Chapter 40 — Stone Shield
The rain began as a whisper.
Thin droplets fell from a sky that had been bruised gray by the rising storm, pattering softly against the cracked stone fields. For a moment it almost felt peaceful—like the world itself was trying to cool the heat of the battlefield.
Then Lucy screamed.
"What the fuck is that thing, Adam?!"
The creature standing before them barely resembled anything that had once been human.
Its body was tall and jagged, limbs stretched unnaturally long as if the bones inside had grown faster than flesh could contain them. Cracks of molten gold ran beneath its gray skin like veins filled with lightning. Ether leaked from those fractures in violent pulses, warping the air around it until the world seemed to bend away from the monster.
Adam spat blood into the dirt and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"It was a game guardian," he said between breaths. "But it lost its mind while I was fighting it. Turned into a Riven."
He let out a dry laugh that carried no humor.
"Thing overdosed on sugar and hoed us for almost an hour."
Bale didn't laugh.
His eyes were fixed on the creature with the quiet intensity of a hunter measuring a beast far larger than himself.
"Its power is off the roof," Bale said slowly.
The Riven did not move.
It simply stood there, towering in the rain as golden ether flickered around its body like a halo of broken sunlight.
"It has the battle-hardened experience of a mage," Bale continued, voice low, "and an almost endless pool of ether to draw from."
The wind rose.
Dust and rain spiraled together as the storm thickened overhead.
"This isn't going to be easy."
Before anyone could answer, Lilan stepped forward.
Her soaked hair clung to her face, but her eyes burned with determination as she raised one hand toward the dark sky.
"Then we crush it before it gets worse."
Her voice turned cold.
"Divine Spear — Thunder."
Ether gathered in her palm.
Not slowly.
Not gently.
It rushed inward like a hurricane collapsing into a single point.
Crackling threads of lightning coiled together until a radiant spear formed in her grasp—pure electric ether compressed into a weapon so bright it illuminated the falling rain.
Adam pushed himself to his feet.
"Alright," he muttered.
He rolled his shoulders and clenched his fists as ether flickered along his arms.
"Let's do it."
One by one they fell into stance.
Lucy raised her hands, ether pooling between her fingers like molten glass.
Bale bent his knees slightly, muscles tightening like coiled steel.
Lilan leveled her spear.
And the Riven…
smiled.
The creature's mouth stretched wide, teeth jagged and wrong, as if it had been waiting for this moment.
The rain intensified.
Lightning rumbled somewhere beyond the clouds.
Then Bale moved.
He launched himself into the air with explosive force, stone shattering beneath his feet as he soared upward. His body twisted midair before he came crashing down with a brutal kick aimed straight for the creature's skull.
The Riven caught it.
One hand shot up with terrifying speed.
Bale's heel slammed into its palm.
The ground beneath the monster detonated into a crater as the force traveled through its body into the stone.
But the creature didn't budge.
"Move!" Bale shouted.
The others were already in motion.
Lilan hurled her spear.
It screamed through the air like a falling star, lightning trailing behind it in a blinding arc.
At the same time Adam thrust both hands forward.
"Chain Bind!"
Ether burst from his palms, forming thick chains that wrapped around the Riven's arms and torso like glowing serpents.
The spear struck.
A thunderous explosion blasted across the battlefield as lightning erupted outward in a violent sphere.
The shockwave ripped Adam's chains apart.
Bale had already kicked away from the monster, flipping backward just as the lightning consumed everything.
The Riven was launched across the stone fields like a ragdoll.
The spear drove it hundreds of meters through the air before detonating again in a catastrophic flash that turned the rain into steam.
For a moment the battlefield was nothing but blinding light.
Then the thunder faded.
Adam stared at Lilan.
"Damn… you could do that?"
Lilan glared at him.
"Concentrate, you fool!"
Her voice cracked like a whip.
"It's not down!"
"Fuck—"
The word barely left Adam's mouth before the Riven reappeared.
It crossed the distance faster than human sight could follow.
One second it was gone.
The next—
CRACK.
Its foot slammed into Lilan's stomach with brutal force.
The sound was sickening.
Blood exploded from her mouth as she was launched across the battlefield like a broken doll, crashing into a massive boulder that shattered on impact.
Lucy reacted instantly.
"Get away from her!"
Thousands of condensed beams erupted from her hands.
Each one was a razor-thin blast of compressed ether, raining down on the Riven in a relentless storm. The beams struck the ground around it in rapid succession, tearing apart the terrain and kicking up a massive cloud of ash and debris.
The battlefield vanished into smoke.
Bale didn't hesitate.
He shot into the cloud like a cannonball.
Inside the swirling gray haze he found the monster instantly.
His legs whipped forward.
Double kick.
Both heels slammed into the Riven's face.
The impact cracked the air like a gunshot.
Adam followed seconds later, bursting through the smoke with fists blazing.
His punches came fast.
Too fast for normal eyes to track.
