The Fallen Ark

With every swipe from the three steel beasts controlled by Aegian pilots, the treants and wisps are sent flying.

The Elven mages' mana reserves are shaken every time their summons are attacked.

Because of this, the tide of the battle will be determined as soon as their mana run out.

They could only buy time and drag the battle until the Elven Argonaut Riveria saves all of them.

Riveria is the titled Elven Argonaut who took part on countless battles involving the entire Elven race.

She saved different Elven countries on the brink of annihilation because of her battle prowess.

Her weapon of choice might be unusual with it being a single wooden stick as long as a regular sword.

This stick is however, extremely special and sturdy. Reason is it being a branch of the World Tree.

The World Tree is an indestructible tree present since the creation of the world. It is rumored to have been nourished by the God of Forest.

It is a 1000-meter tall tree with its main body even thicker than a whole city. It could be found in the main city of elves, which is also currently under attack.

The elves here constructed their infrastructures near the roots of the World Tree, both giving it nourishments and them being protected with its mana.

The main city Alvanheim will not easily fall, however, the citizens would perish if they fail to protect the city.

Riveria, channeling skills after skills, pointed her stick towards the steel beasts.

Mana Expansion: Argonaut's Advent!

Ancient Elven Technique: Moonlight Fragment!

Skill: Runic Discharge!

As her domain spread throughout the entire city and forest, every Aegian troops looked to stop in astonishment.

Feeling satisfied, the Moonlight Fragment imbued her stick with a yellow-green swirling energy as it extended.

As she swings her Runic Discharge in a straight line from left to right, her whole domain pulsated and sent a single shockwave.

Vuiiiizzzzz!

With a snap on her free left hand, every single Aegian troops received a slash, the steel beasts toppled over as their power cores suffer an intolerable damage.

Silence descended on the previously-fierce battlefield.

Even Doryarus floating behind the Argonaut fell his jaw fall down.

The Elven warriors and the citizens cheered up as they began extinguishing the flames in the forest and in some of their houses.

The sole Aegian commander riding a steel behemoth snapped in rage. In one moment, their troops are taking the upper hand.

In the next moment, their troops are obliterated. Only he and his backup troops remained.

They were just about to steal the energy of the World Tree to power their engineering inventions so they did not immediately joined the attack, but to think that their entire troops will be destroyed just like that.

"We are retreating!" the Aegian commander turned controlled his steel behemoth.

However, just as they are about to turn around and flee, they suddenly felt cold feet as goosebumps crawl all over their backs.

Riveria instantly appeared before them, lightly thrusting her stick in front.

Pulsate! Boom!

Another shockwave from the domain appeared, and now, every single troop except the commander felt the stab in their chests.

This unexplainable phenomena is the signature ability of the Elven Argonaut, no one who has ever battled her have a clear understanding of how her power works.

The only thing they would see is the Argonaut establishing her domain which is like a miniature world, then with certain actions, a corresponding effect will pulsate through the domain.

It seems like she can freely manipulate the mana in the form of currents within her domain.

Simple actions like a thrust with her stick will cause her domain to thrust every single target with invisible currents.

The attack causes physical effects even though they are certain that the attack is from the domain.

As Riveria snapped and destroyed the behemoth ride of the commander, she spoke in a frosty tone.

"Why did you attack our city? What is your purpose?"

The Aegian commander, cowering in fear immediately fell on his butt.

Thud!

"N-noooo, sssss-spare me!" He begged as he tried to get up and run.

Riveria, giving no chances, lightly tapped the floor with her stick.

Tap.

A massive current that rained down from the sky bisected the Aegian commander's entire body.

Crash!

Riveria then reappeared in front of the World Tree as she kneels down and prayed.

"Oh, God of the Forest, forgive me from my display today. I merely protected the city and caused many deaths with my retaliation." Riveria prayed earnestly.

[...]

In the Aegian headquarters, someone is reporting the failed attack on the World Tree.

The reporting Aegian warrior is talking to a mysterious person sitting on the throne.

A one-way mirror serving as a barrier is separating the two, which is why no one among their entire army have seen the face of the mysterious person who is leading the entire Aegian race.

The mysterious person then ordered to crash the Ark to the Alvanheim.

"Very well. Your wish is my command." The warrior bowed down before leaving the throne room.

The mysterious person then flashed an evil grin with only their mouth visible.

In the next moment, the flying Ark vibrates slightly as its front points down to the planet.

Descend! Vuwoooooooormmmm!

Unexplainable sensation flooded down the engineers' mind as they steered the Ark to crash down on the said city.

Like a meteor, flames wrapped the Ark as it crashed on the atmosphere, however, its hull is fortified which made use of the flames to propel itself further with greater momentum.

Riveria, who is overseeing the sky of Alvanheim, noticed the falling humongous ship towards the city.

She immediately charged like a tornado to receive and redirect the descending ship.

Break! Rumble!!!

As her extended mana made contact with the hull of the ship, the flames died out.

She then reestablished her Mana Expansion to make it mirror her attacks.

Pulsate! Vuooooom!

Like an invisible hand slapping the massive ship, it slightly changed courses, now avoiding the middle of the city.

Both the Elvens and the Aegians could only panic while watching the events unfold in their eyes.

The power of the Argonaut is beyond imagination.

As Riveria repeatedly attacked the ship, it finally lost its momentum before and dropped down sharply, avoiding the whole city and even the roots of the World Tree.

