I'm back! 🙌 I truly apologize for being away—I was buried in exams and an intense schedule of tests, which kept me from writing and posting.
But today, I've finally written a new chapter for you! And this week, I'll make it up to you with more exciting content.
Thank you for your patience and amazing support ❤️
🎩🌹🗿
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As soon as Jeff sped towards the barrier, the door of the modest palace opened quietly. A girl stepped out with quick strides after glancing outside, her voice laced with defiance and sarcasm:
"Hmph... Did you really think I'd obediently stay at home?"
A mocking smile played on her lips as she added confidently:
"It seems you underestimate my strength, Sergeant Jeff..."
She slowly raised her hand to the center of her forehead, and suddenly, winds howled around her, swirling into vortexes like miniature tornadoes wrapping around her body, before she was engulfed in a brilliant green aura. In a flash, the aura transformed into pure gold, illuminating the surroundings with dazzling light.
A stunning combat suit materialized on her, sleek and perfectly form-fitting, dominated by shimmering gold, interwoven with glowing green lines that pulsed with every movement. At her wrists and ankles, the suit's edges faded into a misty transparency, like extensions of the aura surrounding her.
She smiled confidently, her eyes gleaming with a green flash, before saying:
"I might not be as fast as Sergeant Jeff... but I'm also Rank S."
She braced her feet, gathering wind energy within them, then launched herself at incredible speed towards the sky, creating a violent vortex that shook the garden flowers and stripped leaves from the trees. She soared between palaces and colossal buildings, her long black hair whipping violently through the air, her eyes blazing with green sparks.
"I need to hurry... Otherwise, I might not know what will happen to Jeff..." she muttered anxiously.
But suddenly, a hand blacker than darkness, twisting like a giant serpent, grabbed her forcefully and yanked her into the void.
She found herself trapped in an endless dark void, unable to move anything but her eyes and mouth. She tried to scream, but the darkness swallowed her voice whole. Suddenly, a deep voice boomed from the void, heavy as if the universe itself was speaking:
"Don't worry, girl... I won't harm you, for we are on the same side. I am a hero of Rank SSS... they call me The Shadow."
Her breath hitched as his voice crawled into the depths of her soul:
"Why were you flying so fast? And what happened to your partner Jeff?"
She answered hesitantly:
"We received a report of a disturbance at the protective barrier, but Jeff..." Her words abruptly cut off.
"But Jeff what?!" The Shadow's voice showed irritation.
"When the two of them requested we head to the designated location, Jeff agreed. But just as we were about to go together, his expression changed and he told me not to go with him, that he'd take responsibility alone. I agreed to his words, but when he left, I followed him without him knowing!" Amisha spoke carefully, weighing her words and hiding the mission she'd been assigned with Jeff.
"Hmmm! And what is this location?" He sighed, then added:
"Don't worry, girl, you won't be reprimanded for sharing mission intel with me."
Amisha hesitated, but said with difficulty:
"It's the barrier separating our continent from the continent of the monsters."
"It seems a monster attacked the barrier... But doesn't that happen often? Why all this worry?" The Shadow wondered, then asked:
"What is your name, little girl?"
"My name is Amisha!" she answered without hesitation.
"Ha... Amisha! I remember now... She's the sister of that boy whom the Federation Chief ordered imprisoned in the Hell Cell, Level 9!!!" he thought to himself.
The Shadow began piecing everything together in a complex web in his mind: the Federation's decision regarding that child, and what happened at the barrier. It all pointed to one person bold enough to do it... Yes, it was him!
"It seems something bad really has happened... If the cause is that boy shrouded in darkness, that means... Jeff is in real trouble."
"Heheheheheh! This seems like it will be splendid, a confrontation between siblings. I understand now. Jeff was trying to stop this girl from learning her brother is alive."
The Shadow suddenly emerged from the void, his body forming from black mist. He wore a long, dark coat and a circular black hat that hid part of his features, while his grey eyes glowed faintly in the darkness like dull swords. His hair was black and short. He approached her, the shadows around him writhing like living things, and said in a voice that shook the void:
"Amisha... If you want to save Jeff, come with me now."
With a single step, he cleaved the darkness behind him, opening an endless dark void tunnel from which icy winds flowed, carrying distant screams like ghostly whispers.
