================================
Volume 5
Chapter 224: BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!
================================
In the temple in the mountains, was the stone statue that held a sword, standing mightily and radiated an endless amount of elegance and gallantry.
As soon as that single heartbeat echoed out from somewhere, the statue opened its eyes and breathed in deeply and exhaled out a cold icy breath.
Then, a rough and husky male’s voice spoke, “My dear children… heed my plea… a task was given to us by a mighty call. We… will comply.”
After that voice echoed, the statue vanished.
*****
Back in the city of Alexandria, in the underground shelter dome, in every level starting from the deepest shelter zone floor… were people –young, adult, and elderly– of varying statuses and of varying classes, but had one significant trait on them that could be traced to one single bloodline.
As soon as the statue vanished from the temple high up the mountains, they heard that beckoning voice as if it was spoken directly into their minds.
“My dear children heed my plea: a task was given to us by a mighty call. We will comply.”
As soon as the voice was heard directly in their minds, no matter what they were doing, they all looked up and their eyes momentarily lost focus as a deep royal blue color glimmered off inside their eyes.
Then, their birth marks, the traits that these people share, whether they knew each other or were not aware of the existence of other people who had that trait, all shined down a resplendent golden blue light…
And also, in a corner of the city in the Western District, was Hilda… the NPC female swordswoman who defeated Karim.
As soon as she heard that beckoning call, her focus on her task vanished and on her chest, a birth mark she’s been trying to hide… could be seen shining brilliantly.
Not even a moment passed, her body vanished where it stood, startling every member of The Legion under her command who was supposed to be looking for Jack Stone.
When she appeared next, Hilda was at the center plaza in the middle of the city, just above the spire……
…………where she stood in front of the fountain, in a daze, and her eyes of bright royal blue and gold color, seeming to be looking up to something.
And, as soon as she appeared, a voice that of a grown man, stout and rusky, a voice that gave the impression of coming from a big person with a large frame and a noble demeanor, boomed on her mind:
“Child, it is of great honor to be of service… to the cause the Great Teacher tasked us. The God Knight Clan… had long since been lost, forgotten in time… but their true bloodline is unique and yours has the purest spirit from the rest...... I am the Ancestor of the God Knight Clan… I speak for a purpose and a path… a path of greatness and Immortality… a path of a sword that carries nobility… do you… accept… to be my disciple?”
Hilda seeming to understand the meaning; half-asleep and half-awake, she looked up the fountain and could see a silhouette of a tall shadowy figure.
It’s not that she didn’t process the message spoken by that thundering and booming sound on her mind, but looking back on her life… she’s always been fond of that birthmark on her chest and although she wasn’t a fan of history and research, and had never even spent a single time in the library to research her unique birthmark, she knew at the back of her mind that this birthmark held a large significance on something.
But, given her attitude, she didn’t give it much thought and solely dedicated her life to studying the sword legacy of her family…
………The Resplendent Edge…
Who wouldn’t have thought that this birthmark… was actually part of the most treasured legacy of the entire city of Alexandria?
“I accept.” She replied without second thought as her mind immediately dinged as soon as she heard that part of the speech about a possible sword legacy!
She was, after all, a sword freak!
“Then you shall.”
The voice said, devoid of any kind of emotion but was booming and thundering, above anything else worldly nonetheless.
His body was then engulfed by a misty bright golden and blue light that shot into the birthmark under her clothes like a meteor, absorbed without a trace.
As soon as that image bore into her chest, she floated there and raised her hands sideways, her sword in front of her. She closed her eyes and breathed in while the roaring voice boomed even greater in her mind.
“From this point on, child….. your purpose in life is to be my emissary… my representative. From your blood, the God Knight Clan shall rise…… once again.”
After this voice echoed in her mind, everything around her, not including the plaza, but the houses and buildings, every material thing that wasn’t supposed to be part of the spire… shook and crumbled into countless fragmented debris and motes of dust.
As their parts then flew towards her as the center, a sphere with many rings formed where Hilda gradually became the core of something.
Now, the beckoning call of the God Knight was heard!
“My sword is the [Resplendent Guardian Sword]. Your worth…… will be tested on a task: use my Vessel and be the medium…. of my power. We must vanquish…… an impending catastrophe… that will soon befall our sacred lands… victory and defeat shall not matter… to win or lose… will be subjected to how much… you can… last against him… thus is the value of your worth.”
The rings of dust and fragments multiplied around her and the area that her aura occupied gradually widened, while the debris bonded together; metals, cements, rocks, rubbles… everything that wasn’t part of the spire… was the God Knight’s vessel!
