Chapter 9

“We had him contained, he was fettered so extensively that no one human could escape them. Igmalperr was no human, he broke the chains and went into hiding. Some say he wasn't there physically and haunted us within our heads until he attacked again. He single-handedly brought us to our knees. The evil, vile flames will never exit my memory.”

-Quote from opposing general during Continental War

The night was filled with screams and the sound of battle as Nivra ran towards the city center. Nivra’s heart was beating extremely fast as he tried to figure out what was going on. Who would dare attack us and why? Nivra was deeply troubled and confused as he thought about the implications. Could it be the other continent? Nivra thought before dismissing the idea. The other continent would have to come by a massive amount of boats, and the Elano clan would have noticed right away. Nivra heard the sounds of battle close by so he increased his speed heading the direction the sounds were coming from. He arrived at the gates to the Atomo compound where he witnessed a battle between the city guards and the intruders. He rushed towards the battle, as he got closer he was able to make out that the intruders had Tokanoba’s emblem on their armor. Nivra’s mind went blank before an insane rage filled his heart and mind.

“Tokanoba!,” Nivra roared in utter anger as icy blue nimora began to violently swirl around him. The battle was in a stalemate till Nivra came charging in. Nivra closed the gap in mere moments before the Tokanoba soldiers even had time to react Nivra had already thrust out his spear. The spear tore through the air before it struck one of the Tokanoba soldiers ripping through his armor and plunging into his torso. Nivra violently swung his spear throwing the impaled soldier at another one of the soldiers. The two soldiers crashed into each other causing their battle formation to fall apart. The Atomo guards quickly gained the upper hand killing the remaining soldiers.

“Report, what is going on,” Nivra ordered

“Tokanoba has breached the city walls and is flooding the city with troops,” One of the blood covered guards answered.

“Gather with the other guard's squads and head towards the city center,” Nivra commanded.

“Yes sir right away,” the guards responded as they headed out. More sounds of battle began constantly springing up as the Tokanoba soldiers spread throughout the city. Nivra then heard a scream coming from the interior of the Atomo compound. Turning around Nivra saw a beam of light coming from a slight distance away. Recognizing the light as coming from Kreya’s familiar, Nivra decided to rush over. They seem to be targeting the compound, are they going after us Atomo specifically, Nivra thought with dread. Nivra arrived only to see a group of Atomo children fighting some Tokanobas soldiers. The children were in a dire situation Nivra could already see a few corpses lying motionless on the ground. Even though there was glass bamboo hiding the rest of the children, the soldiers quickly began destroying the bamboo.

“Die!” Nivra roared as dark black nimora began to surge around him. With a loud cracking sound the ground exploded as Nivra jumped towards the soldiers. Blue and black nimora rippled across the spear as Nivra swung it. The spear head struck one of the soldiers sending him flying into two other soldiers. The three soldiers all screamed in pain as the sound of broken bones echoed out.

“Sura, frost field,” Nivra commanded in an ice cold tone as nimora erupted from Nivra covering the remaining soldiers in frost. With the soldiers, movements slowed they were lambs to the slaughter as Nivra’s spear found each of their throats. Luckily they were all at the warrior stage, if there were a master stage like me it would not have been this easy Nivra thought as finished off the remaining soldiers. Surveying the area, Nivra noticed the two Atomo corpses. They were the only ones beside Kreya to form a familiar, they must have died trying to protect the others, Nivra realized. The glass bamboo shattered and then vanished revealing a group of kids.

“It's Nivra!” one of the kids yelled in excitement.

“What's going on, our parents left and told us to gather together,” Kreya asked stepping forward.

“It's bad, Tokanoba has betrayed us and is launching a full-scale attack. I don't think the city can withstand this we have to make our escape,” Nivra explained the situation. Hearing the news, the same children began to curse at Tokanoba while others began to tremble in fear.

“Before we leave I have something to do,” Nivra said turning to the two corpses. Holding out his hand a jet of fire shot out engulfing the bodies in flame. Within a few moments, all that remained was ash.

“Let's head to the harbor we will escape by boat. The city gates should be completely held by Tokanoba, going there would be suicide,” Nivra informed the youths. The kids nodded their heads in agreement. Nivra began to lead the kids towards the harbor luckily not running into any Tokanoba squads. As they entered into the harbor they were met with a squad of different soldiers.

