Blight Dimension - Morvain
Arthur lowered the binoculars, the lenses still catching a sliver of sunlight, and glanced at Rin. "Clear. Let's head back."
Rin gave a short nod. Arthur slipped the binoculars into his bag and followed her through the forest of scarlet trees. The crimson canopy eventually gave way to an open radius of grass, where the rest of the team had gathered. Some stood on watch, others sat uncomfortably on the sharp rocks scattered across the clearing.
Reid spotted them first, waving with both arms. "Rin! Over here!" His grin was wide enough to split his face.
As the pair closed in, Elowen rose to her feet. "The coast?"
"Clear," Arthur confirmed, brushing dirt from a rock before sitting. "But it won't last. If we're grouped like this, our mana will give us away."
His words were drowned out by Lyra's voice, sharp and ringing across the clearing. She had Ren cornered, her arms folded tight. "You went off and got yourself hurt, again! Do you have a death wish? You pathetic idiot, I swear—"
Ren stood stiff, as though each word struck him harder than his wounds had. He finally cut in, gripping her shoulders to still her. His voice steadied after a deep breath. "I'm not sorry. I saved a family. The scars will fade."
Lyra shoved him back, flustered, then spun to face the rest. "Enough. Let's talk about something useful."
Rin smirked faintly at the scene before settling down with her chin in her palm. "So. What's the deal with this base? Doesn't look like anything the blights would build."
Elowen brushed dirt from her trousers, her expression grave. "While you were retrieving Natsume, Lyra and I spoke with the commander. Julius has been enslaving humans—bright minds, forced into service."
Lyra picked up the thread without missing a beat. She gestured toward the distant base. "The machine wasn't of blight design. It came from them. Human scientists. Another unit freed those captives and secured the schematics. There's a weakness: the whole system relies on a core piece. Destroy it, and the rest collapses."
Ren crossed his arms. "Then that's our goal. End the machine, end the invasion."
Arthur lifted a hand to steady the rush. "Careful. It isn't that simple. The building above is a shell. What we're after lies beneath—crystals, roots, living nature itself. Julius' weakened state made it easier to pinpoint, but he will be waiting."
Rin frowned, her voice tight. "So we're walking into a trap. A place the blights know like home, and we don't."
Uneasy silence settled.
"Why not just blow it up?" Reid shrugged, as if it were obvious.
Another beat of silence.
Arthur's brows rose. He tapped his chin, then dug into his pack. "Not insane, actually. These were for breaching." He held up a bundle of explosives. "But with a mana charge, they could flatten the structure."
Reid grinned and mimed an explosion with his hands. "Boom. Blights stagger, we clean house. Sounds good to me."
———
The stone path leading to the base was too quiet. Not even a bird stirred. The emptiness pressed on their nerves with every step.
Inside, the building was worse—hollow corridors, no sound, no scent of life.
Ren's eyes darted across the dark interior. "Nothing. Not even a trace. We should leave. This is a—wait."
The air turned heavy. A crushing weight pressed down on their chests, squeezing the breath from their lungs. An overwhelming power, raw and suffocating, closed in fast. Elowen collapsed to her knees, gasping. Lyra trembled, fighting to stay upright. The others staggered, straining against the invisible pressure.
Then it came.
A roar—deep, primal, echoing through the bones of the earth. It was near, yet impossibly vast, like it came from everywhere at once.
The roof groaned. Stone cracked, splintering into dust. Then the ceiling tore apart, chunks ripped away as if devoured by an unseen maw.
"Move!" Arthur shouted, dragging Elowen as rubble fell. They burst out into the open, legs buckling under the strain. The aura hadn't faded. It had only focused, coiling into something sharper.
The ground cratered with a deafening impact. Dust and broken stone exploded outward.
From the haze emerged vast wings that blotted out the sky. A colossal body landed with such force the earth split beneath its talons.
Arthur raised his sword, his voice raw. "A dragon!"
Ren staggered back, eyes wide. "That's not possible. They're extinct…"
Rin's breath hitched. "Could it be—?"
