FLAMES OF DESTRUCTION (VII)

Tepid silence reigned above the ever-floating Noterra, surrounding void expanding into seeming infinity around a small group of people stifling the tension rising within their bones. Far above the group of twenty-three, a singular figure, seemingly immune to the hiccups faced by those below, floated, cross-legged, eyes closed, breathing calm and even.

Lino had emptied his mind completely, focused entirely on calming his heart. He was hardly at ease, yet he had to project it, if for nothing else but those beneath him. Hannah, Eldon, Lucky, Alison, Reli, Elta, Y'nn, even a young General that popped out of nowhere, Xia, who's barely entered her thirties. He had dragged them into this reality, and he had to maintain the farce of certainty.

He, at first, sensed it subtly – in the far distance, beyond the scope of the Divine Sense, a flicker of world-bearing energy appeared. Then, thousands of smaller iotas lifted off through it, boring outward, moving toward him. He barely managed to suppress a groan as he felt two additional energies similar to Ella's, both being even stronger than hers.

Sighing inwardly, he opened his eyes just as the sea became apparent; one after one, creatures of all races popped into the existence from the void, swarming the outward orbit of Noterra. Leading them were three figures clad in resplendent armor, exuding an aura of dignity, benevolence, and impunity. His eyes, however, ignored everyone except a pair of gem-blue ones that stared back at his with a complex network of emotions.

He glanced beyond her once, growing slightly unsettled; though he was confident that the twenty-three would be able to hold on long enough, he grew worrisome.

"… stay with them." he whispered softly to Hannah who merely nodded.

There was no need for disputes; she knew well enough that, without her, the rest would fall within a few minutes. This, however, did increase Lino's burden, but he had no luxury to care.

"

," he mumbled, his voice ripping out through the restraints of s.p.a.ce and reaching everyone present. "

."

Qi – no, it ceased being Qi, metamorphosing into a higher form of energy, one purely Chaotic – churned within his bones, exploding outwardly like a surge of tidal waves, thin veils dotting next to one another and forming millions of swords of pure light that surrounded him and the three Agents in a resplendent curtain, cutting away the pressure they were exuding, as well as their existence itself from the realm the others were stuck in.

The three didn't try to fight it, merely letting themselves be swept away into fireworks of light. Outwardly, the four simply seemed to have teleported elsewhere, but they were fully able to observe the outside from within the domain. The edges were spread wide and afar, s.p.a.ce expanded considerably.

"—am I being a naïve fool, still believing this is simply an entourage accompanying you to a celebratory party?" Lino sneered, turning his eyes back on Ella.

"You're more than meets the eye, little human," one of the men, similarly clad to Ella, sporting the same features, stepped forth, seemingly s.h.i.+elding her from the responsibility of an answer. "If possible, we do not wish to fight you. Need we break more hearts?"

"… then don't fight me," Lino smiled still, replying. "Walk away. If you'd like, I'll even applaud and sing you praises."

"So long as you give up on that thing inside of you, we will." The man said, unperturbed.

"Well, looks like we've come across an issue, haven't we?"

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"If it's the strength you require," the other man, long-haired one, yet still eerily similar to the former, stood out and spoke. "You won't be lacking it. We'll give you enough to protect those you love."

"Perhaps," Lino mused aloud, moving his eyes toward him. "Or you might shove a skewer up my a.s.s and churn my insides out the moment I give in."

"We wouldn't—"

"Words are cheap," Lino interrupted him quickly. "For all I know, you might be the most honorable creature in the entire universe, and, if so, I applaud you, honestly. But… I'm afraid I can't make that bet. See, I'm not much of a gambler I'm afraid. I do far better with certainties."

"—and is the Edifice your certainty?!" Ella spoke at last, gnas.h.i.+ng her teeth. "Are you truly willing to choose it over me, over everyone else?!"

"…" Lino said nothing for a moment, moving his eyes slowly toward her, meeting her pained gaze. "Don't s.h.i.+ft the blame, El'. You're the one that walked away."

"I—"

"I hardly blame you," he interrupted her, speaking softly. "But this story… is beyond you. I do love you – I will always love you and consider you my mother, whatever the outcome of this war, but my defiance isn't so cheap as to be made up of fear of weakness."

"I promise we won't touch Noterra no matter what!"

"You won't," Lino said. "But, it's a small world, ripe one at that, just ready for the pickings." He added.

"We'll guarantee that Ashening won't happen." The long-haired man said from the side, seemingly seeing a trace of hope.

"… put yourselves in my shoes for a moment," Lino said, chuckling lightly. "Two strangers, and someone who walked away from you, come promising everything your heart needs and desires, but only if you give up the tool that allows you to fulfill your needs and desires. Would you accept the promises on the face value?"

"…"

"I'm terribly young, compared to you," Lino continued. "And twice as ignorant. I don't know the workings of the universe, the Engines of Creation, or even Edifices at that. I don't know the secrets and the eternal musings of how everything works. What I know is what I've grown up with, what I fought for with my blood and bones to achieve, and countless people down there depending on me. I don't have the greater picture in mind – if anything, my picture is terribly small. But… that picture composes the entirety of my heart. And, if need be, I'll die fighting here to protect it, rather than hand its fate over to the few strangers who brought over an army."

"…" the trio remained silent, realizing their pleas were for naught.

