Avatar of the Frozen Behemoth: Volume 1

Chapter 40: Chasing the Dying Light

Yukio still held onto his mother, his hands trembling as he tried to hold back his tears. His body was weak, and exhaustion threatened to consume him. The fires in the distance continued to roar, the heat biting at his skin, but the cold reality of the destruction around them was even sharper.

Then, a thundering sound echoed from his left. Yukio's head snapped up, his breath catching in his throat. Through the thick smoke and ash, barely visible, were figures charging across the battlefield. His heart skipped a beat as he recognized them. It was the Spadian soldiers—what remained of them—racing toward the Janoan army, desperation etched into every step.

"They're going to clash again..." Yukio muttered to himself, his voice a mix of disbelief and awe. "But... why?"

He expected the Janoans to charge, to meet the Spadians with their usual brutality, hungry for more blood, more destruction. His eyes darted to the Janoan frontlines, waiting for that inevitable clash, waiting for the chaos that always followed. But something was wrong.

The Janoan soldiers didn't move forward.

Instead, they raised their chaos flamethrowers in unison. The strange mechanical devices now glowing with a dark, eerie energy. With a swift movement, they unleashed a massive wall of fire—chaos magic in its purest form.

The wall roared to life, twisting and writhing as if it were a living, breathing entity. It surged forward, swallowing everything in its path with a furious blaze.

Yukio's breath hitched as he watched the bonfire erupted with a deafening roar, its intensity shaking the ground beneath Yukio's feet. It wasn't just any fire; it was chaos itself, twisting and warping the very air around it, consuming everything in its path. The flames didn't burn orange—they were an unnatural, hellish mix of black and red, a fire that bent the laws of nature. It writhed like a living beast, a pure manifestation of destruction.

The Spadian soldiers were forced to halt in their charge, stumbling back as the chaotic inferno advanced. Some tried to brace against the heat, but it was too much. Yukio's heart ached as he saw their faces—faces filled with determination that quickly turned to horror as the wall of fire bore down on them, unstoppable.
Yukio took a step back, his body trembling. "What... what is happening?" he whispered, his voice barely audible.

Beside him, Calista struggled to speak, her voice raspy and weak. "Yukio... why aren't they fighting back? They always—"

"—attack without hesitation," Yukio finished, his voice distant, as if he were trying to understand something that didn't make sense. "But now they're... defending themselves?"

The Janoan commander's voice rang out sharply through the chaos. "Fall back! All units retreat! On my command!" The sound of his booming order sent chills down Yukio's spine.

The Janoan soldiers continued their retreat, and for the first time since the chaos began, Yukio saw something new in their movements. They weren't retreating out of fear—they were retreating with purpose.

But for what?

The Spadian soldiers, still reeling from the sudden onslaught of chaos flames, held their ground, unsure of whether to pursue or fall back themselves. The battlefield was now caught in an eerie standoff—one side retreating, the other side too stunned to act. The air hung thick with tension, the quiet that followed the retreat deafening in its own right.

"I... I don't understand," Yukio said, his voice barely above a whisper. His heart was pounding, confusion washing over him in waves. "Why are they retreating now? They were winning..."

Calista's eyes fluttered open again, and she stared at the sky, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"Maybe... maybe they've done enough damage. Maybe this... is it." She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "Yukio, don't worry about them right now. I'm just... relieved they're leaving." She forced a small, weak smile. "Maybe we have a chance."