Chapter 72: Surviving An Ember’s Arcana

Daphie had been blasted from the building at tremendous speed, expecting the ground to come rushing toward her along with the pain that would follow.

Instead, she landed against something firm enough to catch her yet soft enough to prevent any injury.

Slowly, her eyes opened, and she found clear blue irises staring back at her.

"You... Declan!?"

KAAAABOOOOM!

Another enormous explosion erupted ahead, and Declan immediately moved away from where he stood.

BOOOOOOOM!

Two seconds later, the ground beneath where he had been standing was blasted apart.

A vehicle was hurled across the ash-covered terrain before exploding into flames.

BAAAAANG!

"Protocol 404: Daph secured."

Declan’s voice remained calm.

"Take cover and report your status to Command Deric once you regain signal."

"Declan," he said as he placed her beside a large container before rising.

Then, in the next instant,

VROOOOOOOOOM!

The air whipped violently, Daphie’s hair flying around as she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut from the sudden burst of speed.

When the wind finally settled, she opened her eyes only to find he was already gone.

She immediately stood and looked in the direction he had disappeared, but there was no sign of him.

KAAAAAABOOOOM!

An even more powerful explosion erupted in the distance, forcing Daphie to duck behind the container as the resulting shockwave swept through the area.

THRRROM!

THRRROM!

Blue bullets tore rapidly through the air as a young man stumbled backward while firing both pistols in his hands as quickly as possible.

His opponent was a gigantic green humanoid creature standing roughly 3.5 meters tall, with four enormous, clawed arms.

The Ember moved with terrifying speed and strength.

It had just ripped a vehicle weighing more than 3,000 pounds from the ground and was now using it as a shield while charging toward the young man.

"Shit!"

Alvared cursed but didn’t stay in place.

The moment the Ember reached five meters away, he bounced off the ground.

Jumping from the edge of the skyscraper, he was thrown into the air, hanging upside down with both guns aimed directly at the Ember.

THRRROM!

THRRROM!

More bullets erupted from his pistols, but the Ember simply raised the vehicle it had dragged over and used it as a shield.

Alvared landed back on his feet and immediately pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened...He had run out of ammunition.

"Fuck!"

He cursed.

His hand reached behind him for another magazine, but his eyes widened as a sharp whistling sound came from behind.

He turned to find vehicle spinning wildly through the air, hurtling directly toward him.

His hair whipped violently in the wind as he took a single step back only to freeze.

It was too fast and already too close.

’I’m dead.’

VROOOOOM!

A blur streaked past him a split second before the vehicle slammed into the spot where he had been standing.

BOOOOOOM!

The vehicle tumbled several meters before erupting into flames.

"I died. I really died?"

The words escaped Alv’s lips.

Sitting beside him was Declan who looked at the young man who was trembling violently as he hugged himself.

Declan had waved his hand in front of Alv’s face several times, yet the dude continued muttering about having died.

Finally, Declan reached out and slapped the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.

Declan tapped his communication pod and waited for the connection.

"Error. No Signal."

The AI’s voice rang out and Declan hummed.

BOOOM!

BOOOOM!

Heavy footsteps echoed through the area, leading to a gleam of realization crossing Declan’s eyes.

"The Ember Arcane presence is destabilizing the signal. We need some distance to regain the connection and report, but..."

He glanced down at the unconscious boy.

"With him like this, running would be quite difficult."

His gaze turned toward the distance.

"The second option to report is..."

GRROOOOWWWWL!

A beastly growl interrupted him, and Declan looked up to find that the Ember had turned toward him.

SHRRRING!

A meter-long blade slid from his right metallic gauntlet, gleaming with blue energy, as the Ember let out a deafening roar.

ROOOOOOAR!

All four of its arms grabbed a nearby vehicle, raised it over its head, and hurled it toward Declan.

BOOOOOM!

As the vehicle tore toward him, Declan flashed forward and leapt from the ground, opening a crater beneath his feet.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

His blade swept through the air and cleaved the vehicle cleanly in two, but before he could do anything else,

VRRRRRRROOOM!

A heavy impact came from the side as the Ember’s palm slammed toward him, though it never reached him.

BOOOOOOOM!

The ground beneath Declan suddenly caved inward as he slammed down with tremendous force, and he immediately swept his leg in a wide arc.

CRAAAAASH!

