syringe

765. Eye See You

“Galia. Is that supposed to be… a Corrupted…?” Jury could not contain her voice.

Disbelief filled eyes as fear clawed at her throat.

“Trust your eyes. That’s the Punishing Bird. If size mattered with the Corrupted, then that would be stronger than a Paradise Lost Corrupted.”

“It’s larger than the Icon of Judgement?”

“Far larger.” Galia assured her. “I suggest you don’t try to wrap your mind around it. It’ll lead to self-destructive thought...

764. A Bird That Punishes

The appearance of the 2nd Order automatically confirmed the existence of a Corrupted. Galia was well versed with the arsenal of Puritas so she knew the name that was given to this entity.

The Punishing Bird.

Its true Corrupted name was not known. The Punishing Bird was a Corrupted used exclusively by the Knights of Pale to demonstrate their favor with the divine. No army in Grandis had ever survived the onslaught of the Punishing Bird. They would all be wiped clean from the face o...

763. Are The Elves Ok?

Once upon a time, there was a secluded tribe that lived deep in the jungles of Velvori.

The tribe was infamous for their promiscuity. They’d have maps charted of the creatures and people they tasted the pleasures of. 4,300 different entities were recorded by this one tribe of barely a thousand alone. It reached a point where they were running out of things to experiment on.

What was simply lust turned into desperation. It was the natural cycle of tribes that followed the Goddess...

762. 30 Minutes Till Midnight

Galia’s inquisition was moving better than expected. Injuries aside, they have not had a single casualty thus far. Healing bullets followed every sustained slash on Atelier personnel and Aspiring Moons alike.

Few Black Wings accompanied the march with Hora Therapeutic Lunars equipped with Talons. This was thanks to the direct link they had to the Nexus via a Hyperlink Site. The 50-kilometer buffer served as a safe zone and allowed the critically injured to be healed.

Those who r...

761. The Peace Flocks of The 2nd Branch

The sole Knightmare waited in the shadows, quietly shifting through the rubble before suddenly charging a stray Peace Flock member. A pair of great blades cleaved the air with such a force that windows shattered.

The Peace Flock member was no more than a young Elven man that wore a peaked cap, symbolizing their rank as a Captain. He was no taller than the ordinary man. In fact, because of their Elven heritage, they were unbelievably slender.

It was because of this that they were a...

760. The 2nd Phase

Crystal meteors crashed through the blanket of smoke. Ruins and festering Hearts that called them home were wiped clean from the face of Elysia. Craters as large as 50 meters riddled the lands as warped trees were folded due to the immense shockwave.

The Justica Starfall was a 12-cannon weapon designed specifically for long-range engagements against structures and areas rather than an enemy force. This was because the 1st Branch’s primary focus in Jusitca Arms was to wield the very es...

759. The Rays of Judgement

“It seems almost too easy. Did they not have a clear goal when they came to attack? An expeditionary force would not make sense given their size. They must have come knowing there would be a battle.”

The Knightmare mused on the one-sided battle. It brought him great joy seeing their bodies join their ranks and turn against their own. But it bothered him that that they were as much responsible for their losses as his own Undead soldiers.

“The lack of regard for their own kind...

758. Into The Storm

5,000 Repenters marched through the luscious forest that bordered the smoke and the black forest far behind. People of all shapes, sizes, age, race and combat abilities pushed forward at a command that resonated within their mind.

“Enter the smoke. You are to kill all enemies in sight. Failure to comply will result in a minimum punishment of 100 years added to your sentence.”

None of them knew who th...

757. The Ultimate Trade Awaits Its Perfect Practioners

Simonia’s other two forces consisted of the Justicers and would attack at other various locations as required by the 2nd Branch. Due to the smoke’s ability to create illusions as well as cut off their access to the Nexus, it was imperative that they had a way to communicate with others outside of the smoke which was where the flares-like weapons came in.

Andra, the Apostle of the 2nd Branch, was in charge of the main force of the attack. This meant that she would also be leading her...

756. The Calm Before the Dark Storm

3 hours till midnight.

The timing had no significance in the world of Elysia. In fact, 3 hours till midnight did not mean anything in the Old World or on Earth. However, it did not change that the hands on the clock appeared like another dreaded concept.

The Doomsday Clock; a modern metaphor of the 21st Century on Earth. It was a clock that represented how close humanity was to an unavoidable crisis. The nature of the crisis itself was not an earthquake, a world ending asteroid, o...

