Chương 354: Chapter 347 - The Last Stand

"What?" Ayu's eyes widened. The Xok'al killed grandmaster Hoki!?

"I thought they would back down, but…" Lukas shook his head.

"They seem quite adamant about finishing what they started." Ayu abruptly rose to her feet.

"I'll go."

"That, well—" Alonso glanced between Lukas and Ayu. He knew she didn't share much of a bond with the other Beastmen grandmaster, but still… they were Beastmen.

"I'll go with her." Alonso pushed himself up. Lukas stayed silent for a moment, then gave a slow nod.

"There's no need to split up right now. If Ayu's going… then we're all going."

Alonso moved swiftly across the plains, the Path of Shards flaring faintly around him. His form blurred through the light itself, moving at over 600 km/h, the wind hammering against his silhouette. Ahead, Ayu ran in perfect rhythm with the wind, her body aligned with the world as if the air itself parted for her. Even at that speed, she faced almost no resistance. As he watched her, Alonso couldn't help but wonder about that mysterious master of hers—Makoh. Who was he, really?

Why was Ayu's path so different from theirs? Why was she the only one chosen for the Beastmen? The Ajnal's Storm Domain and the Azcoyatl's Eclipse were both remarkable techniques, yet they felt shallow compared to Primal Flow —a skill drawing on a force of unknown nature, a power bordering on the supernatural. Whatever it was, it had made Ayu stronger. And more than that, it had revealed something new—a source of power unlike anything he had seen before: will. A force capable of bending reality itself.

The temptation to reach for it was immense, but from his brief trials and talks with Houston, he knew it was no simple feat. Perhaps it was unique to the Body Path. In any case, he— His eyes narrowed. They were ahead. He and Ayu shared a brief look, and he veered off to the side, slowing down and masking his presence with Path of Shards. Ayu charged ahead alone. He watched as she hurled herself toward the Xok'al cluster—no restraint, no pre-battle words—pure killing intent from the start.

The ground split beneath her first step as Primal Flow ignited, flooding the air with pressure. Behind her, the spectral form of a tiger burst into being, translucent yet vivid, muscles rippling with living motion. Its jaws parted in a silent roar that seemed to shake the world itself. Dust swirled violently around her, drawn into a spiralling storm as the air crackled and bent under the surge of energy. Each heartbeat felt like thunder. Each step shattered the earth beneath her feet. The hunt had begun.

Then— impact. The moment she struck the Overseer, the earth fractured like glass. A deafening boom rolled across the plains, flinging dirt, bone shards, and fragments of metal high into the air. Wind tore through the battlefield. The Xok'al reeled back, its bulky form staggering under Ayu's onslaught. Unlike any he had seen, this one's skin was thicker, darker—its flesh mottled with patches of hardened carapace. Yet against Ayu's raw, flowing power, it might as well have been paper.

In the span of a blink, two tails were severed. A crack split its chest, and a gush of black blood sprayed across the shattered ground. Every strike from Ayu's daggers, knees and elbows was accompanied by a pulse of wind and the faint, ghostly echo of the tiger's claws. Nearby Xok'al were shredded by the aftershocks alone—bodies torn apart, limbs flung into the air, spines snapping under invisible force. It wasn't a fight anymore. It was a massacre.

The tiger chasing down prey too slow to understand it was already dead. Then he felt it—a flicker in the EM field. An instant shift, faint but sharp. An ambush. Alonso's instincts screamed. He slammed a foot into the ground, the earth splintering beneath the force, and propelled himself forward like a bullet. Both blades left their sheaths mid-motion, glinting in the pale light. BAM! Metal met metal. Sparks exploded.

Alonso's blades intercepted the hidden Overseer mid-swing, halting its lunge toward Ayu's exposed flank. The creature's claws screeched against his guard, spitting light and dust into the air. He twisted, boot grinding into the dirt, and sent it flying back with a burst of kinetic force that cracked the ground beneath them. The Xok'al hissed, a low, wet rasp. Its fractured mask split apart, revealing a writhing cluster of eyes beneath. Damn, is this one ugly.

