Puff had immediately gone for the kill when he emerged from the Separated Realm.
His appearance came at a critical juncture when the armies were distracted and saw their Commander being attacked.
He emerged from the sky and assumed his Wyrm form, a form that had the power similar to Commanders.
Unlike normal dragons, he had already tasted and devoured all forms of dragons and creatures in the past. And his training in the Separated Realm allowed him to meditate on his memories and somehow relearned the powers of all dragons.
And this allowed him to easily reform and trigger the cells of his body to assume that form and revert it. All dragons that had reached a high level in their cultivation could forcibly adjust their cells but never needed to use it as their original form would still be faster. But Puff started back from zero as a newborn dragon and grew.
Like a massive meteor, he fell and attacked the biggest and strongest Champions. However, the speed of his appearance was so fast that the large gigantic champion had already lost most of his upper torso when the bigger Wyrm fell from the sky.
Two massive swipes, one from the arm and another from the tail, struck those nearby, and the chaos of battle began.
Puff caused all forces to panic and fight and didn't notice that the Champion mages' spells were already gone.
The Crab Commander lost the ability to speak as the fast devouring ability caused his body to crumble.
"Hard on the outside, but weak on the inside. This is what most cultivators face as they can't train and improve the defenses on the inside. And while cultivators can practice how to envelop our body with Force Energy, training to wrap around it on our organs is difficult. Unless you can feel and map out every inch of your body, you won't be capable of doing that." Kyros laughed.
"But to answer your question and clarify what I meant that your Champions had an enema, remember that Dark Bolt I shot out? It wasn't a Dark Bolt." Kyros then showed him the form of the Dark Bolt he sent out. Suddenly, several claws and arms moved out.
It was a ball of compressed Shadow Ghouls, which Kyros wielded with his Dark Wielder.
"The ground is pitch black, and dark energy was naturally seeping out of the ground. They didn't notice that these creatures were crawling under them. I ordered these Shadow ghouls to distract those Champions channeling a buff on you and those reinforcing the space that prevented Martha from using her portals. All I needed was a split second where their spells failed to work."
The defeat of the Crab Commander relied on the impeccable timing of the shadows. It distracted the three Champions who were focused on pouring the powerful buffs on him, and the rest must have attacked those creating the spatial distortion. Once weakened, Martha opened the portal that allowed the Wyrm to emerge.
"My shadows might have performed an enema to your living Champions. I'm surprised you didn't hear them squirm or yell in surprise when those thin claws entered the butts of those Champions. Of course, it didn't harm them as their vitality was too high, but that was rather embarrassing, right?" Kyros laughed.
"Anyway, become food for me and Aunt Martha. My time powers can't hit you since this shell is like armor rather than your body. But Aunt Martha's [Heavy Weight] skill works fine. She shot a lot of arrows on your charge and made you slow down." Kyros explained further as a pale Martha approached.
"I'm hungry." She complained.
"I'm still cooking it, Aunt Martha. Have Puff help you later on. The tendons of this creature are hard for you to bite. Even in your dragon form, it should be difficult to chew this crab. But, for now, have a taste of his blood." Kyros answered.
Martha held on to the sword and began to absorb more energy.
As the two devoured the Commander, the rest felt the brimming energy in their body. It was as if they had killed several hundreds of enemies. Their stamina, force, and magic energy also began to slowly recover as the Myster Experience System divided the spoils among them.
Aron continued to fight, and When he moved out, he harnessed the power of the Quick Blade. His previous lunging attack at the Crab Commander already used this job class, so he decided to use it as Destiny already knows about this ability.
He moved and made quick work of the Champion mages, who were distracted from the explosive attacks behind them. They used various spells on Puff, but Puff's magic resistance was too high that Puff ignored the attacks of the Champion Mages. And with them, distracted Aron made quick work of these mages.
By the time some had died, the rest noticed Aron. But they were mages who had low dexterity points even with their Commander Potential state.
The Emberdon mages attacked the last few who were not yet killed.
After clearing the Champions, Aron zoomed back and tossed several of the magic-restoring potions he found on the champions.
The Emberdons all caught it. They had expended so much in the battle and needed to restore themselves.
"Let's get to work. Who knows how many of those Giants have already made their way into the other side. I'm sure Crab Commander already ordered to have his giants rushed in. He withheld them all earlier so that they wouldn't die. What a calculating man."
