Chapter 583 (1/2)

A towering light filled the sky as Arbor erupted. It wasn’t just the leaves that were burning, but all of Arbor was burning. People screamed as the flames caught the spider silk cathedral and the entire thing went up.

But Kiersty stood stock still, staring upwards at Arbor. To her, these flames held no heat. But she held her breath, unsure of what this meant. She could feel his energy, rising and rising and rising some more… but this…

It was too much, she realized. Whatever he was doing-

As the cathedral collapsed and everyone fled, ash began flaking off from Arbor’s trunk. The core of Arbor was burning, hotter than anything Kiersty had ever seen. She looked, and could feel the vision in her eyes going, burnt away by the flames. There wasn’t heat here, but there was light.

So much light, so bright that for several seconds the sun above seemed dim in comparison.

Then it was gone, snuffed out, leaving nothing but floating ash behind. Arbor was gone.

*****

Thunder crashed overhead as Lucifer knelt on the ground. His two swords were broken. He felt a small disappointment at that, but not as much as the bubbling excitement that filled his heart. It had taken 12 men, and even then it had been close, but… still, the harpoon lodged in his chest hurt. But it was worth it to feel the exhilaration of the fight. It had been far, far too long since Lucifer last felt that thrill.

The dead and dying surrounded Lucifer. Well, they were likely only wounded in the current era. Killing someone was hard with the System. Whereas before you could reduce their quality of life to a certain extent and their fires would sputter out, the System supported lives. It used them like fuel of course, but until that point they were well maintained. If Health Potions were passed out, most of them would likely pull through.

Even Lucifer, for all that his heart was barely managing to continue pumping blood at the moment. He… had lost. It was a hard thing to admit. Numbers didn’t matter on the battlefield; he had been the one to end up on his knees.

The walls to the East were the smallest, and when the army had arrived they had been breached in multiple places. Lucifer had plugged up all those holes, and then a huge one opened up as a force of a dozen charged to gain a low hill that would give them a foothold to take the whole district. Lucifer had gone to meet them, and killed all but one, the leader.

The Malaysian man who had defeated him stood in front of him, looking like a piece of meat from a butcher block. He was bare from the waist up, covered in crisscrossing slashes. But none of Lucifer’s strikes had been able to inflict any fatal wounds before their final clash. It seemed that in terms of their most powerful Skill, Lucifer just lost out.

“It will be a shame to kill you all.” The man said quietly, but his hand tightened on the chain that was connected to the harpoon in Lucifer’s chest. “Surrender. Join my crew. Once your Zone joins with mine, we-”

“I cannot,” Lucifer said calmly. “Nor would I. We should fight again, sometime.”

“How can your army function without a leader?” The man said reasonably. “You may have training and numbers, but mine is a seafaring army. When I add your numbers to mine-”

“I am not truly the leader of the army. I just… am the backbone.” Lucifer said. Inwardly, he was sighing. He could feel his Health rocketing upward as he was given time to recover. As if on cue, the man twisted the harpoon, cutting his remaining health in half.

“Then the backbone has been broken,” The man said with a frown.

“This is one of three armies that Franksburg can field. Besides, our armies are not those who you need to fear.” Lucifer looked up to the sky with a puzzled expression. “...but it appears that Donnyton was actually not the first on the scene. Interesting.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I’m waiting for the official request to intervene.” Sydney Harp said, walking up to join the two men on top of the hill. The darkness abruptly parted and she was there, even though Lucifer hadn’t sensed her approach. Magework, Lucifer had no doubt. He didn’t trust magic, or attempt to learn it, but he understood why so many fell prey to its allure.

Instantly, the Malaysian man’s eyes narrowed as he considered the new arrival. Which made Lucifer feel less bad about losing to the man. Because Lucifer too was wondering how many tricks Sydney had in her arsenal. How well would her magic fair here, surrounded by blood and screams…?

He had never officially met Sydney, but Lucifer had largely been led to believe that the entire town aside from Drake was a footnote in the Zone. He would need to revisit that characterization. So Lucifer smiled and said, “You have it. I am just curious how you beat Mrs. Hamilton here.”

Sydney smiled, but it was a proud smile. “Some of the elementals sensed a change was coming, and it was happening down here. It was a gamble, but… Those seem to have been paying off for me lately. Now...”

She turned to the Malaysian man. “Let’s get started, shall we? I’ll be your next opponent.”

The man looked nonplussed. Taking advantage of that moment, Lucifer grunted and threw himself backwards. A chunk of his heart was ripped off, and his eyes wrenched themselves to the piece as it fell to the ground. There was a terrible moment of stillness in his chest. Fear filled him, and regret. But then there was a tremor, and a sputter. His heart healed and began to beat again. His Health surged upwards.