Chapter 100 - Destruction and Rescue

Elseria felt an ability restricting her movements and crystal essence, her heightened senses detected the appearance of the beast behind her, but her expression didn't change.

Circulating her crystal essence, she prepared to break the restriction on her body when she felt something pushing her and activating the inscriptions on her armor, defending her from any intrusion.

"Please save my brother."

Elseria turned at the sound of Kieran's voice. Her flawless eyes reflected Kieran's body falling to the ground with a gaping hole in his chest.

His lycan transformation was undone as he reverted to human form. Traces of the battles he had fought so far could be seen on his body which was no longer covered in fur. Burn marks, long wounds, and even bite marks. It was almost impossible to find a single part of his body without injuries.

Elseria's eyes trembled weakly. The sword in her hands came to life and slashed at the shadow-covered beast. Drops of water appeared all around her before being thrown, decimating all the crystal beasts in the surroundings, including the fox hiding among them.

Her gaze was still fixed on Kieran, scanning each of his wounds, then her eyes fell on Ryan, who had only one wound all over his body.

"His brother? He's been protecting him so far in this chaos with his body? Is that how a family should act with each other?"

An inexplicable feeling overcame her as she recalled an old memory that seemed to have vanished all these years. Still, when she tried to imagine her brother doing that to protect her now, the only thing that came to her mind when she thought of him was his eyes filled with hatred and disgust towards her.

She suddenly felt Kieran's life quickly drained away. It was only then that she remembered that he had tried to protect her even if they were complete strangers.

Even though his action had been useless, and the shadow-covered beast could never have pierced the defense of the inscriptions on her armor.

Her hand grabbed a necklace around her neck, a green teardrop-like gem adorning the necklace.

'Do I have to use it? Vaelin is surely watching me at this moment. The elders will know I used it.'

She bit her lip hesitantly at her choice, but her eyes couldn't leave the silhouette of Kieran unconscious on the ground.

'He was injured because he wanted to help me.'

With a resolute gaze, her slender fingers tightened their grip on the teardrop gem. Shattering it into shards, causing a soft green light to appear, as well as an ancient aura that fell on Kieran's body.

Inside the elves' spaceship, Prince Vaelin jumped in his seat at the sight on the main screen. His face was grim as he stared at the broken shards of the gem.

"That madwoman dared to use it for a human! Warn the elders! Inform them that Elseria used a national treasure to save the life of a mere human!"

"Yes, your Majesty!"

Not far from Elseria, invisible to all. Runihoril stood quietly, watching her with a smile on his face.

'To say that she would use a tear from the world tree to save his life. Even if you can't hear me, you have my deepest gratitude for saving my disciple, young girl,' he said, bowing respectfully.

The green aura enveloped Kieran's body. Slowly, each of his wounds healed as if they had never existed. Verdant filaments emerged inside the gaping hole in his chest. Torn tissue reformed, and broken bones healed under the healing effect of the aura.

In a few moments, all the wounds were gone, except for the gaping hole in the middle of his chest, which was closed with a speed visible to the naked eye. The flesh was reconstituting itself, restoring the integrity of his bruised body.

As the green aura did its work, it seemed to be slowly absorbed into his body until it entered his spiritual world, where it entered through the cracks in his crystal trees.

*roar*

The mighty roar of a beast shook the whole city, followed by the sound of a loud explosion.

"They've arrived," Elseria muttered, glancing in the direction of the roar.

With a wave of her hand in the air, she enveloped Kieran and Ryan in water bubbles, making them float safely through the air. Then, turning quickly, she hurried back to the orbital shuttle, where all the civilians had already taken refuge, leaving behind only a few cultivators who held back the beasts trying to board.

Her sword gracefully sliced through the air, creating a shimmering trail of water that shot forward, ending the life of the beasts that threatened to invade the orbital shuttle.

"Come in. We're leaving immediately," she said in a firm voice.

"Y... Yes!" they replied hastily.

Once inside, she found a place to settle Kieran and Ryan with the other injured people, asking the ones with healing abilities to take care of them before heading to the cockpit.

The orbital shuttle slowly rose into the air, allowing all of Ozryn's citizens inside to witness the extent of the destruction that still tormented the city.

The high walls that protected from the attacks of the crystal beasts in the wild were broken one after another.

To the east of the city, a beast over 100 meters tall stood upright, its arms moving slowly, picking up the pieces that once made up the wall before hurling them at the city, causing destruction in its path.

Each of its steps left behind it a giant crater, while its roars brought down the few buildings still standing.

It was on this day that the citizens of Ozryn learned to their cost the terror that crystal beasts could inflict.

In the year 20,998 of the Aegis calendar, on August 7. The city of Ozryn was erased from the maps of the Aegis Alliance.

***

A week had passed since the destruction of the city. In a hospital in the city of grade B Anelcia, Kieran was lying in a bed, still unconscious from the events in the city. Ryan stood by his bedside, his face filled with anxiety as he could only stand there helplessly, waiting.

"Please wake up, Kieran. I only have you left. I'll even call you big brother if you open your eyes right now," Ryan whispered in a low voice in this room filled with silence.

"If only I had gotten stronger. I could have… I could have saved our parents… You wouldn't have had to come back to save me," he continued in a voice full of regret.

He clenched his fists, his thoughts dark since waking up in the orbital shuttle. He didn't know what he would do if Kieran never woke up.

Suddenly, he felt a movement in Kieran's body, but his expression remained unchanged, still displaying deep pain as he looked at his brother's face, which seemed to be filled with pain.

"Are you still having a nightmare? No wonder, considering what you had to endure to get me back to the safe zone..."

***

Contrary to what Ryan thought, Kieran's nightmare was nothing like what he had experienced during the destruction of the city of Ozryn.