Rumbling sounds and booming thundering miniature explosions could be heard as the space rippled with a power not possible for any mortal men, grinding the rubbles and refining the buildings, gradually forming an image… a shape…….. of a full-armored knight!
To these people inside Terroa… these were the things they call ‘paranormal’ and were part of the power of their Gods and Goddesses.
But for the players who are looking at it from afar, it was a clear sign of an impending [event].
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Few they may be, they still contacted the media.
Camera drones flew, videos were taken, and more and more people became aware that aside from the coming of the Elder God Donar in the south… there was something else happening inside the city.
Of course…
This news didn’t miss City Lord Billion’s ears.
*****
As time seemed to be slowing down for everyone, Janus was standing there at the edge of the cliff, his gaze away from the battle and his focus towards the east.
When that heartbeat echoed to the world, he glanced over at that direction and could almost see an invisible ripple spreading to the world.
While everything around him moved slowly, he was the only one who moved and breathed in a normal pace.
In every direction and place the ripple went, any living creature looked up and doubted if they did hear a heartbeat.
Janus sighed and then looked back at the east, his gaze locked at that black dragon ship.
He whispered, “I’m sorry, Siva. Please understand the reason why I have to threaten your vessel. This… this is my task.”
After that, the speed of time went back to normal.
Behind him, the five youths stood in attention.
Gabriel looked in pain and Garin gazed at the old man seemingly confused.
Janus sighed and said, “It is time.”
As soon as he spoke, his body changed clothes and he was now wearing what looked like an imperial robe with a dashing golden belt and a blue dragon emblem.
Gabriel looked in pain but couldn’t do a thing. He snapped his fingers and everyone disappeared except for him who remained in that mountain temple.
When Janus and the rest appeared, they were far away, in the former majestic Xinjiang Mountain that now has a large gaping crescent space that spread for as wide as 3km.
Janus looked back at Garin, “I trust you with the task.”
“Leave it to me.”
“We’ll get on with our assignments then.” Said the sniper leader of the five.
Janus sighed and put his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the horizons….. waiting.
*****
That one single heartbeat had changed his mind and as soon as he felt the shackles of restraint collapsing, Siva decided… to go all-out.
“I will kill you.” His voice rung.
Kladis felt his scalp tingling. “No this can’t be real…”
That moment when their time went normal… Siva let go of his gun and a staff appeared that as soon as he held it, a superficially fixed orb atop the staff crackled with bluish white electricity.
Kladis pushed back at the hammer but Siva was already looming over him. Even if he was being pushed in midair and somewhat falling, he still resisted.
His pride would never allow him to back down a bit!
“You!” Kladis howled with fury.
“I won’t let you spread the news!” Siva hissed the way john wick did and his eyes were full of savageness and glee, and joy and madness… his desire to slaughter Kladis now eating everything in his mind except for his basic violent instincts.
And then… finally, as if to unleash it all…
Siva began to laugh… that dreaded laugh.
“Ahaha… haha… hahaha… AHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
He pulled up his still aching and slightly dull right hand and powered up the orb in his staff with an electric stun grenade.
As soon as that crack of electricity merged with the bluish white orb, two bluish white humanoid images the same size and shape as Siva appeared beside him and dived savagely at Kladis.
That moment that they appeared, their bodies were then covered by a black mist that formed into writhing black cloaks and in one of the two puppets hands appeared… two large weapons.
S-Ranked weapons!
The one on the right held two heavy swords longer than a meter and a quarter-meter wide; one of them was fiery red and one was ice cold metallic.
And the other held the Godhammer’s shaft and then kicked and pushed it down.
“Gargh!” Kladis was pressured and he fell along with the two, the one on Siva’s right side bearing on him with dark glaring savageness and might.
Siva displayed his teeth and commanded, although a mere a thought would have sufficed.
“Murder him.” his voice rung.
“You can’t kill me!” Kladis roared.
With an explosion of Mana, an invisible crushing wave of power exploded from Kladis as a water-like sphere-shaped domain became visible within the nearest 20m area of him.
It was on a diameter of 40m and it was a large area that was beyond Siva’s ability to control his puppets if he wanted to fight from afar.
“What is this?!”
Kladis was laughing as he easily dodged the fiery large blade of the right puppet and then kicked off from the weighing pressure of the Godhammer of the left.
“I never thought I’d actually have to go serious against you!” Kladis hissed with a furious voice. After that, a booming sound rung behind him and he ignored the two puppets as he rushed forward directly at Siva.
