Freya and I exchanged glances, both realizing the same terrifying truth.
The spell wasn't working.
I turned back to the Juggernaut Beetle, watching as its massive, armored form advanced toward us.
Freya's hands clenched into fists.
"No time to think!" she yelled. "If we can't run, we fight!"
Aether surged around Freya as she steadied herself. As a strength-type ability user, she fell under the reinforcer category—enhanced beyond natural limits. I'd seen her in combat countless times. Insane strength, rapid regeneration—hallmarks of her kind. But what set her apart was her proficiency in wielding Aether.
"My axe," Freya commanded.
I extended my hands, summoning her favored weapons—a pair of war axes, each forged for both speed and power. The moment they materialized in her grasp, she rolled her shoulders, adjusting to the familiar weight. Her stance shifted—a perfect balance between aggression and control.
Every time I saw her wield those twin blades, she looked like a warrior ripped from Viking legends, a berserker dancing on the edge of battle, her every movement a testament to relentless mastery.
Freya had trained in multiple disciplines—Systema, an Imperiya martial art focused on fluidity and counters, and HEMA, a methodical Europa martial art emphasizing historical weapon techniques. With these, she had refined her axe work, turning brute force into an art of precision.
She rolled her shoulders, aether crackling along the edges of her blade. "I'll keep him stalled. Figure out what's happening with your teleportation."
"Wait—why did you break your Aether watch?" I asked as I watched her snap it apart without hesitation.
She shot me a glance, a smirk playing on her lips. "You'll know soon enough."
Before I could question her further, a monstrous Beetle Juggernaut lunged forward. Despite its immense size, the creature moved with unnatural speed, its hulking frame twisting and shifting with an agility that defied its bulk. Each movement was precise, fluid—far superior to even the swiftest mantid-bladed predators. The air rippled with the force of its rapid footfalls, the ground fracturing beneath the sheer momentum of its charge.
A colossal punch shot toward Freya's chest. The force behind it was enough to level a bunker. She met it head-on, raising her axe in a brutal block. A thunderous shockwave erupted upon impact, sending her skidding backward, boots digging trenches into the dirt.
They clashed—relentless, brutal.
Freya's attacks rained down, her axes whistling through the air, but the Beetle Juggernaut evaded with unnatural reflexes, twisting its segmented body in ways that defied human movement. Every strike should have cleaved through its armored shell, but the creature weaved between them with terrifying precision. Then, with a sudden shift, it retaliated—a devastating fist hurtling toward Freya like a battering ram, the sheer force behind it capable of turning solid rock to dust.
Meanwhile, I turned my attention to the Swarborn pouring into the battlefield. I tightened my grip, inhaling sharply. "Spear Cannon."
Aether coiled around me like lightning, then launched forward in a destructive surge, tearing through an incoming squad of insectoids. Direct hit. It worked. I could still use it.
But teleportation? That was another matter.
I clenched my fists and tried again, willing myself to shift to the nearest bunker—just a short jump. Nothing.
Damn it. Why is both long-distance and short-distance teleportation failing?
My mind raced for answers, but there was no time to think. Freya's footing faltered, her stance no longer solid. She was slowing down.
She was reaching her limit.
Panic tightened my chest.
I could risk it—I could use Tempestus Lumens, my most powerful technique. But my body was already battered, my Aether Watch blinking dangerously at 75%. The strain could be too much.
Another tremor of pain shot through me as I struggled to my feet, bones screaming in protest. My ribs had taken too much damage—I could feel fractures grinding against one another with every breath.
But I couldn't stop.
Freya needed me.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed forward, stepping onto the battlefield once more, the storm of war howling around us.
Then it hit me—what if the disruption of teleportation was being influenced by the King of Intellect, the Beetle Juggernaut? But how?
I clenched my fists, pushing through the lingering pain in my body. The bunker was 100 kilometers away. Too far to teleport.
But… What about the entry point?
"Freya, hold it for a while! I need to test something!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" she shouted, her voice laced with frustration as she clashed against the massive beast.
Zap.
I vanished and reappeared at the entry point. It worked.
My heart pounded. Now, let's try the bunker.
I focused, channeling Aether. The space around me shimmered as I attempted the teleportation—but nothing happened.
Damn it.
A creeping sense of dread crawled up my spine. The King Beetle did something to trap us here. But what?
I gritted my teeth, rewinding the battle in my mind, searching for a clue. Think. What changed?
Then I remembered.
The roar.
That monstrous, ground-shaking roar from earlier.
I pieced it together, my mind racing. What if it wasn't just a display of power? What if it was a zoning ability?
My breath hitched.
Aether manipulation… a forced boundary… a battlefield prison.
