Sunstone’s long-awaited retaliation had finally come upon Ragnarok, and despite their extensive planning, they were ill-prepared for the overwhelming devastation that now loomed above them.

  Massive explosions had rocked 4 different sectors at the same time, bringing with them a huge wave of monsters all the way from tier 5 to 50. But that wasn’t all. Two Sunstonian armies currently marched towards Sector 9, attacking the beautiful sector from both sides with the intent to besiege and ransack it.

  It was absolute chaos.

  In the streets of each sector, civilians rushed about screaming and seeking safety from the host of rampaging beasts that had descended upon them.

  All hope wasn’t lost, though. Ragnarok had expected a brutal retaliation after Artemis’s sanctioned actions to kill the changeling. They had erected multiple reinforced bunkers and safety houses in each city, but the disaster that now loomed was far more than they had expected.

  Sunstone’s actions forced Ragnarok to split their military into three: two to fight against the attacking soldiers in sector 9, and the larger third held in reserve in case another surprise came up. They had also sent out champions and elites to each sector to deal with the invading champions and the beast wave that had accompanied them.

  Within the command center, generals barked out orders to their subordinates, and those orders were carried out in a flash, with champions and elites taking to the sky in droves. Security officers filled the streets, desperately trying to bring some semblance of order to the chaos, directing and leading civilians to the nearest safety houses.

  However, not everyone was keen on the idea of hunching down in safety while their cities were invaded and razed to the ground. Rather than head to the safety bunkers, they ignored the warnings of the security officers and stood their ground, brandishing weapons and unleashing skills in preparation to defend their homes.

  They joined the elites in the streets, swinging their weapons around with motions that showed a distinct lack of familiarity, but what they lacked in power and experience, they made up for with zeal and enthusiasm.

  The horde of monsters descended, smashing through houses and properties as they made their way towards the nearest gathering of humans, their cries terrible and abominable. With roars of defiance, the people clashed with them, unleashing an explosion of elements and concepts at the horde.

  Their aims were inaccurate and inefficient, and more often than not, their skills canceled each other out before even getting to the horde itself. They weren’t warriors or soldiers who were used to fighting alongside each other, so one couldn’t blame them too terribly. What mattered was their presence and the aid they provided the elites, tearing down the largest monsters so the elites could finish them off.

  Despite their concerted efforts, monsters rampaged through the streets of the four Sectors, destroying lives and properties with abandon.

  In Milton, sector 5, Reiner and Artemis watched the chaos spread through the city from the top of a skyscraper, their expressions sour as the cries of defiant citizens reached their ears. Reiner cranked his perception to the maximum, steam wafting off his bronzed skin as he watched the devastation in slow motion, itching to desert his position and join them below.

  The damage the beasts were causing was significant despite the help of the citizens, and the reason soon became obvious. The settled sectors had not seen a beast wave in centuries, and having to battle one unprepared was a shock to their systems. Still people were rising up and taking action, banding together to take down the largest beasts before they could cause more damage.

  However, in only a few minutes, the death toll had risen sharply. Bodies lay strewn across the streets, and even from his vantage point atop the skyscraper, the sharp, coppery scent of blood was unmistakable. Still, the people refused to give up and seek safety. Commendable, but ultimately foolish.

  Most civilians lacked true battle instincts, relying solely on the absorption of cores for advancement rather than honing their skills through combat, insight, or meditation. In essence, these civilians were throwing their lives away in the name of zealotry and patriotism.

  Reiner couldn’t stand to watch the grim scene any longer, so he turned his gaze away, shifting his focus to the fractured aerial shields just as two Sunstonian champions slipped through it. The first he recognized as Warp, the reality Awakened, while the second was someone he had only learned about recently: Vectoris, the sister of the changeling.

  “This will not be pretty.” Reiner muttered.

  “No, it won’t.” Artemis replied and visibly steeled himself. “I’ll take Warp; you take Vectoris.”

  Reiner nodded, and together they launched into the sky—Artemis simply propelling himself effortlessly through space while Reiner fired blasts of pressurized steam from his hands and legs like rocket propulsion.

