Thirty Eight – The storm

Olvad is now buried in the ground.

Up to his chest.

He is still holding the water barrier.

He is tough.

Canny emerges from the ground behind him and grabs onto Olvad’s neck.

I am glad he is here.

Canny wrapped around his neck is not enough to hold Olvad down.

Olvad is big and strong.

I grab one of his arms with both of my hands.

I light up my hands to start burning his wrist.

Olvad tries to break free.

But he can not.

His concentration finally breaks.

And so the barrier.

Seconds after, Du is already close to his face.

Ready with water projectiles.

She unleashed them.

Even before the rain began to fall again.

Olvad caused an explosion around himself expanding his magic as a force field.

He finally manages to break free from the hole.

"You have made me furious. Unfortunately. You needed help. I am disappointed in you. We could have had all for only us. You wasted my efforts."

Du transforms raindrops into piercing water spears and fire them at Olvad.

He destroys them with a single movement of his arm.

He charges at her.

He punches.

She dodges.

A crater opens in the ground.

Somehow, he seemed larger and stronger than when the fight began. He looks as though he had grown to double his size during the battle.

Canny lifts stones from the ground and fires them at Olvad.

Olvad raises his arm to block.

Before the stones can even strike him, Canny is already making piercing stone spears from the ground below Olvad.

I charge at him too.

With my fists of fire.

Olvad blocks the stones and leaps to dodge the ground.

While he is still in the air, I land the punch to his face.

He crashes to the ground.

He is strong, but he stands no chance against all of us.

I hope Kasamba and the others can find his machine.

He divided our forces.

We have to succeed in both ends.

Before everything blows up.

"I do not understand. We had everything to have the best time possible. But you ruined it all. Your friends ruined for us. I can not fathom why you would not want to feel happy. I feel complete. You have to feel it too. I was giving you the chance to experience the best feeling in the world." Olvad stands up.

He has a strange look on his face.

"You are crazy. Only you wants this stupid idea you keep saying. You want to make me happy? How about you disappear forever? You and the entire Council had ruined my life. Our lives!

If nothing matters to you. If you did not like being alive. Why then ruin the lives of so many people? You are just a pathetic, lonely monster. No one wants to be like you!"

"You really do not understand. Nothing matters. No one matters. I never mattered. My life was simply empty. I never had anything. Until I met you. Until you came and changed me for good. Just like you, I am searching for my happiness. You are what I am looking for. You made me feel alive for the first time in my life. I was just an object for the people around me. Everyone always needed something from me. All that time I had searched for something that truly mattered. I never found it. Everything is extremely fragile and fleeting. Throughout all those years of research and study, everything seemed insufficient to me. I thought you would understand. Clearly, you can not. It does not matter. I still have faith in you. I think everyone will be able to understand. You showed me the truth. I think I can return the favor and show you the truth."

Olvad presses a brooch on his tunic like a button.

He begins to pulse.

His veins start to glow.

Like a golden liquid is being pumped into them.

Into him.

What is he doing?

He smiles.

Menacing.

His muscles are spasming.

Contracting and relaxing at a terrifying speed.

I have to stop him.

I impulse myself at him again with my fists on fire.

He manages to grab me.

He lifts me up, my whole body, with just one arm.

I think he is growing.

Du and Canny attack him.

They are trying to help me.

None of their blows have any effect.

He really is getting bigger and bigger.

His body is glowing.

A bright aura.

He is expanding.

Spasming.

Growing massive.

I think he is already twice the size of a normal human.

Unbelievable.

He is not stopping.

I blast several fireballs at his face.

He does not flinch.

His grip on my arm tightens.

I am like a twig held in his hand now.

Olvad is growing.

He is so massive.

His hand is the size of my entire arm.

He has so much strength.

If I do not break free right now, he will snap my arm like nothing.

Du’s companions attack from a distance with arrows and magic.

Some get closer and try to bring him down with their swords.

Nothing works.

He just keeps growing.

Canny opens a hole beneath one of the monster Olvad's feet.

He loses his balance for a moment.

Enough for him to let go of me.

I land on my feet.

He must already be three times his normal size.

Truly monstrous.

A menacing amount magical energy radiates from him.

How are we going to get rid of him?

This creature, now…

What is he turning into?

He recovers his grounds.

With a savage roar, he blasts a magical energy of air from his body.

Several people are pushed away.

I hold strong.

This magical blast was so powerful.

"We could try burying him." Canny shouts.

He is already four times bigger.

How are we going to bury him here?

If we do not stop him fast enough we will need a hole the size of the city to bury him.

Olvad is growing.

