Extra And MC-Chapter 196 - 192 - Crimson Horizon

(Two weeks later…)

Coming to a standstill, his eyes overlooking the protective barrier he had used to section off the Frontlines from Qilos Republic, Xavier let out a deep breath of air.

An air of contemplation surrounded him, his eyes, flicking over to the other side of the barrier to watch a Frostquill Hawk, a bird native to Qilos Republic’s temperate climate, soaring across the skies.

Smiling a bit, watching as the unaware creature, glided through the skies, free and without a burden in the world, Xavier wished, ever-so-slightly, that his life could’ve been as simple as the bird’s.

Beautiful, graceful and free of the world’s burdens…

But, at the same time, as the snow-white feathered bird, flew further further away, Xavier’s eyes, one that was of no ordinary human’s, followed the skylines as bird’s wings flapped, eventually landing right on Qilos Republic itself in the distance.

And just like that, he was reminded of why they had gone down this crazy route in the first place.

Why they had burdened themselves with this cause and shackled themselves to this fate.

’All, for the future of Arcanora…’

’All, for a better tomorrow…’

’All, to put a stop to Beelzebub, once and for all…’

Those were the thoughts that ran through Xavier’s mind.

Regrounding his intentions and reaffirming his purpose, Xavier slowly gazed downwards to stare at the thin line where the barrier he had placed was erected, separating cold frosty waters from frozen, glacial ice.

As he stood, right on the edge, at the precipice of the thin line, Arcadia’s only EX-ranker, turned around to face the Frontline’s skies, watching as its entire expanse was dominated by a phenomenon, akin to multiple fractured mirrors, impeding on its reality.

Truly, it was an eerie phenomenon.

A skyline with an unsettling, crimson horizon.

Letting out another deep breath of air, Xavier, with his blue eyes now glowing a majestic hue, spread out both of his arms like a conductor in an orchestra.

And then, without a single spell casted, and more with a thought in his mind, the landscape of the Frontlines, rapidly began to alter.

’Metamorphosis.’

Encompassing the entire expanse with a tremendous, temporal wave of Aether, time began to warp and accelerate.

The glaciers of the Frontlines cracked and melted at an astonishing rate, the rivers of ice it was creating, rapidly evaporating despite the torrential waves of water that was being created.

Mountains of solid ice, speedily dissolved into nothingness, their mass which should’ve been redistributed by the forces of erosion and weathering over millennia, compressed into mere moments as the earth elevated gradually from the depths.

And then, after a few more seconds, came the aftermath of the borderline, world-altering spell Xavier had casted.

Once a glacial expanse, the land was now transformed into a vast, leveled, barren earth, dotted with newly formed elevations and slopes.

Now, the Frontlines had been prepped for war, its terrain rugged, scarred and shaped in his image.

Closing his eyes after all that was done, opening it just a few second after, Xavier snapped his fingers while casting a spell this time;

’[Recollection].’

Instantly, a wave of rippling Aether, spread from his body, his body the epicenter as its effects, slowly began to cascade all over the world.

The barrier he had erected to separate the Frontlines from the world, also dissipated slowly, the cold frosty waters from the other end, gently cascading over to form a shoreline.

At the exact same time too, something akin to a glitch, began to mess with Xavier’s body, constantly trying to erase him and forcefully stop him from messing with the memories of Arcadia’s inhabitants.

However, Xavier, as if already expecting this, fought back with a walloping, rippling wave of Aether, constantly reintegrating his body as the glitch, tried to disintegrate him.

Eventually, after about an hour, the phenomenon stopped and his body returned to its pristine condition.

Well…

Most of it did.

Raising his hands, watching as its previously youthful skin was now gradually aging, albeit ever so slowly, the man scoffed while muttering under his breath;

"Damn restrictions…"

Considering it was also the same phenomenon that took his authority away, it truly was Xavier’s bane of existence.

Not wanting to linger on the sight of his slowly aging hand though, the man soon began to levitate across the sea, all the way over to Qilos Republic.

’Should mask it with another layer of spells…’ he thought to himself, knowing fully well that he could never let the Valkyries find out about this as they would be extremely worried if they saw his hand like that.

Considering he needed them to be fully focused on holding back Beelzebub during the invasion, something they had been planning their entire lives for, it was necessary that he kept this hidden as he made his way over to their rendezvous point in Frostfall.

* * *

The spell ’[Recollection]’ which Xavier had casted, had a profound effect on the inhabitants of Arcanora.

Not only did it remind them of the Frontlines, a portion of the world map which had been cut off from the rest of the world, it also, showed them how the current terrain had been altered, along with the eerie, crimson horizon of its skyline.

Basically, it gave everybody a simple message, one that told them of where the fiercest of battles during the invasion would be.

In addition, the spell, also gave them glimpses of the oncoming invasion, a brief collage of memories that Xavier put together from the past iterations, along with giving them the exact day the invasion would start.

Each and every single one of those memories though, showed just how dire things would be, further driving home the fact that this might very well, be the end of the human race unless they won this time.

And just like that, the days, slowly passed by, until it was just a day…

The eve, before the invasion.

* * *

"My sons?" Anna tilted her head a bit.

"Hmmm…" she smiled a bit, a knowing gaze settling on her features.

