The War Outbreak

In the forest of the world of Ky'lar, the echo of a lightning bolt tore through the clearing's airspace with the violence of a final judgment.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZRAAAAAAAKISH—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM...!!!!!!!!)

That detonation not only illuminated the gloom with intermittent flashes, but also acted as the vibration that shattered the last ounce of mystical containment in every corner of the battlefield.

(¡¡¡SHRRRRRR-VROOOOM-KRRRR-SHHHHH!!!)

On the left flank, the hundreds of replicas of living stone and deep ocre crystals that made up Eldora-Gideon's wall flashed in unison, tensing their rocky structures before the silver Valkyrie.

"...."

In response, Silver, impassive with her greatsword plunged into the mud, tightened her grip on the hilt as the gray, spectral flames of her blade began to hiss, ready to sever the living rock.

(¡¡¡¡KABOOOOOOOM-FSHHH!!!!)

On the right flank, Keahi's wall of volcanic fire roared with a deafening crackle, splattering dense magma that melted the mud at Goldie's bare feet.

"Step aside...!"

However, the robe composed of the sleeping deity's crimson mantle remained intact, while the blizzard of aureate particles behind her silhouette compacted into threads of blinding light, locking her crimson pupils in a deadly duel with the lava colossus.

(¡¡¡................!!!)

Meanwhile, in the rear, in the mud of the clearing, the situation for the rest of those present was desperate.

(WHAT IS THIS PRESSURE?!)

Prostrate in the cold mud, trapped in an absolute paralysis caused by the titanic density of the existential pressure, the women dressed in ridiculous attire were unable to lift a single finger.

"¡Jjhh-agh! ¡Ssh-huk! ¡Khff-fff!"

"¡Ahg-ggh! ¡Hh-f-fff! ¡Jj-jhhg!"

"¡Ssh-aj! ¡Kh-hff! ¡Uhg-ggh!"

Their breaths were choked spasms, feeling how the viscous air threatened to make their chests burst.

"¡Jjhh-agh!... It... it can't... b-be... My body... refuses to... m-move! ¡Khff-fff!... What is... this damn... p-pressure?"

However, in the midst of the humiliation of their human and inefficient bodies, the stupor was replaced by pure terror upon contemplating the magnitude of the cataclysm looming over them.

"... The others... are falling... ¡Ssh-huk!... I-I don't care... who or what the enemy is! ¡Ahg-ggh!... I am... the guardian... of the Goddess! ¡Hh-f-fff!... M-My duty... is to protect her!... M-Move!... MOVE!... ¡Jj-jhhg!"

And among all the subjected warriors, only Clotilde managed to force the rigidity of her neck, using the last vestige of her sharp survival instincts to slightly raise her head.

"... J-Just a little... one damn second... ¡Kh-hff!... I need... t-to lay my eyes... on that... p-presence... ¡Uhg-ggh!... ¡AAAGGHH!"

With her face stained with mud and her gaze bloodshot from the effort, she fixed her eyes on the absolute center of the stage.

"¡¡¿?!!"

Thanks to that, from her position, she was the sole direct witness to the dimensional rift that was about to open between the planet's sovereign and the monstrous chimera into which her benefactor had transformed.

(¡¡¡¡¡VVVVVVRRRRRRRR—SHHHHHIAAAAAAA...!!!!!!!!)

And right there, under Clotilde's wide-eyed gaze, the monstrous hybrid chimera into which Mireya had turned flapped its wings of jet-black membrane, fixing its sockets of abyssal darkness upon the hieratic silhouette of the Spirit Queen, whose capillary vines waved like snakes ready for the siege before the imminent general outbreak.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZRAAAAAAAKISH—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM...!!!!!!!!)

However, at the next instant, a dry and deafening rumble, identical to the crack of a lightning bolt striking just a few meters away, made the rigidity of the clearing vibrate with violence.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZUMMMMM...!!!!!!!!)

Before Clotilde's incredulous and wide-eyed gaze, Mireya's monstrous hybrid silhouette completely disappeared from the air.

