The slaughter spiraled so fast that the Nephralis and Varkhaal disciples were forced to abandon the ritual altogether.
Their formation broke and their chanting faltered.
They scrambled in panic. Blades and spells fired wildly as they tried to intercept the Reaper Drones.
Marie’s eyes sparkled with unholy excitent.
"Oh! Oh! The next target is that Ignathar!"
Her grin stretched.
"Please let see that snake choke on panic."
Lucien’s lips twitched faintly.
He was about to agree—
When—
SNNNRRT.
A single exhale.
A single annoyed snort from the Red Dragon.
And the air changed.
The entire chamber trembled. Heat rippled across the stone. The runes flickered like fearful fireflies.
The Reaper Drones suddenly jittered mid-air.
Their wings spasd and their cores flickered.
They dropped half a ter in an instant.
"W–What!?" Marie gasped.
Lucien’s pupils narrowed.
"The Dragon’s aura..."
It wasn’t even a direct attack.
A single breath from an Eternal Realm monster was enough to destabilize the drones. And its strength was suppressed too. Even in the mortal realm, dragons are apex predators.
Lucien acted.
Before the drones hit the ground—
His will snapped forward like a whip.
FWIP—
The drones veered unpredictably, zig-zagging like drunken phantoms.
This sudden erratic movent saved them from the spells the Nephralis had already fired at them.
"AFTER THEM!" Varun roared as his face twisted with hatred.
The Varkhaals lunged from the darkness, chasing the scattered drones.
’Bad move.
The drones’ eyes flickered red.
X.
A mark appeared above the head of the nearest Varkhaal.
The shadow froze.
"W–Wait, how—"
SHNK!
A necrotic needle buried itself directly into his heart.
The Varkhaal collapsed without being able to react.
Even shadows couldn’t hide them.
The drones sensed life-force instead of sight.
And that ant...
No one could hide.
Another shadow lunged—
X.
SHNK.
Dead.
A Nephralis disciple tried to fly—
X.
SHNK.
He fell like a rock.
One after another...
Necrotic needles flew with perfect accuracy.
Marie covered her mouth, trembling between horror and awe.
"They’re... unstoppable."
Eirene whispered,
"They’re perfectly suited for this kind of situation."
The Celestial seniors stared in dread and fascination.
"These constructs..."
"They’re slaughtering elites like insects..."
But even perfection has limits.
Just then... they heard a dreadful, deep voice.
"Useless things," the Red Dragon rumbled.
It snorted again... this ti with intent.
The drones destabilized once more, and the enemies imdiately took advantage.
One drone, flickering wildly, caught the edge of a fla blast.
Its wing lted.
It fell.
Another was crushed by a Nephralis counterattack.
One was obliterated by a shockwave from the Varkhaals.
Lucien’s face changed.
He felt each drone’s destruction like a punch to the chest.
Those were precious drops. Epic drops.
By the ti the chaotic dance ended...
The combined Nephralis and Varkhaal force... once nearly fifty strong...
was reduced to barely a dozen.
But so were Lucien’s drones.
From twelve... only three remained hovering with their wing-edges dented a their cores flickering weakly.
Lucien inhaled sharply.
Pain lanced through his heart.
"I might be able to repair them..."
He clenched his jaw.
Eirene placed a hand on his shoulder.
"They served well."
Marie nodded.
"I... actually feel bad for the little reaper-bugs."
Lucien didn’t answer.
He sighed.
"...We need a new approach," he murmured.
Marie straightened. "What are you thinking?"
Lucien stared toward the trembling ritual floor, the weakened but still dangerous survivors, and the massive ancient beings beginning to breathe with renewed strength.
Just then—
They saw it—
The dead bodies of the Nephralis and Varkhaals...
They too were being fed into the magic circles.
"They are rciless even to their kin!" Marie said, clutching her fist.
And that was a bad thing.
They needed to act now... before the ancient beings truly awakened.
What they didn’t expect was how evil and rciless these people really were.
And now... they saw the essence being fed becoming stronger.
The Red Dragon and the Dark Shade... were recovering fast.
•••
A low rumble slipped through the vast chamber—
A tongue only Eternal Beings could produce and understand echoed. The words vibrated through the stone.
The Storm Roc’s cage shimred. its vast shadow of wings shifted, restrained by runes thicker than a fortress wall.
