Chapter 424: I Liked What I Saw
The moment Lyrate brought her hands together, the ground under Ragnar’s feet rumbled like a living thing. With a sharp crack, two enormous black roots burst out of the stone.
They slithered around his legs in an instant, then coiled higher, wrapping tight around his torso. Before Ragnar could react, the roots bound his arms as well, forcing them against his chest like chains made of living wood.
Ragnar let out a deafening roar that shook the mountain, his chest swelling as his muscles bulged against the black bindings. The ground quivered from his struggle, but the roots only tightened, pulsing as if alive.
Lyrate didn’t give him a moment to breathe. Her body blurred forward in a flash. One moment she was standing in front of him, the next she was right behind Ragnar. Her sword gleamed black, and with a clean, sharp motion, she slashed across his broad back.
The cut was deep. A wide wound opened, dark mist spilling as Ragnar grunted in pain. His glowing red eyes narrowed, teeth gritted, fury blazing through them.
But Ragnar wasn’t done. Essence churned violently around his body, thick and heavy like a storm about to break. With a guttural roar, a crushing wave of repulsion exploded out of him.
BOOM!
The shockwave blasted the roots apart, splintering them into fragments that scattered across the ground. The same force slammed into Lyrate, sending her flying backward through the air.
Ragnar bent his knees, muscles coiling like springs. Then, with a thunderous crack, he launched himself into the air, flying straight toward her. His right fist clenched so tight it shook, Essence condensing into the blow.
As he punched forward, the air itself compressed. A deafening sonic boom split the sky as a cone of force tore through the air, racing toward Lyrate like an invisible spear.
But Lyrate was ready. Her body began to blur, her form breaking apart into a drifting mist. She started to scatter out of harm’s way, yet the blast clipped her shoulder mid-disperse.
Her body jolted, the mist shuddering as if it were flesh, and she froze in place for just an instant.
That instant was all Ragnar needed.
He closed the distance in a heartbeat, towering over her as his massive bone club whistled down toward her head with lethal force.
Lyrate’s eyes glinted. She scoffed under her breath, the mist around her swirling violently. Her sword suddenly warped, stretching, thickening, until it became a greatsword almost as long as her body. She raised it with both hands and swung upward to meet the crushing strike.
The bone club and greatsword collided.
BOOM!
The explosion of force ripped the air apart. The mountain itself seemed to groan as a shockwave ripped across the peaks, sending chunks of rock tumbling down the cliffs. The clash hurled both of them backward, their bodies like cannonballs blasting through the air.
Even while flying back, Lyrate didn’t waste a second. She extended one hand toward Ragnar.
The earth answered her call.
The ground below them split open with a violent roar as jagged black spikes, each almost three meters long, thrust out like the teeth of some giant beast. Then, with a sharp crack, the spikes tore free and launched upward, dozens at first, then hundreds, all streaking like missiles toward Ragnar.
Ragnar’s face twisted into a growl. His glowing eyes narrowed, and he closed them for just a breath. His fur rippled like waves, strands lifting as if caught in a storm. A translucent sphere spun into existence around his body, shimmering with layered ripples of power.
The first spike slammed into the barrier. It didn’t pierce. Instead, the moment it touched, it was flung away with violent force, spinning back in the opposite direction.
Then came another. And another.
Ten. Twenty. A hundred.
Each spike that reached him was thrown away with crushing repulsion, shattered into fragments as they were hurled back.
The barrier seemed to grow stronger with each strike, the spinning sphere vibrating with power as it consumed the pressure and turned it outward again. The mountain floor cracked and splintered from the force, stone slabs ripping apart as though struck by hammers.
By the time the last of the spikes shattered away, the battlefield had become a mess of broken stone and scattered debris.
Ragnar and Lyrate finally came to a halt, hovering in the air, some distance apart. Their eyes locked. Both of their eyes glowed red, brighter than before, almost burning.
The mist around their bodies pulsed outward, and their auras shot up like raging storms, crashing against each other and tearing at the air.
I stepped forward. In an instant, I appeared between them, forcing their clash of pressure apart with my presence.
"Alright," I said firmly. "You can stop. I saw what I needed to see."
Ragnar let out a low growl, his chest rising and falling like he wasn’t ready to stop yet.
Lyrate tilted her head slightly, her expression calm but sharp. "I was just getting started," she remarked.
I gave a small shrug. "Maybe. But this ends now. We have work to do, and neither of you will be useful if you keep tearing each other apart. Go and rest."
Before either of them could respond, I released my will. The crimson mist surrounding them surged violently, wrapping their bodies like living chains. In the next heartbeat, they vanished, forcefully pulled back into the core.
Silence followed.
I let out a long breath, my shoulders relaxing as I finally looked around me.
The battlefield was a wreck. At least three mountain peaks had been obliterated, nothing left but shattered stone scattered across the valley. The ground was cratered everywhere, pitted with deep scars from Lyrate’s black spikes. Broken rocks floated in the lingering aura, dust still hanging in the air.
"Mess," I muttered under my breath. "A complete mess."
Still, it was what I wanted. I had seen enough of their power, their limits, and their instincts. That was enough for now.
I straightened and turned my gaze toward the horizon. "Anyway," I whispered to myself, "I need to report this... and take this abomination away."
With that thought, I took off, my body slicing through the air as I flew toward the prison base.
The three soldiers were still stationed there, looking uneasy the moment I landed. Their eyes darted to me, then to the direction I came from, as if they could feel the lingering destruction behind me. I told them directly about the ape.
They exchanged nervous glances, shifting on their feet. One of them opened his mouth to object, but his voice faltered under my stare. Still, hesitation hung in the air.
I sighed and pulled out my communicator, contacting Cassian. It took only a few words to explain, and his response came clear and firm: permission granted.
I closed the line and turned back to the soldiers. "It’s cleared," I said simply.
Their tension broke, and they nodded quickly, stepping aside.
Without wasting another second, I took the portal. My destination was set. The capital. The headquarters. I needed another abomination zone.