More and more golden and radiant.

His pulsating veins look like pipes now.

So massive.

The rain evaporates the moment it touches his skin.

He is overheating.

It is surreal.

Where this magical energy is coming from and where all that energy is going.

He is using his own body as a conduit for it.

I do not know how long he can hold that.

He starts moving again.

He opens his mouth and blasts a massive wall of fire at us along the ground.

Everyone scatters around.

The fire spreads fast.

We get up onto the rooftops.

I think he is already about twelve meters tall.

Fifteen meters.

What will we do?

He finally stops the fire torrent.

He raises his massive arms

The surrounding rain begins to gather above his head into a gigantic sphere of water.

"Run! Get away!" someone shouts.

Olvad throws the sphere at us.

It is so big.

The impact destroys several buildings.

The water spreads out like a river through the streets.

Houses, vehicles, benches, and other objects are swept away by it.

I use my magic to jump to a more distant building.

The closer one by are being carried by the water.

Olvad can barely move.

He grown so massive.

His muscles are not meant to be that size.

I will explode at some point.

Channeling all that magical energy is not good for anyone.

He begins to move.

Very slowly.

Each step he takes makes the ground shake.

He is heading to the center of the city.

Why is he going there?

We keep attacking him.

However we can.

Nothing seems to have any effect.

He does not stop.

When I was climbing the wall.

Running for my life.

I channeled a lot of magic too.

But I released it right away to throw myself up the wall.

He is just storing it all.

Why is he doing that?

As he is moving, we try to stop him.

We have now reached a part of the city that still have civilians here.

People are rushing to the streets in panic.

Wherever Olvad is stepping all the buildings and houses in his way come crashing down.

We have to hold back on some attacks to avoid hitting any innocent people.

We are helping however we can.

Some brave people on the streets are also trying to stop him.

Olvad keeps growing larger and larger.

He crushes everything in his path into rubble beneath his feet.

Canny tries to open fissures beneath the monster's feet to bring him down.

To slow him.

He loses some of his balance.

He almost fall.

He does not stop.

Everything is prove ineffective.

Du and her companions throw ropes around Olvad.

To pin him to the ground.

He pauses for a moment.

He simply unleashes a blast of air magic from his body again.

He pushed them away.

People and various buildings.

We go to help.

Several people are trapped under the fallen rubble.

We already have casualties.

Olvad is destroying everything on his path.

Spreading into the city.

We need to evacuate the people.

"Canny? Can you communicate with the others from our group?"

"I am trying. But many of them are already on missions far away. I have sent a request for backup. I do not think we can count on that happening."

Kasamba and his men must also be busy searching for the machine.

So much is happening at once.

What would grandma do in a situation like this?

We keep saving the civilians who are fleeing.

Olvad keeps growing.

We were almost at the city center.

At the square where the city hall stood.

Where is he going?

What is he going to do now?

We arrived at the central square.

The space here is big enough that Olvad will not put any innocent lives at risk.

We have a lot of space to fight him.

But he keeps growing.

Absorbing energy.

As he reaches the square he finally stops.

He roars like the monster he had become.

I did not think he can speak at all like this.

It is terrifying.

He begins to absorbing magical energy even faster.

He is forcing the energy into himself.

He is glowing more intensely.

Pulsing more rapid.

Expanding his size in an alarming rate.

Kasamba is here too.

I approach him.

"Did you find it? What do we do now?"

"I think you found it faster than I did, kid. He is the bomb. Beneath us lies the rest of the his machine. What he built was an amplifier the magical energy he is absorbing. I was down there with my team trying to destroy it. When I heard that thing approaching, I came out here to see.”

"What do you mean?"

"He is acting as a vessel to absorb this absurd amount of magical energy. Beneath us, underground, there is a massive magic amplifier. Probably the size of the entire city square. When he releases all of that energy at some point. Everything will be reduced to dust."

"We have tried to stop him, but nothing seems to work. He simply ignores our attacks."

"It is too late to stop him now. He must have modified is body to withstand that massive magical power." said Du. "No normal human can do this to their own body. It is completely unnatural."

“Exactly. All we can do now is try to destroy the machine beneath us. That way, the explosion will not be amplified. I do not think we can prevent the explosion itself anymore. Now, we have to stop it from turning into a catastrophe.”

"My warriors and I are going to evacuate the area around the city square as quickly as possible. You head down there and destroy that amplifier right away." Du gave us the order and immediately left.

I glance at Canny and Kasamba.

We start making our way underground.

The rebels managed to open an entrance through the rubble of City Hall.

Canny’s magic had brought the entire building down.

