Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 66: Convergence

The Neutral Zone was an ancient miracle carved into the heart of the continent.

Standing between the borders of Solaris, Zephyros, and Sylphyros, the Great Dam was a breathtaking structure. It was a skewering, curved wall of pale white stone that stretched for nearly a mile across a deep canyon. Behind the massive stone wall sat the Great Reservoir. The water here was not normal. It was a glowing blue, saturated with pure mana.

The dam acted as a mechanical heart. It filtered the concentrated magical water and pushed it through underground rivers, supplying the natural magic that every single mage on the continent relied on.

Standing on the top of the wide stone wall, Velanor Banner looked down at the drop.

The wind up here was fierce, pulling at his brown tunic. He was exhausted. He had ridden a wind horse for two straight days from the high mountains, only stopping to let the beast drink.

"The structural integrity is flawless," Velanor said, kneeling down and placing his bare hand against the pale stone of the dam. He pushed a pulse of his earth magic into the wall. "This stone wasn’t cut by normal masons. It feels dense. It will take a massive amount of force to break this wall."

"Let us hope you are right," Catherine Sylphyros replied.

Catherine stood a few feet away, her silver blue hair tied back tightly. She wore sleek, lightweight white armor over her usual elegant clothes. She was studying a parchment map spread across a wooden crate.

"I have stationed forty Sylphyros archers along the eastern ridge," Catherine noted, pointing at the map, "and you brought thirty Zephyros earth shapers to reinforce the lower spillways, but it is not enough. If a massive swarm of Aberrations attacks, we simply do not have the numbers to hold a wall this large."

"We just have to hold out until the boys arrive," Soltheia chimed in.

The younger princess was setting up a triage station near the center of the dam. She was organizing clean bandages, glass vials of clean water, and bitter medicinal herbs. She had a determined, focused look in her ocean blue eyes. She refused to just stand by and watch.

"Kairos and Luna are riding from Solaris," Velanor said, standing up and brushing the dust from his knees. "If they pushed their horses to the absolute limit, they should be here by sunset."

"The sun is already setting, Velanor," Catherine pointed out.

Velanor looked up. She was right. The bright afternoon sun was dipping below the jagged western mountains, casting long shadows across the glowing blue water of the reservoir. The sky was turning a bruised purple.

Suddenly, the atmospheric mana in the air shifted. It was a sickening change. For their entire lives, the young Royals had natural magic. It felt light and refreshing. But in the span of a single second, the air above the Great Dam turned heavy. It felt like trying to breathe oily mud.

The glowing blue water of the reservoir actually flickered, dimming as if it was terrified.

"Get your weapons ready!" Velanor shouted, his casual demeanor vanishing instantly. He stomped his boot against the top of the dam. A thick, solid wall of granite shot up from the stone, forming a barricade in front of the archers.

High above the center of the Great Dam, the sky tore open.

It was a massive, gaping wound in reality. It was fifty feet wide, bleeding thick, toxic black mist that poured down onto the pale stone of the dam like a waterfall of dark ink.

THUD!! THUD!!

The Sylphyros archers drew their bows. The Zephyros guards raised their iron spears. Everyone held their breath. Dozens of wet thuds echoed across the wall.

Mana Aberrations dropped out of the rift, landing on the stone. They were massive, twisted beasts made of bulging, corrupted muscle. They snapped their glowing purple jaws, drooling black mist as they glared blindly at the royal guards.

"Hold the line!" Catherine commanded, her voice cutting through the panic. "Do not fire until they enter the kill zone!"

But the Aberrations didn’t charge. The mindless beasts backed away. They formed a wide, respectful circle around the center of the dark mist, lowering their ugly heads to the stone. Something else was coming through the rift.

It descended slowly, floating down through the air with terrifying control. Velanor’s eyes widened, tightening his grip on the rock barricade. The figure touched silently on the top of the dam.

This creature was tall, sleek, and perfectly formed. It wore armor made of smooth, black obsidian that seemed to absorb the fading sunlight. It had a smooth visor with a shimmering purple slit in the center. In its right hand, it held a long, elegant halberd forged from condensed shadow. It was the Void Herald. The Fallen army’s first commander.