However, an entire forest gets devoured in the impact of the Fallen Ark.

Kabooooooom! Rumble rumble rumble! Quake!!!

Earthquakes hit the city for minutes until it calmed down.

The mysterious person, greatly annoyed by the developments due to the failed plans, laughed quietly as they teleported out of the Fallen Ark.

They let the ancient race Aegis perish just like that. They did not hesitate helping them and the innocent citizens.

However, unaware of the new developments, Riveria spared most of the Aegian citizens' lives, in turn, they should never go to any war ever again nor do evil deeds.

The elder undoubtedly agreed without any complaint as he led his people to turn the Fallen Ark into a city, which will aid Alvanheim with their engineering skills.

They steeled their hearts for their new lives back again inside the planet they once resided, but they will not wage war ever again.

They should have learned their lesson from the Ancient War, but as the elder remembered the mysterious person, he run inside the throne room which was not damaged on the fall.

As he opened the steel doors with a push of a button, he checked every corner just to find not even a single creature.

[...]

The mysterious person's destination seems to be the Middle Realm. As they landed, they immediately breathed lots of air as if they are on a relaxing paradise.

When a stray horned goblin saw the mysterious person, it immediately turned tail and ran away.

However, just as it is about to move its feet, it felt an extremely evil oppressive force.

The area that the mysterious person arrived in was the same as Veil, it seems that their target is the World Crystal, as they continue sniffing the air for the mana strands to track the World Crystal's energy.

Meanwhile, Veil who has finished a great deal of battles, which were easier than the orc lord, finally arrived before the den of the giant spiders.

In her attempt to traverse and map out the cave, she found out that multiple passageways connect the cave, with only one main entrance, there are more than ten different passageways that all lead to the World Crystal.

However, she was still unaware of the World Crystal, she just knew that the mana strands are becoming thicker and more soothing as she delve deeper.

After an arduous battle for 8 days, she finally reached a massive open area where she felt the purest mana strands.

However, as she sharpened her senses, she immediately discovered two massive auras clashing against each other beyond her.

She slowly walked and looked over the area where the fiercest energies are gushing out.

"!!!"

What she saw was a dissected and mangled body of a 3-headed beast and a Dark Clown with their fingers trembling about while seemingly absorbing the massive crystal injected on the ground.

The mysterious person from the Fallen Ark is this Dark Clown, who was posing as the lord of the Aegis' remnant.

"Who are you?!" Veil hurriedly asked the Dark Clown.

"!?" The Dark Clown turned their head.

As Veil readies her shadow sword, the Dark Clown before her disappeared and the next thing she knows, she blacked out and collapsed.

Thud!

The Dark Clown moved faster than the eyes could perceive, they sent a chop to Veil's neck to knock her down.

They could not be bothered to be discovered by a witness in absorbing the World Crystal.

However, as the Dark Clown did not know, once they cancelled the absorption process from the World Crystal, it will always reject them on their next attempts.

Kyaaaaaaaaaawwgg!

The Dark Clown screamed loudly as they stomped down in frustration.

After destroying most of the areas in the cave to bury the human with the World Crystal, they teleported out to search for more power to absorb.

The Dark Clown is a very elusive entity who has also existed since the Ancient War.

They are the ones who instigated most of the races to attack humans and pillage their cities and villages for resources.

However, the Dark Clown is a totally different lifeform, as if they are not a real existence.

They show no traces of mana whenever it traverses realms or worlds alike.

That is also the reason why even Gods struggle to track down the surviving Dark Clown because mana exists in all things.

As the sole Dark Clown in the entire universe, it made it harder for the Gods to hunt them down, with this, they can build a greater and bigger force personally powered up by them to bring war yet against the humans.

[...]

Crumble crumble. Boom! Crack!

As the cave is slowly collapsing, Veil shortly woke up and immediately assessed her situation.

The last thing she remembered was an unknown entity knocking her down without even being able to defend herself.

She then dug out and swatted away the rubbles from the cave to make a passageway.

In the process of doing so, she discovered that the crystal from before she darkened out was still intact.

She then spread her hands toward the World Crystal to try and absorb the huge amount of pure mana leaking out.

As soon as she connected her own mana with the World Crystal, various memories flooded her mind as she staggered down.

Good thing that she retained her consciousness as suffering a mind down in the collapsing cave will just bury her alive.

As more information entered her brain, the dizzier she felt.

The memories being played back is about the Ancient War where various races in the human world almost suffered extinction before the Heroes stepped in.

She also discovered that this crystal is a World Crystal, existing way before the Ancient War, which naturally holds pure mana affected by the Heroes' powers when they stopped the war.

However, the more she absorbs the pure mana, the purer the rest becomes, which is like a thick liquid going down one's throat.

Her magic circuits feel clogged as she attempts to absorb the purest mana.

She then sparked up an idea to how she could absorb the rest of the World Crystal.

Mana Expansion: Shadow Envoy's Descent!

The shadow tentacles sprouted beneath her and stuck to the World Crystal, this way, she has more connected surfaces to absorb the purest mana.

'It worked!' Seeing that the remaining purest mana is getting absorbed in a faster rate, she inwardly celebrated.

Crack!

As she feels more exhausted and beads of sweat form on her forehead, the World Crystal finally lost its glow as it disintegrates.

However, the moment the crystal turn into dust, Veil felt unfamiliar pulsating power within her.

A hundredfold power to vanquish even stronger enemies!