"It's a miracle we defeated him..." Demerus sighed.
"We defeated him because of his pride. His arrogant challenge of facing us and not allowing the Champions to interfere, his pride in his defenses, and his plans... If we fought someone less arrogant, he could have easily plotted our demise. So don't get too smug." Mezal laughed as he moved forward.
"What do we do now? Do we defend the path to the portal?" Mezal asked.
"No. We need our men to experience hell. Some may die. But this is the best scenario to make them experience Destiny's cruelty. We already did everything to make it easier for them. But they can't be Fate Challengers unless they face enemies that could kill them just like we did. And we have to act outside of Destiny's expectations. Aunt Martha, I may have a dangerous mission-"
"I know. You want me to assassinate a Commander all by myself. Relax. I've faced Destiny's plots and lived. I bear weight and guilt of all those servants I ate and the death of Hems and Hemsey. I can manage."
Aron's eyebrows rose.
"Uncle. I know that you are worried but-"
"Please, Kyros. I'm not a child. My wife won't die. But I want to kill one as well. I want to face a Commander by myself."
Kyros was silent.
Mezal was curious.
"Why are you against this?"
"Emberdons, wreck havoc. Puff's time limit is ending." Kyros ordered first.
As Kyros said, Puff was now on retreat after eating so much.
Martha had been using her powers to send some of the bodies into the Separated Realm.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Emberdon Champions flew to the high sky and began to make powerful attacks.
"What is it?" Aron asked.
"You were bound to sense it sooner or later. The truth is, I have known certain decrees that Destiny made. It involves every member of the Steele family. My connections with your family are still a mystery. But I know that both Branze and Diana were fated to be my father and mother. Both of them have decrees from Destiny, which is called Curse of Destiny. Destiny has decreed it, which means it will come true unless we grow to a certain level of might. The Curse of Destiny of my father is that he will die before I can save him. The curse of my Destiny of my mother is that she will die after bidding her farewell to me."
"But if that's the case, why did you leave them in the Temple?"
"Because I can easily use the Temple's power to teleport back there. Besides, we did move ahead, and no strong enemy has reached that land. I have been observing the fight in the Temple through my link with it. So even if Destiny finds a way to send his forces there, I can move. I am certain that Destiny won't work to kill them. But..."
"With me, it's different? What's the curse of Destiny for me?"
Kyros recalled the scene in his memory. So he was running and wanted to save his mother that he ignored the room where his uncle fought. But when Kyros moved out, he wept over his beloved uncle as he proudly sat on the chair like a King who sat before the scores of dead orcs who all looked like they were bowing before him. No doubt, this was the very carefree humor of his uncle, who wanted a grand death and killed the orcs in that specific manner before he died.
"Your Destiny is to become an invalid who can't use your body and fight. And, of course, you will die in that state before I would have the chance to save you." Kyros revealed the notification he had seen a while back.
---
Curse of Destiny activated.
Aron Steele will become invalid and die before Kyros Soter Vasilius Tyrannos Kyriachos can save him.
---
"Oh? How cruel. Destiny knows of my ability as a fighter and decided to give me a rather embarrassing life." Aron chuckled.
"I can't save you if you fight here, uncle."
"I don't need you to worry about me, Kyros."
"Uncle. This is Destiny we are talking about!"
"Kyros... There is only one way to fight Destiny. And the only way to fight it is to challenge it head-on. You can't live your life fearing my death. I forbid you to do it. Not for me or your mother and father. You have helped me become a Challenger. And that means we have to challenge Destiny. Better now, when Destiny has yet to know all of our abilities. Each time we foil Destiny's plan, Fate gets stronger. So then, let me challenge Destiny. I assure you, I will win, and I won't be a paraplegic." Aron smiled.
"..." Kyros turned to Mezal.
"I won't even bother to ask what my Destiny is. I just want to challenge that mother fragment and gain the strength to stare him right in his face and punch that God." Mezal laughed.
"Fine then. Grandfather, join the Emberdons. You have the strongest Path of Molding among us. Build them up to be strong. All three of you select a direction and move towards it. We have to explore as much on this planet anyway. I will be moving around and will be collecting your spoils for the Temple. Each of you.... you are to kill a Commander!"
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