To dear readers, I find myself in a dilemma of sorts -- not really, but I do need your opinion.

About the *sound effect* I tend to put inside each chapter, do you honestly think it is just right or need to be reduced? Please share your thought on this... and oh, all of your comments do encourage me, even if I didn't reply to each of it, I do read them (about a dozen times or so...) So please continue to comments and share your thought.

Heh anyway, here's chapter 12.

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Chapter 12 A Glimpse of the Past

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“OH, SHOOT!”

FSHHUUUUUUUUUUUU---------------------

Black fire.

A fire breath of black, rushing towards her.

“Darn it!”

As she could barely recover from the shock of its roar, she laid herself onto the ground – trying to activate her earth manipulation – to no avail, and the fire was closing in…

CHIIZZZZZZZZZZZZz

“Eh?”

A chain of lightning cut the fire being thrown towards her, and proceeded to land onto both of the dragon’s face – zapping them well, digging deeper into their skull. Right then, Shisha could see for sure what was in front of her – Bloody red two-headed dragon, heads swinging in pain, with height over 70 metre – twice the height of a normal Arch-Dragon.

“Two – two headed dragon?!”

By now she realized, in front of her was not two dragons, but a dragon with two heads. The two dragon heads were a little confused due to the powerful strike.

“Lightning? Who… this kind of power… im-impossible…”

As a Master of Four Elements – including lightning, she knew well how hard to deliver a precise and powerful lightning strike towards an opponent, over such distance. It was lightning at such a power she never imagined possible for a human. She turned to her back, and could see a figure of a man, standing on the ground with his hand up – lightning cladding was apparent around him, accompanied by wind cladding at the same time.

“Two--- two different claddings at the same moment? How… wait—this level of purity… am I dreaming? Yes, this must be a dream – no, could this be the devil’s memory?”

She noticed the level of nature purity surrounding him – a level impossible to achieve. Shisha simply concluded that it was a dream – and she ignored the dragon behind her, afterall, a dream cannot kill… and observed the man closely. The black-haired was fully clad in bloodied light armor, and his sword on his shoulder. It was a curved sword, light yet thick. Red lines were shining along its blade. Meanwhile, his power…

In her mind, she was calculating… no, not possible. She was merely estimating.

“Purity aside… Raw power… of around fifty Adriats… heh heh… how… that’s basically the power of all known Adriat Sages… The most powerful Sages, just below the Council members… All power in one? Haha… heuww…”

Shisha’s mind was practically blown, and she was having a similar effect of a heatstroke. She held her head with her right hand, and lowered her stand to give her head a rest. Having such a capable sensing ability could very well be hazardous.

“Uuu…”

“Tch, brute strength just won’t make the cut… Oh well…”

She could hear his voice very clearly – as if she was standing beside him. He tapped the ground several times with his feet, then sprang forward at such a speed – that he passed through Shisha before she could even turned her head to see his face. The wind passing by her threw her brown hair flapping.

“Eh… what the speed..?!”

He rushed towards the dragon, which responded by swinging its tail towards him.

GROOWWWWWWWWW----------

He jumped – no, flew up avoiding the enourmous tail whip.

“Ugh… what absurdity… such a large existence could still… moves that fast…”

Again Shisha lay herself onto the ground, shockwave of air came rushing towards her, and she gripped the ground to maintain her position. The shockwave was powerful enough that she had to close her eyes to brace for the impact.

…

…

PHIIII-----------

PANG!! PANG!!

THWACK! THAWCK!

SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT-----------

FSHUUU -------------

While she closed her eyes, all manner of sounds reached her. She could recognize most of them – the sound of lightning rush, the sound of metal clashing with hard material, the sound of very efficient cutting, the hurling of fireballs and the sound of fire breath.

Soon, she opened her eyes once more. She could see it – the man moves in a manner similar to Sages – waves movement, with him avoiding now not only attacks from the gigantic dragon, but also Growlers – a giant bat as large as horses, flying fire drakes hurling fireballs and also menacing Wyverns with Dark Knights on top of them – throwing their javelin and dark-purple sphere. He cut through some of the growlers with ease, even stepping onto the drakes to fight with the Dark Knights – only needing one or two attacks to finish each of them. Their body was cut through – and often, along with their wyverns.

