Chapter 1231: A Flower of Ruin
Ethan watched the shifting mountain ranges with cold eyes.
The lightning sphere in his palm had been itching to move for a while now. The white arcs trembled lightly—then he sent it underground again, following the path it had carved earlier, slipping into Orun’s body like a second invasion.
Orun felt something wrong deep inside itself.
But the giant axe was already coming down.
There was no way it could pull the strike back now.
And in Orun’s mind, holding back mid-swing would be... downright rude.
Hanging in midair, Orun gripped the massive axe with both hands and chopped straight toward the center of the group.
You buried me.
Fine. Now you get to feel it too.
Ataneya looked up at Orun with pure contempt in her eyes.
Behind her, her tails unfurled—slowly.
One. Two. Three...
Until all fourteen fox tails were fully revealed, and the air itself started to hum under the weight of that power. Each tail radiated a terrifying pulse, like fourteen different power cores blooming at once behind her back.
Ataneya raised a hand and began to condense an energy sphere, unhurried and steady.
Seraphina scanned the surroundings, wings half-spread, ready for the mountains and the water to hit together. Andona returned to her master’s side as well, waiting for Orun to drop—while she and Seraphina kept up long-range pressure to stack the odds.
Up in the sky, the moment Orun saw those fourteen tails, shock flashed through its red eyes.
Every tail carried an aura that made even it tense. For a brief instant, its descent actually stalled.
But it was a creature of this land. Pride wouldn’t let it retreat.
It kept charging down.
At the same time, a red barrier condensed in front of it—wrapping its massive body in a protective shell, bracing against the crushing pressure ahead. With fearless savagery, it forced its way downward anyway.
Hmmm!
Rumble—!
Rumble—!
Rumble—!
The white sphere in Ataneya’s hand swelled larger and larger.
Its surface stayed calm—no wild explosions—but inside, it drank in the power of the surrounding space. The edges of the air itself warped and tugged, layer after layer of energy pouring into the sphere as it expanded from fist-sized to something bright enough to light half the sky.
Ataneya judged the timing.
Alright, then.
Orun could go ahead and prepare its "falling speech."
Seraphina skimmed low through the air, wings beating as dragon breath started to gather in her throat. Scorching power churned deep inside her, ready to erupt.
Andona was just as poised.
Twin swords crossed in front of her as she condensed the power of light. Behind her, a gigantic Angel of radiance appeared—golden wings spread, blades in hand—pulling in a focused, merciless judgment aimed at the shadow in the sky.
Ataneya suddenly tossed the energy sphere upward.
Even as it rose, it kept absorbing strength from the surrounding space. In that moment, time seemed to slow. The sphere drifted toward Orun like an unopened white flower bud, quiet and gentle—waiting for the unlucky soul who’d get to "experience" its passion up close.
Orun finally realized it might not be landing cleanly after all.
But the axe was already committed.
The blade slammed down onto the sphere.
At the same instant, Andona and Seraphina finished charging. Golden holy light braided with blazing red dragonfire as a deep-gold beam burst out, slicing through the air and striking the collision point between Orun and the sphere.
Bang!
Three forces bloomed together in the sky.
White energy, golden radiance, and crimson dragon flame twisted into a massive, roiling light mass—like a flower exploding open overhead. Then a deep-gold ring shockwave expanded outward at terrifying speed.
In Orun’s hands, the giant axe finally began to show wear.
The pitch-black weapon had carried that dark-gold sheen, and when it first met Ataneya’s sphere, the pressure had warped space itself. But as the three powers continued to grind against each other, tiny chips appeared along the blade’s edge. The searing power running through the fire-red haft was pushed back little by little by the white energy, forced into retreat.
Orun tried to brute-force it anyway.
Both arms locked around the axe, it held itself in midair as magma-like patterns lit across its skin, attempting to pour more of the earth and mountain’s strength into the edge.
But Ataneya’s power flared again—ring after ring locking into place—white energy blasting from the core. It punched straight through the axe’s defense and slammed into Orun’s chest.
The next moment, Orun was driven into the ground.
Boom!
Its massive body cratered into the earth. Soil, broken rock, and magma-like force erupted together. The giant axe flew from its grip and slammed down nearby, tearing a long, deep gash across the ground.
Orun’s eyes widened as it stared at Ataneya, disbelief written all over its face.
It hadn’t even truly used all its power—yet these people had pushed it into this state anyway. Enough to make it reevaluate the battlefield. Especially those tails behind Ataneya: each one carried a different tier of energy, like a net tightening around its throat.
Ataneya noticed the shift in Orun’s gaze.
Some thought flickered in her eyes—an echo of that earlier idea about recruiting strong ones. Then she didn’t give Orun a chance to stand. Her tails kept expanding, the number climbing from fourteen to twenty-four.
Twenty-four tails spread across the sky, blotting out the space above Orun.
No extra words.
Her tails slammed down from every angle and wrapped around Orun’s huge body. Power cinched tight. She yanked it up off the ground and smashed it down again.
Orun reached for its hammer—
And got driven into the earth a second time before its fingers could close.
Dust exploded upward.
The ground sank again, forming a massive hollow shaped like a goat’s body. Inside the dust, Orun grabbed its hammer and anvil, furious, magma-breath blasting from its nostrils as the underground cavity continued to expand under its force.
Only then did Ataneya draw her tails back and step up in front of Ethan.
Seraphina and Andona were ready to repeat the earlier play—press Orun back into the lightless depths and bury it again.
But before they could move, heavy running thundered through the forest from every direction.
Goats emerged slowly out of the smoke and trees.
This time, they weren’t just carrying giant hammers.
It was a force armed to the teeth.
Iron armor plates covered their bodies, fire-red energy flowing through the seams. There were enlarged goats among them too—each one like a moving iron fortress, hide and armor hard as steel.
And on the backs of those massive goats, platforms had been built.
On those platforms stood rare humanoid goats, gripping weapons aimed straight at Ethan’s group. Red patterns were carved along the metal. The muzzles lit up inch by inch, and the air began to thicken with heat and a suffocating pressure.
Water surged in from between the mountain ranges, pushing the goat army forward, and in no time they formed a tight encirclement around Ethan and the others.
Only...
To Ethan, it was almost funny.
They thought they’d surrounded him.
But from where he stood, it looked more like he’d surrounded them.
Just a bunch of suicidal little goats.
From the empty depths underground came the relentless clang-clang-bang of forging. Orun held its giant hammer and smashed the anvil again and again, each heavy strike a tantrum made audible. Nearby, the pitch-black giant axe was already battered and pitted, the chips from earlier still biting into its edge.
"Kids up there!" Orun’s voice rolled up from below like underground thunder. "When I come back out, you won’t have a way to live! And that boy who can use my power—he’s got guts, he’s a fine seedling. Later I’ll let you all... socialize. That’ll be fun!"
Boom!
A massive boulder dropped from above and nailed Orun right on the head.
Orun glanced up, expression turning strangely complicated for a second—then lowered its head again, ignoring it completely as it went right back to forging its so-called legendary divine weapon. Hammer met anvil. Sparks sprayed. Weird light rippled outward through the underground chamber in widening rings.
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