Chapter 256: The lull caused by an explosive lance

No one, save for Lily, who was enshrouded in the same Presence Nullification skill, could feel the sky-shaking mana that had formed a javelin. This time, however, Claud had forcibly condensed the sky-spanning spear into a normal-sized one, compressing the explosive mana over and over. Mana Hub, which was an upgraded passive skill from his Mana Organ, actually allowed him to manipulate mana remotely, which meant that he didn't need to throw anything. He hadn't used it last time, but now that he had time to examine his status…

A nexus of mana. That was him, Claud.

Lily trembled at the man-sized spear, which had now turned silver entirely. Claud didn't know why the colour had changed, but whatever the case, he could tell that the attack on the Moon Emissary had nothing on this single spear. Immense mana had been bound tightly, compressed and condensed into a projectile that would not unravel this time.

His heart trembled at this moment. For some reason, Claud had the feeling that he was about to do something really, really wrong, but his reason took over and extinguished that sentiment immediately. The great Dark were monsters, weren't they?

Spending another second to suppress that sentiment, Claud took a deep breath and hardened his resolve.

The spear floated out of his hand a moment later, before propelling itself forward madly. At the same time, Lily's hands moved, tearing apart another Presence Nullification skillstrip. A cool wave of energy fell upon them as the hurled, compressed lance of explosive mana crossed the distance instantly, covering them just as the attack landed.

Claud and Lily turned their eyes away, just in time to avoid the emergence of a second sun. Silvery light dyed the entire world, forcibly banishing any other colour at the same time. The wind fell silent a heartbeat later, drowned out by a monstrous roar. From the corner of his eyes, Claud could tell that a giant hemisphere had bloomed, like a sunflower in a room of darkness. Lightning crackled and roared, creating little tendrils that swept out eagerly over and over again.

Below them, the ground bucked and trembled, an earthquake that shook even the Lostfon county capital itself. Far behind him, he could hear the walls tremble and quiver, but fortunately, the city was far enough from the point of impact that the walls still shook.

"Moons…" Lily's awed voice entered his ear. "I've seen it once, but it's still scary. I see why they kept calling you a monster from the Third Godsfall."

"I'm not, okay?" Claud replied. "And I'm sure that after I downed the Moon Emissary, they would have upgraded me to a monster from the Second Godsfall."

Lily stifled a giggle.

"It's not funny! I'm what, just twenty-odd years old? Being described as an ancient relic does not please me in any way whatsoever," Claud replied.

"But you're smiling."

"Am I?" Claud felt his face, before feeling a touch of absurdity in his chest. Normally, people would have been staring at the giant ball of silvery death that was spitting on lightning in the distance, but being the one to launch such an attack twice in the same moon phase had definitely detracted from the shock and awe factor.

"Yeaap." Lily, who was unaware of his thoughts, poked his cheeks. "Definitely smiling. You tell me that you don't like attention, but you're pleased by this new nickname anyway. Not sure what to think of all this."

"Well, it's because I'm overcome with flattery," Claud replied. "You'd start smiling if I heap praises on you, right? Even if you don't like it, you'll still be smiling because that's how it is."

He paused. "I know that's a flimsy argument, though, but…oh hey, look."

Claud gazed at the gigantic crater, the only proof that an entire army of dark shadows had been there just a minute ago. From their vantage point, the depth of the hemispherical pit seemed to be the same as the hemisphere's height back then, and Claud intuitively understood that his attack had resulted in the creation of a ball of silvery annihilation.

"Enemy routed, it seems," Lily reported. "And you created a huge blockade between the Lostfon County and the Quies Dukedom. Your mission to buy some time has been executed perfectly, although I shudder to think about the costs to level the whole area."

"Yeah, that'll be a problem." Claud narrowed his eyes. "I think I annihilated all the dirt and ground there. I didn't dislodge it like a regular explosion, that attack literally turned everything to dust."

