Chapter 223: Who Is He?

(Northwatch Grounds, Mary’s POV)

KRAKOOOOOOOOOM!

The world turned white.

Mary barely had enough time to squeeze her eyes shut before the lightning struck, as a deafening explosion ripped across the Northwatch Grounds and sent a violent tremor through the earth beneath her feet.

BOOOOOOM!

The large boulder protecting her shuddered from the impact.

Fragments of stone broke loose from its surface while Mary instinctively threw both hands over her ears, yet even that did little to protect her from the thunderous ringing that overwhelmed every other sound around her. ℴℴ𝘮

For several seconds, she heard nothing.

The rain disappeared.

The distant shouting disappeared.

Even her own breathing became impossible to hear beneath the high-pitched ringing inside her skull.

RINGGGGG!

Mary remained pressed against the boulder as her heart hammered against her chest, struggling to understand what had just happened while tiny currents of Aether prickled across her exposed skin.

Something had changed.

Storm Aether saturated the air around her.

It was considerably denser than anything she had felt throughout the rainstorm until now, leaving the atmosphere strangely charged as countless tiny sparks occasionally crawled across the wet surface of the boulder before disappearing.

’What the fuck was that...?’

Mary wondered, as she slowly lowered her hands from her ears and turned back towards the Northwatch Grounds.

The sight waiting behind her made her breath catch.

Riven was the only one standing now, while Gary and Cyrus were the ones writhing helplessly in the mud around him.

His soaked robes remained torn and covered in filth, while blood from his broken nose still stained the lower half of his face, yet the weakness Mary had witnessed only moments earlier had completely disappeared from his posture.

He stood perfectly upright with his chin slightly lowered, while his wet black hair slowly began rising away from his forehead, individual strands floating towards the sky as though gravity itself had stopped affecting them.

CRACKLE!

Faint bluish-purple currents of electricity travelled between those floating strands before crawling across his shoulders and arms, occasionally jumping through the rainwater running down his body.

Without saying a word, Riven reached towards Sky-Cleaver lying beside him and wrapped his fingers around its shaft, lifting the fully extended ancient halberd effortlessly before rotating it around his body with a casual movement of his wrist.

WHOOSH!

The enormous blade swept through the rain before circling back around, moving between Riven’s fingers with such effortless control that Mary could hardly believe this was the same heavy weapon she had watched him wield throughout their training.

There was no visible strain in his wrist or shoulders as Sky-Cleaver continued spinning between knuckles, appearing almost weightless within his grasp while bluish-purple electricity occasionally jumped between his fingers and the weapon’s shaft.

Only then did Mary’s attention fall upon the two people lying near his feet.

Gary Ironveil and Cyrus had both been standing over Riven when the lightning descended, yet now neither of them appeared capable of even getting back onto their knees.

Smoke rose from their bodies despite the heavy rain pouring over them, while sections of their robes had been burned away completely, exposing patches of reddened and blackened skin underneath.

Gary’s hair had been scorched along one side of his head, while his body trembled violently against the mud as he struggled to draw breath through clenched teeth.

Cyrus appeared even worse, as uncontrollable spasms travelled through his arms and legs while blood leaked from several wounds across his body, immediately thinning into red streams within the rainwater gathering beneath him.

Neither appeared capable of standing anymore, much less fighting, as the two students who had completely overwhelmed Riven moments earlier could do little except writhe helplessly around his feet.

Then the smell reached Mary.

Burned cloth and singed hair filled the air first, although beneath them lingered something considerably worse, as the unmistakable scent of scorched flesh mixed with the rain and caused Mary’s face to turn pale.

’What the hell happened to them...?’

Mary wondered, as her horrified gaze slowly travelled from Gary and Cyrus back towards Riven.

She had seen the lightning descend exactly where the three of them had been standing, yet while Gary and Cyrus had been reduced to smoldering wrecks before either could react, Riven stood completely unharmed between them, calmly spinning Sky-Cleaver as traces of bluish-purple electricity continued crawling across his body.

CRACKLE!

A particularly large lightning bolt emerged from Riven’s body, before harmlessly discharging into the ground, as Mary could not help but unconsciously activate [Aether Pulse], only to regret it immediately the moment she did.

The returning sensation was unlike anything she had experienced before.

Storm Aether surrounded Riven so densely that the vague human outline normally created inside Mary’s mind had almost disappeared beneath it, as though she wasn’t sensing a person anymore, but a violent concentration of Aether occupying the shape where a person was supposed to be.

A quiet sound escaped Mary’s mouth.

"Ah...."

Riven suddenly stopped spinning Sky-Cleaver, causing Mary’s heart to skip as his head slowly turned towards the boulder she was hiding behind.

’He heard me...?’

Mary wondered, as she instinctively pressed herself closer against the stone.

Riven’s gaze settled upon her hiding place.

For one terrible moment, neither of them moved.

Then another flash of lightning illuminated his face.

Mary felt a chill travel down her spine.

Those weren’t Riven’s eyes.

The familiar green color she associated with him had disappeared completely, replaced by an unnatural bluish-purple glow that filled both eyes from edge to edge.

There was no visible distinction between iris and pupil anymore, as tiny branches of bluish-purple lightning moved beneath the surface of both eyes, making it appear as though two miniature thunderstorms had somehow been trapped inside his skull.

Yet it wasn’t merely their appearance that frightened Mary.

It was the way Riven looked at her.

There was no recognition in his eyes.

And although she had seen a similarly alien expression when Riven first encountered her at the Academy and looked straight through her as though they had never met, this was somehow worse, as there wasn’t even confusion in those glowing eyes now, only the cold acknowledgment that something living was hiding behind the boulder.

’That’s not....’

Mary thought, as her fingers tightened against the boulder.

’That’s not my Riven..... and that’s not Riven Dawnriver either.’

She had seen Riven angry, frightened, arrogant, exhausted and violent before, yet the expression staring back at her now resembled none of them.

Whatever was standing in the middle of the Northwatch Grounds wore Riven’s bloodied face and held Riven’s weapon, yet Mary was sure it was not Riven.

Then shouting erupted from the road.

"DAWNRIVER! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

Riven’s head turned towards the sound.

Several Aureate students had finally recovered from the shock and were rushing towards Gary and Cyrus, their earlier confidence replaced by panic as they saw the condition of the two bodies lying beside Riven.

"YOU’LL FUCKING KILL THEM!"

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!"

The students charged through the pouring rain, some rushing towards their injured comrades while others moved directly towards Riven.

Riven didn’t answer.

He simply turned towards them.

Sky-Cleaver rotated once between his fingers.

WHOOSH!

Bluish-purple electricity immediately crawled along the ancient blade.

Behind him, Gary and Cyrus continued writhing helplessly in the mud, blood mixing with the rainwater beneath their bodies while smoke continued rising from their scorched robes.

And as the Aureate students charged closer, the strange figure standing before them slowly raised his halberd, his lips curling into a predatory smile that made Mary’s gut clench in horror as she sensed that something unholy was about to follow.