Chapter 307: I Promise, I’ll Bring Him Back
"—Ghhk!" Victor groaned as blood spilled down his chin.
His vision blurred and spun as his body felt numb from head to toe.
Through his haze, he saw the two Drakenars approaching without haste.
Their massive shadows grew larger over him as dust and fire swirled in the ruined air.
Garo’s molten form rippled as he reached within himself and slowly pulled out Victor’s sword. Steam hissed off the glowing blade as though mocking its true wielder.
The molten beast raised it up high as his maw twisted into a mockery of a smile.
And then, it spoke...
"It is time," Garo rumbled in nearly perfect English.
His molten throat vibrated with the words. The sight was so alien it made Victor’s blood run cold.
"—to die by your own sword."
The legacy sword tinged like a living beast, vibrating violently in Garo’s hands as he raised it high above his head.
The crimson glow that once made him look so imposing faltered. The veins in his forehead bulged as his grip trembled.
His arms seemed to be straining against some invisible pressure.
"What the hell is going on—?!" he snarled as he tried to force the blade down.
Despite being battered and half-buried into the cracked wall behind him, Victor lifted his head weakly.
Blood dripped down his lip with his vision blurring but even at that, he could tell something was wrong.
The legacy sword was rejecting Garo.
"Stop playing around!" Maro’s voice thundered across the battlefield.
His massive figure radiated heat, making the ground beneath his feet hiss and steam. "End it, now!"
"I—I can’t!" Garo gasped.
He was using both hands to lift the sword, yet his entire body trembled. The weight of the sword was increasing by the second.
And then it happened.
THUD!
The blade slipped from his hands and crashed into the ground, making the earth quake.
Cracks spiderwebbed outward from the impact causing smoke and sparks to fizzle in the air.
Gasps spread through the onlookers.
Victor chuckled weakly while trying to move his pain filled body. "Guess the sword knows trash when it sees it."
"Silence, worm!" Maro roared.
He stepped forward, towering like a furnace given human form.
His right fist swelled unnaturally as hardened flesh expanded. His veins glowed molten red as if magma flowed through them.
Steam burst from his knuckles, and the very air warped around him.
The heat intensified and became so oppressive that even from the sidelines, students shielded their faces and stepped back.
From afar, Felix looked up from where he had freed yet another cocooned student. His chest heaved as his broken sword dangled from his left hand.
His right arm still ended with a bloody stump but seemed to have grown a little more longer.
Just like everyone, he could make out the distant outline of the three silhouettes ahead...
Victor was pinned and injured while Maro’s massive blazing fist was raised high in preparation to land a killing blow.
"No..." Felix muttered as he clenched his teeth in helpless rage.
His body twitched as if he would sprint forward, but reason bit back. ’I’ll never reach him in time...!’
"Oh no, he’ll be killed!" a student cried out with fear splintering their voice.
Others echoed the sentiment as despair washed over them like a tide.
Felix’s knuckles whitened around his broken blade. His body screamed to charge in regardless, but he knew it was futile.
His legs trembled as he tried to think of a way to save Victor but to no avail.
On the other hand, Victor tried to move but he could tell that he had fractured at least six ribs and his right collarbone was poking out, making it even more difficult for him to move.
This was the first time he was taking an attack from Maro head on and he hadn’t expected to be dealt with this much damage.
Move...’ he told himself internally as his fingers twitched...
However, just as he pushed himself forward, the blazing massive fist was already upon him.
There was no way he would be able to get away in time and he had just used Shadow Blink three times in row earlier which meant he needed at least five minutes to use it again.
At this same moment...
The mana in the surroundings shifted.
The battlefield groaned as the energy of heaven and earth bent unnaturally, sucked upward into the yawning red circle in the sky.
Loose stones and fragments of the broken ground began to float, quivering as though gravity itself had been overturned.
"What...?" Maro faltered mid-swing with his massive magma fist still poised above Victor.
All of a sudden... a column of viridian light speared down from above like the wrath of the heavens themselves.
It crashed into Maro with an ear-splitting boom creating a shockwave that blew dust and debris across the battlefield.
"ARRRGHHH!" Maro howled in pain as enlarged fist disintegrated under the impact while his entire body was sent flying.
