"The capital... I can see it, I guess..."
Suddenly, Jojo pointed north, squinting her eyes behind the endless dunes... seeing a tiny pyramid over the horizon... Although it was nighttime, the structure still appeared as a dark entity, consuming all light in its vicinity.
Nurah swiftly brought out a pair of night goggles with enhanced zooming capabilities... although they were Daywalkers, who relied mostly on their powers, it didn’t mean that they had no access to technological tools.
If it weren’t for the dimensional membrane being fractured, which messed up everything on the planet, they would have taken a Handheld Transceiver (walkie-talkie) with them.
Unfortunately, if not even the dimensional network was accessible, how could radio waves survive the fracture?
"She’s right, I can see the Great Pyramid of Dawn."
Nurah confirmed while gazing at a giant corrupted pyramid behind a green backdrop of the goggles.
"How about the time?" Levi inquired, "Can you tell from the sky?"
"Not really... There is no moon to use as a reference." Shia shook her head.
"How about the ring?" Arthur wondered as he glanced at his brother, "Can we use it as a reference?"
"It’s possible to a limited extent, but we don’t have information about the planet’s axial tilt and the season... and such vital information that can help with getting a somewhat accurate reading," Levi replied. "Still, tell me... which side is brighter? We may not be able to predict the exact position of the sun, but we can at least figure out its general direction."
Levi had read a book about the movement of the stars and planets, as he was always fascinated by space, just like any person with the desire to uncover the truths of the universe.
In the book, there was a detailed explanation of how planets with rings always appear along the same line in the sky... roughly east to west, which was a reflection of the planet’s equator.
"The western side is slightly brighter," Shia shared her findings, and the others supported her claim.
"Hmm... this means the planet spins retrograde," Levi said.
"Retro what?" Arthur scratched his head.
"The planet spins in the opposite direction from our planet... which means the sun rises from the west, and that’s where our attention should be focused," Levi shared. "We must stay together, so the moment we notice signs of the plague resurfacing, we leave."
Once everyone nodded in understanding, Levi summoned Vyra and helped his brother get behind him on top of his Nightmount... the girls had their own flying Nightmounts.
Even Jasmine summoned a giant black crow with white feathered tails, which appeared quite magnificent and deadly... then, they took off rapidly in the direction of the capital.
***
Meanwhile, the Ashenra city lay in ruins, its streets buried beneath small dunes of yellow dust and scattered shards of fallen obelisks. The Great Pyramid of Dawn was the only structure still standing... corrupted, yet unyielding... like the final remnant of an empire refusing to be erased by time.
The dormant Ashenra’s streets were awakened for the first time after eons of inactivity with deafening explosions, screeches, and exploding lights flashing once in a while on a single wide street aligned with ruined corrupted buildings.
Kreeeeee!!!
An ear-piercing bird screech echoed across the distance, belonging to the silhouette of a massive corrupted black-feathered phoenix, its wings stretching wide enough to blot out the stars!
It was so massive, it made the Corrupted in the temple resemble fun-sized pieces of candy compared to the real thing.
"MOVE! MOVE!"
Tyrese shouted, his voice booming through the cracked streets as he sprinted ahead, his armored muscular body crushing through building walls, dunes, or anything that was blocking his team’s path!
He was like an armored demolish vehicle charging through the city, opening up new paths for everyone behind him.
To his right side, Evangeline’s team ran through a parallel street, their faces pale as the ground trembled under the sea of Corrupted chasing after them.
The giant phoenix in the sky wasn’t the only one hunting after them... it was like the entire city was awakened, as thousands of Corrupted swarmed from temples and windows, flying, crawling, and shrieking as they closed in from all directions... the armies were mixed between beasts, guardians, priests, soldiers, citizens, and more.
If only four words could be used to describe them, it would definitely be... the Wrath of Ashora!
"Damn it, Tyrese!" Evangeline yelled, flipping over a fallen pillar before landing beside him. "You happy now?! Did you have to be so damn loud?!"
