Chapter 42: Melody’s Death

"Dad!"

Nyren’s voice rang out as dust and debris slowly settled.

General Ashford turned toward it. That voice, his daughter’s, was one of the reasons he’d insisted on coming to Crowns Academy.

Seeing Nyren’s face softened him instantly. He looked past her, searching the battlefield, and found Oren. Relief washed over him. His children were alive.

His gaze slid back across the battlefield and he blinked at the silver light flaring around Nyren’s hand. Ice bullets streaked from her fingers, piercing Phantom Hyenas and wolves, freezing them solid until their bodies shattered.

Then he watched Oren: arrows multiplying mid-flight, each finding a target and puncturing skulls.

Good. Indeed, my children.

Pride warmed him.

Nyren and Oren hurried to his side, Adrian close behind.

"General Ashford," Adrian said, alongside Daniel.

Ashford’s grin sharpened when he saw Adrian using an awakened skill. "Your elder brother will be down shortly," he said. "We had a nasty fight in the sky with mutated flyers, he’s hurt, but he’ll be fine."

Adrian’s face tightened with worry for a moment, then he masked it.

The Ashfords and the Blackwoods were long-time friends, with their friendship tracing back generations.

Ashford glanced at Daniel. "Your father’s at the base. He ordered me to get you and everyone else out. Good to see you’ve awakened an ability."

Daniel nodded.

Ashford’s eyes swept the battlefield. Carnage. Cries, roars, and panicked screams filled the air. Seen from the ground, the academy’s ruin felt worse than the feed from the helicopters. The beasts pressed on. Students fell. Crowns Academy, once proud, had become a slaughterhouse.

Silver streaks cut the crimson sky. Then an attack pulled Ashford’s attention.

A boy, no older than his son, fought with a precision that made the General’s military mind analyze in an instant.

Every thrust found a skull; the spear moved like a spinning wheel leaving purple trails. Beside him, a girl in a black lab coat carved crimson arcs across the monsters and then, impossibly, controlled the blood: it hovered, became daggers, and flew into other beasts.

"They seem quite powerful," Ashford muttered.

"Students?" Ashford asked, already judging their technique and coordination.

"Yeah," Nyren answered. "That’s Lothe—the academy librarian. The girl is Seana. We don’t know their family names."

Ashford raised an eyebrow. At Crowns Academy, a family name attached to a student’s name on their badge meant that the family was powerful enough to be recognized.

Prestigious.

Those without family names were usually from ordinary backgrounds. Some were there on scholarships, while others had gotten in purely because of their intelligence or talent. These two were dangerous regardless.

"Let’s deal with the horde first," he said, tone sharpening. "We can talk about them later."

He flashed commands with the efficiency of a battlefield commander. "Daniel—create earthen pillars and lift Oren. He’s our archer."

His eyes shifted toward Melody, who was currently firing arrows while spinning through the air, narrowly dodging a Phantom Hyena before releasing another arrow midair and landing safely.

"And take that girl with him."

"Take them up immediately."

"Yes, General."

Daniel slammed his palm into the ground.

BOOM.

Towering pillars of earth rose and carried Oren and Melody upward. Melody’s face registered confusion at first, then relief when she spotted Daniel below.

Ashford turned to Diego. "You take their right wing."

"Understood," Diego said, tightening his grip.

He watched Nyren moving to the left vanguard and felt the old pang—he almost stopped her. He wanted to pull her back into his arms. But this wasn’t a place for that. She had to become steel.

"We’ll disorient them, then turn the tide." His voice was calm, absolute.

Everyone moved.

Arrows rained from the sky like judgment, puncturing skulls and tearing into beasts. Meteors of stone crashed down, smashing dozens of creatures beneath their weight. Adrian’s golden sword arcs cleaved cleanly, each strike a precise, economical kill.

"For humanity!" General Ashford shouted.

White Qi condensed in his palm. With a single sweeping gesture—

BOOM!

A blast roared forward, obliterating dozens of charging zombies and mutated beasts on impact. Professor Sy released a long-held breath; the military had arrived.

Professor Sy’s sword flashed, white Qi forming lethal arcs that sheared through heads.

Lucan’s circular blade spun, his eyes flicking between Nyren and Ashford, covering gaps in the line.

At the center of the fray, Lothe and Seana noticed General Ashford’s grand entry, but neither slowed their pace. They were completely surrounded; a single lapse in concentration would mean a claw through the neck.

Shinh!

A head rolled across the blood-soaked asphalt.

Shing!

Another fell, then another, until the count became impossible to track.

System notifications flickered across Seana’s field of vision, but she ignored the floating text. She could feel the violent heat of the energy absorbed from her recent breakthrough.

Her physical output had doubled, her sword strikes were sharper, and controlling airborne blood felt as natural as breathing.

However, the strain on her Qi Core was equally high.

Three mutated wolves suddenly lunged for her back from a blind spot. Before they could close the three-meter gap—

Slice!

Invisible [Spatial Blades] cut through the air, bisecting the beasts mid-jump. Their blood sprayed across the pavement, but before it could settle, the liquid began to rise under Seana’s command.

Crimson chains forged from blood snaked through the air, binding several nearby Level 2 beasts tightly in place, turning them into defenseless targets for the surrounding students to finish off.

General Ashford caught the play and offered a single, approving nod. Extremely resourceful.

For a brief, shining moment, it felt as if the tide of the battle was finally turning in favor of the survivors.

Then—

ROOOOOAAAR!

The earth-shaking roar from the thirty-meter spiked beast split the air.

Lothe’s expression instantly changed. His [Spatial Perception] registered a high-speed projectile moving through the clouds above. His eyes snapped straight up.

"Not good!"

"Bring them down! Now!" he ordered, turning to Daniel.

Too late.

"ARGHHHH!"

Seana instinctively turned toward the scream, her heart freezing. She recognized that voice instantly.

"No..."

A massive mutated eagle had plunged through the crimson clouds without warning, breaking the sound barrier.

Its colossal talon pierced straight through Melody’s back, the razor-sharp claw tearing out from her chest in a shower of blood.

Melody’s mouth opened, blood spilling over her lips. Her fingers went limp, her composite bow slipping from her grasp and falling to the street below.

PUCHI!

The sickening sound of tearing meat echoed over the noise of the battle. The massive eagle casually flicked its foot, tossing her broken body aside like trash.

THUMP!

Melody’s body slammed heavily onto the cold pavement below.

Ruth froze mid-cast, her eyes wide with uncomprehending horror. Tears blurred her vision before pouring down her cheeks.

Oren saw the dive and immediately threw himself off his earthen pillar. Mid-fall, an eagle swooped for his neck, but he twisted his body in mid-air, narrowly dodging the claws, using his ability to land safely on the ground.

Seana stared at Melody’s lifeless form. Before she could even process the horror, another mutated beast rushed forward, snapping its jaws and swallowing the girl’s body whole.

Seana’s eyes trembled, tears threatening to break through her cold composure. But she gritted her teeth, forcing the sorrow down into the depths of her chest.

If I break down now... more people will die.

Melody’s death was only the catalyst.

A wave of horrific screams erupted across the front line:

"ARGHHHH!"

"HELP ME!"

"LET ME GO!"

"NO! NOOO!"

The horde surged forward with renewed savagery. Phantom Hyenas tore into the rank-and-file survivors, while winged raptors rained down from the sky. The boulevard instantly devolved back into an absolute slaughterhouse.

And far beyond the carnage, the 30-meter spiked titan remained motionless.

Watching. Studying.

Like a general directing an army. With the Thousand Eyed armoured Centipede beside it.

The real battle had only just begun..