Rise of The Strongest Monarch-Chapter 60: A Familiar Face

Everything around me disappears as if the world is completely falling into the abyss.

Yet I find myself to be standing here still, looking ahead at where I think the road should be.

A man is standing in the distance with the same kind of clothing as Airi, maybe a bit different in some ways. He’s got the scars all over his body, could it be?

"I didn’t expect to see you so soon but you are really killing it with my sword," Aether says with a smile on his face.

"I don’t understand what’s happening right now," I respond while looking down at my body.

"Liam you are currently safe and time isn’t really moving around you, relax," Aether says with a calm tone in his voice.

"Why am I seeing you now of all times?" I ask with a bit of confusion.

"Something about the city you’re in must have triggered it. I can’t say for sure but can you really be mad that you get to see a powerful guy like me again," Aether answers as he puts his arms behind his head.

Last time I saw him, I was put into his body while some sort of memories unfolded around me. That was the way I got access to the sword in the first place but I don’t understand the purpose of this now.

He said to me that I’d be going into more memories at some point for a way to get stronger with his power.

But this isn’t a memory at all.

"There’s something big causing the streets to shake," I say with a serious tone.

He doesn’t say anything for a moment as he looks to be thinking about it.

"Zierel are evolving again, that’s what it sounds like," Aether replies. "But you are probably experiencing what happens when one has a nice surplus of food."

"A surplus of food?" I question.

"The zierel in that city must be pretty well fed which means it got stronger from the amount of humans it consumed. It’ll definitely be a challenge for you," Aether answers with a serious look on his face.

Right now he is making it sound like Celeste might actually be right about us getting the hell out of here. I just don’t want to run away from a fight when I need to keep pushing myself.

If I run away... What good am I to the world?

"I didn’t say you need to run or anything Liam. It’ll just be a bit tough for you, that’s all," Aether continues.

"Someone is with me for this as well, maybe we can do this," I say with a bit of confidence.

"What is the person capable of?" Aether asks with a curious expression on his face.

"They are half human, half light bearer. I think it might be enough to fight back against it," I answer without hesitation.

A serious expression suddenly takes over as he stares back at me.

"Don’t let anything happen to her Liam," Aether says as everything begins to disappear again.

The buildings from the city appear around me once again as everything feels like it starts to resume. He wasn’t kidding when he said everything was slow around me.

I look back at Amelia to see that she is still walking close to me, like nothing ever happened.

In the distance I can just barely make out a silhouette of something that looks to be as tall as one of the buildings. It is hard to see what is pertruding out from its arms and along its body.

Even with this monster ahead I can’t help but think about what Aether said... Don’t let anything happen to her. I never told him that I was with a girl but he instantly seemed to know.

Something about amelia seems to be special and I can’t let anything happen to her.

Right now she is definitely way stronger than me with the fact that she can use powers of a light bearer. So I don’t really know how I’ll keep anything from happening to her.

He didn’t really give me any hint to using more of this power either which is kind of annoying.

"I’m guessing that must be the thing making all the noise around here," Amelia says quietly.

"It definitely is," I respond while looking down at my sword.

I could really use a power boost from this sword right about now... Anything that could change the potential outcome of this fight.

I’ve killed a lot of zierel without any power but I know something is flowing throughout the damn sword; a power that can probably change everything with the fights.

Or maybe I am just giving the guy too much credit. I hardly know anything about him, just that he used to be the one watching over everything with the sun. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Nothing else in particular.

"We’ll have to fight that abomination," Amelia says while light begins to radiate from her arm.

The bow forms in an instant as she looks towards it, my eyes locking on her as I realize that she’s going to take a shot at it.

"Don’t fire yet Amelia, we should get higher ground first at the very least," I advise while trying to keep my voice down.

She puts the bow away and looks back at me again.

"I just figured you’d want to rush it with my cover again but high ground is smarter," Amelia responds in agreement.

I feel relief as I hear those words from her.

But with that I begin to look around for a way to get up on top of one of the buildings.

As I scan the area I notice a ladder on one of the buildings across the street from us, right along an alleyway. I’m lucky I even saw it with how damn dark it is.

"There’s a ladder over there, let’s head for it," I say while leading the way.

"I’m right behind you," Amelia replies quietly.