Lyra's voice cut through, steady but grim. "The strength of an ancient beast. A being of greed."
"Obliterate!" Spirits coiled around Arthur's blade in the blink of an eye. His sword flared with a blinding white glow, the energy alive and furious. The spirits snapped into the tip and fired off in a sweeping beam that tore through the air, aimed square at the dragon's skull.
The blight opened its jaws wide. Mana spiraled upward, the air warping as it condensed into a seething green sphere.
BOOM.
The sphere detonated into a surge of light. The blast met Arthur's strike mid-air, colliding in a shattering distortion of raw mana. The clash rattled the world around them. The earth split and rose, slabs of stone hanging weightless. Trees snapped and bent as if crushed by unseen hands.
The shockwave hurled the Starborn backward. They slammed into the ground hard, Arthur's body ricocheting into the stone wall of the building. His head cracked against it, vision blurring in waves. Through the haze he saw the dragon advancing, each deliberate step shaking the earth. His mind spun, half-formed thoughts dissolving before they reached clarity.
Rin cut across his vision, her arm extended toward him. Her voice carried sharp urgency. "Remember what we practiced? When you're ready, let me know!"
Her words pierced the fog. Arthur focused on her face, nodded once, and seized her arm, dragging himself upright. "I… I remember."
The dragon unfurled one colossal wing. Mana coursed like rivers beneath its hide, funneling into the limb. Ren's sword snapped upward, frost racing along the wing in jagged veins. The blight only flexed, shattering the ice with sheer force.
The wing came down. Wind screamed. A tidal wave of green force ripped forward, tearing ground apart as the air itself distorted. The soil cracked open beneath their feet, chunks of earth floating and collapsing in violent bursts.
Lyra raised her arms and summoned a towering barrier. It blazed with light, but the gale slammed into it with such power that it shrieked and splintered.
My barrier should be unbreakable… shit.
She clapped her hands, conjuring a second wall beneath the first. The first cracked, exploded apart, and the second took the brunt, dispersing the storm in a thunderous burst.
CRASH.
The dragon's claw slashed toward her, massive and lethal. Ren blurred forward, snatching Lyra up and vanishing a heartbeat before impact. The claws gouged trenches through the earth.
"You really should've reacted faster," Ren said flatly as he set her down.
Lyra's brow furrowed, her eyes snapping away. "Shut up. And put me down."
The dragon tilted its head skyward. Its jaws yawned wide, and an ear-splitting shriek tore free, a sound that rattled their bones.
Then silence.
Blights poured from the crimson forest, crawling from shadows, hundreds rushing at once.
Reid met them head-on. His fist crashed through one blight's skull, the shockwave staggering those behind it. Elowen swept her palm across the field, green mana flowing like mist. The creatures faltered, some slowed to a crawl, others collapsing outright.
The dragon surged forward again, claws sweeping with shocking speed for something so massive.
Reid caught the motion at the last second. His eyes narrowed. Running would only prove weakness.
If we're going to win, this beast needs to understand it won't be easy.
He planted his feet and caught the claw in both hands. The ground spiderwebbed beneath him, his body straining against the colossal force. Muscles screamed, veins bulged, and with a roar he forced the limb back. The dragon stumbled, claws dragging free as its balance broke.
Arthur raised his sword high, Rin at his side. The crimson sky dimmed further, the clouds blackening as spirits swirled around him. They gathered into a blinding sphere above, spinning faster until it glowed like a false moon.
Rin's arms blazed with black fire. One arm shot flames upward, feeding the sphere, while the other spread a ring of fire around the dragon, trapping it inside a wall of searing dark.
Arthur lowered his blade, white and black mana coiling down his arm like living serpents. His voice was steady, commanding. "Scathing Moon."
The moon above boiled and writhed with flame. Arthur swung. Energy surged into his blade, then lashed out in a snake-like whip of white light edged in fire. It slammed down across the dragon's hide.
The beast shrieked. Blood poured from the deep gash, steaming against its own heat. Its body lowered, eyes burning with savage hunger. The dragon crouched, coiled to move. Its next strike would be faster, and unpredictable.