After waiting what felt like an eternity within the Aethelian ruin, the rumbling finally came to in the early morning of the next day.
That night not a single person had fallen asleep, some afraid while others simply too paranoid. In the current situation anything could happen.
At this moment Aron came up from the basement where he had spent the entirety of the night with Evanora, the only person who had slept in this dire situation.
He found Jagu waiting right outside the door vigilantly like a guard and he gave him an approving nod. "Go carry the device so we can start off."
Having been told what it looked like prior Jagu nodded at Aron's words and proceeded to go downstairs to do just that.
He never showed a submissive attitude towards Aron's but his actions could only be described as that. Jagu now followed Aron's orders without question and it felt natural and not out of place with neither ever bringing up what their current standing was.
Once Aron made it to the lobby where everyone else had stayed to keep an eye on one another they knew it was time to start off.
Lady Rose came down a short while later as she had chosen to spend her night in the room Sebastian had found, studying the carvings of what was actually a runic formation.
"I take it we are all ready to set off?" At her words Aron nodded before Jagu came from behind carrying the object everyone was curious to see, the Tor as it was called by the author.
No time was wasted and with everyone present they immediately started off. Once outside the ruined building a feeling of danger began to creep up on some of them, what if not all the creatures had left?
This train of thought couldn't be avoided and it caused some to grow overly vigilant, however Aron wanted to move as fast as possible. "Pick up the pace, if we delay then we may fight the city even breached or destroyed." He warned before giving Jagu and nod sprinting ahead.
Jagu followed suit and also began to spring despite the seemingly heavy load he was carrying above his shoulders.
The suddenness of this took everyone by surprise, he didn't even bother asking Lady Rose about her opinion. Was he really going to make a Grand Mage run? Some thought.
N0 v el Next. CoM
However Lady Rose betrayed their expectations and simply brought her scouter near before standing on top of it, then with a wave of her hand… she was gone.
The rest had no choice but to sprint their hardest as both Aron and Jagu were moving incredibly fast.
…
Thanks to the speed at which they travelled they arrived outside the ruin in nearly no time at all.
What used to be the camp was now barley identifiable due to the damage caused. Even the surrounding forest couldn't withstand the force of the creatures with large trees having fallen and dry paths created on the once lush grass.
Aron only glanced in the direction of the capital for a moment before giving the order to continue sprinting.
"Strange, contrary to what I thought they didn't travel to Aethelian capital." Juliet who ran close to Aron pointed this out as no dry paths could be spotted in the direction they were traveling.
Instead it looked like the creatures were targeting something specific, as for what that was she didn't know.
"Whatever the case it's good news for us." Aron replied indifferently, he had an idea about the creatures target but he truly didn't care. All that mattered now was powering up the device and leaving at all costs.
The Aethelian capital was located close the continent's south east boarder territory. Once the group got close enough they could see that the Aethelian's were also in a panic.
Many voices could be heard murmuring while a few airships could be seen in the air.
"What of the Veldra?" Juliet suddenly remembered something fairly important and turned to Aron but he shrugged it off. "The majority are likely dead, those tunnels were already unstable so the artificial earthquakes may have caused them to cave in." He speculated as even he didn't know wether they were alive or dead.
"Intruders!!"
Their conversation was cut short when an Aethelian scout camouflaged well atop a tree spotted them.
"Intruders!" After the first scout many more began to shout these from different spots until it practically echoed in the region.
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Even now they were had to spot and many in the group felt like it was the trees yelling and revealing their presence.
"Tsk! We better hurry." Aron clicked his tongue irritatedly before a sudden burst of speed erupted from him, sending him several hundred meters in one go.
He wasn't about to let anyone stand in the way of his way back to Limbo.
[ Aspect Horned Basilisk; Earth Manipulation ]
Aron's body reverberated with an energy foreign to it at a terrifying pace. With a way to Limbo in sight he no longer needed to conserve the beast mana he was saving any longer.
His eyes took the form of those of a basilisk while his right hand grew greensish scales and looked more muscular than before.
Bam!
With a loud boom! He directly launched his fist into the ground and the earth violently responded by breaking apart and launching pieces of itself into the air.
Large chunks of earth which weight around thousands of tons each and were comparable to the airships filled the skies.
Be it trees or the scouts hidden within them, all was uprooted and flung up like a rock. Aron had gone above what was considered minimum, only holding back so as to spare potential Aethelians they could capture to use to power said device.
The large chunks of earth absolutely brought fear to all Aethelians as they could be spotted even with the settlement. Many feared they would descend upon them and crush them instantly.
However not long after the chunks were launched, sharp streaks of wind burst out from the direction of the capital and tore them apart one after another, reducing them into tiny pieces that got carried away a ferocious gust of wind.
Aron stopped charging once he saw and his arm returned to normal but his eyes remained the same as he focused on a gigantic tree right in the middle of the Aethelian capital not too far.
Atop said tree was an Aethelian female with a leafy crown resting upon her head and man beside her sporting a similar accessory. They were the King and Queen of Aethel.
The Queen, Celes looked in Aron's directions with narrowed eyes and a look of worry. She was familiar with almost all of the most notable figures among humans yet she couldn't recognize who this young looking man before her was.
"I Queen Celes of Aethel ask who trespasses upon our land!" She yelled out loudly while making sure her mana fluctuations could be seen, a symbol of how powerful she was.
Aron smirked at her display and stood upright while showing a look of utter confidence even after seeing that amount of mana fluctuations from one being, it was a far cry from what he had witnessed from Argos.
In response to her display, Aron didn't answer her question but instead unleashed his mana fluctuations, beast wills and all.
The result?
Rumble!
A viciously strong and gigantic mana fluctuations erupted… no. It was more accurate to say that the area around Aron had become a genuine danger zone.
Everything within a three hundred meter radius of him that contained mana was destroyed instantly.
Even his own group had to stop and observe this unbelievable sight. Celes couldn't help furrow her brows even more once she noticed the others, among them were many familiar faces…. A grand mage and the heirs of powerful individuals.
The more terrifying thing was that the radius of Aron's fluctuations came to stop right where his group was, not only could he release something that devastating but the level of control he had was clearly something equal to or above her level.
"Surrender." Aron's domineering voice echoed in that region as he said this one word. On the surface he looked to be in complete control but the amount of effort it took him to restrain all the wills at once while displaying their mana was truly straining.
The longer he continued this the higher the risk of losing control or even damaging his body. He spoke only one word because in the star he was in it was hard to speak…
Celes frowned upon hearing this but she wasn't an idiot, with her best and most powerful subjects still away she couldn't win in a fight of numbers as the majority of Aethelians present weren't all that skilled.
With a heavy heart she clenched her fists and declared. "We surrender!"
…little did she know she was sending her race down a path worse than death.
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