Ophanim

Wheels rolled across the wet ground, splashing mud to and fro as the rain poured down.

"There! Who is that?" Johannes exclaimed.

A young man with black hair sped towards them with shocking speed. His clothes were tattered and stained. If not for the rain, even his face would be unrecognizable.

"Rey! No, Soma!"

Riza felt a chill run down her spine as she saw king Sig'car and a giant black dragon-like creature chasing right behind him.

"This... Why is the space beast here?! Who's that boy?" Matriarch Tyrien suddenly turned serious. "Stop Sig'car. That is our goal!"

Sonalius, Riza, and the rest nodded in unison as they hopped off the carriage and drew their weapons.

"Riza!" Soma bellowed as he came near. But before he could grab her, Tyrien stood in his way with two swords and crossed them. When Soma's hand reached through the swords, she pulled them apart, hoping to sever the boy's hand. But Soma vanished into thin air and appeared behind her. He kicked her towards Sig'car and the dragon, who had just caught up to Soma.

The dragon, seeing Soma's fixation on Riza, grew wary. It stood in Soma's way and also disappeared. When Soma blinked, he suddenly saw dragon's claw swinging down at him. He gritted his teeth and fell back. Soma and the dragon locked eyes before they both vanished out of sight.

"Sig'car!"

Riza shouted. Matriarch Tyrien had gotten back to her feet and Keanu, Sana, Johannes, and Sonalius surrounded him.

"There's six of you and only one of me; is this really fair?" Sig'car stood eyeing each one of them. "It's been a long time, Johannes, Tyrien. You two haven't changed one bit. As for me..." Sig'car laughed, "I might have been weaker than you before, but those days are long over!"

As Sig'car talked, he finally let out his aura: a rank 1 Saint! The matriarchs and patriarchs were only of being Awakened; a whole tier below Sig'car! This... would not be an easy battle for them.

"Come, let's finish this!"

Sig'car donned two red gauntlets as hands and feet basked in sunlight. When Sig'car had taken his first step, they had only seen a blur as he appeared in front of Johannes. He barely had any time to react as Sig'car threw a swift upper-cut to his jaw. Just when he was about to get hit, Johannes reinforced his body and a strong gust of wind helped push himself back. When the fist made contact, it barely left any damage. Before Sig'car could follow up, Tyrien's needles shot toward him and Sana's shadow grabbed his feet, attempting to constrict his movements. Sig'car felt sluggish like a mountain was being carried on his back.

"This won't be enough to stop me!" King Sig'car laughed and increased his speed even further.

"Do you think we're done as well? We're only getting started!"

Sonalius shouted and sent his energy to the 5 others, empowering them. Now when Sig'car moved... they could actually see clearly! Not only that, but even Sana's shadow constriction was empowered and further decreased Sig'car's speed; the playing grounds were leveled further. Keanu took out a sledgehammer and wreathed himself in sundering flames.

Sig'car looked around and saw them all attacking in unison. Needles, daggers, hammers, shadows, swords, fists... every direction he looked, there was an attack he could not evade.

Time seemed to slow down as they watched with expectant eyes. Their attacks had touched his skin when Sig'car suddenly revealed a deranged smile. In an instant, his body shone with blood-red light. His shirt tore apart, and the drawing of a creature was imprinted onto his body. A bloody ring with many eyes and three pairs of wings stretched out covered Sig'car's entire chest. The weapons that touched his skin bounced off and fell to the ground.

"This is... the image of ophanim!" Tyrien stumbled back in a stupor. Even the other officials of the Sun Empire and Sonalius looked shocked.

"Ophanim!" Sig'car guffawed carelessly. "The almighty Thrones that carries His natural laws and degrees; the very resting place of the almighty is imprinted on my body!"

"The Ophanim is a mere legend, they have been extinct since the age of time itself! How do you have the mark of Ophanim blood‽" Tyrien stuttered in disbelief, staring at the blood image on Sig'car's chest.

"Racial sacrifice..." Sonalius muttered grimly.

"Then..." Tyrien looked at him coldly, "how many of our brothers and sisters have you killed, just to strengthen your own Ophanim heritage‽"

"Fifteen thousand? Twenty thousand? I've already lost count. Thankfully when I left, there were so many fanatics to join me. They gladly sacrificed their lives so that they might live in my glory!"