“A-amazing…”

From afar she could now see a few existences – gigantic existences simply observing the battle from a distance. Some giant crawler had the face similar to fish with teeth so sharp, some were similar to behemoth – cat-like creature with fish tail and fin, yet the dark aura around them suggested to her that they were in fact – demons, or possessed by one. Now, all around the airspaces -- Growlers, Fire Drakes, Demon Wyverns, flying lion-gorilla hybrid, birds with head of human and… some she could not recognize…

“D-demons? What’s with this amount?! Ohh, spare me all these surprises my maiden heart can’t take it anymore!”

And further from her… Minotours with either giant axes or hammer, Lurkers crawling with their protruding claws, Giant Snakes slithering the ground, Bullgars -- horned demons with bulging muscles yet small legs with big tail as support, Borrosque – giant red demon with big belly and even one she could not recognize – bigger than the rest, an elephant-like demon with tusks yet mouth opened wide with sharp teeth extending out…

These demons simply kept their distance from the demon dragon despite the fact that the attacker was so close to it – as instinct told them they would be dead if they came anywhere nearer.

Further away, she could see movement… clouds of ashes suggesting the movement of cavalry, and less intense than that – infantries, by what she could see, tens of thousands of human infantries. They seemed not to mind the demons around them, to which she deduced they were of the same side.

“Ah! That thing…”

Finally she recognized the giant crawler with fish-like face as Shriekers… the kind which she only heard from stories of a particular War… all these signs of course suggested that it was that war… the Ancient war… yes, that war.

“Astarian – Demon… War..?”

She remembered the stories of which her mother and father would often tell her during childhood… a terrible war consisted tens of millions. A war of which their existence in this world, Ein Gard came to be. The war where Astarian Empire alone deployed ten million soldiers over the course of 12 years, against their opponents – Armies of over 30 million, with demons backing them… cooperating to destroy what they called the “Universal threat” to all – Astaria…

“My original homeland…?”

FSHUUUUU-------

Again the fire from the two-headed dragon rushed towards the man, who evaded the fire while maneuvering through waves of wyverns and other kinds of demons. The black fire did not distinguish friend or foe – thus burning its allies while the target twiddled its way around their encirclement – with a specific aim.

“He’s aiming to take down that dragon..? In that situation – impossible!”

He jumped from one flying drakes to another, confusing the whole encirclement – a knight on a wyvern further up in the sky screamed a command – with voice so loud and clear even Shisha could hear from the distance.

WHIRLPOOL FORMATION! TWO LINES!

As soon as the knight gave the command, the wyvern knights, fire drakes and even the growlers left the man alone, and assumed an encircling formation around him… no, it was similar to a circle, yet the two lines continued to be formed – two lines, as if one continuing from the front to the back… they numbered only in a few hundreds, yet the threat of such formation was substantial.

It focused on the swirling movement – where speed could be increased to overwhelm the opponent with swarming enemies… while those in the back could also attack with their ranged attacks. It would leave the target with no time to regain its breath. The formation now flew above the demon dragon, waiting the right opportunity to strike on the lone attacker.

“A formation of hundreds to take down one opponent…”

Shisha mused. It was her first time to see such formation – formed in the sky by hundreds of different units. She wondered how the growlers and fire drakes even participate in such a complex formation.

“By the one God who controlled the wind with no effort…”

She noticed a particular chant… A chant she had heard only once – from her master, as a line once uttered by the strongest of all Sages. Now, the man in front of her uttered the same while evading attack upon attacks. Giant claws of the dragons tried to sweep him over, and enourmous wings flapping destructive air current -- making hard his effort to focus on his attack towards its heads, neck and body in general. For all his attacks on the weak crack between its scales – the sword accompanied with wind and lightning cladding barely injure it – due to him having to continue moving and fail to focus on one attack after another. Yet the dragon, losing patience, swirled its gigantic body ---

SWWUUUUSHHH-----------

“Ugh….!”

Shisha braced the impact. The shockwave this time was stronger than that time with the tail whip. Despite the horrible stunning effect and overwhelming sound, she could still hear the utterance by the man – clearly, word by word.

