“Come at me!” Lunarius Willhelm bellowed as the massive flame was suctioned into his sceptre. The bright gem hummed deeply with power. He lightly tapped his finger on it, and a divine, high-pitched sound erupted.

Immediately, he lurched forward, becoming a trail of red light, leaving intense heat behind.

A second later, he appeared at the side of an Armatus, lifting his weapon overhand. His eyes glowed with conviction.

“YAAAAA!” the bronze knight screamed, his blade swinging at the crimson Lunarius. But instantly, the Armatus arm severed. Subsequently, Willhelm cleaved his Armatus down in the middle.

The Arcanite engine exploded—

“Not yet!” Lunarius Willhelm pointed the tip of his weapon, and the explosion was interrupted and absorbed into the Arcanite Harnesser. The divine sceptre chimed again.

A missile flew past his hat. Willhelm ducked and chased down the nearest energy signature.

“Evil be purged!” he shouted, delivering blows and absorbing their explosions. One after another. The continuous shing of his sceptre now haunted the battlefield like the bell of death itself.

“Don’t mess with us! All of you, ATTACK!” the gold knight commanded, driven by fury. “We only need to distract him. The Lancer can take him out!” He reasoned.

Twenty Armatus units dashed, closing their distance. Each one swiftly swept and flew away in a jousting fashion. "How annoying!" Lunarius blocked with his arc barrier. Spark flashed as they came in contact.

Soon after, the white Armatus units of the Zeigerlich joined the fray alongside the Lunarius.

Blades clashed, missiles were hurled, and energy blasts were sprayed.

The battlefield lit up like fireworks as the chaotic brawl began.

The dogfight devolved into a chaotic stalemate, a vortex of fire and steel that hung in the sky for thirty agonising minutes. In the background, the Umbral Armatus fleet continued its relentless deployment. Over two hundred Armatus suits blackened out the sun, their immense hulls casting the world below into shadow. Down in the border village, a deep, gut-wrenching rumble shook Thylin to its foundations. A wave of panic sent citizens scrambling through the streets, their screams swallowed by the roar from above. One of the fallen spiralled down, a plume of black smoke, before slamming into a house and reducing it to splinters and dust. Fire and smoke consumed the lane, and in the ruins, the cries of children echoed, but no one to soothe their suffering.

The sun had hung low, painting the sky a deep purple.

A stray missile pierced through Willhelm’s defence, but a white Armatus unit blocked it with its body. The bomb created a gust of wind, almost toppling his balance.

“Oh…” he gasped, blinking.

In an instant, three massive ionised blades arched at him simultaneously. The elven mage chanted in reflex, “Magnetos!”

A spark of light illuminated the sky as the destructive edges ground against his magnetic field.

“No fun…” Willhelm grumbled, clicking his tongue. With a flick of his finger, the blades were deflected by a powerful shove, with such an immense force that the steel giants lost their balance, spiralling into the air.

He lightly tapped on his gold ring, connecting to the call. “Admiral Sandria, thanks for having my back, but I’ll take it from here. Please ask your Armatus to retreat,” Willhelm spoke up, his voice crackling into her comms.

“Lunarius Willhelm?" Sandria wondered.

"The one and only." He quipped, his voice became shallow and clipped. "So, pretty please?" He urged.

"Acknowledged!” Sandria replied promptly. Without delay, she relayed her order to her knights and pilots.

The tip of his sceptre materialised an orb of tremendous energy. Willhelm held it at the centre. “Em… pyrion…” he gracefully weaved in the air, drawing the rune, “Abyss!”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

From the singular orb, a massive vortex of flame flared. Its deafening sound was akin to the ferocious roar of the legendary Phoenix. Energy barrier dispersed, even the duplex steel liquidised. The Umbral Armatus suits were shattered by the sheer devouring force spiralling from his location. The desperate screams of the fallen knights were muffled and distorted.

The remaining enemy forces desperately flocked away in terror.

Without a doubt, this was the most terrifying area-of-effect exhibition of the mythic-tier elemental spell, ‘Empyrion Abyss’.

When the devouring force finally ceased, a divine bell chimed in the deafening silence.

Astounded, Sandria shot to her feet, a trickle of sweat running down her forehead.

"My goodness... It's a crimson singularity," she murmured, captivated by the spiralling vortex. Evershifting. A violent shudder from the bridge console broke the spell, the sharp vibration rattling her teeth. Her eyes widened in horror. "My knights!" She gripped the edge of her command chair, her voice hardening as she activated the fleet-wide channel. "Silver Knight, what is your status? Report!"

