"Delilah, we shouldn't stop, they might be lures for bandits!" Lucivar quickly got down.
He was surprised to see Delilah stopping the carriage like that.
Upon hearing this, she stopped, and looked at Lucivar, "I can see it in your eyes, you wanted to help them, right?" She asked, smilingly gently. "How could I ignore these people if you put on that kind of look?"
"Ah... but still" Lucivar has no words to answer.
It seemed his desire to help them was too transparent for Delilah to instantly see.
Glancing over to the carriage, he found the others were still fast asleep. Peeking at the front carriages—he saw that all of them stopped, but none of them came out. It was only him and Delilah outside.
Not having any option, he quickly went over to Delilah.
She was already talking with the people, a family with one child no older than ten years old.
"Bless you, lady for helping us. Our horses broke loose and we were stranded,"
"Don't thank me. It was his desire to help you"
"Thank you, kind sir. We really appreciate your help"
Lucivar gave them a light nod, he was holding the handle of his strapped knife while looking around in alert. He still feared this to be a trap by the bandits so he needed to be ready. But it seemed that was not the case, the area was silent.
Under Delilah's guidance, she brought the family towards the carriage.
She'd probably put them in the middle carriage that has room for them.
'Nothing, it seemed they were not a trap,' Lucivar muttered, the area is clear, and the family doesn't seem to be suspicious as well. All of them acted as if they were really stranded. Yet as he thought of that, however, his eyes widened completely.
Swish!
Lucivar suddenly saw a dark trail snaking across his vision from the side.
It came out of nowhere and it caught him off guard.
Almost instantly, he snapped his neck in the direction of the dark trail and saw an ember.
It leaped from below and was approaching quickly.
"Wake... Wake up!! Something is coming!" Lucivar shouted at the top of his lungs.
He grabbed Delilah by the arm and pulled her out of the way.
Despite being unfocused from a long sleep, he knew what he was seeing.
In addition to that, he also heard something approaching fast from the rear of the carriage, it whistled through the air like a banshee's scream. Before the others were fully awake—a loud and resounding explosion pierced their eardrums.
Kaboom!
Lucivar's heart pounded hard as his vision took an abrupt turn.
For a brief moment, gravity felt nonexistent.
It didn't take long for him to realize that he and Delilah had been hurled back hard.
Everything happened so quickly, that no one could react properly, not even Lucivar, who had anticipated the blast. Delilah hugged his head right before they made brutal contact with the snowy ground.
Both of them rolled viciously, the sheer force eroding their skin from the relentless friction.
"Kargghk!" Lucivar grunted in pain as he came to a halt after hitting something hard.
He was left dazed and breathless by the impact.
Pain throbbed in his back as he recovered from the impact.
Raising his gaze, he saw that they were on a secluded road, barely wide enough for a single carriage to pass, behind the other carriages. On the left side—the ground abruptly fell away to a steep, dizzying drop—the bottom, darkness far below obscuring the depth of the fall.
Moreover, he saw flames and destroyed carriages not too far from him.
All carriages were in flames, and the horses pulling them died, two of the horses were near.
Some were burnt to a crisp while the others had its neck broken.
Not to mention, the family of three that Delilah and he tried to help were burnt to crisps.
Lucivar gritted his teeth at this situation.
'Who attacked us? Is it bandits? A Hybrid? Who?!' Lucivar pondered, wracking his brain.
Before he could assess the situation—his danger sense kicked him, into survival mode, as he grabbed Delilah on the side, and leaped away at the exact same time as another explosion in the background resounded, flames soaring sky-high.
Mercilessly, the intense heat sang the air around them, and debris flew like deadly shrapnel.
Adrenaline sharpened his senses as he checked Delilah, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm okay, I'm okay..." She replied, coughing blood a couple of times.
It seemed she was hurt from crashing into a rock earlier.
Holding Delilah close, Lucivar scanned the area for the source of the attack, but he couldn't see anyone around. He found the other carriages also in the same situation, but he frowned when Tobias' carriage at the very front was also destroyed.
'Did his carriage also get attacked?! Where is he?!' He thought again, concerned.
Just then, however, his body stiffened when something landed near the edge of the cliff.
