Hideously deformed Abyssal demons poured out from the crack, but instead of descending upon the city, they remained close to the opening. Flapping their wings, most of them remained stationary as if awaiting the arrival of someone else.
Immediately after, a few figures could be seen squeezing through the crack alongside countless other demonic beings.
“Sorcerers! It’s the sorcerers! The God of the Sorcerers has finally come to invade our land!”
The streets descended into total chaos. As if the memories of their nightmarish past had been dug up, every Acraepoid was caught entirely off-guard by the sudden attack. No one knew how to react to the situation. The terror which was repressed in their memories had finally surfaced.
Amidst the horrifying devastation of the Infernal Spirit Continent, the Sorcerer’s Shadow was the worst, turning the unfortunate ones who had fallen under its domain into disgusting mutants. Teams of sorcerers riding on the backs of the savage, ugly and violent soul slaves wreaked havoc onto the Flame Burrows which they once called “home”.
If not for the existence of the First Acraepoid Kingdom then…
“Defenses! Take up arms, block that opening on the Spatial Wall at all costs!”
Some of the Acraepoids snapped out of their state of shock and barked out orders to the remaining portion of Acraepoids who remained still, unable to fathom what had just happened.
The First Acraepoid Kingdom was the final monument of the great Acraepoid race’s civilization in the Endless World. If these evil sorcerers were to occupy this place, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Perhaps, if that were to come true, then the Acraepoids would be wiped out completely from the Endless World and become a part of history.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A dense formation of Acraepoids rose up into the air. Although this was only a small portion of the entire crowd who had overcome the fear of battle in such a short amount of time, they were the elites who had been gathered from every corner of the Infernal Spirit World. Their combat capability was something to be reckoned with.
The five Acraepoids who were originally binding Aeschi were no longer in the mood to deal with such insignificant matters.
The leader of the five-man squad was the fastest to react to the situation. Gritting his teeth, he unsheathed his Infernal Blade which hung on his side before decisively joining the main force of Acraepoids who were flying up towards that pitch-black crack on the Spatial Wall.
“Umi, hurry up and untie me!”
Aeschi yelled out towards his wife, urging her to cut loose the rope which were tightly wound around his wrists.
“Okay.”
In a flash, Umi loosened the ropes which bound Aeschi’s wrists. As soon as his hands came free, one of them reached for his Infernal Blade and yanked it out from its scabbard. His eyes were full of rage as he rushed towards that crack that everyone else around him was heading towards.
“No don’t go…”
Out of her instinct to protect Aeschi, her lover, she shouted in a futile attempt to stop him from heading towards the threat.
Overwhelmed by his hatred and anger, Aeschi ignored the pleas of Umi and joined the horde of roughly ten thousand Acraepoids making their way towards the sky.
Seeing that her efforts were fruitless, Umi bit her lip and reluctantly trailed behind her lover.
There were now over ten thousand Abyssal demons who had made their way out of the dark crack. They stood guard on both ends of the crack, preventing Acraepoids from nearing the opening.
Six ten-meter-long Infernal Giant Swords created ripples of energy in the air as they were swung around, killing any Abyssal demon that stood in their paths.
These six noble Acraepoids were relatively calm despite the onslaught happening around them. Together, they led the ten thousand-strong elite Acraepoids in a charge towards the crack. This was the prime chance to seal up the Void Aperture.
As upper echelon members of the Acraepoid Kingdom, these nobles understood how grave and hopeless conditions were in the outside world.
If they let slip the chance to mend the ripped opening on the Spatial Wall right now, then there would be no tomorrow for the Acraepoid race. The Sorcerer’s Shadow which knew no bounds would then make its way into every nook and cranny of this Acraepoid stronghold!
The Acraepoids had nowhere to retreat to now. This would be their final resting place, where they would die fighting even if they had to!
“Ke ke ke ke ke ke ke, roar!”
The dark crack on the Spatial Wall was further pried open forcefully and a wicked, menacing, bone-chilling laughter echoed through the Acraepoid Kingdom from its depths. Soon after, a dark pulsating ripple emerged from within the crack and into the skies above the kingdom.
This wave was a representation of the Acraepoids’ impending death. As it swept over the first wave of attacking Acraepoids, their bodies jolted and with the exception of a few Level-2, Level-3 Acraepoids who could withstand the sudden blow, most of the other low-level Acraepoids fell like raindrops onto the ground. Their lifeless bodies fell headfirst, smashing into the ground creating dull thuds which could be heard even from high up in the sky.
As for Aeschi, he only felt what seemed like an immense gust of cold wind blowing on his own flesh and soul. However, in the moments after that, the world around him had lost its color. Everything was black and white. It was as if a category twelve hurricane was blown on his soulfire directly. His life was barely hanging onto a thread right now.
The next moment.
Like a drowning person who had just been dragged ashore, Aeschi was desperately gasping for air. The black flame atop his head was flickering constantly. He could only watch on in fear at the hundred-meter-long gigantic pair of hands which were ripping open an even bigger opening across their Spatial Wall.
“Cursed God of the Sorcerers, it’s Black Isotta!”
