Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Chapter 1574  Enemies

"Kuu…"

Noctis stopped, lifting a paw to his face as he let out a soft, mournful purr that lingered for a few moments before fading into a quiet sigh. He wandered back afterward, curling tightly against Atticus' chest as though scared that he might leave him.

Magnus watched in silence. The little creature might have been even more stubborn than he was. While Magnus had refused to leave Atticus' side, remaining in the same room day after day, attending to him without rest, Noctis had gone further, never leaving Atticus' chest at all, stirring only to lick him or press close as if testing whether he might wake.

Seeing it, Magnus felt a quiet relief settle in him. His grandson was not alone.

He straightened Atticus' blanket, smoothing it carefully, and was just about to return to his seat when a sudden chill ran through him. Magnus' head snapped toward the source, narrowing his eyes. Beside him, Noctis rose to his feet as well, the droop in his eyes vanishing as he went alert, his gaze fixed sharply in the same direction.

Magnus slowly loosened his grip and let out a heavy breath.

'It's time.'

He moved to Atticus' side at once, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder, only to stop midway when he took in his ashen face, the sweat clinging to his skin. His fingers curled, then loosened again, before he finally rested his arm there. "Hold on."

He turned toward the door, but the sound that followed him slowed his steps, the soft, broken purr of Noctis as he licked Atticus again and again, unwilling to leave him behind. Eventually, the creature joined him at the doorway, and Magnus paused there, staring ahead. His fist tightened. Leaving felt wrong. Leaving always felt wrong.

He released a breath and glanced once more around the room. Atticus was drenched in sweat, but he was breathing. Everything else was… still.

'I'll be back.'

The words formed silently in his mind as he stepped out.

A hallway later, Magnus emerged into a large room, where the others immediately rose from their seats, surprise all across their faces.

"Grandpa Magnus… you're out?" Caldor said carefully, blinking as though he needed to make sure what he was seeing was real.

None of them looked any different. Magnus had spent the past month shut away in that room, never leaving it even once. To see him now, with Noctis at his side, made them feel unease. "I-is he okay?" Anastasia asked with a shaky voice. Her hands had tightened beneath the table as her trembling eyes locked onto Magnus.

"He's fine."

Every one breathed a sigh of relief, but it faltered when Magnus and Noctis continued past them toward the exit without another word.

"Get ready," Magnus said, stopping at the door without turning back. "Enemies."

He didn't wait for their reactions. He stepped out into the open field beyond, walking until the wind brushed against him, before coming to a stop and fixing his gaze on the distant city. Their hill stood well away from it, the land around them warped and displaced from earlier battles, stretching outward in uneasy silence.

Magnus barely registered the sound of the door bursting open behind him, nor the others moving up to stand at his back as they cautiously scanned the surroundings. His attention was already elsewhere, his eyes narrowing as they caught sight of several streaks tearing through the distance, closing in fast.

"Look! Over there!" Caldor said, pointing sharply. "They must have gotten through the defenses somehow."

"We have to protect Atticus!" Anorah urgently added.

"Go inside. Now."

They hesitated, their uncertain eyes turning to Magnus, but none of them argued. In the next moment, they were already moving, hurrying back into the building to shield Atticus from whatever was approaching.

Outside, only Magnus and Noctis remained, standing in silence as the streaks reached the field and struck the ground some distance away in a brutal explosions. As the haze slowly cleared, the hair along Magnus' body rose, and his instincts screamed as the figures ahead came into view.

Three men stood there, each clad in radiant golden armor. Their faces were hidden behind smooth, faceless masks, and their eyes, cold and luminous, rested on Magnus and Noctis with detached indifference.

Magnus swallowed.

'Will Guard.'

That they had slipped past their armies and appeared here, at the very place where Atticus was slumbering, was unthinkable. Had Anorah, Ozeroth, and Whisker already fallen?

He forced the thought away the instant it formed. Doubt had no place here. The Will Guard had come for his grandson, and they would reach him only over Magnus' corpse.

His blood began to boil as his will surged outward, coiling around his arm before condensing into a radiant spear.

Beside him, Noctis' small frame expanded rapidly, fangs lengthening, claws extending as he grew into a massive, hulking beast, a low, dangerous growl rumbling endlessly from his chest.

"The target is inside the building."

Magnus' eyes locked onto the Will Guard standing between the other two.

'He's different.'

Unlike the others, his mask was abyss black, stark against their pure white, and he stood unnervingly still, an ominous presence bleeding from him that set every warning in Magnus' body aflame.

The other two Will Guards inclined their heads in response, their glowing gazes shifting toward the building behind Magnus. He tightened his grip on the spear.

"Get him."

Noctis answered with a thunderous roar, the energy of it sending Magnus' hair whipping back as the Will Guards momentarily paused. In the same second, Noctis' claws lashed forward, releasing a scorching, claw shaped strike that tore toward them with terrifying speed.

The black masked Will Guard's eyes flared with blinding purple light as he calmly raised an arm.

 A translucent purple barrier formed instantly, and the attack shattered harmlessly against it, dispersing into the air as if it had never existed.

Magnus tightened his grip on the spear, drawing in a measured breath as he tried to steady himself.

'A fragment bearer…'

A Marked was with the Will Guard? The realization barely had time to settle before the other two Will Guards vanished from sight.

Magnus spun instantly, catching them as they reappeared in motion, already closing the distance toward the building. His will surged in response and he blurred forward, driving his radiant spear toward one of their backs while releasing a concentrated beam of glow toward the other.

The first Will Guard narrowly avoided the strike with a sharp lateral burst, while the second met the beam head on, deflecting it aside with a casual sweep of his blade.

A sudden shockwave slammed against them, hurling all three into the air. Magnus twisted mid-air, forcing his momentum under control before snapping his gaze toward the horizon, where Noctis was locked in continuous collision with the Marked Will Guard, each clash sending violent shockwaves rippling through the land.

A spike of danger washed over him.

Magnus dipped instinctively as a blade screamed past where his head had been. He twisted with the motion, narrowly slipping past a follow up thrust from the other Will Guard.

In the same second, a second spear formed along his free arm as he flowed forward, driving both weapons toward them in a seamless motion. The Will Guards answered without a word, their will engulfed swords sweeping out to meet his attack.

The collision detonated in a blinding flash, light swallowing Magnus' vision as a crushing energy tore through his will and sent him hurtling backward.

 He locked his grip and endured it, refusing to let go. Their wills were undeniably stronger, more refined, but after everything he had survived during the Ascension Games, Magnus' will was no longer what it once had been. He had sliced down Viscounts, Counts, and even Marquis champions.

Now, his will carried the sturdiness of a Marquis level champion.