Return of the Mythic Bloodline

Chapter 522: Battle against the monsters

Out of the fourteen purple marks for SS Dungeon rifts that Taranis had seen on the world map through Vivi, there were three that glowed more brightly than the others. They were located in Tokyo of Japan, Heidelberg of Germany, and Kolkata of India.

According to Celestia, there were also only three beings in Rukadvatta that were as powerful as she was.

Taranis had requested Ume to take care of the one in Tokyo, while Celestia and Nymeria were supposed to handle the one in Heidelberg. As for Taranis himself, he had already arrived in Kolkata. Once they were done with their respective battles, they were to immediately teleport to the other locations where SS rifts were supposed to appear.

While the Awakeners fought against the low ranked monsters that appeared from the gates before the emergence of the boss monsters, Ume created teleportation arrays closer to each SS rift to allow Taranis and Nymeria to move freely between the places. The circular arrays glowed with soft pink light, scattered across continents like pins on a map.

---

Slash!

The head of a monster rolled down, followed by a spray of grey blood from the swing of Subaru’s katana, an SS Ranker from Japan. The blade gleamed with residual energy as he flicked the viscera from its edge.

He, along with many fighters, was engaged in a brutal battle against the humanoid monsters appearing from a giant rift at the centre of the city. The monsters wore broken or rusted armour, the metal scraps clinging to their grey, rotting skin.

They seemed like zombies with missing arms or visible bones protruding through torn flesh, their movements frantic and erratic as they clashed with the Awakeners, surrounding the rift from every direction. The beautiful city of Tokyo had turned into a battleground, with corpses of monsters covering the streets and wide highways, their blood pooling in the gutters.

Although the roads were broken, tiles uprooted, and street lamps toppled, the buildings had not suffered much damage because the monsters emerging from the rift were being quickly dealt with by the army of Awakeners. Only a few buildings had broken doors or shattered glass due to the unleashed Soulforce.

"Any news from India about the reinforcement?" Subaru asked, tapping his earpiece as he slowly pressed further inside the city.

"N-none at the moment, Master Subaru," a woman from the other answered, her voice hesitant and filled with unease. "There have been reports of Miss Kitsune being sighted near the rift in Seoul, but she vanished before her identity could be confirmed. Similar reports have emerged from Heidelberg, Sparta, and Giza as well. However, none of them have been verified so far."

"Tch, have we been abandoned?" Subaru muttered, his brows furrowing deeply, a line of worry etching across his forehead. "It is manageable for now because the monsters appearing are only B to A ranked. Thankfully, we have not suffered any casualties yet. But once the higher level monsters start appearing, I alone will not suffice. We even sent JDragonBlade to England for support. Try contacting Dr. Reyaan again."

"Understood, Master Subaru," the woman on the other side said.

The call was about to end when she continued, her voice carrying a glimmer of hope. "We have received reports that Miss Nymeria and Mr. Raj have just arrived at their supposed locations. The possibility of Miss Kitsune appearing any moment now is very high."

"I hope your words are true, Yuna," Subaru said before ending the call, a flicker of relief passing through his chest.

After a few minutes, the towering, vertical diamond shaped rift between the buildings released a massive wave of Soulforce outward, splashing over the Awakeners like a broken dam. Their clothes and hair fluttered backward, and the air grew thick with oppressive energy.

The size of the dark rift expanded, and from within, a foot first appeared, followed by the full form of a humanoid monster. Just from its appearance, Subaru could tell that this one was different from the others. It was draped in skin tight black clothes, torn in numerous places, with the bones of its jaw exposed to the open air. On its head, only a few long strands of grey hair remained, swaying like dead grass. In its hand, it carried a long bow, while on its back rested an empty quiver. Multiple pockets lined its trousers, the dark metal of the weapons placed within them gleaming under the pale moonlight.

"This is the place... I must destroy... to revive my world," the monster muttered, its voice a dry rattle, the sound of its bones chattering accompanying each word.

"Everyone, step back!" Subaru commanded, tightening his grip on the katana’s hilt. His voice carried absolute authority.

