CHAPTER 463: CHAPTER 463 - NIGHT RAID [LLL]

- Back to The D’Archy Siblings.

The ground split again before anyone could breathe.

From beyond the treeline, a roar thundered, deeper, heavier. The frozen forest cracked apart as something vast forced its way through, dragging with it the stench of mana decay.

Askara lifted his gaze, his mismatched eyes gleaming in the stormlight. "Oh~ Here we go again," he murmured.

Beside him, Anggana rolled his shoulders, the faint outline of scales shimmering along his arms. His usually lazy expression sharpened.

"Finally," he muttered. "I was getting bored"

The snow burst upward as a new horde charged, bigger, faster, meaner. Among them lumbered creatures fused with metal and bone, dripping corrupted mana like oil.

Askara moved first.

He vanished into the blur of storm and claws, his katana flashing in arcs of crimson. Every slash was poetry written in blood: Fluid, beautiful... Merciless.

His movements carried the elegance of a dancer and the hunger of a predator.

A beast lunged, a towering lupine brute, mana burning wild in its veins.

Askara pivoted beneath its claw, blade carving a crescent through its chest. Blood erupted in a spiral, drawn toward him like iron to a magnet.

The red mist coiled around his arm, crawling into his veins. His fangs glinted. "Thank you for the meal," He whispered.

Where he stepped, the snow turned dark, pulsing faintly, alive, responding to his will. The battlefield itself seemed to breathe with him.

Behind him, Anggana’s laughter cracked through the storm.

If Askara was the blade’s edge, Anggana was the force behind it.

His sword swung wide, and emerald energy burst from the strike, cleaving the ground. The air rippled with heat and wind, dragon’s breath condensed into motion.

"... Verdant Reign!" he roared.

The frozen plain shattered. Roots of pure energy exploded from the earth, spiraling like serpents, each one tipped with draconic scales. They pierced the charging beasts, hoisting them into the air before detonating into bursts of jade fire.

From his back, faint, translucent wings flickered into being, half dragon, half bat. The clash of inheritances made his aura chaotic yet breathtaking, green and crimson twisting together.

Askara reappeared beside him in a blur, wiping his blade clean with a flick. "You’re burning too much mana," he said, voice calm but edged.

Anggana grinned, sharp teeth glinting. "You talk too much, brother"

Their auras clashed for a heartbeat, blood and life, red and green, predator and dragon. The storm screamed around them as the next wave descended.

"Try to keep up," Askara said, eyes gleaming.

"Try not to fall behind," Anggana shot back.

And then they moved, together.

Two streaks of light, red and green, weaving through chaos. Their blades carved a symphony of destruction, Askara’s precision severing arteries before Anggana’s power erased everything left standing.

Each time Askara cut, blood answered. And each time Anggana swung, life itself flared and died.

---

From the ridge above, even the cultists faltered, unable to tell whether they were witnessing a battle, or a storm taking human form.

"...The Vampiric Lineage and the Green Dragon Blood," one whispered, awe-struck.

"Their mother and father’s gift," another muttered.

"Monsters wearing human faces," said a third.

---

Below, the brothers crossed paths mid-strike, their blades clashing for an instant. Red met Green. Blood met Breath.

A shockwave tore across the plain, erasing everything in its path.

When the snow settled, silence returned.

Askara exhaled slowly, lowering his katana. The faint red glow receded from his eyes. "Done," he said softly.

Anggana chuckled, resting his sword on his shoulder. "You always take the easy ones"

Askara smirked faintly. "Maybe you’re just slow"

"Maybe," Anggana replied with a grin, "but at least I’m prettier"

Litani groaned from the distance. "Both of you shut up before I throw you back into the horde"

Askara glanced at the horizon again.

The air had changed.

He felt it.

Something else was coming.

The storm grew quiet. Too quiet... Then, it comes.

*ROOAAARRR!!*

A thunderous roar split the heavens, followed by a tremor so powerful it fractured the frozen ground beneath their feet.

Askara and Anggana exchanged a glance. Their eyes turned toward the horizon.

In that moonless night, beneath the stars of the artificial sky, a silhouette darker than the void itself loomed in the distance.

It was colossal, so tall that even the tallest trees barely reached its knees.

Each step it took sent shockwaves through the forest, the earth groaning beneath its weight.

"What the actual fuck is that?" Askara muttered, though the grin tugging at his lips never faded. "Are they really bringing out something like that just for a trial?"

