Chapter 283: Unraveling

What followed was a terrifying unraveling unlike anything the parties present had ever seen or could even fathom.

The orb of chaos shot forward, drastically expanding in size with each second that it moved. It carved a path through the wall of lightning, rending the unyielding, violent natural force null and void.

But Uhtred didn’t stop there. He raised his hand, redirecting the path of the orb straight up toward the sky. He was targeting the source itself.

Veins popped across his neck and forehead from immense strain. It seemed that even for him, fighting against a force of nature this powerful was still extremely taxing.

His hand trembled, the orb of chaos vibrating against the rain of lightning threatening to continue falling — it was almost as if the heavens themselves saw Uhtred’s actions as blasphemy and wanted to put him in his place.

But with a final menacing growl, Uhtred swung his hand upward in one sudden burst, breaking through the stalemate.

His orb of elemental chaos roared straight up into the sky, turning the surge of lightning into fuel that ballooned its size, causing it to grow even stronger.

It shot through the dark, heavy clouds, creating a gaping hole through which the obscured sunlight shone downward.

A sharp, radiant sunbeam shone through the gap, casting an ethereal light on Uhtred’s lone figure.

In that moment, no one said a word. Without needing to be told, they all inherently understood that the gap between Uhtred and every single ascender present wasn’t just a matter of levels; rather, it was a qualitative, insurmountable gap. Not a single person here even understood what that spell was, but they all knew that if they were on the receiving end of that attack, there was nothing they could do except accept their fate.

Up in the sky, the lightning storm that had raged for who knew how long — creating the natural barrier that Stormcaller had taken advantage of to form his territory within — began to mellow. The large gaping hole through the clouds had changed the entire balance of the storm clouds, allowing the congregation of air currents and cosmic essence flows to disperse.

The heavy dark clouds began to recede, the lightning storm lessening by the second, until eventually, after a few minutes, the entire storm cleared up, leaving only the last bit of fast winds moving in the sky.

Within the New World Government party, Golden Eagle Vance, whose eyes glimmered with an unreadable light, let out a quiet sigh and tilted his head back slightly, talking to the bob-cut female agent:

"See? I told you you were wrong."

He didn’t wait for her reply, striding forward first to lead their faction into Stormcaller’s now-open Lightning Kingdom. Uhtred had already begun walking toward the city, and none of the other factions wanted to be left behind.

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Uhtred’s POV

Well, that was surprisingly taxing, Uhtred mused internally as he walked ahead of the others into Stormcaller’s city. The lightning wall had been more difficult than he had anticipated. Boring a hole through it hadn’t been an issue, but boring a hole directly through the source in the sky... that had taken quite a bit of effort.

At the end of the day, Mother Nature still reigns supreme, Uhtred lampooned, then added:

...For now.

It was an inevitable thing. Right now, his Unified Elemental Strike had still faced some difficulty in dealing with such a terrifying force of nature, but what about when he was at double his current level? Or triple?

There would surely come a point when Mother Nature wouldn’t be the supreme force on the planet any longer. That title would go to him... and every other ascender who continued to forge ahead on the path of ascension.

With a wry smile, Uhtred shook those contemplative thoughts away and focused on the main matter at hand. He scanned the surroundings as he walked, taking in Stormcaller’s Lightning Kingdom.

For its size, it was eerily silent. Uhtred had expected the city to be dominated by lightning-type elemental ascenders, or at least some people out in the streets curious to see who exactly had shut down the natural barrier of lightning surrounding their city.

But all there was was utter silence. The streets were empty, the few houses here and there devoid of life. It was like Uhtred had just stepped into a ghost town.

What in the hell happened here? Uhtred frowned. The houses showed clear signs that people had previously lived in them. In fact, based on what he could see, he deduced that it had been no longer than a day since the inhabitants of all these houses had vacated them.

There were no signs of a hasty exit either — no signs of struggle — so at least Uhtred knew that the inhabitants of the city, wherever they were, hadn’t vacated their homes under attack or anything like that.

Which means...

His eyes moved over to the distance, where a structure like a fortress stood atop the tallest point in the city — sort of like a small city within a city. It stood on a cliff, the very edge of the continent, overlooking the ocean behind it.

...That’s where they all have to be.

"Well, that might be a tough one to crack," Isolde Castiglione’s voice came suddenly from behind Uhtred. He glanced back and saw the Italian girl staring at the fortress as she strode behind him.

Hassan Al-Malik was right next to her, his eyes alert and scanning the surroundings. Behind both of them were the Castiglione forces and Hassan’s own forces too. And right next to those were Golden Eagle Vance and the New World Government agents, along with the Free Ascenders’ Guild and the Inagawa-Kai.

They had all shifted into a serious gear, vigilant and alert.

"We can’t see anyone now, but I’m very sure the owners of these empty homes are all up there and have prepared a... nice surprise for us," Isolde continued. "It’s nothing we can’t handle, though, right? Hassan?"

She turned to the Arabian ascender walking beside her.

"Huh?" Hassan looked confused at first, still utterly focused on scanning their surroundings, but then he processed what Isolde had just said. "Yeah. I think you should leave this one up to us, Uhtred. We can’t have you doing everything now, can we?"

He stepped forward ahead of Uhtred with Isolde in tow, clearly unwilling to take no for an answer.

Uhtred only raised a brow. He could clearly understand that they were both powerhouses in their own right, unwilling to play second fiddle the whole time. So he allowed them to handle this one.

"Be vigilant, though," he said, crossing his arms and stopping right at the foot of the cliff where the fortress stood atop. "Whatever the hell is going on, they already know we are here, and they’ve very likely also rigged the area with traps..."