FOR THOSE WHO FELL

Lynne shifted sideways quickly, avoiding an array of shimmering light. It turned out to be a dragon-shaped bolt of lightning which created a deep crater where Lynne stood a moment ago. However, he didn’t even get a chance to sweat coldly, as his enemy was already within his attack range.

Lynne swept his Chakrams from his left to right in a beautiful, flat arc. The air itself seemed to have split as green flames burned away oxygen, increasing Chakrams’ speed. Chains clanged and the black-clad figure was forced to lift his oversized double-edged trident. However, to his shock and dismay, Lynne’s Chakrams carried far more strength than he expected, and he was blown sideways as if he were a log of wood.

Although slightly shocked, Lynne expected as much, so he stopped paying attention to the defeated one, and turned his head around as two more were assaulting him. His expression fell as he commanded hundred burning blades to descend; it rained flames, causing explosions to echo out throughout the plaza. Still, however spectacular it may have been, it was just one of the countless explosions that had wreaked havoc atop the teleportation array.

Two figures were barely able to dodge, but shockwaves still pounded them straight across their chests, causing them to vomit a mouthful of blood. Without giving them a moment’s rest Lynne’s cast Fiery Sweep and encased his feet in golden flames, taking a step forward. He suddenly exploded forward, leaving behind wretched pieces of earth to crumble. Rising ten or so meters into the air, he flew in an arc above them, but swung his Chakrams downwards as he spun in the air, building the momentum. Chakrams, now, weren’t just coated in green flames, but also in golden ones, and both struck their targets straight. Although one of the black-clad figures managed to summon a shield of earth, it cracked almost immediately; however, chained Chakrams hit their targets with their flat surface rather than the bladed one, merely hurting them as they were blown backwards.

Lynne landed good fifty meters away from where he cast Fiery Sweeps, glancing around the battlefield. He realized it was hopeless; they were vastly outnumbered – perhaps as much as 20:1 – and nearly one hundred of his own had already died. Blood shimmered crimson across the battlefield, flowing like cascading river, unhindered.

“Damn your grandmother, who the hell are you?!” Lynne shouted, his expression completely distorted; however, no one heard him. His voice was drown in the river of screams and shouts of agony and fear. He watched people fall and die, one by one, like cut trees. This wasn’t war, this wasn’t even a fight… this was execution.

He had no time to linger on, as ten figures sought to encircle him; he quickly swept past the battlefield with his eyes, spotting Anna and Elynal who were roughly one hundred and fifty meters away from him. He cast Fiery Sweeps immediately, also changing Aqua Blade to a hail of arrows, sending them backwards. They pounded down, piercing several shoulders and legs of his pursuers.

He enclosed nearly half the distance in a single leap, but more and more black-clad figures joined the fray, while there were less and less of others. He saw Anna enclosed in a bloody hand, sitting in a lotus position atop of it, her hands clasped together while tentacle-shaped pools of blood swung about her position, deflecting her attackers. In addition, there were dozen or so crimson hounds sweeping past the black-clad figures, cutting their limbs off one after another. Her face grew exceedingly pale, and she was forced to cough up a mouthful of black blood.

In front of her stood Elynal, like an impenetrable wall. He encased himself in towering, metal walls, constantly causing pillars of earth to erupt from beneath, some merely two meters in radius, some as gigantic as sentry towers. He also engaged in melee against those who circled past his metal shell, and he wielded a pair of jade-green gauntlets which constantly sent out gales of wind outwardly.

Around them were several more figures, fighting their own battles, but it was clear that they were on their last breath. Lynne still had roughly 70% of his Mana left, which he believed to be far from enough to save him, but it was goon enough for at least an attempt. He also had end-point trump card: Gift of Infinity. He believed he could survive for 6 whole seconds before passing out due to the backlash.

He was now roughly forty meters away from the royal duo; just at this moment, the bloody hand which held Anna blew up into smithereens, causing blood to rain like a fountain while she was blown backwards like a kite, drawing an arc across the sky. Half her skin was torn, her robes tattered, and her beautiful hair was completely scorched away, leaving her bald. Lynne immediately shifted his course, blowing towards her.

A hookblade suddenly fell from the sky – a gigantic one, nearly one hundred meters long – straight towards her. Lynne immediately realized he couldn’t make it; he saw Elynal’s eyes drip red as he screamed to no avail. A mere moment later, hookblade pierced straight through her body, splitting her in half, with both halves falling down onto the ground. Lynne nearly froze as his eyes bulged; yet, he had no time to grieve. He had no time to curse or to ponder why. More and more black-clad figures were attacking him. More and more of them were laughing. More and more of people barely his age were dying. He saw Elynal kneel, his gaze focused on where Anna split in half and died; metal shell guarding him disappeared, his gauntlets dispersed into thin smoke and his shoulders sank, projecting an image of a defeated man.

