Trrrrrr!!
The abomination of monstrous elves, which had fused into a single terrifying entity, slowly pulled the massive Ebon stone from the underground. The vibrations from the stone’s movement spread like ripples throughout the Empire, shaking buildings and causing panic everywhere.
“What’s going on here?!” a voice cried out in fear.
“This is a disaster!! What should we do?!”
The citizens were gripped by panic, their terrified voices echoing through the streets as they tried to understand the chaos engulfing their world. Academy students, who had been diligently preparing for their upcoming exams, now cowered under desks, trembling in fear. The Academy itself shook violently, far worse than anywhere else in the Empire.
“Maelona, listen to me carefully!” Aether’s commanding voice echoed, “You need to leave this place immediately. Call the soldiers and have them prepare for the worst. Aria and Kaelen must stop that monster from lifting the stone!”
Everyone nodded and quickly set off to fulfill their duties.
Aether turned his gaze to Lyirrs and Liora. His body, still under the debilitating effects of paralysis, felt heavy and unresponsive. Gritting his teeth, he addressed them. “You two know what you need to do, right?”
Lyirrs nodded without hesitation. Massive dragon wings unfurled from her back with a powerful ruffle, and in the blink of an eye, she shot up into the sky, heading straight for the two hooded figures.
Liora, holding Aether steady, looked at him with concern etched on her face. “How much longer do you need to recover?” she asked, her voice laced with worry. She wasn’t sure if the paralysis would wear off anytime soon, but seeing Aether in this state made her uneasy.
She knew he wouldn’t rest for long; that wasn’t his nature…
Aether glanced at his internal log, “I still need three more minutes,” he admitted, though his lips curled into a confident grin. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine in no time. Just make sure they don’t get a drop of your blood,” he added.
Liora nodded, her expression softening slightly. Gently, she lowered Aether onto the debris-strewn ground. Without another word, her form began to shift. Her body elongated, her muscles rippled, and within moments, she transformed into a massive wolf. With a powerful leap, she ascended into the sky, following Lyirrs.
Aether lay on the ground, his body weakened and still partially paralyzed. His gaze fixed on the monstrous elf as it continued lifting the Ebon stone effortlessly. Aria and Kaelen fought valiantly against it, but the creature seemed entirely unbothered by their attacks. No—more than that—it was as if their efforts were completely ineffective. ‘Tsk, I made a mistake,’ Aether thought bitterly.
What mistake?
Everything!!
Aether had made a grave error when he killed the snake monsters in the Pyra Empire. He had thought nothing of it at the time, dismissing them as mere pests to be exterminated… killing them.
And now…. others were paying the price!
The chosen ones were struggling against a foe unlike anything they had faced before. It was as if the snake monsters had been merely an introduction, a prelude to the horrors yet to come… And Aether had failed to see it. He had been so focused on handling everything alone that he hadn’t considered the consequences.
Those were meant to know the whole worlds and fought by the Chosen Ones but… due to Aether’s actions… No one knows and the Chosen Ones never fought them.
Aether’s gaze shifted to Liora and Lyirrs, who were locked in their respective battles. Both were pushing themselves to their limits, ‘Looks like those two are stronger than I thought’ he thought with a frown.
He couldn’t afford to stay down any longer. His recovery time wasn’t speeding up, but he had to act. Closing his eyes, Aether took a deep, calming breath.
His body was paralyzed, yes…. but what about external forces?
A wicked grin spread across his face as he began to channel…. Clarion Energy, a force that opposed the Arcane Energy permeating the world. Slowly but surely, the air around him started to shift, repelling outward.
Meanwhile,
“Grrrr!” Liora’s massive jaws snapped shut, narrowly missing the hooded figure who had just evaded her attack.
The hooded figure extended a hand, and water materialized out of nowhere. It twisted and sharpened into deadly knives that shot toward Liora with precision.
Ssshh!
She darted back and forth in midair, her agility keeping her just ahead of the water blades…. But the knives were relentless, tracking her every move like automatic target machines.
Clicking her tongue in frustration, Liora let out a powerful howl. The air around her swirled violently, forming a tornado that roared forward, obliterating the water knives in its path. The storm didn’t stop there—it surged toward the hooded figure like a force of nature.
Yet the hooded figure remained unfazed, neither scared nor worried… Raising a hand…. the sky turned darkened above them.
Sssshhhhh!
