Chapter 93: An old battle

My eye wandered about in curiosity as I watched the old ruined city come to life. The buildings were fixed, the streets were full, and the people were laughing. I was surprised by the various races present together, all seemingly in harmony. I watched in interest as what appeared to be a demon holding a human girl in his arms laughing together as they walked down the busy street.

The building across from me was now a restaurant with chairs settled outside. Numerous people could be seen enjoying the food happily as they chatted without a care in the world. My eyes suddenly widened in shock as a huge shadow passed through the skies causing the people to let out gasps of awe as they raised their heads to look at it.

It was a giant yellow dragon, one that I was unfamiliar with. Glancing at the people's reactions, It appeared like they were used to the presence of dragons as a few lowered their heads respectfully towards the passing dragon.

Seeing such a scene only served to further confuse me, 'When did this happen? How long ago was it? Does that mean that all races once lived in harmony together? And most importantly, what was this city?' I soon found myself with countless questions yet no answers.

No one in the city seemed to see me as I aimlessly wandered around it. 'So I am really in a different plane of existence?' I inwardly mumbled as another human passed right through me without so much of a reaction.

The city was truly impressive, almost like a giant vibrant maze. No matter what street I took, It would always be full of people going about their business. This made me feel like I was a tourist sightseeing. Though all of this abruptly changed when the sky above suddenly darkened.

I raised my head in curiosity as thick red thunderbolts streaked through the sky. The sudden change in weather seemed to puzzle the city's citizens as well as they raised their heads towards the sky in surprise.

Just then, a few giant dragons appeared hovering above the city, their gazes were solemn as they stared at the sky that seemed to be collapsing. At first, there were only three of them, the yellow dragon of earlier, a grey one, and a red one.

Soon, however, more arrived as the sky was quickly full with a never-before-seen army of dragons. My mouth was wide open in shock as I stared at the large number of dragons present, this was my first time seeing so many of them at the same place.

The army of dragons blotted the sky as they faced the collapsing sky. It appeared as If someone, or something, was trying to force himself in causing the very fabric of space to collapse. I could sense the cosmic mana struggling to keep the intruder at bay, yet It was only a matter of time before a giant clawed abyssal arm suddenly appeared in the sky above the city.

My heart sank the moment I saw It, my scales tingled nervously as I stared at the familiar arm, "T-The Shades?!" I stuttered as a large void tear was suddenly opened by the obsidian arm. From said tear, a large amount of revolting black energy flooded towards the city.

It was not the same as Sidus's black magic, but a more sinister energy, one that I felt should not even exist in this world. Under my shocked gaze, the army of dragons rushed headfirst towards the void tear, launching their strongest attacks all at once causing the sky to brighten to the point where I could no longer keep my eyes open.

It felt as If the world was collapsing on itself, and amidst it all, I could feel the cosmic mana struggling to keep the plane from breaking. I was not sure if there was a certain presence guiding the cosmic mana, or was It moving by itself, yet one thing I knew for certain was that without It, the entire plane would have collapsed from the dragon army's simultaneous attack.

The cosmic mana seemed to work as a guide as It gently directed all of the attacks towards the void tear and that abyssal dark clawed arm. A muffled roar full of rage cried out in resentment causing my ears to ring and head to hurt. 'What the-?!'

I didn't understand how such a roar could affect me, a mere bystander. Yet as I raised my head I could see a few dragons crashing into the city below. Without me noticing, a large dome-like shield with various magical runes was now surrounding the city and protecting its citizens who were panicking as they watched the battle in the sky.

"Just his roar was enough to take down a few dragons?! What the hell is that thing?!" I cried out in alarm, my scales tingled in fear as I felt my heart pump in my chest with rage, an unbelievable rage I had never felt before. I felt conflicted, fear, anger, resentment, such feelings clouded my vision as I glared at that clawed arm struggling to push itself into our plane of existence only to be met by the countless dragon's retaliation.

As the dragon army struggled to push back the entity into the void tear, that corrosive energy that seeped out of It was constantly attacking the shield which surrounded the city, appearing like a dark cloud that threatened to swallow everything in its path.

It even managed to take down a few dragons who helplessly crashed to the ground their bodies which still carried that ominous energy fell through the shield and into the buildings below. I watched in terror as the energy slowly rushed towards the citizens who ran in panic.

Yet try as they might, they simply could not outrun It. The once busy city was swiftly engulfed in this dark ominous cloud of repulsive energy. To my surprise, the energy did not simply kill the mortals, no, It changed their bodies into a few forms I was already familiar with.

My eyes widened in disbelief as they turned into obsidian monsters, the ones I saw before when I crossed the barren mountain range with my mother and father to reach our home for the first time. 'Don't tell me! Those things were this place's citizens?!'

Just as the dark clouds were about to swallow me as well, my eyes suddenly blinked back to reality. It took me a few seconds to stabilize myself as I glanced about at the remains of the once glorious city. 'What was that?' I found myself wondering.

I was sure that what I saw had indeed happened a long time ago, cosmic mana helped me see that, 'But why? Why did It show me that battle? Was It because I was curious about what happened to the city? Or was It because of something else?' I inwardly mumbled before I took a deep breath to calm myself.

Raising my head, I quickly spotted Essie's figure still happily dancing in the sky without a care in the world, I, however, was no longer in good mood, not after witnessing that battle.