chunk of it being occupied by John so he could protect them, but it wouldn’t stop her from fighting. 

She looked back at him, seeing his golden eyes wide open and bloodshot. He was fighting against the mental powers of that Authority 11 by himself, for all of them, and yet he was still standing, ready to raise his weapon and continue slaughtering those flesh bugs. 

She didn’t think it was possible but he started giving commands, though she noticed he couldn’t seem to move. 

“Everyone run! Get the fuck up and start running! We can’t get pinned down!”

They all seemed to snap to attention, as if they hadn’t realized they were in the middle of a heated battle. 

She heard John again, not on the outside, but within the Command and Control Center of his Mind Palace. 

“Nonnen!”

She thought he was going to tell him to fight back that King Blood. 

“You need to get to Stronghold Charlie, bring back a Marshal!”

“What?”

Nonnen looked at him, baffled. 

“No, that thing will slaughter you all.”

“It won’t! It’s just playing with its prey right now. It transformed all those monsters into those flesh bugs, and it wants to watch us suffer. Take advantage of its pride and go get a Marshal! The Stronghold is only 11 miles away!”

“No, John.”

“You need to listen to me!”

John suddenly rose and grabbed Nonnen by his armor. 

“Go get a fucking Marshal! That’s our way out! We will be its prey while you go get the only thing that can fight it!”

“Get your hands off of me.”

Nonnen ripped John off of him before pushing him away. Then, he suddenly disappeared from the Mind Palace, over half the monsters beyond the walls vanishing with him. John was no longer fighting Nonnen’s battle. 

Umara saw him ease massively, pushing back the monsters instead of barely fending them off. 

In the real world John became mobile again, turning to face Nonnen a small distance away. 

“Don’t do this now! You’ve listened to my plans for the last year! If there was ever a time you needed to trust me, it’s now! Just do as I fucking say!”

Nonnen remained silent, adjusting his helmet before raising his sword, letting out a long breath. 

“You’re right. It’s about time.”

His Aura bloomed across the blade, and then Umara felt the Magika in the atmosphere ripple. 

Her eyes widened, goosebumps erupting across her skin. 

Authority 11 advancement. 

“NO!”
John’s screams rang for but a second before he suddenly started firing again. His machine gun swept through all the flesh bugs that the Flickers were holding back, so much hatred and power behind each bullet that, no matter their Authority, they were reduced to gore. 

Umara noticed a huge chunk of her Aura free up. John was going all out, and she needed to be there with him. 

She moved forward and cast her spell, floating through the air above the line of Flickers and creating a small sphere of flame, so compressed that it looked like a sphere of yellow hot metal. 

Then she imbued it with the power of space, blood streaming down her face as all the mana around her was sucked into her spell, leaving the surroundings void. 

Darkness enveloped the sphere of fire, compressing it even further, surrounding it until not a drop of light leaked. 

Then, she released her hold on the fire, opening up a tiny hole in the sphere of space. 

It was like a laser, white hot light beaming across the landscape under her guidance, sweeping across their front, across the King Blood, across all the trees. 

It lasted only a half a second, the light winking out, Umara falling back down to the floor, blood pouring down her face. 

The surroundings became completely silent. The flesh bugs half incinerated and cut in two. Then the trees started falling, the light from the King Blood washing over the area. 

Umara barely lifted her head enough to see the King Blood look around, and then laugh. 

<You all will know me, as I have known holiness. Come to my light. Be with your family.>

The light around it solidified, turning to a liquid before washing over all the collapsed trees. 

Umara watched as all the flesh bug corpses started flowing, like slime, conglomerating into a singular being. 

A mountain of flesh rose, the screams of the damned radiating from its writhing organs and muscles, uncovered by skin and oozing puss from the wounds of those it had taken into itself. 

Umara fell to a knee, staring at that thing, before buckling and vomiting. 

“KILL IT WITH FIRE!”

John yelled, Umara looking back up to find a new weapon strapped to his body. He raised a tube, and then flames bellowed from it, liquid fire washing over the monstrosity, sticking to its skin and incinerating it. 

The screams in the voices of her family were harrowing, the shrieks increasing as more fire coated its body. 

