Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 168: The Endgame [9]

Kyle raised his hand.

The sky above him churned with storm clouds, dark and heavy, swirling like a restless beast.

Rain poured down, soaking through his shirt and dripping from his hair. Every drop hit the ground like a drumbeat, steady and loud.

The wind howled across the battlefield, bending trees and snapping loose tents. The air itself felt different. Thicker, heavier. Charged.

Everything had led to this moment.

This was the plan. The gamble.

The reason he had lured Rodrick here.

He had spent days watching the weather, tracking the shifts in the wind, the pressure in the air.

He had fed Lena false intel at exactly the right time, ensuring Rodrick would be here.

Now, when the storm was at its peak.

He had got the idea talking with Eleanora.

——

A month ago. They were walking along the cliffside, just after a light drizzle had ended. The ground was damp, and the sky above was painted in soft grey.

Eleanora had glanced up, frowning slightly.

"It’s strange," she had said. "Weather here feels too real."

Kyle looked at her. "You mean the dungeon?"

She nodded. "Yeah. There’s no sky here, not really. But we still get clouds. Rain. Even wind direction changes. Like the place is alive."

Kyle had stared at the darkening clouds for a long moment, something clicking in his mind.

"What if we could use that?" he’d said quietly.

Eleanora gave him a curious glance. "Use the weather?"

Kyle didn’t answer. Not yet. The idea had just started forming.

Later, he brought it to Serena.

They had been sitting near the edge of the post, watching the sky roll in.

When Kyle told her his idea. Her first reaction wasn’t supportive.

She looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

"You want to what?" she snapped, standing up. "You’re going to use natural lightning. "

Kyle met her gaze calmly. "Yeah."

"You’ll burn yourself out before you finish the first node," she said, furious. "Your body can’t hold that much raw mana."

"I know," he said. "But we don’t have another choice."

She had been silent for a long time.

Serena finally sighed in exasperation, rubbing her temples. "Fine," she relented.

"But if this gets you killed. I swear I’ll drag your soul back just to murder you again myself."

She groaned, running a hand through her hair. "Eleanora’s definitely going to kill me for helping with this..."

They built the spell together. Or rather. She helped him design it. Serena understood spell mechanics better than anyone.

Without her help. Kyle wouldn’t have been able to create this spell.

Serena had managed to reduce the backlash as much as possible. But the power coursing through him now was unlike anything he’d ever felt.

Now, standing in the middle of the battlefield. Kyle could feel every part of the spell humming with raw power.

The storm above him crackled with thunder. Bolts of lightning flashed in the distance, lighting up the battlefield in white-blue bursts.

The magic circle spun above his palm. Huge. Glowing. Alive.

It was perfect.

Almost.

His hand trembled as the energy crawled along his arm like angry vines of light.

The lightning wrapped around him, climbing up to his elbow, then shoulder, biting into his skin.

’It hurt.’

A lot.

His bones buzzed under the strain. It felt like tiny knives digging into every nerve.

But he didn’t stop.

His breath came in short gasps. His teeth clenched so tightly his jaw throbbed.

His skin stung, blistered.

Above him, the magic circle pulsed brighter.

Then—

Crack.

A sharp pain jolted through his arm. Kyle looked down.

His skin was cracking.

Thin, glowing lines had started to split across his forearm. Like glass under pressure.

Faint blue light leaked from within, and drops of blood began to seep out, warm and sticky.

His vision blurred for a second, and his knees almost gave out.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay upright.

Rodrick was still out there. Kyle knew that if they fought him head-on, someone from his team would die. Maybe all of them.

That’s why he’d waited.

Why he’d lured him here. Under the storm.

If Kyle couldn’t beat Rodrick on his own... then he would use the storm against him.

His heart pounded, and his breath came in uneven bursts. The magic circle above him was spinning faster now. The edges glowing so bright it hurt to look at.

"Just a little more..." Kyle whispered.

———

The air crackled with tension as Rodrick’s eyes locked onto Kyle.

He didn’t know what kind of spell that was. Only that it felt wrong.

It was too large, too complex, too... unstable.

It pulled at the air around them, twisted the ground beneath it, made the sky feel too heavy. That wasn’t just lightning.

It was a disaster waiting to happen.

And Kyle stood at the center of it.

Rodrick’s instincts screamed.

’End it. Now.’

He charged forward. Flames bursting beneath his feet as he rocketed across the battlefield. The air behind him warped with heat.

But someone stepped into his path.

Cedric.

His golden sword lit up the dusk like a second sun, intercepting Rodrick’s blade mid-swing.

