A thunderous crash echoed through the battlefield as Erend’s body slamd into the ground, the impact sending a massive shockwave through the ruined pavent in front of Laston’s tower.
The earth cracked beneath the impact, debris and dust exploding into the air. For a mont everything was just still. The Elves froze in front of the portal, their hearts hamring in their chests as they stared at the crater where Erend had landed.
Vael clenched his fists. Arlyn took an instinctive step toward Erend, his muscles tensed with urgency. Even Sylra, exhausted as she was, gritted her teeth and steadied herself.
The sheer force of that blow… anyone else would have been shattered. He received it at point blank.
"We can’t just leave him!" Arlyn burst out, his voice filled with frustration. "We should stay and help!"
But before he could move, Aerchon’s hand shot out, gripping his shoulder firmly. His expression was grim but steady. "No. We need to leave."
Arlyn turned to him, disbelief flashing across her face. "Are you serious? Did you not see what just happened?"
"I did," Aerchon said, his voice unwavering. "And that’s exactly why we need to go."
Saeldir, still maintaining the portal, added, "You don’t understand. That," he gestured toward the dust-shrouded crater, "is nothing to him. He’s not the one you should be worrying about."
Sylra and Vael exchanged uncertain glances. They had seen Erend arrive in a burst of power, had witnessed him tear through constructs like they were nothing. But still, to take a hit like that? they weren’t sure anyone could just get back up from it.
"Then why did he fall?" Vael asked, his voice tinged with doubt. "If he’s that strong, why didn’t he just avoid it?"
Saeldir sighed. "Because he doesn’t need to. It’s not a question of whether he can take a hit, it’s a question of whether Laston has any attack strong enough to actually hurt him." He gestured to the portal. "You don’t want to be standing around when he gets back up. We’ll only get in his way! Now, co on and get in!"
Arlyn hesitated, looking back at the crater. The dust was still settling, and there was no movent. His gut twisted. Could they really just leave him?
Then, from the silence, the ground trembled. A deep, rumbling vibration that sent cracks spider-webbing through the street. The dust cloud began to glow, flickering embers swirling within it.
And then, the crater erupted.
A surge of fire and lightning exploded outward, a blinding column of energy that split the air with a deafening roar. The sheer force sent shattered debris flying in all directions, the heat so intense it warped the air around it.
And from within, a shadow rose.
Erend erged from the explosion, his form wreathed in smoke and fire. The red-black scales on his arms pulsed with heat, embers trailing from his skin like molten sparks.
His crimson eyes locked onto Laston above and he still looked calm. He rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck, the corner of his lips curling upward in sothing that wasn’t quite a smile but sothing dangerous.
"That all you got?" he asked.
Laston’s expression now twisted in fury. He also already know that his attack earlier wasn’t gonna kill Erend.
"See? He’s fine. We won’t be if we stay," Aerchon said.
Arlyn, Vael, and Sylra stared at Erend. Looking at the raw power radiating off of him. It was beyond anything they had ever seen.
Arlyn swallowed hard, his previous protest dying in his throat.
"Fine," she muttered. "Let’s go."
With one final glance at the battlefield, they turned and ran toward the portal. Saeldir focused, keeping it stable as the Elves leaped through one by one.
But just before stepping through, Arlyn cast one last look back.
Erend was already moving, launching himself skyward in a blur of crackling fire energy. His fist now wreathed in fla and he sending it toward Laston like a teor.
Arlyn shuddered and hurried through the portal. The last thing they heard before the portal closed behind them was the sound of the sky shattering.
The sky split apart with the force of their clash. Erend’s flaming fist t Laston’s reinforced fra in a blinding explosion of power, sending shockwaves rippling in the air.
Laston had changed his body. Gone was the loosely armored figure that had fought Aerchon and the others earlier. Now his entire body was encased in shifting plates of nano-tal, a seamless fusion of Magic and the technology in this world.
The armor adjusted dynamically, shifting and hardening wherever Erend’s attacks landed. His helt snapped into place. It was a smooth, expressionless mask of black tal with glowing red eyes.
Erend landed on the ground again a few feet away, skidding across the fractured pavent before coming to a halt.
He rolled his shoulders, taking in the sight before him. Nano-tal reinforcent. He’d seen things like this before but only in gas, in movies, in dia from his own world. But here he saw it, this tech was real now.
"Interesting," he muttered. "Didn’t pull this out against the others, huh?"
"They weren’t worth it," Laston’s voice ca through the helt, distorted and chanical.
Erend chuckled, flas flickering along his knuckles. "And I am?"
"You’re a problem, Dragonborn. I will give you that credit," Laston said. "One I intend to erase."
The air around him distorted as countless chanical tendrils erupted from his back, each ending in a shifting weapon like blades, cannons, and spiked drills.
The ground beneath him warped, reshaped by the nano-tal spreading outward like liquid steel, reinforcing his foothold.
Then he launched forward.
Erend braced himself, and their battle resud.
Laston launch his attack first, his speed drastically increased by the adaptive tal. His tendrils whipping out, slashing and striking like a storm of steel.
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Erend dodged the first, then the second, his reflexes allowing him to weave between the attacks. But they kept coming, relentless and unpredictable.
One tendril caught his shoulder, slamming him downward again. Another followed, morphing into a massive hamr and crashing into him just as he landed.
The pavent cracked beneath him as he dug his fingers into the ground, stopping himself from being buried further.
Laston wasn’t done. His armor shifted again, the plates along his arms opening to reveal built-in cannons. With a chanical hum, he fired.
Erend threw himself to the side as a burst of energy blasted past him, obliterating the ground where he had just been.
He barely had a mont to recover before another barrage followed. He raised his arm and decided to not bother to dodge and took the hit head-on. The impact sent him skidding back but the scales absorbed most of the force.
"That all?" Erend said.
Laston didn’t reply. Instead, his armor shifted again, the plates tightening, refining. His body grew bulkier, yet he moved with inhuman fluidity.
The technology was evolving mid-fight, analyzing Erend’s movents and adjusting accordingly. Erend can report this intel into the Elves.
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