The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6)

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  I gripped Dawnbreaker tight, and the blade of midnight-black glistened as blood slid down its surface. I took one look at the Dragons above me, and pushed myself off the floor, soaring up to the sky. My body twisted mid-air, and I grabbed onto one of the Dragons, hoisting myself onto its back.

  The beast thrashed around, and I pushed my blade into its flesh, driving down until the hilt. I leaned over the side and dropped, pulling the sword along with me. The weapon cut through the beast as I moved, slicing its body in half.

  Blood rained from the skies as I dropped towards the floor once again. Another Dragon flew up to me from below, ready to sink its teeth into my neck.

  I thrust my hand out. “Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled.

  A blast of water surged from my palm, and crashed through the beast. Its health went down to nearly zero, but a sliver still hung on.

  Not for long.

  I swung my blade. Dawnbreaker swiftly went through its skin, and I took its head off in one fluid strike. I thudded into the surface a second later, and a sigh left my lips, just as the remains of the dragon dropped to the ground.

  “This is getting boring huh?” Nyx’s voice echoed into my mind.

  Another dragon surged at me, kicking up sand as it shot through the air. I knelt down and swung over my head, slicing the beast’s body in one clean stroke. Two halves dropped to the ground, first rolling over the mud and then burning in the ongoing flames.

  “What do you think?” I mumbled. “Isn’t this kind of boring?”

  “Well, these things ARE significantly underpowered compared to you,” Nyx said.

  I know.

  Five dragons bellowed loudly, and rushed down to me, with flames of all colors spewing from their mouths. I thrust my hand up at them and focused on my inner energy. “Peona!”

  A twister of strong wind blast up from the surface, and smacked into the Dragons. I pushed myself off the ground, and rose up to their level in a flash.

  “Bladestorm!” My muscles tightened, and I slashed and hacked through the beasts with greater vigor. When I dropped to the ground the winds had stopped, and five broken bodies thudded down, with flames charring their flesh.

  Another dragon cry sounded, and I sighed. “How many more?” I mumbled.

  A voice rumbled. “Leave it to me.”

  A Dragon cry echoed through the skies, louder than anything I’d heard before, for the very sound made my chest clench. A form of pure darkness shot through. A massive flamethrower of soul-silver exploding from it and sinking into multiple Dragons. The other Dragons tried to resist the attacks, but ended up dropping to the ground like a bunch of flies. Around twenty of them thudded to the surface, but there were still many left.

  “Thanks, Acnologia,” I said. “But we’re going to need more than just that.”

  “I know.”

  Screams surged out from behind me and my eyes sifted through the scene. Two tiny forms scampered around the ground, with massive Dragons chasing them down.

  “What the hell are they doing?!” I rushed forward, with Dawnbreaker held tight in my hand.

  I launched into the air. “Uher!” I yelled.

  The ground beneath me cracked, and a massive phoenix of dark haze rose from within. It surged onto the enemy Dragons, crashing through them all in a flash. I followed up, jumping up to their stumbling forms.

  “Bladestorm!”

  I slashed through their bodies in a twenty-second combo, and when I dropped to the ground again, fifteen dragons dropped along with me.

  I turned to the two forms behind me. “What the hell were you thinking?!” I yelled. “I told you not to come out here!”

  A brown-haired girl looked at me, trying to hide herself within her robes of white. Beside her was a young kobold, playing with his fingers, and refusing to meet my gaze. A dragon cry echoed behind us.

  I sighed. “The two of you get back to Ikarius,” I glared. “Now.”

  They nodded and scampered away.

  Acnologia, keep an eye on them, would you?

  “Understood,” the Dragon said.

  I turned around, glancing at the other Dragon rushing down to the surface. Bigger, I blinked. Did not expect that.

  The beast was at least twice as large as the others and displayed its massive teeth as it shot down to me. I thrust my hand into the air. “Asgionis! Peliosia!” I yelled. Flames of fire and darkness emerged around me. My movements quickened, and I took advantage of the buff, rushing forward and jumping up to the flying Dragon.

  The beast stalled, and its widened as it found me right in front of it, thirty feet in the air. I put my hand up. “Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled.

  A blast of water surged into the beast, pushing it back while the rebound pushed me away. A Dragon, a smaller one, shot at me from behind.

  Oh no, you don’t. I twisted, and thrust my blade into its head.

  I dropped onto its body, and pushed my blade into its flesh to bring myself to a stop. I quickly lifted the weapon out and jumped off the little one, towards the bigger beast. The Dragon roared at me and opened its mouth, but I went sailing over its head.

  I landed on its back and slashed through its scales, cutting a deep gash. I pushed down, sinking my blade even deeper, and twisted for all I was worth.

  The Dragon’s head thrashed, and it dropped down like a stone. Its body spun fast as it tried to throw me off it. I let go of my grip on its hide, and with the momentum the Dragon had, its flesh tugged at the sword in my hand, cutting an even larger gash through its back.

  I pushed off its body, letting the Dragon sail down beneath me, letting it rush down to the surface.

  “Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled, and the blast of water surged down, sinking into the beast and smashing it to the ground. A massive blast sounded from the contact point, and I dropped through the dust cloud that emerged.