The clash exploded in a storm of sparks and shockwaves. Cedric held his ground for two blows... three...

Then Rodrick’s raw strength sent him flying like a ragdoll, crashing into the ground.

Rodrick didn’t pause. His boots pounded into the dirt. Closer.

But the ground erupted beneath him.

Molten stone hands, glowing like lava, surged up from the earth and grabbed at his legs. They clamped tight, dragging him to a stop.

A voice barked from his side.

"You’re not reaching him!"

Cassian stood nearby, blood dripping from his temple.

His eyes burned with fire, both arms coated in glowing red, brown gauntlets. The ground shimmered with heat around him.

Rodrick growled.

"Out of my way—"

A wave of flame surged from his body. The molten hands cracked... Then shattered, spraying bits of rock in all directions.

But as soon as he broke free, they came.

A storm of birds.

Lightning birds, shaped from purple lightning, screeched down from the air, diving into him with bursts of crackling power.

The shocks numbed his arms. His vision flashed white for a split second.

Serena was on one knee now, her face pale, blood leaking from her lips. But she didn’t stop.

Her hands stayed raised, trembling, pouring magic into the sky.

Rodrick’s anger flared. He turned...

— and a blade flashed toward him.

Eleanora. Her estoc danced in the air, a streak of silver and darkness.

She didn’t say a word. Her expression was blank, calm. Her strikes were fast. Too fast. Each one deflected his counters by a hair’s breadth.

But Rodrick had fought monsters. Real ones. And this girl—

She wasn’t enough.

He caught her sword with a burst of fire, knocked it aside, and stomped the ground.

An explosion erupted at her feet. The shockwave flung her back into the dirt.

’Three seconds. That’s all I need,’ Rodrick thought.

But just as he raised his hand again—

Roots burst from the ground.

Thick vines and branches coiled around him like snakes, wrapping his chest, his arms, his legs.

Cedric, he stood at the edge of the field, barely on his feet.

His left hand was glowing green, shaking from effort. His clothes were burned, torn, his face scratched. But his focus never wavered.

"Stay... down..." Cedric gasped.

Rodrick roared and pulled against the roots.

He didn’t notice the shadow growing beneath him.

Then it hit.

A giant black circle bloomed across the ground. Eleanora’s magic.

Out of it, enormous shadowy hands erupted. Wrapping around his legs, his chest, locking him down tight.

He struggled. But his limbs barely moved. The magic was suffocating.

Then lightning chains burst up from the soil.

Serena, she was almost collapsed now, one arm limp, but her fingers pressed into the dirt.

The chains struck Rodrick like snakes. Binding his arms to his sides, locking his wrists.

He tried to breathe, but the restraints pushed in harder with every movement. Fire burned inside him, fighting back. But not fast enough.

Cassian stepped forward and slammed both fists into the ground.

A second wave of molten stone rushed up, creeping over Rodrick’s legs.

His body strained. Magic pulsed. He growled like an animal.

But none of that mattered.

He looked at Kyle.

And his blood froze.

Kyle was standing, barely. His arms hung low, but they were trembling.

Blood streamed from his nose, mouth, from his ears. His eyes glowed faintly.

His skin...

It was cracking.

Blue-white fissures ran up his arms like glass under pressure. His body was glowing from within.

But most terrifying of all...

The spell.

It hovered above Kyle’s palm. Massive. Spinning slowly.

Made of countless rings of light. Like a celestial mechanism. Lightning danced across its surface.

Rodrick had never seen magic like it.

His heart pounded.

With a scream. Rodrick twisted with every ounce of strength and tore free of one restraint.

Just enough to raise his hand. A marble-sized orb of flame formed at his fingertip. Small. Dense. Dangerous.

It fired like a bullet.

Straight at Kyle.

Cassian shouted. Serena’s eyes widened. Eleanora’s mouth opened in silent horror.

The fireball raced through the air.

And then...

A purple portal opened in front of Kyle.

The flame disappeared into it. Gone. Just like that.

Rodrick froze.

His eyes flicked to the side.

Cedric.

His other hand was raised now. One glowing with green, the other purple. A magic circle hovered around his fingers, shimmering with energy.

"S-Space...?" Rodrick whispered.

He looked at Kyle.

Kyle’s eyes were calm. Too calm.

And in that moment, Rodrick felt something strange in his chest.

A flicker.

Not of fear.

But of realization.

He had underestimated them.

Kyle raised his arm. His fingers glowed with raw power. The spell above his hand pulsed once.

Then Kyle’s voice echoed softly.

"Let’s see how you handle this."

And then—

He swung his hand down.

———

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