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CHAPTER START---
The region around the capital of Hacot shakes, and the mountain rumbles and cracks. The abandoned city built around and into the mountain threatens to cascade down in parts, causing a few of the monks and Rune Knights to leave the Barrier and take a look.
Climbing to the area atop their hidden cave, they use spyglasses to check in on what's going on, barely able to make out anything from this distance, even with the Magic Spyglasses.
Until a golden light shatters the top of the mountain, creating a cloud of dust as rubble cascades down the mountainside. Had it not been for the golden light, they would have expected the volcano to erupt, but what they saw made them much more uneasy.
Even at this distance, judging by the speed, they could tell Oberon was terrified.
And that fear pushes him to fly faster than ever before, climbing past the clouds in the morning sky in a matter of seconds while glowing brighter the entire time.
Above the mountain, Oberon's mind is desperately trying, and failing, to figure out a way to survive this situation. Instead, he decides to do his best to handle it head-on, at least until Rixian and Osian recover. He gathers a substantial amount of Light Magic around his body before condensing it into his palm, leaving it to float below as he hides in the clouds, watching the mountain that's rumbling more violently by the second.
As he disappears into the clouds, Jyin shatters the top half of the mountain and rockets through the dust clouds, beating his matte black jagged crystal wings and flexing his now full length razor sharp tail of matching crystal.
"The sky is mine once more!" he proudly announces, voice carrying for hundreds of miles and shaking the air. With it, the Dragon's presence rolls over the land, carrying a primal fear that has the monks and Rune Knight hiding behind cover, even though they were fairly sure it couldn't notice them from this far away.
But the many dozens of miles between them and the capital felt like only an arm's reach at this moment.
Jyin looks around at the landscape as the dust cloud falls away, seeing the dead land clearly now that the Death Magic is all absorbed by him, however, he furiously growls at the sight of green energy in the far distance, hundreds of miles away.
"This little island wasn't completely swallowed?" He realizes now, understanding that his Ritual hadn't reached the main continents like he had assumed. Looking below, he sees the city just outside his altar, and the fury grows. "No! This is not enough, not nearly enough! I can't challenge them with this feeble power!"
He rages against the air, releasing black acrid from his mouth in a cloud, a mix of his innate Acid Magic and the Death Magic. It falls like rain, melting and dissolving massive swaths of the city below, creating pools of corrosive liquid stone that slowly break a path to the sea through the soil.
After a moment to collect his thoughts, Jyin sniffs the air, turning to the very cloud Oberon is hidden within. "He may soon descend to claim my life, but you, Oberon, in your current infant state…I am more than enough for you."
Jyin looks past the basketball-sized golden glowing sphere below the clouds, glaring at Oberon, sending an unsettling chill through the boy. Then, he rushes toward Oberon, instantly breaking the sound barrier and releasing a stream of Death Magic from his body.
Oberon's eyes widen in surprise as he keeps his left hand lifted in front of him, palm facing the sky as a glowing brown Magic Circle rotates above his palm. With his other hand he points at Jyin, and the Light Sphere beams toward the Dragon, greatly outpacing him and erupting before crashing into him.
The Spell releases light that outshines the sun, blinding anyone who looks at it directly, and Jyin is no exception. The Dragon screams as it hovers in place, shutting its eyes and shaking its head, desperately refocusing its senses.
Jyin's eyes are closed as he hears Oberon speaking, still in the same position above.
"My affinity for this Magic is low, I'm sure he'd do a lot more with the Magic Energy I used for this one Spell, but I'm not Jura, so this will have to do…"
Jyin shakes his head, finally opening his recovered eyes to look up, only to see a crudely formed meteorite falling through the heavens, parting the clouds and blocking out the moon as it rushes past Oberon.
It falls at unnatural speed, assisted by Gravity Magic as it's created by the massive Earth Magic Circle in the sky.
For most beings, even Dragons, such a Spell would give pause. But, Jyin understands the power of his opponent better than the boy himself, so he didn't hesitate to rush forward. The meteorite is larger than Magnolia Town and falls with doubled gravity, so Jyin aims to fly to the side, narrowly avoiding a direct impact.
But the meteorite gently shifts its trajectory, angling itself to guarantee an impact. Jyin glares at Oberon, who is fully focused on him, but he'd expect no less from an Anomaly, even one that has not yet grown into his power.
