'They were from the Rock guild…' Ali thought, his expression cold and unreadable as he vaulted from one rooftop to another. His black coat fluttered behind him like a shadow's tail, cutting across the Tokyo skyline in smooth, deliberate motions that made him look more like a wraith than a man.
'And those necklaces, each one of them had one. It stopped my Telekinesis from controlling them.'
Ali came to a sudden halt on the ledge of a building overlooking an old shrine nestled atop a gently sloping hill. A light breeze carried the scent of pine and old wood. It was quiet—serene even—but Ali knew better than to be fooled by appearances.
The small white-and-red shrine sat like a relic of another era in the heart of a peaceful park, but Ali wasn't here for a prayer. He glanced down at the map interface ,the glowing green circle slowly crawling across the map toward the shrine from the opposite side. He then checked the old phone he'd confiscated from the dead sorcerer, eyes narrowing at the data. 'That's where he said the rest of his group was. Does the player I'm after have the same mission of killing sorcerers?'
He closed the phone and vanished like a breath of wind.
—
Behind the shrine, the two Lightning Guild players made their way forward through the trees, the older man's boots crunching softly on the earth, while the younger woman moved with much more confidence, her dark blue hair tied back tight. A small electric-blue pup with a glowing white horn trailed behind them, releasing faint sparks with every padded step.
"I told you to stay behind. You'll only get in the way!" the girl snapped, her voice sharp with irritation.
"I can help, kid," the man replied with a crooked smile, gently scratching behind the ears of the glowing beast.
A vein throbbed on the girl's temple. 'Calm down. Just bear with it a little longer and I'll never have to see him again.'
She looked toward the shrine with narrowed eyes. "Okay, listen and follow my lead. I'll get closer on my own. When I'm in position, I'll blast the whole place. You handle any survivors. Got it?"
The man nodded without argument.
The shrine loomed ahead, peaceful and silent. Within its wooden walls, six white-masked sorcerers sat lazily around a table, sipping tea and staring out the open doors at the panoramic view of the Tokyo skyline.
"What's taking them so long? They should be back by now!" one of them complained, reclining on the polished floorboards.
"What if they died?" another mused darkly, standing with his arms crossed.
"Shut up and wait," barked a third sorcerer seated at the centre of the shrine, clearly the leader.
Just beyond the back wall, the Lightning Guild girl crept silently forward. Two meters. One. She stopped, closed her eyes, and whispered the incantation. Lightning circled her hands, twisting and coiling like serpents of raw, frozen energy.
BANG!
The world erupted. A bullet tore through the shrine wall and ripped the head clean off the sorcerer by the door. Blood sprayed in all directions as the body collapsed with a sickening thud.
The masked sorcerers leapt to their feet, cursed energy crackling around them in violent waves.
"FUCK!" the player shouted as her focus broke. Her voice was panicked. She raised her glowing arms. She had to change the incantation!
"FROZEN LIGHTNING SPEAR!"
A thunderclap shattered the air. Two massive spears of electrified blue ice formed in her hands, each one humming with enough force to vaporise steel. The air around her turned frigid, every breath a visible wisp.
The spears lifted her into the air before launching downward like missiles.
BOOM!
The shrine exploded from within as the lead sorcerer leapt out the back, hands crackling with an ethereal white glow.
"Cursed Technique: Phantom Knuckle—Hollow Impact!"
His fists punched upward, not striking the spears directly, but unleashing two giant spectral fists that rocketed into the sky and intercepted the lightning in midair. The clash triggered a seismic wave of white and blue energy that rippled outward, reducing trees to splinters and sending shockwaves through the earth.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The girl was thrown back into the arms of her companion, who caught her awkwardly, his own legs shaking in terror. The electric beast snarled and lowered its horn.
ZAP!
A concentrated beam of lightning surged from the horn toward the sorcerers. Two of them clapped their hands together, manifesting a barrier of cursed energy. It absorbed most of the shock, but cracks formed—proof that it wouldn't hold for long.
CRACK
The barrier broke apart but it did it's job as the beast's attack dissipated before reaching them .
"I'm going to rip you limb by limb," the lead sorcerer snarled as he stepped forward, his fists glowing like white suns.
—
Ten meters behind the chaos, Ali stood motionless behind a tree. He glanced at his hand and closed his eyes, diving deep into his Spirit realm. His Spirit pond shimmered, filled with four points of thick black liquid—just one point off his maximum.
'Okay… let's do this.'
He turned to the massive gate marked with draconic runes—The Hall of Dragons.
"POWER."
The gate creaked open, just enough for the black liquid to disappear inside. All four points vanished.
Ali's eyes opened in the real world, and he breathed in sharply as his veins began to burn. Heat surged under his skin, roaring through his right arm like magma.
He lifted his right hand and willed the energy forward. White-hot silver light exploded from his palm as his skin tore open from the inside. A shimmering orb formed—white and silver—cosmic, unstable, alive with apocalyptic power. It looked like the core of a collapsing star.
'It's ready… still some in my arm, but the orb's holding most of it. That's the best I can do for now.'
The sorcerers and Lightning Guild players all froze, their attention drawn to the oppressive, radiant heat now pulsing from where Ali stood.
Ali raised his hand and pushed forward—
The orb fractured.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A beam of annihilation surged out. Not light. Not energy. Something in between. It tore through the air like the wrath of a forgotten god. The entire landscape erupted. Trees disintegrated. Rocks vaporised. The shrine vanished in a flash of incandescent white, its remains flung into the horizon.
[You killed a player: 20 Paradise Coins]
[You killed a player: 10 Paradise Coins]
[Personal Mission: Defeat five Jujutsu sorcerers (8/5)]
[Paradise Coins: 92]
Ali lowered his arm slowly.
There was no right arm anymore.
He looked at the sleeve—it hung limp, fluttering, empty. Burned from the inside out.
'This is what happens when I can't take out the fire from under my skin in time.'
With a sigh, Ali ripped the withered flesh off and let it fall. It dissolved into the dirt as his healing cells ignited and began regrowing the arm at speed.
He stared forward.
The blast had scarred the earth itself—a long, scorched trench carved through the hillside where a shrine once stood. Smoke rose in slow, curling tendrils. Nothing remained. No trees. No bodies. No sound. Only destruction.
"I should give it a name," Ali said to himself, flexing his new hand.
'Eclipse for the colour…Eclipse Break? Eclipse Requiem? Eclipse Drive?'
Please donate some of your power stones, it would help my ff massively.
Five chapters ahead of webnovel on patreon.com/Rondo312