“…By the wind which spread the clouds… by the Angels who guard with utmost loyalty… by the will of our Creator, bring me dark clouds of lightning… to strike these demons and take them down to hell where they belong!”

All while moving about the body of the dragon – defying the logic of gravity -- he put forth his left hand onto the sky – and as if on cue, the whole atmosphere darkened, with movement clearly evident in the air… Clouds moved and gathered above the gigantic dragon… Soon, it turned dark… and ever bigger…

“What – what’s happening?”

DAMN! ATTACK, NOW!

The knight commander from before, having realized the gravity of the situation, ordered the formation to attack. In the sky, the two lines, as if one, dove towards the man. The growlers were at the front, with fire drakes and Wyvern Knights further at the back, hurling fireballs, dark-purple spheres and javelins…

“Brave, yet misplaced!”

From the man, now standing on the back of the dragon, sharp wind blades ripped through the front of the formation – bodies of growlers fell, fire drakes lost its arms and wings, wyverns ripped apart – the riders fell with them. With his attention occupied, the dragon tried to snatch him with its arm – to no avail. Indeed, he did not lose his sight towards his arch-enemy.

It took him around a minute before uttering…

“I am grateful for your consent, O’ Creator.”

Shisha heard that line. She took a good look at the dark cloud – now bigger than she could even imagine, filled her horizon.

“Dark cloud… Such magnitude!”

SHRIIIII------------------- SHRIIIIIIII-------------------- SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIII------------------

BIIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzz-----------------------

Strikes upon strikes of lightning hammered the dragon along with all the rest of enemy units… That particular location became the very focus of the lightning strikes --- continuing on, as if the lightning had a bad blood with those within it, and simply venting its wrath upon them.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA---------------

UWAAAAAAAAAAA----------------

KIIIIEEEKKKKKK-------------------

“Ugh! I could sense it… life taken… in such numbers… hundred… two… three… terrible… pain…”

Even from afar she could feel the loss of life all due to the lightning, as well as the howl of the dragon in pain. Soon, the lightning strikes were no more, yet the sound of electrocuting continued on, while the dark cloud filling the horizon did not disperse.

“This… is… no freaking way… I’ve got to see this better---”

She closed her eyes for awhile, channeled her energy, and opened them back. Her pupils now turned red, bigger and deeper. Her eyes stretched and bulging blood veins appeared.

“I knew it. Ethers all around --- gathering, the cloud -- it seemed to be charging its energy! This seemed too familiar… eerily familiar…”

RAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHH----------

“Ugh… the roar…”

Once again, the bloody-red two-headed dragon roared – dispersing all the irritation it had been feeling for some time. From the roar, Shisha could see the other demons shriek away, while their human allies widened their already far distance. The roar seemed to be a burst of emotion, as if saying enough is enough.

Both heads inhaled deeply, and from his action the man, still there, flew way up onto one of its head – and impaled his sword onto one of its eye.

HAUUURRRRHHH----

That particular head roared in pain, yet the other one did not stop inhaling. The man then spread his intense lightning through the eye --- channeling it right into the thick skull of the dragon.

SHIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ--------

“Ehhh…. Uuu…”

Shisha felt a terrible tingling of current all around her body.

The other head rushed towards that head, spewing black fire in a wide arch. The fire engulfed the other head along with its attacker, of which was thrown down due to the violent shaking of the now burning dragon head. Seeing its attacker finally falling, the dragon did not relax – instead, it turned its body sideway and whipped him with its giant tail.

“Errghhhh--------”

She heard the painful scream, and for some reason, she felt her body stung by pain, and in heat – of similar feeling of being burned.

“What’s--- happening… water… summon…”

She tried to summon water en masse, yet failed. It seemed her nature manipulation hold no value here. The heat was excruciating. While she could proudly say she’s used to pain, the feeling of it was overwhelming… from her teary eyes, she could see the man engulfed in black fire being thrown so far into the enemy hordes… before he stopped, hovering in the air, and a newly-formed tornado hit him all around, dispersing all the black flames around the field – hitting the surrounding demons and human soldiers alike…

ARGHHH-----

OUUUGHHHH-----

HOOWWWKKKK-------

HELP MEEEE--------

BURNSSS---- IT BURNSSS------

They shrieked in pain from the ceaseless fire. A part of the black fire hit the elephant-like demon, which suddenly became panicked and started rampaging its surrounding allies in order to quell the fire – only spreading it further. She faintly heard a command being ordered in desperation.