His body tore through three, four buildings in a single devastating arc before finally cratering into the ground.
Every eye turned upward.
A figure descended, bathed in emerald aura. Her bald head gleamed beneath the light as her green-tinted skin glowed like living jade.
A saber-like sword rested effortlessly in her grip, groaning with condensed mana. Her expression was cold and imperious.
"Elyra... Vorn?"
The students whispered her name in unison as their despair instantly flipped into awe.
Victor’s blurred eyes widened. ’You’ve gotta be kidding me...’
From the sidelines, Commander Aiz narrowed his eyes from his observation point.
His voice carried a cold but slightly bothered tone.
"Another one..."
---
~ Flashback — Sector K-22 ~
About twenty minutes earlier, panic consumed Sector K-22.
The sky was still fractured and painted red by the massive runic circle spinning like some eldritch maw.
Victor jumped into the circle just a couple minutes earlier to go after the students that were pulled in and now the instructors were going out of their minds.
Instructors and Mana Defense officers gathered around in urgency. Their faces were tense with sweat gleaming on foreheads.
"Let’s close it," one officer insisted. "If we seal the circle now, the remaining students will be spared. It’s better than losing everyone!"
"Seal it?!" Instructor Rukia snapped with a furious tone. "You’re talking about sacrificing every student already inside! Including Victor! An S-ranked student."
The officer bit back. "Would you rather lose a hundred more?! We have to make a call!"
"No!" Rukia barked. "I’ll go in and pull him out myself!"
Before anyone could stop her, she whistled sharply.
A massive azure feathered beast materialized with large roof sized wings.
She leapt onto its back and the creature took off with a thunderous flap of wings.
Gasps rang out as she surged into the sky, heading straight for the crimson circle.
But the moment she reached the glowing edge, the beast screeched in pain.
Its wings collapsed as invisible runes flared to life, repelling them with brute force.
Rukia was flung back, barely saving herself with a mana shield as she tumbled through the air.
The officers stared in confusion; "What happened?"
Upon landing, Instructor Rukia shook her head. "For some reason, I can’t seem to get through."
Their troubled looks increased upon hearing this. Another instructor decided to give it a try and the same thing happened.
The moment he arrived close to the red circle, he was repelled. A mana defense officer tried next and was blasted downwards mercilessly.
The officers shook their heads grimly. "It’s useless. That barrier is unbreachable."
Others tried spells, artifacts, even siege-level mana cannons but nothing pierced the circle.
"Then how did the kids get sent through? Even as we speak, pods are still floating through the air," This question hung in the air like an unplucked fruit.
"I have a theory," Elyra Vorn’s calm voice cut through the chaos.
All eyes turned to her. The green-skinned girl stood apart with her saber strapped to her back and her calm expression betraying no fear.
"I think this was targeted... and likely only allows students or young awakened like myself go through," Elyra voiced out their suspicions and they realized just how perilous the situation was.
The fact that this was a targeted assault, specifically for the youngsters? They could only imagine who was behind it.
And despite the fact that word had already been sent back to the mana defense bureau about the ongoing incident, it was impossible for them to send reinforcements instantly.
It would still take a while.
And there was no telling if this circle would still be here by the time reinforcements got here.
"I’ll go," Elyra suddenly voiced out.
"You? You’ll just get trapped like Victor!" one officer barked. "We can’t afford to lose two S-rankers in one day!"
Elyra’s eyes glinted. "Just like Victor said, if door in, its definitely a door out as well. Who knows what is on the other side. Victor can’t handle this alone. He’ll need help."
Rukia who was still panting from her failed attempt, snapped her head toward Elyra. "Don’t you dare—!"
But Elyra wasn’t about to listen to them.
Her system interface shimmered in her vision as she activated one of her unique skills: [Mana Phase: Resonance Break].
Her aura shifted violently as her body vibrated as though it existed half inside reality and half out.
"Elyra! Stop!" an officer shouted with panic in his voice as he reached out to grab her.
However, his fingers slipped right through her as she crouched slightly and leapt upwards.
Thoooomm~
The ground shattered beneath her takeoff, and the air thundered as she shot upward like a comet.
"I promise, I’ll bring him back!"