The Herald did not roar. It slowly turned its sleek, dark helmet, looking at the shining reservoir of water, and then looking at the terrified guards standing behind their barricades.

"Such a fragile little world," the Void Herald spoke.

It spoke out loud. The voice was smooth, and terribly calm. It echoed across the entire mile long dam, carrying an unnatural weight that made the mortal soldiers feel weak.

"You build your walls of stone and mud," the Herald continued, slowly twirling the dark halberd in its hand. "You play at being Kings and Generals. You forgot who truly owns the dark."

"Fire!" Catherine screamed.

She wasn’t going to let the monster finish its speech. Forty elite archers released their bowstrings at the same time. A volley of steel arrows, aimed, rained down toward the sleek black armor of the Void Herald.

The Herald did not raise its weapon to block. It simply raised an armored finger. The air around the Herald warped violently.

Luna Freyr used gravity to crush things downward. The Herald used corrupted gravity. It reversed the laws of mass.

The volley of forty steel arrows suddenly stopped dead in mid air, just two feet away from the Herald’s visor. The corrupted gravity crushed the steel shafts, compacting them into a dense ball of scrap metal. With a flick of its finger, the Herald sent the ball of scrap metal shooting back at the guards.

The metal ball smashed through Velanor’s granite barricade like a cannonball, shattering the rock and killing three archers.

"Scatter!" Velanor roared, realizing standing in a tight formation.

He slammed his hands against the top of the dam. Earth Shift: Stone Spears!

Dozens of sharp spikes of solid rock erupted from the stone floor beneath the Herald’s boots, aiming to impale the dark commander.

The Herald stamped its sleek obsidian boot against the stone. A shockwave of dense, black gravity pulsed outward. The rising stone spikes were pulverized into fine dust before they even touched the armor.

"Magic is an insult in your hands," the Herald stated.

The commander pointed its halberd at the royal guards. "Eat them."

The circle of Mana Aberrations shrieked in joy. The mindless beasts lunged forward across the dam, leaping over the rubble of the barricade and crashing straight into the terrified soldiers.

The top of the Great Dam turned into a bloody warzone. Velanor ducked under a claw, coated his fist in solid granite, and punched an Aberration in the jaw, shattering its teeth. He spun around, creating a quick wall of rock to block a second beast.

Catherine was moving with lethal precision. She moved through the chaos, creating tiny, sharp needles of ice and launching them into the eyes of the Aberrations, but there were simply too many of them, and the Herald hadn’t even started fighting yet.

Soltheia was kneeling near the back edge of the wall, pressing her shining green hands against the bleeding chest of a young guard. "Stay with me," she pleaded, tears stinging her eyes as she pulled the dark corruption from his wound.

The Void Herald slowly walked through the chaotic battlefield. It ignored the fighting beasts and the dying guards, the glowing purple eye slit was locked on Catherine. It recognized her as the highest threat on the wall.

The Herald raised its dark halberd. It just pointed the jagged tip at her. Catherine suddenly froze, her eyes widened in terror. She couldn’t move her arms. A pocket of corrupted gravity had locked her body in place. The pressure was immense, slowly crushing her lungs. She couldn’t even draw enough breath to form a single ice needle.

The Void Herald stepped casually toward her, raising the halberd for a clean execution.

"Catherine!" Soltheia screamed, abandoning her triage station and running toward her sister.

"Stay back, Sol!" Velanor yelled, trying to push through a pair of Aberrations to reach the princess, but he was too far away.

The Herald brought the dark halberd slicing down toward Catherine’s neck.

FWOOSH!

A bright streak of pure blue fire cut horizontally across the top of the dam.

The blue fire was highly compressed, acting like a physical blade. The streak of heat slammed into the side of the Herald’s dark halberd, knocking the weapon off course. The blade struck the stone floor instead of Catherine’s neck, carving a smoking gouge into the pale rock.

