Cili rocketed through the air toward the stage. In one fluid motion, she drew her bow and nocked an arrow.

“[Barrage]!”

A storm of arrows rained down upon Arthur. He placed his left hand behind his back and put his bare right hand out toward Cili.

“[Deflect] X [Flurry].” Arthur’s arm became a blur of white and gold as he picked each arrow out of the sky without moving an inch. He slammed the arrows into the ground beside him.

Cili continued toward Arthur but immediately reversed her momentum when one of her own arrows was sent flying past her cheek. Arthur flung the arrows he had embedded into the stage beside him at a speed faster than Cili’s bow fired them.

Cili danced around the air, inching backward, narrowly avoiding being skewered by her own arrows.

Arthur reached down to grab another arrow but stopped, as felt something prick into the back of his hands. He looked down and saw several white dragon scales stuck in his hand.

Osiris burst out from underneath the massive curtain Arthur had knocked him into. “[Awaken]!”

Suddenly, the white dragon scales exploded in a cloud of frost. Arthur’s hand went numb as a massive chunk of ice froze his hand and connected it to the arrows next to him.

Arthur smashed his other hand into the chunk of ice, crushing the back half of all the arrows, then pulled his hand free.

Cili used the opportunity to close the gap and prepare a chant. “Fly fast, and strike true, [Wind’s Grace].” She let loose an arrow that hissed through the air toward Arthur.

“Skyward, [Dash].” Arthur vanished from the stage.

A sudden rush of wind blew past Cili, spinning her 180 degrees. From directly above Cili, Arthur grabbed her, then tossed her straight into the ground.

“Cili!” Osiris shouted. Osiris tried to grab his other crossbow with his damaged arm, but his hand shook so much he couldn't unclip it from his belt. “Drag down, [Awaken]!”

Arthur spun around, positioning himself to fall directly onto Cili, but was thrown of course when vines sprouted from green scales along Osiris’ arms, then wrapped around his body. Osiris pulled with all his might and flung Arthur back on stage.

“Why are you doing this?” Cili asked with a cough that sent blood flying from her mouth into the cracks left behind by her impact.

“What a ridiculous question!”

The voice was too close. Cili looked up and saw Arthur directly in front of her, ready to strike

“[Barrage] X [Awaken]!”

White dragon scales that exploded into ice slammed into Arthur’s back, giving Cili the chance to fly upward and out of Arthur’s range.

“You fight so hard, and for what?!” Arthur screamed. “To burden a child! You shall feel his burden a thousand times!”

“What?” Cili muttered under her breath.

“Shut the fuck up!” Osiris aimed Arthur with his crossbow and looked through the scope, but when he did there was nobody there. He felt someone grab the back of his head; only then did Arthur’s chant reach his ears.

“Faster than sound, [Dash].”

Arthur smashed Osiris’ head through the stage. Then again. And again.

“Get away, [Wind’s Grace] X [Ignite]!” Cili screamed, flying above the stage.

“Skyward, [Dash] X [Accelerate].”

With a thunderous boom, Arthur leaped toward the ceiling, just before a tornado, engulfed in flames, erupted from underneath Osiris. Arthur flipped around as he rocketed toward the ceiling, then planted his feet on the ceiling, and locked eyes with Cili.

‘[Volley] X [Awaken]!”

From within the eye of the storm of Cili’s flaming tornado, white dragon scales flew out, embedding themselves into the ceiling all around Arthur, then in an instant, exploded into ice and froze Arthur’s feet to the ceiling.

The ice shattered as Arthur pulled one of his feet, but as one leg dangled in the air, and the ice around the other cracked, Cili took aim with her bow, refusing to let this golden opportunity go to waste. “[Gutshot]!”

Cili’s skill spun her arrow so fast it whirred through the air, straight toward Arthur. The amount of essence [Gutshot] drained from her caused the tornado to vanish from the stage.

Arthur stared down the arrow as it was just inches from his face. “Alter trajectory, [Deflect].” He snatched it from the air, and used it to break the ice encasing his foot, then threw the arrow directly at Osiris.

Osiris, still struggling to get up, tried to roll out of the way. The moment his body shifted onto the arm Arthur had struck at the start of the fight with [Flurry] an intense pain shot through Osiris’ arm, causing him to freeze up. The arrow dug into his shoulder.

“Drag down, [Awaken]!” The green dragon scales on Osiris’ shoulders split open as vines burst out from them and latched onto Arthur.