Slowly glancing to his left—his eyes bear witness to a dire spectacle coughed forward from the heart of the Crossers' world. He saw a figure, that was clearly not a human striding with nonchalance, its hands ablaze with flames, the same flickering inferno burning its eyes.
Despite coming from a slave city, he knew what this creature was.
Its light red skin and the fiery-slitted gem embedded in its chest marked it unmistakably.
It was the very thing Humanity was fighting against.
Beings that governed the other world the same as humans governed this world.
"It's a Primordial! A Fire Primordial!" Mirel shouted.
He came out of the rubble of the destroyed carriage and also saw the Fire Primordial.
Upon hearing this, Lucivar gasped in shock as he couldn't believe that a Primordial was right before his very two eyes. The Primordial, is a race that dominated the Crossers' world, there are many types of them depending on the elements they could control.
On that note, the one in front of them right now is a Fire Primordial.
Even though it was young, it was very strong, around the five-star Neophyte or even higher.
"Where are the older ones?! We need them!" Mirel added urgently.
He was begging for Darwin, Ravenna, or Bob to help as they were the strongest.
Compared to him—Leandra, who was fine as she was able to shield herself from the impact, looked to the other side and realized that Tobias' carriage was destroyed. Panicking, she did not waste a single second and head over there, searching for Tobias.
She left Lucivar, Mirel, Bakar, and Delilah behind out of concern for Tobias.
Just then, however, the Fire Primordial swept its gaze and locked onto Delilah.
Its eyes then flickered as it made a move.
Boom!
Creating small explosions underneath its feet—the Fire Primordial dashed with lightning-fast speed, aiming for Delilah. Before it could reach close—Lucivar, managed to stand in the way, his pupils dilating in alert.
Seeing that the Fire Primordial was about to attack, he quickly crossed his arms.
Bam!
Crash!
Like swatting a fly, the Fire Primordial slapped Lucivar out of the way.
He coughed a mouthful of blood as his body slammed and bounced off against the wall.
Stumbling to keep on standing, he gasped for breath hard.
'It's incredibly strong,' He pondered, covering his bloody mouth. Glancing over to his left arm, he saw that it was bruised—his bones almost broke from blocking that powerful attack. 'Why is it aiming for Delilah? Did it realize she was the healer?!'
Even from a simple slap, Lucivar could feel that it was way stronger than the others.
Backing up Delilah, both Mirel and Bakar activated their powers.
In the blink of an eye, Bakar's body swelled even bigger—and he reached the Fire Primordial who was about to punch Delilah with its fiery fist. Expertly, he parried the punch, and circled around the Fire Primordial, bear-hugging it from behind.
Following that, Mirel appeared before the Fire Primordial, his hands charged with lightning.
Blitz!
Pulling nothing back, he electrocuted the Fire Primordial, trying to paralyze it.
Zapping the Fire Primordial with all his might, Mirel's entire body crackled with lightning, even his fingertips turning into pure energy—which caused him excruciating pain. But as the entire process continued, the lightning began to weaken.
Mirel poured every ounce of his ether reserves, but the Fire Primordial remained unfazed.
It was directly looking into Mirel's eyes undisturbed.
Bakar, caught in the same electrical storm, endured the agony in hopes for Mirel to succeed.
However, it was in vain, their effort failed miserably.
Casting a menacing smirk, the Fire Primordial's body ignited—its flames overpowering Mirel's lightning. In the next second, its body exploded with fierce intensity—hurling Mirel and Bakar away, rolling across the ground, scratched by the wooden remnants of the carriages.
Lucivar watched this from the side in horror, 'It dispatched both of them easily...'
Seeing that both Mirel and Bakar were taken down easily was disheartening for Lucivar.
He knew what the two were capable of, both of them were stronger than him.
Even then, the Fire Primordial swatted them as if they were nothing.
Stumbling forward, Lucivar could feel pain across his body but then, his eyes caught sight of a foreign energy bringing about warmness to his body. It lasted for a few seconds, and when it ended, his eyes widened, "My wounds... they were healed"
Only then did he realize who the energy belonged to, Delilah's.