It had six arms—three pairs, each ending differently: spears, axes, and blades. The design looked like a direct upgrade of the Warden stereotype. However… the moment their first clash ended, Alonso saw it clearly in its many eyes. Hesitation. The closest thing to fear their kind could show. And he knew exactly why. Unlike Ayu—whose data they lacked—they knew him well. They knew his strength, his pattern, his record. And that meant one thing. It knew it stood no chance.

A volley of distant projectiles ripped across the field as nearby Wardens opened fire against him trying to assist their Overseer. However— The bullets twisted mid-flight, curving off course as if the air itself rejected them, bending under the distortion of the Path of Shards. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Useless tricks. Alonso stepped forward… and vanished. The Overseer that was trying to retreat paused mid motion as he noticed the shift.

It looked back but… Alonso was gone. Then—light. Space seemed to fracture like broken glass around it, distorting its field and perception. And then he appeared. Directly at its flank, his form phasing through fractured EM echoes, blades cutting through space before the Overseer's sensors could even register him. No-Strike. Six limbs rose in desperation to block, but— Futile. A red line pierced clean through its skull.

As the shattered space knitted itself back together, Alonso straightened, turning his back almost calmly. He flicked his blades in a smooth, practiced motion, splattering the blood onto the soil below. Behind him, the Overseer froze—its body twitching, limbs jerking once—before collapsing face-first with a hollow thud. Dead. He exhaled as the distortion around him faded. Ayu was already finishing the last one, her tiger form flickering through the haze of dust and light.

Alonso sent EM waves pulsing outward, layering them over his physical senses—searching, feeling—but there was nothing. No movement. No more of them. He glanced back at the Overseer's corpse just as it began to dissolve into mist, leaving behind a single red orb. Unlike before, it didn't drift toward him. It stayed still. So, only one per person, huh? Still, he crouched, reached for it… and nothing happened. No absorption.

"I guess I'll save it for Imani," he muttered, slipping the orb into the leather bag at his waist before turning away. He wasn't in the mood to chase the fleeing Wardens. As he approached Ayu, the first thing he noticed were the changes. A new vambrace of rough, dark hide clung to her right arm, its surface scarred and marked like the pelt of some wild beast. On her left leg, a rugged shin guard of layered bone and sinew had taken form.

They looked less like crafted gear and more like something a hunter had grown into—raw, primal, and alive. They fit her perfectly—almost too perfectly. But then again, Ayu could make anything look good. Her presence after the transformation carried an almost magnetic, primal pull. If she'd been on Earth, every model and actress would've looked plain by comparison. Alonso smiled faintly. Well… wasn't I the lucky one?

"The new gear suits you," he said, stepping closer.

"Well, it doesn't get in the way, so I guess it's fine," she replied, flexing her arm as she inspected the new pieces. Her eyes flicked to him, a teasing grin curling her lips.

"You finished that one too fast, though… didn't even let me have any fun." Alonso smirked.

"Fun? You call nearly getting flanked fun?" Ayu tilted her head, eyes narrowing in playful challenge.

"Flanked? Please. I saw that prey from miles away. I was just baiting it in."

"Prey?" Alonso chuckled.

"That's one way to call it." He glanced around, his tone softening as his gaze swept over the field. The plains were silent now, painted in shades of red and ash. Dozens—maybe hundreds—of beastmen corpses lay scattered across the torn earth. Blood soaked the soil, dark and glistening beneath the dim light, pooling in the grooves left by shattered weapons and claw marks. In the distance, what remained of a village smouldered. Wooden huts had collapsed in on themselves, charred beams jutting out like broken ribs.

The air still shimmered faintly from the heat of dying fires. Smoke hung low, weaving between splintered fences and toppled totems. Not a single soul stirred. The wind carried only the creak of burnt wood and the whisper of something that used to be life.

"Seems we came a bit late," he murmured. Ayu nodded slowly, her eyes lingering on the ruin ahead. There was something deeper in them—something quiet, and heavy.