A swirling water storm descended from the heavens, like a wave… clashing violently with the tornado.
THUNDER!!
A deafening crack of thunder erupted from the collision, shaking the battlefield as debris rained down from above.
Meanwhile,
“Fu~Fu~ look at you, darling… helpless, weak, unable to protect your precious Empress. Must be heartbreaking, right?” Another hooded figure taunted Lyirrs with a venomous, teasing tone.
Lyirrs snarled, her brown eyes blazing with fury. “You filthy maggots! I’ll rip you apart until there’s nothing left to recognize!” she roared, her hands morphing into razor-sharp dragon claws. She lunged at the hooded figure with terrifying speed.
“Oh~ I’m so scared, dear,” the hooded figure sneered, laughing seductively. Flicking their wrists, two slender metal swords materialized. “Let’s see who tears whom apart, shall we?” They vanished in a blur, reappearing behind Lyirrs to strike at her neck like a pair of scissors.
Ssslinngg!
Lyirrs’ claws sliced through the swords effortlessly, the blades shattering as if made of brittle glass.
The hooded figure blinked in surprise, staring at their severed weapons. “Not bad, darling. Not bad at all,” they muttered, their tone darkening. The broken swords began to extend and reform, stretching into even longer blades.
Lyirrs raised an eyebrow, her surprise quickly replaced with serious…. She readied herself, muscles coiled like springs, for the fight ahead.
Meanwhile, Aria and Kaelen continued their battle against the monstrous elf.
“This thing doesn’t even care that we’re attacking it!” Kaelen growled in frustration, his voice tinged with exhaustion. He had just bitten off one of the creature’s fingers, only to watch it regenerate instantly.
Aria gritted her teeth, her fingers gripping her bow tightly. No matter how many arrows she fired, the monster didn’t flinch. It simply healed every wound as if nothing had happened. ‘What is this thing?… It’s like a vampire,’ she thought, her brow furrowing.
But giving up wasn’t an option.
“What should we do? We can’t keep wasting energy like this,” Aria said, her voice tense.
Kaelen stared at the monster for moments before looking the walls… his eyes lit up with an idea. “What if we try pulling it away from the stone?” he suggested.
“Hmm…?” Aria tilted her head, intrigued… Kaelen quickly explained his plan, his voice brimming with determination.
Aria raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at her lips, “Well, well. Looks like someone’s been working hard.”
Kaelen’s cheeks flushed red. “W-Well… I-I can’t disappoint Father anymore, you know,” he stammered, scratching the back of his head.
Aria’s lips twitched at the mention of Aether as Kaelen’s father, but she sighed…. Seeing everything before her eyes… she understood Aether seducing missions.
Aria let out another sigh, her thoughts drifting to Aether, ‘He always manages to stir something inside me, doesn’t he? Fine then, if that’s the game he’s playing… I’ll spoil him so thoroughly that he won’t even remember anyone else. He’ll only have eyes for me,’ she thought, her lips curving into a determined smirk.
Resolving herself, she turned to Kaelen and said with a teasing tone, “Alright, get ready, son.”
Kaelen frowned, his expression twisting in discomfort at being called that.
“What? If he is your father, then I’m your mother, damn it!” Aria snorted, crossing her arms as if daring him to argue.
Kaelen shook his head firmly, stepping back slightly. “As much as I’d love to have a mother, one is more than enough for me,” he muttered. A shiver visibly ran down his spine, his muscles tensing as the thought of having more than one mothers surfaced in his mind…. The mere idea felt like a nightmare clawing its way into reality.
Liora had traumatized him too much!!
Mothers were scary!!!
He ran away!
Aria blinked, momentarily caught off guard, before shrugging off, “Well, whatever,” she muttered, brushing it off. Her focus shifted back to the task at hand as she bolted toward the wall.
With the Wood Elf village caved in, the towering walls loomed like insurmountable barriers, but Aria wasn’t one to hesitate. She leapt from one protruding stone to another, her movements nimble and precise as she climbed higher and higher.
Reaching a height that aligned her perfectly with the monster’s massive neck and shoulders, she pushed off with a sharp kick.
Thud!
Aria somersaulted gracefully in midair, her sharp eyes locking onto the monstrous figure below. Drawing the string of her compact bow, the wheels on it whirred to life, spinning with mechanical intensity…. Muttering under her breath, she summoned an arrow out of thin air and putting a black square block on the tip… The energy coursing through her weapon hummed with power, like a high-performance engine revving for release.