So the Dragon changes course, rushing directly toward Oberon, aiming to slam through the Spell.
Oberon sees this and for a moment, his fear is overtaken by the excitement of this battle, his lust for adventure and new challenges surfacing, but he keeps a cool head and simply increases gravity farther.
"Great Acid Wing Beats!" Jyin screams as he slams into the meteorite, reaching the core before muscling through the rock and intense gravity while releasing Death Magic Acid from his wings, creating an explosion of force that shatters the meteorite from within.
Rocks are sent raining down below them, and the Dragon takes a moment to lock back onto its target. But is then surprised when the boy didn't take that short opportunity to put more distance between them.
But his eyes widen in surprise when Oberon makes a gripping gesture with both hands toward the Dragon, then clasps both hands together, unleashing the first true Spell of his unique Cosmic Magic.
"Cosmic: Planetoid Creation!"
Jyin, even with his overwhelming physical power, feels a gentle tug on his body. And looking down, he sees that all the falling rubble from Oberon's previous Spell is falling, then slowing in mid-air, it all then stops, before reversing and rushing directly toward him.
The Dragon rushes up to Oberon, reaching nearly twice the height of the mountain from the sea, but it is quickly overwhelmed by the rocks, stone, and anything else caught up in the Spell slamming into it.
In the distance, the monks and Rune Knight stumble back, having to hold on to each other for support as they bear witness to what can only be described as an act of divine Magic talent. The sight that would be extracted from the memories of those who witnessed it and plastered across the newspapers for the next two weeks.
A massive spherical crater in the ground where a city and mountain were, leaving thick walls to hold the ocean at bay and preserve the bowl shape, and above it, an absurd sphere of earth and debris with its own self-sustaining gravity and orbit.
32km -20mi- wide and incredibly dense, a prison built around its only prisoner, Jyin the Acid Flood. As the rumbling finally stops, they sit on the ground in awe, unable to comprehend that this is the new reality, children with the power to demolish entire nations overnight.
And high in the sky above, under the light of a full moon, Oberon breathes heavily, wiping the sweat from his forehead and trying to catch his breath. Looking past his creation to the destruction below, he breathes a sigh of relief, seeing the depth of the crater isn't as deep as the chamber they found Jyin in, meaning his allies are likely fine.
But the planetoid, with small bits of rubble and rocks forming a slowly rotating ring around it, begins shaking, forcing Oberon to snap his attention back to Jyin.
"Seriously?" he mutters, for the first time feeling like he didn't have enough Magic Energy to keep up. And moments later, Jyin begins melting and breaking his way out of the planetoid that is now locked in a synchronized orbit with Earthland.
Jyin's body smashes through the side of the planetoid, erupting in a spew of black Death Magic Acid that flows across the surface and into the rock, but the Dragon pays it no mind, instead looking directly at Oberon.
Its scales show no signs of damage, not even the smallest of cracks, but Jyin's eyes seem more hateful than ever.
They stare at each other for a long moment, neither moving, then Oberon spreads his arms wide as if holding the air, flowing Magic Energy through his body, and Jyin immediately rushes him.
The Dragon notices the increased gravity of the planetoid, but leaves its orbit within seconds, gaze unwavering as it closes in on Oberon.
The boy glares at Jyin as he prepares his next original Cosmic Spell, one he has yet to even name after Wizard Saint Avin Etis -Jura's mentor- helped him solve it.
Raw Ethernano particles gather above both his palms as they're spread out, reaching for the sky, forming with such high concentration that if one were close enough they'd see a single source of light in each palm, the size of a single strawberry seed.
Oberon feels the formation of these Ethernano drops, then quickly brings his hands together, stopping before they clasp, but colliding the Ethernano together while rapidly increasing the pressure and density with Gravity Magic.
The collision releases sparks of prismatic energy, but Oberon removes his Cosmic Armor from his body and creates a sphere between his hands, the size of a baseball, to contain the energy. He forms a self-reinforcing Cosmic Barrier that feeds off of and contains the energy as the density increases and his Cosmic Magic is injected, allowing the energy to expand and collide with itself to create a chain reaction.
And in his palm, an infant red sun is born.
