Chapter 48

In the blink of an eye, a penetrating force blew up one side of Jawran's jaw. Luke completely destroyed one of them and dealt it a heavy blow that was impossible to re-create. Luke's Cycles visibly lessened and blood started to leak out of numerous wounds around his upper twisted body that was his own doing. His right arm was also twitching, straining in the force that went out of his Rank.

Doing something so large left much to be desired, yet Luke went for size anyway. Brutish power was a good choice, though he struggled afterward and felt as if his cycling Arcana was in shambles like his complaining Arcalyst. He spit blood, took onto another Spot, and glanced at his Wavehammer.

A large hammer spike size of Luke's whole body crashed into Jawran, pushing it away. The spike soon returned to its normal appearance. Luke managed to recover it, and after whatever Jawran did, it ended up bashing far away while barely keeping its head and flight straight.

Even if blood and darkness soaked its flesh and dropped to the ocean, the battle wasn't over. Jawran roared again and bloody spikes flew from its open jaws in dozens of quivering shrieks.

Nothing would crash the results when Luke singlehandedly turned his Wavehammer and let it swirl when he used its gravity as his. He destroyed each incoming spike, while anything going through hit his protective waves. It was small armor, all things considered, with surprising deflective resilience.

Wounds came off as his choice, unfortunately. His Cycles had their limits and if he had to deal it a heavy blow, Luke had to shorten his defenses. Luke was glad that he wasn't that slow today. A single mistake of half a second would be fatal. His Arcana was getting low, so he aimed to finish it in the next few moments.

“Drop dead already, will you?” Luke grunted. Then, with a bothered expression, a much tougher and wider wave-like tail wrapped around his whole right arm, shoulder, and back. Then, the spikes stopped coming when Jawran hesitated.

Connected to his Wavehammer, waves and thick tails grasped Luke's flesh and muscles. Jawran gazed at that foe that crashed its jaw. It was feeling weaker. Where were the rest, it thought? Where was its Bliss?

Dark Fog started to wobble more and more and looked to be a hundreds-of-feet-wide storm. At this point, Luke didn't care about it and lifted his Wavehammer, now looking as if he was the one floating. The tail wave curled like a snake, tensing his arm and letting more blood escape, mixing with the blue.

Jawran struggled and roared before attacking again. The blood floated from its messed-up head, adding layers to its remaining jaws. Its wings were still there, so it decided to unleash them like two massive chopping blades that looked like two large maws.

“A last resort?” Luke smirked. “I have them too...”

The result remained defiant and subjective to a choice. Not for long. Large spike spread as its wings bent and its remaining jaws were like piercing and clasping claws. It struck forth but to no avail.

Luke looked at the Jawran calmly, flying a few dozen feet forward as he pulled his trump card.

“Crashex...”

Extending his right hand, he let the curled tail free and swung his Arcalyst before Jawran arrived. At that moment, Wavehammer changed its shape and became longer and thinner. A long-range cleaving strike cut the air and Dark Fog for nearly a hundred feet, giving his Arcalyst a new face.

It was a large battle axe with a much milder wave pattern and twice the size of his body. There was no Boom left. It made Wavehammer smaller in comparison, as it was thinner, yet wide and sharp. Jawran's jaws were cut and its wings barely retained their shape. Its head was halved, however, and its life relinquished in losing whispers of Madness. It lost its purpose today.

It started to waver and drop into the ocean, dead and without any speck of life left.

Luke glanced into the ocean, resting his Crashex on his shoulder. It was his strongest weapon, with a spear tip at the end of the handle, and two-edged blades thinning out at the ending point, just before the two, no, four end point of two blades. Shining in azure color, its power was his current maximum.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Tsh. In the end, I had to kill it with the same Rank Mold. Oh well.” Before Luke had time for regrets, he caught up with the falling Jawran and tossed his Crashex below it. Then, he jumped at the Jawran, and let Arcalyst reclaim its Spot in this realm. Large Jawran stopped falling, and he stood on it as if standing on a carpet. But the carpet curled down as Jawran crumbled, almost falling due to Arcalyst's smaller appearance.

Luke didn't complain and went to work by pushing his arm into this messed-up flesh.

“Luck in misfortune. I guess I will take this as a bonus reward for this mission,” he mumbled and tides of energy escaped from Jawran, flowing into Luke's Emblem where it would be purified and used as his. This took about half a minute thanks to his Arcalyst and slowly sizzling Jawran that was dissipating. Then he got up and swung his arm in the air, making weird notions and pointing to nowhere.

