“Ahh!”Zeke yelled and sat up, breathing rapidly and regaining his senses. His body was aching a bit and filled with exhaustion, but what bothered him was the complete darkness dominating his right peripheral vision.“Zeke! Lie down.”Celestia’s voice came from the side as she softly pushed him back on the cold ground and checked his pulse.While touching the bandage wrapped around his missing right eye, Zeke looked at the ceiling with a half-delirious expression.“W-what happened?”“I still don’t know. We survived, at least.”Celestia looked around the place they were at. Remnants of destroyed technology and broken machines were scattered all around the room.They seemed to be in a house, a half-obliterated one that had no living soul besides them.Zeke checked the logs of the System in an attempt to try and make sense of what happened.[All System Protocols have been lifted.][Divine Essence absorbed by Death Rune: 0.2%][Strength +100][Aether +150][Agility +100][+50 PE][You’ve
“Don’t move!” Shouted the man as he slowly got closer.Celestia covered her exposed breasts with her hands while edging behind Zeke, who raised his arms.“W-Who are you peopl-”Before he could finish his question, Zeke’s body blurred before appearing behind the man. Zeke pushed the back of the man’s knee, making him fall then swiftly snatching the shotgun from his hand.“A-ah!”The man tried to fight back but Zeke blocked his futile retaliation and subdued him with ease.“Wh-..wwh… please don’t kill me! Hiih!”Tearful and shaking from fear, the man raised his hands and pleaded for his life.“P-ppplease! I have a son!”Zeke didn’t attack the man and simply took a step back. He motioned for Celestia to wear her still-wet clothes.‘He’s talking in English, but the accent is slightly different. I should’ve studied Earth’s history and its nations. Whatever…’“Since you were the one who came at us with a shotgun, you should’ve expected to be killed in return, no?”“I…I thought you were www
In the blink of an eye, three weeks passed. Zeke and Celestia kept travelling across the lands while remaining clear of the large red clouds looming above cities and moving randomly about.The Dead Ends have appeared on Earth, but, unlike the homeworld of the Proto-Demons, the planet wasn’t entirely finished yet. There were a decent amount of places unaffected by them, or so the duo assumed.What was strange was the total lack of any humans, even in ‘safe’ regions. The only living soul they met was the man in the hazmat suit.Other than that, there was nothing but empty buildings, empty vehicles, and empty roads.The stiff air, perpetually cloudy and grey sky, and the lack of Aether made Zeke and Celestia move with caution and at a slow pace.They always remained in the vicinity of each other and didn’t delve into seemingly dangerous places without one another.Fortunately, there was no lack of food or living resources scattered everywhere. Moreover, their relationship had become a bi
Doctor Rouge was quite hospitable and in a particularly good mood as he kept scrutinising the two newcomers for the better part of two minutes.When the awkward silence had lasted for long enough, he clapped his hands and spoke,“Alright! I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions, but can I go first? I want some clarifications about a couple of things.”Zeke and Celestia were quiet and their unresponsive attitude looked like agreement to the dishevelled Chief Scientist.“How did you get here? To Earth, I mean. As far as I know, magic-users are banned from entering our planet. Wait wait! Let me guess… Did you use somesort of teleportation device? It has to be!”Yet again, the only answer he got was a gloomy silence, which didn’t deter him in the very least. The man was bursting with energy and excitement as he kept looking back and forth between the youth and the girl.“I get that secrecy is the best option in a foreign land, but, as you might have seen, Earth has clearly seen better days
When the Dead Ends were less than 500 meters away, the Nuclear Reactor sprung into motion. One by one, they let out periodic and controlled bursts of Aether and radiation.The red cloud seemed unaffected by the first two, but on the third, its spinning came to an abrupt halt and it started twisting and distorting as if trying to get away from the blasts.“See how it’s diverging its path? I know it would work.”Dr. Rouge jumped up and down in excitement, his face containing an expression of pure bliss.“Basically, the reactors act as an amplifier for the Aether you poured into it. It’s not their primary function, but my theory was on point!”“That’s it?” Zeke didn’t seem that impressed by this whole process.“Well, it’s a teeny-tiny bit more complicated. The Aether bursts that are systematically emitting are like invisible waves that share the exact frequency. Only like that will the Aether itself be able to withstand the distortion within the Dead Ends and actually dominate it. No off
Before they realized it, a week passed as they continued learning how to emit the Aetheric waves. Alas, only Zeke reached minor mastery but he needed to be wholly focused on the task and completely unperturbed.Zeke was planning to continue training until he was able to use it at will, but the System didn’t seem to agree with him. Out of nowhere, to set a time limit to get rid of the Dead Ends, basically forcing him and Celestia to charge ahead with what little experience they had.With 12 hours on the clock, the truck drove straight into a seemingly stationary massive red cloud, seeing nothing but destroyed buildings and empty cars everywhere.There were no human stupid enough to remain in the vicinity of the Dead Ends, be it the lucky survivors or the military.After a half an hour drive, the truck was but several hundred meters away from its destination.“Brace yourself!”Celestia pressed on the pedal and tightly grasped the steering wheel as the truck started rocking back and for
Sitting on the crystalline throne, Nicneven Sin, the Witch Queen, looked down at Jonathan Stellar Link. He was joined by the last surviving member of the eradicated Proto-Demon Tribe, Essyna.The tragedy that happened to her friends and clan members had affected her greatly, nevertheless, for the sake of vengeance, she had held on and agreed to help the Witches and Jonathan.Her ability was most unique of all and no magical artifact could imitate it, therefore, she was going to play an integral part in what was soon to come.“I understand.”Nicneven turned to look at one of the 6-Star Witches, a gloomy-looking woman with curly brown hair and seemingly tanned skin.“You will start the necessary preparations at once, Verentia.”“By your will, Your Majesty.”The 6-Star Witch, titled ‘The Witch of Destruction’, respectfully bowed her head before walking away.Kleya and the remaining 6-star Witch were sitting behind the throne, motionless and stoic. “Any idea when it will happen?”“The Sy
There was a momentary silence after Zeke disappeared. The Witch Queen floated in the air with a surprised and confused look whereas Jonathan rushed to Essyna’s side and urged her to open the portal again.The Proto-Demon was breathing heavily and kneeling on the ground, incapable of lifting a finger, much less using her ability a second time.“Leave it. It’s over.”Jonathan gritted his teeth and wanted to protest, but once he saw Nicneven’s cold and murderous stare, he lowered his head and obeyed.‘He’s still alive. If he isn’t, the Special Mission would have failed. Damnit… What a crazy bastard!’As the barriers were being removed one by one and the Witches were lining up in front of the Witch Queen, the atmosphere grew heavy.After a couple of a minute or two in tense silence, the Nightmare Witch declared,“The outpost commanders will leave tomorrow morning. The rest will be stay here to fortify-”Before she could finish, there was a deep rumbling as the entire city shook violently.