  A dark, frozen form sat within it.

  DING!

  My Analyze skill’s screen popped up.

  Race

  Dragon

  Level

  906

  Damn, I blinked. That’s pretty strong.

  “That’s very strong,” Nyx said.

  The dust around me settled, revealing the fifty other Dragons I’d taken down, all of their blackened forms still charring in the fires they had started. I looked past them and saw two more humanoid-forms ahead, these two making me just as worried as had the two from before.

  I shot forward, jumping over dragon bodies and burning flames. An elven lady, of black skin and green eyes, stood before me, with white hair flowing in the hot winds. Beside her was a young man, completely decked out in armor of black that hid all his features.

  They faced the Dragon before them, staying still as the beast growled out. Its health hadn’t gone down too much, whereas theirs on the hand most certainly had. I shot forward, jumping over their forms and onto the beast.

  “Bladestorm!” I yelled.

  My quick slashes cut through the beast’s skin and in a second I cleaved off its entire head. The Dragon collapsed to the ground, its bellowing no longer echoing up to the skies.

  I turned around. “This battle doesn’t seem like something we can all handle, Ijyela.”

  “I know,” the elf said. “But we can’t let you do all the fighting.”

  I grinned. “I still end up doing all the fighting anyway.”

  “Tch.” The knight clicked his tongue.

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’re still too weak Oris, as are you Ijyela,” I said. “You can’t take out these beasts on your own. Leave the rest to me and Freya.”

  The elf shook her head. “We’ll be your support.”

  I sighed. “Really?”

  A dragon cried bellowed from somewhere behind me. I thrust my hand up without a single glance. “Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled.

  A blast of water surged out of my palm, and a weaker cry came out. A thud sounded later, followed by the crackling sound of burning flesh. That beast had gone down.

 
; Ijyela’s widened eyes confirmed that for me. But as astounded as the elf was, her face still returned to its calm state.

  “We’ll support you,” she repeated.

  “They’re more than twice your level,” I said. “We can’t sit here and have you fight them. End of story.”

  “But—”

  “Ijyela, please don’t make this harder. I have to fight hundreds more of these things already.”

  The elf averted her eyes and she stopped talking.

  Acnologia, I’ve got two more for you to take back.

  “On it.” The Dragon’s form descended from the sky, with two burning Dragons falling beneath it. “Take them back to Ikarius?”

  I nodded and then looked at the two before me. “Acnologia will take you back.”

  “Zoran,” Ijyela said. “It’s him, isn’t it? This is the Time Lord’s work.”

  I stared at her. “Now isn’t the time.”

  Acnologia flew down to them while I shot forward, surging into the many Dragons that rushed up to me. My blade slashed through their bodies and my attacks blew up before their forms, crushing through multiple ones in one shot.

  “Are you sure its him?” Nyx asked.

  I slashed through four Dragons in mid-air and dropped back to the ground. I know these Dragons are normal ones, not like Acnologia. I frowned. But they’re still creatures that went extinct many, many years ago. To see them here is not some magical summoning event, but something to do with time.

  “Ah,” he said.

  I jumped up again, cutting through one of the Dragons and dropping to the ground once more. I hope it isn’t the Time Lord though. My teeth clenched. Dealing with that man will not be fun.

  “No kidding.”

  The ground shook, and mud and stones spewed into the air as the flames burning along the surface rose high into the sky.

  I stopped, and gripped my sword tighter. “What the heck is that?”

  “I’m as clueless as you are.” A form stood before me, and black hair flowed through the winds, with a single streak of silver glistening in the starlight. An elf smiled, and her silver eyes stared into mine.

  “Freya?” I asked. “You reverted?”

  She nodded. “I couldn’t keep it up for more than ten minutes.”

  “That’s expected,” I said. “You should—”

  “I won’t go back to the village.”

  The ground shook even more, and cracks and fissures sprung into the surface. We backed away, receding to what seemed to be a safe region for the moment. The flames around us died down, and the sight of burning bodies emerged, no longer hidden by the fires.

  I blinked. Wow, that’s a lot of dead dragons.

  Nyx chuckled. “Why are you surprised? You killed like most of them.”

  As if I need to be reminded about that.

  “Diablo,” Acnologia said. “I sense a large number of presences below us.”

  Below us? You mean underground?

  “Indeed.”

  I grit my teeth. “Of course.”

  “Huh?” the elf asked.

  “There’s something beneath us.”

  As if on que, the fissures widened, and forms of white crawled out of it, with steel weaponry in their hands.

  “Of course.” I sighed. “It had to be skeletons.”

  Nyx chuckled. “They’re your favorites, after all.”

  “Sure. Why not.”

  The creatures of death stumbled out of the fissures now, surging out like ants from a hill.

  I eyed them all. Two thousand?

  “Seems like it.” Acnologia flapped his wings and kept himself in the air.

  “And that’s in addition to the two hundred so Dragons left,” Nyx said.

  I glanced up. The Dragons were hovering in the air, but there were no cries now, and no attacks either. Nothing. The beasts’ actions seemed coordinated, as if they were waiting for the skeletons to all make their way above ground first.