It is a tight.

Only one person at a time.

"We are having trouble getting into the amplifier room. There are still a lot of guards down there. I came back up to see what was causing the tremors."

"But are the Council guards still protecting Olvad's plans?" I asked.

"I do not think they know what they are actually protecting. I do not think they realize we are going to die. They are just following orders blindly."

We managed to go through until we finally reached a wider section.

We are back in the sewer galleries.

Some walls and part of the ceiling had also collapsed.

But there was a path likely cleared by the rebels that we could follow.

"I am sorry. I think the reason this is so hard to get through is, technically, my fault," Canny said.

"Do not worry about it," Kasamba replied.

"I do not know if I should try to open another path; I am afraid that anything I do might bring the whole thing down on top of us. The time I had to rescue you, I used magic for just a few seconds after the solstice had ended. I could not control it very well. The gargoyles ended up doing practically all the rest of the work to bring all down."

We caught up with the rest of the group.

They were all in a standoff against the Council's forces.

It was a narrow corridor.

Wide enough for one person to pass through.

Lasers are coming from both sides.

Moving forward is impossible.

The Council's forces is blocking the only entrance to the amplifier room.

"We already tried negotiating, tried shouting at them about what is happening. They will not listen," one of the group members said.

We crouched in a corner taking cover.

"I do not know if they know we can use magic again. I could try digging a tunnel alongside this corridor. To break through into the room. It is a bit risky, but we are running out of time." Canny said.

"I can not move the earth the way you do, but I can use my earth magic to provide support. No ​​one else here can use this kind of magic. It is risky. We will give it a shot. I trust you."

Canny focuses.

He places his hands against the wall.

A crack begins to open up.

Slight tremors start.

A section of the wall begins to crumble into dust and fall at our feet.

"I have to go slow. I will try to be as quick as possible. Stay right behind me. As soon as we get to the other side, take down the guards near the corridor so the rest of our forces can enter. We do not know how many there are. Try not to get hit."

The hole Canny is making is now large enough for an adult to move through in crouched.

We start to enter.

Kasamba follows right behind me.

His hands are glowing as he touches the ceiling of the opening we are in.

I do not know what he is doing.

Canny warns us that we are about to enter the room.

This time, he pushes the section of the wall in front of us

It creates a loud crash.

He turns the earth into a cloud of dust.

He drops to the ground.

I immediately jump over him to enter the room.

I can count ten guards in total.

They are confused by the attack.

Still in the air, I use my magic to throw myself toward the entrance and land right on top of one of the guards.

They barely had time to turn around.

I jump again and take down the guard standing in front of me.

The rebels begin to enter in through the corridor.

The guards recover from the shock and open fire.

I look for cover.

Now that our friends are inside the room we have a better chance of taking out the Council guards.

I am hiding behind what I assume to be the amplifier.

It is really big.

The room is large and circular.

The amplifier is as big as the room itself.

It is a round machine that occupies almost the entire of the space.

It looks like an iron bed frame with a glass lens serving as the mattress.

Kasamba crouches down and moves toward me.

He directs my eyes by pointing with his nose.

Gargoyles line the walls all around the room.

The small statues with glowing eyes seem to be channeling through the machine located in the center.

They appear occupied.

They are not attacking us.

I think this would be a perfect time to get rid of them.

I instinctively start to stand up, but Kasamba immediately stops me, pulling me back by the shoulder. "Easy, kid. We are going to circle around the machine. You stay low and go right."

I start crawling across the floor, moving as fast as I can around the machine.

The fight continues.

The standoff has shifted inside the room.

Unfortunately, some of the rebels are already down.

It does not look like the shooting is going to stop.

How much time do we have left?

I am almost on the other side.

The guards still have not see me.

They are still firering.

I move quickly.

I take one of them down.

The others see me and open fire in my direction.

I have to retreat and take cover again.

I can not go on like this.

I am turning back.

I run into Canny behind me.

He is trying to destroy the machine.

It looks like it is too hard.

Even his earth magic can not dissolve or open it.

"We need to reach the control panel and shut it down. It seems indestructible."

I agree.

But it is difficult right now.

The guards are fiercely defending it.

I do not think there are many left.

By my count, there are five.

Canny starts digging into the ground.

"I think we can go underneath."

It is not as stealthy, he begins opening a fissure beneath the machine.

He has to dig deep.

The machine is larger than we thought.

The ground starts to shake.

The whole room starts to shake.

He stops.

"I think we are compromising the structure of the place. I can not push it any further. I do not think this plan is going to work either."

He had only managed to open a small hole.

