Chapter 144: 144. Dawn of War

Dawn broke with a reddish and purple sky over Nexus Prime.

Smoke rose from the harbor where the first rifts had opened. Most of the streets that had been crowded with civilians evacuating were empty now, replaced by ranks of hunters who had been preparing for this moment since Solhart’s warning.

They stood at the city’s edge, facing the plains where Vorthraxx’s vanguard was gathering. Thousands of them. Hunters from every guild, every rank, every corner of the human continent. The Crimson Fangs in their red coats. The Confederation in their battle-scarred armor. Gate Zero with their gleaming weapons and artificers. Glory Road at the center, with Solhart at their head.

The demon army stretched across the plains like a tide. Demonic beasts with too many limbs and too many eyes. Demons in battle formation, their purple skin slick with the corruption that had been building in their sealed continent for a thousand years.

Jacob Gardner stood at the Crimson Fangs’ front line, his blazing sword already drawn, his red hair catching the light. The Beautiful Blazing Sword had been waiting for this fight since he first heard the Desecrator’s name.

“Steady…” he called to his people. “…Let them come to us.”

Seth Freeman cracked his knuckles beside him. The Confederation’s vice guild master had traded his usual shirt for combat gear, his white markings standing out against his dark skin. His guns were holstered at his hips with his fists clinging to knuckles.

“They’re not going to wait long…” he said.

And as if in answer, the demons charged.

—

The battle erupted across every continent at once.

In the beastfolk lands, Sael stood at the rebuilt gates of Vashari, her spear raised, her warriors forming a wall of fur and steel behind her. The demons that had poured through the rifts in the eastern mountains were met by lion-folk, wolf-folk, bear-folk who had spent five months preparing for this day. Sael’s transformation into a giant lion form blazed gloriously as her claws tore through demon after demon.

In the elven forests, Sylnara commanded from a ridge overlooking the blighted woods. Her archers fired in waves, their arrows enchanted to seek demon hearts filled the sky almost blocking out the purple-red glow with their green aura. Below, the trees themselves were fighting—druids who had taken the form of wolves, bears, great cats, anything with fangs and claws. Caelen moved through the chaos, his staff blazing with a light that burned corruption wherever it touched. The blight that had been seeded months ago was spreading again, but so was the healing.

In the dwarven mountains, Borin Ironfoot had abandoned his plans to seal the holds. Instead, his engineers had turned the tunnels into killing grounds. Demons who breached the outer defenses found themselves in corridors that collapsed, chambers that flooded with molten metal, passages that led nowhere. Hilda moved through the chaos, her devices calibrated to counter demonic magic, her axes finding throats whenever her inventions failed.

In the fairy glades, Asteria watched the battle unfold through a thousand eyes. Her children were everywhere, too small to target, too fast to catch, carrying messages, carrying poison, carrying death. The fairies had not fought like this since the first war, it was an experience they had wished to never experience again.

—

But the main battle was on the human continent. That was where Vorthraxx’s focus lay. That was where he had sent the most demons, the strongest generals, the heart of his army.

The allied hunters met them on the plains outside Nexus Prime.

Garreth Cross moved through the demon ranks like smoke. His illusion magic made him fifty men, a hundred, a thousand, each one cutting down enemies that couldn’t tell what was real.

Diane Pikewell stood behind the front lines, her Gate Zero artificers distributing weapons that glowed with enchantments, shields that could deflect demon claws, arrows that burned with a purifying fire. She had been preparing for this for months. Every guild, every independent hunter, every person who could hold a weapon, she had made sure they were well equipped.

And at the center, Solhart carved a path through the vanguard that no demon could close. His sword moved as fast as light, flowed through the filed like water, and crushed demons like a falling mountains. something that had been perfected over a thousand years of waiting. He did not shout. He did not rage. He simply killed, and kept killing, and the demons who saw him coming had fear striken into them.

—

The main party entered the fray at the battle’s height.

Yuki moved first, her katanas drawn, Uru a slime child on her back, her small arms wrapped around Yuki’s neck. A demon lunged for her, but she was gone before it could close, her [Phantom Step] carrying her through shadow to its side then…

Swoosh!

…Her blade opened its throat. Another came from behind but her [Battle Precognition] showed her its strike before it moved. She sidestepped, and Verida’s venomous blade found its heart.

Fwssshhhh!

A third demon swung at her from the side. She didn’t dodge. Imstead she activated beast Shift, and the flesh where the blade struck turned to gelatin. The weapon passed through her side like fingers moving through someone, then the opening retracted back into its sealed form.

“Uru!” Yuki said. “Shapeshift!.”

