Al slowly rose from his meditative stance, unfolding his legs beneath him. His gaze descended to his left hand, where time etched soft wrinkles into his skin.
His brown eyes, weathered but wise, shifted to the red leather band snugly encircling his wrist. A flicker of intrigue entered his gaze before settling on the plain ring adorning his right hand.
"Two etheric shells, two distinct Wills," he mused aloud. A momentary pause hung in the air as he pondered the implications, "Though I've yet to breach the threshold of the Spirit Domain, my strength surpasses those who have. Still, it pales in comparison to the might I wielded with Midnight Abyss," he deduced.
Stepping out of the cultivation room, Al navigated through the lobby of his current floor and arrived at the elevator.
The metallic doors slid open with a soft hum, and he stepped in. The elevator smoothly ascended, carrying him to his and Elissa's floor.
The first stop on his agenda was his teacher Elissa's room. However, once there, the room's artificial intelligence, 'Butler,' informed him of her absence. "Let Elissa know I will be on the 450th floor detailing the effect of the cultivation room on Robert." Al left a voice message for Elissa and walked back to the elevator, now setting his sights on the highest floor of H.E.R.O. Tower.
As he strolled through the 450th floor, Al noticed an eerie emptiness surrounding him. The highest floor, usually bustling with activity, now lay still.
The glass windows that doubled as walls for the 450th floor had turned into screens displaying an unbelievable scene. A colossal creature, its size mind-boggling, was traversing the depths of the ocean. Intrigued, Al approached, his eyes narrowing at what appeared to be something out of a movie.
He focused on the monstrous entity dominating the screens. Its back resembled a mountain, and thousands of smaller flying creatures cascaded from the mountainous back, darkening the sky. He could make out Heroes who appeared like ants in the ocean and air. They kept at bay the darkening sky valiantly fighting the nightmarish swarm.
"Is that Hot Pyro!?" Al almost shouted as he recognized one of the Heroes. Al approached the screen and saw Hot Pyro standing like a miniature sun amid a sea of Heroes. They all seemed to rally around him. He alone cleared large swaths of the darkening sky.
After hearing Al's voice, two figures emerged from the main office on the floor. A.R.M. and Loh' Pohlieus cast puzzled glances in Al's direction.
A.R.M. quickly addressed Al's presence: "Robert said you would be in closed meditation for at least another month." The confusion in his and Loh's eyes mirrored Al's unexpected appearance.
Wearing a cocky smile, Al responded, "It's easier when you already have one of your Will's in the Mental Domain. Anyway, where's Robert? I wanted to let him know his room was a success. He's a damn genius!" His words rang with admiration.
Loh' exchanged a glance with A.R.M., their expressions bearing the weight of impending crisis. Loh' gestured toward the screen, drawing Al's attention to the looming threat heading towards New Ark City.
"You saw the calamity that is headed towards New Ark City. The way things are headed, A.R.M. himself will have to intervene. Whenever A.R.M. leaves the city, we have to implement some safety measures. That measure right now is Robert," Loh' explained, emphasizing the moment's urgency.
Al's gaze remained fixed on the screen, his curiosity undiminished. "What even is that thing? And why is it targeting New Ark City?" he pressed.
Loh' sighed heavily before delving into what they had uncovered: "It's the Rakh-ahtan blood that has been spilled over the earth since their first invasion. It managed to coalesce and morph into a 33,000 ft mass."
Loh' continued unraveling the grim reality before Al, painting a picture of the impending threat. "It behaves like a techno-organic hive mind that obeys the Rakh-ahtan. We assume they are about to launch their third and final strike on Earth,"
As Al absorbed this grim revelation, silence filled the room. "If I still had Midnight Abyss, could I stop something like this? Does A.R.M. stand a chance?" Al pondered as his eyes shifted towards the red-skinned, 7-ft metal god.