"How the f*ck can I know that a Leviathan-class corrupted Phoenix has been lying dormant under the city?!"
Tyrese snapped back, slamming his fists into a wall and sending a shockwave that collapsed the street behind them, burying a cluster of Corrupted that were planning to corner them.
"You ruined everything! Now, how are we supposed to survive this?! We can’t fight without going all out, and we can’t run from a damn flying Leviathan!"
Evangeline shot back while slicing apart tens of Corrupted with her shimmering white sword, her slices leaving behind aftermaths of the Corrupted’s sinful life... when it came to the Justice Aspect, its attacks were extremely effective against any beings related to the Shadow dimension.
After all, her powers were linked to erecting justice, and most of those entities had no such concept to lead their decisions, which left them vulnerable to her attacks.
"You’re the one who said, ’Let’s go deeper; maybe we’ll find the treasures in the pyramid.’ Now look where we are!" Tyrese cursed. "Damned Corrupted... they are everywhere."
"Yes! Let’s go deeper while maintaining our camouflage! Who told you to break apart the pyramid’s gate?!"
Evangeline narrowed her eyes coldly as she charged in the direction of a team of Corrupted made out of humanoid Phoenix, wearing torn-out armor pieces and holding brittle spears... some were holding just the hilt of the spear, and yet, they wielded them like they were the most powerful weapons in the empire.
"Wave Formation," Evangeline ordered as she ran two fingers on her smooth silver blade, causing it to start shimmering with white light.
Her teammates also wielded swords, but each one with a different taste to it... some were fully blue and emitting a chilling air, another was green and emitted a green poisonous hue.
As the team captain, she accepted only sword-wielders... however, since her lineage and agency had plenty of sword wielders, finding them wasn’t much of a problem as many fought to great lengths to join her team.
Following her order, the knightly armored teammates took their positions in a single vertical line... then, they swung out gleaming elemental arcs in multiple colors at the same time, creating a giant multi-elemental arc!
Sliiice!!
In one swing, the tens of Corrupted soldiers in front of them were sliced from the torso... front to back, dropping on the ground without a tint of life in their eyes.
They made sure to target the abdomen, where the shadowlife seeds resided. It was common knowledge that these seeds became vital points in the body... just like the brain or the heart. Once severed, unless one could swiftly reunite the seed with the body, everything would collapse, like a heartless corpse.
Hence, one of the first lessons Daywalkers learned was to protect their abdomen area as strictly as their hearts and heads.
"Left!!" Tyrese suddenly shouted, pointing toward a broken fountain ahead connected to two streets. "We can split the swarm there!"
Evangeline clenched her jaw, knowing that splitting wasn’t the wisest decision to make at the moment... but they were out of options.
It was better for one unlucky team to get chased up by the Leviathan Phoenix and half of the swarm than both teams being in this hellish situation together. At least, if a team found themselves in a dead end, they could retreat inside the dimensional gate, returning to Earth, while the other team would be left with a chance to find the Sun Amulet and the treasures.
However, just as Evangeline was to commit to the plan, her eyes picked up on a couple of black dots in the sky fast approaching from the front.
’This... is it?’
She squinted in focus, and the moment she noticed their silhouettes were different from the Corrupted, a spark of hope was ignited in her heart.
"Don’t split! Levi’s team is approaching!" she shouted at Tyrese’s team.
Hearing what she said, Tyrese, Mira, Blake, and the others lifted their heads and noticed them as well... their expressions turning bright almost instantly.
"Haha! I never thought I would be this happy to see ponytail!" Tyrese laughed in delight, understanding that Levi’s team could give them a chance to summon their Nightmounts at last.
Since half a minute was a must to summon their nightmounts, they couldn’t pull it off while the corrupted flooded the streets like a living tide of darkness.
Unbeknownst to them... Levi and his friends were not on the same page about saving them.