The dark miasma spread like a plague, twisting through the air with an insidious hunger. It coiled around the avian floating rock, creeping into its crevices, devouring the very essence of their sanctuary. Hundreds of avians fled in desperation, their wings frantically beating against the corrupted winds. They abandoned their posts, their homes—anything to escape the abyssal wrath that threatened to consume them.
Hovering nearby, Solzt, his expression grim, called out, “Emery… That is enough.”
But Emery did not hear him.
Something was whispering to him—an insidious murmur slithering through his mind, feeding on his growing fury. His emotions surged unchecked, fueled by the gnawing terror for his daughter’s safety. Every second that passed only intensified the madness clawing at his soul.
“Stop this at once!” The female avian warrior screamed, her voice laced with desperation. Her battlefield domain flared in full force, purplish winds crackling as she pushed against the encroaching miasma. She refused to surrender, her resolve burning fiercely against the abyss that sought to consume her.
The avian captain, still bloodied from his earlier clash with Emery, let out a battle cry. His metallic wings burned wide as he tore through the tentacled mist, each beat slicing the darkness apart. He moved with terrifying speed, aiming straight for Emery, his talon humming with lethal energy.
Emery’s gaze snapped toward him. A dark blade coalesced in his grasp—his Void Blade, sharper than before, pulsing with the intensified darkness coursing through his being.
CLANG!
Sparks erupted as they clashed, but this time, Emery was different. His movements were no longer just swift—they were fiercely precise. Every strike he delivered forced the captain further back, his attacks carving through the air with ruthless efficiency.
The captain’s eyes bulged with shock.
Emery had been evenly matched before, but now? He was overwhelming him.
Then, in a decisive counterattack, Emery slashed forward, his blade carving a deep gash across the captain’s chest. Blood splattered through the air as the captain was blown back dozens of meters, his body tumbling in the sky like a broken doll.
Still, Emery wasn’t satisfied.
With a simple gesture, six captured avian cosmic warriors were yanked through the air toward him. Tentacles of dark mist snaked around their bodies, constricting their limbs, corrupting them, and weakening them. They writhed, unable to resist as the abyss latched onto their very essence.
“What are you doing?!! Don’t you dare hurt them!!” the female avian shrieked, her voice raw with panic.
Emery’s lips curled into a dark smile. “I will trade them for my daughter,” he said coldly. His eyes sharpened, dark and unwavering. “Don’t act stupid. You know where she is.”
The female hesitated, her breath quickening.
In her panic, she blurted out, “Yes! I can take you to her—but let them go!”
Solzt spoke again, his voice edged with warning. “Emery, listen. You don’t want to make an enemy out of the entire Fey race.”
Emery took a deep breath, forcing himself to steady his mind, but before he could even attempt to rein in his emotions, a shift in the air sent a jolt down his spine. The atmosphere crackled with energy, thick with an impending presence that seemed to warp the very space around them. A monstrous force was approaching—fast.
Sensing it as well, the female avian’s face lit up with relief, her once-desperate expression shifting to one of fierce hope.
“Our chief is back!” she cried out, her voice ringing with confidence.
The female avian’s face lit up with hope. “Our chief is back!” she gasped.
A figure approached with blinding speed, crossing a hundred miles in mere seconds. His aura was immense—either a peak cosmic realm or something far more terrifying.
Emery instinctively tightened his grip on his six captives, preparing for the worst.
BOOM!
Then, like a thunderclap splitting the heavens, the figure arrived.
A streak of pure energy cut through the sky, moving so fast that the world itself seemed to shudder under its wake. The winds howled in protest at the sheer force of his arrival, sending debris spiraling outward from the floating rock.
Now, hovering before them was a formidable avian warrior, his presence alone suffocating as if the storm itself had taken physical form.
The chief’s massive wings, layered with shimmering gray feathers, pulsed with an unnatural energy—each individual feather crackling with barely restrained lightning.
For a brief moment, the avian chief surveyed the battlefield, his sharp gaze flicking from the wounded warriors to the dark miasma. His expression darkened as he took in the sight of his captured people, still struggling against their bonds of writhing abyssal energy.
With a slow, deliberate movement, he produced two seemingly unassuming tools—a small hammer and a trio of blackened nails. They looked almost mundane, but the moment they left his grasp, the very sky itself reacted.
A surge of power erupted as he slammed the first nail into the empty air.
BOOM!
A titanic shockwave exploded outward, unleashing a devastating storm of energy. Lightning cascaded in all directions, striking with the wrath of a god.
The sky was torn asunder.
Gale-force winds howled. Electric storms ignited the air. The sheer force of it ripped apart Emery’s miasma, shattering the darkness like glass. The avian cosmic warriors in Emery’s grasp were instantly freed, their corrupted forms whisked away in a flash of divine lightning.
This power—
Emery had no time to react.
The avian chief’s gaze locked onto him. “It’s your doing, isn’t it?!” His voice rumbled like thunder as electricity danced around his form. Then, without warning—
He moved.
Lightning tore through the sky. The avian chief’s speed was beyond anything Emery had encountered before.
Instinctively, Emery swung his Void Blade to block—but he was too slow.
CRACK!
A blinding arc of lightning slammed into his blade, shattering it on impact. Before he could even comprehend what had happened, the avian chief’s hammer crashed into his chest—
BOOOOM!!
A violent explosion of lightning engulfed Emery.
Pain. Unbearable, searing pain coursed through every fiber of his being. The raw force of the impact sent him hurtling through the sky, his vision white with agony.
But his innate regeneration kicked in. His body fought against the devastation, pulling itself back together even as he struggled to stay conscious.
From above, the avian chief narrowed his eyes. “Huh… You survived that?” His tone was one of genuine surprise—and irritation.
Sparks danced between his fingertips as he tightened his grip on the hammer. He was already preparing another strike, a second blow that Emery wasn’t sure he could fully endure.
Then, suddenly, the sky trembled once more—but this time, it wasn’t from the avian chief.
A wall of earthen formations erupted between them, thick slabs of solid stone forming an impenetrable barrier. Runes glowed along its surface, humming with an ancient power that rivaled even the storm itself.
From behind the stone, a Solzt voice rang out.
“Chief Raijin… please, stop. This is all just a big misunderstanding.”
The avian chief, Raijin, scoffed, lightning crackling around him. “Hah! You can explain yourselves after I put you all in holding!”
His hammer roared with electricity. The sky trembled, the very air igniting as he prepared his next strike.