"This is the Void Tunnel... the fastest path to the barrier separating the monster continent and the human one." He said it coldly, then turned into it:
"Let's go."
Amisha's fingers trembled, her heart pounding madly, but she fearfully extended her hand and stepped into the darkness before the tunnel swallowed her along with The Shadow.
His grey eyes glowed in the gloom, and a final thought echoed within him:
"If he is the cause... then Jeff is definitely in trouble."
After minutes of walking in the tunnel, Amisha's green eyes shone in the dark as she contemplated the mysterious man's back ahead. She didn't pay attention to his simple clothes, but the aura weighing down the air around him made her body tremble without clear reason.
Before she could ask anything, a shiver ran down her spine. A savage energy was approaching the tunnel's path at high speed, threatening to tear it apart.
The Shadow grabbed her hand firmly, and with a swift motion, cleaved an exit from the void, then hurled her out with immense force.
"Ah!" she screamed as she was thrown from the tunnel, spinning in the air before regaining her balance with difficulty.
She landed on the edge of a high rock ledge, lifting her head to comprehend what happened… but the first thing she noticed were drops of water splashing on her face.
"Rain?!" she muttered in surprise, touching the raindrops on her forehead, then raising her gaze to the dark sky torn by streaks of lightning.
"But… in the city it was sunny!"
She had no time to think more. Suddenly, a deafening explosion boomed in the distance, followed by a terrifying shockwave that toppled trees and shattered rocks, as if the earth itself had split in two. At that moment, the rain stopped. Everything fell silent abruptly, even the storm died down for a single moment, and the sky froze as if held between breaths.
"What is this…?!" she whispered, the air around her growing heavier still.
Then—
The horizon split with a colossal black wave, sweeping away everything in its path, leaving behind a bottomless pit, while the massive barrier walls trembled under the weight of an unprecedented catastrophe.
The silence didn't last long. After mere seconds, the rain returned… harder than before, as if the sky had decided to weep on behalf of all who had just died.
Amisha clenched her fist, her heart pounding madly:
"No time for hesitation… I must get there before something worse happens."
She gathered her energy again in her feet and shot off like a green missile piercing the storm. Only moments remained to arrive.
As she neared the barrier, her eyes froze in astonishment:
A legendary wall three thousand meters high, towering like an endless mountain, composed of massive yellow stones trembling under the pressure of a mysterious force. In the sky, sparks of light flashed, remnants of the barrier beginning to crumble piece by piece, its energy waves rippling weakly in the air.
Amisha leapt to the top, landing safely on the barrier, to face the sight that would change everything... in her eyes.
The barrier's surface was covered in puddles formed by the heavy rain, making it extremely slippery.
But Amisha didn't care about anything at this moment; her hair stopped moving with the wind, her eyes shone with a forest-like green, and her pressure suddenly spiked.
"Who did this?!" she wondered as her pressure rose.
She saw numerous scattered body parts: arms, legs, and some headless corpses. But there was one body split vertically down the middle, its blood spreading across the ground to form a pool, not to mention the sight of intestines spilling from the center.
At that moment, Amisha felt she was about to vomit from what she saw, but she heard a voice weakly calling Jeff's name.
"Jeff, don't come near!"
That man screamed at her with a trembling voice, his condition clearly critical. He had lost both arms and one leg at the joints; a small stone had pierced one eye, and his entire body was bleeding profusely, forming a pool of blood beneath him.
But Amisha didn't focus on him; her eyes were drawn to the person the man was calling. He stood tall amidst the storm, wearing a tattered white cloak, remnants of a fierce battle fought moments ago. His short blond hair was completely soaked by the rain, the wind violently whipping his cloak, and Amisha couldn't see his eyes clearly, but her heart recognized him... It was Jeff!
He held a sword radiating intense light, his face betraying furious anger as he advanced with steady steps forward, like someone who had lost all mercy within.
When Amisha shifted her gaze back to the injured man leaning against the barrier, she noticed the stark contrast between him and Jeff. He wasn't wearing a white cloak, but a black one adorned with delicate purple lines at its lower edges. His black hair was longer than Jeff's, and he hid his features behind a black mask with three vertical purple lines down the center, adding to his mystery and dread.
