Now, don't get me wrong. The Oxhorian Spawn's return did not mean all hell would break loose at that very moment.
It simply signified the start of a rather... worrying chain of events.
At least for the humans.
—And maybe a bit for those living out there in the stars.
Beyond the planetary orb called Oxhor, where the secrets of a thriving universe lay, whispers and hushed tones were being sent from one being to another.
Their words were silent yet crisp and of a peculiar language,
"These energy readings... It's them again..."
"...What do we do?"
"Report it..."
"...To the higher-ups..."
"The Lesser Constellations..?"
"Yes."
"—Wait..."
"There is also..."
"An anomaly..?"
"...The data... indeed... has errors..."
"...What is happening?"
These were beings of whom the Endbringer Athelei was suspecting to be watching over Oxhor. The gods, the Constellations, or whoever they were.
What was important though was that this little organization had caught the faint wind of a virus messing around in their turf.
It was a virus they once thought were exterminated.
.
.
.
Back within Oxhor's crust,
"Achoo!" As if in reply to those words among the stars, there was a sneeze.
Athelei, who was sorting out his belongings in his little 'to teleport' crate, felt some kind of energy wave wash across his skin. It was eerie. It was peculiar.
It gave him chills that seeped into his bones and scratched at his soul. On top of that, it was awfully similar to the feeling a person gets whenever someone uses an Analysis Skill on them.
"What in the world..?" Athelei's brows were furrowed in thought as he used Shop to move his belongings elsewhere.
The High Orc army under Hilvar's command was currently knee-deep in combat. Blood had stained the streets of the kingdom city as mysterious explosions kept blasting the High Orcs every now and then, hindering their charge.
Although there were no head explosions like what had happened to the scout from before, the High Orcs were still injured— albeit to varying degrees. Upon impact, many were simply knocked back a few metres with a few bruises, some had a few broken bones, and only a few had lost their limbs.
As for their enemies, the enslaved Greater Goblins were madly sending their beast partners straight into the maws of death. Both their eyes, and the eyes of their pets were clouded. They didn't know why they were throwing their lives away at the enemy ranks.
They wanted to stop, but their own bodies were moving against their thoughts.
Throughout their madness-filled defence, some were even crying tears of blood. Those few were the ones whose eyes had not fully clouded over.
They still had some form of consciousness left. Watching the hellscape that was unfolding before their very eyes pained their hearts. The wasteful manner of their defence was on full display as their own tamed beasts were quite literally torn apart by the High Orc army.
'Curious and creepy,' Athelei pursed his lips as he observed the carnage before him. He saw the way lives were being thrown away all willy nilly and thought, 'Such tragic endings...'
As usual, small wisps of grey fog were scattered across the battlefield. The siphoning of residual consciousness was a never-ending task that always brought delight.
The feeling of growth, no matter how slow, was divine. It was like drinking water after travelling through the desert or devouring one's breakfast after a good morning workout.
"Nourishing" could be a good word to describe such a feeling.
But this time, a hint of cautiousness could be seen within the subtleties of Athelei's movements. There had been a few instances where his fog wisps had been struck by one or two of those mysterious explosions that seem to come out of nowhere.
BOOM!
Another energy-filled explosion went off, and Athelei felt his energy levels deplete once more.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Mana: 8/16
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
The sudden drops in his [Mana] had surprised him, and thus on top of being cautious, he had taken on a slightly more physical form to properly equip his mystical staff— Sapphire on a Stick. An increase in [Mana] regeneration was thus welcomed into his body.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Mana: 6/16
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
"Hah," Athelei lightly sighed as he watched his [Mana] suddenly drop to 6 before his very eyes. "It seems like I am not totally invincible, after all."
A few more explosions had gone off in the distance, ruffling his hair with messy gusts of wind.
"It costs way more [Mana] to keep this kind of technique active than simply using my Nightwalker abilities... But at least with this my physical body isn't left unprotected..." Athelei mumbled.
There were pros and cons to all things.
Putting those thoughts aside, Athelei placed his focus back on the battlefield as he lay motionless inside a crevice he had found nearby.
The Overseer's Opal Ring was loosely hung around his small thumb, blessing both his vision and his [Physic] attributes.
In this specific case, he was making full use of the extra attributes more than his normal eyesight. By spreading out his wisps in an orderly fashion, he was able to perceive a subtle pattern in the manner in which the explosions had been set up.