Her hawk-like gaze sharpened as she focused not on a… target but rather Targets!
With practiced precision, she released the string….
Sssshhh!
Instantly, Aria twisted her body in midair, her attention shifting from the monster to Kaelen, who was already out of the caved in village and charging through the dense forest in his wolf form.
Without hesitation, she pulled the string again and fired another arrow, this time aimed at… him.
Meanwhile, her first arrow zipped through the air, gaining momentum as it neared its monstrous elf.
Sssshshhhhh!
Ssshhhh!
Sshhh!
The single arrow split into four, each one growing in size until they become towering trees like size and,
Thud!… Neck.
Thud!… Right shoulder.
Thud!… Left shoulder.
Thud!… Abdomen.
The monster barely reacted, its focus unwavering as it continued pulling at the massive stone… Even as the arrows pierced clean through its body, emerging from the other side, it showed no sign of pain.
The Ebon stone, almost came out from the underground…
Suddenly, the arrows’ tips, Aether already gave her a few technology during the Heart Game… so used now again… the tips slow moved like nanobots embedded in its flesh latching on it tightly like a leech and then… Fine, silken threads of magical energy materialized, connecting the four points like a web.
Snnnngggg!
The threads tightened, radiating a faint hum as they stretched…. They extended outward, racing toward the arrow…. Aria had fired at Kaelen.
Ssssshhhhhh!
Kaelen’s ears twitched, picking up the faint whistle of the approaching thread. He skidded to a halt, turned sharply to the right, and…. a black molten material moved like a nanobots around his body and caught arrow…. Without missing a beat, he pivoted and began a wide arc back toward the caved in Village!
Thud!
Aria landed on the ground in a ground, “Faster, Kaelen!” she commanded, pulling her bowstring once more. She unleashed a rapid volley of arrows, embedding them in the walls in a precise ‘U’ shape.
Kaelen growled, his muscles tensing as the thread closed in, now just inches from the arrow. His fur bristled as his body coiled with raw power.
Thud!
Sssshhhhh!
He surged forward like a bolt of lightning, faster than anything the eye could track.
Aria’s eyebrows shot up in surprise before a wide grin spread across her face.
Kaelen, now back at the edge of the caved village, he looked down at the Aria who was ready another arrow…. he leapt high into the air and descended into the caved village again….. As he in the air, he snarled “NOW!”
The thread finally connected, snapping taut as it linked the monstrous creature to the arrow clenched in Kaelen’s black metal nanobots. The tension surged, building to an unbearable degree, like a massive spring coiled to its limit. The force yanked Kaelen backward, his body skidding slightly under the strain, but Aria was already prepared…
Thud!
Another arrow streaked through the air toward Kaelen. With practiced precision, he released the black metal nanobot along with arrow, letting it fly free just as the new arrow hit the black metal and embedded itself in the wall, locking the thread in place.
The structure of the ‘U’-shaped arrows Aria had fired earlier now served as the anchor
The thread tensed abruptly, pulling everything into place.
Aria’s grin widened as she snapped her fingers. “Checkmate,” she whispered.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM! Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire
….
….
Each of the ‘U’-shaped arrows detonated in sequence, releasing explosions that reverberated through the air. The massive wall trembled, cracks spreading like jagged lightning before the structure finally gave way.
Thud!
The enormous block of debris surged downward, pulling the tensioned thread through the forest like an unrelenting chain. Trees creaked and groaned, their trunks splintering as the thread used them as leverage, its momentum unstoppable.
The monster’s massive form jerked and…
Tttttttttttttthhhhh!!
The thread’s force dragged the beast backward!!
Finally, with a deafening crash, the monster slammed into the wall behind it.
BOOOMMMMMMM!!
The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the air. Dust and debris erupted in a choking cloud, momentarily obscuring the scene. As the haze began to settle, the monster’s colossal frame was revealed, pinned against the rubble.
“ARRRRRRHHHHHHH!!!” Its furious roars filled the air, each bellow vibrating with anger and frustration.
Kaelen and Aria exchanged a glance, their expressions a mix of exhaustion and grim satisfaction. With a collective sigh, they turned to report back to Aether, confident that their mission was accomplished.
However, They saw Aether’s horrifed face as he mumbled,
“S-Sandra?”