Chapter 66: Assassination Attempt

"What?"

Princess Milliani asked as she looked toward Arlo, who had already begun slowly retreating backward.

Her eyes furrowed as she turned toward the five guards, who had all picked up their weapons.

"Arlo. What is...?"

She was about to ask another question, but in the next instant, Arlo disappeared right before her eyes.

A hand grabbed onto her shoulder, and before she could react, she found herself being carried on his firm back.

"We run!" Arlo said.

In the next instant, two colossal wings ripped through his shirt as he stamped his feet against the ground, the entire bridge to quake from that single step.

Then...

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOM!

All Milliani could hear was the air around them exploding as Arlo burst forward with horrifying speed, his wings flapping with all their power and they became a shooting beam of light soaring toward the distance.

"Shit! They’ve recognized us. Bring them down!" the leader of the five shouted as they immediately dropped their disguises and chased after Arlo with a speed not a single bit slower than his.

BOOOOOOOM!

A colossal ball of mana rippled toward Arlo, who instinctively dodged to the side, avoiding the attack as it exploded only a few meters away.

Arlo burst through the dark smoke, but when he turned to look behind him, his face paled.

’We’re fucked!’

Arlo thought as hundreds of similar mana balls rapidly appeared in the sky and began chasing after him.

Forced to push his wings to their absolute limit, Arlo desperately weaved through the barrage of attacks.

Yet the smaller explosions were enough to slow him down, allowing the remaining three attackers to continue chasing after him while rapidly closing the distance.

"Scan them, System. How long can I last against the remaining three?" Arlo asked within his mind.

The System immediately gave him an answer.

[A minute before certain death!]

"Then I have no choice..."

"Do you trust me, Milliani?" Arlo suddenly asked.

Milliani raised her head and looked up at him as he desperately flew forward.

"I do."

"Then hang on tight." Arlo ordered.

Princess Milliani immediately hugged him tightly like a viper wrapped around a tree.

’Activate Thruster Feet...’

’Activate Dash...’

Arlo gave the commands within his mind as the soles of his feet immediately underwent a strange transformation, with gigantic thrusters appearing beneath them.

As he activated Dash, mana furiously pumped through his body while another System notification appeared before him.

[Host’s Heartbeat Has Reached a Sufficiently High Level.]

[Playful Magnifier Skill of the Infinity Joker Bloodline Will Now Be Activated.]

[Congratulations. Dash Efficiency Has Been Increased by Triple!]

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Five consecutive shockwaves erupted around Arlo’s body as he rapidly tore through the sonic barrier, instantly leaving the three remaining attackers far behind.

"What the!?"

Two of them shouted in shock as the shockwaves caused by Arlo’s sudden acceleration were powerful enough to knock them off their feet, sending them crashing into the walls of the bridge before smashing through them and disappearing into the water below.

"You won’t escape me!" the leader roared as he quickly regained his footing before raising both arms into the sky.

An enormous ball of chaotic energy, spanning nearly thirty meters in radius, began forming above him.

The mere aura of the attack caused the surrounding space to quiver violently, as though it could barely contain the power gathered within.

With a sadistic smile on his face and pitch-black blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, the leader stretched his hands toward Arlo’s rapidly disappearing figure.

"Ancient Vorath Destruction Lock, Chaos Ball of Dumblubar. Go!"

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The space before the massive ball immediately shattered, fragments of distorted space shooting outward as the attack soared toward Arlo with horrifying speed.

"Let’s see you run from that, you rat!" the leader said before collapsing onto both knees and coughing up blood.

Yet a satisfied smile remained on his face as he watched the attack disappear into the distance.

He knew there was no way those kids could survive that. Absolutely no way.

"ARLO!!!"

Princess Milliani’s voice rang out from behind him as a rueful smirk appeared on Arlo’s face.

"Yes. I know we lost them," Arlo replied.

In the end, his Fallen Angel speed was still unmatched.

"No! Behind us! A big ball!!!"

"Huh?"

Arlo raised an eyebrow before turning his head behind him.

Every hair on his body immediately stood on end.

The enormous ball was rapidly growing larger in his vision, giving him absolutely no chance to dodge.

At the very last second, Arlo pulled Princess Milliani from his back and held her tightly against his chest before wrapping his gigantic wings around both of them.

Then the attack connected.

"ARRRRRRGGGHHHH!"

