After the surge of gold-and-blue flames, the oppressive sky was split in two. Massive meteors were cleaved apart by the sword scar and the flames, dissolving into clouds of Originium dust before they could strike the ground.
Then, with a thunderous crash, meteors from the north slammed down, snapping everyone's attention back to reality. That single strike had cut the Catastrophe before them in half, but no one had ever said a meteor storm consisted of only one falling stone.
The flames along the blade slowly faded. Felix turned his face slightly toward those behind him. His eyes now glowed with a faint golden light. The long horns atop his head looked as if they had been formed from golden dust, and the tail behind him swayed lightly with the motion of his turn.
At this moment, having just split the heavens with his sword, he inspired a sense of reverence that bordered on worship.
"Is everyone all right?"
The calm question rang out. Siege and Dobermann immediately began counting heads. At a time like this, curiosity about the King's transformation was far less important than ensuring the safety of their people.
Presumably, the King himself thought the same.
"The operators are mostly fine. There are injuries, but only minor ones. Their condition is good."
Dobermann let out a long breath.
After finishing her count, Siege reported, "Tomorrow's Development has no casualties."
Amiya finally relaxed. Having faced the Catastrophe head-on, her legs felt weak, and she could barely keep standing. Thank goodness for Brother Felix… Brother Felix…
She looked at him, at the horns and tail that had appeared. She knew this was not the time, that she should remain serious, but she could not stop the shy warmth rising in her chest. Brother Felix… he looks so wonderful.
She quickly remembered the Doctor and hurriedly looked toward the shelter. The Doctor was crouched in a corner, clutching her head and muttering over and over, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die…"
Seeing that the Doctor was unharmed, Amiya forced herself to stand. She instinctively searched for Dr. Kal'tsit and found her gazing at Felix with an unusual, complicated expression.
Did Dr. Kal'tsit recognize this form of Brother Felix?
Or was she, like Amiya herself, simply stunned by the sight of him?
"There are still enemies."
Siege strode forward, placing herself in front of Felix. She swung her war hammer and shouted, "Tomorrow's Development, advance and clear the way for us!"
""Yeah!""
Tomorrow's Development formed a defensive formation. Facing them was a tide of Reunion members. There were no players among them. They had long since understood the stakes and stayed far away.
What remained were Infected who had embraced death, driven solely by the desire for revenge.
"So many of them. They really think highly of us."
Dobermann clenched her teeth and issued orders. Amid screams and curses, the group began to carve a path forward with blood and flesh.
Operators who could no longer fight were all left behind at the rear. Felix gave a slight nod to Zima and the others who were staring at him, then spoke with a faint note of reproach in his voice.
"You didn't evacuate. You came back into the city. Your parents will be worried."
Zima bit her lip. "But Sister Ines came back too. We're also operators of Tomorrow's Development. We should do our part as well, shouldn't we?"
Felix nodded. "You're all grown now. I respect your decision."
Several of the Ursus girls nearby broke into delighted smiles, as if they had been acknowledged and affirmed. Their eyes sparkled as they stared unabashedly at Felix's back. Even Zima was no exception. In this form, their leader looked exactly like the prince from their dreams.
Dr. Kal'tsit stepped up beside Felix. Ever since she, Amiya, and the Doctor had left the underground facility and moved together with him, she had been remarkably generous in relinquishing command, shifting her focus to treating the wounded instead.
"Teekaz," she said quietly. "You have already uncovered the most ancient secret of this land. In your current state, you may be the only Teekaz left upon this land."
She did not ask how he had taken on this form. She knew he would not answer. Her emerald-like eyes studied the horns on his head.
"Your bloodline is incomplete, which is understandable. But the power of the Teekaz already flows within you. That flame…"
"Yes. It's no longer Originium Arts. It's my own flame, very similar to that of the Dracos."
Felix picked up the thread of the conversation. "When I use my power, the racial traits that symbolize the Teekaz manifest."
"For you, Your Highness," Kal'tsit said softly, "that is something to be thankful for."