At his order, the Awakeners immediately retreated several hundred metres back, ceasing their battles and forming a defensive perimeter.

Some of the monsters followed the retreating Awakeners, while the remaining ones targeted Subaru, the only one who remained on the battlefield.

He quickly dealt with the incoming monsters with practiced swings of his katana, the blade draped in the white flame of his attribute. Each cut left the monsters with severe burns, the flames helping him slice through their tough, decayed skin with ease.

As the final monster in front of him fell, he turned his focus to the rift, only to realise that the boss monster had already vanished from its position.

"Where has it g—" His words stopped mid sentence as his black eyes reflected the obsidian head of a sharp, incoming arrow burning with darkness, just an arm’s distance away from his face. He knew there was no time to dodge, and he was certainly not strong enough to block it either. The speed and power behind it were overwhelming.

"I-is this where my journey ends..." He murmured, his grip on the hilt loosening.

Perhaps he was at death’s door, he saw a warm petal of plum blossom appear before his eye from above, descending gently into the space between the arrow and him.

"I apologise for being late," a soft feminine voice entered Subaru’s ears. The warm petal of plum blossom touched his forehead instead of the arrow, its gentle caress a stark contrast to the violence that had been inches from his face.

He had not even blinked, yet the moment the petals touched him, he found himself standing dozens of feet away from his original position. The arrow pierced through the empty air before striking a nearby building, leaving a large crater in its surface. Dust and debris rained down from the impact.

"Are you alright, warrior?" The same voice appeared again. He snapped his head sideways, finding an enchanting woman with pink eyes, draped in a striking dress of red and black, standing beside him. Her hair was tied into a high bun, with a few strands left freely parallel to her temples, framing her delicate face.

His breath hitched the moment his eyes fell upon the enchanting woman before him. Her presence was otherworldly to the point that it felt unreal.

He had only seen her once, in the live stream of the battle of San Francisco. She was far more beautiful than she had appeared behind the screen.

Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, he answered, "I am unharmed, thanks to you." After a brief pause, he asked, his voice stuttering as he tried to speak in English, "Are you Miss Kitsune?"

Clasp!

An arrow was caught just before Subaru’s throat by a pink tail, coiling around it with serpentine precision. The shaft trembled in the grip of the fluffy appendage, halted mere inches from his jugular.

"You should retreat," Ume said in flawless Japanese, her pupils turning vertical as they fell upon the monster at the roof of a distant building, already aiming another arrow at them.

The arrow Ume held with her tail was snapped into two from the grip around it. As the broken pieces began falling, they withered away before hitting the ground, dissolving into nothingness.

Subaru was already shocked by her sharp instincts and the fact that she spoke Japanese so naturally that it made him wonder if she was truly from here. However, the shock was overshadowed by an even greater realization as he finally noticed that what she had used to stop the arrow was an actual tail emerging from her back, not to mention the animal ears on her head that looked absurdly real, twitching with heightened awareness.

’Is she not a human?’ He wanted to ask the question but kept it to himself, given the emergency of the situation. There was no time for curiosity.

He had not sensed either of the two arrows shot at him. If Ume had not stopped them, he would have already died. In just a span of a few seconds, she had already saved his life twice.

"I could help you fight that monster," Subaru offered, speaking in his mother tongue, tightening his grip on the katana with renewed confidence. "I might not look much, but I am an SS Ran—"

Clasp!

Clasp!

Clasp!

The heads of three arrows now gleamed at him, stopped by Ume at the last moment by three different tails connected to her back that had appeared out of nowhere, their pink fur bristling with tension.

"I appreciate your bravery, warrior, but you will only get in the way," Ume replied in a soft tone, her voice gentle yet firm. "Please retreat so I can focus on the battle."

Subaru had no words for objection. He knew the gap between them was vast and insurmountable.

"Arigato gozaimasu," he gave a ninety degree bow, his back bending low in gratitude, before pivoting on his feet and retreating toward the safer perimeter.