As Sig'car spoke, he saw Soma fighting the dragon directly above them in mid-air. The shockwaves sent gusts of wind, splitting trees and rocks. His blood boiled watching man and beast fight.

"Let's hurry, this is the first time I've fought with my Ophanim bloodline... I'm excited!"

Sig'car ran forward in an instant. He shook off the shadow constriction and sprouted three sets of white, majestic wings. His speed increased even further as they saw him vanish before their eyes. It's not like he was teleporting, but rather, he was simply too fast for their eyes to register his movement at all!

Tyrien saw Sig'car for only a moment before she was given a kick to the gut and sent flying. She slammed into a faraway tree and fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

"Tyri-" Johannes shouted but before he could finish his words, Sig'car flashed to him and with shining fists. He punched him several times before he finally went down in a bloody mess.

One by one, Sig'car took out the main four powerhouses. There was no chance to fight back with how fast he was, and within a few short moments, they remained teetering between life and death. All that remained was Sonalius and Riza.

Sig'car looked at the two with an insane grin.

"Finally, I'll kill you both here! This power is amazing!" He laughed hysterically, fully consumed in sick delight.

Sonalius stood defensively with Riza behind him. He looked at Tyrien's body and felt weak. He used his strongest defensive and strengthened his body to the max as Sig'car ran to him.

"Come, fight back! Spill your blood for me!" Sig'car lavished.

Riza barely saw Sig'car. She was only an Adept in the light law; she felt sick and powerless as Sonalius was bruised black and blue defending her. He tried to fight back, but all he caught was air when he swung his fists.

"Is this the might of the Sun Empire? Have you all become so weak in my eyes‽ Pathetic!" Sig'car grinned.

Even with Sonalius' countless defenses and techniques, the gap in power was too big, and he finally collapsed to the ground. Sig'car walked over to Riza with Sonalius' blood stained onto his clothes.

With one eye open, Sonalius felt saddened. Not because of the chaos around him, not because of Tyrien or anyone getting hurt, but because of what he needed to do to protect Riza. The conflicting promises he made finally surfaced to his heart as he made his choice.

"I'm sorry..." He weakly muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

Sig'car turned around and felt something amiss. He felt Sonalius' life-force getting rapidly stronger as his injuries recovered swiftly. The bruises and torn skin immediately healed as he got to his feet.

"Sig'car... you forced me!" Sonalius' aura rapidly increased. The wind swirled beneath his feet as his life-force deepened.

"You... what are you trying to pull? Do you think you can beat the power of an Ophanim‽" Sig'car shouted in disbelief as he felt Sonalius' aura once more. It was comparable to an Ascended, meaning... he shot up from being Awakened to becoming Ascended! A full tier above him!

"This is fake! An illusion! Nobody should be able to skip two levels!" Sig'car ran to him and tried to jab his throat. His hand came down onto Sonalius, and that made him rejoice.

'I can still hit him!' Sig'car thought, but his expression quickly turned to disbelief as pain radiated throughout his body.

"Agh!" He screamed out. It felt like he had struck his hand on a steel bar! When he looked where he hit Sonalius, he realized there wasn't even a mark left!

"That's all?" Sonalius stared at him with red eyes. He grabbed Sig'car by the arm and beat him repeatedly.

"Impossible! This isn't real, it has to be fake! You cannot kill me! I have the power of Ophanim!" Sig'car screamed. Sonalius ignored his cries and looked him in the eye.

"This is for Johnathan and Theresa Arriero, and the rest of your victims!" Sig'car plunged his hand into the man's heart and brain, ensuring his immediate death. He looked into Sig'car's shocked, lifeless eyes and fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry, mother. I had to burn yet another year of this precious life you gave me... but I kept her safe, Theresa." Sonalius wept as his life-force returned to normal. His body ached as he started to fall to the ground. Riza quickly grabbed Sonalius and let him down gently. She looked at him and realized he was already unconscious.

"Burning away your own life, just to keep another promise you made… Thank you." Riza understood how grave that decision was for him. Suddenly, she felt even more powerful shockwaves from the sky and realized how weak she was. Looking at Sig'car's head with, she came to a decision.

'His power… it should go to waste.' Riza quickly absorbed his blood and looked up at the sky with worry. 'Please don't die, Rey!'