Torel was frustrated by the situation, of course he himself didn’t know why, he hadn’t found any clues, but it wasn’t that he didn’t know that clues didn’t just appear out of nowhere, it was obvious in the elf’s mind that it would be extremely difficult, obviously it was foolish to expect things to go well just like that, however this didn’t stop him from feeling less annoyed.

“You will pay for the broken dishes,” Torel said quietly as he went to fight the last Ursino.

It had been a long time since Torel had stopped practicing, he had fallen into complacency since he had not been able to notice an improvement in his technique for a long time, daily training gave a decreasing income, and at Torel’s height no matter how much effort he put in he did not increase his strength by a pinch, he needed external assistance, greater and better resources and very specific knowledge, as well as forcing himself into unique and dangerous situations in order to continue improving.

The fight with the Ursino had no surprises, although Torel wanted to face the beast alone Alex was not willing to allow it, since he wanted to eliminate the threat of the void as quickly as possible, so like all the previous ones the corrupted beast fell without being able to do anything.

With the last altar destroyed a thunderous howl sounded, a cry of suffering as the energy source of the altar slowly disappeared.

With the loss of the last altar the ritual in the center of the room no longer had enough energy to continue existing and began to collapse on itself which slowly revealed the veil.

From the inside three figures could be seen, there was a being kneeling with multiple spectral spears stuck in his body protruding from side to side, next to him was a kind of bird.

For a brief moment Alex witnessed an imposing and majestic being.

What caught his attention the most was his head resembling that of a real eagle, with a sharp beak and penetrating eyes. His plumage on his head had a golden crest like the rising sun. He stood upright on two legs, as if they were kings of the skies. His posture was imposing and proud. His body was covered with soft and shiny feathers that changed color according to the light and shone brilliantly. From his back you could see retractable wings that, although they didn’t seem like they could help him fly, could apply enough force to help him move quickly across the battlefield. Such a being had everyone present, Alex would swear he had never seen such a majestic and spectacular being, he might even be in front of a god or his envoy.

“Ahhhhh”

A piercing and sudden scream shattered the scene.

Quickly the remains of the ritual crumbled until all the energy of the ritual finally disappeared.

Now Alex could see what was really behind the ritual.

What used to be a majestic being finally showed the reality of what was left, the vestiges of what used to be was a painful contrast to look at.

His plumage was no longer majestic and radiant. Instead, it was torn and darkened by shadow stains. The feathers twisted as if they were trapped in an eternal storm.

His eyes, once bright and wise, now burned with an insatiable thirst for life. The pupils were like the void, drawing light and hope into their interior. Each look a reminder of his despair. His wings that once seemed majestic now dragged on the floor like a broken cloak, perhaps a broken promise.

“Nothingness accepts everything,” the being said in a strange language that somehow his mind understood all those present.

“An Avianthros,” said Athena, stunned.

“An Avianthros no more creature, for now an Umbravian being,” the being smiled maliciously.

“Attack,” Alex shouted, his heart severely accelerated, the presence of this being caused an instinctive panic, similar to the one caused by the being with whom Athena had fought before, which could only mean one thing, they were in the presence of a true abomination of the void.

Torel was the quickest to react, even before Alex shouted he already had an arrow in his bow, charging it with the power of the gale, so much was the power and energy that was stored in a single arrow that when he let it go it destroyed Torel’s bow, a bow created with the most refined methods of the elven empire of Kellenar. The attack was extremely fast and powerful, breaking the sound barrier and immediately impaling the Umbravian.

Despite having a thick arrow protruding from his chest he did not flinch, he immediately raised one of his hands and tried to pull the arrow out of his chest.

Before he could free himself a barrage of large chunks of ice pierced his body in multiple places, Athena was constantly enhancing her enchantment to reinforce the stalactites.

“Just insects are, but worry need not, soon nothing will be,” the Umbravian told them.

He opened his mouth and began to emit sharp sounds, some of such high frequency that Alex was not able to hear them.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Although at first he didn’t know what he was doing soon it was evident, he was fighting against Athena in magical abilities, and despite the fierce attack of arrows that continued to rain on his body he finally got it.

Raising a hand and pointing it at Alex the stalactites in his body turned black and began to fly back towards Alex’s group.

The soldiers had the foresight to form a shield wall just in time, luckily the quality of the Acevidrio shields was enough to resist this attack, so the troops were able to come out relatively unscathed in this exchange, however, Alex could see that the shields would not hold much longer, perhaps one or two more attacks at most.

“It’s not time to hold back, unleash all your power,” Alex ordered.

Alex’s initiates who still retained their energy exerted it to the maximum allowing him to increase his statistics above his current level, although this was very inadvisable they had no other way to use their energy, since Alex had just now discovered his technique.

Alex for his part still had a skill he hadn’t used.

