Chapter 5: The Goddess of Light (4)

~5.4~

*****

The students in the courtyard were shocked when Kye suddenly hit the ground. The impact threw dust and chunks of concrete all over the place. She blew the dust away and struggled to her feet.

“Are you okay?” one asked.

“I’m gonna feel that one tomorrow,” Kye said. “But I’ll be fine. All of you, take shelter this instant. You cannot be outside at a time like this! The more we have to worry about you, the more we are distracted in combat.”

The students didn’t move, they just looked at her as if she had said nothing.

“What? Hey, get moving!” They still didn’t move. One of them snapped a finger next to his ear and acted as though he didn’t hear that either. Kye quickly accessed her phone HUD and used her royal authority to force all of them into a single channel. “Go take shelter. If your hearing loss persists, go to the infirmary once we announce that it’s safe to go outside.”

“““Yes, ma’am!””” The group ran away toward their dorms, as instructed.

Kye got rid of the channel and looked at the sky. Alethea was flying down toward her and quickly landed. “Shi-chan! Are you okay?”

“I’m okay enough. A little pissed off, but okay.”

“Ready to get back to it?”

Kye nodded. As they readied to take to the sky, the S-rank landed in front of them. Their eyes widened. Its mana was heavy. Just standing near it was difficult.

This creature is too strong. It has so much mana... I’m barely keeping up even using Mana Burst to block its attacks. Without Mana Burst, even one of its attacks would knock me to the ground.

“You...” it spoke. Its voice was strained, and sounded as if multiple people were speaking at once. There was a dark tone speaking with a high-pitched tone. “Powerful.”

“You can speak?”

“Fight.”

“Are you intelligent?”

“Fight.”

“Shi-chan, it doesn’t seem intelligent. But the fact that it can speak is concerning.”

“Yeah. I... don’t want to consider the possibilities right now.”

“What will you do?”

“Give it what it wants. There are no options.”

“But even you can’t handle that much right now. Its mana is so dense.”

“I can take it, but it’s not gonna be easy.”

“Fight.” A sword suddenly appeared in the beast’s hand and was engulfed in its mana. Kye hardened her expression and gripped her blade.

Mana Burst allows me to push out 500 to 2000 times the output for a single milisecond. That window is so miniscule that most people could never manage to pull it off in the instant it was needed, but I’ve done this so much its second nature. One mistake and I’m in for a world of hurt.

But even that isn’t enough to take on this monster.

It’s now or never...

“So, you want a good fight, eh?”

“Yes. Fight.”

“Very well. I’ll pull out all the stops just for you.”

“YES! FIGHT!”

Kye took a deep breath and focused inward and drew upon her soul. She willed her aether to compress to an incredible degree. “<<Aether Drive>>!” Aether exploded forth and wrapped around her body. The aether grew more and more dense. It was as though a tempest of aether was hiding her from view. After a moment, it refined and clung to her body. It became completely calm. Her silver irises glowed with the color of light aether, and a lighter gold ring appeared around her pupil.

Unbelievable. Allison had just arrived and was watching in awe. Her control of aether is... unreal. She’s just eighteen years old and... I know she’s a transmigrator, but what in the world has she gone through to have gained such fine control of aether?

“Shi-chan... what in the world?”

Even Alethea was shocked at Kye’s sudden explosive power. Kye stared down the beast, and it appeared to be curious about her sudden burst of power. Despite that, it reacted simply by assuming a fighting stance. Kye smirked and brandished her blade with runes.

I have to make this quick. Aether Drive won’t last long.

Kye lunged forward and met the beast head on, clashing blades. They exchanged blow after blow. She was too fast for the beast to keep up, but the beast began to unleash more mana. She continued trading blows with the beast and lost no ground at all. She matched every hit and landed a few of her own in between. The beast reeled back in pain, and Kye took advantage of that moment of vulnerability. She thrust power into her left leg and kicked the beast, launching it backward and up with an incredible force.

Her goal was to get it away from the city, and she succeeded. The beast finally caught itself in midair, but was already out over the lake to the north of the city. Kye wasted no time with her next attack. It was one the beast had no chance of stopping.

“<<Detonation>>!”

She created four orbs of aether that uniquely pulsated. She flung her hand forward and the four orbs rocketed toward their target. They carried the beast even further, past the mountains on the other side of the lake and over the open sea beyond. It was there that the pulsating orbs ignited. Detonation works by resonating extremely dense catalysts. The closer in proximity, the more they resonate, until it becomes so potent that an explosion is triggered.

