"All conflict can be traced back to someone's feelings getting hurt, don't you think?"
– Liane Moriarty
***
[Rya-al-sar POV]
Coming out of the bittersweet memories from the past, I flared my mana and let the rain that had soaked me evaporate away in an instant.
Looking at the illuminated horizon to my left, the sun was about to set, the world was just about to be shrouded by the night's inevitable embrace. Just then, involuntarily, words seemingly came from my mouth in a tired and pained tone.
"Rya... al... sar..., how can I become the guiding light for everyone now?"
The words left me in a daze, and memories from the past flashed through my mind: happy ones, sad ones, excited ones, and even those filled with misery.
Clenching my fist, I breathed out while mumbling in a low tone, and the cracking sounds echoed from my knuckles.
"No matter, I will purge this rot... that plagues our land. My name might not be remembered, but so what? It doesn't mean my life didn't have any meaning."
It felt like that was the only thought which held my soul together, my only tattered sail that helped me travel through the waters of life.
Just then, the communicator in my bracelet buzzed. Taking the thing out, it was my handler who was calling me. Picking it up and hearing the sound from the other end, my body gradually started heating, and my mana flowed through my veins in a frenzy. My sword heart pulsed, and my blade strapped to my waist trembled with an increasing intensity.
"Twelfth, get ready. The others have reached their marks; the mana-dampening and anti-divination formations will be deployed in a couple of minutes. Sixth and Tenth will be on standby after you are deployed, same for the other seats on the remaining continents."
"Copy that. And the decoys?"
"They are ready and will be deployed half an hour after the formations are deployed via the spirit gates."
"I see, the quintessence stones are ready, and the technique can be deployed within a breath. Any abnormalities or anomalies?"
"None, the emperors will be busy with the central prison vaults blowing up, and you guys will have the time frame of a couple of hours to execute the mission. The formations will hold up for a couple more hours. Go crazy."
Hearing these words, my body started flickering as if an armour was trying to form on top of me, its phantom image flickering in and out of existence.
Letting my body tilt forward, I began falling at a breakneck pace. Letting out a foggy breath, I activated [Phantom flicker] and stepped directly on the air and darted forward to the mouth of the volcanic mountain.
Still holding the communicator, I spoke softly.
"Goodbye, Martha."
A muffled voice came from the other end.
"...Goodbye, you dense bastard. Make sure to give that lizard hell."
With a calm face, I put the communicator into the dimensional bracelet and stepped near the mouth of the bubbling volcano.
The heat didn't faze me, nor did the scorching wisps of heated mana billowing out of the place.
Stepping forward, I let myself fall into the bubbling lava. Before touching the boiling mass, I let my mana cover me in a protective film and pushed a jet of mana continuously out through my back, pushing me deeper and deeper into the inferno of molten rocks.
After a few minutes of descending, my mana sense caught the edge of a protective barrier encasing a huge cave stretching thousands of kilometres at the edges of the cavity. Gently gliding towards it, I finally burrowed my way out through the rocks lining the outer cavity encasing the molten magma and reached an insanely mana-dense region.
Checking an artefact that showed me every other member's location, they all had reached their respective positions.
Just then, the image in the artefact glowed, and two barriers sprang to life, encasing all four targets in a radius of five thousand kilometres.
Quietening down, I saw no movement or mana fluctuations from my front. That made me breathe out a relieved sigh.
'This was the most risky part, now to wait for confirmation.'
Staying at my place for a few more minutes and checking on my comrades' positions, Gradually, the mana in my veins began beating to my heart's rhythm, and faint sparks of blade lights began dancing around my body, akin to fireflies.
Paying no heed to the world, I focused inwards, to the phantom I'd gained and the haze I'd built on its foundation over the years. The blade haze of speed, that was my law, my enlightenment. Right now, the haze pulsed rhythmically in my blade heart, sending out powerful pulses of mana and blade flashes through my every cell.
A few minutes passed, then the artefact pulsed again, and a huge number of people flashed just a few hundred kilometres in front of me, just above my target. And then, the world quaked.
A shockwave of tremendous might erupted from the front, shaking the mountain range at its seams. Then, a couple of seconds later, a roar peeled across the world itself. It seemed as if a deity was roaring to the heavens in unbridled rage.
Finally seeing the same thing happening on the other three continents through the artefact, I gently put it away.
My mana churned with a seething intensity through my body, and a mighty armour made of darkened steel began encasing my body in milliseconds.
The last clicks of the armour setting in its place resounded through my ears, and my hand went to my trusty blade.
Clasping the familiar hilt, I let out a turbid breath and pulled my sword out, then, without delay, I swung it forward towards the wall of rocks encasing me like a tomb.
As my blade passed through the confined area, the space in front of me rippled and then was torn open as if I'd cut a passage through the world itself.
Stepping through the passage, what I saw was a visage truly fit to describe the very end of our world.
A looming, mighty dragon was roaring to the heavens, while the huge cave around it was awash with blinding flames and turbulent mana that twisted in vortices.
Seeing the slightly charred and torn scales of the wretched dragon, my face twisted in a bitter scowl.
"Not enough..."
Well, this was about what we had predicted. Even a surprise attack as this one did only minimal damage to the wretch.
Not minding it any longer, I began activating the flawed technique of ascention that would spell my doom in the coming day if I could survive for that long, that is.
A bang went off in my body and soul as my ascendant level rose from the blade soul to the next realm in an instant.
I had taken some mana herbs and potions to ascend to the blade soul in the last few years than I would've done naturally, but the strength filling my body and soul right now made me feel like I could crush a hundred of my previous selves with a fraction of my strength right now.
But no matter, the only thing left was to kill this damn lizard, and then I could rest till eternity.
My senses sharpened as time seemed to slow for me. Then, without any delay, I blitzed forward, akin to a streaking meteor, towards the dragon and got ready to swing my blade.
In the slowed-down world, the kilometres-long dragon seemed to meet my eyes, and then, with eyes glinting with annoyance and raeg, it opened its jagged maw and roared towards me.
[Dragon's roar]
The air rippled as the oncoming shockwave, seeping with mana, blasted me in my face and rattled me to the bones.
'Minor mana pathways damaged.'
I analysed coldly in my mind. Paying these minor injuries no mind, I slashed forward.
[Duskblade first form - mana severance]
The blade light shot forward and split the oncoming mana in two while reaching the dragon.
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[A/N]
How is it?