The Harbinger's Children (Guardians Of The Arcane Chronicles Vol. 2)

Chapter 11: Unwanted Aid

Fun Fact: Sitting at a whopping size of ten million square kilometres, Surone is the largest country in the world.

An urban jungle filled to the brim with technomagick, the country is characterised by the distinct purple colour of arcani; a testament to how much magic men have imbued in the environment. Formerly a country with many provinces, the Suronian empire finally united the country after countless civil wars.

The capital, Surone City, was renamed after the brightest constellation visible at night, Sirius.

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"Keep it down, will you?"

"I'm sorry. I'm trying, I'm trying..." Parthena winced as another glass shard cracked under her feet.

Kleopatra kept her rifle faced forward, moving with enough precision and furtiveness to match even the most professional of covert operatives. Cleric Elpis Nerva had prepared her for much worse situations while she was still a Guardian trainee. Elpis was a good teacher, no doubt about that; even when she turned out to be a hyper religious nutcase.

The Guardian raised a closed fist, but Parthena bumped into her anyway.

"Something's wrong." Her rifle darted around. "It's too quiet."

"What-"

Rubble crashed into Kleopatra as a scaly claw put itself through the wall beside her. Flashes of white burst out. She ducked downwards, narrowly dodging the sharpened bones that lodged themselves in the wood just above her.

Gritting her teeth, the girl let loose a hailstorm of energy pulses at the red points of light still hiding in the darkness. Shrieks were heard, but they were not sounds of pain. Another claw burst out without warning.

Kleopatra screamed as blood spurted from her shoulder. The claw dug into her flesh, sending fresh waves of pain through her body as it roughly dragged her towards the monster. She raised her weapon towards it, but a tentacle simply swatted it away. She wheezed as appendages wrapped around her and began squeezing the air out of her lungs.

A beam of light narrowly missed her head, putting a hole in the ceiling. Rubble dropped onto the abomination's head. It roared in irritation, tossing its captive at the girl still knocked over by the weapon's recoil.

Air burst from her lungs as Kleopatra crashed into Parthena. She propped herself out groggily, struggling to catch her breath.

"Kleo, no..."

Kleopatra looked up at the source of the voice; a figure with a glaringly bright orange aura. It was charging towards the abomination.

"You...You FIEND! I'll destroy you!"

The monster leapt towards the figure in response, but was promptly sent flying back by a backhand. Kleopatra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Is that Gaius? Since when did he possess such prodigious physical strength?

"You think you can hurt my friends?! You're nothing!" Gaius was smashing the monster's head on the ground repeatedly now, sending tremors along the floor with every hit. "You're nothing but a pathetic little boy!"

The abomination screeched as Gaius ripped all its limbs off with his bare hands and flung it out of the building. It quickly halted its tumbling and attempted to regain its bearings, but the Sorcerer was having none of that. He swung his hand down, burying its head in the gravel road before it could make another move.

Kleopatra watched in slight terror as the boy slowly rose up in the air, presumably carried by the energy peeking out from his soles. A huge blast of energy burst out from his face, disintegrating the abomination instantly.