Jyin's eyes widen as he's barely a mile below Oberon, memories of pain and loss resurface like blazing wounds as he sees the very Spell that crippled him, killed his mate, and took the lives of many Dragons.
"Cosmic Stafall?!" Jyin screams, his wings beating backward, instantly stopping his momentum. Oberon hears this, and thus the name of the Spell is decided, but Jyin takes a moment to properly appreciate the details. "Red? Not blue? This is weaker than what I endured!"
The Dragon's rage resurfaces like never before, redoubling his desire to kill the boy as he rushes forward.
Oberon grits his teeth, feeling his Magic Energy slowly refilling, but greatly taxed after using two large-scale Spells. Nonetheless, he charges Jyin head-on.
Cosmic Starfall is new, and he's not yet familiar enough to use his Cosmic Armor on himself and the new Spell. So, for the first time in a very long time, Oberon feels the wind rushing past him as he descends toward the Dragon. Jyin's figure is backed by the planetoid below, and Oberon's goal is to simply knock him back toward it.
However, as this is the first time testing this Spell, he's unsure of its output. All he knows is that it would surely be great…an absurd underestimation.
As they're about to collide, Jyin doesn't use a fable Dragon Roar, feeling the Death Magic consuming even his own innate Magic by the second. And this is the only reason Oberon would survive what happens next.
Jyin slashes forward with a claw at the attack, and as the Cosmic Starfall is about to slam into his hand, he moves slightly, adjusting to aim a claw at Oberon's head instead.
But the Cosmic Stafall's containment Barrier opens at that exact moment, unleashing its full might in one absurdly focused beam.
The front of the containment Barrier opens to unleash the energy like a large beam attack, away from Oberon. The beam pushes Jyin away, enough so that the claw doesn't pierce Oberon's head, but rips off the hand that was extended for the Cosmic Starfall.
Tearing away everything from the right elbow and lower. Jyin is consumed by the energy beam while also instantly disintegrating the arm, and the spectators in the distance see the Dragon disappear into the massive red beam that expands outward in a cone as it goes farther away.
It engulfs the entire planetoid, instantly disintegrating the monolithic structure before slamming into the ocean, pushing a hole through the sea floor while evaporating the water it hit and all that rushes toward it.
The red, blinding light lasts for seconds as Oberon screams. The bloody stump and exposed bone below his left elbow sent unbelievable pain through his body, causing him to fall when paired with his exhausted state.
His eyes stay open long enough to see the aftermath of his attack, a clear path between him and the ocean where the planetoid once blocked the view. Narrowly avoiding the seawall protecting the bowl structure below, and in the ocean, a large area where the water is quickly rushing back in.
In the middle of the area is a pit, walled by molten rock and too deep for him to see the bottom of, angled away from him. But before he could relish in his power or dare to hope this meant victory, Jyin flies out of the pit before the water could rush in.
The Dragon narrowly escapes the harmless sea and rockets toward Oberon once more, reaching him before he could fall half the many miles between himself and the ground, and Oberon prepares to use the last of his Magic to flee.
But before he had to, Rixian teleports beside him, bringing Osian who already had his sword drawn and cloaked in white flames.
Osian flies toward the Dragon and unleashes slashes of white flames, which Jyin -who has yet to take any damage- simply pushes through. But these slashes leave small chips in its crystal body, surprising Oberon and Jyin.
Osian flies to the side, narrowly avoiding a claw swipe, and Rixian grabs Oberon. He tries to connect to Oberon, and the boy understands this time, sending a surge of discomfort through Rixian as their Magic Energies connect.
But Rixian bares it and teleports them into the Barrier at the safe point, making it impossible for Jyin to track Oberon.
The monks and Rune Knights immediately rush over to begin treating the boy, and Oberon forces himself to speak through the pain.
"Purifying Flame Magic," he says. "That's the trick. It counters the Death Magic, but, we may not have enough…"
"You let us worry about that. Just focus on staying alive." Rixian takes some of Oberon's blood and smears it across his own shirt, marking himself with the scent to distract Jyin. He then turns to their communication specialist. "Call this in, we're using Etherion. But this is moving too fast, so it'll be dangerous."
He instantly teleports away, ready to help his father face a Death Magic-infused Dragon for as long as they have to…
CHAPTER END---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]