OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 188: Here Comes The Savior

Every single building surrounding Emir and the two Tyrants rumbled and cracked.

Then, a moment later....

All fell to the ground.

It was a sight to behold-a chaotic storm of debris and wreckage hurtling toward the monster duo.

They had no choice but to defend themselves, and that was what they did.

The Rootsire reacted as its spine erupted in a violent explosion of earth, creating a formidable barrier.

On the other hand, the Verdigris summoned a dance of roots and vines.

These living tendrils wove around the creature, forming a protective cocoon of botanical might.

Crash!

The impact was deafening as the buildings, all crashed down at that single location causing them to be stacked on top of each other.

There was constant rumbling, cracking, and breaking.

And Emir watched it all from afar, as he rushed out just before the impact.

He didn't expect to kill them with that attack, but he did expect them to weaken, paving the way for his next move.

Propping up his twin swords, he chanted:

"Aetheric Blades."

His two swords shone a bright dark, as he waved them before his eyes.

But just as he was about to step forward, he heard the sound of footsteps to his right.

Immediately getting into a combative stance, he turned around and faced someone he never expected to see...

"You're safe... Oh, and yes, it's me, Emir."

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"..."

They silently stared at each other for a while until Emir asked, his face showing absolute surprise:

"...Lyra?"

"What are you doing here? ... Actually, wait, how are you here already?"

[It's really me, Emir.]

"You don't need to worry... And I came back as fast as I possibly could." She added with a bright smile, her white hair flailing from the wind caused by the buildings' fall.

"Welcome back..." He said while chuckling aloud.

"I'm back!" She replied, her red eyes matching his energy tenfold.

"You've got everything we need?" He asked, while his eyes returned to the Tyrants.

"Even more than that, but I'll tell you more about it later... For now, do you want my help with this?"

"Yeah, I've already killed one, and I don't have the Aether to kill two more, so I'll need all the help I can get...."

"Besides, we've never fought together like this, have we?"

"No," she answered as she walked closer to him.

"And I'm very excited to show you what I can do!"

They soon stood shoulder-to-shoulder, both watching the aftermath.

Emir chuckled and lightly tapped her back.

"Keep up."

They rushed forward in unison, with Emir gripping his twin swords tightly and Lyra wielding

a new set of blackened Blade Gauntlets, extending from atop her forearms to a few inches above her fully extended hand.

"You've got a new weapon, I see..." He said while jumping over rubble.

"Yep, I've bought them from Mars; these-"

Their talk was suddenly cut off as uncountable roots escaped the ground, meeting their path.

The remaining overgrown fauna around them also began to coil and snake towards them at incredible speeds.

Emir glanced at Lyra for a moment and then jumped up, reaching the sky.

Lyra mirrored his first action and then chanted:

"Shadow Meld."

She disappeared into the shadows just as the fauna reached them, crushing the ground where they just were.

Emir continued to fly around above, jumping from one Aether-constructed platform to another, dodging all sorts of attacks that reached him while he headed towards the Tyrants.

He watched as Lyra's blob of shadows followed him from down below, matching his speed. Seconds later, they both reached the center point of the aftermath, where many destroyed buildings were atop each other.

Emir dodged another set of vines as he dropped to the ground beside Lyra, who remained in the shadows.

"Celestia's Maze."

As those words left his mouth, the wires of Aether he previously set up appeared once again, now floating mid-air, attached to nothing.

"Obsidian Shroud."

Lyra's chant shrouded the battlefield with shadows as an all-encumbering darkness

surrounded them, taking away the light.

Emir saw nothing but darkness for a moment until a sudden clarity washed over him as he somehow saw through them.

This was all due to Lyra's incredible processing power.

She took in Emir's current line of sight, combined it with her ability to see through the shadows, and sent it back to his neural network almost instantaneously.

Although Emir could not yet see the battlefield with his own eyes, he could still see what was

before him through the holographic feed that Lyra showed him.

And what was before him was the Verdigris, as it finally emerged from the rubble, still

cocooned in its vines.

The vines, however, no longer appeared to be clean and undamaged.

Several areas of it showed deformity as if bashed in with a bat.

The Rootsire to its right was no different.

Though it appeared to be in a much worse state.

It showed signs of tiredness within the madness.

Many of its limbs appeared to be mismatched as if grown in the wrong part of the body.

Its tail and size were shortened by many meters as well.

"Let's end this already."

Leaving those words behind, Emir jumped up to a wire on his right and propelled himself forward into the next, dodging the multitude of roots that spurted out of the ground to

welcome him.

Lyra's shadow disappeared for a moment and then reappeared behind the Verdigris.

Just as she stepped above ground, the vines surrounding the Verdigris surged towards her.

"Obscura Domine."

They immediately stopped, just a few inches away from her neck, compelled by her chant. The vines' shadows were all bound with chains.

It was the perfect setup for Emir, as he had free reign to set up his strongest melee attack. Using one of the wires as a foothold, he landed on it and used its momentum.

"Flash Step."

With his twin swords before his head, he appeared in front of the Verdigris like a pointed

arrow.

His body pierced through the cocoon, cutting a hole through it from one end to the other.

Then, with a front flip, he placed his feet on the ground as they dragged along the rubble.

Lyra attacked right after Emir landed.

"Aetheric Blades."

Her glove gauntlets proved a perfect fit for her lethality as they extended and pierced through

the cocoon.

She then cross-swiped her arms, cutting the Verdigris head right off.

Blood splattered, and vines erupted towards the falling head.

But Lyra didn't bother to attack further and melded back into the shadows, escaping death.

"Aetheric Shield."

A moment passed, and Emir was already upon the Verdigris, his body crashing through its vines and roots as he picked up its head.

He used the wires all around him to propel himself forward, moving as far away as he could from the monster's main body as vines continued to track behind him.

Meanwhile, Lyra used that opportunity to destroy all its remaining Aether cores as she appeared above ground once again, stabbing and slashing at its cocoon.

And soon enough, the Verdigris's beautiful green eyes grew dim.

The crown of blossoms above its head withered and turned into darkened ashes, flowing into

the wind.

Its mouth opened and closed a few times as the monster appeared to struggle in its quest to

speak.

"Ah..."

Emir realized that his grip was too tight, so he gently placed its head on the ground.

The Verdigris then used the last of its Aether to sprout vines from its head, positioning itself

towards Emir.

Then a single hand-shaped vine reached forward, heading towards his face.

'Interesting...'

Emir let the monster do as it pleased and waited.

It reached his face and warmly cupped it.

"Thank you, young man... And be careful."

It spoke, almost in a motherly tone.

"'He' will be the end of us all..."

Emir eyed it with pity for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and turned towards Lyra.

She was now standing beside the Rootsire.

After jumping from wire to wire, he reached them in a matter of seconds and asked:

"What's wrong with it? Why is it not attacking us?"

Lyra glanced at him for a moment and turned her attention back to the monster.

"I'm not sure... I expected it to interfere during our fight with that Verdigris, but it remained

still the entire time."

Emir nodded and looked at the monster, but then he finally noticed something.

"It's not a Tyrant anymore..."

'Just....'

'Just what made them grow so mad?'

Lyra looked at him with surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"...Tyrants have at least five Aether cores, right?"

"Yep."

"Well, this one has four."

"..."

They both stayed quiet for a while, realizing the severity of what this meant.

Whoever they were now up against seemed to have abilities that infected the Aether core

itself.

So whatever it did to these monsters could also work on humans.

They simply couldn't imagine what would befall Earth if a word of this came out to the public.

'Another thing to add to the list of shit that was never written in the novel.' Letting out a sigh, Emir showed his twin swords to the Fiend and stabbed one of its mad eyes.

He expected a roar or a growl out of the monster's mouth, but all he got instead was silence.

"You good?"

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The Tyrant wasn't 'good.'

However, Emir soon noticed signs of clarity that began to form in its remaining eye.

The monster then stood up, struggling to do so, until it finally stood tall on its deformed legs, each one a different size from the other.

Emir and Lyra had long since stepped back, prepared to attack.

But the monster remained still; its body pulsating, face contorting, as if it were struggling to

retain coherence.

Then its head slowly moved towards Emir, and its mouth opened to let a slow, almost

inaudible words filled with all the Aether it could muster:

"...Kill... me.... Please... end it....."

"Please... I don't... I don't...."

"I don't want to hear it...."

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT ANYMORE!"

"...Hear what?"

"PLEASE!"

Emir, whose question remained unanswered glanced at Lyra, then looked back at the

Rootsire.

He gave it a nod and complied.

They both began slicing the monster to pieces, faster than it could regenerate.

Its poisonous blood spluttered out everywhere, but they were prepared and had their force

shields set to the max, protecting them from harm.

This continued for an entire minute until they reached the moment when the Rootsire could

no longer heal itself.

Emir signaled for Lyra to step back and then smashed the monster's head with his feet, caving

in its skull.

The serpentine's crumbled head showed a face full of serenity as it said its last words:

"It's so quiet now... The ticking, the..."