Arthur felt himself once again pulled down to the stage. “[Flurry].” Smashing his fist into the vines, Arthur tore through them, freeing himself from their grasp. Just before impact with the stage, he twisted his body, then landed feet first, sliding backward.

“Cili, hot and cold! [Barrage] X [Awaken]!” The infusion on Osiris’ crossbow flashed with white light as white dragon scales vanished from his body.

Arthur knew [Deflect] was pointless against the scales. They’d explode, unleashing their associated element before he could throw them back. He raised his arms to try and block as many of the scales as possible.

Just before the scales came in contact with Arthur, they glowed as Osiris’ essence poured into them, then burst in an icy explosion. Frost encrusted both of Arthur’s arms, but that didn’t deter him. Instantly, he raised one arm, then went to strike the other to try and shatter both chunks of ice.

“Unfreeze, [Ignite]!” Cili called out.

The ice surrounding Arthur’s arms spontaneously liquified, then soaked Arthur’s robes. Osiris aimed his crossbow, not at Arthur, but above him. Instinctively, Arthur slammed his foot onto a loose floorboard sending it rocketing into the sky, then looked up, expecting to see Cili readying an attack. There was nobody.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Arthur looked back at Osiris. The infusion on Osiris’ crossbow ignited with a bright blue light.

“[Volley] X [Multiply] X [Awaken].”

A storm of blue dragon scales coated the sky above Arthur. His hair began to float upward. In a blinding flash of blue light, each one transformed into a bolt of lighting that lanced directly through Arhtur’s body.

Arthur gritted his teeth as his water-soaked robe carried the electricity throughout his body. Smoke billowed from Arthur. His charred body took a single faltering step, then collapsed to one knee, then to both, then fell flat on the ground.

“We did it!” Cili exclaimed, between heavy breaths.

Osiris dropped to one knee. “Don’t celebrate—”

Arthur slammed his hands into the ground, pushing himself up. “[Endure].”

“—yet.”

Arthur rose from the ground like a revenant clawing its way out of an iron coffin buried 12 feet deep. “To think I thought to treat this so lightly. When a child’s life is on the line!” Arthur balled his left hand into a fist. He violently opened it, sending all five rings flying off, and crashing into the stage. “Please World Ox, forgive me for forgetting the weight of this burden.”

Osiris and Cili focused on Arthur, as they desperately tried to catch their breath. Arthur took a single step toward Osiris, then disappeared.

Osiris felt a vice grip around his ankle. He turned around and saw Arthur right behind him. Arthur tossed Osiris as if he was as light as a feather sending him flying across the theater.

"Catch me, [Wind’s Grace].” Osiris barely managed to stabilize himself as he tumbled through the air. The instant he came to a stop, he saw Arthur go from standing on stage to perched on a seat directly in front of him.

Osiris maneuvered around the theater as fast as possible, zipping through the air, as Arthur leaped from seat to seat, striking with enough voracity to tear the wind itself.

Cili looked on in horror, unable to track Arthur’s movements. She knew it was only a matter of time until Osiris faltered. Cili needed to do something; otherwise, her brother would be pulverized right in front of her.

It didn’t even make any sense why Arthur was attacking them. Cili could just explain to Arthur that they knew the dragon hybrid; Arthur seemed to be trying to help the child after all. But why would he believe Cili? He had no reason to. Unless the child confirmed he knew Cili and Osiris, Arthur wouldn’t believe they were trying to help him. But to do that he’d have to be awake.

Wait, why was he asleep? It made no sense to Cili how he could still be asleep amidst all this chaos. That’s when she remembered: white dragon hybrids were special. White dragons were native to arctic climates, so naturally adapted to be cold-blooded and hibernate. As a result, white dragon hybrids’ sleep resembled hibernation, making it nearly impossible to wake them up. However, nearly impossible was not the same as impossible, and fortunately Cili knew exactly the way to wake one up.

Cili nocked an arrow in her bow. “Sorry about this Kyros.”

Arthur bounced around the auditorium. As Arthur tumbled through the air toward Osiris, who continued to narrowly slip out of Arthur’s reach, he spotted Cili aiming her bow at the boy in the cage.

“[Dash]!” Arthur kicked off a chair and soared toward the stage.

“Thorns of ice, chill and constrict, [Awaken] X [Awaken].”

Vines wrapped around Arthur’s ankle. He spun around before the vines could tighten, and sliced all of them off with a wave of his hand. Arthur noticed a fraction of a second too late, that instead of the thorns, the vines were riddled with white dragon scales. The scales stuck in Arthur's foot burst into a cloud of frost, encasing Arthur’s feet in ice.