He took note of such a pattern as he controlled his wisps to steer clear of the areas where explosions were likely to occur. Road junctions, street corners, squares, and certain natural landmarks were a few of those dangerous areas.
It didn't take long for Athelei to fully make sense of the pattern. And now, no wisp lingered where dangers lay.
After all, losing more [Mana] would force him to cut his meal short, and Athelei did not want to be deprived of the opportunities unfolding before him.
'Those Ogre Magi still haven't shown themselves, and I can't seem to find them.' Athelei thought with keen interest as he carefully guided the many small pieces of himself, 'It should be safe to assume that the explosions occurring throughout the battlefield is the work of a Mystic Pattern Circle. The Mystic Energy outburst cannot be hidden, especially when it hit me a few times already. As for the mind-control... from what I know, it is most likely a part of another Mystic Pattern Circle, and yet I can't shake the feeling that these two powers are, in fact, from the same Circle.'
A few of Athelei's wisps had strayed from the main battlefield. Like drones collecting information, these wisps were either passing through the walls of buildings, lurking underground, or floating high in the yellow-orange torch-lit sky.
The only things living that he could see and sense were the Greater Goblins, their tamed beasts, as well as its and bits of plant life. Of course, the High Orc army was within his senses, with Hilvar being the most prominent.
The High Orc was roaring like a raging lion and spreading out waves of heat after every breath. It was impossible to miss him.
Being at the peak of Rank 3, at least in terms of [Energy], brought about immense pressure to every living thing around him—including Athelei. If the latter's wisps got too close, he felt suffocated and vulnerable despite knowing that his fog was capable of ignoring purely physical attacks.
And yet, despite Hilvar decimating his foes with forceful swings of his greatsword, the hot gusts of winds that singed the hide of any nearby Greater Goblin, and the bone-rattling warcries he made every now and then, the Ogre Magi were still nowhere in sight.
Athelei had almost suspected that they just weren't present altogether.
Until, of course, he came across a certain area within the kingdom-city.
When his wisps had moved into here, he felt the world suddenly blur. Sounds were muffled, his sense of touch was numbed, and his little wisps had gone blind.
Athelei's pupils suddenly dilated as a sharp pain pierced into his mind.
A foul frown appeared on his face as he dealt with his discomforts and sought out the source.
He realised that a few wisps that had gone too deep into this zone had seemingly lost contact. His [Mana] plummeted in an instant.
"I still don't like how this feels." Athelei sucked in a sharp breath as nausea struck him in waves.
All his wisps froze in place as he tried his best to stay conscious. The small stream of [Mana] that flowed into him through the Sapphire on a Stick was his only hope of doing so.
Athelei groaned as he focused on the small relief the incoming [Mana] was providing him.
BOOOM!
And while he was preoccupied, a huge shockwave threatened to rupture his organs—if he hadn't turned said organs into grey fog.
How that could even work, I don't know. All that matters is the fact that such a phenomenon is an Endbringer's unique characteristic.
"SHOW YOURSELVES!" A rabid warcry shook the entire battlefield. Trash talk in Acivis swiftly followed, "I CAN FEEL YOUR PRESENCE, OVERSIZED PIGS! YOU ALL REEK OF GOBLIN BILE, AND THERE'S NO WAY TO HIDE IT."
Hilvar was standing on a pile of rubble. A lifeless head of one of his trusted subordinates could be seen by his feet, eyes filled with shock and terror.
"Stop being the cowards we all know you are."
A gleam of insanity shone in Hilvar's eyes.
"And here I thought Ogre Magi are the wisest and mightiest of us all."
Just a little bit more [Energy], and perhaps Hilvar's blood would actually boil. A sneer blossomed on his scarred face, looking all the more sinister with his gleaming white tusks.
"To think you lot still keep forgetting to wash that damn smell off! Even my scouts could tell that there are two of you from beyond the torchlight!"
Hilvar guffawed.
The madness in his eyes grew as his expression depicted a perfect painting of mockery.
But in the next moment, an immense force appeared out of nowhere.
Right beside his blazing body.
BOOOM!
The roaring Hilvar turned into a comet and was flung out of the kingdom-city in the blink of an eye.
His body soared through the air. A stream of blood followed his flight path as he created a crater beyond the kingdom-city's walls.
The High Orc leader looked like a ragdoll that had been punted by a child.