Chapter 325: Shattered
It was very unusual for anything of significance to happen. People had left their homes with free minds, hoping for a good time. However, the notion of peace was soon shattered.
First, an explosion rocked the middle of the Kaer Thorn district. The people luckily away from the blast had shuddered at the thought of the casualties. Of the inevitable spawning of darkness.
Before the haze even settled, panic had ensued. People fled, running as far away from the scene as possible. The slow were trampled, the weak left behind.
Even as the Veil was activated, encasing the entire area, the people still refused to stop. A vita veil of such size could only mean one thing, a Grade Four.
People ran towards the only place they thought safe. Under the umbrella of the strong. The main city, Sylvastein, where the Pulse resided.
The main city was flooded in an instant, panic gripping the people.
But as though that wasn’t enough, a battle began across the skies of the stronghold. Many failed to identify the people involved.
The only thing they saw were flashes of crimson and the silver moon flushing scarlet.
Each collision birthed a shockwave so intense the wave blasted down on them. Buildings collapsed. Many were swept off their feet. Many died. Darkness spawned.
At one instant, the semblance of peace they had vanished, replaced by utter chaos.
The darkness creatures that spawned wreaked havoc across the city. Many Blood Knights and Guardians sprang into action, trying to fight against the darkness, but it was futile.
People died by the second, and more darkness spawned. They became endless, sweeping the people.
But as though that wasn’t all, from below, in the middle of Sylvastein, a blinding green light shone from below through the cracks that had begun to spread across the paved streets.
A figure burst out the next moment, tearing upwards in the beam of green light. An overwhelming amount of vita flooded the city.
For a moment, the chaos, the battles, the clashes… everything stilled.
The people looked up, even the darkness had paused, eyes fixed upward towards the being radiating an intense green light.
To them, it was as though a divine being had graced the world.
Rhett’s gaze shone through the dark night. He was on the ground, and in front of him was the battered figure of his brother, barely standing.
Surrounding him were the countless darkness creatures that had spawned as he killed the Blood Guardians.
Regardless, his eyes were fixed on the figure that had just appeared high in the sky. He was bathed in a blinding green light, but there was no mistaking that face.
‘Malakai.’ Rhett clenched his fists. He was alive. He glanced at the Vita Veil. Did that mean they were never trapped inside?
Did that mean Laila and the others could also be alive? Rhett dared himself to believe. He felt his brother’s stare on him. His eyes still pleaded with him even now.
But Rhett’s bloodlust only peaked. He had no idea how Malakai had gained this obvious surge of power, but he didn’t care. He only cared about the way forward.
He gripped his spear tightly. First, he would defeat Eras, then figure out the way forward after that. But he was about to move when another figure burst out from the ground in a streak of crimson light.
“I won’t let you escape!” He thundered, surging towards Malakai.
For a breathless moment, Rhett met eyes with Malakai, and through the sudden silence, countless words were exchanged between them.
Time resumed, and Kosim’s blade screamed towards Malakai.
But Malakai hadn’t even so much as turned to face him. As his eyes left Rhett, he fixed them on the Vita Veil in the distance.
At that moment, a shudder ran through the entire city.
Kosim, who was inches away from severing Malakai’s neck, narrowed his eyes. He had suddenly felt a sense of despair. Something terrible was about to occur.
But it only fueled his determination.
‘I have to kill him now.’
His blood surged, swirling tighter and tighter around his blade like a howling tempest.
The weapon howled with him, speed exploding, each inch of movement stretching into several more. His strike blurred, ready to carve.
Just as it was about to land, Kosim felt it. The vita in the air stilled. Then it flared. Then it detonated.
A roar of apocalyptic force erupted. The explosion blasted downward, ripping through the already chaotic city.
Foundations cracked apart. Entire buildings groaned before collapsing in on themselves.
A storm of unbearable force swept outward, flinging people and darkness creatures like ragdolls. A wave of shattered stone and splintered steel devoured the streets.
“Fuck!” Kosim careened, skidding through the air, teeth gritted hard.
He didn’t give even a moment’s rest, his eyes pierced through the haze that had engulfed the area, narrowing on the lone figure tearing straight for the Vita Veil.
“No! You’ll doom us all!” Kosim’s world spun. He knew what was sealed within that veil. It must never be allowed into the world!
His figure blurred, shooting after Malakai, but his expression soon paled. He knew… he couldn’t keep up.
Malakai was like a beam of light. Renlo and Seraza were already engulfed in the overwhelming flood of vita converging on him like a storm.
It coursed down his arm, gathering around his fist, condensing into a massive fist of pure power.
He drew his fist back as he reached the veil, then drove it forward.
The punch detonated with a force that split the world open.
The backlash swept across the battlefield, crashing into Kosim with unstoppable force. His body jolted, blood spraying through the air as he was hurled backward.
A crack resounded across the chaos, sharp, echoing more like the harbinger of doom than anything else. But it did not spread.
The thought burned through Malakai’s mind. His fist tensed to strike again, but before he could act, a streak of crimson lanced from behind, spear tearing forward with splitting momentum.
Malakai caught sight of Captain Rhett just as the weapon struck.
The impact rattled the earth. A surge of force rippled outward, a storm traveling across the city.
Then, the crack across the Veil’s surface shivered, quivered and spread.
In the next instant, the Veil shattered into millions of pieces, fragments scattering in motes of light.
There was a moment of utter silence.
Then, an aura of death drenched the city of Sylvastein.