  When Warp and Vectoris saw them, they snarled and attacked. However, rather than split off to attack them individually, both women charged straight at Artemis—Warp attacking with focused precision while Vectoris lashed out with the wild fury of a rabid dog.

  Furious, Warp shouted something at Vectoris, but the latter either didn’t hear or completely ignored her, creating a huge wave of jagged projectiles that all charged at Artemis with deadly accuracy.

  Despite the huge display of power, it was as if Artemis didn’t even notice her. The wave of projectiles rocketed forward, but an instant before they struck home, Artemis teleported and warped space, twisting it so violently that the two women were flung apart.

  Warp reappeared a mere hair’s breadth from Artemis’s clenched fist, while Vectoris ended up directly in his line of sight. Reiner took the opportunity eagerly, unleashing a concussive blast of steam that slammed into Vectoris with searing heat, potent enough to cook a person alive.

  Still, Vectoris barely even looked at him, her burning eyes fixed on Artemis as she launched herself towards him once more. Reiner decided not to give her that opportunity. He was a champion just like she was, and he would not be ignored.

  With a furious growl, he surged forward to intercept her, and the fact that she was so terribly unaware of her surroundings only made it easier. He crashed into her with a powerful explosion of {Steam Burst}, sending her hurtling off course and smashing into the skeletal frame of an incomplete high-rise made entirely of concrete and metal.

  Vectoris crashed into the building, scattering concrete and metal in all directions. The explosion of pain finally got her attention, and she turned to glare at him. “Stay out of my fight, rookie. I’ve got blood to spill and a sister to avenge.”

  Placing himself directly in her way, Reiner cracked his knuckles and smiled. “Make me.”

  With a growl of frustration, Vectoris surged forward, conjuring a storm of metallic shards, nails, and jagged concrete that ripped through the air at blistering speeds. The vectors traced precise arcs towards Reiner, heat trailing in their wake, but Reiner was unfazed. With a smile, he unleashed his aura, expelling a dense wave of smoldering steam from his core to create a pressurized wall of burning mist.

  The projectiles whizzed through the wall of steam, but the pressure of his aura diverted and distorted their direction, some dropping uselessly to the ground while others curved into nearby buildings.

  “You’ll have to do better than that to take me out, Vectoris.” Reiner taunted, and Seo-min growled in annoyance.

  She glanced to the side where Artemis and Warp were locked in a heated battle. She wanted to join them, to tear Artemis to pieces the same way he had torn Seo-yeon apart, but before she could fly off in their direction, Reiner attacked again, engulfing her in a blistering wave of scalding steam.

  Gritting her teeth in annoyance, she tore free from the suffocating mist and turned her attention back to Reiner, eyes blazing with fury. This wasn’t the fight she wanted—the fight Seo-yeon’s blood cried out for—but if she had to kill this menace to get to Artemis, then so be it.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  With a roar, she tightened her fingers into fists, causing hundreds of metal rods to unhook themselves from the building behind her and lurch towards her assailant with insane speed. The metal rods sliced through the air like spears, and although Reiner tried to dodge, he couldn’t avoid them all.

  A rod impaled his shoulders, ripping through muscles and tissue before protruding from his back. Before Vectoris could twist the rod into ending his existence, Reiner hastily let out a burst of scalding steam that ravaged through the metal beam, breaking her control over it. With his teeth gritted in pain, he wrenched the beam from his body.

  That was all he managed to do before a punch sent him flying through half a dozen buildings, each one collapsing to rubble as his body smashed through walls and steel. Another wave of metal beams surged towards him, but a hasty activation of {Steam Burst} propelled him out of their trajectory. It was futile, however, as the beams simply redirected their trajectory, curving to continue their relentless pursuit.

  Reiner dodged and dodged, but he quickly realized that an evasive stance was futile against Vectoris. He needed to go on the offensive.

  Unleashing a scalding burst of steam from his hands and legs, Reiner launched himself at Vectoris, a wave of scalding steam erupting from his body.

  “Die, you fucking prick!” Vectoris shouted as she also launched herself forward, her movements precise and sharp despite her obvious mental instability. As the gap between them closed, Reiner activated {Thermal Lance}, unleashing a concentrated jet of superheated steam directly at her, but Vectoris swerved, altering her own trajectory and sliding past his attack by mere inches.

  Reiner was undeterred. He redirected the lance and then unleashed another, effectively blocking Vectoris’s path and forcing her to either meet his attack head-on or surrender.

  She chose the third option, willpower erupting from her lips as she uttered. “{MY DOMAIN, MY RULES: ALL VECTORS ARE REVERSED.}”

  Reality rippled, and in an instant, both thermal lances reversed, hurtling towards Reiner with the same incinerating intents they’d had aimed at Vectoris.

  Unwilling to be so easily bested, Reiner retaliated with a rule of his own. “{MY DOMAIN, MY RULES: STEAM OBEYS ONLY ME.}”

  Reality warped again, draining a huge amount of willpower from Reiner in an instant. The use of rules was risky because of how willpower-intensive they were to activate and even keep active.

  Reiner’s rule clashed with Vectoris’s, draining another bout of willpower as it battled for supremacy. Reality rippled constantly, but after a few seconds of brutal struggle, Vectoris’s rule crumpled, and Reiner’s thermal lances changed directions once again, shooting towards Vectoris and engulfing her in a wave of scalding steam.

  It wasn’t enough to keep Vectoris down, though, and a moment later, she burst out of the wave, her entire body scorched and covered in raw, blistering sores. Undeterred, she lurched forward, raising a massive onslaught of metal beams, glass, and concrete, all gleaming with willpower and deadly intent, to attack Reiner.

  The wave of sharp projectiles rushed forward, and Reiner just knew there was no escaping this one. He couldn’t dodge; neither could he defend, as his affinity lent itself poorly to defense. That left Reiner with only one option—attack.

  Rushing towards the descending sea of projectiles, Reiner activated {Pressure Blast}, rapidly condensing a ball of steam to extreme levels only to release it in a powerful shockwave that blasted all the projectiles off course.

  The brief moment he spent concentrating on the skill proved costly, and for the second time in less than five minutes, Reiner took a devastating punch to the face, sending him crashing through nearly a dozen buildings before finally coming to a stop.

  Bleeding and groaning from the pain, Reiner felt like his soul had been punched out of his body. Before he could even recover, Vectoris punched him again and then again, launching him through the air with so much force and speed that he broke the sound barrier.

  Spasming, Reiner tried to arrest his momentum with a steam cloud, but Vectoris killed that idea immediately.

  “{MY DOMAIN, MY RULES: MOMENTUM IS ETERNAL.}”

  The world seemed to freeze for a moment, and Reiner panicked when he found himself completely unable to arrest his momentum. Gathering a ton of energy and willpower, he forced his gritted teeth open and uttered, “{MY DOMAIN, MY RULES: ALL MOVEMENTS FLOW THROUGH STEAM.}” nearly biting off his tongue in the process.

  Reality rippled violently, and even his core strained as his understanding of steam struggled to fit the rule. A larger amount of willpower was drained from his core to make up for it, but before the rule could even take effect, Vectoris uttered again.

  “{MY DOMAIN, MY RULES: ALL MOMENTUM IS ETERNAL.}”

  “Fucking bitch.” Reiner cried out. “{ALL MOMENTUM CONDENSES INTO STILLNESS.}”

  Willpower drained from his core like water through a sieve, but Reiner was finally able to arrest his momentum and reorient himself. Fury burned within him at the amount of willpower he had just wasted. Willpower that would take months, if not years, to recover.

  Streaking downwards with an explosion of steam from his feet, Reiner harnessed his seals, opened his spirit up to the infusion of chaos, and activated {Vacuum collapse}, instantly condensing all the heated moisture around Vectoris to create a high-pressure vacuum that imploded with so much force that the air burned, releasing a massive cloud of smoldering steam into the air.

  The implosion hit Vectoris with the force of a dozen mega-shuttles, hurling her backwards and smashing her into the building she had dug herself from earlier. With the integrity of the building so terribly compromised, it collapsed, sending a deadly wave of concrete, metals, and glass cascading down to the earth where it would surely do more harm than good to those battling below.

  Unwilling to be the reason for the death of hundreds, Reiner drained five seals all at once and channeled all that quintessence into {Smoldering Steam}, unleashing a huge blast of scorching mist at the wreckage. Metals degraded rapidly, concrete crumbled to pieces, and glass shattered, but Reiner knew it wouldn’t be enough, not when Vectoris was already attacking him again.

  Or so he thought.

  Instead, she zoomed past him, her entire focus aimed at Artemis, who clashed with Warp in an explosion of reality and spatial essence. When she drew close, she unleashed a great wave of projectiles, each one burning with far more willpower and energy than Reiner had ever poured into any one skill.

  The wave thundered forward, its intent so large that it painted the sky in dark hues.

  “Arte—” Reiner began to call out, but his warning proved unnecessary. Despite being locked in an intense battle against Warp, wounded and nearly completely covered in blood, Artemis turned and waved a hand, instantly creating a huge portal that swallowed the wave of projectiles and transported it to heavens knew where.

  The portal snapped shut with a sonic boom and a scorching wave of heat that caused the fabric of space to nearly tear itself apart as it was rocked with a host of spatial tears and undulations.

  Screaming in rage, Vectoris flees forward, hell-bent on killing Artemis herself, but with another simple wave of his hands, space undulated again, and for the second time in less than an hour, Vectoris was teleported directly to the space in front of him.

  Reiner didn’t miss the opportunity to punch Vectoris in the gut.

  With his hands still burning with a blast of {Smoldering Steam}, he punched her in the neck, savoring the CRACK her neck made as it was turned violently to the side. Before she could react, he punched her again, and again, and again, and again…

  The last punch smashed Vectoris into a building, her body digging a crater into the wall of rune-inscribed concrete. Bloodied and with her body scorched nearly to pieces, Vectoris fell, steam hissing off her scorched skin in waves. Her neck hung at an unnatural angle, and her eyes, once bright with fury and determination, were glazed over, flickering like dying embers.

  But then, with a guttural snarl, she wrenched her back into place with a sickening pop. Her eyes came alive with the fury of vengeance, and she growled. “I will tear to pieces.”

  “You don’t seem to learn, do you?” Reiner smiled, and with a sudden burst of speed, he launched himself forward, activating {Suffocating Steam} and {Thermal Lance} at the same time and infusing each skill with chaos, willpower, and the smoldering quintessence of his seals.

  A massive cloud of suffocating steam exploded out of him in a manner not dissimilar to that of his aura, but the amount of steam was far from enough for what he had planned, so he activated {Flash Vaporization}, instantly converting any nearby sources of water and moisture into steam clouds that filled the air with a dense wave of scalding heat.

  A barrage of thermal lances rushed out of the billowing cloud, slicing their way towards Vectoris, and although she tried to dodge, the lances smashed into her at full speed, exploding into curling wisps of steam that scorched their way down her throat and into her nostrils.

  She gagged, trying to defend herself by harnessing the little amount of willpower she had left. Before she could do so, Reiner pulled out a large amount of willpower from his core and uttered. “{MY DOMAIN, MY RULES: ALL AIR IS STEAM.}”

  Reality warped as the very air around them transformed into scalding steam, the intense heat distorting the entire area. His willpower plummeted under the strain of the rule, but it was worthwhile because, while drained and wounded, Vectoris lacked the strength to counter his rule.

  She choked and screamed as the very air she breathed burned her lungs, but before she could escape the domain of scalding steam he had created, Reiner grabbed her by her battered neck and squeezed.

  Screaming, Vectoris clawed at Reiner’s arm, scratching and punching in order to escape, but his grip was as firm as a vice.

  “Tell me,” he grinned. “How do you think Sunstone would react if I killed you right here, right now?

  Vectoris’s eyes widened, and Reiner laughed. “Oh, I think they might just thank me for taking you out. After all, your family name is stained with dishonor.”