"Come to think of it, we didn't have much of a chance to examine the previous crater you made," said Lily. "I wonder what it looks like. Do you think I'll be able to recreate such an attack with the right explosives?"

"Well, I dumped lots of mana into that single spear. If you can replicate the condensation of mana on that scale, it should be possible," Claud replied. "I mean, I had your advice in mind when I was condensing all that mana, after all."

"My advice?" Lily asked.

"Back when you came over to my place for some fizzy drinks?" Claud asked.

Lily tilted her head. "Oh. Right. I was teaching you how to make some basic explosives, right? And then we talked about increasing power."

"Yep, yep. I was looking back at my attack from that day. Sure, the giant spear of light looked awesome, but it lacked that kind of oomph." Claud forced out some mana from his body, which immediately formed a small sphere. "But if I make it smaller, I could make it release power at a far greater intensity."

Lily chuckled. "You do know that I'm the explosives expert here, right? But to think that this can be applied to mana too. I'm shocked."

"I think that attack was more shocking, though. I can see the crater from here, and that's saying a lot," Claud replied. "But let's put that aside first. What should we do now? We can't land at Lostfon now, since that'll be too suspicious. And to be honest, I don't want to enter the Celestia Ruins right now, since we don't have enough tools yet."

Lily stared at the city below. "Why can't we sneak into Lostfon? We can disguise ourselves as someone who made their way here two days ago for a holiday. As knights of the Primus family. Don't worry. My acting skills are good."

"I'm not doubting that, but…hmm. Why did I not think of that?" Claud frowned. "What, did I turn into a law-abiding citizen or something?"

"You are the leading security officer for Licencia. Maybe that title made you reluctant to sneak in?" Lily asked. "Or maybe something inside you is assuming that Lostfon also has nets that prevent people from flying in?"

"…Makes sense. Must be some occupational tic I picked up in my time there," said Claud. "But if that's the case, why didn't you think the same way?"

"I'm your assistant," Lily replied brightly. "There's a difference."

"There is?"

"There is, there is." Lily nodded. "For instance, I'm not actively considering the city's security every day. My job back then is to help you help the city, so I'm only thinking about you every day, not the city."

"…Thanks, Lily."

She grinned back. "Anyway, where should we land?"

"A place with lots of people," Claud replied. "It might seem counterintuitive, but escaping into the crowd right after an event occurs is often the best way to seem innocent. I don't like crowds, but we all have to be a bit…adaptive."

He glanced at Lily's face, which betrayed a hint of dislike, and then patted her. "We'll land at the edge of the crowd, and I'll hug you the whole time. Is that better?"

"Okay…"

"There, there."

The frightened crowds in Lostfon were still staring blankly at the distant horizon as they landed. As for the soldiers that were gathering up to defend the city, most of them were shaking in their boots, clearly awed by the gigantic attack that had wiped out the army of shadows. Bolts of lightning arced skywards every few seconds, and the deafening roar had been replaced by a howling wind.

"Everyone's scared," Lily whispered.

Claud held her close, as promised, and then edged away from one of the many crowds. Claud nudged someone and felt Presence Nullification wear off prematurely, but as usual, no one noticed.

A lot of people were hugging someone else too, as Claud took a quick look around the place. Lily buried her face into his neck a few seconds later, if only to make their act a bit stronger, and Claud had to stop himself from giggling.

Her breathing was making his neck somewhat ticklish, but laughing out would be a bad idea here. Enduring the nice warmth that made him twitch every few seconds, Claud pricked his ears and waited for everyone's common sense to resume operation. No matter how stunning that explosion was, life had to go on.

Life indeed went on a minute later, as some fellow with ornate armour shot to the skies. "Everyone! Don't just stand there! That attack must have come from one of the Chromatic Lords! We must take this chance to fortify our defences and wait for reinforcements to come!"

The crowd bubbled in excitement, and the soldiers broke out of their stupor with renewed vigour. Claud, however, had no idea what the civilians' role here was, and after exchanging glances with Lily, decided to ask someone nearby.

Her answer was a bit surprising.