With his heart pounding, Kieran ran through the devastated streets of Ozryn, accompanied by Thomas. Behind them, Iron and Bronze rank crystal beasts pursued them, their piercing roars echoing through the air.

"Run! Don't Stop!" Kieran shouted.

"Why don't the army or the guilds do anything to stop them?" Thomas asked.

"We live in the poor neighborhoods in the south and southwest area of the city. Do you really think they give a fuck about us? Instead, think about finding a way to escape these beasts before we can find our families."

"Even if we manage to escape those beasts with our Iron rank cultivation, we will never be able to reach our homes safely."

"I can at least hold off an early stage Bronze rank beast for a while."

The beasts begin to catch up with them. Seeing them, Kieran jumps forward. His body transformed into a giant wolf.

"Hurry, get on!"

Clinging to Kieran's fur, Thomas held on tightly to his back before Kieran sped up, once again forming a gap between the beasts and them.

As they ran through a narrow street, a group of crystal beasts surrounded them. Thomas descended from his back, activating his ability which covered his arms with scales.

It was at this moment that a loud explosion sounded. A laser beam fell from the sky, decimating the crystal beasts that invaded the streets near them.

The two looked up at the sky above Ozryn. A huge shadow covered the whole city.

"It's... A spaceship?"

"Reinforcements are here?!" exclaimed Thomas.

The two were stunned at the sight of a massive spaceship that seemed as big as the city floating in the sky. Thousands of smaller ships left the main spaceship, moving through the city and firing numerous laser beams to put an end to the ravages of the crystal beasts.

A spaceship appeared near them, eliminating the last beasts that had survived the first salvos. The spaceship landed not far from them before it opened, revealing a sparkling blue-eyed elf with silvery grey hair. An aura of nobility seemed to emanate from him as he descended from the spaceship to approach them.

*sigh*

"Why did she send me too? Hey, are you two okay?" asked the elf.

"You... You're an elf?!" they replied at the same time, still in shock.

Kieran quickly regained his senses, "Yes, we're fine. Thank you for your help."

"Our races are allied. It's normal to come to your help in this situation."

"Thank you, really, but we have to go. Our families may still be in danger!"

Kieran was about to turn around when the elf's voice interrupted him.

"I can take you there with my spaceship. My mission is to rescue as many people as possible."

"Okay!" Kieran agreed without hesitation.

The three hurried into the spaceship, which resumed its flight.

"I'm sorry. You saved us, and now you're helping us, but we didn't even ask your name," said Kieran.

"Me? My name is Vaelin."

"I'm Kieran, and that idiot's name is Thomas."

"Nice to meet you," Thomas said distractedly, looking through the spaceship's window.

The spaceship only took a moment to reach Kieran and Thomas' house, but what they saw left the spaceship silent. Their eyes were empty, tears streaming down their cheeks.

"I'm sorry for your families," said Vaelin in a saddened voice.

He glanced in their direction, but neither seemed to be able to answer him. His eyes grew cold as he maneuvered the controls of his spaceship, shooting down every beast he could and rescuing as many people as possible.

Kieran's vision was dark as he witnessed the rescue of the city from destruction.

'Mom... Dad... Ryan...'

As his mind collapsed, he heard a weak voice in the distance.

"Please wake up Kieran..."

"Ryan?!" Kieran screamed, but he couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from.

"I'll even call you big brother if you open your eyes right now."

"RYAN!!"

***

"RYAN!!"

Kieran suddenly opened his eyes, rising from his hospital bed. A pain assaulted his head, forcing him to reflexively grab his head.

"Kieran!"

He felt a pair of arms wrap around him as his shoulder became wet. He remained motionless, but a faint, barely perceptible smile formed on his face.

"I'm fine. You can let me go now."

"Mhm."

Ryan stepped back, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

Kieran looked around before seeing the scenery through the hospital room window.

"Where are we?"

"We're at the main hospital in the grade B city Anelcia."

"Anelcia? Why aren't we in Ozryn."

"Kieran... Ozryn was destroyed."

"The elves didn't help us?"

"The elves? There is only one elf who came to help our city, but even with all her effort, she couldn't save the city."

A puzzled expression appeared on Kieran's face.

'Was it just a dream? Wait, if it was a dream!'

"And Thomas? Have you heard from Thomas?"

"I'm sorry, Kieran, but no Ozryn survivor matches his appearance."

"It hasn't been long. There may still be a way..."

"You've been in a coma for a week, Kieran."

Ryan's words stopped him in mid-sentence.

"A week? How could that be a week?! The beasts invaded the city only a few hours ago."

Ryan looked at his brother for a moment before grabbing a remote and turning on the TV.

"It's been a week since the Ozryn tragedy. The survivors, who number in the low 37,000s, are receiving a lot of help from the Aegis Alliance, including special citizenship permissions, allowing them to live in any city of their choice across the Aegis Alliance. Today several cultivators of Diamond rank as well as a Transcendent cultivator, went to the city to try to find survivors, but as you can see from those images, only desolation still remains in Ozryn."

Kieran's face was filled with shock as he stared at the news report that showed an unrecognizable Ozryn.

'If I had been strong enough...'

Kieran felt a rage growing inside him as he watched the images of a destroyed Ozryn on the TV, the memories of his fights and the dead bodies of his parents flooded his mind, drowning him in a suffocating blend of guilt and an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

He suddenly rose from his bed before leaving his room without saying a word.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asked, following him.

"I'm going into a rift."

"A rift? What are you talking about?! You just woke up! You still need to rest!"

"Don't follow me."

His body took the form of a lycan, and the next moment he jumped out of a window.

"Kieran?! Kieran!!"

Ryan yelled at him, but Kieran didn't turn around and quickly disappeared from his vision.