New World - A New Beginning

MIA STIL'S POV:

BOOM

Our attacks came into contact with Ares, a massive detonation shaking the entirety of the area as soldiers flinched from the sudden spike in bind. I waited alongside Asthia, both of us unsure of whether or not our attack had inflicted any kind of damage onto our target.

"!!"

I suddenly dropped to one knee as Asthia swayed, attempting to keep her balance. Ares emerged from the smoke created by the explosion, my eyes widening as I realized he was the source of this ridiculous pressure.

"To think I'd have to go all-out on my first fight," he said, his eyes brimming with excitement. I watched as his orange eyes darkened, bind raging inside of them uncontrollably.

My eyes were drawn upwards, a small glint shining in the sky as Ares crossed his arms in concentration.

"World Eradication," he said, his stance unchanging. The man's long coat fluttered from the swirl of bind around him, the earth trembling as if it knew the atrocity that was about to befall the land.

An ability that required an S-rank to use an oral trigger? I let out a small gasp as I realized the shining spot in the sky was growing bigger, a rock beginning to appear in my vision. A spell that could annihilate armies... I had heard about it during class.

It was an ability that could only be used once if one wanted to preserve their own physical safety, but one cast was all you needed this far into a fight. Using it at the beginning only spelled disaster for the caster, but both I and the rest of the Dragons were already exhausted.

I launched myself at Asthia, tackling the girl as I concentrated all my remaining power around us. Ice surrounded us, my eyes closed as I created layer upon layer of protection.

"Mia! We have to fight-" struggled Asthia before closing her eyes. I gritted my teeth, removing my hand from the back of her head. By simply overloading the brain of an individual with neutral bind, you could create a state similar to that of sleep, where the person would eventually wake up once all the excess bind had been filtered out by their body.

I gasped, realizing I was out of energy.

"I'm sorry, Asthia," I muttered. "You must live."

Even if the Dragon Princess didn't value her own life over those of her soldiers, I was certain that her army didn't share those feelings. Asthia's survival was key to the morale of the Dragons, and every single soldier on the battlefield understood what fate awaited them.

I clutched my friend in my arms, heat swirling around us as the comet came crashing down onto the battlefield.

BOOOOOMMM

Wails of despair echoed in my ears, the image of blood spilling out everywhere flooding my mind. I could imagine the look of horror in the eyes of every single Dragon soldier, all of them completely unprepared for the large-scale attack.

The power to wipe out an army with ease...

S-ranks were terrifying beings. Were all five of the ones currently in existence to band together, they would easily be able to take over the world, slaughtering anyone in their path.

I felt my layers of ice shattering as the shockwave from the spell reached our position, my mind keeping count of the number of walls remaining.

3... 2... 1...

The final protective level collapsed as my body was met with the force of the attack; shards of rock and rubble smashing into my back as I attempted to shield Asthia. Pain numbed my entire body as I gasped in shock.

Tears squeezed out of my eyes as I realized one of my arms was no longer attached to my shoulders, the entire limb shredded into a puddle of velvet blood.

"Aaaahh!" I cried, trying to stay conscious. Maybe knocking out Asthia wasn't the best of ideas...

Silence suddenly overtook the scene, dust stinging my eyes as I struggled to stand up.

"C-come on," I muttered, the pain so excruciating I could barely formulate words. I grabbed Asthia with my remaining arm, slouching her arm over my shoulder as I attempted to carry both our weights together.

Whether or not World Eradication also decimated the Dwarven army was unknown to me, but finding out was the last of my priorities. Asthia's body seemed to be relatively untouched from the blast, a massive weight releasing from my heart. If we could make it out of this alive, then there was hope.

Ares Hearth wouldn't be able to fight for maybe around a week, meaning that if the Dwarven army did storm Lares, there was a good chance we'd be able to repel the attack or at least create a stalemate.

I winced as I toppled over, an unknown object blocking my foot from moving. I regained my balance, once again heaving the dragon girl over my shoulders as my eyes identified the object.

My eyes shook uncontrollably as a body came into view, the dust slowly clearing like an illuminated path as corpse after corpse appeared before me. Dwarves, Dragons, it didn't matter what race they were, all of them motionless on the ground as blood covered the entirety of the field.

"I'm so sorry," I muttered, tears streaming down my face. "I had to make a choice..."

Dozens of families had been torn apart by one single decision, the choice of saving one life over hundreds of soldiers sitting on my shoulders like an unliftable burden.

A silhouette appeared in the dust, a battered and bloody Dragon survivor coming into view. He chuckled as he saw us, his eyes glistening with happiness, his mouth opening slightly in an attempt to communicate.

"The Princess survived..." he whispered, the words barely reaching me as he finally allowed himself to pass into death. The sound of marching snapped me back into reality, my body surging with newfound strength.

The enemy was still out there. If we were to be found, we would either be killed on the spot or taken prisoner... either one spelling defeat for the Dragons.

Ares had decided to sacrifice a portion of his army in an attempt to defeat the Dragon Princess, and I had chosen to prioritize Asthia's life over the entirety of the Dragon forces. Were these the right calls? Had we made the right decisions?

Giant trees enshrouded us from view as we entered the lush green forest, my legs beginning to tremble from a lack of strength. My mind thought back to the terrifying spell, realizing just how ridiculous I was. I had believed that Asthia and I had the upper hand in the fight against Ares, but we had completely underestimated the fire power of an S-rank.

"Come on, Mia," I muttered to myself, attempting to stay awake, "just a bit more."