Chapter 98: I Take It You Are Mikael?

The north east where the civilians were evacuated to contained a series of underground bunkers whose exits and entrances were completely hidden by illusion spells, to mislead any Ravager that happened to make it there. Around them, knights stood guard, ready to deal with such beasts.

The knights who were obviously in charge of the evacuation process walked around inside the bunkers, calming nerves and maintaining order while the cries of children and the sobs of adults filled the air. Some of the younger knights looked just as frightened as the people they were comforting. They simply hid their fears better.

As soon as Kadre stepped into one, she was handed a flask of water and some jerky.

“Thank goodness, this city’s leaders are at least right-thinking people,” she thought as she took a bite of her tough meat.

Needless to say, the people in the bunker she currently was in were mostly nobles and wealthy people. Silk sleeves and jeweled rings, huddled together in the dim lantern light as if wealth could shield them from a Godbeast. She was sure that was the case in some other places too, not that it was her concern.

The bunker was always trembling, courtesy of the massive Godbeast and those powerful enough to stand toe to toe with it, duking it out. Every few seconds, dust sifted from the ceiling, and a child somewhere in the back would start wailing all over again.

People like General Erica, and Mikael?

Kadre wondered. Mikael, his routine, his mannerisms, his identity, everything about him looked strange, felt strange. Almost non-human in a way she could not exactly describe. A boy that age should not look at a collapsing city the way one looked at the weather.

She slapped her cheeks.

“Don’t inquire about the client, girl. Focus on survival, and the job, if he survives.”

She bit hard on the jerky, and chewed until her jaw ached.

*******

The second strand connected to the scythe and continued the transmutation process as Mikael restarted the cycle once more.

This session was being powered directly by the essence core of the Godbeast, and was visibly taking a strain on it. The pulses of energy had slowly gotten dimmer and dimmer, till the cave was no longer bright enough to see even three feet ahead!

Not that Mikael cared. The main objective at the moment was to carry out as many cycles as the energy source could provide for, and even that would most probably not be much.

Outside, overhead, the mana gathered in a manner that suggested a finishing move, in a spell circle of quite large diameter. Mikael felt it long before he heard it. The pressure pressed down through the earth itself, and the air inside the chamber grew heavy enough to make the dust hang still.

General Rodain finished drawing the circle.

“Pulsar Beam.”

The effect was direct, massive and destructive.

A concentrated beam of blue flame, hot enough to burn the air and melt the rocks of the pseudo forest, shot down from the massive spell circle. It illuminated the entire night sky, and for a moment, the battlefield was brighter than noon.

And it hit hard!

*BOOM!*

Aimed straight at Mikael’s location. At the core!

The beam pierced through the beast’s flesh as a piece of hot metal would through a slab of butter. Roots, veins, bone, none of it mattered. It came down the cave like the wrath of heaven itself, and the walls screamed as they melted.

However, Mikael had already anticipated it, and at the last moment, he had ducked beneath the full length of Ragnarok.

The aim? So the scythe could also absorb the energy attack, which was significantly more than that of General Erica moments ago.

Now this was quite the gamble. But he trusted his friend.

The scythe naturally would, couldn’t not survive, the full force of the attack unscathed. But the mortal frame, his human body, was most likely going to either disintegrate into nothingness or be left with more than severe burns.

“I sure hope regeneration came with the upgrade,” he muttered.

The fiery column hit, and the moment it did, the heat was…

Bearable???

It was a fact that the attack was obviously too strong for the current Mikael and Ragnarok duo to absorb all at once. And so some, actually a lot, of it simply continued on its journey until it had completely pierced through the beast, leaving a crescent-shaped scar in the ground below.

The rest, however, Ragnarok took in as much as it could at that pace, and it did a perfect job of it. The black blade drank, and drank, and drank, its surface rippling like the surface of a lake.

The attack, luckily, missed a part of the core by mere feet. And as soon as it was over, Mikael forcefully stopped the transmutation cycle.

The next thing he did was drive the scythe directly into what remained of the core, to absorb everything that was left and store it in the scythe. The core shuddered once, like an animal that knew it was dying, then began to fade.

Meanwhile above, the dome of lightning slowly dissipated into the night as the heavy beast crashed into the ground. The earth responded with a very heavy trembling and shaking, like it was splitting apart.

“Rodain, I forgot to remind you that there was someone inside!” General Erica shouted at the top of her voice as she flew around. The Mangrove Lion Turtle had fallen completely, and now only weak groans could be heard as its life slowly wasted away, both from within and from the attack of flames.

“Who was there?” Rodain asked, genuinely surprised that someone had been able to stay inside the Lion Turtle despite the ongoing fight.

“Mikael. The lad you sent for. He was the one.”

“Is he the one….? Oh,fear not. He lives.” At the mention of the name Mikael, General Rodain swiftly ran a quick check of the Godbeast’s body. That was how he picked up Mikael’s, or what was most likely Mikael’s, life signature, faint but steady. “Let’s go get him then. He might be injured.”

They flew down.

“But don’t you think he’ll run if he senses us coming?” General Erica asked.

Already, summons had been sent to the dear famous kid genius inventor, and seeing as Captain Behemoth had sent no report since even before the tides had begun, the mission was clearly not going well.

The story of the Rank Breaker, as well as recounts of its success almost every time, had spread even beyond the borders of the Human Realm! Despite the Empire’s best efforts to keep it under wraps.

But the lad, Mikael, had continuously and consistently rejected every summons, even from the nobles of races that were not Human, apparently. Or so the Imperial Merchant Office claimed.

“I don’t think he’ll run. Call it a hunch, but I think his pride won’t allow him to.”

General Erica sighed. “Not everyone clings to your idea of ‘pride’, Rodain. Yours is most definitely plain ego, straight up. God complex?”

“Thanks for the compliment, my dear.”

She ignored him. ” Still, unless he’s suddenly at our level, we could catch up wherever he runs.”

Rodain grinned. “A million Crowns he doesn’t run. Are you willing, my honey?” The ‘my honey’ was said in an exaggerated tone, one that all but made its recipient smile.

“Fine. But I’ll only bet a hundred thousand.”

“Tch, stingy lady.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Nothing, madam.”

They touched down on the forest, very close to what they presumed was Mikael’s signature. He wasn’t moving, at least.

They were close enough for a skilled hunter to notice that people were coming, and Mikael was much more than a skilled hunter. Not to mention they did not in any way dim their Sage and Archsage Rank auras. Those alone were enough to send every lesser creature within a mile fleeing into the dark.

When they came upon him, General Rodain grinned at his wife, courtesy of the fact that he had won their ‘little’ bet, before they both got serious.

Mikael sat cross-legged on a rock just inches above the ground, one hand propped on his knee and his chin resting on that hand, as though he had been waiting for a late guest. The smoke from the ruined forest curled around him, and the faint glow of embers painted the edges of his silhouette.

His clothes, all black, were somewhat covered in grime, blood and dirt. A few burnt patches marked where the flames had come far too close.

His eyes were the same orbs of fiery gold, ones that now fascinated General Rodain. The lad looked very much like a demi god. A celestial if he ever saw one.

“Generals,” Mikael greeted in a calm voice. Since the man beside Erica wore attire similar to hers, Mikael guessed he must be of the same standing. Not to mention he was way stronger.

General Rodain plopped to the ground without a care in the world.

“And I take it you’re Mikael?”

In the background, the steady hum of the forest slowly faded into silence as the massive beast breathed its last.

It’s month’s end, guys!

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