Chapter 39: The Sky Wyvern

Dozens of military transport helicopters flew in tight formation toward Crowns Academy, their high-intensity floodlights slicing through the dense, crimson clouds. Rotor blades churned the icy wind as the convoy pressed forward, every soldier inside braced for the carnage waiting below.

The sky battle showed no signs of stopping.

A mutated eagle—its wingspan stretching nearly six meters, feathers black as polished obsidian—shrieked as it dived for the lead transport. Its hooked talons glowed with a volatile, scarlet Qi, capable of shearing through steel plating like wet paper.

Before it could strike the cockpit—

A flash of golden light split the twilight.

Shhk!

The eagle froze mid-flight. A thin crimson line opened across its neck before its heavy head slid cleanly from its shoulders. Blood showered the clouds as the carcass plummeted into the ruined cityscape below.

Standing at the open bay door, Asher rested his hand on his sword’s hilt. His long black coat whipped wildly in the gale. He had drawn, struck, and resheathed his blade so fast that none of the soldiers beside him had even caught the movement.

"...Too slow," Asher muttered softly.

General Ashford didn’t spare the falling corpse a single glance. "Status report."

"Three transports suffered minor hull scoring, sir," the comms officer answered instantly. "No casualties. The rear guard has cleared the initial flock."

"Maintain vector," General Ashford ordered.

Before his words faded, the cabin proximity alarm screamed.

Beep-beep-beep-beep!

"Hostiles! Twelve o’clock high!"

The blood-red clouds above burst apart like a broken dam. Hundreds of winged monstrosities poured through—mutated crows with needle-like beaks and bone-winged bats the size of motorcycles. They descended like a living wave.

"Suppress them! Open fire!"

Ratatatatatat!

Heavy mounted machine guns erupted on both flanks. Golden streams of tracer rounds cut through the sky, shredding dozens of beasts into clouds of blood and feathers.

Yet for every creature that fell, two more took its place in the dive.

"They’re endless!" a soldier yelled over the gunfire.

General Ashford’s eyes narrowed as he watched the flock’s flight patterns. "No. They aren’t mindless."

The soldiers looked at him in surprise.

"Look at their vectors," the General pointed out calmly. "They’re drawing our suppressive fire. Some are taking deliberate hits to mask the approach of others from our blind spots. Something is commanding them."

Asher rested his hand on his sheath, his dark eyes fixing on the storm ahead. "I felt it too. A high-density Qi signature is stationary somewhere near the perimeter."

"Can you pinpoint it?" General Ashford asked.

Asher shook his head. "It isn’t moving. It’s waiting."

A heavy silence settled in the cabin. Creatures intelligent enough to organize a multi-layered air and ground trap presented a far greater danger than simple mutated beasts.

Moments later, the perimeter of Crowns Academy appeared through the haze.

Its reinforced walls still stood against the apocalypse, prompting a collective sigh of relief from several soldiers.

"The walls are holding! There are still be survivors!"

Then the tactical officer adjusted the long-range optical scanner. His face turned pale.

"...General," his voice trembled. "Look at the monitor."

The live feed displayed on the tactical screen inside the cabin.

Silence swallowed the room.

The roads surrounding Crowns Academy were gone—hidden beneath a churning sea of monstrosities. Thousands of infected stood shoulder to shoulder. Silver Horned Wolves prowled between crushed buses, while black-furred Phantom Hyenas lurked in the shadow of the perimeter walls.

Towering mutated beasts stood amidst the horde like generals overseeing an army. The academy had become an isolated island surrounded by an ocean of death.

"How many...?" a soldier whispered, his throat dry.

The scanner operator swallowed hard. "The automated counter locked up after passing fifty thousand life signatures, sir. The estimated density is at least fifty thousand."

Fifty thousand. And that was only what the sensors could register through the heavy concrete rubble.

General Ashford lowered his eyes to the monitor. His weathered face remained calm, but his knuckles turned white behind his back. "This isn’t a random gathering. They were summoned."

Asher stepped beside him. "To guard something?"

"Or," General Ashford’s eyes narrowed, "to trap whatever tries to leave."

At that exact second—

Every monster on the ground stopped moving.

Thousands upon thousands of heads slowly tilted upward toward the red sky. Toward the helicopters. Toward them.