"Knowing them, I bet they’re at the lakeside…" she responded with another smile.

"Thank you Duchess." Adrian, Bryan and Lucas, gave their respects with a curt nod and then proceeded to visit said lake.

On their way, they soon ran into Ivar and Maya, both of whom were training together on the vast plains of the mansion.

Same went for Beatrice and Amelia whom were also sparring with each other, their weapons clashing with sparks.

Ever since the youth’s arrival back to Arcadia, they had mostly been training with them.

Considering they were within the same age range yet they were already so powerful, it motivated them to get stronger, much faster.

Sure most of them were now at mid to high tier S-rank, courtesy of Ivelia and Ivar’s Core Advancement Potions, still, the fact that Aiden and Flynn were now respectively at low-tier SSS-rank and high-tier SS-rank, even when they were yet to consume said potion, really motivated them to be even better.

In addition to that, they were the only youths who were allowed to battle on the Frontlines, although that information was only kept between a few key nobles and The Tower’s Executives.

Just two weeks ago, a few days after their return to Arcadia, due to the worldwide phenomenon that practically caused every human to experience glimpses of the future invasion, another global conference had been requested for, but this time, it was from Qilos Republic’s Frostbound Senate.

Considering they would be the first nation to be destroyed, obviously because the Frontlines was the closest to their Nation, they had requested for more help from other Nations.

As a result, a lot of the interning rankers had been given a choice, to either stick around and stay on standby in their nation to protect it, or be relocated to Qilos Republic’s shores, one where they would be tasked with repelling the demons that managed to escape.

And expectedly, almost every single youth in Aiden and Flynn’s friend group, chose the latter option.

Despite their parent’s best efforts to dissuade each and every single one of them from their decisions, they had still stubbornly refused.

To further drive home the reason for this choice of theirs, they effectively reminded them that if Aiden and Flynn were going to be on the Frontlines, then it would be cowardly of them to stay away from the shores, a place that was considerably less dangerous than the Frontlines itself.

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That said, as the three youths made their way over to the lakeside, they soon heard a familiar voice of laughter cascading over to their ears.

"Time does flow differently there… apparently…" Aiden, who watched Briar gleefully laughing as she found herself a few meters up in the air said, a thin smile on his face.

"So, in actuality, we may only be gone for an hour or more before we return." Flynn added, a medium-sized, aquamarine dome created from his [Force Field] spell, propelling Briar back into the air as she bounced off of it.

Nodding in response to their words, Ivelia and Caroline, leaned their heads on the shoulders of their respective partners, mixed emotions running through their minds.

There was no guarantee that the brothers were going to come back alive from this, and neither was there any guarantee that Arcanora would win against the The Demon King’s forces.

That made them all levels of fearful, sad and anxious.

But still, there was hope.

Hope in their hearts that their partners, considering how much they had contributed to the safety of this world, would be able to work something out, one way or the other.

"Come back to us." Caroline soon spoke up after a brief moment of silence, her voice soft, after which Ivelia then added in a similar tone;

"We’ll be here, waiting for you. Always."

With a warm smile, one that showed their appreciation for their partners, Aiden and Flynn responded in unison;

"We will. We promise."

"And as for you three…" Aiden said as he and his brother, turned around with a wicked grin.

"Welcome. Today, again, you will serve as good punching bags." Flynn clapped, causing a deep frown to surface on Adrian’s, Lucas’s and Bryan’s features.

"So, we can still leave, right?" Adrian asked the other two, both of whom swiftly nodded their heads and turned around to bolt.

"Yeah. Maybe we should just train by ourselves today!" Bryan added whilst Lucas, didn’t even minx his words;

"Well since we might be doomed tomorrow either way, I’d rather have one day less of these two and their horrific training sessions."

Quickly, they began to leave, only to feel Aiden and Flynn’s arms, tightly cuffed around their necks.

"Oh you’re going nowhere." Aiden and Flynn stated definitively, innocent smiles adorning their lips.

As for the three youths though, the end was nigh for them and they knew it, causing them to break into a cold sweat.

If there was one thing all three had felt had really changed about the two brothers during their absence, it was that they had absolutely no mercy when it came to sparring with them.

Compared to before their time at the Frontlines, one where they would simply only spar to best the other, now, it was almost as if they were planning to beat them to a pulp.

Sigrun’s nasty habit of beating the crap out of them whilst she had been training them, had unfortunately, rubbed off on the youths.

Ivelia and Caroline on the other hand, despite laughing at the antics of their partners and feeling a bit sorry for the other guys, watched as Briar kept laughing without a care in the world whilst having fun, completely oblivious to the dreaded invasion that would be occurring tomorrow.

* * *

"My Liege. The Fabric Warp is now completely operational for a full-scale invasion." Astaroth, Beelzebub’s dark elven general, along with the other generals; Evangel, Kilgor, Vespar and Zarok; appeared right before him in his throne room whilst kneeling, their heads bowed in reverence.

"Then that is what we will do." Beelzebub’s cold, raspy voice, echoed through the throne room.

"Ready our troops." he authoritatively ordered.

"We attack tomorrow." Beelzebub stated definitively, slowly arising from his throne with a determined expression.

"Yes, my Liege!" all five, with their distinct voices, responded in unison.