Then, two massive arms reached out, one of them slamming towards John and forcing him to jump out of the way. The other started attacking them, Flickers jumping away from the fire, others jumping away from the arm. 

Then, Nonnen moved in. 

His Aura became so dense that when he slashed out, the Magika in the atmosphere for a mile around followed. The King Blood hoisted its own weapon, the light radiating from it being sucked back into its body before solidifying around its blade to meet Nonnen’s attack. 

They clashed, the shockwaves of sheer magic power blasting debris from the forest into the sky, and thanks to Nonnen, not toward them. 

Umara noticed the massive flesh beast get weaker, no longer being supported by the King Blood’s light. She tried to stand up, tried to muster Mana, but failed as her head sent crippling pain through her body. 

Her hat condensed Mana around her as best it could, pulling on the reserves of Magika within the White Crystals attached to it. It helped her stay lucid, giving her body fuel to absorb. She had put all her power into that attack but it hadn’t quite taken all her energy. She just needed some time to recover. 

Her sense of danger suddenly spiked though, her neck tingling. She was suddenly grabbed, getting yanked out of the way just as Nonnen unleashed an attack on the King Blood. 

The deflected power from that attack washed over her previous position, gouging a massive trench in the ground 200 feet deep, the ground red hot with energy. 

She looked up and saw Feiden, his breathing heavy. 

“That was close.”

“Yeah…”

“John’s losing it. I don’t know what the fuck is going on but it looks like we’re committed. You should stick with Polly and Jasmine, keep them safe and recover.”

“…Alright.”

Umara nodded, deciding to swallow her pride and take the best course of action. She wanted to fight but she wasn’t in the position to, not until she had some time to recover. 

She got up, ignored the splitting headache, and ran over to Polly and Jasmine while Feiden entered the fight. She relieved Tana and Harsha, letting them follow Feiden while she stuck with the two a distance away. 

That’s when Jaya came running over, sliding to her side with a canister in her hand. 

“Here babe. Take this.”

“Thank you.”

She received a few pills from her, throwing them all into her mouth and cringing at the sour taste as they melted over her tongue. 

Still, they hit her system hard, rejuvenating her body and erupting with mana that washed through her from the inside out. It made her dizzy for a bit, Jaya grabbing her when she threatened to stagger and fall. 

“Thanks.”

“Sure. Just recover. I need to prepare my next attack.”

The two huddled, Umara recovering, Jaya messing with various concoctions. Umara thought it must’ve gotten desperate if Jaya was doing field alchemy. Then again, she hadn’t been able to prepare anything in a lab for over a month now. 

Sighing, Umara turned to keep watching the battle, noticing John preparing to do something. 

He continued to dodge the attacks of the flesh beast before suddenly creating distance. Then, within his Mind Palace, she saw him bring forward another weapon, the Mk 153 Shoulder Launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon, aka SMAW,

loaded with the Novel Explosive Thermobaric Warhead. 

She saw him hoist the launcher upon his shoulder after creating enough distance between him and the beast. Then, he yelled. 

“Clear the target!”

Harsha, Tana, and the two Snow Doves attacking the beasts suddenly backed away. While they were still flying back John launched the rocket. 

The backblast snapped behind him and the rocket went flying, sinking into a layer of the soft flesh before detonating. 

Umara saw half of the beast explode, flesh and guts erupting across the area and charred blood splattering over everyone in the vicinity. 

The beast fell, melting and starting to reform. Uamra gawked at the absurdity. How did anything survive that?

“Keep attacking! Kill it!”

Harsha, Tana, Simeon, Ephras, and Feiden all jumped back in to attack alongside the remaining Flickers in the area, John staggering back as the launcher disappeared from his shoulder. His gaze was on Nonnen in the distance. 

Umara’s eyes suddenly widened with another burst of danger sense, instincts taking over as she immediately made the most powerful barrier she had ever conjured. 

John’s voice echoed in all their minds. 

“GET DOWN!”

There was a flash of light, liquid power shooting over from the King Blood and washing over the flesh beast. The flesh bubbled before suddenly exploding, every scrap of blood, muscle, organ, and bone erupting in a shower of white light. 