755. Tempered Nefesh and The Wheels of War

“That laughing owl…” The Red Baron groaned. “You have it? They weren’t lying… they didn’t try to keep me on a leash. It was true. You can transform into a Corrupted…”

“Hasn’t it occurred to you that Frost is the reason why you got a power up?” Cer couldn’t fight her urge to laugh. She clutched onto her belly, laughing heartily at the Red Baron for not being able to string things together. “C’mon. I didn’t know Iscario hired idiots. I guess the only thing ...

754. Ruminations of Red and Fallen Gold

Frost showered in the blood of the Ferris wheel.

She stood on a small platform in the center of a divot directly beneath its remains. The walls of the divot were meters high, and blood from other attractions trickled down like scarlet streams.

She did not care that she was soaked in blood, or that it had welled in her boots. She had been standing there ever since the Heart fell. The Heart of the City was nothing special. It was ill defended like the Memento Mori.

One could e...

753. A Deluge of Tears

Just as the Operational Conductor was about to put them out of their misery, a chill ran down his spine. A sharp pain appeared on his neck. A sharp crystal hovered against his throat, silencing him as he recognized who this belonged to.

“A collapsed star of such proximity will only bring more tears. I weep for them. But I will not weep for you if you were to go against the Amalgam’s orders.”

Teardrop approached him from behind. He stopped momentarily right beside the Operati...

752. One Heart Left

Time moved faster when one had a finite amount of it.

The minutes seemed to count down like seconds for everyone across all fronts. Anxious breaths filled the cold air of the icy tombs deep within Caldera Industries’ Derma Layer base.

The attack force of 2,500 personnel stood in wait before an empty space. They all stood atop a frozen lake, waiting for the next portal to open. No one dared to say what they all thought out loud.

“This will be the biggest battle we’ll ev...

751. A Bloody Visit

“No. He has nothing to do with me. Neither do I want a piece of whatever he’s getting. I just want my own things. It’s far more convenient for me to work with the Broken Thorn.”

“Bzzt. All Children of Adams will return to the Broken Thorn in one way or another. Bzzt. Including your sisters. Bzzt.”

“I had hoped they’d come along. That way, they’d be left immune to the coming storm.” Raoul left before Beethoven could say another word.

He returned into the t...

750. The Star and the Wolf Rises At Dawn

“My sister will be coming for me.”

Raoul was certain of this and could not help but to utter it out loud.

Mild infuriation laced his words as he walked down a tunnel somewhere deep within Grandis. Black-stone walls colder than ice surrounded him and a bloody-yellow being that followed him like a shadow.

“The Electric Fang~? Oh how I’ve always wanted to meet your siblings, Mr. Wise Black Wolf~!” The figure’s voice was neither male nor female.

They were a fus...

749. The Moon and the Wolf Rises At Dusk

The further one went north, the bleaker it became. Not even a rainstorm for a month straight could revive the lands that bordered the Bellum Empire and the Diavola Kingdom. If someone from the south were to be blindfolded and sent to these lands, then they would believe they were in an entirely different Region.

Every so often across the arid expanse were withering shrubs. They laid on their sides as they waited for death to take them. The cracked earth served as drains and did not allo...

748. The Prelude to War

“Tick, tock. Tick, tock. It’s familiar.” Simonia hummed, pouring Galia a mug of hot coffee. “A Beholder with the same sound of The Voice Beyond the Void.” Simonia said.

“Yes, just as I was thinking. The wonderful ticking that opened my eyes long enough till I could hear the Nexus call for me. But that’s that and this is this. A pleasure to meet you, Beholder Jury. Your Gift has been an excellent addition to our 2nd Branch. Now we can process 10 times the number of infracti...

747. At Another Front

Meanwhile, as Frost pushed onwards to the northern front –

“Light? You mean the spark we can create? It’s easy! So easy! But um… how do I explain it to someone who doesn’t feel like they can understand it?”

– Jury and Galia were in the middle of trying to decipher how the Black Moons could use Light. This was during their last stages of preparation. Frost would be ready in the coming hours. She was already clashing with the Memento Mori Heart of the City acc...

746. Fate Sends Their Regards

The Etched Coins glowed, which meant that they were still functional, but something was preventing them from leaving this immediate space.

“It says we are ‘contained’, and the way out is… questionable at best.” One complained, bracing themselves as the Spindleworms collided with their tower, shredding it apart and even going as far as striking other towers behind them.

The sudden barrage of flying Spindleworms caused them to immediately recognize that their sudd...