"We did what we could," she said after a pause, her voice low, almost carried by the wind.

"Nature took its course. The strong prey on the weak… that's just the natural flow." Alonso stared at her. That was oddly deep. Makoh's influence, maybe? He just nodded in silence. Soon, they felt the shift in the air. The large serpent construct floated softly toward them, with Chiara, Lukas, and the others on top.

"Well, that was quick," Lukas said calmly.

"That's three more down."

"Three?" Alonso asked. Then he noticed Lukas had a new piece of gear — a pauldron cloak, the reinforced shoulder plate blending seamlessly into a short, tattered cloak that fluttered with the wind.

"We got another one," Chiara said.

"Managed to hijack it quickly thanks to Lukas' boost." Hijack? Alonso frowned. It seemed each one was growing in their own way, huh? Though he wondered what exactly she meant by that. He'd ask her later.

"So that means what… only two more to go?"

"Yes," Lukas said, glancing around.

"I wonder where they are, but…" he paused.

"It's not like we have to worry. I can see you three have outgrown the Overseers by more than a bit. Now all we have left… is the final push."

"I take that as us attacking the base directly? The coordinates at the far north?" Lukas nodded.

"It's time."

Alonso stood over the decimated field. The ground was a graveyard—mud and crimson slush where mountains had once stood proud. Snow melted into rivers of blood that ran down the fractured earth, thick and dark, seeping into the cracks as if the planet itself tried to swallow the carnage. The air reeked of rot and iron, a heavy, metallic stench that clung to every breath and refused to leave. Steam rose from the corpses, mingling with the cold air, turning the horizon into a blur of red mist.

The Xok'al had fought to the last. Their screeches and remnant sparks still echoed faintly across the ruined valley, fading into the hiss of dying winds. The battle hadn't been a victory. It had been an extermination. After he and Ayu restrained the last of the Overseers, Chiara had broken through their EM defenses. Alonso could still remember the moment—the pulse of power spreading through the field like lightning through water.

Using Lukas' mental link as a conduit, she'd hijacked the swarm's control lattice and, with a single cold command, silenced an entire species. A whole race. Gone in a heartbeat. Just like that. Alonso felt the weight of it pressing on his chest. Even as enemies, the sight was surreal—an unbearable heaviness that sank deep into him. Millions of lives erased, their twisted remains piled so high the land itself seemed to mourn under their weight.

He stared down at his blades, their edges dull from the blood, and saw his reflection warped by the crimson coating. They had come so far. Each step higher left another grave behind, another piece of themselves buried with the fallen. And yet, he knew they couldn't stop. Not now. Not until the very end. The Tower loomed above them, vast and unyielding, its presence like a god watching from beyond the clouds. The Xok'al were gone—nothing more than another rung crushed beneath their climb.

The silence that followed their extinction wasn't peace. It was emptiness. Alonso wiped his blade clean with a sharp swing, droplets of blood scattering into the wind before freezing midair. He turned his head and found Ayu beside him—body streaked with grime and blood, none of it hers. Her eyes were hard—yet something heavy lingered behind them. He drew in a long breath. The metallic air stung his throat.

Behind them, the EM field hummed—a low, steady thrum that grew stronger as the others descended from the great construct. Imani first, towering and silent. Then Wang, Mei, Chiara, and Lukas, each marked by the same exhaustion, the same invisible weight. They'd all done it. Each one had absorbed an Overseer orb, their new gear distinct in form and function yet granting the same boost.

However, only Chiara, Ayu, and he had three pieces—the others just two—which confirmed his suspicion that one of his pieces had indeed come from the Ajnal Empress. After a brief glance between them, they moved together, boots crunching over the brittle remains of the battlefield. Ahead, through the fractured haze, a shape emerged—metal gates, half-buried under the collapsed mountain, their surface scarred, and blackened. This was it. The end of the stage. No one spoke. There was nothing left to say.

Whatever awaited beyond that door— they were ready.