“GODDAMN YOU ALL!!!” Lynne shouted yet again as he saw the Prince give up; without holding anything back, he immediately cast Gift of Infinity and turned around. His eyes were completely bloodshot red, tears streaking past his cheeks. When black-clad figures saw this, they burst out in laughter and began mocking him. Yet, he didn’t care. His lips appeared sewn shut. A blink passed, and his body shook.

Like an erupting volcano, Lynne’s body caught flames, burning blindingly; from within him a scorching Phoenix arose; at first, it was ten meters long. Then it was fifty. Then one hundred. Soon, it grew to the size of a meteor, covering the sky. Its tail arched down, connecting with Lynne. Its wings eclipsing the stars; it burned, causing the earth beneath to melt. The entirety of battlefield froze. All of those still afloat in the sky stared with shock at the flaming bird. Another blink passed, and Phoenix descended.

Screams abound caused one’s ear to bleed; black-clad figures panicked, immediately trying to flee. But how can one flee from such a gigantic creature? The bird descended and exploded, completely shattering the entirety of the ancient city. Because the true sect’s grounds were taken away, there was nothing ‘magical’ anymore protecting the city, so it was child’s play to destroy it. Countless buildings and pavilions were burned to ashes, hundreds and thousands of black-clad figures were drown in flames, and even those floating in the sky were swatted downwards like flies, barely hanging on. Yet, Lynne still didn’t stop.

His muscles bulged as his eyes began bleeding; he had vastly overdrawn his Mana. Such Spell couldn’t be cast even by majority of Celestial Mages, let alone a scrawny Dao Archmage. Yet, despite the pain, he didn’t stop; he couldn’t. This was second time he was witnessing a complete massacre without being able to help. This was second time he was seeing people he cared for die without being able to save them. So, he didn’t stop.

His back suddenly cracked as two sprawling wings sprouted out, completely ablaze. They were the same as the wings of the Phoenix – who was still causing screams to erupt during the aftermath. The wings suddenly wrapped Lynne in a cocoon, and the same cocoon quickly swelled up, bit by bit, until it appeared like a miniature, burning sun.

“RETREAT!!! RETREAT!!!” Lady Fen’er screamed as she saw the cocoon, her heart warning her with each passing heartbeat. Alas, it was too late.

The cocoon exploded like a bomb, and it rained fire; countless fist-sized meteorites fell, creating crater after a crater, corpse after a corpse. Amidst the meteorites, it rained simple fire; golden, blue, green, purple, red… all of Natural Fires could be seen. It rained and rained from the cocoon, seemingly to no end.

Within it Lynne was curled up, his body shaking. His robes were soaked in crimson, his face wrinkled and pale as if all of his blood was drawn out. He seemed to have thinned down, his skin wrapped around his bones, his skeleton clearly visible. He seemingly turned into an old man within a blink, and when he could no longer hold on, his entire body relaxed as he fell from the sky. Just before he passed out, he managed to mutter out a few words, as if to soothe himself more so than anything else.

“For those that fell… wait for them…”

His fragile and shriveled body fell amidst the meteorites and massive droplets of flame. While the other side of the battlefield was drowned in fire, the one around Lynne was drowned in silence. Nearly everyone watched the spectacle with their jaws agape, eyes red. There were smiles here and there, but nobody was joyful; as the shock passed, they quickly began picking up their fallen friends and flying off as quickly as they could.

Amongst those who remained was Elynal; his eyes were fixed at that cocoon, and his emotions were a bundle of disaster. Still, as soon as he saw skeletal body fall from the sky, he got up onto his feet and leapt into the sky, catching Lynne into his arms. As he saw his friend’s corpse-like body, his heart clenched; although he didn’t know what Lynne exactly did to suddenly unleash two Divine Spells, even without looking at Lynne’s body, he could have guessed that the backlash would be massive.

In reality, the main reason Lynne wound up in such a state wasn’t Gift of Infinity; after all, he took barely four seconds to cast those two spells. Instead, it was the spells themselves; the sheer size and damage they caused was something that someone of Lynne’s strength simply shouldn’t be able to procure. Yet, he did; which is why he ended up in such state. In addition, he fell from being Dao Archmage to becoming a Dao Mage yet again, as well as losing a great deal of Soul Force he accumulated. Even his Soul Weapons were slightly cracked along their edges, causing their prim and proper appearance to dim.

Elynal raced towards two spots, barely holding himself from screaming, as he sucked Anna into a spacial pouch; she was no longer alive, so there was no issues with it. Afterwards, he took to sky and escaped while he still had opportunity.

“… father… brother… I will end you!” Elynal muttered in a deep voice full of anger, hatred and resentment etched deeply into his bones. “Fen’er… Vic… Lymor… Sina… Eren… Onna… wait for me!!”