Serpentlord (Rise To Omniscience Book 9), page 33
Light flashed around him, briefly illuminating the dark green sky. Then, a massive lance of light flashed down from the sky, slamming into the top of the serpent’s massive head and driving her down into the sea.
Several people let out whoops as the water churned, waves kicking up in the wake of the massive creature. Grace knew better than to cheer. Strangler was far from finished, and if she’d destroyed nearly eighty ships with a single attack, their entire fleet would burn if she were left free to rampage.
“Stop cheering and keep moving!” she yelled, getting the civilians packing onto the ships once more.
She didn’t feel happy about the cowardly captains dying. They would have been court marshaled and executed back in the Five Kingdoms for fleeing, but they needed those ships.
“We don’t have any more room!”
Grace silently cursed as the news traveled down the lines of ships, and seeing as there were no more coming, those still left on shore began to panic, trying to push past the soldiers who’d moved to block the ramps up.
“Everyone, remain calm!” Grace yelled, using her newly-enhanced lungs to make her voice heard.
“That’s easy for you to say!” someone shouted.
“Yeah! You’re not the one whose life is in danger!”
“You weren’t locked up with us!” someone else shouted.
“I’ll butcher every last person here if I can’t get on one of those ships!”
Grace could feel the mood of the crowd shifting, going from worry to anger and swiftly heading in the direction of outright hostility. It seemed that the end of the world was bringing out the worst in these people. However, with the ships moving away, there was little they could do to threaten those already on board.
“Listen!” Grace yelled, trying to project her voice over the crowd. “We’re going to do everything we can to-”
“To what?!” a dirty troll yelled. “There are no more ships, and in case you’ve missed it, there’s a monster right over there!”
The crowd shouted in response to the angry troll, and Grace could feel herself beginning to panic. What the hell was she supposed to say to calm these people down!? She was only fourteen. How could she be expected to do anything?!
There was a roar from up above, followed by a spray of water as the serpent burst from beneath the waves, her jaws opening wide and aimed directly at the shore. Grace’s eyes widened as a pair of massive fangs extended from the roof of Strangler’s mouth, and two beams of green light began gathering at their tips.
The buildup of power was swift and could be clearly felt as the clouds seemed to warp inward. The world around those two points of power seemed to distort, and Grace could feel the small hairs on her arms and the back of her neck standing on end.
“Run!” she yelled. “Run, you idiots, run!”
Even as she turned, Grace knew that there would be no escaping that blast. Even though she couldn’t sense its sheer magnitude, her Aura Sense told her it was an attack unlike anything she’d faced before. An attack of that power would wipe out the entire town, blasting it from the continent and reducing everyone and everything on it to slag. It seemed Strangler was done taking sacrifices, and apparently, didn’t care much about eating her, or maybe, by killing them all, she’d be able to somehow absorb their power, like Morgan did with those he killed,
Grace wasn’t sure why all those thoughts were flashing through her mind as the world around them grew brighter and brighter. Lumia and Shul dove down, trying to blast the oversized serpent, but Strangler didn’t budge, the attack continuing to build.
As Grace watched the pair failing to disrupt the serpent’s attack, she knew, in a single moment of clarity, what was going to happen next.
Lumia looked to her, and even over the distance between them, their eyes met.
“No,” Grace whispered, feeling tears prickling at the back of her eyes.
She stretched her hand out as though to stop the drake from doing what she was about to do, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“Take care, Grace. I never had children of my own, but you were as close to me as a real daughter could be.”
The words echoed in her mind as Lumia darted around Strangler, throwing her body in the way of the attack. Black and yellow light flashed as she and Shul each unleashed massive attacks, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
The entire world seemed to tremble, and Grace heard the words, hissing and sibilant, echo through the air.
“World Breaker!”
The twin beams of power flashed from Strangler’s fangs, meeting and combining into a twisting mass of destruction. The very air warped, the world seeming to tilt as the lance of power widened and widened until it seemed to blot out the entire sky.
A skill of this power, of this sheer magnitude, would wipe everything from existence. No one could survive an attack this powerful. She stared, seeing the light expanding, widening, growing and growing as it spread to cover everything. The sky vanished, replaced by the glowing, green light.
The ground began to tremble again, though this time, Grace suspected it had nothing to do with the far-off World Beasts and everything to do with their impending death.
However, in that wave of light, all Grace could see were the forms of Lumia and Shul, glittering scales reflecting the light of their own skills.
She screamed, unleashing her Wail Wall and trying to reach the serpent who was nearly half a mile out at sea. Her attack fell woefully short, and as the wave of power fell upon the world, Grace saw Lumia and Shul disappear within, swallowed whole by Strangler’s World Breaker.
The explosion rocked the ground beneath her, though seeing as she’d collapsed to her knees, Grace barely even felt it. All she could do was stare as the wave of power dissipated, revealing the World Beast once again in all her terrifying glory.
Not even a trace remained of Lumia and Shul. Their bodies had been burned from existence, completely and utterly destroyed, leaving Grace all alone.
50
Morgan felt it when Strangler unleashed her attack and felt the moment Lumia vanished. Her presence had been like a blazing beacon in the sky, burning with vitality and life, alongside that of Shul. The two had stood out, even against the mass of power that was Strangler. Morgan gritted his teeth, fighting back the wave of anger, sadness, and the overwhelming desire to go kill Strangler for what she’d done.
He remembered meeting Shul for the first time, back at the academy in the Central Kingdom. The two of them had fought for a place in the tournament, and he’d very nearly lost. He hadn’t been particularly close with the man, but he had known him.
Lumia was a different story. He’d met her in a Beast Zone, and instead of killing her, had made a connection. The two had spent two years together, training and battling to get him to the point where he could handle the challenges of Faeland. She had been his one and only true friend at that time. She kept him grounded and strong.
Losing her was like losing a part of himself.
There was still the small hope that she would appear back in her Beast Zone, alive and well, but he had no way of knowing if that would be the case or if the fact that she’d left would cut off that protection.
Lumia hadn’t only been his friend, though. She’d become a pseudo-caretaker for Grace, the two of them becoming nearly inseparable over the course of the last several months. This loss would hit Grace the hardest. Even though it wouldn’t be her first experience with loss, as her mother had abandoned her, it would be her first experience losing a friend in battle.
Morgan could see the threads of fate clearly now, if only in that moment. He could see Grace rising from the ground and charging the World Beast in a reckless and mad rush to avenge her fallen friends. Strangler would swallow her whole, absorbing the power of her reiki as her own and grow even more powerful.
He whipped his head around, staring through watery eyes as the last of the soldiers were ushered into the portal. He had seconds before Grace made her move, so he had a choice to make. It was a calculated risk, one where the last soldiers would be able to make it through the portal before the world collapsed around them.
The World Beasts were almost on top of them, their battle taking them right up to the edge of the invisible line he’d drawn in the ground. As soon as they passed that line, his control of the earth would slip, the pure destructive capabilities of those monsters overwhelming the power of his skill and bringing the world down in their wake.
His eyes flicked back to the portal, then to the World Beasts, then over to Elyssa, who stood beside him, muscles taught and eyes wide as she tried to force back the weight of the world.
Morgan placed a hand on her shoulder and teleported down to the portal. Taken by surprise, the elf queen swayed and collapsed, Morgan catching her before she could hit the ground. The world began to shake in earnest once more, the ground cracking and splintering around them.
“Take her back with you,” Morgan said, handing the unconscious elf over to Katherine. “Make sure everyone gets on those ships.”
“Where are you going?” Katherine asked, looking to him worriedly.
She was the only one left, Beatrice, Ragnar, Malachi, and Fortuna having gone through to direct the people onto the ships.
“To confront Strangler,” Morgan said, not bothering to lie. “Their last lines of defense are gone. They need me.”
Katherine’s lips parted momentarily, the meaning of his words sinking in.
“Take care of them,” Morgan said. “And if I don’t make it back, tell Sarah I love her.”
He teleported away before Katherine could think to stop him. The world bent and twisted around him, and moments later, Morgan appeared over Aster, taking in the power of the monster out at sea.
He could see Grace crouched below, power building up around her as she rose, preparing for a suicidal charged against the massive World Beast. He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, the world bending around him once more as he teleported to her side.
Grace struggled for a moment then turned, looking up to him with wide eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. She stared at him for a few moments then buried her face into his chest, her entire body wracked with sobs.
Morgan wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her as tightly as he dared as she looked up to the huge serpent. She’d been about to attack again, green light building up in the back of her throat, but paused at his appearance.
“I sssee you’ve finally decccided to make an appearanccce.”
Morgan glared up at the World Beast as Grace continued to tremble and shake. All around him, he could see the remaining civilians, those who hadn’t made it onto a ship, cringing and cowering on the ground. Out at sea, he could see the last of them trying to make it out of the small bay, the waves churning and sloshing onto their sides.
Farther out, he could see the wreckage of over a hundred ships, some parts of the sea still burning in the wake of Strangler’s fury.
“They’re… They’re… They’re gone,” Grace sobbed, pushing her face harder into his chest. “Lumia and Shul, they sacrificed themselves for me. They… They…!”
Grace shuddered, taking huge, heaving breaths as she continued bawling. She’d grown since he’d last seen her, as he knew she would. Despite that, she was still practically a child, unused to the pain and loss something like this could cause.
Morgan was hardened to the idea of losing friends and loved ones, and the pain even he felt was absolute, a hole where his friend had once been, probably never to be filled again. Anger and hatred burned hot in his chest, screaming at him to destroy this monster for what she’d done, but now, at the Pinnacle, logic and reason were the stronger of the two forces.
He would not lose control and attack the serpent in a blind rage. Doing that might end up killing those in the ships nearby. As it was, it appeared Strangler had shown up with the express purpose of preventing anyone from getting away.
Grace sobbed harder into his shoulder, but Morgan knew he couldn’t stay and comfort her for long. He needed to get her to safety, to Arcane City, where there were ships being loaded right then. Someone would be able to take care of her there while he fought Strangler.
“Don’t you move,” Morgan said, glaring up at the titanic serpent. “I’ll be right back.”
The world warped once more, reforming into the soaring structures of Arcane City. Morgan wasn’t really sure whom to leave her with, as Sarah would undoubtedly want to come with him to this battle, and he was not going to have that. He streaked down to the ships, still clutching Grace to his chest and doing his best to comfort her, while searching for someone who might take care of her. He was only halfway there when he realized he was heading in the wrong direction and quickly turned back around.
Sarah was likely to be at the ships, and Katherine would probably be coming through the portal now. He knew he’d already left Elyssa with her, but she was the only other person he could leave Grace with without risking Sarah trying to tag along.
As soon as he entered the building, Grace clutched in his arms, he knew he’d made a mistake. There, standing together in the large hall, were Katherine and Sarah. Katherine was saying something to her, and Sarah seemed angry. Morgan turned in the air, intent on heading back to the ships, when Sarah’s voice cracked out like a whip.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
Morgan halted in the air, then slowly turned to face his angry fiancée.
“Um, to drop Grace off by the ships?” Morgan asked, hoping that the crying girl would distract Sarah enough to drop it and perhaps stay there to take care of her.
“And were you planning on coming back for me once you did?” she asked, seeming to be drawing him back to the ground with her glare as though it were somehow magnetic.
“No,” he admitted as he landed before her.
“I guess it’s a good thing I was here then,” she replied, slapping his hands away from Grace and pulling the younger girl into a tight embrace.
“Oh, I know it hurts, darling, I know,” she said, stroking the back of Grace’s hair and ignoring Morgan for the time being. “I wish I could stay here with you, but Katherine is going to take good care of you until we come back, okay?”
She held Grace out at arm’s length, brushing a few stray locks of hair that had been sticking to her cheeks due to the tears.
“Kill that monster for what she did,” Grace said.
She was a mess, her face bloated, her eyes puffy and red, and her nose running nonstop.
“We will, dear, don’t you worry,” Sarah said, pulling a scrap of cloth from her pocket and dabbing at her eyes. “Now come on, go with Katherine. We’ll be back before you know it.”
Morgan watched the entire time as Sarah gently rubbed Grace’s back, guiding her into Katherine’s arms. Elyssa was nowhere to be seen, though Morgan guessed she’d been handed off to those who could care for her.
The building trembled as Katherine pulled Grace in tight, lifting the girl in her arms and looking to the two of them worriedly as she buried her face in her shoulder.
“Are you sure you don’t need any backup?” Katherine asked. “Because I can come with you.”
“No,” Sarah said, wrapping her arm around one of Morgan’s to make sure he didn’t run away without her – not that he would have, either way.
The moment Sarah had taken Grace from him he could have run, but that would have been a very bad idea. Sarah might have changed in many ways since the old days, but if he were to go into battle without her, she would be extremely angry with him.
“Are you sure?” Katherine asked, directing her question to Morgan.
“We could honestly use all the help we can get, but you can’t fly and don’t have a way of healing yourself. Besides, you’re needed here, just in case anything happens. Most of our strongest fighters are down for the count, which means you’re the only real line of defense they have left.”
“Is there anything else I can do?” Katherine asked, shifting Grace in her arms.
“Yes, actually,” Morgan said. “If you can get some of the gnome engineers to change the portal here to connect with the one near Aster, it would be a real help. We have about four thousand stranded without a ship. If we do nothing, they’ll all be wiped out.”
Katherine gave him a sharp nod, then turned to head back into the portal room, calling back over her shoulder as she did.
“Please be careful. I’ll let you know as soon as the portals are connected.”
“Shall we go then?” Sarah asked, once Katherine had vanished into the next room.
“Do you have to come along?” Morgan asked.
“Yes,” Sarah replied. “And don’t you dare argue with me. I’m strong, and I won’t let you go fight that monster alone.”
“You do know that there are some skills of mine that you can’t be near when they’re activated, right?”
“Last I checked, there were hundreds of ships out in the ocean that needed to be kept intact, and in case you’ve forgotten, I can do my fair share of damage.”
“No,” Morgan said, giving her a grim smile. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“Good,” Sarah said. “Then let’s go avenge Lumia and Shul by killing that bitch snake!”
It wasn’t a very rousing speech, but Morgan agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly. The world warped around them once more as they headed back to the port city of Aster and the monstrous World Beast that awaited them there.
51
Morgan, Katherine, and Gwendolyn all stood at the center of their warehouse before a projected screen of the World Beasts’ destruction.
“Get out of our way, Gold,” Morgan said, glaring at his older brother. “You can’t stop us.”
“Not on his own, he can’t,” Loquin said, stepping up to Gold’s side. “But if the three of us work together, we can anchor you all here.”
“Why the hell are you getting in our way?” Katherine demanded, glaring at Loquin and Herald as they moved to join Gold.