These soldiers armors were, for the most part, lighter, and their weapons were cruder. Nivra seeing the people instantly knew the situation was worse than what he had thought. They are working with the Jasmine empire! How low will Tokanoba sink working with a slave hungry empire like Jasmine! Nivra cursed Tokanoba in his mind. In the middle of the poorly armored slave soldiers was a small group of more heavily armored. Those are the commanders I will have to distract them while the kids escape, Nivra began to formulate a plan. Nivra explained the plan to the children making sure they understood. The kids went and hid in a building close by following Nivra’s instructions.

“Alright let's get started,” Nivra said as he took out a large bow that was made out of bone. He then took out an arrow that was also made out of bone, he nocked the arrow and drew back the bowstring. Releasing the string the arrow shot out at a mind-boggling speed but was extremely quiet. The arrow pierced through two of the heavily armored soldiers before stopping suddenly when a man in a white rob caught it with his hands. Seeing the arrow stopped so easily made Nivra break out into a cold sweat.

“A Beeaijii arrow and judging by the force also shot with one of their bows,” The white-robed man said aloud while scanning the area. Looking at the white-robed man, Nivra noticed complex golden tattoos on the man's face. A noble from Jasmine is here that makes this more complicated Nivra thought to himself. Since someone like him is here all I can do is try to go all out, Nivra pondered while steeling his resolve. Nivra stepped out into the open holding tightly onto his spear he glared at the Jasmine soldiers. Seeing Nivra walk out the man in white flashed Nivra a creepy smile.

“An Atomo is it, why don't you surrender I promise your life as a slave will be very comfortable,” The man said in a self-assured tone

“Let's see if you have capabilities to back up your insane speech,” Nivra sneered in disgust. An Ice blue portal opened up behind Nivra, as Sura came out of the portal. With a loud hiss, Sura lunged at the slave soldiers without warning. Seeing the squad of soldiers being distracted by Sura, Nivra charged at the man on white. The man in white seeing this simply smirked.

“Pointless, you are just running to your death,” the man sighed as he also charged forward. Nivra thrust his spear and the man sent out a fist. The fist collided with the spear point causing a mild shock wave. The impact caused Nivra to slide back tens of feet while the man in white was unmoved.

“Don't you see the difference now, why remain stubborn when it's futile,” The man questioned in a haughty tone. Nivra simply glared at the man, his eyes filled with killing intent. Nivra simply stayed stationary waiting for the man to make a move.

“Waiting for your familiar to come help? Does that mean you are only at one familiar? You would Need to have at least three formed familiars to face me,” The man said with a laugh. “If you aren't going to make a move then I will,” the man stated as his body shot forward. The man threw a punch straight at Nivra’s head intending to kill him. Nivra moved the shaft of the spear in front of the fist, the two collided causing the spear to almost jolting out of Nivr’as hand. The man then slammed a fist into Nivra’s chest before he had time to react. Nivra flew into a nearby wall from the force but seemed mostly unharmed.

“You must have a refined armor under your clothes,” The man stated looking at his fist in surprise. “If that's all you have though it's still not enough to change your fate,” he continued to ramble on.

“Don't worry about me you should worry about yourself,” Nivra said as he pointed his spear at the man. The spear head began to glow white before releasing a white mist. A stream of white mist suddenly leaped from the spear flying straight at the man in white. The man swatted at the stream with the back of his hand. When he struck the mist stream, it exploded sending mist everywhere. The man frowned as he raised hand into the air, his hand turned to gold and enlarged to the size of a human torso. The man swung his hand attempting to clear the mist, but the mist only became thicker. Suddenly a spear appeared behind him he quickly used his enlarged hand as a shield. With a spray of sparks, the spear struck then quickly retracted back into the fog. The spear continued to lash out unpredictably from the fog ruthlessly striking at vital points. The man was now getting frustrated with being unable to break free of the fog.

“That's it! You have pushed me too far, you brought this on yourself,” The man yelled as his body began glowing with a golden light. The man's body enlarged rapidly as his entire body turned golden. He grew to be about fifteen feet tall and seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. With an ear-splitting roar, the golden giant lifted his foot and slammed it into the ground. The force of the stomp turned the ground into dust and blew away the fog. The giant looked around and spotted Nivra staring coldly at him with Sura wrapped around him.