If my theory was right, the King Beetle used Aether to bind us within a 100km radius, severing our ability to teleport beyond it. This was something new. Something far more dangerous than we'd ever encountered.
We were trapped.
And if we didn't survive, this information would never reach the others.
I clenched my jaw and made a reckless decision. If he could zone us, could I do the same?
I let out a powerful shout, willing my Aether to expand outward, trying to mirror the King Beetle's ability—but it barely reached a three-meter radius.
Huh. This won't do.
Then, suddenly, another idea struck me.
My injuries, the pain—the realization had distracted me, but now I had to set it aside.
This was all or nothing.
We had to survive.
Zap.
I reappeared back on the battlefield. Freya stood panting, her dual axes coated in the blood of fallen Swarborn. A fresh cut dripped crimson down her cheek as she cleaved another insectoid in two.
She barely spared me a glance. "Did you find anything?"
"Yeah," I exhaled. "Give me a minute."
"Make it fast!" she snapped, swinging both axes in a brutal arc, carving through another wave of enemies.
Five minutes. That's how long she had been holding the line, alone, against the King Beetle and the relentless Swarborn horde. Yet, despite the battle's intensity, the King Beetle barely looked phased.
No—worse.
It wasn't even taking her seriously.
It was toying with her.
I swallowed hard. Time to change the game.
I closed my eyes and pictured the battlefield—every detail, every movement.
Then, something stirred deep inside me.
I remembered what Grandpa once told me—that the training room was more than just a construct.
It was his Codex Nexus.
But now, standing in the heart of it, I felt something shift.
A thought struck me—what if this wasn't just a space created... but one alive?
What if the entire room was a living zoning ability, a domain carved directly into the fabric of Aether itself?
Not summoned. Not projected. But manifested—as an extension of will, of mastery.
And if Grandpa could do it…
Then maybe—just maybe—this is the key I've been missing.
The answer to fully unlocking Tempestus Lumens.
Not just using the Codex Nexus…
But becoming one with it.
With that memory anchoring me, the chaotic motion within my mind—the endless flipping of unseen pages—slowed.
Then stopped.
A single page froze before me, suspended in the void of my consciousness.
And as I watched, new words and intricate illustrations began to weave themselves across its surface, as if the Codex itself was responding to my will.
I felt my Aether shift.
Not just at the surface—but from the very depths of my being.
It pulled from my heart.
I inhaled sharply, grounding myself, and then exhaled—forcing the surging energy downward through my core, into my legs.
The ground beneath me trembled, a low hum vibrating through the training hall's floor, as if Gaia herself had paused to listen.
This was no longer just movement.
This was a declaration.
Then—
"ARGH!"
Freya's pained scream jolted me back. My eyes snapped open. She had been hit.
I clenched my fists. I had no time to worry—If I failed here, we both died.
With a deep breath, I surrendered myself to the storm.
"Tempestus Zone: Arena of Swords."
The air roared to life.
Blades of pure Aether erupted from the ground in a violent storm, encircling the battlefield like a coliseum forged by the gods themselves. The wind howled, resonating with the clash of steel.
A battlefield of my own making.
Now, let's see how the King Beetle fares inside my domain.
A 1km radius of Aether stretched around me, an extension of my very being. I could feel it—dense yet weightless—like everything within it was a part of me.
Now, it's showtime.
Freya noticed it too. Her sharp eyes flickered as she observed the shift in Aether. It clung to me, condensed as if embracing its rightful master.
But we weren't the only ones who felt it.
The King Beetle let out a deafening screech—so powerful the air itself trembled. Then, I saw it—my Tempestus Zone was being forcefully pushed inward, shrinking.
He was resisting.
I gritted my teeth, reinforcing my Aether with all the strength I could muster. 500 meters. That's as much as I could hold.
"What's happening!?" Freya asked, concerned about lacing her voice.
"Don't worry," I replied, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Then, with a single thought, I bookmarked her in my Codex Nexus.
She raised an eyebrow. "What's the plan?"
"His abdomen. That's his weakness. We immobilize him on my signal."
Freya gave a firm nod. "Got it."
I took a deep breath, feeling the Aether surge through my veins. Time to go all out.
"Leginarious Divinum: Armory of Gods!"
A storm of blades materialized around me, forming an unrelenting barrage that rained upon the King Beetle. The air shimmered with the sheer force of impact. Some blades bounced off his carapace, others embedded into the ground, while a few hovered mid-air, caught in the battlefield's chaotic energy.
I narrowed my eyes.
"NOW!" I roared.
At that exact moment, I unleashed Spear Cannon—amplified x20—straight at his face!
BOOM!
