Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided-Chapter 270. Master of the Flow

270. Master of the Flow

"Is that everyone?" Jovian jumped from roof to roof, feeling the wind at his back. His arc boots landed on the edge of the tiles, light and soundless.

The rippling curl of white — a thick, crushing weight of snow — was so close to the edge of the town he could almost touch it.

"No, there are still people over there!" Ziyue pointed at a small child, abandoned by her guardian, cowering at the front of a house.

"We’re running out of time!" Jovian yelled, his voice strained.

The avalanche didn't just bring snow; it cascaded with everything caught in its track. A massive boulder rolled up a sharp incline, hurling itself toward the crying kid.

"Nooo!" Ziyue gasped. It was too far from her reach. She had to shadow-step—

A gleam of metal flew at inconceivable speed. The boulder exploded into dust.

"Are you okay, little one?" Lupus bent over, gently patting the child's cream-white wool, realising the kid wouldn’t stop crying.

"I’m Lupy! Your trusty Olympian mage. Come on." Her voice softened, stimulating a sense of calm.

The kid looked up at her, finding Lupus's big golden eyes. Her cry waned into a soft sniff. "Mama… went…"

"Let’s find your parents!" Lupus urged, her smile never faltering. The kid took her hand, and Lupus picked her up, securing her to her side. "Hang tight!"

A tree branch crashed into a nearby house, taking half of the wall with a deafening ruckus. She covered the kid’s goat ears just in time.

Lupus connected to the comms. "The debris is coming to us now. Frain, you have to pull back immediately."

"I’m in the far back now! Thanks for the heads-up." Frain carried two adults, each holding onto a child. She rounded the corner of a narrow passage, sprinting to the muster point.

Another crash erupted from the distance. The ground quaked violently.

“Whaaaa?” The child yelped.

"It’s okay, it’s okay… Hang tight, okay?" Lupus directed at the child. The little one nodded before burying her snotty face into Lupy’s blouse. The golden arc boots chimed with power, and she leapt a hundred metres into the air.

***

At the northern skirt, Jovian still searched frantically for any villagers, making the final round. Lupus, Frain, and Ziyue had been ordered to retreat out of the cascade's path.

Then, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. A long, light blue strand of hair, perceptible from hundreds of metres away. Sudden instinct flared. Surely, that was not a non-arcanist.

Jovian gritted his teeth, deciding to find out. His figure dissolved into dark mist, vanishing from one roof to reappear on another. While shadow-stepping, his speed extended beyond conventional travel. One would say he faded in and out of reality.

The stranger stood before the towering tsunami of snow, casting a long, gigantic shadow over the town. Only the light blue of his hair and his arc coat were conspicuous enough for Jovian to spot the dignified man against the white backdrop.

"Heyyy!" Jovian called out, not understanding the purpose of walking into the avalanche.

A surge of light erupted. Glowing feathers illuminated the air around them. Jovian squinted at the figure, and now he saw clearly.

It wasn’t a mere man.

The light-haired elf flicked his fingers upward, calm and resolute against the total disaster.

The elven arcanist ordered the colossal avalanche into the air. A gust of windwall erupted upward like an iridescent barrier. The avalanche curled with the direction of the wind. Though some boulders and trees occasionally pierced through, his windwall remained unmoving for the most part.

Sweat sheened Jovian’s forehead. The windwall spread across the entire valley, redirecting the snowfall — millions of tonnes of it. He was lost in the sheer display of power.

Ostentatious.

"Celestius Virtius Nyra." Jovian swallowed the lump in his throat, kneeling behind the figure in absolute reverence.

The blue-haired Celestius eventually pried his half-closed eyes open, looking back at the Lord of the Shadowbringers.

"Valsorda is my town, Jovian." His voice was soft and velvety, like a feather brushing against skin, yet it carried immense weight. "Dare I ask why you have an unsanctioned operation in my realm?" His crystals of aqua illuminated within his irises, exuding authority in its highest form. "Or do you believe I do not possess the ability to protect my people?"

Jovian choked at the bluntness of the question. More iridescent feathers drifted in the gust of wind as Virtius channelled power from his hand.

"It’s Ignius… Sir," Jovian said reluctantly, trying his best to maintain an unfazed tone. He tried not to forget he was also a Celestius.

"Fair point." Virtius glanced at the windwall. The snow was piling up at its base, almost fifty metres in height.

An explosion rang out from the top of the Alps, likely confirming that Zetius’s party had been engaging in mortal combat with their former master. Virtius knew not to trust anyone lightly, especially if they were the Shadowbringers. A believable story.

The snowflakes fell back down in a soft, rhythmic cascade, as it should have been. Snowfall should be slow, soft, beautiful little things.

Contemplative, rubbing his chin for a few seconds, Virtius finally gave a solid nod. "Well, then don’t let me delay you. I wager I will be entangling with this treacherous avalanche for a long while." A faint smile spread across his thin lips.

"Right away, Celestius!" Jovian rose, and his body turned to black mist.

***

Aurelia slid down the rock path, the sharp edge grazing her left calf. Sharp pain squeezed a whimper from her lips.

She scanned the plateau, white snow and black rocks. She swore she saw Zetius and Ignius fall here like starfall.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Catching her breath, she spotted him now in the snowbed. Zetius’s tattered arc coat was red, its colour indistinguishable from his blood. She pushed past the pain, running up to him, her knees skidding onto the snowy ground.

"Zetius!" Her eyes became blurry with the onset of tears. His face was a mess of silver-white tainted with crimson.

Not again. Not again. Her heart quailed; it would collapse if she lost him.

"Zetius, wake up, please." Her voice was strained and quivering. His arm, where the gauntlet had been, was a mess. Blood was everywhere.

Aurelia hugged his body, brushing her hands on his cheeks. "Zetius, wake up."

A heartbeat passed. There was no response.

A cruel déjà vu washed over her, a memory of holding Jack’s limp body on that desolate battlefield. Useless tears flooded her eyes; she used her sleeve to wipe them away.

"I… would hate…" A soft, rasping voice, followed by a soft cough. "To see you cry…"

Zetius’s half-open eyes looked at her.

"You’re alive!" She gasped, partly bemused, mostly relieved.

"You need healing! Stay still!" She snapped into the role, hovering her palms over his face. "Please Mother Gaia, please lend me your strength—Iasis!"

The glowing leaves of Iasis landed on his skin, absorbing into his body. However, her lesser-tier healing spell could only mend fresh, shallow wounds and slow the bleeding from heavy lacerations.

The state Zetius was in was beyond her capability.

"Iasis!" She tried again, though knowing its futility. Another flash of soothing life. And again.

Unable to rise, Zetius’s good hand grasped at the sky, though it trembled terribly. She grasped his hand, feeling him. She wished she could’ve done more.

"There’s a limit to your essence, Aurelia." His voice was a mock scold, still smiling. "It was one of the first lessons we learned…" His dry cough interrupted him.

She pressed his hand to her cheek as she drew her lips into a thin line. She already knew that if she couldn’t get a better healer, Zetius could still perish from the mortal wounds covering his body.

"My deepest apologies for your fantasy, Princess." Ignius’s voice interrupted them. Aurelia’s face went pale.

The man emerged from the howling snowfall. He tossed a mangled gauntlet to the side. It landed heavily in the snow, kicking up white particles. "This is why I never recommend being too reliant on arc equipment," Ignius grinned. "I stand corrected."

Aurelia studied him intently. How could this man still stand, seemingly unscathed, while Zetius was in this near-comatose state? His power was beyond her comprehension.

"Ignius… You monster." Zetius forced a sound, only to drift off. His head lolled to the side.

Rising with her fists clenched, Aurelia put herself between them. "I’ll not let you touch him!" she growled.

"Oh, Zetius?" Ignius widened his eyes. "He’s a dead man walking. There’s no healer with such capability on the mountainside." He extended his palm, letting the snow gather. "There’s a novelty to it, a nuance to his death, I suppose."

"Not another step!" She threatened, tensing her shoulders.

"Make me, child!" Ignius shouted.

He became a blur before reappearing beside her.

Aurelia roared, "Empyrion!"

The fire fist hit air.

Ignius pivoted on his heel effortlessly and countered with a slap. It was so powerful she was sent spinning through the air.

The white ground rushed up to meet her. She heaved and choked. Blood dripped from her mouth and nose. Her vision was hazy; her head swam in vertigo.

Bored, Ignius fidgeted with his arc necklace. "I still might need you in the new world that I create. Under the rightful rule of this universe." He brushed her red hair aside and yanked Aurelia up.

"Arggh!" She screamed in agony, feeling as though the skin on her skull was about to rip.

"Empyrion!" She chanted. Her flame kick cut at his torso. Ignius’s grip loosened, dropping the girl.

He winced, more annoyed than hurt. "You little brat!"

His golden eyes filled with rage, raising a hand to strike. Her red eyes glared back in contempt. Aurelia growled in defiance, unfazed in the face of death.

"Let me show you the real Empyrion!" Ignius charged. This was no longer a reprimanding slap; this one had sufficient power to send them to the underworld.

Suddenly, there was a small shift in the wind, barely noticeable. Aurelia fell into dark mist, as though a dark void had consumed her.

Ignius's internal beam missed, boiling the snow where she had just been.

Ignius’s jaw parted slightly. Even his intellect needed a second to compute.

That was enough for Jovian’s party to launch the vicious ambush.

Hemileos spun in the air. The Master of War reacted instantaneously, flicking a beam at the projectile, deflecting it away.

Something snapped in his forearm. "Another one?!" Ignius exclaimed, finding himself spinning. Ignoring the sharp pain, he manoeuvred in the air until his feet found solid ground.

Hazy golden metal chimed. He found himself sprawling backward. The air exploded in his lungs. One of his legs lifted involuntarily into the air.

He was reeling, his vision swimming. Ghastly white mist exhausted off his pores.

Jovian, who had already anticipated Ignius’s path, surged at him. His purple flame shifted into a ribbon of purple light. He severed Ignius’s heel. The armour-clad fractured into bits, cutting the Achilles tendon.

Ignius’s leg went limp as he dropped onto one knee. He raised his arm, shooting a blind Empyrion beam.

Lupus’s leg swept at his head with a sickening crunch; his neck snapped at an unnatural angle. Ignius captured the momentum to roll out of the centre of the fight.

The lioness, dual-wielding Hemileos, mauled at him. "YAAAA!" Frain roared, swinging her axe at his arm. The blade lodged deep, blood spilling everywhere.

Ignius screamed in pain, returning fire at the attacker. She faded off, spinning with another axe.

"Magnetos!" Ignius’s chant became a desperate battle cry, flinging the lioness dozens of metres away.

Unrelenting, synchronous attacks ensued, giving him not even a moment to catch his breath. A purple blade angled at his heart. Ignius twisted, letting the blade glide off his skin, and elbowed his attacker. Jovian stumbled back, blood spilling from his nose.

Lupus joined from another side with a whirlwind of kicks. He managed to block a few, then her arc boot kicked his hand away, snuffing the flame out of existence.

Ignius grunted, exasperated, before a rotating kick slammed into his face. He stumbled to the side, his hand plunging into the snowy ground. A sharp jolt ran up from a gnarly cut.

Jovian returned with a dagger. His wicked smile was on display while his lips mumbled, "Night Abyss!"

The black mist whirled around them like massive anacondas. Rapacious beasts of the night.

"Nnnngh!" Ignius squeezed his eyes shut, mustering every last bit of energy.

"Empyrion-Iasis!"

His eyes glowed with an ominous red, the outer layer radiating the power of the sun, exploding with immense energy. The air ruptured. Flame incinerated the ground and the dark, slithering apparitions. But the inner layer was the soothing light glow of life — though stolen, it rejuvenated him, mending his mangled body.

Jovian, Lupus, and Frain had no choice but to retreat. Even so, the gust of wind was incredible. The snow flash-boiled into steam.

"We can’t get in!" Lupus growled, her boots digging into the rocks against the pressure.

Frain crouched low, using her single-bevelled axes to stick herself into the ground.

For what felt like an eternity, the howling wind ceased. A massive crater with molten metal underfoot replaced half of the plateau.

Ignius levitated in the air, his long hair drifting to the side, elegant and majestic. His dragon eyes looked down on the three combatants with pure contempt. Zetius was nowhere to be found, he noted internally.

"Today you have witnessed the power of the gods, the power that can unmake this very mountain into ashes," Ignius shouted, his tone calm. The dark sky became red; dark clouds gathered, and ashes fell down.

"I suggest you run." Ignius pointed at Jovian, then his long, pointed finger shifted to Lupus and Frain. "And you… Even if you hop faster, I will not show you any mercy; you should’ve learnt your lessons."

"You took everything from me, you narcissistic asshole!" Lupus growled. Her face distorted with the same vengeance she thought she had lost.

Frain stepped to join Lupus’s side. "I’ll cut you down. You heal, I’ll just cut deeper!" She bared her teeth. Her purple eyes never left the man in the sky.

Ignius clicked his tongue. "Mindless beasts."

Jovian moved with cautious steps. He drew another long, winding blade.

"With the shadows of my blades..." His voice rose in a crescendo into the explosion. "I WILL BE YOUR DEATH!"