That went on for a few seconds because Luke was indecisive or curious about something in his System, until Jawran crumbled to dust, falling to the ocean like pieces of trash. Luke ended up back on his Arcalyst, standing with both feet on it, and didn't have to crouch.

“Oh, this is surprising. Nice.” He nodded and looked around. There was nothing.

Dark Fog disappeared upon Jawran's death and no other Dark was around. There might be some, but they were far away or nowhere near his level of detection or sight. Frowning, Luke still had some doubts but the ocean couldn't hide, or take anything. Horizon was also vast and there was nothing and nobody close. The boat long sank.

Luke saw some doubts over that Fog; he swore it didn't adhere to the Jawran at all and took it for a toy. Pterants died within a couple of motions, so that was weird. Why there weren't other Darks?

Calming his Cycles and heart, Luke ignored his messed up arm and wounds. He changed his Arcalyst back to his Cube because it was much more stable and quicker in flight; be it his Crashex or Wavehammer, they weren't ideal for flying.

Flying back to the distant helicopter, he wondered what William thought about this show he hadn't anticipated.

***

Before the Jawran arrived with its flock and Dark Fog, and before Luke unleashed his might, William took his drop to the ocean with a surprise. Why intercept the target, if they could fly away? This helicopter was clearly fast and good at it.

William was curious about what was to come, and most of Luke's team members were curious about it too. Zep took the reign over his curiosity and approached William. The co-pilot was enough to hover above the least likely distance of any potential attack, which was hundreds of feet up in the sky, which wasn't a lot.

Luke ended up looking small, but not like the vast approaching tide of Dark Fog was something simple or small. Quite frankly, it was way too big even from a long distance away. Luke would stop it, so the team was getting ready for anything wrong. The majority of safety was still up to Luke.

They still had Melia, who might be lower and younger than Luke, but her qualities were extraordinary due to her Shadow Element which was kind of rare. It had the power of concealment. Depending on the density, Shadows could become quite physical and strong, which made these Walkers versatile and powerful in many ways. Depending on the rate of Vectors or Arcana, they could become menace to Darks, who were the ones with the darkness.

Zep waited for Luke to be done with this fight because he couldn't possibly leave him there, even if he suggested it numerous times before. Leaving with this helicopter was the correct choice, however. In the worst-case scenario, everyone might die.

“How bad is it, Melia?” Zep asked her.

Melia wore a bothered face and didn't like Zep. She frowned at him and wished to kick his knees. “Bad? We are talking about New York City! It was a so-called experiment for me to do it, but... it didn't work well. Ultimate capacity in Dome of Chaos describes something good. In truth, it is far from being ultimate.” Melia scoffed at her luck, or him.

“So something above Ultimate capacity showed up? Seems like you got your answers for your current limits. Rejoice! You are still at Rank 4.” Zep laughed at her and she kicked his crouch. Zep dodged it and deflected a palm aiming at his chest.

Melia gave up upon seeing his grin. “Hmph. You jest. It could have been dangerous if I hadn't overwhelmed my Arcana. Be glad that I just Copied some strength of a fly.”

“Oh, I am glad. Really am. For a fly.”

Melia sighed and singlehandedly pushed a wave of a Shadow to hit his face. It moved through his hand and slapped his forehead.

William looked at both of them as if they were children. Why fight for nothing? “What was that bad?” he asked Melia.

“I don't know. Who did they send in that Fog? I don't want to know.”

“Yeah...” Zep lapped for breath and ended up sitting beside William, who was shifting in his seat.

“We shall see it very soon,” Melia approached a window facing the incoming tide because the helicopters changed angle.

It didn't take long for everything to unfold. Jawran's appearance was big enough to see, and the Dark Fog was crashing against the waves of the sea, and Luke. A small person moved against this storm. It was breathtaking and dark. Not everyone could see what was happening.

Zep used his communication device to talk to the co-pilot. “Igor, take the charge and remain in the position. Give the left side a better picture and take care of any tiny vermins. There is not just Jawran and that Dark Fog is at least at Rank 5! It's spreading quickly and far. Luke won't cope with everything alone. Maybe. Better not to take any chances.”

“Roger, Zeppy,” Igor replied with a similar accent as him.

Melia looked at him meaningfully. “Wanna crawl to ask my help?”

“Do you want an order instead? I am still your superior,” Zep said with a surprising amount of strength and stood up.

Melia smiled and gave up being herself.