"¡¡¡!!!"

There was no physical displacement or trace of speed; it simply vanished from existence in a fraction of a second, leaving behind an atmospheric vacuum that sharply sucked in the surrounding currents of steam.

(¡Uhg!... Don't... g-give in... M-Move! It's... crazy... The air weighs like... tons of steel... It's crushing me... ¡Khff!)

And immediately, abruptly, the overwhelming and suffocating pressure that weighed upon the clearing multiplied all at once, concentrating with the density of a mountain right in front of her position in the mud.

< .... >

In parallel, following the movement, the Spirit Queen's gaze remained fixed, dropping flat toward the ground, sweeping over Clotilde's prostrate figure...

"¡Grrr-RRR-AAARRRGH...!"

Or, rather, focusing with intensity on the terrifying presence that had just materialized right in front of the submissive warrior, interposing itself between her and the incarnation of the planet.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZRAAAAAAAKISH—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM...!!!!!!!!)

Wherefore in response, the Spirit Queen reacted by extending the palm of her pale jade hand forward, beginning to suck in the phosphorescent threads that rushed through the subsoil.

<Vanish...>

In a blink, incalculable amounts of pure natural energy concentrated in the center of her hand, compacting with the density of a star that made the quantum space around it creak, ready to erase the anomaly from the face of Ky'lar.

"¡Gggh... Ah...!"

However, before Clotilde's wide-eyed and incredulous pupils, the imposing hybrid silhouette blocking her vision moved with a contradictory delicacy.

(...W-what... Is...?)

One of the chimera's tails, covered in black scales and white fur, extended toward the mud.

"¡...Hhh...! "

And at its tip, held with a surgical care that defied its own biological madness, rested the small, pale, and helpless body of little Flora, whose critical state manifested in a painfully weak breath.

(Ssssshhhhhiiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuu...)

In this way, the tail deposited the little one into the mud right beside the prostrate warrior.

"Pro... tec... t... her..."

And at that instant, from the chimera's monstrous throat emerged a choked whisper—a broken voice fighting between agonizing reason and the savage growls of a demon—echoing a plea that resonated within Clotilde's instincts like an unbreakable chain.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZRAAAAAAAKISH—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM...!!!!!!!!)

And immediately, without waiting for a response, Mireya's presence decomposed into a violent chromatic flash.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM—KRRRRRRRR...!!!!!!!!)

With the dry rumble of a descending lightning bolt, it vanished once more from the visual plane, leaving behind the trail of a violent static that made the damp earth crack.

"¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡GWRAAAA-SHWIIIING-GROOOOOOOOO-GWAARRRGHHH-AAAAAAARRRGHHH-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡"

And before the Spirit Queen could release the colossal mass of natural energy concentrated in her hand, reality fractured right beneath her.

<¡¡...!!>

Cutting through the mud with a savage violence, Mireya's monstrous physiognomy lunged forward, propelling itself from the ground with a devastating terrestrial advance that closed the distance in a fraction of a second.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡PLAS-TZZZZZZZZ...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Whereupon, the beast, taking advantage of its shorter stature and its clenched fist imbued with a whirlwind of pure energy, unleashed an upward impact with a visceral and rectilinear power, focusing directly on destruction.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZRAAAAAAAKISH—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM...!!!!!!!!)

Nevertheless, despite the blind speed of the attack, the Spirit Queen's reflexes responded at the very last breath, blocking the direct impact by interposing her right arm to cushion the trajectory of the blow.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM—KRRRRRRRR...!!!!!!!!)

As a result, the collision of both absolute forces generated a seismic shockwave that swept across the clearing's ground, crumbling the rock beneath their feet; driven by the overwhelming inertia of the punch, the Spirit Queen's body was violently ripped from the mud, sent flying through the air toward the fractured firmament, carving a trail of atmospheric vacuum in her wake.

(¡¡ZWUUUUUUUU-KABUUUUUUUUM!!)

