CHAPTER 464: CHAPTER 464 - NIGHT RAID [LV]

Litani dashed forward, a golden comet streaking across the frozen plain.

Each step cracked the ground beneath her, mana flaring in radiant bursts. The monster roared and swung its massive claw, but she met the strike head-on.

Her gauntlets blazed, forming a radiant shield just as the blow landed.

*BOOOOM!*

The impact shook the entire field, yet Litani stood firm. The golden light rippled from her arms, deflecting the raw force like a wave breaking against a cliff.

Her grin widened. "That’s all you’ve got?"

With a surge of strength, she pushed back, sending the creature’s arm recoiling with a guttural snarl. The shockwave scattered debris and snow in all directions.

From behind, Kiara’s voice echoed. "Barrier complete! The students are safe!"

"Good," Askara’s voice cut through the wind, "then start the amplification field"

Kiara extended her hands, mana threads spreading like glass veins across the terrain. Where they touched, the ground shimmered faintly, reflecting the starlight of the artificial sky.

"Field’s active!"

"Anindha!" Askara called.

Already, Anindha’s spells formed an intricate array overhead, circles within circles, runes spinning in silent precision. Light gathered at the center, condensing into a spear of condensed mana.

"I’ll bind its limbs. You boys better hit hard," she said, her eyes glowing with steady focus.

Anggana smirked. "You heard the lady"

The ground around him erupted in emerald light. Scales spread further along his body as dragon-like energy poured from him. His sword shimmered green, the air humming with power.

"Let’s make it kneel"

Askara appeared beside him in a crimson blur, blade drawn, eyes burning with cold thrill. "On my mark"

Ahead, the creature swung again, faster this time. Its claws shattered the air, ripping through Anindha’s barrier but slowing as golden chains burst from her spell array, snaring its limbs.

Litani seized the opening, she leapt, golden trails flaring behind her, both fists glowing like miniature suns.

"Come on, ugly!" she roared, smashing her fists into its snout.

The explosion that followed painted the night in gold and red. The beast reeled back, molten blood spilling from its jaws.

"Now!" Askara shouted.

Anggana vanished in a surge of emerald light, wings spreading wide. He raised his blade high, mana coiling around it like a living dragon.

"Verdant Breaker!"

His strike descended like a meteor, slamming into the beast’s shoulder. The corrupted flesh sizzled, splitting open under the force.

Askara followed instantly, one flash of crimson through the storm, his katana carving through the wound Anggana had left. Blood spiraled around him, drawn by his will.

"Crimson Rend!"

The combined impact tore through the creature’s upper body, sending black mana gushing out like volcanic smoke.

For a moment, everything froze.

Then the imitation howled, loud enough to split the air, its body convulsing as if something inside it refused to die.

Kiara’s eyes widened. "It’s still regenerating?! That fast?!"

Anindha’s tone turned sharp. "That’s not regeneration... It’s absorbing the mana we’re releasing!"

Askara’s expression hardened, his blade humming violently. "Then we stop feeding it"

He turned toward his siblings, eyes glowing crimson under the dark sky.

"Formation Two... now!"

Anggana grinned, teeth flashing through the steam rising from his skin. "Heh. Been a while since we used that one"

Litani landed beside them, her gauntlets still smoking, golden light crawling up her arms like living flame.

"Formation Two, huh?" she said, cracking her knuckles. "Guess we’re getting serious"

Kiara’s voice echoed through the field, carried by the barrier’s resonance. "Wait, Formation Two? You’re actually doing that here?!"

Askara didn’t answer. His aura pulsed outward instead, crimson and heavy, swallowing light. "Anindha," he called, "seal the field. Don’t let any of our mana escape"

"Already on it." Runes flared across the sky as Anindha extended both arms, anchoring the glowing circles above them. The temperature plummeted; the wind stopped. Even sound seemed to bow under the pressure.

Askara’s voice dropped low.

"Anggana, pulse spread, short bursts"

"Litani, front guard, reinforce the break zone"

"I’ll handle the core"

They moved without hesitation. A practiced rhythm, fluid, lethal, and perfectly synchronized.

The crimson aura around Askara flared like liquid fire, wrapping him in spirals of bloodlight. Anggana’s mana surged to match, forming translucent dragon scales that shimmered emerald over his frame. Litani’s golden light blazed between them, a living pillar binding their power together.

Mana threads connected the three, forming a triangular sigil on the frozen ground. The snow within it melted, revealing bare earth that glowed with shifting colors, red, green, and gold intertwining like veins.

The imitation roared again, breaking its restraints, black ichor raining as its body convulsed.

But it hesitated.

The air itself rejected its presence.

Askara’s eyes narrowed. "Too slow"

The sigil ignited.

*BOOOOM!*

The ground erupted in blinding light.

The siblings moved as one, Askara forward, Anggana to the flank, Litani through the centerline. Each step left rippling afterimages, their combined mana distorting space.

