Threads of the Soul

Chapter 457 - 457: Reinforcements

The girl remained floating in the air, hovering where she had punched the terrifying Dinosaur and killed it in a single mighty blow. If she had a cape billowing behind her, she would have been the perfect picture of a comic book super hero, but instead of that she simply had a Honey Badger lazily lying on her head.That didn't quite paint the same heroic picture, but who was he to judge? After all, surely there was some badger themed super hero out there, right?

Another roar echoed through the air, but it didn't come from the girl nor did it come from either T-Chex, dead or alive. Instead, as Xanders eyes - full of revitialised energy - trailed upwards to find the source he found himself staring at a portal in the sky.

Space had shattered high above them, fragmenting into shards like glass that warped and twisted their view of the sky above. With their experiences with The Shattering and other disasters with portals up until this point, this would usually be a distressing sight. An Omen of death.

But this one felt strangely reassuring. While it was still an Omen of death, it was one they recognised.

A scaled monster, with a single rider sat upon its long, slender neck, burst through the portal and let out a shrieking roar as it dove directly downwards. Its leathery wings pressed tight against its sides while it's razor sharp talons stretched forwards, ready to catch its prey.

The Wyvern plunged from the portal in the sky and speared its talons through the neck of the remaining T-Chex, using its weight and momentum to disrupt its charge and tackle the beast to the ground.

The ground quaked as the two beasts slammed against it, the Wyvern flapping its wings to lift the T-Chex's head up before slamming it down again and pinning it there. More figure's poured from the shattered space high above and swooped downwards.

These were human figures, not clad in armour but with bodies made of stone, metal and beast bone. Each one surfed on a sword, which allowed them to soar through the air and descend with grace and precision. The famous Unkindly Guard.

It was not all of the guard, only a dozen of their number. But just that small amount of reinforcement brought a new wave of relief and joy to all those who saw it. Except for the Russian, of course.

The Unkindly Guard touched down, their weapons leaping into their hands, as they immediately set up the trapped T-Chex, stabbing and slicing it without mercy. As for the Wyvern pinning it down, it swept it's gaze over the corn field and let out a low rumbling growl.

Azure light built up in it's throat, illuminating through the thinner parts of its skin and scales, before it opened its maw and spewed forth an inferno of azure flames.

Xander clenched his eyes closed and quickly turned away, shielding his face behind his arms as the torrent of flames roared towards him and rapidly engulfed him like a tsunami. But after a few seconds of painless existence, Xander peeked his eyes open and raised his head.

Azure flames roared around him, they consumed every inch of his vision and coated his skin. Yet they didn't hurt in the slightest. They didn't burn his skin, singe his clothes or even so much as slightly heat up a single hair on his body. Not even the corn around him was affected, Boom corn or otherwise.

The flames were completely harmless, as if they didn't exist at all. At least that was the case for him and his group of survivors. For the Raptors on the other hand, it was hell on earth.

It seared their very souls, plunging them into a brief world of agonising torment, before the flames consumed the very essence of their beings and burned it to little more than space dust. Their bodies, now mere empty husks of skin and bone, dropped to the floor where they stood without the slightest chance of fighting back.

Corvus let out a low chuckle as he watched his forces sow chaos and devistation upon the battlefield immediately after their arrival. Turning to the Russian Captain, he chuckled again at the enraged expression plastered across his face.

"What's the matter? Did you really think that I would only bring a few straw soldiers to back me up?

I have to say though, It has helped me remember something important. Honestly, it was stupid of me to forget something so basic. Rock crush Scissors, Paper covers Rock and Fire... consumes air."

The organs that Corvus had forgotten about for far too long kicked into gear, producing as much flammable gas as possible as he drew in lungfuls of air. Considering his new Celestial lung capacity and how long that could last him, that single lungful was more than enough.

Taking a hint from Scar's teachings on the Ghost Blade and soul energy, he mixed it into the flammable concoction that his body was producing rapidly, before spewing it out the next second.

His threads whipped in front of him, rapidly forming into a flaming rune that igited the gas and turned it into his very own torrent of azure flames. The Captain's face twisted into horrified panic as the flames rapidly consumed him.

It might not have been as perfect or all consuming as Omelette's, but it was more than enough to start devouring the body made of air and searing the soul contained within.

The Captain let out an agonising scream as he quickly re-solidified his body, so that the flames would stop using it as such easy fuel, and quickly dove to the side to avoid the next torrent of flames.

The air whipping around him quickly betrayed him, as his defensive tornado quickly became engulfed in flames, turning it into a flaming hurricane that surrounded him.

He had to quickly create a vacuum space between himself and the flames, forcing the air out to starve the flames of their fuel before reaching into his pouch. Throwing a ball of swirling air forwards, to disturb the third flaming torrent before it could reach him, the Captain pulled a finger-less glove onto his hand and immediately started to pour the mana into the crystal on the back.

Astra shot into the air, sparks flying around her body as she rocketed towards the clashing pair. All the while, the sickly green energy began to crackle around the surface of the glove as more and more mana was forced into the crystal.

Her voice struggled to pierce through the roaring winds as she desperately shouted to Corvus,

"Grab him! He has a teleporter! The glove is a teleporter!"