Arthur realized he wasn’t going to make it to the stage with his feet frozen. He spun his body, and landed on the ground just before the stage, shattering the ice around his feet. However, Osiris forcing him to ground himself was all the time Cili needed.

Arthur looked up toward the stage as Cili’s arrow flew through the air. Time froze. A voice in the back of Arthur’s head—the same voice that guided him his entire life—whispered to him. Don’t.

Arthur, primed to snatch the arrow out of the sky, relaxed his body.

The arrow only grazed the boy. As blood trickled down his shoulder, and his eyes blinked open, he heard a voice call out to him.

“Kyros!” Cili shouted. “It’s me! Cili!

“Cili? What’s happening? Where am I?” As Kyros’ eyes darted around the room, they fell upon Osiris. “Osiris!”

Arthur’s face softened. “Child, do you know these people?”

“Yeah, they’re from my tribe,” Kyros said, his voice trembling.

Arthur turned around to face Osiris, who kept his crossbow aimed at Arthur. “Is this why you bought the boy? So you could take him home?”

“Of course! So get the fuck away from him!”

Arthur clasped his hands together. 10 golden rings ripped through the stage as they flew through the air and returned to Arthur’s fingers. He pushed back his robe, revealing his arms which were covered in thick golden bands and latticed with scars.

“My deepest apologies. I only intended to protect this child from harm and return him home. Had I known you shared the same goal, I would’ve never struck you. The weight we carry is often invisible, even to me.”

“Whatever,” Osiris groaned as he hobbled across the theater toward the stage. “What’s your name?”

“Arthur Ward. I’m a member of the Armistice Order, and one of leaders of the sect which worships the World Ox. I had a feeling I should hold back, and that I shouldn’t stop that arrow. Now I know the reason for both.”

“Hey, this is super cool and all, love that we’re friends now, but could we please get Kyros out of the fucking cage,” Cili said.

“I would like that,” Kyros said.

“Ah, yes.” Arthur jumped onto the stage. He grasped the bars off the cage, and effortlessly pried them apart. “[Flurry].” In the blink of an eye, all the restraints on Kyros shattered.

“Thank you,” Kyros said. “Does anyone know where we are?”

“It’s a long story,” Osiris said. “I’m gonna get you out of here though. Just follow me.”

“Wait!” Cili said. “My friends and I came here because we needed to find somebody. I can’t leave yet!”

“Can you communicate with them?” Arthur asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Cili focused her mind and tried to mentally send a message. She waited for a response, but nothing. Galina’s [Link] seemed to have been broken. “It’s not working. Something bad might have happened!”

“Let’s get out of here first. We can find them later,” Osiris said.

“No!” Cili shouted. “I’m not leaving them behind! One of them even knew you!”

“Who?”

“Halvor.”

The color drained from Osiris’ face. His eyes sunk into his skull. “Fuck.”

“What is it?” Cili asked.

“Listen, Cili, Halvor were good friends, but he left us on strange terms. One of the people I’m here with, Gideon, told me while we were fighting that he found Halvor and was going to bring him in.”

“Tell him to stop!” Cili exclaimed.

“That won’t work! Gideon is never gonna let Halvor go.”

Cili’s grip on her bow tightened. “Then I’ll stop him! Halvor helped me. All of my friends helped me, so I’m going to help them. You taught me to help the people I care about, even if it means I might get hurt.”

“I never said that!”

“You didn’t need to. I’ve seen you do it, all the time, and now when I go to do it, you want to stop me? That’s not fair!”

“You won’t be enough.”

“Then come with me.”

“Ugh!” Osiris clawed at his neck. “Even if I do, I can’t take Kyros.”

“Let me look after the boy,” Arthur said. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Yeah. I can look after myself. You help your sister,” Kyros said.

Osiris sighed. “Thank you.”

“Come on brother, let’s go!”

“Wait!” Arthur said. “Despite my efforts to hold back, my blows seemed to have fractured this plane of existence. When you exit this theater, you’ll likely be transported somewhere random. I’d advise you to choose wisely which of your friends you’d like to focus on saving, as they will likely all be scattered. You may not have enough time to find all of them.”

“Then it has to be Halvor,” Osiris said.

“Why?” Cili asked. “Halvor’s strong.”

“I know that better than anyone. To be honest, he’s probably stronger than Gideon. But, the way Halvor is currently, there’s not a chance in hell he can beat Gideon.”