“Enough probing, it seems you're a grandmaster that uses metal nimora,” Nivra stated seeing through the enemy's strength.

“You sound confident, but you can only be a master at the most,” the giant man responded. Nivra simply smirked as a white glow sprung up around him. Sura then disintegrated into an ice blue mist and seemed to fuse into the white aura. The white aura turned blue and became extremely dense and robust. The aura then compressed and began sinking into Nivra until it completely disappeared. Nivra’s appearance had drastically changed he now had icy scales on his arms, and a pure white horn had sprouted from his head. Along with the physical was a terrifying transformation of his aura. It now exuded a truly fear-inducing quality. The gold giant stared in shock trying to grasp what had just happened even with all his experience he had never seen something like this.

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“Now, go now!” Nivra yelled loudly. The children then rushed out of their hiding spot running with all their might towards the giant warship. The golden man looked at the children as a murderous glint flashed through his eyes. He turned as if to go after the kids.

“You truly are stupid to turn away from your opponent,” Nivra mocked as his body seemed to blur. Nivra seemed to instantly appear in front of the gold man. Nivra thrust his spear so quickly the man could not react in time. The spear struck his chest with a loud screaming sound the gold man was knocked back. The man felt ice cold nimora rampaging through his nimora channels, attempting to freeze and shatter his channels. He desperately used his own nimora to counteract the icy nimora. Within only a few moments he had the situation under control.

“What kind of perverse technique are you Atomo developing to allow for this transformation,” The man asked in fear. Nivra did not respond instead charged at the man once again. The man gave a great roar and threw a huge fist at Nivra. Before the fist could arrive, Nivra moved to the side swinging his spear. The spear struck the fist on the side knocking it off course. Using the rebound, Nivra smashed the butt of the spear into the gold man's head attempting to inject his ice nimora. The man took a few steps back from the impact but smiled as he had used his nimora to prevent the icy invasion. Before he had time to gloat Nivra was already relentlessly attacking him. Nivra thrust his spear when suddenly six spear shadows spread out from the spear. Seeing the shadows, the man decided not to take the attack head on so he jumped trying to avoid it. The attacked missed as the gold man fell towards Nivra with his fist cocked back ready to strike. Nivra then swung his spear upwards as the six spear shadows merged back into the original spear. The spear suddenly accelerated it struck the man squarely in the chest. With a loud ripping sound, the man was sent tumbling to the ground. When the man landed, he notice a thin line on his chest that began to slightly bleed.

“You acutely broke my metal body with brute strength, I can not allow a freak like you to live,” the man said feeling disturbed. The man then began to glow golden again as sharp blades grew on his forearms. He then charged at Nivra fully intent on killing him. Nivra then steeled himself for the decision he knew he must make. His heart ached at the thought of throwing away wealth, but you can't enjoy wealth if you're dead, he tried to convince himself. With the gold man arriving before him, Nivra released a large amount of fog quickly vanishing from sight. With a roar, the man attempted to disperse the fog again but the fog only slightly stirred.

“It's useless, you are going to die here,” Nivra said hidden with in the fog.

“You can only hide, you're unable to defeat my defense,” the man said in annoyance. The fog began to violently seethe, as an acute sense of danger overcame the man.

“Too bad you won't have time to realize how wrong you are,” Nivra’s mocking voice echoed around the man. The fog suddenly contracted into a single point at the tip of Nivra’s spear. Nivra was directly in front of the man with his spear shining with an unstable light.

“No! You madman!” the man screamed in panic. Before the man could react Nivra threw the spear nearly point blank as he rushed backward. As the spear struck the man a blinding blue light exploded out completely covering him. The light lasted for a few seconds with constant cracking sounds sounding out from the light. As the light cleared an ice covered crater was left in the wake of the attack. In the center of the crater was the man, he had returned to his original form except his skin was now ice colored. Nivra slowly walked to the man he noticed the man was still barely alive.

“You made me sacrifice my artifact consider it your good luck I don't have time to make you pay,” Nivra said looking downcast.