A.R.M., driven by a decisive resolve, cut through the tension with an interruption. "I will deal with this behemoth swiftly, then return to ready our people!" His declaration echoed in the expansive chamber.
The red metal god looked towards the ceiling, which was adorned with a depiction of a giant human-made arm reaching towards the cosmos. With a mere thought, A.R.M. opened a small aperture in the ceiling, revealing the fading light of the dying day.
In a godly display, A.R.M. levitated before soaring through the opening, streaking across the early night sky.
Left in the wake of A.R.M.'s departure, Al and Loh Pohlieus found themselves alone on the 450th floor. After a few moments of silence, the screen abruptly shifted to the West border of New Ark City, triggering an emergency alert.
The ominous wail of sirens filled the air as the unfolding scene revealed an army of thousands of Hybrids and dozens of Dark Acolytes marching toward the city's western border. Not far behind, the encroaching army of beasts followed about 100 holy men.
Each holy man was accompanied by their Light Acolyte, who quietly observed the moving army of Hybrids, which, for some reason, ignored the presence of the holy men. Despite what seemed like a storm brewing west of New Ark City, an air of calm filled the screen.
Loh's voice resonated with a weighty solemnity as he unveiled the disconcerting alliance forming against them. "The Rakh-ahtan and Dark Acolytes have teamed up against us, and the Church of New Light looms like a vulture, waiting to devour our remains," he declared. The echoes of his words carried the burden of witnessing his homeland, Tonovia, succumb to a similar fate.
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However, in the face of this looming darkness, Loh' found solace in the strategic preparations he and Robert Sullivan had meticulously crafted over time. Together, they had foreseen such a moment, and their readiness materialized in the form of A.R.M. – a synthesis of Tonovian and human ingenuity, a guardian crafted to withstand the impending storm.
The emergency broadcast continued its grim narrative, projecting the unfolding crisis onto the expansive screen. As Heroes began appearing on the screen, charging towards the army of beasts, Elissa entered the 450th floor.
She was wearing the brown suede dress she had worn to the Alchemical College graduating class. “Where’s everyone?” Elissa asked out loud.
Al's gaze lingered on her. A fleeting moment of familiarity entered his mind—a garden in the earliest spring of his memories.
"I wonder what Cesar, Jin, and Ellie are doing right now," Al pondered silently, a nostalgic thought interrupted by Loh's response to Elissa's query. "The Rakh-ahtan are making their move. They teamed up with the Dark Acolytes, attacking from the East and West. Unfortunately, the Church of the New Light is using this to their advantage,"
Elissa absorbed the gravity of the situation, her gaze shifting from the screen to Al. "Did you succeed?" she asked, to which Al responded with a triumphant grin and a thumbs-up.
"Good," Elissa affirmed, her determination clear. "I promised the Patriarchs of New Ark City that the moment you came out of cultivation, we were going to fix this problem you dragged New Ark City into with the Church of New Light." Al quietly nodded, aligning himself with Elissa's resolve.
Expressing gratitude, Elissa turned to Loh' Pohlieus and acknowledged the hospitality extended by him, Robert Sullivan, and A.R.M.
She explained their decision, gesturing towards Al, who stood beside her. "Al and I will be joining the Heroes in the Western Front,"
Before departing, Elissa addressed Loh' once more, sharing her suspicions. "I couldn't study Hero Death Mark, but I'm 80% certain that Carlinn Ioannis is Taczlopalic. His entire character fits who Al and I saw inside the memories of Ragjiel... Even if he isn't, you can't trust that man." With that, Elissa and Al walked away.
After the warning about Carlinn Ioannis, Elissa, and Al made their way out of the 450th floor, heading back to Elissa's room.
"I'm going to change out of this dress, and then we will leave for the western wall of New Ark City," she informed Al. His eyes lingered on the suede dress she wore, prompting a cheeky remark, "Someone enjoyed these past 5 months." Elissa scoffed in response, dismissing his comment as she walked into her bedroom.