Siva felt his body becoming slightly heavy and he couldn’t use Mana to actually summon another form.
“What kind of domain is this?!”
“Ahahaha! Do you think the people around us are all stupid? Even if you stop me from spreading the news of you being Siva, your grand display of your reapers had already revealed who you are. The Mjolnir which you have acquired from Cramer was already a clear sign of you being Siva. I don’t need to say anything to anyone, that fact itself had already doomed your disguise so you should just die by my hands!”
“….”
Kladis fired his gun at Siva but before any of the bullets could even reach him, an icy-metallic blade blocked the bullets followed by a booming swing akin to that of a meteor coming from behind him.
“What the…”
His eyes went wide. Kladis didn’t expect that the two puppets weren’t going to be affected by his domain.
“Just… how could… they aren’t made up of Mana?! So what are those bluish white things earlier?!”
From his swords, Siva, for some reason, had quickly thought that only living individuals who had Mana on their bodies will be affected by this dangerous domain.
He could feel his body weighing twice as much as it used to and he can’t summon any Mana to form a third reaper to join the attack against Kladis.
“This domain… partnered with his swordsmanship and his strength is enough to defeat anyone in the game!”
This realization hit Siva like a bolt of lightning.
Luckily, he was able to summon two puppets just before Kladis used this domain.
“It only affects those that depend on Mana. Perhaps once a magic spell is cast, this domain will also not affect the casting of those spells. In short… with Kladis and this ability, it’s all about who would use whose spells and abilities first.”
The sword blocked the bullets and the Godhammer made Kladis dodge and back off.
“Go!”
Siva didn’t give Kladis a time to forge his bearing and he also disregarded the idea of him summoning any more puppets.
But still…
“The Black Tech is just the cloak for my puppets. The strength of my puppets aren’t dependent on the Black Tech… they are derived from my ‘Frame’.”
As Siva thought of this, he summoned another puppet but this puppet couldn’t form a black cloak.
“You can’t get away from me!” Siva hissed.
The third puppet, with no strings and a 10minute limit to existence, bluish white with no face or any kind of other distinctive properties except their electrified skin that took the shape of man… held two guns on both his hands and started firing.
It didn’t have to stand close to Kladis and only remained around Siva, suppressing Kladis from a distance.
Siva, on the other hand, followed Kladis.
Although he can’t move much, but his flight armor is not dependent on Mana and so even with the loss of bodily agility, he could still use his thoughts to control his destination and direction whenever he pleased.
“Aaaaargh! Fuck you!”
Kladis was having a hard time dealing with the two puppets that didn’t lose their agility and strength and doesn’t have to catch his breath unlike him.
Sivas Killing Zone started with a 100m range when he started the game. With his increase in rankings, it also increased its AOE effect.
Now, as an S-Ranked Hunter, the Killing Zone was able to reach a staggering 500m AOE range!
No matter where Kladis go, as long as he was around that distance, he will be subjected to the frightening thought of Siva’s suppression.
What more… what was pressuring him right now are two Reapers with black cloaks and no visible faces!
“I told you before…” Siva hissed, “I will kill you.”
“Who do you think you are?! You’re just a single person with no power!”
The bullets rained down and Kladis was being pushed to his limits trying to dodge a perfectly well coordinated attack between three puppets.
Siva, hearing him, felt the anger he’s been holding in burn on his heart that his chest rose and fell visibly even under his black cloak.
“You are the cause of all my problems and for that… I will make sure that you will suffer before you die!”
Right after he yelled, the guns on the third puppet vanished with a flash of light and it was then replaced by a heavy cannon… with almost the same design as that of Cassiopeia’s energy-based rail gun.
It appeared on the puppet’s right shoulder and the action of the puppet was like it was calling for it from above as it materialized.
With a soundless ‘thud’, the cannon rested on the puppet’s shoulder and its shoulder and body shook as if the weight affected its stance.
No words spoken, no moment wasted, the dark empty bore of the cannon lit up with a bright bluish white light… and a premonition of danger hugged Kladis’s entire body.
“What is that?” he roared and was still trying his best to dodge and parry the attacks of the two puppets.
“This…” Siva said, proud and sadistic, “…is an S-Rank Weapon I fixed and called [Grand Ender]. I will use this thing to end you where you stand.”
It only took a moment before it finished charging the energy required to fire.
And… with no more warning, Siva gave the puppet a thought and it fired.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!
===================
A WRATH-FULL OF EXPLOSION!
===================
.
.
Next chapter: A true Immortal of Terroa appears!