Anggana’s voice tore through the gale, "Verdant Burst!"

Waves of emerald fire swept across the creature’s legs, locking them in place with searing energy. Its howl shook the mountains.

Litani leapt from the burning ground, both fists drawn back, golden gauntlets swelling with radiant power. "Solar Crash!"

Her strike connected with the beast’s head. The explosion bent light itself, sending shards of molten metal spraying outward.

And before the shockwave even faded, Askara was there.

He appeared in the beast’s shadow, katana gleaming. His blood aura pulsed once, twice, then imploded into stillness.

"Blood Arc... Final Cut"

A silent flash.

The creature froze mid-motion.

The light from its core dimmed.

A thin crimson line traced from its shoulder to its jaw.

Then, with a single exhale, it split apart.

The mana within the imitation burst free, rising in a storm of color before collapsing inward, sucked into a single bleeding sphere that hung motionless in the air.

Silence fell.

Snow returned, drifting lazily over the ruined plain.

Askara lowered his blade, the red glow fading from his eyes. "...Anchor neutralized," he muttered.

Anggana whistled low. "Still alive after that?"

Litani laughed, rolling her shoulders. "You’re one to talk. You almost roasted me"

"Almost," he said, grinning. "Means I didn’t"

Kiara dropped her barrier, sweat dripping from her brow. "You three are psychos. That thing could’ve collapsed the entire dimension!"

Askara sheathed his katana, giving her a half-smile. "Could’ve. Didn’t"

Anindha exhaled, the last of her runes dissolving into snowlight. "Still... the mana flow’s not stabilizing. Something’s-"

A pulse interrupted her, faint but vast, coming from deep beneath the shattered plain.

Askara’s smile vanished.

"...Oh no," he murmured. "Aren’t Aboriginal Beings supposed to come in pairs?"

The ground began to glow again, red, green, and gold inverted, like their formation turned inside out.

Anggana’s expression darkened. "You’re telling me there’s another one"

"Yeah," Askara said grimly, drawing his blade once more. "And I think we just started round two"

The ground pulsed again, slow at first, like a heartbeat beneath the ice.

Then it quickened.

*Thud*

*Thud*

*THUD*

Cracks raced outward from the siblings’ formation, veins of light twisting, bleeding mana in reverse. The colors warped: red turned black, gold dimmed to a sickly amber, and green bled into decay.

Askara’s expression hardened. "This isn’t our mana anymore..."

Anindha’s voice trembled with realization. "It’s feeding back through the anchor we destroyed! He absorbed the other Aboriginal being"

Before anyone could react, the plain split apart.

From the abyss rose a shadow, vast, coiling, and terrible. It wasn’t a shape one could fully see, only feel: the weight of ancient will pressing against every soul present.

Dozens of eyes flickered open across its silhouette, each burning with a different hue. Where the first imitation had been monstrous, this one was divine in horror.

The Two Imitation of Aboriginal Beings, one down, and the others absorbed the other one, the true Aboriginal Being will be born.

Its first roar wasn’t sound, it was force.

The world itself buckled.

Snow dissolved into steam. Trees flattened. The air cracked with thunder.

Askara and Anggana both staggered under the pressure, even as Litani braced herself beside them.

"...That’s not something we can kill," Anggana growled.

"Yeah," Askara replied softly, his fangs bared. "But we can try, didn’t we?"

Before they could regroup, a scream tore through the barrier.

"... Kiara!"

The sound of shattering glass echoed through the blizzard.

Above the students’ defensive line, Kiara’s once-pristine shield fractured, thin black veins spreading across it like ink through water.

Then it burst.

A torrent of corrupted mana flooded outward, sweeping through the ranks. The nearest students were hurled back, their auras flickering out like dying embers.

Out of the smoke stepped eleven silhouettes.

Each one cloaked in ritual robes stitched with moving sigils, faces obscured by masks. Their presence reeked of rot and sanctity twisted into mockery.

Anindha’s eyes widened. "That’s the mysterious group, the cult..."

The one in front raised a hand, dripping with mana so thick it warped the air. "You children danced beautifully," he said, voice like oil on fire. "Now allow us to collect the offering you’ve prepared"

Kiara fell to one knee, blood seeping from her nose as she tried to reform her barrier. "Their mana, it’s corrupted! It’s eating everything it touches!"

Askara’s gaze snapped to her, then to the cultists. His voice turned cold. "So that’s your play. You waited for this time, huh?"

The lead cultist smiled behind his mask. "Why fight the storm when you can ride it?"

Litani’s gauntlets flared, golden light sputtering against the corruption. "Say that again when I rip that smug tone off your face"

Anggana exhaled through clenched teeth, scales spreading across his shoulders. "We’re surrounded, Aska. The Being behind us, these freaks in front"

Askara gripped the handle tighter, the edge trembling with condensed crimson. "Then we make it simple"

He stepped forward, eyes glowing red in the ruinous snowlight. "I’ll handle the cult. You guys keep that thing busy"

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