She was overjoyed inside but simultaneously felt something strange, and she was right.
Suddenly, black spikes erupted from the ground, piercing Jeff's body abruptly, as if the earth itself had turned into a deadly trap. Blood gushed from his shoulder, thigh, and side as he screamed, a cry that tore through the storm's noise. The rain fell mercilessly upon him, mingling with his hot blood that stained the stones and puddles.
Amisha, who had just reached the barrier's edge, froze in place. Her green eyes widened in utter shock, and her heart clenched violently, almost leaping from her chest.
"Jeff...?!" The name tumbled from her lips like a trembling whisper, swallowed by the roar of rain and thunder.
She couldn't comprehend what had happened at first. All she saw was his body shuddering under the spikes impaling him like fangs from a shadow beast. His sword fell from his hand, hitting the ground with a muffled thud, as if even the light itself had surrendered.
Her breathing quickened, the heat of anger ignited in her veins, her hands trembled… then she clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms.
She could no longer hear anything… not the rain, not the thunder, not even Jeff's screams.
All that filled her head… was that man's face.
That man leaning against the barrier, his body dripping blood, rising slowly, darkness coiling around him like an undying serpent. His purple eyes, tinged with blood, glinted like hellish sparks behind the torn mask.
She didn't know him, had never seen him before, but his aura alone made her bones tremble. He was like a beast born from the womb of the void. One look from him… made her feel something strange, something between fear and hatred.
But when she saw Jeff collapsing onto his knees, blood gushing from his wounds, the lightning revealing his pain-stricken face… all fear in her heart burned away.
Something shattered inside her, and her voice erupted like a volcano:
"You SCUM!!!"
The earth trembled under her feet, and the thunder drowned her scream, but the fury exploding from her needed no sound… it was an aura of raw power, knowing no mercy.
"Is it him? Is this the monster who killed them all?"
She looked at the torn guards' corpses, at the dying commander, then at Jeff, her partner, barely clinging to life.
"All of them… killed by you alone? Why? Why?! And why now… do you want to kill him too?"
Her veins blazed, her breaths turned into silent fire, and the storm around her seemed to feed on her rage.
She no longer saw the rain. She no longer saw the night. She saw only that shadowed figure leaning, drenched in blood, behind the black mask.
"I won't let you… I won't let you touch him."
She muttered, but the words boiled with a fire only death could hear.
And in the next moment… her energy exploded.
Her aura tore from her body like a cyclone, enveloping the sky, shredding the rain, and swirling around her at terrifying speed.
Its color… emerald green, pristine, as if Nature itself had armed her to be a sword.
Her suit transformed instantly, layers multiplying, gauntlets of wind wrapping around her legs and arms, and every movement cleaved the air like a blade.
She screamed again, her voice tearing through the mist and shaking the barrier's very echo:
"I'll kill you!!! I'll kill you!!! I'll kill you!!!"
"I'll tear you to shreds… even if I have to blow this world apart with you!!!"
She raised her scythe high, and the storm answered the call.
A whirlwind, like an angry tornado, wrapped around its blade, its speed multiplying until the green light extended from it like a crescent moon of death shimmering in the darkness.
Then… she launched.
"S C Y T H E O F T H E W I N D ! ! !"
The attack was like a falling star, cleaving space in a single line of raw fury.
It struck Korgami's body before he could catch his breath, pierced his chest, tore his black cloak, his mask exploded into glittering shards in the rain, and the echo of the blast faded into a terrifying silence…
— Then the utterly unexpected happened.
The colossal barrier… trembled. But it wasn't a fleeting tremor. Massive cracks began spreading across it, like veins of death on a dying body.
And in one second, the light exploded.
A black fissure tore through the wall, its lights scattering into the sky like dying stars… and the symbol that had protected their world for decades shattered.
"Impossible… the barrier… collapsed?!"
But her cry of astonishment was lost in the scene that followed:
Korgami's body was flung through the fissure, swallowed by the darkness, drifting towards the abyss beyond the barrier, while the wind screamed his name as if avenging the entire world.
She gripped her scythe tightly, her breath ragged, her heart boiling. She didn't know who he was. She didn't know why he did all this. And she didn't care.
"She rushed towards Jeff with speed."