Thunder Shrine, Thunder Plains, Thunder Region:
Ashtarh Team was close to getting the flag.
Despite holding back their strength, Ashtarh and Maissa coordinated and fought off the Thunder Knights and Golden Griffins.
Individually, both the griffins and the knights were weaker than them.
The only real threat was the golden circle the griffins conjured.
Five Thunder Knights and Griffins formed a group and poured their lightning mana into a special circle.
It was close to formation, but not quite it.
Perhaps it was a lost art, but regardless, the strength of the golden circles was the only threat they faced.
The golden lightning produced by the circles was almost equivalent to Charles' attack at his peak.
During the banquet, Ashtarh took Charles' punch, and he wasn't using his full strength, despite that, Ashtarh was blown away with broken bones and torn muscles.
So, neither Ashtarh nor Maissa even tried to block the golden lightning.
Instead, they prevented it.
Since every golden circle needed a group of five griffins, they obstructed in time and used that gap to kill off the griffins.
Of course, Thunder Knights protected griffins…or tried to.
With the deadly combination of a very agile space awakener and a very powerful Controller who easily increased any stat he wanted, they were suppressed.
One by one, their numbles dwindled.
"Maissa! The fourth one!" Ashtarh yelled as he kicked the air. The sheer pressure from his kick propelled him up in midair and he shot towards the fourth closest griffin.
"Got it!" Maissa replied from a distance and waved her hand.
Her space power, more powerful than Caleb and Helia easily solidified the space around the other four griffins.
Of course, the combined might of the Thunder Knights and griffins was no joke.
They broke the imprisonment in a less than half a second.
But that was enough for Ashtarh.
His fist already broke the helmet of the Thunder Knight and crushed its skull, while his leg broke the lightning armor of the griffin and split it into halves.
"Great! Now they can't make the golden circle anymore." Maissa said and her lips curled upwards.
"Ashtarh, get out! I want to fight them all!" She yelled in excitement.
"…fine." Ashtarh looked at her and shook his head.
As he was in mid air, he was already falling.
He was almost three miles above the ground. If he fell from this height, by the time he reached the ground, he'd cross the supersonic speed—that is, he'd travel faster than sound.
He'd survive the impact, but he'd be badly injured.
Thankfully, he had better options.
Ashtarh flipped in the air and kicked.
The wind was compressed and in response, it pushed him down.
In a few seconds, Ashtarh was close to the ground.
He flipped again and kicked the ground, twice this time. The wind pushed him up again and decreased his descent speed.
Ashtarh landed safely without any injuries.
But the impact of his kick broke the ground and cracked it open.
He glanced up at the sky and saw flashing golden light as well as a disappearing and reappearing girl in purple dress.
"Hahaha! Yes! Fight!"
Ashtarh wished his controller power had an option to reduce stats. Now, he really wanted to reduce his hearing.
She's enjoying the fight too much.
Shaking his head, he glanced at the shrine and his figure blurred.
He glanced at the golden door with the mystic cravings, and snorted.
Devas…he didn't like them. In fact, he hated them.
Humans considered devas as good, Ashtarh too. Until his mother's death.
She was a level 7 and also a planetoid base's commander. Even before the fall of Pluto, she was busy most of the time.
The only times Ashtarh saw her was on the frontlines. She'd show him the battle field, the loss of life and the bravery of soldiers.
He had a vivid memory of a conversation.
*** **** ****
He was eight years old and lost his father. His mother took him to the planetoid where he served. Her eyes were red and swollen, yet she said with a weak, but proud smile.
"Your father is a brave man. He sacrificed himself to save a planetoid from falling into Abyssal's clutches."
"But mother, is this lifeless planetoid more important than my father's life?" Little Ashtarh asked.
"…No, Ash. This planetoid isn't lifeless. It is a shield. It is what prevents Abyssals from attacking our Neptune."
"So this is the shield to all Neptune lives?"
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"It is one of the shields to 7 Billion people. There are many hundreds of shields."
"…But there are so many shields. I only have one father."
"…" She paused and turned around. Little Ashtarh saw her shoulders tremble and heard some choked sounds.
"Mother, what happened?" He asked naively.
She turned around and knelt down to reach his eye level. She cupped his cheeks and said. "If your father didn't save that one shield, millions…I mean, lots and lots of kids, just ike you, would lose their fathers."
Little Ashtarh opened his mouth, but couldn't speak. He understood what she was saying, but he was still sad and angry.
"Why must it be my father? There are so many fathers!"
"…because your father is a soldier. We live to protect."
Ashtarh grew up with these words as his mantra.
Yet, a small part of him wished for another reality.
What if…aura was never sealed?
None of this would've happened.
It was a stupid thought. He knew it too.
Perhaps if aura was never sealed, he'd never exist in the first place.
But…what if humanity had a reality where aura was never sealed?
Then they'd surely be stronger than the Abyssals.
All this death and destruction could be prevented.
Perhaps it was just the obsession of a child, but…Ashtarh hated Devas.
*** **** ****
"Boss!"
Tiama's voice snapped Ashtarh out of his thoughts.
He looked into the shrine and saw the corpses of six six-tailed foxes. There was also a pungent smell in the air that he was too familiar with. The smell of rotten flesh.
"…I miss the fresh air." He muttered and saw Tiama holding a map and walking in a strange pattern.
He took three steps right, two steps back and one step left, and five steps front, and…
"What are you doing?" Ashtarh asked in confusion.
"Check the ground." Tiama answered and continued his strange walking.
"Huh?" Tiama heightened his perception and glanced at the ground.
It was a sleek white floor that just looked clean, except for the strange golden orbs placed all over.
Each orb had several line extending out of it and these lines intersected and entangled with the lines of other orbs, forming strange patterns.
Ashtarh could feel a strong force in the orbs. Of course, it posed no threat to him, but to weaker people…
"Boss, after I retrieved the map, this appeared. The orbs are called as 'Lightning Fury'."
"Ah. But they don't pose a threat to you, do they? The best they can do is injure mid level 6." Ashtarh said and paused.
"Oh, so you're trying not to get trigger them. You're leaving them for messengers, huh."
"Indeed. They're only level 5s and even if they advance, as low level 6s, they'd have means to threaten mid level 6s.
Hehe. We need to reward our messengers properly."
Tiama and Ashtarh grew up in the military. They were guided by the seniors and received a lot of help.
In fact, everyone living on the frontlines developed a sense of camaraderie. Everyone tried to help as much they could.
You never know if a small help you gave to a person could save his or her life tomorrow.
Having received the kindness, Ashtarh and Tiama wanted to continue the tradition.
That's also the reason they tried to not let their battles destroy some precious treasures that could be useful for level 5s. Like weapons, defenses, etc.
Lightning Fury was the best one of all those treasures.
Ashtarh nodded in agreement and asked. "Do you want to retrieve and give it to them?"
"Nah. Let them do it themselves. It'll just take some time." Tiama waved his hand and said.
It was quite simple to retrieve a lightning fury, so it's equivalent to giving them away for free.
"Oh yeah, where is she?" Tiama walked out of the shrine and handed the flag to Ashtarh.
"She…"
"Haha! Fight! Hey! Hey! Don't die! Woo, griffin! Griffin! Wake up! I won't crush your heart to pieces anymore."
A sweet voice sounded from the sky.
"…."
"…."
Ashtarh and Tiama looked at each other and shook their heads.
Maissa looked fine most of the time.
Perhaps it was all a disguise.
Perhaps…she was just a fight maniac.
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