Chapter 156: A Brother’s Heartbreak
Chapter 156: Chapter 156: A Brother’s Heartbreak
Chapter 156: A Brother’s Heartbreak
Aegon darted across the bloody pavement.
He relied entirely on his physical agility. The gray perimeter of the Edict stripped his fire magic away. He could not ignite his spear. He could not boost his speed with plasma. He was fighting as a mortal man against a biological nightmare.
He ducked under a swinging scythe. The bladed joint clipped his shoulder armor, drawing a line of fresh blood.
Bram stepped forward to cover his partner. The heavy tank shoved a thick slab of pavement into the path of the beast’s swinging tail.
CRACK!
The bone whip slammed into the rock. The impact sent a painful shockwave through Bram’s arms. He gritted his teeth, holding the geological barricade in place with pure muscle.
"Keep moving, Aegon!" Bram shouted.
The mutated Cassian shrieked. It did not feel fatigue. It operated on mindless hunger. It swung its left scythe, carving a deep gouge into the concrete plaza.
Aegon vaulted over the swinging blade. He thrust his dark spear toward the monster’s neck. The beast reacted with terrifying speed.
It twisted its spine, bringing its external ribcage around to block the strike. The steel spearhead sparked uselessly against the hardened bone.
The beast spun violently. It raised both scythes high into the night sky. It brought them down directly onto Bram’s stone shield.
BOOM!
The rock shattered into countless pieces. The kinetic force threw Bram backward. He hit the pavement hard, his heavy armor denting from the impact.
Aegon tried to recover his footing. The monster whipped its long tail. The bone chain caught Aegon directly in the chest, launching the spearman across the ruined square. He tumbled across the concrete, dropping his weapon.
The Eclipse Hunters were down.
The beast turned its faceless head back toward Gunther. The paralyzed Commander was the primary target. The monster lumbered forward, its bladed joints grinding loudly. It raised its bloody scythe for the final execution.
Gunther lay on the cracked concrete.
The Widow’s Kiss kept his muscles entirely locked. The pain in his internal organs was blinding. He watched the two young anomalies risk their lives to protect him. He watched them get swatted away like annoying flies.
He watched the monstrous abomination that used to be his flesh and blood prepare to kill him.
’Cassian,’ Gunther thought.
Gunther refused to die on his knees.
He did not care about his own survival. He did not care about the lethal poison destroying his nervous system.
If he stayed paralyzed, his men would die, and his brother would remain trapped inside a biological prison. He needed to free his stupid brother.
Gunther closed his eyes. He channeled every single ounce of his willpower.
He forced his massive heart to beat faster. He aggressively pushed past the chemical paralysis, ignoring the tearing sensation in his own veins.
The effort was suicidal. Pumping his blood faster would ensure the poison spread to his brain, but he only needed a tiny window of freedom.
He bought himself exactly three seconds of movement.
Gunther stood up.
His giant frame cast a long shadow over the bloody concrete. He stepped directly in front of the beast. He did not raise his metal gauntlets to punch it. He did not summon his hood swagger to fight it.
He opened his arms wide.
The beast brought its scythe down.
Gunther stepped inside the guard. The bone blade sliced a shallow cut across his back, but he ignored the pain.
He grabbed the horrifying monster in a crushing hug. He wrapped his thick arms around the external ribcage, burying his face into the jagged spikes protruding from its shoulders.
The beast froze.
For a tiny fraction of a second, the human soul trapped inside the Abyssal Marrow recognized the familiar warmth. The monster stopped thrashing. The bladed joints lowered.
Gunther held his younger brother tightly.
"I got you, little bro," Gunther whispered softly, tears mixing with the blood on his face.
"You tried to run the block, but I’m always gonna clean up your messes. You can rest now."
Gunther looked over the beast’s shoulder. He locked his golden eyes onto Aegon. The young spearman had just scrambled to his feet, picking up his fallen weapon.
"Do it!" Gunther roared.
Aegon did not hesitate. He sprinted forward, gripping his dark spear with both hands. He thrust the physical weapon with all his remaining strength.
SQUELCH!
The steel blade pierced directly through the beast’s external ribcage. It shattered Cassian’s mutated heart. The spearhead pushed completely through the monster’s back, plunging deeply into Gunther’s own side.
The double impalement locked them both together.
The beast let out a quiet gasp. The biological strength left its body. The bone spikes dulled. Cassian was finally dead.
Gunther held his brother’s heavy corpse. His three seconds of willpower ran out.
The suppressed poison flooded his exhausted system with violent speed. The Widow’s Kiss overwhelmed his brain.
His body immediately shut down his vital functions to protect his core from complete organ failure.
Gunther’s golden eyes rolled back. He collapsed onto the pavement, pulling the dead beast down with him. The Lord Commander did not die, but his mind plunged into an unbreakable coma.
High above the plaza, Tharzek Noctis floated in the purple sky.
The Dark Priest was infuriated. His perfect toy was broken. The grand execution he had planned was completely ruined by pathetic human sentiment.
He watched the giant fall into a coma, surviving the lethal dose through sheer physical stubbornness.
"You miserable insects!" Tharzek shrieked.
The Elder raised his pale hands. The gray perimeter of the Edict condensed. He gathered a massive wave of rotting entropy, preparing to erase Aegon, Bram, and the unconscious Gunther from existence simultaneously.
"Die with your pathetic Commander!" Tharzek commanded, throwing the destructive wave downward.
A heavy boot stepped onto the bloody plaza.
The sound was quiet, but it resonated through the souls of everyone present.
A figure dressed in a black uniform walked directly in front of the fallen Lord Commander. He wore a featureless white mask. The Captain’s cloak billowed in the unnatural wind. The Captain had finally descended from the VIP tower.
Draven did not draw a weapon. He simply raised his right hand.
[Seed of Valor: Event Horizon]
A terrifying pressure erupted from the Captain’s body. He did not rely on elemental magic. He imposed fundamental physics over the plaza.
By pushing his Vector Manipulation to the extreme limit, he artificially compressed the surrounding gravity into a localized singularity.
The dark wave of rotting entropy crashed into the invisible boundary.
BOOM!
The sky shook. The gray magic was violently crushed into nothingness. The immense gravitational vector caught the lethal spell and forced it to collapse entirely, shredding the dark clouds above the city.
Tharzek Noctis gasped. The level difference between them was astronomical. The Elder was a Level 200 nightmare.
The masked boy standing on the concrete was significantly lower in rank. It should have been mathematically impossible for him to block an Edict.
But Draven’s mana capacity was a bottomless ocean. He held the defensive line through sheer, overwhelming volume.
He brute-forced his way through the level suppression, refusing to yield a single inch of ground.
The Captain stood tall, shielding the fallen heroes. He looked down at Gunther’s unconscious body, acknowledging the respect the man deserved.
Draven looked back up at the floating Cultist.
"Leave the Block to me, Commander!!" Draven declared, his voice ringing with undeniable certainty.