Chapter 149: The Cavalry Arrives
Elora City
Inside the penthouse workshop, Drew's fingers flew across the teleporter's control console, his usual calm demeanor replaced by focused intensity. Haeju watched him, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"Drew, what's happening? Why can't we lock onto Ashveil's coordinates?" she asked, her voice tight with worry.
He swept his long white hair back with a pale hand, not looking up from the shimmering interface. "Someone has locked down the space around the entire area. It's not just blocked; it's been completely severed from the teleportation grid." He input a new sequence, his movements sharp and decisive. "I'm setting coordinates for the closest possible location: the Amber Dunes. Hold on."
The teleporter hummed to life, its light shifting from a steady blue to an angry, pulsing crimson as it connected to the secondary location. As the energy field stabilized, Drew and Haeju moved to step inside. Suddenly, Drew spun around, his hand darting to a nearby desk and snatching up a simple, unadorned storage ring.
Haeju gave him a questioning look, her eyebrows raised in a silent query.
"Just... extra reinforcement. In case we need it," he explained, his voice low.
Haeju didn't press further. With a shared nod, they stepped into the crimson light and vanished.
The journey was rough and unstable. Since there was no dedicated receiving teleporter in the Amber Dunes, their arrival was a violent tear in reality. A jagged, green-tinged dimensional crack split the air above the scorching sands, and the two of them were unceremoniously ejected, landing gracefully on the burning ground.
There was no time to lose. In a synchronized motion, they activated their storage rings. In a flash of light and a whir of advanced mechanics, they were clad in their formidable Saint-Slayer mechanical suits. Haeju's suit was a sleek, vibrant purple, mirroring her hair and eyes, its armor plates flowing like liquid amethyst. Drew's was a stark, menacing black, creating a dramatic contrast with his own white hair and pale complexion.
Without a word, they shot forward, their suits' propulsion systems carrying them over the dunes at blinding speed. In under two minutes, the landscape shifted from scorching desert to a blighted, snowy region.
They pushed on, crossing snow-covered mountains, but the scenery they encountered was one of pure devastation. They began to notice impossible shapes—a mountain that looked artificially created and then shattered, colossal chunks of rock and earth suspended unnaturally in the air, and vast tracts of land turned into a chaotic wasteland. It was a clear testament to a battle between forces of unimaginable power.
The sight made their footsteps falter for a single, heart-stopping second. But the thought of Tom and Yuseong fueled their resolve. They pushed their suits even harder, their speed increasing as they homed in on the epicenter of the destruction.
They crested the peak of the artificial mountain and the scene below unfolded. A man in a dirtied white suit was in the motion of delivering a final, energy-charged kick. And before him, Tom Lee was on his knees, not in surrender, but brought low by sheer exhaustion, barely able to stand against the overwhelming force.
The kick began its descent.
In a blur of motion, Drew and Haeju intercepted. They crossed their forearms, and the reinforced armor of their Saint-Slayer suits met the devastating impact head-on. A thunderous BOOM echoed through the mountains as they absorbed the blow, their boots grinding into the rock beneath them, shielding Tom with their own bodies.
Rivan, his kick blocked, recoiled with genuine surprise. He hadn't expected any intervention, let alone one that could withstand his strike. His surprise deepened as he took in the advanced technology encasing the newcomers.
"Mechanical suits with shifting exo-armor? White hair? And a purple-haired companion with him?" Rivan mused aloud, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. "Are you two, by any chance, Drew and Haeju?"
Drew allowed a cold, confident smile to grace his lips within his black helmet. "I am quite the famous individual amongst the top tier, aren't I?" he replied, his voice amplified and distorted by the suit's systems.
But the banter was a distraction. As he spoke, the air behind Drew and Haeju began to shimmer. From portals of compressed light, hundreds of towering robots, each over twenty feet tall, materialized into a formidable phalanx. They stood like a forest of steel and plasma, their collective mass and weaponry dwarfing the landscape. In the center of this newly assembled army, Rivan suddenly looked very small, a solitary figure in white against an overwhelming tide of black and purple metal.
Drew had no intention of holding back. The apocalyptic devastation surrounding them and Tom's near-fatal condition were all the evidence he needed. This was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
Rivan, however, merely smiled as the army of towering robots materialized behind the two suited figures.
"I am Rivan Alhuwalia," he declared, his voice carrying an ancient, regal weight. "The Prince of the Alhuwalias. The Ascendant. The Absolute. People who met me in my childhood also knew me as 'Ghost Hands'." His eyes scanned the metallic legion with open disdain. "And do you really believe this bunch of metal scraps is enough to even lay a finger on me?" As he spoke the last line, his tone shifted dramatically. The playful ego was gone, replaced by a deep, resonant certainty that was far more terrifying.
Ignoring the boast, Drew swiftly retrieved a small vial of glowing orange liquid from his storage ring and tossed it to Tom. Without a second thought, Tom caught it and drank it down, a faint surge of energy immediately coursing through his exhausted body. Rivan watched the entire exchange curiously but made no move to intervene.
"Calling yourself 'The Absolute' and 'The Ascendant'?" Drew retorted, his voice cold. "Aren't you a little too prideful?"
Rivan's laughter echoed across the shattered landscape. "Hahahaha! Pride? You speak as if pride is a separate part of me. I am pride, and pride is me. There is no distinction."
Within his helmet, Drew's expression hardened. A full-face plate slid into place with a sharp hiss, completing his armored suit. "You should watch your tone," he warned, his voice now a synthesized growl.
In a synchronized burst of speed, Drew and Haeju shot toward Rivan. But the prince moved with impossible, fluid grace. He didn't even remove his hands from his pockets, simply swaying and shifting his weight to let their powerful strikes whistle past him harmlessly. In the same motion, he delivered two sharp, returning kicks to their backs, the impact sending both suited figures stumbling forward, their armor screeching in protest.
Rivan didn't let up. He pressed his attack, aiming to overwhelm them while they were off-balance. But before he could close in, one of the giant robots instantly teleported between them and self-destructed in a blinding, king-level explosion.
Rivan emerged from the smoke, his white suit unblemished. "King-level robots?" he muttered, a flicker of genuine appreciation in his eyes. "Impressive, Drew."
Then, almost tauntingly, he began to deliberately let the other robots land hits on him. He allowed their fists and energy blasts to connect, not because they harmed him, but to prove a point. He wanted to show Drew that even these king-level machines were like children's toys to him.
But in that moment of arrogant performance, a figure moved from within the robot ranks with explosive speed. It was an eight-foot-tall, red-skinned giant with long, flowing black hair. It was Tom Lee, but transformed. He drove a fist, wreathed in primal energy, directly into Rivan's face.
The impact was colossal. BOOM!
The punch connected with a sound like a thunderclap, catching Rivan completely by surprise and sending him flying backward to crash through a nearby cliff face.
The orange liquid Drew had given Tom was no mere healing potion. In his youth, a terrible accident had left Tom crippled. During his treatment, his unique bloodline had caused severe complications, forcing the doctors to surgically remove the organ that regulated it. The orange liquid was a miracle serum—it had forcibly regenerated that lost organ, unlocking the full, primal bloodline transformation Tom had been forced to suppress for decades. The King of Ashveil was back, and he was furious.
To be continued…