We are back at a dead-end.

What do we do now?

One of the rebels tosses us a bag.

"These are explosives. Put them in the hole, under the machine. That should do the trick."

We lock eyes.

The man resumes firing at the guards.

Canny quickly opens the bag.

There is a large quantity of explosives is inside.

"This is enough to blow everything up. Including us." Canny exclaims.

"But we have no other choice. One way or another, we are going to blow up anyway. Remember our mission. We are no ones. We must complete the mission, no matter the cost." I start placing the explosives into the hole and beneath the amplifier. Canny immediately begins helping me.

"It is ironic that we are using explosives to take out a bomb." Canny says.

I start to laugh.

It is not the time for that kind of joke.

I think it is amazing that I can still laugh in moments like this.

We are probably about to die.

But here we are.

Laughing and joking.

It is a bit inappropriate.

I think that is just being human.

This whole journey of mine...

After everything I have been through...

I think I finally understand.

At least I will die happy.

Happy thinking about the people I have met.

Happy with everything I have experienced.

And happy, even after everything that happened to me.

I think the weight I was carrying has finally lifted.

My quest for revenge has finally come to an end.

I did not actually get revenge for anything.

It was all for nothing in the end.

But I am ending it all happy.

All my plans failed.

Everything I worked for.

All my training.

My fights.

My doubts...

I really have no choice but to laugh.

Throughout my journey, I was ready to die.

I managed to escape only by luck on the verge of death.

In various situations.

From the beginning.

I was prepared to sacrifice myself for the mission.

To sacrifice myself for the greater good.

I still am.

I still believe that everything I am doing now is important.

It is not going to be in vain.

I would do it all over again.

All the mistakes.

All the fights.

All the misunderstandings.

All the chaos.

Because, in the end...

It is not just about me.

I might be the hero of my own story.

But the world is full of countless other stories.

Knowing there is a possibility of a better future.

Even at the cost of my own sacrifice.

It all makes me keep moving forward.

Keep going.

Because that is what I believe.

Many times, I encountered others.

Tried to understand their points of view.

A part of everyone I have met lives within me now.

That has only strengthened my convictions.

I must bear the weight that others have placed upon me.

Intentionally or not.

I, too, have placed the burden of my actions onto others.

In the end...

This is what living is all about.

After a lot of other situations where I was prepared to die... This is the first time I would like to make it out alive.

I think I have realized this too late.

"I am sorry." I say to Canny. "We are not just numbers. We are people."

Canny throws himself at me and hugs me tight.

"My name is Canny, but my mother would say I am uncanny."

"You can call me Roger."

We throw ourselves to the ground and take cover.

The Bombs explodes under the amplifier.

The blasts make the whole room shake.

The walls can barely hold up anymore.

Olvad’s massive weight pressing down on us must be making the structure give way more easily.

He must be monstrously huge by now.

I hope Du managed to clear the area and save as many people as possible.

The sewer tunnels are on the verge of collapsing.

The guards and rebels have stopped firing at each other.

They all have decided to retreat.

A little too late.

Too late for all of us.

The machine in the center of the room starts spewing sparks.

Part of it explodes.

The glass on top of it shatters.

All the controls have gone dead.

We are all okay for the moment

I think Olvad could explode at any second.

The gargoyles around the room go dark.

A relief.

I spoke too soon.

Their eyes light up again.

They aim upward.

In perfect synchrony, they fire massive white lasers.

They burn and destroy everything in their path.

The lasers go up towards Olvad.

He became a being composed of magical energy.

I think they all strike him dead.

Disintegrating his entire body and releasing all the magical energy that he had been stocking up inside him.

A blinding white flash engulfs everything.

I am alive.

What is happening?

It is pitch black.

I can not see a thing.

What happened?

I try to move.

It feels like someone is holding me.

"It is okay," Canny says. "It is okay."

"What happened? Where are we?"

"We are buried underground."

"What? What do you mean?" I try to move, but it is a tight space.

"Calm down. Calm down. I brought us down here to protect us from the blast. We are safe here. It is just the two of us."

I take a deep breath.

Breathing is difficult.

Now I can see a little bit better.

We are inside a hole.

Buried.

There is very little space

It is comfortable.

I think being held this close by Canny is what makes it comfortable.

Despite the weird circumstances.

I think he is right.

It feels like it is all over.

We can just stay here like this for a moment.

The only sound we can hear is each other’s breathing.

I can barely see a thing.

All we have is our own touch.

We are holding each other very close.

It is a strange sensation.

I never want to let go of him.

Even though we are meters underground

This is the most comfortable place I have been in years.