Umara and Jaya looked away and ducked over Polly and Jasmine, yet they were lifted up and tossed anyway. They flew into the distance and hit the ground, tumbling several times before slamming into a tree, the force shattering Umara’s barrier. Thankfully the force was eaten, saving them from the worst of it. 

Umara shuddered as she felt a broken rib, hearing both Polly and Jasmine cry out in pain, Jaya nearby and groaning. She ignored them, looking back, knowing that if they were crying, they were alive. 

She sensed John, turning to him where he lay a distance away, on his feet, his coat’s enchantments flashing purple. He stared forward, Umara’s gaze turning. 

She felt fewer presences than before. 

She looked into John’s Mind Palace, at those that were still there. 

She was relieved when she saw Feiden and Tana. However, she could no longer see Harsha, Simeon, or Ephras. 

Her heart constricted when the light cleared, looking out to find nothing. 

Nothing remained of the flesh beast. She couldn’t see any bodies, only scraps of metal across the floor from armor, and even those were sparse. There weren’t even the body parts of the Flickers. Thankfully, Umara’s Pup had somewhere to retreat to, but even he was injured. 

Everyone else was gone. 

“FUCK!”

John cried out, looking over at Feiden and Tana, who were a distance away, Feiden holding Tana. When he could only help one escape, he had picked her. 

John grit his teeth, turning back to watch Nonnen fighting the King Blood. Spells spawned into existence in the sky, raining down attacks from above that released towering explosions of poison and fire. There were thousands of them, the spells themselves so bright that it looked like daytime around them. 

Streaks of Vigor flashed, residual power from Nonnen carving scars into the planet. His attacks were so fast and so loud that their ears were screaming in pain, shockwaves of sound slamming off the collision of their attacks. 

Their battle was epic, but besides the flashing obvious none of them were able to make much sense of what was going on. The light coming off the King Blood was so blinding that they couldn’t see Nonnen’s figure, with eyes or Aura. 

No matter what though, it wasn’t good for him. He had advanced on the spot, giving up his only chance to break the Great Barrier, but at best he was still only a fresh Authority 11. And he was up against an Authority 11 King Blood. 

It wouldn’t end well, and it would be ending soon. 

John shouted. 

“Feiden! Can you get to the Stronghold within the next 30 seconds?!”

Umara glanced at Feiden as he frowned and pondered. He was silent for 5 whole seconds. 

Crossing 11 miles in just 30 seconds was something extremely few could do. Feiden would be warping there, but doing such a thing might actually kill him. It would certainly take everything he had, especially since he was already tired and battered. 

Yet, after those 5 seconds, he nodded anyway. 

“Yes.”

“Get there, alive, and send a Marshal to us!”

<You will go to no place but the embrace of your family.>

A voice suddenly echoed in their minds, and light washed over them. 

They looked around, once again in John’s Mind Palace. Except now, instead of it being attacked by flesh bugs, the King Blood stood outside the walls, only slightly injured, its armor having suffered the brunt of Nonnen’s offensive. 

Nonnen stood before it, his armor soaked in red, heaving for breath. 

All the weapons on the walls of the Palace snapped toward the King Blood, but didn’t fire. 

John stood from the command center and phased out, appearing on top of the wall where he overlooked Nonnen. 

All three parties were silent, locked in the space of their minds. Despite being in an abstract place, their battle was very real. 

John’s face was contorted with rage, every barrel of every weapon glowing red with hatred around him. They could feel his wrath permeating the space, and he snapped. 

Suddenly, the surrounding expanse of white became a solid metal prison. John raised his head at it, all the turrets facing outward at the prison walls. 

“FIRE!”

They all screamed in unison, bombarding the walls with everything they had. Autocannons snarled with white hot rage as they spit fire and metal. Artillery sent bunker buster shells into the sky loaded with high explosives. Missiles flared across the atmosphere and slammed into the walls at supersonic speeds. 

He was trying to break down the King Blood’s lock on their consciousness, break out of the mind space so they could operate in the real world. He was giving everything he had to break through the prison it had put them in. 