Each strike was reinforced with ether, turning his body into a living weapon as he hammered the monster with a savage combination of punches, elbows, and spinning kicks.
The Riven staggered.
Lucy appeared behind it.
Her hands glowed with blinding light.
"Move!"
Bale and Adam leapt away just as she unleashed it.
A massive beam of raw energy erupted from her palms.
The blast tore across the battlefield like a divine cannon, shredding the ground and vaporizing everything in its path as it swallowed the Riven whole.
The beam carved a trench through the stone fields nearly a kilometer long before fading.
Silence followed.
In the distance, Lilan slowly pushed herself up from the rubble.
Her breathing was ragged.
Blood stained her lips.
"Scar… reversal…"
A faint glow wrapped around her body as healing ether knitted her internal wounds.
She clenched her fists.
Then raised her hand once more.
"Divine Spear — Thunder!"
Another spear formed.
Lilan dashed forward.
The Riven burst from the smoke at the same moment.
They collided head-on.
She hurled the spear directly into its chest.
Lightning fell from the sky.
A massive bolt crashed down like the fist of a god, striking the spear as it embedded into the monster.
The explosion that followed shook the entire stone field.
A towering pillar of lightning erupted into the sky, tearing open the clouds above.
Bale was already moving.
He didn't trust the silence.
Ether constructs formed around him as he ran—dozens of spinning yellow spheres and razor-edged blades made from compressed energy.
He hurled them like artillery.
The weapons screamed through the air and smashed into the Riven's head.
Blades tore through flesh.
Spheres detonated in violent bursts of force.
Another explosion ripped through the storm clouds.
Then—
quiet.
Rain fell harder now.
Lucy lowered her arms.
Adam exhaled slowly.
Lilan rested her hands on her knees.
For the first time since the battle began, hope crept into their chests.
Then the air changed.
The atmosphere thickened.
Rain poured down in heavy sheets as a violent storm began to form overhead.
One by one the four mages fell to their knees.
It felt like the world itself had suddenly grown heavier.
Lilan coughed violently, clutching her throat.
"I… can't… breathe…"
Lucy gasped for air.
Adam gritted his teeth.
Even Bale felt it.
An immense pressure was spreading across the battlefield.
The Riven's ether was expanding.
Growing.
Devouring.
Anyone within its range felt their strength slowly being drained away.
The monster was feeding.
Bale's eyes narrowed.
Then he saw it.
Lucy raised her hands again, preparing another barrage—
"STOP!"
His voice cut through the storm.
Lucy froze.
"Suppress your ether," Bale said quickly. "All of you."
They stared at him.
"It's absorbing our power," he continued. "Every release we make—it takes it and adds it to itself."
Lilan blinked in shock.
"Are you sure?"
Adam nodded grimly.
"He's right."
They immediately restricted their ether output.
The crushing pressure eased slightly.
Bale stepped forward.
"Only physical attacks will work," he said. "Enhance your bodies if you have to—but no releases."
The Riven began to move again.
Madness returned to the battlefield.
The four mages attacked together.
Fists.
Kicks.
Jabs.
They struck in perfect synchronization, driving the monster across the battlefield with a relentless barrage of physical blows.
Bale lifted massive stone monoliths from the ground and hurled them like missiles.
Adam shattered the rocks midair with punches that sent fragments raining down on the creature.
Lucy moved like a phantom, striking from blind angles.
Lilan fought beside them, every movement sharp and precise.
For a moment—
they had the upper hand.
Then the Riven laughed.
Golden spikes of ether rained from the sky.
The ground split open as beams erupted from its wrists.
The battlefield exploded into chaos.
Lucy screamed as the monster grabbed her face and slammed her into the ground.
Adam was backhanded so hard he dropped to his knees.
"Don't get fucking cocky, you piece of shit!" Adam roared.
He surged forward with a furious uppercut.
The punch nearly tore the Riven's head off.
The creature stumbled back.
Then it lowered its head.
And grinned.
"Well done… boy."
Its voice echoed across the battlefield.
The four mages froze.
It spoke again.
"I should commend you all for your strength."
The grin widened.
"But you are still nothing."
Lilan's voice trembled.
"Wait… it can talk?"
"That shouldn't be possible," Bale muttered.
The Riven laughed.
"Oh, it is very possible, child."
Golden light poured from its body.
"For I am the lord of those who find meaning in nothing."
The storm above them split open.
A beam of divine gold crashed down from the heavens.
Stone twisted beneath their feet, forming a spiraling stage.
The creature raised its arms.
"Who am I?"
Its voice thundered across the stone fields.
"I am the Madness King."
Lightning struck the ground behind him.
"I am Lurid the Maniac."
His smile was monstrous.
"And I have not even shown a sliver of my power."
The golden storm erupted.
"Behold, wretches…"
His eyes burned like suns.
"My divinity."
Lucy, Adam, Bale, and Lilan stood frozen beneath the wrath of the storm.
Four young mages.
Facing something that called itself a god.
And deep down—
they all felt the same terrifying truth.
Their deaths were almost certain.