In the education system of the First Acraepoid Kingdom, there was mention of the six Gods of the sorcerers who had invaded the Infernal Spirit World. Black Isotta was described as the most vile and merciless God out of the six and he was undoubtedly the one they were facing now.
He was the mastermind behind the wretched invasion of the Infernal Spirit World, the leader among the sorcerers’ Gods. His powers were unimaginable and it was enough to strike fear even among the strongest, most fearless warriors the Acraepoids could produce.
As his flickering soulfire gradually stabilized, and after recovering from his near-death experience, Aeschi calmed himself down.
Suddenly, something popped into Aeschi’s mind which caused him to look behind him instinctively.
“Umi!”
Aeschi roared like a madman. Unfortunately, that beautiful figure which was gripping Infernal Blades in both hands had eyes which were lifeless as she plunged towards the ground alongside thousands of other Acraepoid warriors.
At this moment a cold and evil voice reverberated through the air from the other side of the dark crack.
“Hee hee hee hee hee, sorry to bother you my friends but I will hand over the mission to you guys now. Make sure you wipe these Acraepoids completely off from this world! I will hold this crack open for an hourglass’ worth of time. After that, you’ll have to find a way to break open the Spatial Wall from the inside on your own.”
“Alright.”
“Understood.”
“They definitely did live up to our expectations…”
***
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!
Aeshci counted seven voices who replied to their God’s words. Does this mean that there were a total of seven powerful sorcerers invading their homeland?
On the top of the sky, the six noble Acraepoids each took out a ball of black flame and held it high above their heads, as if summoning the laws of the Infernal Spirit World for the final time. The energy contained within these flames was so intense that they created ripples that spread across the air. From the deep underground chasms below the First Acraepoid Kingdom, six thick law chains shot up into the sky.
Whoop, whoop…
The massive law chains wound around the pair of black hands. As a last resort, the giant hands retracted back into the crack and suddenly, an equally gigantic sorcerer’s book nearing a hundred meters tall fell through the crack.
A black beam of light centered around this sorcerer’s book and penetrated the Void Aperture, driving away the surrounding clouds. The sky now looked like a broken mirror. Even with the intervention of the law chains, it was nowhere near enough to stop the destruction brought on by this black beam of light.
More and more Abyssal demons used this black beam of light as a chance to advance onto the streets of the First Acraepoid Kingdom.
On the ground, Aeschi’s tears dripped onto Umi’s lifeless body as he clung onto her tightly. Looking at the shadow which was casted onto the ground by the horde of Abyssal demons high up in the sky, he sunk into despair.
It was the same for his fellow Acraepoids around him.
The Infernal Spirit World could no longer stop the sorcerers’ advance, for they had already corrupted the final sanctuary of the Acraepoids which had remained pure up until moments ago.
Rumble…
After the short amount of time it took for the millions of Abyssal demons to gather in formation around the Void Aperture, they had started their assault on the Flame Burrows on the ground, which the Acraepoids had so painstakingly rebuilt, and faced little to no resistance.
Amidst the monsters and between their flapping wings, Aeschi indeed saw the silhouettes of a few sorcerers.
Besides the mounted beast beneath their feet, no other creature remained close to the sorcerers.
“Among the evil sorcerers, a new batch of powerful sorcerers besides their Gods called the Abyssal summoners had appeared!”
With a loud “zoom”, an Infernal Blade infused with streaks of lightning appeared out of nowhere. Aeschi held his breath in surprise at the sight of this.
“Noble Rayden!”
Aeschi kept his grief and anguish over his wife’s death to himself as he asked loudly, “Respected Noble Rayden, what ways are there for us to triumph over these cursed sorcerers? Is the great Acraepoid race going to die out with nothing but a silent whimper!?”
“No!”
Noble Rayden tightened his fists and declared boldly.
“We still have a final chance! There is no point in killing anymore of the Sorcerer’s Shadows. Our main objective should be to take down those Abyssal Summoners! After we cut off the heads of the Sorcerer’s Shadow, then will we have a final chance at victory.”
“But…”
Aeschi pointed at the black beam of light of the Sorcerer’s Book which was penetrating through the Void Aperture.
“Let’s not talk about these sorcerers who are receiving an endless stream of support by the Sorcerer’s Shadow. Even if we kill them, they would just send a new batch of sorcerers here from beyond the crack. By then, we…”
Boom!
Halfway through his sentence, a black thread of light flew towards the Sorcerer’s Book from somewhere underneath the First Acraepoid Kingdom. Vaguely, it resembled the shape of a skinny black claw.
A voice yelled out in surprise before the Sorcerer’s Book shrunk and retreated back into the Void Aperture. In a split second, the Abyssal demons who did not have the chance to fly out of the opening in time were crushed into a pulp as it clamped shut, spurting a mist of blood through the sky.
Alas…
The last team of soul slave soldiers on the Infernal Spirit World’s side rose up into the sky, prepared to make their final stand. Their eyes were blood-red and numbered over five hundred thousand. Despite being outnumbered two-to-one, they charged fearlessly towards the million Abyssal demons who were descending from the skies above.
“Now is the chance!”
With a roar, Noble Rayden’s face contorted before forming into a streak of lightning, vanishing from where he stood.