"I told you," the Storm Roc murmured. "Nothing touched by Stillness is ever simple. Fate twists itself for the amusent of higher hands."
The Behemoth exhaled.
"Twisted? Hah."
Its deep voice shook dust from the chains.
"Fate spat on us the mont we trusted the races to govern their own world."
The Titan scoffed softly.
"If my descendants had even a fragnt of the discipline we once possessed, I would not have rotted in this pit for millennia."
A sigh followed.
"They fight over scraps instead of conquest. Pathetic."
The Red Dragon let out a disdainful snort.
The Dark Shade beside it flickered in agreent.
The Roc chuckled with a hollow, stormy sound.
"Still... ingenious, you two."
The Behemoth rumbled.
"Indeed. Who would have predicted that before Stillness caught you, you had already inscribed runic anchors inside your own bodies?"
The Titan nodded with reluctant respect.
"To embed a summoning lattice into your own bones... so your bloodlines could teleport to your location even across this sealed realm."
"Reckless. Brilliant. Only monsters as arrogant as you would attempt such a thing," one ancient being praised.
Another one continued.
"Your descendants... those fire-born Nephralis and shadow-born Varkhaals... were drawn here. The runes you hid in yourselves resonated the mont the ruins awakened."
The Behemoth snarled a laugh.
"A last contingency plan. A call across ages."
The Titan added,
"Now they co crawling into the prison that birthed their races..."
The Red Dragon’s molten eyes opened, burning with pride.
"I do not require their wisdom. Only their devotion."
The Dark Shade’s voice slithered across the floor.
"Tools need not be clever to serve."
The other Ancient Beings humd.
Just then...
Their gazes shifted, not toward one another...
But toward the back of the chamber—
Toward a cage none of them dared address lightly.
There, in a prison darker than the rest, sat a being of pure blackness.
It was not shadow. Not even darkness.
But Abyss itself.
Older than them. Older than the prison. Older, perhaps, even than Stillness.
Even Eternal Beings lowered their heads.
"Senior," the Titan rumbled with reverence.
The Storm Roc folded its wings as best it could under chains.
"When we break free... will you join us?"
The Behemoth’s voice deepened, almost pleading.
"Your wrath predates ours. Surely you would want vengeance against Stillness."
The Abyssal Monster did not blink.
Its presence swallowed light in a radius around its cage.
It watched them.
And then—
Its head turned slightly.
Toward the shadows. Toward the direction where Lucien’s group hid.
Even the Red Dragon stiffened.
Finally, the Abyss spoke.
Its voice was not a sound.
It was a pressure like the void exhaling through existence itself.
"We will escape this place..."
A pause.
A depth of aning none of them could decipher.
"...but not through the path you imagine."
Silence.
Confusion rippled through the ancient beings.
The Titan frowned.
The Behemoth’s chains trembled.
Even the Storm Roc lowered its head in uncertainty.
The Abyssal One said no more.
And the others understood. Further questions would not be answered.
The Red Dragon finally broke the silence, turning his gaze toward his kneeling followers.
"Nephralis. Ignore the vermin scurrying in the shadows. Do not chase the tal insects."
Smoke curled from its nostrils.
"Continue the ritual and feed ."
The Dark Shade’s voice spread like frost over skin.
"But be wary."
A pulse of shadow rippled through the chamber.
"Those unseen pests will strike again. Prepare your killing formations."
The Storm Roc added, amused,
"Hah. Whoever opposes you two will soon learn despair."
The Titan humd in agreent.
"Finish the offering. I cannot wait to feel the air again."
Their voices mingled—
The Nephralis and Varkhaal disciples trembled in devotion.
•••
The ritual floor shuddered under the weight of the growing power. The Red Dragon’s breath grew hotter. The Dark Shade’s form swelled darker.
Each mont they delayed ant catastrophe.
Lucien’s gaze hardened into steel.
"We can’t wait anymore," he said quietly.
Eirene answered without a flicker of hesitation.
"Then we strike."
Marie bared her teeth.
"Those lunatics won’t stop unless we make them."
Behind them, the Verdant Veil disciples exchanged grim nods.
Even the Celestial seniors tightened their grips on their weapons.
Lucien stepped forward.
"Follow ."
Twenty shadows moved towards the vast prison.
User Comments
0 comments from readers