Aether Chronicles: Birth Of A Legend-Chapter 158: I Haven’t Lost Yet

Raegar watched the assassin's eyes gleam with amusement, as if toying with him. Before he could recover, the first assassin struck. A blur of motion, the enemy's sword carved a vicious arc through the air, its blade biting deep into the backs of his legs.

Pain exploded through his body, a white-hot agony that buckled his knees and sent him crashing to the ground with a cry. Blood pooled beneath him, staining the lush grass of the school garden as his vision swam.

'Dammit,' he thought just before activating his special ability as his eyes threatened to shut due to exhaustion.

Suddenly, the night erupted in chaos. The garden blazed to life, bathed in a searing crimson glow as arcane alarms shrieked into existence. Their piercing wails shattered the silence, reverberating through the academy grounds like the cry of a vengeful spirit.

When the assassins saw this, they stopped as the Tier Nine spoke. ''Hurry up, two. You can kill the boy so the boss will be happy, just make it quick.''

The second enemy got excited and approached him while spinning his spear. As the man got closer, Raeger glanced up with a wild smile, his red eyes glowed. ''Fusion Overdrive!'' he roared.

Moments later, the clouds above exploded as Aether rushed through the barrier and straight into his body. He felt the world answering his plea, and it answered by sending him even more power, but at a cost.

'Whatever it takes to survive this!' he internally roared.

As Fusion Overdrive took its price in the form of being weakened for some time. His new strength shot up to Tier Ten, which was too much, but he steeled himself and used the new power.

Raegar was in shock when he realized the cost of using it, making him grimace in horror. 'It's going to take my right arm and eye, along with damaging my Aether Pools blocking me from magic.'

Following that, he threw caution to the wind and embraced the power, and felt his right arm tearing apart from the inside out. With a primal roar, he hurled himself at the first assassin, his Aether flaring as he summoned his dagger.

In a blur of motion, he drove the blade forward, piercing the shocked enemy's eye. A sickening crunch echoed as the man staggered, blood streaming down his face. The sudden, brutal strike froze the battlefield, shock rippling through the enemies as their comrades' screams tore through the night.

The second assassin snapped into action, his spear thrusting toward him, but he triggered Flash Step, his body dissolving into a flicker of light and reappearing in an instant above the second assassin.

Mid-air, Raegar spun like a vortex, his blades lashing out in a whirlwind of razor-sharp steel. Each strike sang with fury, forcing the assassin to stumble back, his spear raised in a desperate attempt to parry the onslaught.

But it wasn't enough. The assassin's defenses wavered, his movements a heartbeat too slow against the blazing speed of his attack. Yet, even as the enemy reeled, he sensed the fight was far from won.

Raegar noticed the man's eyes burned with anger as his resolve hardened, his hands weaving Aether into a barrage of Earthspike Barrage spells. Jagged stone spears erupted from the soil, tearing through the earth, each one aimed to impale him.

''Time to move, Rae,'' he muttered and started bouncing around like a rabbit.

His body twisted and darted through the deadly maze, his Flash Step flickering like lightning as he wove between the spikes, their razor tips grazing his tattered armor but failing to find flesh.

Thanks to his Tier Ten strength the air crackled with the power of the clashing forces, the garden a battlefield of shattered stone and scorched grass. With a final pulse of Aether, he vanished in a burst of light, reappearing behind the second assassin in a heartbeat.

The man had no time to react. Raegar's blade, slick with the blood of his first foe, flashed in the crimson glow of the school's alarms, driving straight through the assassin's throat with a sickening crunch.

Blood sprayed, hot and coppery, as the enemy choked, his spear clattering to the ground. His body crumpled, lifeless, into the ruined garden. Raegar's gaze snapped upward, locking onto the Tier Nine assassin who loomed at the edge of the battlefield.

The elite killer's presence was a suffocating weight, his eyes cold and unyielding. Blood trickled from his ears, his body trembling as his overtaxed muscles screamed in protest, Aether depletion gnawing at his strength.