“YOU WILL NOT CONTAIN ME! I WILL ERADICATE YOU AND GENOCIDE EVERY LAST THING THAT COMPOSES YOUR KIND! I WILL PURGE YOU WITH NUCLEAR FIRE! I WILL DELIVER UNTO YOU NONEXISTENCE!”

“In time.”

Nonnen muttered, his words carrying over John’s screams. 

“In time, I know you will.”

He said that while tossing a batch of pills into his mouth. 

Then, the Aura around him started to burn, igniting and transforming into an unknown power. 

He raised his sword, wreathed in flame, and swung down. The King Blood sucked back in its power and mustered its weapon, dozens of complex spell formations in between them, meeting Nonnen’s strike. 

The King Blood’s spells exploded on contact before its weapon shattered against Nonnen’s sword. Then, Nonnen’s sword crumbled to ash, fading with the wind. 

Everyone’s sights returned to the real world, where Nonnen stood before the King Blood with flames around his fists. 

That’s when he reached out, and they saw it. 

A golden barrier, one that manifested before Nonnen, intending to resist him. It released chains, all of them flying from another dimension and wrapping around his arm. 

They confined his strength, resisting his demand for more. They rejected his use of a power beyond him. 

His flaming hand touched that Great Barrier anyway, and he pushed through, the barrier crumbling around his fingers and the chains snapping off all at once, allowing him to grab the King Blood on the other side. 

“I’m still advancing, asshole.”

He muttered again, his fingers wrapping around the head of the King Blood. It attempted to fight back but it suddenly looked like a child before the flaming Aura. 

Nonnen’s fingers dug into its skull, crushing bone as it pummeled his body. It grabbed Nonnen’s ribs, ripping them out, gouging out his flesh with sharp fingers, piercing his heart with a hidden knife, thousands of spells all around them flashing with brilliance before being disintegrated. 

Nonnen just stared it in the eye, his other hand grabbing the other side of its head. 

And he squeezed, crushing it, his Aura enveloping its body and snuffing out its poisoned soul. 

The King Blood went limp, Nonnen dropping it before falling to his knees. 

John ran over once the exploding powers faded, Umara mustering her energy to follow. 

He slid to Nonnen’s side, reaching out and then recoiling back when Nonnen’s Aura incinerated his glove and half of his hand. Just being near the man was dangerous, so much power condensed in his Aura that it wanted to defuse into anything around it, nominally ending up in nothing but destruction. 

The very ground melted around his body, yet after some time, John reached out anyway, kneeling in the molten ground, grabbing Nonnen’s hand. It threatened to incinerate his skin but the power was rapidly fading and John seemed to no longer care about how much power he had to expend. 

Nonnen smiled, his blood incinerating as soon as it left his body. 

“Don’t worry, kid. You’re worth the cost.”

“…No, I’m not. Nothing is worth this.”

“Hehe. Don’t be so… humble…”

Nonnen coughed, dust leaving his lungs as he let John’s hand go and reached over to his shoulder. 

His hand clawed into his own armor, ripping a chunk of it off. The metal fell off his palm, revealing a patch. 

The Snow Doves patch, a white dove on a blue backdrop. This one was embroidered with gold thread, the patch handcrafted with the finest materials. 

He put it in John’s hand before his fingers suddenly crumbled like brittle charcoal. 

“You’re the last… one. Just… remember us…”

“Always.”

Nonnen went silent as the rest of his body finally gave out, John clutching the patch in his hand. 

A few seconds after that, the flaming Aura suddenly disappeared, the ground cooling, John’s hand no longer at risk of being incinerated. The rest of the body went ice cold, blood no longer streaming from the wounds. 

Several seconds passed silently, Umara doing nothing more than standing to the side. John eventually stood up, whisking away what remained of Nonnen’s body into his storage. He did the same for the King Blood’s corpse, which was intact short of the crushed head. 

Then he turned. Umara noticed his face, no hint of sorrow or anger on it. Not even his Aura contained emotional turbulence. Everything pointed to him being perfectly fine. Perfectly neutral. And he gave his command, as if it were just another day on the battlefield. 

It made her heart run cold, tears escaping before she could force them down.

“Everyone form up. We need to get to the Stronghold.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep