(IC) Chapter 328 - The Lord of the Mountains

A sphere of darkness swallowed the floating platform and the air around it, sunlight bent aside, a false night cast across the mountains below.

Alonso stared, eyes wide with awe.

Light was gone—and more than that, his waves refused to move through the dome at all. It was as if the space itself had been erased. Lukas and Chiara had briefed him about it—the Azcoyatl’s domain-type skill, a zone where no EM wave but the wielder’s could propagate.

But seeing it firsthand… was something else. From below the platform, it would look exactly like an eclipse.

His wonder lasted only a heartbeat though.

The alpha roared, sky and stone trembling, and launched forward with a flap of its wings—its own field surging, hurling its massive body toward the black sphere.

Alonso blurred into its path, zigzagging through the frigid air. He twisted mid-spin, blades flashing for the softer joints of its wings.

The beast shifted just enough, scales turning aside the strike where he’d aimed for flesh. Anticipating it, Alonso flowed with the momentum, rolling into a slash at the opposite side—only for the alpha to tilt again, deflecting him once more. Every strike glanced off diamond-hard scales as the monster kept driving forward.

Alonso cursed under his breath, pushing harder, doing everything he could to bleed speed from its charge. But the Path of Shards struggled against its sheer mass. It was like trying to turn a glacier with bare hands.

Not far off, Lukas focused. The floating platform dipped through the air as he communicated with one of Chiara’s minds, borrowing her waves to guide it back from the oncoming alpha, while her other minds kept the cyclotron charging and Eclipse alive.

He quickly calculated the intercept—less than a fraction of a second away.

And then—

The air trembled.

The other wyverns had arrived.

Dozens of shadows tore across the sky, their screeches stabbing through the air as they swept in from both flanks.

Lukas stood firm. The platform dipped lower, retreating inch by inch, every vibration screaming through its frame. Milliseconds bled away—too fast, too close. Claws glinted like blades, maws split open, frost trailing from their throats. They were almost on top of them.

And still he waited.

And waited…

His pulse slowed to match the countdown in his head. One breath. Half a breath. The next would be impact.

“NOW!”

His command ripped through their internal network, and the EM field in the air snapped—flaring wide like a detonating star.

Explosions thundered in every direction. Hundreds of EMP bursts rippled outward, collapsing the air itself into vibrating shockwaves. The mountains shook. The sky tore open. Only the dome of Eclipse remained untouched, black and silent in the chaos.

For the wyverns, the sudden absence of EM balance was ruin. Their wings faltered mid-beat, their fields shredded, their very ability to hover ripped away. Bodies toppled like boulders in a landslide, smashing through clouds. Those closest plummeted instantly; those further fought desperately, wings flailing, fields staggering into half-formed stabilisation.

And that was just the beginning.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Sniper fire cracked through the sky.

From hidden ridges and crevices, Ishaam and his squad unleashed a storm, their bullets accelerated under Sun Pulse, every shot carving arcs of light before tearing through wyvern hide.

One after another, the beasts shrieked, necks pierced, wings shattered, blood raining scarlet streaks across the pale frost air.

Above the battlefield, a streak of brilliance cut through. A figure blazed, his mecha-armor glowing like molten steel, the Heart of Sparks roaring across his frame. Wang’s Zhanmadao sang as it carved, severing throats in single, clean arcs, each strike releasing a geyser of blood that trailed behind him like a comet-tail. One wyvern after another fell in pieces, their dying roars swallowed by the storm of fire and steel.

To the flank, one broke through—a wyvern larger, faster, dragging itself past the disruption, diving toward the platform. Its eyes locked on prey. Its wings folded to strike.

The answer came from below as a javelin split the sky.

It pierced straight through the beast’s chest, the impact detonating like thunder, supersonic force ripping scales apart. The wyvern convulsed mid-air, heart and lungs destroyed, before being hurled aside—pushed away dead into the peaks.

On the mountain below, a crater smoked beneath Imani, sparks crawling across his arms as he stood unshaken, another javelin in hand, eyes already locked on the next target.

The battle raged on. Shots cracked. Constructs roared to life. Camila and Mei unleashed their mecha swarms, tearing through the flanks, while Wang intercepted with brutal precision, his blows shattering ribs and spines, his field burning every wound raw. Imani stood closest, guarding the platform itself, every strike an execution.

But even as wyverns fell in droves—dozens, then more—the alpha did not falter.

It pressed on.

Its massive body cut through the burning sky, untouched by the trap, its EM field towering, drowning the air itself. Alonso hurled himself again and again into its path, blades flashing, Overdrive burning his body alive from within. The alpha twisted lazily in answer—minimal movements, scales sliding into his strikes, deflecting each blow like nothing.

Yet cuts began to appear.

Tiny red lines along its joints. Gashes hidden at the edges of its movements. Every feint Alonso read, every shift he predicted—his swords connected just enough. Dozens of cuts, thin but deliberate, etched into the titan’s frame. His eyes narrowed, cold, merciless, predicting its defense three moves ahead and carving openings where none existed.

But still… the beast did not retaliate.

Its focus remained forward. Always forward. Toward Eclipse.

Alonso’s breath tore from his chest, white steam spilling from cracked lips. His fur coat was long gone, his bare torso ripped open, skin laced with frozen blood. Overdrive kept him alive, heat burning out of his flesh, steam hissing from his wounds.

But this was as far as he could go. His blades could not cut deeper—the creature was simply too massive, the margins too narrow to strike true.

His eyes flicked toward the black sphere as the wyvern closed in.

Alonso surged upward, gaze dropping… and waited.

He waited—until she moved.

Ayu’s breath synced with her heartbeat, a thunderous pulse reverberating through her chest. The ground cracked beneath her as Fury came alive. Muscles bulged, veins lit, her skin deepened to a fevered red.

Then came Overdrive. Nerves flared, reflexes sharpened, steam burst from her pores as both states fused into one burning storm.

Still… not enough.

She stepped forward. The world itself bent to her stride. Air vibrated around her. Gravity curved in her favor. Cold, breeze, even light yielded to her will. She roared skyward, and for an instant a spectral outline of a beast coiled around her frame—the primal shadow of what she had become. Primal Flow.

And then—she vanished.

Her body erupted into motion, leaving only the faintest trail, a scar of fire and light streaking across the mountain.

For a heartbeat the world lagged behind. Then the peak she had launched from detonated in her wake, the mountaintop splintering into dust under the echo of her ascent.

Her daggers flashed.

The alpha’s reflexes caught too late. Two crimson arcs carved across its mass, severing a wing clean, scales shattering under raw, merciless power.

The wyvern shrieked in fury, thrashing toward her. Ayu flipped mid-air, momentum carrying her higher. She twisted, eyes locking back on it, bare feet bracing against a waiting anchor.

Alonso.

He crouched, every fiber coiled, Lukas’ link surging through his mind. Pillar and body enhanced. Dual Overdrive screamed inside him. Path of Shards bent the field. He caught her—feet to boots—and pushed. Everything he was, every wave, every muscle burst at once, his legs nearly snapping under the strain.

The air cracked from the release, a booming shock trailing behind as Ayu fired downward like a warhead.

The instant the force left him, the link severed—Lukas’ timing perfect. The link passed to her.

Her silhouette howled with her descent, bone blades gleaming. Wind spiraled into a vortex at her back, gravity dragging her deeper, faster, harder toward the alpha, as the faint outline of a primal beast flickered again in her wake.

The wyvern sensed it, wings straining to shield, but—

By the time it moved… she was gone.

Her form reappeared below, slamming into the already-ruined mountain, the impact splitting the stone to ash.

Above, the wyvern shrieked in agony as its second wing tore free, severed in a geyser of blood. The limb spun through the air, crashing into the cliffs below with the force of a meteor.

The alpha staggered, its massive body lurching sideways. Its balance faltered, but the sheer strength of its EM field forced it forward, dragging the colossus step by step toward Eclipse. Claws, each longer than a man, reached out, scraping against the air as if to tear the dome apart, when—

For a fraction of a heartbeat—silence.

Then sound caught up.

A boom ripped the sky apart.

The cyclotron’s second shot slammed into its chest, striking the exact same caved spot as before. The projectile bored through—bone, muscle, and heart obliterated in an instant, a storm of shattered scales and frozen blood blasting outward in a wave that shook the peaks.

The alpha reeled. Its roar broke into a wet gurgle. Its field collapsed, flickering and tearing like a dying star, as gravity finally claimed it.

The colossal body crashed into the mountainside, the impact splintering ridges, avalanches thundering in every direction.

Alonso stared down from above. The Lord of the Mountains, the Hegemon of the Wilds, an Emperor-tier existence… had fallen.

They had done it.

He glanced at his battered body, pain reminding him he was far from whole. His bare chest was mottled in red and purple, skin cracked in patches that struggled to knit back together. And yet… all he felt was pride.

A creature he could never have defeated alone had been crushed—almost easily—by them. The sheer prowess of Ayu and Chiara, after reaching the Third State and mastering their skills, was breathtaking. And Lukas’ link had carried them even higher.

He almost chuckled, remembering the time he thought he could climb The Tower alone.

He locked eyes with Ayu below as she smiled and shot him a thumbs up. But he knew she was waiting for something. Alonso grinned and sent her an image of herself on fire—cool, fierce, standing on top.

Truth be told, he was fairly sure Ayu could crush him in a spar now.

After watching everyone’s strengths today, he understood—there was no such thing as a best path. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses. His style, while deadly against humanoid opponents who relied on both waves and body like the Xok’al, faltered against others—especially those that did not use waves at all. Yet those who relied purely on the body lacked long-range damage or control, areas where those who focused entirely on the Pillar, like Chiara, excelled.

It all came down to synergy and balance.

He glanced at Lukas as Eclipse dissolved, leaving him and Chiara exposed above the floating platform. The handsome German flashed a victorious smile, and Alonso nodded back.

Lukas had really come a long way as a leader.

But as they celebrated, Wang cutting down the last wyvern, Alonso felt a shift. His eyes darted back to the—

Huh?

The giant wyvern’s corpse… had vanished.