The Void Herald paused, turning its sleek helmet toward the far end of the dam.

"You missed the neck, Ignis," a deep, rumbling voice echoed.

"I was aiming for the weapon, you giant rock," an another voice complained. "I am trying not to melt the Princess."

Velanor looked up, a relieved grin breaking across his exhausted face. Standing at the far edge of the wall, looking incredibly dangerous, there were four teenage boys.

They had just arrived. Their wind horses were lathered in sweat, panting behind them. The boys were covered in road dust, but they didn’t look tired. They looked ready for a slaughter.

Ignis stood with his iron sword drawn, a thin bright line of blue fire humming along the dull metal edge.

Terravarous stood tall, cracking his knuckles. His dark eyes were focused, ready to shift his armor at a minor second notice.

Luna Zephyros stepped forward, raising his pale hand, his silver eyes blank.

"Release her," Luna commanded softly.

Luna didn’t attack the Herald. He aimed an opposing field of natural gravity at Catherine. The two gravity fields clashed in mid air with a loud, popping sound.

BAMM!!!

The corrupted lock broke. Catherine gasped loudly, falling to her knees and dragging deep breaths of air into her burning lungs.

"Luna!" Soltheia cried out, rushing over to help her sister up.

Luna offered her an arrogant smirk. "I told you I wouldn’t let them touch you."

The Void Herald slowly turned its body to face the new arrivals. The shimmering purple slit on its visor narrowed. It skimmed Ignis, Terravarous, and Luna.

Then, the commander’s gaze fixed onto the fourth boy. Kairos Vedaryan walked slowly to the front of the group. He just wore his simple dark kimono and boots. He reached over his shoulder and gripped the leather hilt of his weapon.

SHIIKK!!

With a soft sound, Kairos drew Asteria. The holy silver blade caught the fading light of the setting sun. The ancient metal shone with a pure white glow, pushing back the heavy dark mist leaking from the sky.

The Void Herald actually took a half step backward. It recognized the light.

"The silver splinter," the Herald spoke, its voice dipping into a tone of hatred. "The old gods left a toy for the children to play with, but a toy cannot stop the eclipse."

Kairos stared at the sleek, obsidian armor of the commander. He remembered Librarian Jovian’s warning in the dusty basement. If you do not learn to pull the light into your blood, the Herald will tear your head off.

Kairos closed his eyes for a single second. He gripped Asteria tightly with both of his callused, bandaged hands. He focused his mind entirely on the physical connection between his bare skin and the leather hilt.

Harmonize! Kairos commanded himself.

He pulled. The white light radiating from the silver blade suddenly flickered. It changed the direction. Instead of shining outward into the air, the holy light flowed down the metal blade, crossing the hilt, and sinking into Kairos’ bare hands.

Kairos let out a sharp, agonizing gasp. It felt like he had just injected boiling, liquid sunlight into his veins. The holy magic rushed up his arms, burning through his blood stream with terrifying speed. He opened his eyes, his dark irises were replaced by a fierce, glowing silver white light. Faint, glowing white veins shimmered underneath the skin of his arms and neck. He was no longer just holding the holy weapon. He had become an extension of it.

Inside his mind, the muted letters of his System suddenly flared back to life, burning with a safe golden color.

[SYSTEM HARMONIZATION COMPLETE.]

[MORTAL VESSEL BUFFER ESTABLISHED. LIFE FORCE DRAIN NEGATED.]

Kairos exhaled a breath of pale, glowing mist. The crushing, hollow ache in his chest was gone. His base stats were high from his brutal underground training, and now, he had successfully integrated the divine buffer. He was ready.

He raised Asteria, pointing the chipped silver tip directly at the Void Herald.

"You are standing on my wall," Kairos said, his voice echoing with a strange, dual resonance.

The Vanguard Generals were finally reunited. The seven teenagers stood in a line across the pale stone of the Great Dam, facing down the commander of the shadows and a swarm of monsters.

The sun finally dipped below the horizon, plunging the canyon into twilight. The battle for the Neutral Zone had begun.