Dr. Kal'tsit spoke with clear implication. "Perhaps, in the past, Your Highness had no formal title or legitimacy. But those who witnessed this scene will surely engrave it deep in their hearts."
"Is that so?"
Felix neither affirmed nor denied it. In his view, a king or a ruler was simply someone with ability and responsibility. As long as those two were present, it did not truly matter who held the position. The moment one obsessed over race, one had already lost.
But were there really so many people who thought the same way as Felix?
Ten minutes earlier, Qalaiša and Mudrock stood atop the southern city wall. Through binoculars, they watched the scene unfold from afar. When they saw Felix cleave the Catastrophe apart with a single man and a single sword, their eyes immediately reddened. They exchanged a glance, each seeing the shock in the other's gaze and the affection hidden beneath it.
Jesselton and Mountain stood with their mouths agape. In that instant, their understanding of the King's strength was completely rewritten. Could a person really withstand a Catastrophe head-on? No, this was a high-level meteor Catastrophe. It was not that the Catastrophe was weak. The King was simply that powerful.
Jesselton did not forget to glance sideways at Mephisto, who stood nearby, utterly stunned by the sight. The brat kept muttering things like "Sister Talulah." What a joke. Could that so-called Sister Talulah even take three punches from him, Jesselton?
Shining knelt on one knee. It was as if she had found the one she would devote herself to from now on. Her white hair fluttered gently in the wind.
W was not on the southern wall. She stayed close to the moving group, using mines and grenades to eliminate Infected who attempted ambushes from the shadows, silently guarding their path. She had badly wanted to throw a grenade and blow up the Doctor, the root cause of Her Highness's peril, and maybe injure that old woman as well. But after seeing Felix by their side, W bit her lip and suddenly lost the desire to do so.
When the Catastrophe descended, she saw it with her own eyes. Felix stepping forward with sword in hand. His transformation. The slight curve of his lips. The rising flames. The golden horns and tail. She saw everything. Then something just snapped, the tension she had held tight for so long finally snapped. Even on the battlefield, she wanted to rush toward him. She wanted his love. She wanted to become his woman.
Her face flushed as W's gaze accidentally met Felix's. There was a trace of concern in his eyes. After confirming she was unharmed, his gaze moved away.
A soft sweetness bloomed in W's heart, like the sugary delight of eating a lollipop at an adventurer-run candy shop. So he had known she was nearby all along. And he cared about her.
But moments later, W's mood dimmed.
The women around him were all extraordinary. Loughshinny aside, she was now effectively one of Tomorrow's Development's top leaders. Ulšulah was also among the upper ranks, a combat-oriented commander who could one day lead frontline operations. W had also heard that Felix had an elven researcher girlfriend far away in Columbia, and two well-connected girlfriends in Lungmen.
Compared to them, what advantage did she have?
She was just a woman with no home, no past she could remember, a battered mercenary. What about her could possibly catch His Highness's eye?
Sigh.
The girl's quiet sigh was carried away by the wind.
The next moment, her eyes narrowed. All those wandering thoughts vanished instantly, because she saw the most important figure mentioned in the intelligence reports drawing closer.
She immediately relayed the message to His Highness through the drone.
Felix halted. Siege and Dobermann stopped as well, turning questioning gazes toward him.
Ahead, the plaza was filled with Infected. Their equipment was slightly better than the fodder they had just encountered, but they were still fodder. They would not pose much trouble for Tomorrow's Development.
However, there was one enemy who was approaching at an unhurried pace.
"Brother Felix, she… she is the one from the files. She is…"
Dobermann's voice was hoarse. "The tyrant of Reunion. Talulah."
Felix stepped forward, his gaze locking onto Talulah. She was no longer wearing that military uniform. Instead, she wore a black evening dress, the kind a noble might don at a banquet. Perhaps because of the fighting, the dress bore a few torn marks, yet this only added to her allure, like a vengeful spirit returned from hell.
The Talulah before him possessed a different kind of charm from before. Her change in attire highlighted her looks even more.