745. The Sect of Gears Heart of the City

“Something is wrong. The outcome is different than from what was predicted.”

An Attuned Messenger spoke with an ethereal hiss. He floated in the air like a puppet on invisible strings, speaking directly to a council of 12 faceless, mechanical beings known as the Clockwork Prophets.

They sat around a grandeur azure table that was shaped like a gear. It slowly turned clockwise. Each tooth that sat on the cardinal direction was sharpened like the hands of a compass.

“An A...

744. Infinite Hunger

“Why are you giving me so much peace in these final moments? My soul will disappear. I will be reduced to nothing. Where I will go after this… is an incomprehensibly long and distant place that wracks me with despair.”

“You’re going to disappear forever anyway. Your pain has ceased now, hasn’t it?”

The Amalgam, despite their wrath, inherently despised violence. She had the soul of a Healer. That’s right. T...

743. The Monarch and the Heart of the City

She was hungry before she learned how to breathe.

Hunger was all she knew whilst inside of the cocoon.

Starvation came before her own existence was determined.

The Monarch was born as a larva with six arms and two legs. An adult at birth with imprinted instincts and memories given to her by her host mother – the Heart of the City. The only color she knew in this world was red. How it could be smeared, mashed, squashed and consumed at the handful.

And blue from the wi...

742. Glimpse of a Star

They riddled her body, causing Frost to nearly jump in to heal her.

However –

“Aaaah… Ahaha… ahahaha… AHAHAHAHAH!” Silica cackled. Serum R had fully devoured her mind, causing her to enter a state of grandeur as she plucked the thorns that should have killed her on the spot.

“They have gone mad. It is a fraction of the pain we bear. This incompleteness –!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahh… You wouldn�...

741. The Crimson Hunger Heart of the City

Frost recalled the Star she instantly eliminated long ago in Divas Pass. It was an Insectid Red Giant that sparked her initial hatred of the Ateliers. The dark jaws of [Prejudice] clearly killed them, but she did not remember an explosion.

Neither did Scarlet Logic experience their Stars exploding when they perished. The Vermilion Moons were the only people qualified to answer directly to Frost, aside from the Red Giants who were so mentally broken that they could no longer form words.<...

740. Instruments of War

The second Tower belonged to the Crimson Hunger. Frost was on a collision course with the Heart of the City that lurked beneath its lands. She, the Hired Arm, Snap, and her reinforcements would pave the way for the Exalted as she pushed towards the north.

Rolling hills and luscious green fields stretched from the Capital to the distant mountains that divided the Empire. From their immense height and speed, it felt like the Bellum Empire was a small civilization. The various bastions of ...

739. Chapter Seventeen - One: Qoph

“Ah~ My apologies. You must be the Amalgam. Yes. Yes, you are. The emanation of Light as I see it now. This Qoph of mine burns, but it’s a pleasant sensation. It’s fulfilling. Ah, yes. Light as we know it banishes darkness. That must be why my Qoph is struggling.”

“Qoph being the Serum that can create golems?” Frost inquired, causing the blue lights to flicker.

Blue stripes appeared in the dark, creating a smile as its eyes turned into upside down ‘U’s.

“Qo...

738. The Taleor and the Hired Arm

The Capital fell silent for thirty minutes.

The Librarians disappeared for now. Where they went was not known. Neither did they know where they came from, or where the location of a likely Heart of the City resided. Frost had spent enough time here already.

The clock was ticking now.

The Impuritas knew they were here. It was now only a matter of time before the main force in the north were notified. Frost made some minor preparations before her upcoming departure to the next...

737. The Meaning of Family

Anpu did not like their odds. It was clear that his attacks were far too weak to even dream of damaging the ‘Sins’. According to his Lunas, they had 7,000 DEF and MAG DEF. The first wave of attacks had crippled a quarter of their team.

However, thanks to their own DEF stats and the high-quality clothing they wore, it was only a matter of outlasting them.

“Our only option is to buy time… Gerina! Head though the doors! We will face these alone!” Anpu ordered. “Until the ...

736. A Bloody Battlefield

A war fought with firearms was a future Gerina wished she could erase from her mind.

The bullets did not discriminate between friend or foe. Whoever received it was destined to die. There was no honor in such a weapon, and it detached one from the actions they committed.

It took a reasonably powerful resolve for one to stab another with a sword. Often times, it was out of necessity or those who could not feel the weight of their actions.

A firearm on the other hand, had no s...