The King Beetle crossed its thick arms, blocking the attack, but just as planned—his abdomen was left unguarded.
Freya, already in perfect sync with my attack, launched herself forward.
With every ounce of Aether her body could harness, she swung her axes toward his exposed abdomen.
But before her strike connected, I teleported the blade of her axe multiple times, accelerating its impact and explosiveness.
Then—
BAM!
The carapace cracked.
A monstrous roar echoed through the battlefield as the King Beetle staggered, wounded for the first time.
It retaliated instantly—massive fists crashing down in a primal gorilla smash meant to pulverize everything beneath it.
But it struck nothing.
Only earth.
Tempestus Switch.
Born in the crucible of this very battle—an evolution of Tempestus Lumens.
Not a summon. Not a blink. A trade.
Freya was gone.
In that single heartbeat, I had swapped her with a blade I had embedded in the King Beetle's back just moments earlier—
Aether surged through the Codex Nexus, locking the coordinates, syncing the pulse between her life and the weapon's presence.
Where she stood was now empty air.
Where the blade once rested, Freya reappeared—suspended above the ground behind the beetle's towering bulk.
She landed perfectly—one knee bent, one foot braced against the King Beetle's armored shell.
Her palm pressed flat against its back. Aether surged—dense, golden, radiant—until it screamed at the seams.
Then, her voice thundered across the battlefield:
"LION'S ROAR!"
The air cracked. The ground convulsed.
Aether exploded outward in concentric waves, each heavier than the last—
Like tectonic plates grinding in the sky.
Like the planet itself groaning under her will.
The King Beetle froze. Its limbs twitched mid-motion, then stopped entirely—pinned under an unseen force.
Aether gravity, collapsing inward. The weight of a dying star focused onto a single target.
Freya's eyes flashed.
She stepped in, grabbed its abdomen—
A blur of motion—
A leap so sudden the sound chased after her—
She flipped it.
Midair.
A goddamn German suplex.
From orbit.
For one suspended moment, the world held its breath—
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The King Beetle's skull slammed into the ground with catastrophic force.
A shockwave erupted from the impact, sending debris flying in all directions. The ground beneath us fractured, collapsed, and swallowed everything in its wake.
But it wasn't over.
The King Beetle was still alive.
It was airborne now, flung mid-air by the destruction it had caused, its body spiraling like a broken meteor.
Freya landed beside me briefly—her chest heaving, eyes still glowing—
Then, without a word, she retreated into the treeline. Her job was done.
Now it was my turn.
Time for you to taste Grandpa's technique.
I vanished.
Swapped places with a blade I had left floating mid-air—hovering like a silent promise.
Tempestus Lumens.
Now I was right in front of it—suspended mid-air beside the still-twitching corpse of the King Beetle.
I clenched my fist.
Aether wrapped tight, coiling, condensing—solidifying like neutronium.
"Galaxy Punch."
Grandpa's voice echoed in my head.
"Wrap your fist in Aether—make it strong. Then punch. But right before impact—
teleport your fist.
Let it ride the spin of Gaia. Like a slingshot orbiting the planet. Keep that image.
Let it circle. Again. And again. And again.
Each rotation adds speed. Each pass multiplies the force.
And when you've built up enough momentum—
Release it.
Then—bam! Nothing is left."
He had cackled back then, like a madman made of war and love.
"This—this—is our legacy!"
Back then, I scoffed.
"Yeah, yeah—until my damn arm gets torn off."
But now?
Now there were no complaints.
This punch would decide everything for us me and freya
I inhaled.
The Codex Nexus flared.
"Galaxy Punch… amplified x10."
And I let it go.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
My fist collided with the King Beetle's left cheek.
CRACK.
Its horn snapped clean off.
And then—
Detonation.
The sheer force of impact sent shockwaves tearing through the battlefield.
The ground screamed. The sky shuddered.
The King Beetle's massive body was launched downward like a meteor—
Smashing into the earth with cataclysmic weight.
A crater erupted beneath it, swallowing stone, soil, and anything foolish enough to stand close.
Everything collapsed.
Boulders were hurled skyward like pebbles.
Dust surged out in every direction, a choking, blinding storm that turned day into dusk.
I vanished—teleporting out just a blink before the shockwave could reach me.
Silence fell.
A heavy, ringing silence.
The kind that follows ruin.
I landed beside Freya, staggering—panting, sweat trailing down my brow.
She caught me, steadying my arm, eyes still scanning.
"...Did we get it?"
We turned together.
But there was only smoke.
A thick, swirling veil of gray—
Unmoving.
Unbroken.
Uncertain.
🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋✦ AetherBorne: The Archivus Legacy ✦🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋🜋