Chapter Sixty-Eight: South

The darkened sky churned, streaked with blood-red lightning that crackled and hissed as it rained down in furious waves. Each bolt struck the ground with catastrophic force, leaving craters in its wake and molten rock exploding into the air, the sheer intensity enough to make the earth tremble. Each strike carried the raw power to level mountains, but the battlefield was eerily silent except for the storm and the maddened roar of Thyrex.

“This ends here, Sirius!” Thyrex bellowed, his voice reverberating through the storm.

A calm voice cut through the smoke and chaos. “Is that so?”

At the epicenter of the destruction stood Sirius, his spear planted firmly into the molten ground. The flickering glow of the lightning storm illuminated his figure, casting long shadows that danced across the battlefield. His expression was calm, almost bored, as if he had seen this all before. His violet eyes fixed on Thyrex with a steady, unimpressed gaze.

Thyrex snarled, summoning another torrent of crimson bolts that cascaded down with ferocious speed. Each strike was fiercer, more destructive, the entire battlefield quaking under the relentless assault. Thyrex’s laughter echoed through the storm, a cacophony of triumph and madness. “Yes! Burn! Break! Fall before me, Sirius!”

But Sirius merely sighed, tilting his head, his voice calm, almost mocking. “This is it?” he asked, the words cutting through the chaos like a blade. “This is your grand, unstoppable attack?”

The storm intensified, bolts raining down faster, leaving trails of searing light in their wake. The air itself felt like it was splitting apart. Another crimson strike surged toward Sirius, faster than the eye could follow. Yet Sirius, unfazed, raised his hand casually. As the bolt neared, he swatted it aside with the back of his hand, the lightning exploding harmlessly into the air.

“Is that the best you’ve got?” he said, raising an eyebrow, his voice laced with biting sarcasm.

Thyrex’s grin faltered, his laughter fading into an uneasy growl. His wild eyes narrowed as he stared at Sirius, standing unscathed amidst the storm. His fingers clenched tighter around his hammer, the weapon trembling slightly under the weight of his grip. “Impossible…” he muttered, disbelief creeping into his tone.

Sirius finally began to move, each step deliberate and unhurried, sending ripples through the molten ground beneath him. His fiery aura expanded with every movement, a storm of its own that clashed against the oppressive Madness surrounding Thyrex. “You talk a lot, Thyrex,” Sirius said, his voice calm but carrying an undercurrent of sharp disdain. “You swing that hammer around like it’s the answer to everything. But here’s the thing…”

He paused, tilting his head slightly as if pondering the absurdity of it all. "Your power isn’t enough to even scratch me." For all its raw ferocity, the storm dissipated harmlessly around him, its destructive fury rendered useless. To the untrained observer, it might have seemed like magic, but the truth lay in precision, Sirius’s unparalleled mastery of Hindo and his intricate understanding of physics.

Lightning requires stable channels of ionized air to conduct its charge, but by disrupting those channels, Sirius effectively short-circuited Thyrex’s storm. Each bolt fizzled and sputtered as it approached him, its energy unraveling before it could strike.

The Eternal Flame added to the chaos, radiating an oppressive heat that disrupted the storm’s convection currents. Thunderstorms feed on temperature gradients, but Sirius’s flames equalized the surrounding air, rendering the storm unsustainable. The flames didn’t merely burn—they stabilized the battlefield, suffocating the storm at its source.

To Thyrex, it appeared as if his mightiest attack was being effortlessly dismissed. But Sirius wasn’t just resisting the storm; he was unmaking it, dismantling its very mechanics. The crimson lightning that had once split mountains now fizzled into harmless sparks, unable to touch the gravitationally fortified inferno Sirius commanded.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Sirius stood unfazed, his spear casually resting over his shoulder as the remnants of Thyrex’s Crimson Lightning fizzled out in the air around him. His expression was relaxed, almost smug. “Let me break it down for you in a way even your ham-fisted brain might comprehend.”

Thyrex glared, angrily. “Go ahead,” he spat. “Amuse me.”

Sirius smirked, the light in his void-colored eyes flickering with amusement. “Your lightning, at its core, is just a movement of electrical charges, desperately seeking the shortest path between two points. Your big, scary Crimson Lightning relies on natural laws of physics to hit its target. All I did,” he said, twirling his spear lazily, “was create a gravitational pull to bend those bolts away from me.”