The resulting explosion was enormous. It dwarfed the mountains and sent up a mushroom cloud that reached the upper atmosphere. The center of the blast was far enough out that the shockwave didn’t reach the city, but everyone could see it. Not wanting to give the beast time to return to the city, Kye sped off over the sea. The blast had faded and she flew close enough to see where the beast was carried.

That didn’t kill it. I didn’t think it would, but it barely scratched it.

She narrowed her eyes, having noticed that the beast’s shell was returning to a light gray. It was burned badly from the explosion.

So that’s it. Detonation did a number on it, but its regeneration is so strong that it was mostly healed by the time I caught up. I’m gonna have to kill it in one hit, but there’s not much that will do more damage than Detonation. There’s a couple options, but they’re not exactly safe to use near other people.

Kye glanced back toward the city and did some quick math.

This is far enough out, actually. It should be fine.

“Kye, what are you doing?!”

“Allison? You’re here?”

“I just arrived right as you unleashed your aether. That Detonation was enormous. You’re sure you’re in complete control?”

“No worries. Nobody will be caught in my crossfire.”

“Can you handle this? The aether you’re putting out is extreme, but can you defeat that thing?”

“I can. It’s regenerative power is off the charts, though. It’s gonna take one of my biggest spells. One that has gotten me worshiped as a god in another life.”

“Heh... I don’t know if...” She paused for a moment. Kye couldn’t see her shaking her head. “So long as you have it under control.”

“Yeah. If you had arrived maybe thirty seconds earlier, I’d have passed the baton, but at this point... I’m already neck-deep. May as well see it through.”

“Fair enough. I’ll keep the city safe.”

“Right.”

With the reassurance that Allison was present and defending the city, Kye moved in. She dropped from the high altitude she was hovering at until she was nearly touching the water, skirting its surface as she closed the distance to the beast. The beast saw her coming and charged toward her. The two clashed with a thunderous sound. A large wave of water shot out in all directions. Neither wasted any time following up. Blow after blow sent water splashing every which way.

Kye was slowly gaining ground on the beast, but then its mana suddenly increased. She could no longer block its attacks.

Damn! It’s mana is even stronger!

Kye took a quick glance back toward the city, making sure they were far enough away. Confident the city would be safe, she set her plan in motion. In one swoop, she launched a myriad of spells.

“<<True Binding>>. <<Bands of Light>>. <<Absorbtion Chain>>. <<Singularity Core>>. <<Motion Canceler>>. <<Temporal Barrier>>.”

First, a set of golden chains wrapped around the beast, then a set of fabric-esque bands. After, a series of black and gold orbs appeared around the beast, and thin lines of aether attached to the golden chains. After that, a set of gold circles appeared, flat side pointed at the beast, surrounding it. It didn’t appear that they did anything. Finally, a sphere of gold mana surrounded it.

There. That will hold it for at least a minute. Now...

Kye raised a hand toward the sky, and a rune appeared above her. The rune grew in size and ascended high into the sky. The clouds from the Detonation were blown away as the rune ascended into the upper atmosphere.

“Kye, what is that?” Allison asked.

“Shi-chan... is that...?” Alethea asked.

“Quiet! I have to concentrate!”

She brought her hands together and began chanting, “I offer this prayer to the goddess. Grant my wish and rain judgment upon this foe.” Her voice echoed as she spoke.

The center of the rune began to glow, and the glow shot out from the center, tracing along the various circles and markings that formed the rune.

“Let no more be harmed this day, and may this beast’s soul be purified.”

Soon, the entire rune was glowing. Another rune appeared below the first, one much smaller, but still large enough to encircle the general vicinity of Kye and the beast. It was roughly a quarter of the size. It began to glow as well. Below them, along the water’s surface, a third rune appeared that was identical to the second.

Kye began floating backwards, away from the beast. “Farewell, beast. May you see a better future in your next life, one without the tragedy that warped you into this state.” She quickly pulled her hands apart, then raised her left to the sky. “Now.” Then she droped her hand, pointing it toward the beast. “<<Heaven’s Fall>>!”

Light poured from the massive rune overhead into the smaller rune below it, then straight down until it reached the rune at the water’s surface. The light was so intense that nothing inside could be seen. Soon, it was so intense that Allison and Alethea, who were watching from afar, could no longer see Kye.

Once the light faded and the runes disappeared, the beast was gone. With the intense gold light gone, the blue sky returned. Kye gave the beast a moment of silence before heading back to the city.

*****

Revision: 11-30-2023