“We’re fine! Just holding the backline,” he reported calmly, extending his Armatus’s arm to halt the advance. Their barrier whirred in preparation. “Admiral, I’ve sent some of the damaged Armatus back for a quick swap.”

“That’s good to hear,” Sandria murmured as she slumped back into her seat. “So far, so good,” she muttered, glancing at the arsenal count, which showed roughly 92% remained.

Not a minute passed before an operator yelled, “Admiral! Massive signature detected! The Lancer is charging up again!”

“Stop the sorties. Evasion protocol!” she commanded, gesturing with her palm.

Suddenly, a thought struck her, and her pupils shrank. Urgently, she flicked the comms. “Lunarius Willhelm!!!”

A blinding light was followed by a rumbling noise akin to the ever-storm.

The powerful blast slammed squarely into the Lunarius. The red sun shortly collapsed and faded away, and the horizon went dark.

“Lunarius!” Sandria exclaimed with shock. "No..." She couldn’t believe her eyes, cupping her mouth and nose. The bridge went dead silent. No one spoke a word. Only the beeping of machines echoed in the back of their minds.

“I need a visual now!” Sandria bellowed, gritting her teeth. "Never give up, have more faith. Believe!" Screams echoed inside her head.

On the battlefield, Lunarius Willhelm levitated in the air, his fingers still clinging to his Arc sceptre. His hat was gone, and the tattered Arc coat streamed with white smoke. His eyes remained closed. One would think he had lost consciousness, but in truth, he had not.

A surge of energy flowed into every fibre of his being. He concentrated deeply, and the red glow seeped from his eyes.

“As the usher of flame, I shall live as long as the evil roams!” he chanted thunderously.

“KILL HIM! FULL FORCE, ATTACK!” the enemies roared their commands.

With a motion of his sceptre, he transformed into a meteor again.

The condensed force of nature annihilated everything along its path. Lunarius Willhelm flew across the horizon, accelerating toward the final destination, the enemy battlecruiser.

An incompletely charged beam intercepted him. “Futile!” he parried with his sceptre. A beam shredded into the fraction, straying slivers scorched the forest below.

The meteor drew closer, and the Armatus mobile suits hopelessly abandoned their ship. Pity, there was no glory as everyone was scrambling to save their own skin.

“HAHA! FEAR THE RIGHTEOUS!” Lunarius Willhelm roared, reaching terminal speed. A triple shockwave erupted behind him.

Suddenly, a voice commanded, “HALT!” The sorcerer in white, Celestius Ignius Lux Draconus, appeared in between, his staff raised high.

“NEVER!” Lunarius pressed on, a hysterical grin spreading across his face. Justice knew no fear.

“So be it! Magnetos!” Ignius intoned the defensive spell. A massive holo wall manifested almost instantly. His golden eyes stared down at Willhelm.

The enormous explosion shook the sky. Every single soul on the battlefield felt the vibration. The fleeing villagers tumbled flat on the street, covering their ears.

The tip of Lunarius Willhelm’s sceptre was frozen just a few centimetres from Ignius’s palm.

“Hm, not bad at all, Willhelm.” He studied the artefact, realising it was imbued with the Phoenix’s essence, only partially.

“Hehehe, I have always wanted to do this, Master Ignius,” Lunarius Willhelm stated, amused. His fingers began to slip from the handle. Immediately, he put his off-hand atop the base for support.

“I must admit, you’ve impressed me,” Ignius drawled out, his demeanour remaining unshakable. “So... As the prophet of Gaia, I want to offer you a seat in the new world.”

Willhelm did not respond. Only a deep chuckle reverberated from his throat.

SHIINNNNNNG!

Suddenly, the crimson Lunarius unleashed every last bit of the absorbed energy, and a dazzling light flashed.

Ignius’s eyes bulged, his lips gasped, “FOOL!”

“IMMORTAL FLAME!” Willhelm screamed at the top of his lungs.

The two arcanists fused, igniting into a gigantic orb of flame that punctured the battlecruiser’s hull.

A heartbeat later, a deafening blast tore through the ship, vomiting fire and twisted metal into the sky. The vibrant orb shot from the far side of the wreck and slammed into a nearby mountain, shattering rock and timber. A chain of secondary explosions blossomed along the vessel's spine as it began its final, shuddering descent.

The Umbral battlecruiser had fallen...