Thyrex’s brow furrowed, his expression twisting in confusion.

“Here’s the fun part,” Sirius continued, ignoring the glare. “You see, I’ve infused my spear with a localized gravitational field, kind of like a baby black hole. That bends space around me. Think of it like a shield, only instead of blocking your attacks, it’s just gently guiding them away, like a bad date at arm’s length.” He smirked, leaning on his spear. “Warping trajectories, simple physics.”

Thyrex blinked, his mouth opening slightly as if to respond, but no words came out. His face contorted like a confused dog hearing a strange sound for the first time.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, his grin widening. “You look like you’re trying to figure out if you should ask me to explain it again or just stay quiet to avoid looking even dumber.”

Thyrex’s jaw tightened, his teeth grinding audibly. “I’ll…” He paused, his eye twitching. “I’ll just kill you instead.”

Sirius chuckled, his spear glowing faintly with energy. “Sure, sure. When in doubt, resort to violence. You know, it’s honestly adorable how much you’re trying.”

Standing amidst the chaos, Sirius spun his spear, the flames around him flickering with elegant control. “Your storm isn’t ineffective because it’s weak, Thyrex,” he said, his tone calm, almost condescending. “It’s ineffective because I’ve already undone it before it even reaches me.”

Thyrex’s eyes widened in disbelief, as he took a step back, wavering under the sheer dominance Sirius exuded.

Sirius tilted his head, a menacing smile curling across his lips. “Oh, poor little Thyrex,” he teased, his voice dripping with mock pity. “Don’t be scared. Isn’t this what you wanted? ‘No sacrifice, no victory,’ right?”

He readied his spear, the flames around it intensifying, “This is goodbye, Thyrex,” Sirius said, his voice echoing like a harbinger of doom. With a burst of speed, he lunged forward, his spear tearing through the air with a sound like the breaking of the sound barrier.

Thyrex could see nothing but the overwhelming power hurtling toward him, the sensation of inevitable death consuming him in an instant.

Before the spear could strike, a voice, calm yet commanding, filled the battlefield. “Well done, young Sirius,” the voice said, resonating with a weight behind it, “You and young Yozora have grown so much.”

Sirius froze, his spear halting mid-thrust. His body tensed as he felt an oppressive presence, one he had only encountered once before. His voice dropped to a whisper. “This pressure... It’s like Enola’s.”

He turned sharply, his instincts screaming at him to act. “I need to warn Zora—” he began, but his words were cut off as a soft hand rested gently on his shoulder.

“No rush, sweet boy,” said the figure, with a soothing yet carrying an undercurrent of immense power. “I won’t be here long.”

Sirius turned to face the figure, his body frozen as figures hand lingered. The figures gaze locked onto his, and in a whisper so soft it barely carried through the crackling flames, said, “Sleep.”

Before Sirius could react, his body went limp, his consciousness slipping into a forced slumber.

The mysterious figure turned toward Thyrex, their expression a mix of disappointment and pity. “You certainly took your time,” the figure said said, thier voice cutting through the air like a blade. “And you succumbed to Madness, no less.”

Thyrex, now trembling, stammered, “Sir, I can—”

His words were silenced before they could form. With a speed that defied comprehension, the figure moved. In a single, fluid motion, they severed Thyrex’s head, the blade appearing and vanishing in an instant.

“Disappear,”they said simply. And with that, Thyrex’s body dissolved, every fiber of his being erased from existence.

Moments later, the figure appeared beside Yozora, who was crouched over Zephiron, prying information from him with an icy intensity. The figures eyes lit up as they gazed at him, thier demeanor shifting to one of admiration. “Those starry eyes,” they said, almost drooling over him. “They get me every time.”

Yozora didn’t flinch. His cold stare locked onto hers as he asked, his voice devoid of emotion, “Do you know who set up my parents?”

surprised at his lack of reaction was evident, her lips curving into a sly smile. “Impressive as always,” the figure said, their tone almost playful. But she sobered quickly, her voice carrying a weight that made the air around them grow still. “I’m Aldren, Vice-Captain to the 6th pillars.”