Al waited in the living room, and through the closed door, Elissa began to share her recent experiences. "I was coming back from Carlinn's Alchemical College. You won't believe what I saw him do and what he tried to pull on me," she spoke in disbelief.
As Al listened to Elissa, talk about her encounter with Carlinn, who she thought was Taczlopalic, a peculiar expression graced his face. A stream of thoughts rushed through his mind, leading him to question his past perceptions of her.
"Was she always this friendly?" he pondered, recalling their initial meeting right after his best friend Mark had died. "When I first met her, she seemed cold and distant. Did I mistake her hope and optimism for coldness and callousness?" Al silently reflected, "Was my judgment being colored by my circumstances?"
Just as he delved into this introspection, Elissa emerged from her room, now adorned in her lightweight armor. Her black hair was elegantly tied up into a bun. Her smooth skin and dark eyes exuded an air of confidence that enveloped her.
"Butler Al and I will be going to the western wall. Get the Sled ready," Elissa commanded, her authoritative tone activating the room's artificial intelligence. In response, a black owl materialized and flew towards the seemingly solid wall of the room.
To Al's amazement, the wall lost its solid nature, becoming transparent like glass, revealing the night sky beyond. The once-solid structure of the room wall, composed of nanomachines, had now morphed into a floating silver sled outside the room.
With purposeful steps, Elissa walked towards the glass wall and effortlessly passed through it, hopping onto the silver sled. More like a permeable bubble, the glass allowed her to transition seamlessly. She turned back to Al, signaling him to join her on the back of the silver sled.
Al sighed in mild exasperation but complied, walking past the permeable glass and grabbing the end of the sled's rails.
Elissa smiled and teasingly remarked, "If you're falling off, don't be afraid to hold on to your teacher's strong arms, okay?" Al rolled his eyes at her words, responding with a dry retort, "That shit of me being your little student is going to have to stop."
Elissa laughed at his response, and with that, the sled took flight into the night sky, heading towards the Western Wall.
Taking the appearance of a Black Owl, Butler soared alongside the silver sled, a vigilant companion to Elissa. After twenty minutes of flight, the massive silver border wall encircling New Ark City appeared.
Thundering explosions lit up the night sky in the distance, signaling the intensity of the conflict unfolding. Elissa and Al approached the base of the Silver Wall by joining a fleet of other silver sleds carrying heroes.
"Look, isn't that Raging Stone?" Al pointed out as he spotted a familiar figure flying on his silver sled towards the wall. Elissa turned, realizing that, indeed, it was Raging Stone. However, he seemed different – his once rugged stone-like armor now appeared sleeker and more refined.
Landing their sled, Elissa and Al left Butler to care for the silver sled as they approached the gathering of Heroes. The crowd had gathered for a reason, and soon, the source of their assembly became apparent.
8 metal contraptions in the design of a pentagon stood nearby, teleporting Heroes one by one into the unfolding battlefield.
Elissa's sharp eyes identified Red Queen, the Hero overseeing the teleportation process, assisting others into the teleporters. "I doubt she remembers me." Elissa contemplated choosing not to address her.
"That's a contraption of the God Leafs!" Al mentioned, drawing Elissa's nod of confirmation. Joining the line for teleportation, Elissa unclipped her whip from her waist, and Al unsheathed his dual blades.
The air hummed calmly as the two battle-hardened cultivators readied themselves for the impending war.
Around them, the atmosphere was a mix of camaraderie and joking among the Heroes, with some sharing lighthearted banter about their activities before mobilizing. However, like Raging Stone, a few stood silent and stoic, their focus directed forward.
"Most of these Heroes are nothing more than genetically and artificially enhanced scientists. Do not rely on or expect any form of support from them," Elissa cautioned Al, who silently acknowledged her advice.
The two heroes stepped onto the teleporters alongside three others, preparing to be transported into the heart of the unfolding battle.