Not a single roar broke the silence. The sudden, absolute stillness was far more terrifying than a battle cry.

BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...

The center of the horde parted. Overturned cars and concrete barriers were ground to dust as something impossibly massive forced its way through ruined skyscrapers.

Only its spine was visible through the dust—a thick, pitch-black hide covered in jagged, armor-plated spikes. It kept rising. Ten meters... twenty... thirty...

Beside it, the ground buckled, and the 15-meter armored centipede briefly thrust its head out from the asphalt, its dozens of crimson eyes flashing before it dipped back into the earth.

Then, the 30-meter spiked behemoth opened its jaw.

ROOOOOOOOOAAARRRR!!

A sound wave exploded across the district, rattling the glass viewports of every helicopter in the formation. Several soldiers stumbled, clutching their ears.

The horde moved as one.

Thousands of zombies surged forward simultaneously, wolves sprinted through the gaps, and the cloud of flying beasts dived once more. The full siege had begun—and the vanguard at the main gates bore the brunt of it.

"Suppress the sky!" General Ashford roared over the comms. "Cover the ground team! Do not let the aerial flock reach the transports!"

Ratatatatatat!

Heavy guns and air-to-ground missiles detonated across the outer streets. Fireballs engulfed entire intersections, blasting hundreds of monsters into ash. Yet the horde pushed forward, completely ignoring their casualties.

"They’re buying time!" a soldier yelled.

"For what?!"

Before anyone could answer, Asher stepped onto the edge of the open bay door.

BOOM!

The helicopter floor groaned as he launched himself into mid-air, golden Sword Qi exploding around his frame. He swung his narrow black blade in a sweeping arc.

SHHHHK!!

A three-hundred-meter crescent of golden light sliced through the sky, cutting nearly a hundred flying beasts in half before their bodies could react.

The soldiers stared in stunned silence at his terrifying Sword Intent—until the golden wave suddenly slammed into something at the center of the cloud and shattered into harmless sparks.

BANG!

A massive silhouette emerged from the swarm. It had the muscular torso of a dragon, resting on two powerful hind legs, with an imposing span of dark, leathery wings.

A Wyvern.

It had blocked Asher’s golden sword arc with a single, casual flap of its wing.

SCREEECH!

The Wyvern locked its fiery eyes on Asher and dived, trails of orange fire igniting along its scales. It opened its jaws, shooting three dense fireballs in rapid succession.

Asher twisted in mid-air, stepping on condensed golden Qi platforms to evade. He swung his sword, blocking a fourth fireball that exploded inches from his face.

Hiss!

The intense heat scorched his skin even through his Qi barrier.

Before he could reset his stance, the Wyvern broke through the smoke, its massive, razor-sharp talons tearing through his guard.

Puchi!

The claws ripped through Asher’s shoulder, slicing deep into muscle and clipping bone. For a fraction of a second, he looked straight into the jaws of death.

BOOM!

A blinding white shockwave slammed into the Wyvern’s flank, knocking the massive beast ten meters sideways. General Ashford had stepped out of the sky, his right fist glowing like a miniature star.

"Are you alright?!" General Ashford demanded, landing on an air-platform beside him.

Asher gritted his teeth, clutching his bleeding shoulder as golden Qi sealed the torn arteries. "I’m fine. That thing... its scales are denser than steel."

"We kill it together," General Ashford said, his white Qi flaring. "Destroying the aerial commander breaks their flock cohesion."

"Right!"

The two high-tier fighters launched a coordinated assault. Asher’s golden sword arcs targeted the Wyvern’s eyes and throat, forcing the beast to twist its massive body to avoid the attack, which opened a gap for General Ashford’s heavy white Qi punches to shatter its rib armor.

BOOM! BOOM!

The Wyvern screeched in rage, disoriented by the dual assault. It suddenly beat its massive wings, shooting fifty meters straight up into the clouds.

Asher’s eyes narrowed. "...Not good."

High above them, the Wyvern opened its maw wide. A terrifying, blinding orange glow ignited deep within its throat, the surrounding air temperature spiking by hundreds of degrees in a fraction of a second.

The infernal fire inside its throat swelled brighter and brighter.

Asher and General Ashford stood side by side in the open air, directly in the path of the impending inferno, facing an attack that neither could afford to take head-on.​