Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Chapter 1575  Hope

'I am lightning.'

He gathered himself and dispersed into the air, the space above darkening. The two Will Guards paused and looked up as clouds gathered overhead, thunder crackling through them. The next instant, an uncountable barrage of lightning bolts came crashing down.

The Will Guards merely narrowed their eyes, their wills flaring outward to engulf their bodies, the lightning striking and breaking harmlessly around them in wild arcs of light.

Magnus reformed behind them suddenly, both spears driving toward their backs. He narrowed his eyes as they reacted at the last moment, spinning in unison to intercept his strikes with sweeping arcs of their swords.

He had barely recovered when their eyes abruptly ignited with golden light.

"Enough."

Each of them produced a small spherical object and crushed it in their grip. The objects burst apart in blinding radiance, forcing Magnus to shoot backward and create distance as he watched warily.

When the light faded, radiant armor encased the Will Guards, shedding glittering crimson dust that caught the sunlight in fleeting, dangerous flares.

Magnus' eyes darkened. That dust… it was the same substance the hunched Will Guard had used against Atticus at the climax of the Ascension Games. A dust that devoured will.

The Will Guards did not give him time to dwell on it. Both raised their blades and moved, crossing the distance in an instant through trails of drifting scarlet dust. Magnus met them head on, parrying a heavy downward strike from one before twisting aside at the last moment to evade a thrust, answering with two sharp counter thrusts of his own that were stopped without difficulty.

Their retaliation followed immediately. Swords blurred into an unbroken storm of slashes and thrusts that swallowed his vision, forcing Magnus to disperse into crackling arcs as he slipped through the gaps. The Will Guards chased him relentlessly, their forms streaking across the sky as they collided again and again in rapid succession.

'My will…'

He felt a sudden pull against his will. Magnus shot backward at once, forcing space between them. The Will Guards floated a distance away, watching him with cold, detached eyes.

Magnus glanced down at his flickering will, then regarded them in silence. The dust had spread everywhere and was gnawing at his will. If this continued, his will would be drained dry, and his end would come soon after.

Magnus swallowed, feeling the faint presence of his grandson inside the building behind him. Leaving was not an option. It had never been.

A violent explosion tore Magnus' gaze toward the distance, just in time to see a streak of flickering crimson light ripping across the horizon. Within it, the bloodied form of a massive, furry creature being driven into the ground.

His heart dropped.

'He lost.'

Pressure crashed down on him without warning, slamming him out of the sky and into the earth below. Magnus gritted his teeth as his will spiraled violently around him, fighting to keep him upright, but the weight was overwhelming, forcing him down to one knee.

Slowly and painfully, he lifted his head.

Above him, the black masked Will Guard hovered in the air, radiating an intense purple light that flooded the field and crushed everything beneath it.

There was no mistaking that presence. It was the same suffocating sense of superiority Magnus had felt on the few occasions Atticus had drawn upon Solvath's power.

The Will Guard looked down at him with open disdain.

"Futile."

A casual wave of his hand followed, and a violent current tore through the building behind Magnus, blasting away the outer walls and much of the interior in an instant. Rubble scattered outward, exposing Atticus' unmoving form along with the others. All of them were forced to their knees under the crushing pressure. Still, Anastasia dragged herself toward the bed and clutched Atticus tightly in a desperate, protective embrace.

"N-no…!"

Magnus' screamed and his will surged wildly as he forced himself upright. He leveled his spear at the Will Guard, killing intent bleeding freely from him.

"D-don't touch him."

The fragment bearer's eyes ignited with dangerous light as his aura began to rise.

"You can still move?"

The pressure multiplied in an instant, slamming down on him crushing force, but Magnus clenched his teeth and forced out even more will. Agony ripped through every inch of his body, blood slipping from his eyes, his mouth, his ears, yet he refused to look away. He met the Will Guard's gaze head on, his spear burning brighter in his grip.

"Don't… don't touch him."

The fragment bearer merely raised his arm and purple force rippled across it like a tide.

"Die."

A beam of condensed purple energy tore free and descended toward them. Magnus reacted without hesitation, flaring his will and launching himself upward to meet it.

But he never even got close when his will faltered then collapsed entirely. Blinding light swallowed his vision as the overwhelming force locked him in place. 'I-is this it…?' A deep, hollow ache settled in his chest. After everything he had endured, everything he had survived, it hurt beyond measure that this was how it ended.

…

A raging flood of purple energy bore down upon him. Dozens of Marquis stared from all sides with glowing, malevolent eyes, their presence crushing, absolute, while the one ally who could have turned the tide was blocked by the impenetrable purple barrier formed from Solvath fragments.

Atticus slowly raised the katana he had shaped from the elements. No matter how it was framed, the situation was dire.

He was outnumbered, and Solvath's energy was actively pressing against him, dragging at his movements. Before the battle had even begun, he could already feel the loss in speed. Above, the ancient, grotesque eye stared down at him without blinking. There was a chance, however small, that it belonged to Solvath himself, a realization that only deepened the sense of looming catastrophe.

A primordial star was awakening within his head… what hope did he truly have?

Atticus crushed the thought before it could grow, forcing his mind into stillness. This was not the time.

'I just have to reach the fragments.'

Everything else will come after.