Chapter 271: Rain of Fire

The world went silent; the noise of the battlefield receded like something that came from a locked room and was growing distant as time passed.

Alma couldn’t make sense of what happened, nor could Talia, even farther away.

Everyone watched, wide-eyed. Gustav, who had brought another scope, found his hands shaking—

The scope fell, shattering on the castle walls.

He didn’t need to watch any longer.

The majority on the battlefield were unaware of the escalating fight at the Fable rear, and those who were aware went silent.

In the Control Centre, it was much different.

Everyone saw it; everyone was aware of what was happening, yet this result wasn’t something they anticipated.

Yutian dried the cold sweat on his forehead, falling back into his seat.

"Splendid!" he exclaimed weakly.

Ed nodded. "Hmm hmm, not bad," he said humbly while looking proud.

Daniel’s smile returned. "Since the beginning, he wasn’t impulsive or stupid... This is truly marvellous."

For a moment, Hugh’s legs finally started to regain a bit of strength; he heaved a sigh of relief while lifting his body up to his seat.

His wife extended her hand and held his arm, helping him up.

The two exchanged a nod; they had just averted a worse disaster than anticipated. Still, it wasn’t everything.

Even if their fears of the Outer’s affiliation were now void, their worries about Moon were just starting to manifest.

As for Lucen, he smiled subtly before returning to his seat.

"Edmond," he spoke out loud instead of sending a mental message. "You know how many ascenders lived after encountering a believer for the first time... alone and oblivious?"

"Never counted them." Ed also returned to his seat, answering smugly.

Lucen shook his head. "Since the beginning, he was not trying to recall his weapons; he was only trying to bring the threads into alignment properly while keeping himself from getting propelled along the orbit with the weapons attached."

"I thought he was desperately trying to keep himself balanced," he said, rubbing his forehead. "I guess he earned his reward this time."

"Of course he did, my friend; he fought and won flawlessly." Ed shrugged.

"The number of those who could oppose the Outers’ influence in the Tower has just increased by one." Lucen turned to Ed again. "I’m willing to take that nasty brat; I’ll take your old offer."

"The offer expired long ago; you first gotta get him to beat you up once." Ed scowled.

On the opposite side of Ed, a certain someone couldn’t contain his words any longer.

"You taught him this!" Lazzaro pointed at Ed and accused.

Ed opened both hands innocently. "I swear I didn’t."

"That’s even worse!" Lazzaro snapped.

Ed shook his head. "You don’t have to worry too much about your kid there; he’ll probably live through this."

"Bah!" Lazzaro snorted. "It’s not Enzo whom I’m worried about."

Ed ignored the cryptic claim of Lazzaro.

Meanwhile, on the wooden tower, Enzo’s teeth shone through a wide smile. "Too bad indeed," he repeated.

Moon didn’t wait for affirmation, for himself to catch his breath, or for any rewards.

Ding!

Ding!

He heard two new messages and a new notification sound he had never heard before, but he ignored them.

He recalled his weapons and proceeded to kill the ascenders who stepped back.

"Sir Enzo, please let us retreat," Mando pleaded, almost crying, expressing finally the reason behind his constipated look.

Moon’s ears shivered, catching the whispering voice of Mando; his movements hastened.

As if he were on a mission to eradicate every ascender there before the retreat orders came. The bluish sword glares erupted without pause, reaping their lives before they had a chance to react.

Before they could defend or realize their next partner had been killed.

Enzo watched for a while longer. "Sigh, fine, let them retreat." He finally allowed it, seemingly not interested in the ongoing massacre.

The strong one was dead, and these weren’t really important.

He chose to bring them for that specific reason... They weren’t important.

His plan to give Moon an easy victory was ruined thanks to a variable turning it into a critically problematic situation.

Though he was also thankful for that, he got to witness something new yet again.

An arcanist standing behind the two of them on the wooden tower accepted the orders; he raised his staff upward.

He waved it around, before—

Buff~

A stream of orange smoke rose into the sky, radiant and loud.

Moon stomped the ground, and a broken blade lying there flickered upwards. He let go of Colten’s sword and caught it.

His Spark Echo coated the blade before—

Whoo~

It was sent flying, aimed at no one other than Mando himself, who finally fulfilled his role on this battlefield, sending the retreat signal.

Enzo extended his hand, catching the blade an inch from Mando’s face, yet—

Stab~

"Gah!" Mando’s throat was slit open.

The Spark Echo detached itself from the blade before the impact and landed on Mando’s neck, splitting it halfway through, thanks to the fact that Moon was pretty much out of Spark Echo at this point.

Enzo’s eyes widened in challenge, staring down at Moon. Moon dropped his weapons and looked back at him.

Moon was silently telling him, ’This is for targeting Gustav; now your commander is dead.’

Though the silence was too loud, the two stared at one another as if the one who attacked first was the one below the other.

A provocative look radiated between the two as the Fable army rushed back to the wooden tower to regroup.

The battle was over; they were defeated.

They suffered miserably against all their beliefs, the invincibility and numbers they thought they had.

As they approached the Mountain Pass and started exiting, the chaotic behaviour of those who had just survived death was starting to slow them down.

A few fell and were stepped on by those behind.

Some were pushed for being slow, or tired, or maybe hindering the chances of others of surviving.

Moon, since the beginning, was afraid of that fact.

On the first floor, the winning faction absorbs the losing; once the king is dead, the fight is over, and they are one whole faction now.

Here, it was different.

Losing meant chaos, and if there were chaos, it was bound to take place on the enemy’s side...

He never would allow it to be on his side.

Moon opened his eyes wide; it was time for the plan to fall into place. The days he had spent back and forth for the sake of this moment.

BOOM~

Bo~

BAM~

BAM~

Explosions started ringing, small, rapid and compact from both sides of the Mountain Pass, spreading fear in the hearts of the escaping army.

Both sides of the mountain started collapsing over the retreating soldiers.

As they pushed one another for a chance to live, a chance to evade the collapse, they soon realized it was the end of it.

They gathered in a narrower path, trying to make their way out.

Some had succeeded by now, some were still trying their hardest to push themselves through, leaving aside those who failed to react in time.

The next moment, the rocks stopped falling.

Instead, the sky rained fire.