Kill that Mammokill before it takes all of us with it!!

Around the same time, Shisha was relieved from the burning pain, though still in massive pain in the area of her left hand.

“Why?”

She pondered the reason of such pain… before turning and noticing the man in question had a distorted left hand, possibly due to being whipped by the dragon’s tail.

“No… no way… that’s… could it be?”

His armor was in tatters, and the clothes were all but burned. His pants, seemingly made by very good material resembling steel, withstood the fire – yet became red hot from it. He disposed of his lightning cladding, and summoned ice all around his body, cladding himself with it. The redness of his pant turned white within seconds. This time, Shisha felt herself being relieved of the pain from her left hand.

“..Hauu… Now it’s combination of ice-wind cladding! Amazing… so far I could only use water-mist cladding, the most advance of my cladding combination… well, the sole one. But can he win..? Ice cladding will slow down his speed--- hm?”

She noticed him putting his right hand on his left, and…

..?

THAWCK!

“Auuuww! Auuww…. Auuu… That’s hurt… really hurt… why must you do that?!”

She said so with such childish voice… and directed her rage unconsciously so to the man in question. However, his action later explained of why he did so. He moved his left hand around – stretched it up down, all around… seemingly already recovered from the terrible distortion.

“He… he… that’s a… harsh treatment…”

Now hovering in the air, he directed his gaze back to his arch-nemesis… The dragon, now only one head left, turned its attention to him, seemingly wary of his next action. The other head was fried by the lightning he seeped through the eye before, and now went limp. Meanwhile the demon army below him was in disarray from the spread of the black fire.

The man now, tornado at his back, put his right hand into it, and filled it steadily with ice…

“Ice is not really my mastery, but… ah well… where’s my sword… ah, there. Come!”

SHUU-----------

Wind swirled around the red-lined sword on the ground, and immediately threw it to him – hilt coming in first. He took it with ease.

“Let’s go, partner.”

He rushed towards the dragon again, this time slower than before, but alongside him, the tornado as big as the dragon itself, followed him – now being filled with ice nuggets and snow swirling inside it. From afar, it seemed like a clash between a red dragon and a mortal with white tornado behind him.

“That’s… that’s so… badass… ah, a maiden shouldn’t say such a crude word..! Hm..?”

The battlefield seemed to only focus with the fight… and with it, the enemy failed to notice the change which was happening further back… to Shisha’s back…

She turned to her back. She extended her eyesight, and could see it, lines upon lines of people coming out of what seemingly like a small entrance into a massive plateau covering her line of sight. She could feel their power… power similar to hers.

“This… is… thousands… Sages..?”

KNIGHTS -- OF -- ASTARIA! HEAR -- MY -- CALL!

It was a voice booming with confidence, deep and shaking the battlefield. It was a voice which reminded her of Master Kharnain – yet of more importance, more vitality, more authority, more… power.

“What… who…?”

HEAR ME! KNIGHTS OF ASTARIA!

OUR ARCH ENEMIES ARE HERE! TELL ME!

WHAT DO KNIGHTS DO WHEN THE ENEMIES KNOCKED OUR DOOR?

… WE KNOCK THEM DOWN, MY EMPEROR!

WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THEY TAKE OUR COMRADE?

… WE TAKE HIM BACK, MY EMPEROR!

HAIL, KNIGHTS OF ASTARIA!

LET’S KNOCK THESE TRASHES DOWN AND TAKE OUR COMRADE BACK!

AVERON ARCAD! YOU’RE COMING BACK!

… UWWOOO!

FOR DUTY!

FOR HONOUR!

FOR EMPEROR!

FOR OUR COMRADE!

FOR GOD!

…

…

It took awhile before one particular fact seeped into Shisha’s thick skull.

“Eh… eh… Averon… Arcad? The Martyr Emperor?!”

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