But while being propelled toward the firmament, the Spirit Queen counterattacked, and from the heights, suddenly unleashed the colossal accumulation of power she had gathered, releasing from the palm of her hand a deafening torrent of pure natural energy that descended with a synthetic, high-pitched, and devastating hum.

"¡¡¡¡GWRAAAA...!!!!!"

Wherefore in response, the beast, adopting a savage posture, positioned itself on all fours upon the cracked mud of the clearing, digging its claws into the underlying rocky bed.

(¡¡¡¡¡SHWIIII-ZUUUUU~!!!!!)

And tensing every muscle, it accumulated and channeled all the instability of its being into a single critical point...

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡GROOOOOO-BOOOOOM-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

... Thus releasing in an explosion a conceptual torrent of pure entropy that ascended with a teluric force, defying all logic.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡BRRRR-KABOOOOMMM-SHWWWAAAAA-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

As a result, the purity of natural energy and the corruption of unstable entropy devoured each other in a struggle for existential supremacy that froze the environment for a microsecond.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KABUUUU-ZWWWWWW-FFFFSHHHHHH-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

In this way, the mutual cancellation of the two forces triggered a massive explosion of concentric shockwaves that swept across the skies, generating a blast wave that suddenly disintegrated the carbonized clouds and completely dissipated the unnatural storm that was suffocating the place, entirely clearing the firmament of Ky'lar to reveal, for the first time in the combat, a strangely clean celestial vault above the dantesque setting of the clearing.

<...>

However, through the newly cleared firmament, the silhouette of the living ecosystem stabilized her upward trajectory, suspending herself calmly in the air.

< Come. >

And right after, a single word was enough...

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FSSSSS-SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

So that at the very next instant, the empty space behind her winged silhouette fractured, releasing with the speed of a blink hundreds of natural spirits of various shapes, sizes, and elemental glows that manifested behind her back.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM—KRRRRRRRR...!!!!!!!!)

But at that moment in response, the clearing's ground vibrated with a mechanical nature...

(¡¡¡¡¡CLANK-CLK-CLK-CHHHHHHHH-KRNGGGGG...!!!!!)

And from the depths of the dry land, a rhythmic, dense, and deafening echoing of gears began to creak, spreading with the vibration of a finely-tuned machinery.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡SWWWWWUUUUUUUHH-RRRRRGH-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

Right behind the chimera's position, the entire inn began to undergo an aberrant and monstrous transmutation.

(¡¡¡¡CRACK-KRRRRZSSSSS-FSSSHHH-¡¡¡¡)

The wooden beams and roof tiles twisted with organic spasms, bending and interconnecting as an alloy of liquid and advanced bronze—etched with fluorescent circuits that flickered with unstable energy—enveloped the entire structure.

(¡¡¡¡GLUB-GLUP-VZZZZZZT-CHHHH-¡¡¡¡)

Right after, the windows deformed into empty mechanical sockets, and the main facade cracked open, revealing gigantic jaws of living metal that grinded with the friction of a thousand parts, turning the peaceful refuge into a living and grotesque architectural fortress.

(¡¡¡¡CLANG-SHWIIIP-ZZZRRRR-¡¡¡¡)

Brownie had joined the conflict.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡GWERKKK-PFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-GHOOOSHHH...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

And with a colossal crash that shook the foundations of the clearing, the transformed structure's bronze jaws opened wide, regurgitating forward a dark and suffocating tide...

(¡¡¡¡KRRRRAAAAK-SCHRREEECH-VVRRRRR-¡¡¡¡)

From the building's metallic throat were vomited, one after another, hundreds of deformed and screeching silhouettes that crawled over the mud, positioning themselves en masse behind the chimera like a nightmare tide.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRRR-CHIT-CHIT-SKRRREEEE-FSSSS-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

Those entities, whose existence had been described by the chroniclers of the fallen Valerius Empire in Ky'lar, were called...

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡GROOOO-THUMMM-KRAAA-GWAARRGH-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

Straw demons.