"...You do remember this is an artificial dimension, right?" Anindha’s voice cut in as she approached, her calm tone at odds with the quaking ground. "If you think about it, an artificial dimension still needs an anchor to sustain itself"

"...You mean an Aboriginal Being? Like Lembu?" Anggana asked, eyes narrowing.

"Similar," Anindha replied.

Litani frowned. "And we’re supposed to fight that thing?"

"...Are you kidding me?" Askara said, his grin widening. "We all know how strong Aboriginal Beings are. Whoever’s behind this trial is completely insane"

Kiara stepped forward, her gaze sweeping over each of them. The reflection of the distant giant flickered in her eyes.

"You guys," she said dryly, "if you’re going to act afraid... at least try hiding those grins"

At that, the siblings glanced at each other... then laughed.

Their laughter rang loud across the field, echoing over the howling wind.

The other students, those who had barely survived fighting the remnants of the beast horde, bleeding and exhausted, looked up in disbelief. The monsters they’d been fighting were still twitching, some dragging themselves forward even without limbs, driven by madness.

And yet... the D’Archy siblings were laughing.

As the ground shook beneath a greater threat’s approach, the students began to wonder, were the beasts the ones insane, or the D’Archys themselves?

Then the tremors deepened. The air thickened until it felt like breathing mana itself. Snow lifted from the ground, frozen midair, as if gravity dared not touch it.

The weakest students could barely stand, their knees trembling under the crushing pressure.

And then...

From the darkness, a massive claw emerged. Black, armored, veined with molten crimson. The ground melted where it touched.

Then came the rest.

The creature crawled into view, each step splitting the frozen earth like fragile glass. Its form was an abomination, beast fused with machine, bones wrapped in dark metal, flesh pulsing with corrupted mana that glowed beneath its hide.

Its head resembled a horned bull, yet its eyes burned with something ancient. Sentient. Furious.

"...Oh, shit," Anggana breathed, the corner of his mouth curling up. "That thing’s leaking mana like a broken core"

"Correction," Anindha murmured, calm despite the quake. "It is the core"

Askara tilted his head, stormlight dancing across his blade. "A dimension’s anchor given form..." He exhaled slowly, fangs glinting. "Now that’s a proper boss fight"

The creature’s gaze fell upon them, five lights against its towering shadow. The air warped. Thunder rolled.

And then it moved.

*BOOM!*

A single step. The shockwave hurled trees like twigs, shredding the snowstorm into mist.

The siblings scattered instantly, instincts honed by battle. Askara vanished in a blur of crimson. Anggana’s aura flared green as scales rippled along his arms. Anindha’s eyes blazed with light, her fingers weaving sigils midair to shield herself and Litani, while Kiara raised a barrier that shimmered like glass, protecting herself and the remaining students.

The creature opened its jaws.

A low hum filled the air, then a beam of black mana tore forth, carving a canyon through the forest.

It missed them by inches, but the backlash alone shredded the terrain, turning ice to vapor.

Askara landed on a cracked ridge, smirking. "If that hit, we’d be ash"

"You mean you’d be ash," Anggana shot back, landing beside him.

"Big talk for someone who hides behind scales"

"I call it surviving," Anggana said with a grin.

"Would both of you shut up and focus?!" Litani’s voice cut through the chaos.

Askara chuckled, his katana humming with red light. "Relax, sis. We’re just getting warmed up"

He raised the blade, its edge glowing like a living ember.

"Let’s clip the anchor," he said, eyes narrowing. "Even if it’s an Aboriginal Being, it’s just an imitation. It won’t match the original. Lita... Take the aggro"

Litani cracked her neck, golden sparks flickering between her fingers as her gauntlets merged into a single seamless form. A grin curved her lips.

"That’s my specialty"

And then she was gone, her figure blurring into motion, leaving a golden trail that tore through the snow like lightning.

Askara’s gaze shifted to Kiara and Anindha. "You two know what to do, right?"

Kiara rolled her eyes. "Tch. Yeah, yeah, we get it... Leader~"

Askara smirked. "Ahaha~ And Kiara, make sure none of your followers get too close, alright?"

"Like I’d let them," she replied, already weaving her mana into shimmering constructs.

"Aska, I’m ready," Anindha said, her voice calm, steady. Complex sigils spun to life around her hands, threads of mana converging into shape.

"Good," Askara nodded, then glanced at Anggana. "Should we move too?"

Anggana smirked, resting his blade against his shoulder. "We’d better. Otherwise, Lita’s gonna go berserk again"

Askara exhaled a short laugh. "Yeah... you’re right"

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