“You truly are crazy, but it's already too late. You won't be able to escape,” the man forced out. Nivra took out his axe from his pendant letting the man see it.

“Go ahead, end it,” the man said in resignation. Nivra hefted the large axe and with a swift cut severed the man's head. Nivra then climbed out of the crater he looked towards the ocean. He saw the battleship on the horizon quickly moving away from the city. I need to get out of here that light will attract attention, but where should I go? Nivra began to rack his brain. Nivra came across a solution after thinking for a few moments. I will have to get near the city center in order to get out of here. Nivra began to run towards the city center as the sounds of battle were beginning to die down.

“Who goes there,” a soldier yelled spotting Nivra. Nivra started to run faster attempting to escape. More shouts came from all around him, he was boxed in by soldiers. There goes my idea of sneaking out of here Nivra lamented. Withdrawing his axe he picked a street and charged in. A squad of Tokanoba soldiers was waiting in formation. They all had circular shields and thick sabers, they stood in an orderly line as they advanced through the street. Black nimora began to wrap around the massive axe as Nivra rushed the squad of soldiers. The soldiers raised their shields and began to charge at Nivra. With a mighty swing, the axe splintered shields and sent the first line of soldiers flying. The scale mail and shields were unable to protect the soldiers causing most to die on the spot. The soldier's formation was ruined by a single swing of Nivra’s great axe.

One of the soldiers in the back of the formation lashed out with his saber. The saber struck Nivra in the chest driving him back. The soldier continued to press the attack not giving Nivra a chance to retaliate. Nivra suddenly had a terrible premonition as he felt a ripple of nimora pulse from behind the squad of soldiers. It's a mind tapper Nivra thought in alarm as he began to feel the situation was getting worse by the second. Out of nowhere an orb of lightning formed in the air above the soldiers. Nivra’s face paled as he channeled Nimora into his axe causing a the axe head to emit a black glow. The ball of lightning rapidly intensified before it seemed to reach its peak. Nivra swung his axe just as the lightning orb released what seemed to be an endless amount of lightning bolts towards Nivra. As the axe was being swung the axe head expanded to the size of a full-grown man. As the enormous axe collided with the lighting, it seemed to devour the lightning.

“Watch out he is a earth or metal tapper He can suppress my lightning!” the mind tapper yelled.

“Just tie him down long enough for the other squads to arrive,” another soldier commanded. The ball of lightning began to brighten and intensify yet again. Seeing the situation sink into a stalemate Nivra became increasingly desperate. Time to throw caution to the wind Nivra decided as he was left with little options. Charging forward the axe begin to glow yet again as Nivra swung it straight down onto the road. The axe cut into the solid road embedding it deeply as Nivra used the momentum to launch himself into the air. Taking out his bone bow quickly located the mind tapper at the back of the squad. He rapidly fired an arrow while he was airborne aiming to take out the mind tapper. The mind tapper saw this and tried to dodge to the side. The arrow missed the tappers vitals but still struck him in the leg. With a scream, the tapper collapsed causing the lightning orb to vanish.

“The rest of you can go die now,” Nivra said in an icy tone as he landed next to his axe. Ripping the axe out of the ground Nivra easily cleaved a hole in the shocked soldier's formation. Nivra quickly escaped heading deeper into the city as he was being chased by an increasing amount of soldiers. Nivra was lucky in the fact that he had not run into any master or grandmaster stage tappers. He was eventually cornered by the immense amount of soldiers. Black Nimora was raging around Nivra, the more he swung his axe and battled the fiercer the Nimora seemed to get. The speed and force of his axe kept increasing as he slaughtered his way closer to his destination. Nivra was covered in blood some his own from the multiple small wounds covering his body, but most from the enemy soldiers.

“So it was a kid causing this commotion,” an old lady wearing a simple gown said as she seemed to appear from the air. Nivra’s eyes contracted as he felt the intense pressure this woman gave off.

“Who knew an exalted sovereign would take part in this,” Nivra sneered in disdain.

“Child, you should just accept your loss and enter the cycle peaceably,” the old woman said.

“I don't think it is my time, but you're old and should be on your way,” Nivra rebuked.