The child on her back dissolved into a blub then Tentacles erupted from her form, lashing out at the demons surrounding them, each one tipped with corrosive acid that ate through demon flesh. Then Uru reformed again, larger now, her [Dragon Scale Armor] glowed as it black and gold as it began warping around her form, then she wrapped herself around Yuki like an armoured suit.

Yuki’s [Beast Sync] activated. Her hand shifted, warped and became massive, a fist of gelatinous muscle and dragon-hard scales then She drove it through a demon’s chest.

Leah fought beside them, her [Pride’s Roar] shattering a line of charging beasts, her claws finding throats, her mane blazing with light that made lesser demons shy away.

Odessa’s Azure Sky Dragon dove from above, its breath freezing a dozen demons where they stood. Odessa rode, her [ragon’s Grace] skill doubling and tripling her Dragonkin’s power. Alfred was at her side when she landed, his shield deflecting a blow that would have crushed her, his counter sending the demon reeling.

Together, they carved a path toward the heart of the battle.

—

And above it all, in the sky that had turned from red and violet, two brothers faced each other.

Owen had transformed into his [juvenile dragon] form, his scales gleaming black and gold, his wings spanning the sky…

Vorthraxx rose to meet him.

He was in his humanoid form, small against the juvenile dragon’s bulk, but his presence filled the sky. His golden eyes caught the light that was bleeding through the clouds. His pale skin was threaded with purple veins that pulsed with every heartbeat.

“Brother…” Vorthraxx said. His voice echoing across the battlefield, loud enough for every hunter, every demon, every soul fighting below to hear. “…We finally meet in In person.”

Yes, this was their first true meeting, as the others were either inside the dungeon as Vorthraxx’s phantom from the past, speaking through azmireth’s amulet or the one time Owen peered into the prison realm.

Owen circled him. “You’ve been busy.”

“Do you like my Welcome gift?” Vorthraxx looked down at the battle raging beneath them. “Look at them. So small. So desperate. Fighting for a world that would keep on going without them.”

“People are dying.”

“People have always been dying. But, I can assure you, that now, they are dying for something that matters.” He spread his arms. “From up here, they’re just specks. Ants fighting over crumbs. Do you know what I see when I look at them, brother?”

“What?”

“Potential. A world that could have been so much more. Dragons were never meant to be guardians. We were meant to be gods. We could have shaped this world into something better, something that didn’t burn witches, didn’t seal its own people away, didn’t let people starve, didn’t let societies have a caste system, didn’t let children of sicknesses because their parents were too poor to afford healing, a world that didn’t let the Will decide who lived and who died because of its inconvenience.” His voice hardened. “But Father…and his father …and his own father…and so on and so forth….they all chose duty of remaining guardians. They all chose to serve their Preordained Purpose. Chose to let the world make its own mistakes, and now, we’re still paying for their choices.”

Owen’s fire built in his chest. “You’re wrong. Guardians protect. Gods consume. You’ve become exactly what you hated.”

“I’ve become what I had to become.” Vorthraxx’s form began to shift. His humanoid body expanded, scales erupting from his skin, wings tearing through his back, claws extending from fingers that had been almost human moments before. When the transformation finished, he was in an [Adult Dragon] form. Vastly larger than Owen’s current juvenile dragon form. His scales were black now, threaded with purple, but his eyes were still gold. “Now, the last guardian will die”

Their clash in the sky sent sparks flying everywhere.

Owen’s red fire met Vorthraxx’s purple fire. Dragon’s Breath against Dragon’s Breath, the collision lighting the clouds above them like a second sun. They broke apart, circled, came together again. Claws against claws. Wings against wings.

Owen had trained for this. Five months in the Tower of Royals. A concurrent run of Ninety-nine floors of combat.

But Vorthraxx had Grown way more than Owen did from when Owen fought him in the second story dungeon.

He drove Owen back across the sky, his strikes faster, harder, more precise. His void fire ate at Owen’s scales where his own fire could not penetrate. His claws found gaps in Owen’s defense that should not have been there.

But Owen held. He took the hits, weathered the assault, learned from every exchange.

They broke apart again, circling each other above the battlefield where thousands fought and died.

“Mhmm. You’re strong, I’ll give you that…” Vorthraxx admitted. “…But, Not strong enough.”

“Yeah well…you’re stronger too! But… uh… uhm…”

“…”

“…”

“?”

“Damnit. I dont have a good rebuttal!” Owen bit his teeth.

“Hah! Might you have the Sovereignty of ’the fool’!?” Vorthraxx laughed. “I haven’t had a good laugh in thousands of years brother! Thank you! And For that, I’ll build my throne with your bones, that way, I’ll always remember this moment whenever I sit upon you”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep