Indeed, it was a dragon.
No. It was THE dragon.
The masked man's target seed to have co to et them all in the middle. This target and sothing else unforeseen.
As countless raging gusts went berserk over the Factions rising from the waters, most unhard by its poisonous properties, the figures of the new arrivals appeared in express detail.
The dragon was vast. Imnsely vast.
It was comparable to the largest cities on Pelian and more, and that was without accounting for its tail, which was responsible for 40% of the aggressive, troubled winds, and its terrifying wing span.
The behemoth was covered in countless, stone-like, foggy grey scales that looked like they had seen better days. So were cracked, so caved in, but this didn't imdiately register to the onlookers, after all, the great beast was moving rather nimbly for its size, nearly turning into a blur at points.
Its mighty limbs, separate from the pair of wings on its back, seed to whip out dexterously like regular arms and legs, and the few with good enough sight saw the blasted creature cast unknown abilities with its thick fingers and claws that...
BOOOOOOM!
Replicus could have sworn that that noise, that blast just now, could have been Aigas' foundation shattering to bits. After all, he and many others were flung to the opposite way of where the dragon sent whatever monstrous spell, charm, or blast it conjured.
'What the hell?!' Replicus thought as he struggled to not be dragged about by the winds alone. 'Why is this thing here? Why is the Herald here? Is it fighting the masked man already? Was he already so far ahead of us?'
This didn't make any sense.
In his absence from the fleet during the last three days, surely the rest of the higher Factions hadn't just allowed the masked man to leave them in the dust and reach Edagon, right?
RIGHT?!
BOOOM!
Another violent boom echoed, and Replicus thought he heard the sound of an enormous piece of glass shatter.
He looked up, the dragon had flown far into the skies, past the clouds - through them, actually - in an instant, to reach the muddled, checkered and bumpy skies. This was where the legendary Jiggorhaux, the Abiding Madness was said to have nded the world with his breath, leaving scars on the skies that were prevalent only on this side of Aigas.
Yet now, pieces of his workmanship - the lded fabric of the world - far, far up fell as sothing bashed against them.
It seed the horrendous attack the dragon had used, had hit whatever it was that it was battling against, and it flown to smack hard against the skies.
Dear Deities...
Replicus' mind couldn't help but crash under the pressure of everything happening all at
once.
He couldn't even decide how to feel about his subordinates at the mont, as the nature of what was happening around him – the reason behind why his abilities and those of Araeyn were unceremoniously dispelled - was starting to beco clear.
Thankfully, his people seed alive.
Well... most of them.
'ARGH!' Replicus raged, but his mind quickly cald. Rather it was humbled by the escalation of the turbulent forces around him.
So, this was the scale of the mission they had been given?
This... this was what the masked man was trying to fight and conquer alone?
Ridiculous!
BOOOOOOOOM!
There was another crashing noise, and it seed the dragon jerked and descended rapidly.
It shot down in an instant, and as its large, radiant turquoise eyes whizzed about, its gigantic maw opening and lighting up with a yellow luminance as impressive as that of dawn, Replicus and several others - while being crushed by the sudden explosion of gravity from the dragon's descent - realized that there was more than one enemy battling against the dragon! What in the world...?
Honestly, the size of these enemies seed too insignificant when compared to that of the dragon, and as such, they were easy to miss.
Worse yet, the presence of the dragon eclipsed theirs by a significant margin.
'Is it not the masked man, then?' Replicus asked himself when...
...
His socket flas flashed, flickering, alternating between bright and dull.
'No way...' he thought.
He was flabbergasted.
At that mont, his mind cleared, attempting to accommodate what he felt right now; what was added to his already massive burden.
First was a binding link that exploded within him, tied to his Nullmancer properties.
Sothing linked to his powers, registered as being in his range. Finally.
Then at the sa ti, a cruel, dominant surge of Null Life Essence bombarded him like a hamr!
No. Rather than Null Life Essence, it was the presence of a Null Lifeform, quite like him. Sothing stronger, sothing superior in authority and race!
This felt very, very similar to what Replicus felt when Araeyn was born.
Pure domination!
'No way!'
As he gaped behind his Hollow Dusk Prison, Replicus caught a glimpse of whatever radiated such a presence.
It kicked off the air and sent a hollow cylinder of violated winds bursting in the opposite
direction of where it lunged.
Replicus recoiled.
'It looks just like...him.'
Indeed, it looked just like Araeyn.
The being had a pale, dry face like that of corpse, and narrow eyes that held within them black chaos. Long creamy hair, like strands of light, wildly flew in all directions atop its head, complented by the silver crown entangled with it, growing from the being's temples. The creature was adorned in a dazzling black armor that issued from its folds a golden mist. It was impossible to see at the mont, but the armor almost seed alive. It expanded and contracted subtly, its chest plate, branded with an assortnt of triangular gems that burned with foreign light, proudly expressing its lack of damage after the latest attack its bearer
took.
Replicus molded his open hand into a fist.
'Ferex! That's Ferex,' he thought.
His lost Apostle!
The Apostle, as he had been told, had succumbed to his Flaw. He had failed to beat an
opponent without a bitter struggle, and thus, he had beco a vessel for the Full Deck BoneTender, what the guidance field called a terrible Null Lifeform in the Null Verse.
But then, the story went deeper.
Apparently, the BoneTender had inhabited another vessel in turn; what Replicus saw currently before him.
Whatever that body was, whoever it had belonged to. It could only be...
Replicus saw a smaller, winged figure flash by with this royal Null Lifeform, hurtling towards
the dragon!
It was a feminine figure.
Curly red hair, fine skin, vibrant red eyes. He recognized these details as part of soone he was fond of despite how extraordinary they looked now compared to before.
Replicus recoiled again, and his socket flas burned bright.
Was that...?
'...Stylla.'
[Author's Note] If you feel a little too confused, you can revisit Chapter 783, Inevitable Fiend, Inevitable
Voyage
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