“Seems you won't go on your own so let me do the honors and send you back into the cycle,” the woman said with a sigh. She began to move stopping suddenly as a black glow erupted out of Nivra. Nivra began to laugh insanely as his aura reached its peak.

“You better hope you never meet me again because the day you do will be your last,” Nivra yelled in a hoarse voice.

“Stop him,” the old lady commanded as she darted at Nivra.

“Shufen!” Nivra shouted as the black nimora gathered forming into a titanic elephant. The elephant was black like obsidian with sharp blades jutting out of its body. As Nivra swung his axe, Shufen also swung his trunk. Both axe and trunk smashed into the ground at the same time. The axe cracked and shattered as Nivra detonated the artifact unleashing all of its power on one blow. Shufen used all of its massive strength fading away when the blow landed. With the combined blows of Nivra and Shufen, the earth split open and erupted outward causing a crevice to form. Nivra fell into the crevice losing consciousness due to overusing his nimora. As Nivra fell into the crevice blue nimora covered him as he landed into an underground river that swiftly carried him away.

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Kagu was lying on the ground after getting hit by Svolik’s artifact. He stood up slowly before a soul-wrenching pain shot through his body. Resisting the pain Kagu stood all the way up and began to inspect his body. There was a strange force in his body that was rapidly disintegrating his existence. Kagu sent nimora to try and expel the strange force, but found he couldn't, nimora could only slow it down.

“You're done for Kagu, there is no way out for you,” Svolik mocked while laughing. Svolik looked at Kagu taking immense joy in his victory.

“I will make you wish for death you scum!” Kagu roared completely enraged. Kagus familiars howled as they burst into streams of flame that began to shroud Kagu. Wreathed in multicolored flames Kagu was able to dramatically slow down the rate of disintegration. Kagu then bolted towards Svolik with a primal roar, intending to tear Svolik apart. Svolik raised his artifact and shot out a blinding white beam directly at Kagu.

“Screw off!” Kagu yelled throwing a blazing fist at the beam. The flames easily fended off the beam making it scatter.

“How can you be this strong! Even my artifact is suppressed by you!” Svolik screamed in panic. Svolik attempted to retreat backward only for Kagus fist to slam into his chest. Svolik screamed in pain as he was knocked back barely able to stand. Svolik then raised his artifact yet again shooting another beam at Kagu.

“Keep relying on the artifact it will only make you easier to kill!” Kagu yelled as the beam was scattered by Kagus flame. Kagu continued to press the attack in an extremely aggressive manner. Kagu launched a punch at Svolik’s head in an attempt to end the fight. Svolik raised the artifact to block Kagus vicious attack. The punch knocked Svolik’s arm out wide, while also repulsing Kagus fist. Kagu then used his other hand to latch onto Svoliks other arm. Kagu then pulled, and with a horrific ripping sound Svolik’s arm tore off at the shoulder and engulfed in flames quickly burning to ash. Svolik let out a horrifying scream of pain and despair unable to bear the agony. Kagu then swiftly took the opportunity and grabbed onto Svoliks throats lifting him up off the ground.

“I told you I will make you beg for death, the fun starts here,” Kagu sneered at the extremely battered Svolik. Svolik began to convulse as smoke began to rise from his neck. Kagu was smirking as he enjoyed Svolik wriggled in agony when his smile froze and he dropped Svolik onto the chard ground. Kagus mind went completely blank as he felt a certain soul be snuffed out. He was extremely close with this soul allowing him to notice it even in a chaotic scene like this. This soul was his wife's, the only person he truly felt any passion for. The flames around Kagu became exceedingly chaotic and intense. Kagu had completely lost all reasoning as overwhelming hatred engulfed him. He stopped fighting the strange force in his body as the flames around his body exploded outward. His eyes were filled with insanity, and a boundless rage as the multicolored flames began to spread out forming a sea of fire. A towering pillar of flame was surrounding Kagu as it pierced into the sky. Svolik retreated as fast as he could as waves of flame enveloped him. The space near the flaming pillar began to shatter and melt annihilating everything in the area. The flaming sea spread out burning down hills and mountains turning the area into a desolate plain of ash. After what seemed like an eternity the ocean of flame subsided, and the blazing pillar vanished. All that was left where Kagu stood was a massive molten crater and silence.