But one thing was already certain. The person standing there could not truly be Talulah. The Talulah Felix remembered from their first and second encounters had been a complete mess, utterly incapable of dressing herself. This Talulah, however, wore mature clothing and even applied eye shadow.
Neither of them spoke. The air around them grew steadily hotter. Everything along the street began to burn. Felix tightened his grip on the sword, his gaze indifferent. Gold-and-blue flames surged upward, colliding and devouring one another with the black-and-crimson fire.
"An interesting flame. You remind me of a race that no longer exists."
Talulah's lips curved into a faint, intrigued smile. Then she struck. Crimson flames surged toward Felix like a raging fire dragon.
This was not swordsmanship at all. It was entirely driven by Originium Arts. No, it was combat fueled purely by instinctual flame.
At that moment, Felix understood something completely. Talulah was not some so-called ordinary dragon girl. Flames like these, temperatures like these, he had only ever felt them from one person.
Loughshinny.
Loughshinny was a Draco. Her flames were innate, a racial gift. Their temperature was terrifyingly high, far beyond what ordinary Originium Arts could measure.
And now, Talulah's flames gave Felix the same sensation as Loughshinny's. No, they were even more destructive.
As the flames surged toward him, the mechanical components of Felix's general's uniform activated. Electricity roared as he raised his hand, and a massive transparent energy shield materialized before him like a phalanx.
In the next instant, the flames slammed into the shield, gnawing at it like a maddened dragon, corroding everything around it.
"Your Highness! Everyone, fall back!"
Ines shouted anxiously. The temperature ahead was far too high. Even Tomorrow's Development's protective suits could not endure it. Siege shouted commands, Dobermann directed the operators to pull back with the wounded, and Amiya rushed in front of the Doctor, shielding her. She stared at that lone figure with his back to them, silently praying for Brother Felix's victory.
The surging flames finally subsided. The shield dissipated. The street had become a sea of fire, and some unlucky Reunion members who had been too close were already burning, bodies and clothes alike.
Flames that could not be extinguished by water reduced them to charred corpses in moments.
Watching a battle between such powerful figures, even dying would be worth the ticket price.
For some reason, that thought suddenly popped into Felix's mind.
With electricity flowing through him, Felix extended his sword. Gold-and-blue flames wrapped around the blade as he stepped forward.
Talulah raised her hand. Crimson fire ignited before her as she attempted to defend against Felix's strike in the same manner he used.
Gold-and-blue split the crimson in two, just as the sky itself had been split. The sword cut through the searing heat as smoothly as slicing butter.
This strike was judgment.
A deep gash appeared at Talulah's side. For the first time, her gaze wavered. She had been wounded by that blow.
What… what kind of power was this?
Talulah clenched her teeth. That feeling, both familiar and alien, that long-forgotten sense of suppression etched into her blood. What was it?
Those malicious eyes fixed on the strange crown and horns atop Felix's head, and at last, something resurfaced in her memory.
How long had it been since she was last injured? She had already forgotten. Yet this seemingly harmless Sankta had done it. No, he was no longer a Sankta.
Pure-blood Teekaz. Where the hell did this monster crawl out from? Her expression twisted. She wanted to curse, to scream at the heavens. With her rage, black-and-crimson flames erupted once more.
Half a district was burned to charcoal. The entire plaza drowned in fire. Steel melted, then solidified again.
Only two exchanges.
"This round, you win."
Talulah's lips lifted into a crooked smile. She quickly reined in her emotions and stepped aside, opening a path. Flames licked at the wound on her side, sealing the bleeding.
"We no longer care about this Chernobog. Or perhaps you wish to continue entangling yourselves with us, even at the risk of infection?"
Felix did not lower his sword. "Then get out of this city. Take you and your Infected with you."
"So that's how you see it?"
Talulah's smile deepened with malice.
"While other mobile cities stand by and watch, lowering their guard, where do you think Reunion's adventurers have been during this time?"
"We stopped caring about the current Chernobog long ago. We have plenty of mobile cities."