Each breath was a labored gasp, his vision blurring at the edges as his body teetered on the brink of collapse. Yet, even as his strength faltered, Raegar's defiance burned brighter, his grip tightening on his bloodied blades.

The Tier Nine stepped forward, the ground quaking faintly beneath his boots, a predator sizing up wounded prey in the flickering light of the alarmed garden. Following that, the two of them charged at each other,

Raegar poured every ounce of his strength into the fight, his body a blur of desperation as he faced the assassin. His blades danced in a symphony, blocking the assassin's relentless strikes, and each blow sent tremors through his battered frame.

He countered with slashes, his movements fueled by sheer willpower alone, dodging the assassin's lunges that sliced through the air like vipers. The garden quaked under their clash, petals and debris swirling in the crimson glow of the alarms.

To the assassin's shock, he kept pace, his reflexes razor-sharp despite the blood dripping from his ears and the agonizing burn of his failing body. With a twist, Raegar landed a series of slashing strikes across Tier Nine's chest and arm.

His blade biting through armor and drawing thin lines of blood. The assassin grunted, his cold facade cracking for a fleeting moment as pain flickered in his eyes. Their battle became a whirlwind, the two warriors rushing through the garden in a deadly dance.

Vines snapped and statues toppled as they tore across the grounds, the Tier Nine's dagger flashing out in a vicious arc. Raegar's instincts screamed, and he raised his blade just in time, the dagger's edge screeching against his sword in a shower of sparks.

The force of the block brought them face-to-face, their weapons locked in a trembling stalemate. His breath hitched as he stared into the assassin's scarred face, a mirror of his battle-worn one.

But where his scars told a story of survival, defiance, and pure grit to live, the man's were etched with cruelty, his eyes devoid of mercy, two pits of unrelenting malice that spoke of the horrors he unleashed on innocent people.

The assassin's lips curled into a faint, predatory sneer, and in that moment, Raegar knew this fight would demand everything he had left, and more, to survive the merciless gaze of his foe.

Without moving, a sudden, searing agony erupted in his core, cutting through the adrenaline-fueled haze of their clash. His gaze dropped, and his heart lurched at the sight, a dagger buried to the hilt in his stomach, glinting with a sickly green sheen.

Blood welled around the wound, hot and slick, soaking his torn armor. Raegar's knees buckled as he coughed, crimson spraying from his lips, each breath a ragged struggle against the fire spreading through his veins.

The assassin stepped back, his scarred face twisting into a gloating sneer, his eyes alight with sadistic triumph. ''Now die!'' he hissed. ''Basilisk poison from the Forbidden Wastes. Enjoy the pain, boy!''

Laughter sliced through the blaring alarms that still lit the garden in a frenetic crimson glow. Raegar felt his body burning as it burned his veins and attacked his organs as he was grabbed by the throat.

''Now I've dealt with you, the Blackwoods are next!'' the man revealed with glee. ''Damn annoying family need to be put down if they are anything like you boy.''

His taunting words ignited a firestorm in his soul, his vision flooding with crimson rage. ''I cannot die here!'' he growled through gritted teeth, his voice a raw, desperate snarl as he forced his broken body to rise.

Blood gushed from his stomach, the basilisk poison searing his veins, and with a sickening pop, his right eye burst under the strain, a torrent of agony unlike anything he'd ever known ripping through his flesh and soul.

Raegar's body screamed for surrender, but something deep within him refused. He got to his feet, a blood-soaked specter of defiance, his remaining red eye blazing. The enemy's gloating smirk faltered as he let out a guttural roar that shook the garden.

''I HAVEN'T LOST YET!'' The words were a battle cry, raw and unhinged, reverberating through the crimson-lit chaos of the blaring alarms.

Driven by a madness born of pain and sheer will, Raegar surged forward, his movements no longer guided by reason but by an animalistic need to survive. A wild, frenzied roar tore from his throat, echoing through the shattered garden as he charged the stunned assassin.