A groan of pain burst from Arlo’s lips as the ball crashed into his back, instantly burning away his clothes and tearing open his flesh.

Yet instead of exploding, the attack continued drilling into his back, mercilessly tearing through flesh and muscle.

[Make your choice, Arlo. You won’t survive this!] the System screamed within his mind.

"Choice between what!?" Arlo roared through the pain as blood poured uncontrollably from his lips.

[The target of the attack is not you, it’s her! Drop her now and run!!!] the System roared in urgency.

Arlo’s eyes flashed with disbelieve, then a furious roar erupted:

"DAMN YOU ALL!"

Arlo dropped Princess Milliani, having her fall to the ground, yet instead of running away.

"Activate Cyber Transplant!"

A powerful undulation of energy erupted from Arlo’s chest as red lights flashed across his body, forming the outline of a mechanical endoskeleton.

In the next instant, a pair of boots appeared around his legs as countless nanites rapidly fused with his body.

Then a gigantic sword appeared in his hands.

Arlo poured every single bit of energy he possessed into the weapon, making it lit up like a star, and then

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

He slashed forward with every single bit of power he possessed, releasing a gigantic sword arc of dark red and golden energy that cleaved through the air with horrifying speed.

The space before the attack was sliced apart as though it had never existed.

The two titanic attacks, one created by sacrificing life energy and the other by sacrificing every bit of energy contained within both a Cybernetic Core and Mana Core, finally collided.

KAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The horrifying explosion that erupted from the point of contact sent Arlo flying away like a rag doll.

His Cybernetic Suit, which he had activated only moments earlier, crumbled into pieces as the destructive energy assaulted his body, battering him and peeling away his flesh.

BAAAAANG!

BAAAAANG!

BAAAAAAAANG!

Long lines of destruction spread across the ground where Arlo crashed, as he carved a long 40 meters trench before coming to a stop.

The pathway before him had been scorched into nothingness, while massive flames billowed from his body due to the horrifying friction with the air.

The only thing Arlo could do was return his Cyber Sword and damaged boots into his Spatial Ring before spreading the remnants of his mana throughout his body in an attempt to stop his wounds from worsening.

Yet he no longer possessed even a single drop of mana.

His efforts failed, and soon, the entire world gradually turned black.

____________

BAAAAAAAM!

A crater formed in the ground as Princess Milliani’s body crashed into it, causing the entire world to suddenly begin spinning around down for several seconds.

She quickly snapped out of it and raised her head toward the sky.

The only thing she saw was a gigantic sword arc shooting toward the ball of destructive mana, followed by an explosion on an almost apocalyptic scale.

Within the explosion, the shadow of a figure flashed by so quickly that it was no more than a mirage.

The force of the explosion pushed Milliani backward and deeper into the crater she had crashed into, allowing her to avoid most of the destructive shockwave that followed.

But soon, everything settled down.

She immediately spread out her senses.

Arlo was nowhere to be found.

The only signs that he had ever been there were the gigantic craters and the long trail of destruction carved through the ground.

"ARLO!!!"

Princess Milliani yelled in panic as she rapidly followed the trail of destruction.

After searching for nearly ten minutes, she finally found him, and te moment she did, her eyes widened in horror.

Her hands covered her mouth before she collapsed onto the ground, tears uncontrollably streaming down her face.

"Ar... Arlo..."

Her hands seeked to reach him but paused, folding into claws that dug into her palm.

Suddenly, the air around her rustled.

Milliani raised her head and saw a strange man standing beside Arlo.

"Hmm, he is still breathing even in this state!? Quite a tough will to live," the man said, causing Milliani’s eyes to widen in shock.

"Pro... Professor Igris!?" she asked, before turning back to Arlo.

Breathing was an impossible word to associate with how he currently was.

"The boy needs help. Meet us at the academy grounds," Professor Igris said as he picked up Arlo’s mangled corpse.

In the next instant, both of them disappeared, a massive storm of air blasting all around the area just a moment later.

____________________

"The attack connected!" one of the men shouted as he looked toward the powerful explosion in the distance, where a massive mushroom cloud of energy rose into the sky.

"Yes, it connected. But did anyone notice one of those human things appearing beneath his feet just before he completely disappeared? It reminded me of those Human Enhancers."

"And I thought all winged Vorath had black wings. How come I saw white ones instead?"