  I frowned. Okay, that’s freaky.

  “It also gives us a break we need to take advantage of,” Nyx said.

  “What’s the action plan?” Freya asked.

  “You don’t have your seal right now,” I said. “Step back.”

  “But I—”

  “Step. Back.” My voice was sterner. “Don’t make me ask Acnologia to take you back. If you break out of your seal once again, then we can see what to do.”

  “What about me?” A new voice spoke.

  Darkness swirled before us, and a man stepped out from within it. He wore dark robes, the color of the night, and violet eyes looked through, the only visible feature of his.

  “The Death Lord.” I smiled. “How many?”

  “A hundred Dragons down,” he said. “I could have gotten more, but I came back to help with the skeleton army.”

  I nodded. “You’re with me.”

  Freya raised her eyebrow. “He gets to fight?”

  “He’s got powers on my level. You don’t.”

  The Death Lord and I shot forward, right at the army of skeletons. I quickly used my Analyze skill on the first line of enemies.

  DING!

  Race

  Skeletal Warrior

  Level

  899

  Not as strong. But still pretty high leveled.

  “Do you want me to do it?” Nyx asked.

  I looked at the two thousand odd skeletons marching towards us and the two hundred odd Dragons above them. I sighed. Yeah, do it.

  “Death Lord,” I said. “Take the men to the right. Acnologia and I will get the rest.”

  He nodded, and shifted direction, heading to the skeletons on that side.

  A stream of lights flowed around me, condensing in my left hand. A sword of misty white formed, with a jewel of purple studded where the blade met the hilt. I clutched onto the weapon and swung. A pressure wave surged from me, slamming into the enemy ranks and knocking over a few men.

  I grinned. “This is going to be fun.”

  “Diablo,” Acnologia said. “Do you want me to look over Freya?”

  Just keep an eye on her from time to time. I walked forward. She’s capable of handling herself. If it’s a one-on-one fight. If its more than one then I think she’ll be in trouble—regardless of however much she says she isn’t.

  “Understood,” the Dragon said. “And what of the army before us?”

  I shot to the skeletons, slashing into them with my swords. Get the ones to the left, but focus on the Dragons. I’ll get the ones on the ground.

  “Got it.”

  I kept moving forward, with my two swords slashing into the men around me, one hit K.O.ing about a hundred of them in under forty seconds. I grinned and pushed through, slashing through more and more of them with every blink of an eye. The army was hopelessly underpowered for a battle against me.

  I smiled. That’s how its usually been, hasn’t it?

  Dragons yelled above me, and without a flick of hesitation I shot up, rising up to their place in the sky. I caught sight of five Dragons in my vicinity and I quickly spun, using my rotational momentum to sink my sword into their bodies. The beasts’ health went to zero from just the critical hits, and their hacked forms dropped to the floor. I dropped down as well, and the moment my feet touched the surface, I shot forward, heading back to the Skeletal Army.

  My blades crunched through the bone bodies around, crumbling them to dust. I glanced to my side and saw that the Death Lord had gone through his side with ease as well. Acnologia was burning through the Dragons and sending them to the floor, though some of the beasts escaped and were making their way down to us.

  I grinned. “Reviera!”

  Winds surged around me, forming their very own mini twister. The gales were gentle, more morning breezes than hurricane storms, but that wasn’t the point. My movements instantly hastened, and I used it to my advantage.

  I abstained from using any spells, and instead hacked and slashed with my swords, using my Dual Wield skill f
or all it was worth. In seconds almost eight hundred of the skeletons were gone. But there were still a ton remaining.

  Need to be faster.

  I pushed forward, crushing through bone and breaking through heads as I shot through the enemy ranks, with my presence but a mere, formless shadow because of the speeds I was going at.

  The Death Lord pushed forth too, attacking the skeletons with spells from the Dark Arts. In about a minute we’d taken down another eight hundred skeletons together. Just four hundred left.

  “I’ve got the rest.” The Death Lord shot to the middle of the ranks, ready to take them on.

  “I’ll leave it to you.” I said and jumped into the air, sinking my blades into the first Dragon I met and using its body as a launch point to another. I leaped between the flying creatures, slashing through the new beast and using its falling body to launch into the next.

  Between me and Acnologia we took down the remaining two hundred Dragons in the air, and let their blood rain down to the flaming surface.

  About half a minute later, I dropped to the floor, sliding back to where Freya was standing. I sighed and then stood up, glancing before me.

  Flames of all colors rose high into the air, fueled by the rain of blood we had given them. The sand was now colored a deep red, with the puddles over it unable to sink into the surface. The winds pushed through us, and was filled with nothing but the stench of rotting, burning death.

  Freya trembled. “That’s…a lot of blood.”

  I stared at the scenery and not a single emotion spurred up inside me.

  “Victory always comes at a price.”

  ***

  CHAPTER TWO

  “That was really unnecessary, Zoran.”

  Ijyela stared me down.

  I shifted in my chair, rocking the wood back and forth over the floor. “I don’t see the point of an outburst here,” I said. “You realize you guys were outmatched by both the Dragons and the Skeletal Warriors, right?”