After dispatching the two, the Fire Primordial swept its fiery gaze and fixed on Lucivar.
It seemed its attack from earlier hadn't ended Lucivar as he remained standing.
Before the Fire Primordial could take a step, a rock flew through the air and hit its head.
Frowning, the Fire Primordial glanced to the side and saw Delilah with a rock in her hand.
Glaring firmly at it, Delilah threw another rock but was blocked.
Rather than being threatening, she was being annoying for the Fire Primordial.
Putting Delilah in its eyes as priority, the Fire Primordial pointed its hand forward and charged a spherical fire poised ready to blast Delilah to oblivion. Despite the grave situation—she was not even remotely afraid.
Delilah looked over to Lucivar on the side and said through voiceless words, "Go, run!"
It was obvious that she was sacrificing herself to make a window for Lucivar to go grab the others and run. But that act did the exact opposite thing from what Delilah wanted, instead of running away, adrenaline rushed through Lucivar's bloodstream.
His eyes glowed with intense golden energy, 'I'll rip it... I'm going to rip its body to pieces!'
Responding to his emotions, his bloodline went into overclocking mode.
Just as the Fire Primordial was about to end Delilah, it stopped and turned to the right.
Brak!
Lucivar lunged, attempting for a tackle and pushing the Fire Primordial over the edge.
But the Fire Primordial easily thwarted the effort, catching him by the neck and lifting him up.
Feeling his windpipe being crushed—Lucivar, gripped the Fire Primordial's arms with both of his hands to no avail. He even punched it desperately, but its iron grip was unyielding, it was not budging whatsoever.
Stealing a couple of glances down, Lucivar gritted his teeth as the fall seemed to scare him.
Seeing the fear on his face, the Fire Primordial smirked in ridicule.
It then went to the side and dangled Lucivar over the edge, threatening to let him fall.
In addition to gasping for breaths through a choked throat—Lucivar's eyes widened in fear as he saw the non-existent ground, below him. Despite becoming way stronger, he might not be able to survive the fall.
"No!" Delilah screamed and hit the Fire Primordial multiple times desperately. "Let him go!"
Even then, her hits were nothing for the Fire Primordial.
Delilah might be a healer, but her strength was not even close to other proper Hybrids.
Her punches were more like a desperate attempt.
"Kyaargh!" She yelped when she was slapped away, stumbling back helplessly.
As the Fire Primordial did that—it focused back on Lucivar, and let go of his neck, letting him fall to his death. In its gaze, Lucivar was not worth dying with its hands. Additionally, it might be more amusing to watch him fall to his death.
But as it did that, its eyes widened when something wrapped around its neck.
The Fire Primordial looked down and found multiple leather straps wrapping around its neck.
Horse bridles.
Upon seeing this, it gritted its teeth in anger and glanced over its shoulder.
It was then met with Lucivar's daunting smirk, it was his doings.
Earlier before he made the tackle, Lucivar had taken the straps from the dead horses and hid them in his clothes. From the very start—he was determined to push the Fire Primordial, over the edge to buy time for the others to come help.
Instead of panicking, he acted as if he was scared from the fall to inspire the Fire Primordial.
Lucivar was smiling inside when it brought him to the edge.
He used his false fear and 'desperate struggle' act as a mask to wrap the bridles together.
Only when the Fire Primordial let go of his neck did he bring out the bridles.
No matter what, he wouldn't let Delilah be killed in front of his eyes.
"I don't know why you attacked us, but I'll make sure that's a mistake!" Lucivar barked with a savage smile on his face, looking at the Fire Primordial like a lunatic. "Let's continue this little bout down there, shall we? It'll only be you and me"
Furious at this ploy, the Fire Primordial tried to burn the leather straps.
But since Lucivar tied a lot together, it was enough for him to make one last all-out pull.
Exerting everything he has—Lucivar was able to pull the Fire Primordial off the edge, as both of them fell into the darkness. On the other hand—Delilah quickly ran to the edge and looked down in worry, "Lucivar!!" She screamed.
She couldn't believe Lucivar was the one who sacrificed himself like this.
Even if he survived the fall, there was still the Fire Primordial, his chance for survival is slim.