His foot smashed into the Ember’s rear leg, knocking the creature off balance and sending it tumbling across the ground, but before it could stabilize, Declan drove his knee into its face.

BAAAAAAANG!

The impact sent the creature flying backward.

BOOOOOOM!

Its body crashed into the ground, blasting a gigantic hole through the floor, and the Ember halted its retreat by driving all four claws into the ground before immediately launching itself toward Declan.

He jumped, slipping his body between the creature’s four massive claws, and as he appeared high above it, he straightened his leg while the limb swelled to nearly twice its original size, pitch-black veins crawling beneath his skin.

He then swung it downward with immense force.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The Ember’s head was driven into the ground, with half its body disappearing into the roughly half-meter-deep crater created by the impact.

Declan stepped back as a second blade shot from his arm, and he immediately swung it toward the Ember’s head, but the creature shifted at the last moment.

CRACK!

The sound of bone breaking rang through the battlefield as the Ember twisted its arm at an unnatural angle, forcing it into a position from which it could strike.

Declan reacted instinctively by raising both arms and crossing his blades above his head.

BOOOM!

The massive arm smashed into him, knocking him off his feet and hurling him into a wall.

The Ember immediately leapt from the crater, its eyes having turned completely crimson.

ROOOOAAAR!

Declan slowly stepped out of the cracked wall with one of the Ember’s massive green arms in his hand.

The limb had been severed cleanly, and he dragged it across the ground for a moment before casually tossing it aside like trash.

The Ember stared at him as Declan lowered his stance, leaving the two of them facing each other.

Then the slit across the Ember’s stomach suddenly opened, and its four arms folded together to form a strange seal as a dark ripple spread through the surrounding space.

The world darkened.

"Emberio Artio..."

The creature’s voice echoed through the darkness as its hands shifted.

"Bladio Severio..."

SLASSSH!

SLASSSSH!

White blades suddenly appeared throughout the darkened space, racing toward Declan from every direction.

Declan slowly closed his eyes as the blade extending from his arm retracted, making it appear to anyone watching as though he had rendered himself completely defenseless.

The first slash reached him, but he took a silent step backward, causing the space where he had stood to be instantly torn apart.

Another slash came, and Declan moved forward.

Another came from the side, so he shifted backwards.

Another came from behind, and he moved sideways.

His figure flickered through the darkness as he moved behind, beside, forward, backward, and sideways, each movement precise enough for every slash to miss him by mere inches.

The Ember hovered within the darkened realm with its hands still forming seals, staring in disbelief as Declan dodged every single attack with his eyes closed.

The final slash passed through the space before him.

Declan opened his eyes, took one step forward, and disappeared.

The Ember’s eyes widened as Declan reappeared directly before it, the blue blade emerging from his arm once more.

Silently,

PUUUCHI!

The blade pierced through the slit in the Ember’s maw, tearing through its body before emerging from its back.

Declan tightened his grip, veins bulging across his arm, and then—

SLASSSSSSSSSSH!

The blade swept upward, splitting the Ember’s head straight down the middle as both halves crashed into the ground.

The dark realm immediately dispersed.

SPLATTER!

Green blood splashed across the ground, and Declan casually flicked his blade to the side, sending the remaining blood flying from its surface.

His hand then reached toward his communication pod, which was blinking red, and he tapped it once.

"Protocol 404. This is Command Deric to Declan. Report status. Over."

The voice came from the other side.

"No injuries. No problems. Alv and Daph are safe. Alv is unconscious."

"Daph should report soon. Over."

"Mission accomplished, then."

"There’s only one minute left. Maintain status. Over."

The connection ended.

Declan exhaled slowly as his gaze shifted toward the corpse of the Ember, whose body was already dissolving into countless blue motes.

No emotion crossed his face as he simply waited.

One minute passed, and then his own body began dissolving into blue motes of light.

’It’s over.’

Those were his final words before he completely disappeared from the world.

_________________

When Declan opened his eyes, he found himself back inside the dark, glassy Void, where a blue mote of light emerged from his forehead and drifted back among the countless others floating through the space.

He looked around and saw that most of the students were lying on their backs, their chests heaving as they struggled to catch their breath, while some had been knocked unconscious.

Declan was the only one who remained sitting calmly.

Then he noticed a gaze and raised his head, finding a pair of crimson eyes staring directly at him.

Combat Kydra. Her hands came together, and then,

CLAP!

CLAP!

CLAP!