"… whatever the outcome, as I've said," Lino turned toward Ella once more, straightening his body, drawing out an ordinary-seeming sword. "I'll always love you, El'—no, mom. This won't cheapen what you've done for me, or erase it. Don't hold back; if you're capable, shove your sword through my heart and kill me. Let us both do what needs to be done."

Just as the last word escaped Lino's lips, he suddenly spun to the side and swung the [Divine Blade of Protection] upward; a metallic sound was followed by a billowing shockwave that swept toward the edges of the domain, a golden figure, the long-haired man, bounced back with the force he couldn't withstand, holding two swords crossed over his chest, gritting his teeth.

"Limrur!!" Ella called out as Cadel, who was just next to her, appeared behind Lino, good two hundred meters away, swiping open his arms whereupon slightly transparent, golden chains shot out like whips.

There were hundreds of them in total, forming a net-like structure as they dove toward the lonesome-seeming figure standing in their path. Lino glanced back for a moment as he doused his feet in crimson-chaotic lightning, springing from a standstill into an ethereal visage that burned through the countless chains and reached Cadel almost immediately. The latter quickly responded, driving out a behemoth of a s.h.i.+eld that burned right after in a bright golden, extending upward and downward in a curve, forming a coc.o.o.n of sorts, wrapping him up entirely.

Just then, Lino's sword descended, the sheer momentum behind the strike enough to rip open a mile-long gash in s.p.a.cetime, the swing itself accompanied by a thunderous roar of a just-woken beast. The resulting clash burned out in a blaze, shockwave once again reaching the edges of the domain like a sea of fire, as Cadel found himself shot backward like a cannonball, bouncing off the edge and about at the speed of light.

Lino vanished once again, following the trajectory of the coc.o.o.n and spinning in a full circle as he intercepted it, carving a ma.s.sive chunk of the s.h.i.+eld out with a strike. Crimson tendrils bled over from the blade and exploded into a frontal cone as thousands of bolts lightning bore through the s.h.i.+eld, exploding it from inside.

Just as he was about to press onward and catch the fleeing, golden figure, a pair of golden swords projected into ma.s.sive visages descended from above him; Lino spun and swung upward, ejecting a singular rip the size of a small city at a sloped angle, meeting the golden descent. The two strikes negated each other as Limrur bore through the ashen clouds, swiping rapidly. Lino met the blade-dance strike for a strike; upward swing followed by a retreating parry, into a sideways slash and a rapid change of trajectory to match the evading Limrur. Each time the three swords collided, sparks flew off like stars, trails of smoke extending from the two blurred figures

Getting tired of the dance, Lino frowned for a moment as he let one of the Limrur's strikes through, surprising the man, making him lose his footing. As the golden edge lodged itself into Lino's right ribcage, he reached out with his free, left arm and grabbed Limrur's shoulder, pulling it toward himself and suddenly ripping the entire arm out. Blood gushed out, though no cry followed as Limrur quickly pulled himself back and out of Lino's grasp, the missing arm growing rapidly as a shower of blade-shaped droplets of fire fell toward Lino.

There were over a hundred thousand of them, each the size of an ordinary sword, encompa.s.sing him whole. From behind, an eruption of chains escalated as Cadel clasped his arms, his figure s.h.i.+ning brightly, his cape fluttering violently behind him as the previously transparent chains grew corporeal, doubling in number.

Rather than panicking, Lino turned toward Cadel as he activated one of the sword's properties – [Dissever]. Aiming at the latter's heart with his eyes, Lino shoved the sword sideways into the seeming nothingness.

Cadel had less than a second to register the wobbling in the s.p.a.ce in front of his heart, barely s.h.i.+fting slightly sideways as the ordinary-looking blade struck through the s.p.a.cetime, lodging itself into his shoulder, ripping open a ma.s.sive wound.

Seeing he missed, Lino clicked his tongue and rapidly withdrew the blade, crouching for a moment as his entire being churned in crimson lightning.

"

," he whispered softly into his jaw as the Chaotic energy within him bubbled and burst from within his chest, encasing him in the soft membrane of red before collapsing unto itself. A raging storm of smoke-like substance exploded out of him as he swept around in a full circle, unleas.h.i.+ng a repeated torrent of annihilating whirls of light, each the size of a mountain, powered by his Will.

s.p.a.ce around him ripped and crumbled, the destruction beyond measure, as both Cadel and Limrur sc.r.a.ped to escape the onslaught of the blades that ripped through their attacks with ease. Even the sword domain wasn't enough to contain the chunks of energy as they ripped through as though they were ripping through a piece of paper.

The group down below that was just about to engage into a fight suddenly felt the s.p.a.ce above them rip and ripple, momentarily pausing and glancing upward; just then, as though from nothingness, a storm of blade-edged crimson lights, each at the very least five kilometers long, encased in thick bolts of red lightning, ripped through and onward into the infinity, forming a series of ma.s.sive gashes in s.p.a.cetime. The sheer remnant energy that pushed down caused everyone to get sucked into a whirling shockwave that sent them spinning like spin-tops, flung left and right against their will.

The sword domain recovered as quickly as it was breached, Lino standing at the epicenter of the cosmic destruction, looking about with gloomy eyes. Three figures had regrouped on the other end, each having evaded the strike completely. Clicking his tongue once again, cursing himself out for not practicing accuracy well enough, he readied the sword once more and turned toward them. The battle had only just begun.