The forehead tattoo materialized covering half of his left side of his face over his eye changing the color of it to a greenish, from Alex’s back began to come out a kind of light stream that quickly began to flood all his troops and with Alex as its center all those under his influence not only had their personal statistics improved, but now their attacks had acquired an elemental component, so even if they did a lot of damage, they had the possibility of wearing down the Umbravian.

“Torel will be the main fighter and I will assist him, keep your distance and when you can use your spears,” Alex shouted.

The troops responded affirmatively and Alex ran to help the elf in his fight.

The fight had several exchanges with the elf using his great speed to make several feints from left to right, however, the Umbravian did not fall for them and was able to reject all the attacks, at one point he used his left wing to break Torel’s visibility and hide his body, as soon as he tried to attack the wing, the Umbravian made a quick turn from right to left hitting Torel with his other wing, the elf half kneeling on the floor.

The Umbravian tried to finish off Torel with a powerful direct blow to the head but the elf was able to slightly deflect the blow with a movement of his sword and ended up being hit in the shoulder, sending him flying backwards. Alex joined the elf trying to keep up the pace and giving opportunistic blows when possible, which was no problem for his opponent, with a mix of movements and the tactical use of the wings on his back he was able to escape most of the combined attacks of Alex and Torel.

Just when the Umbravian was about to make a charge his attention momentarily changed to the center of the ritual, over the thick altar there was a book levitating.

“You will not be able to escape from me,” exclaimed the Umbravian with difficulty, stretching out his hand to send a thread of shadows towards the altar. This brief moment was not wasted by Torel, who threw himself with everything to unleash a furious rain of blows with his sword.

Although he had one hand occupied he was still able to respond to the elf’s attacks and even surpass him in technique being able to launch critical counterattacks against Torel, which were intercepted by Alex.

It was necessary the fine cooperation of both to stay on equal terms against a Umbravian who had half his strength elsewhere.

“Torel, I’m starting to think you’re too weak,” Alex said sarcastically.

“I haven’t used all my strength, but you’re right, even if I release my transformation I’m not a worthy opponent, the corruption of the void is something that no one can fight individually,” Torel replied.

Alex nodded, he himself had begun to feel it in his own flesh, fighting against these kinds of beings left a trail of corruption in one’s own body, the longer the battle lasted the more quantity accumulated, plus there was the problem that the more quantity of your own energy you used the more the corruption began to circulate through your body.

“It’s really annoying,” Alex replied.

He was at a crossroads to be able to get rid of the Umbravian, with the elimination of the altars they had interrupted the ritual so Alex and the others could feel how the Umbravian was weakening every moment slowly, even if they did nothing he would cease to exist after a while, however Alex was not willing to wait for this to happen, no matter what it was that he wanted Alex was not willing to let him have it, and right now it seemed that what he wanted had to do with the book on the altar.

“Whatever that book is he can’t have it, I need options,”

“I don’t have much magic left, but I can hold him back with a final blast,” Athena whispered in his ear.

“I still have my transformation, however, after this I will be weakened for a while and I won’t be able to help you anymore,” Torel told him.

“Sir, your troops are still ready, we can charge in waves and weaken his energy enough with the help of your command ability,” Kragash asserted.

Alex was cornered, he needed to finish off the Umbravian as quickly as possible before he finished whatever he was doing, Athena’s magic was a great card, but by itself it would not be enough to end the fight so he had to consider using another piece.

Using Torel would come at the cost of leaving him weakened, they would lose a high-level fighter for a while which would make them very weak against major threats.

The other option was to use his troops, through his command ability he could give them the ability to do magical damage, not much damage but each small stab would add to the wear and tear of a being that was already running out of its own energy, and with it his time in this plane, unfortunately if they used the troops it was clear that they would suffer casualties, it would be impossible to face such an enemy and return with all their troops home, on the other hand Alex had learned the hard way that always having an Ace up his sleeve was essential and as such keeping Torel’s strength as much as possible was a good idea.

A million things went through Alex’s head, all kinds of calculations and appreciations there were many things he needed and had to do and there was a real possibility of losing Torel in this battle, although not very big it was something he could not rule out. So it was better to sacrifice his troops to weaken his enemy before sending Torel to finish him off.

If he did such a thing would others still see him as a ilegitimate person to command them, wouldn’t it be better to put Torel at small risk, after all the elf had not even fully joined his cause, he was only moving with him out of convenience.

There was also Athena, after all Alex was here in theory for the mission she gave him, although he had his own agenda to help Torel he could also blame her and ask her to take responsibility and transform herself.

Is it typical of a ruler to think of his people as disposable pawns?, maybe he was not suitable to lead and should leave the role to someone else, he was sure that Atasha and Atarra would know how to move forward if he was no longer there, maybe he himself should seek the strength to unleash his spectral force and end this void incursion, after all this was just one enemy and without a way to keep the hordes of the void out of their lands, they would be doomed if they did not have the strength to fight against them.