Rivers of the Night

Chapter 859: Anomaly (2)

Theron stood in silence, not responding immediately.

What exactly was he doing wrong just moments ago?

If it were the person that had attacked with Kenton or Bamby, he might have still been a bit confused about their intentions, as he still had no idea what their purpose was, but even then, he would still understand it better.

But he didn’t know who this person was, what their affiliations were. They didn’t even quite feel human, their ears sticking out sharper than any human Theron had ever seen. There was also something off about their aura and the spear they wielded.

The aura didn’t feel familiar in a sense of Race or species, and the spear… it was made of materials that even Theron’s eyes couldn’t decipher, as though it came from a land he knew nothing about.

And yet, this person he didn’t know, from a land he didn’t understand, was attacking him all the same.

Why?

Even if it was about Ayame now, it hadn’t been about Ayame before. She had attacked before even realizing that Ayame was there; her reaction just now made that all too obvious.

So why?

Why were people like this?

Men, women, human, and apparently not human.

Was it the same everywhere? Was it truly the same no matter where you went? You couldn’t escape this utter nonsense anywhere?

The air around Theron fluctuated, but the woman reacted first. The spear was already in front of Theron’s nose before he could even take a step, his senses still lagging so much he didn’t understand until after the wind hit his face.

But his reaction speed was devastating.

Theron ducked his head to one side, feeling the spear barely miss over his collarbone and shoulder as he kicked.

He heard the air in the woman’s lungs expel all at once, her body curving away from him in a ‘U’ that cracked her ribcage.

From a third-party perspective, it looked like all the Mana in the atmosphere bent toward Theron’s leg as though a great amount of gravity was pulling it in. Even the woman’s white lightning bent away from her, falling just shy of being completely stripped and being used against her.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

She left large trenches in her wake. Even when she flipped back up to her feet, holding onto her stomach with a hand, her heels kicked up large rocks and debris that jetted off into the distance.

Just when she felt she had suppressed the power, she coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling to a knee. One of her eyes closed as she looked up at Theron, a small flicker of fear appearing in her eyes before it was overwhelmed by a seething fury.

How could she have suffered so much from a single blow?

“You…”

Her eyes landed on the large amounts of Mana swirling around Theron. She found that when she tried to find and define the limits, it practically extended to infinity, but there was a pale look on Theron’s face.

What was going on? When you gained control of Mana in this place, you only got one sort.

Her Lightning Mana was an example, though it was different from how it usually was in the outside world. It was white here, whereas her usual Lightning was blue.

Theron didn’t seem to have used any one particular Mana, though. And some Mana in this place was far more restricted than others.

It was easier to get Lightning Mana, for example, because it was abundant in the skies. Wind Mana was also exceptionally easy to get.

But Water Mana was rare, except on the rare occasions the thunderclouds above actually rained.

Dark Mana, though, was quite abundant, whereas Light Mana was near non-existent.

The easiest Mana to get, though, was Space Mana. It was everywhere, and it was said that every powerful Space Mancer in existence would have to come here if they wanted to reach their truest potential. Only here could the true power of Space Mana manifest itself.

It was speculated that the same was true of Time Mana.

But what was this?

“…So it’s true…” she said softly.

She hadn’t been in the city when Theron’s name appeared. She had sensed the huge commotion of someone comprehending the Heaven’s Gate and thus acted.

Comprehending Heaven’s Gate was the bare minimum requirement to climb the Mountain of Heaven, but that didn’t mean all comprehensions were created equal.

What the woman didn’t know was what Theron’s current ranking was. If she had known, she would have never attacked herself. What good was the attempt to eliminate competition if she was just going to end up dead?

Luckily for her, though…

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

A cascade of powerhouses appeared in the distance, having finally closed the gap between Theron’s location and the city.

They stood in the skies, and this sight alone almost made the woman pass out. The ability to fly was a demarcating line in the Heaven’s Gate, so much so that the main division was between those that couldn’t—about 95%—and those that could.

Anyone who could fly was almost certainly able to put their name on the monument, and they had all appeared here at once.

This meant that Theron’s name was almost certainly on the monument as well, but deeper than that, for so many of them to appear at once, it could only mean one thing…

‘At least top 100.’

The woman trembled, but all at once, every one of them, just like her, had their eyes land on Ayame.

Ozen was among the first to arrive. His flight ability was second to none in the current Heaven’s Gate. But he wasn’t the first to speak. That was instead a young man with fiery red hair, currently ranked 167th.

“What the hell is this? I knew that fucking ranking was broken. A complete anomaly is in here. Die!”

A spear of spiraling flames appeared in his hands and, with a stomp, he threw it with a might that split space apart.