The Rise Of Calamity

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Ronny roared in agony and dread as he watched an arm pierce right through his brother before ripping out the heart and crushing it within its palm.

Without a second to waste, it seemed like every fire particle in the area resonated with the anger that Ronny was feeling at this current moment.

His power had started to surge while the mana fluctuations were even more powerful than his brother's.

His hair had started to become dyed in the color of his flames while the mana, which once was an almost colorless fluctuation had now turned into a vibrant fiery orange.

Even the color of his eyes had turned into the same vibrant orange that shone like miniature suns.

All his pores had erupted out with his flames that burnt through everything.

"YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" His voice shot out in every direction with enough power to shake the skies.

It was a power beyond his imagination and even something that had caused the man to widen his eyes.

Without thinking twice, the man had thrust both his hands forwards before allowing a dark reddish-purple aura to seep out of his skin and cover Ronny in it.

The aura slowly began to morph into the shape of a cacoon and had left him in there just long enough for the man to create another portal before grabbing Ronny's brother and jumping into it.

Right before he jumped into it, however, he had taken a glance in the distance, a glance that made eye contact with a teenage boy in the distance.

The same boy that had watched everything unfold in front of his eyes, like a spirit spectating the mortal world.

The last thing he could think of were the words 'Oh my god' before finally being thrown into the darkness where he would finally fall into a deep slumber.

***

On the outside, Lea and Jacob had both awoken with unsettled expressions on their faces.

It was as if they could not imagine what they had seen, yet all they did was look at each other and not ask anything about what the other had seen.

However, after a few moments of this, they finally looked over at Ronny who was also standing there motionless, yet unlike them who were awake, he was standing there with cloudy eyes.

"What do you think he is seeing?" Lea asked

"I have no idea, but I hope it is not worse than the things I had to see... or should I say, remember," Jacob replied, his body language and expressions showing how unsettled he was by what he had seen.

"You think you had it bad? I had to watch my mother abandon me over and over again. You have no idea how painful that was. I was in there for weeks and I barely got out when I..." Lea paused while shame changed her facial expression to a grimacing one.

"When you?" Jacob asked, but he made sure to not sound commanding as to so not to make her feel forced to tell him anything she did not feel comfortable telling him.

"When I was thrown into the memory of whatever it was. I was given all my current abilities and a little more. I felt so much power in the palm of my hands and when I saw my mother once again, I lashed out at her and killed her over and over again. Eventually, I had stopped but whenever she would tell me about how she would be leaving for a bit and saying that she would return shortly, I would just stab her through the heart before repeating the process over and over again" Tears had begun to come out of her eyes while the memory of how her mother left her flashed within her tears.

"It's okay... Its okay" Jacob pulled her in and began to caress her hair while whispering the same words in her ears again and again in hopes to comfort her.

When she had stopped crying, she found herself burying her face into the middle of Jacob's chest, yet even though she had turned red in embarrassment, she did not want to move away from his broad chest.

'It's so warm' she thought while hugging him closer and tighter than before.

It was as if his chest was covering her in a blanket of warmth that she had not felt in a long time.

*Boom*

After a few minutes had passed and a loud explosion caused them both to snap out of their wild fantasies before looking toward the area the sound had come from.

The searing heat was carried along by the winds that crashed into them and around them.

"What's happening!" Lea shouted over the sound of the winds blowing onto their clothes and scorching the ground at the center of the explosion.

"Isn't that where Ronny was standing?" Jacob asked, causing both their hearts to immediately drop.

However, their worries were for naught as in the next second, they finally saw Ronny, even though he looked a little different.

Floating in the air was Ronny, yet instead of looking like a teenager, he looked more like an adult now with broad shoulders, a chiseled jawline sharp enough to cut the fabric of space itself,

While his arms were slightly skinny and even fragile before due to him mostly being a scout or assassin that would not get into a fight where he could not kill something in one shot, now his entire body had become lean.

It was to the point where with clothes on, no one would be capable of distinguishing an above-average muscle build yet with his clothes having been burnt to a crisp, his muscles were visible for anyone to see.

Even Jacob, who was more of a close combat fighter who relied on battle intent and his bodily strength to fight, felt envious of the muscles that Ronny now had for reasons none of them knew.

When Ronny finally landed on the ground, he could only look up at both of them with an aloof expression before raising a brow and asking...

"Did you guys get shorter?"

***

Outside of the temple, I found myself sitting with both Croloe and Laila who had been sitting on the ground for the last 45 minutes eating.

"Lilith, please! It's not like anyone has entered the temple before us! You said it yourself, you can't feel anyone inside but you can still feel the rewards within and the thing in the middle of the temple, right? That means that we will be fine and can take a break while recovering our stamina. We don't even know if we will be able to rest inside so this is the best thing we can do" Laila said, pausing now and then to shove a spoonful of rice into her gob before shutting it and chewing.

"Don't speak with food in your mouth" I retorted, yet I did not look back at the two of them as I was looking through everything within the temple, scanning all the items within and trying to figure out what they were from their mana signatures alone.

It was only then that my eyes perceived a weak mana fluctuation that had barely gotten past the thick walls that were made to stop any mana from leaving.

'Fire... Fire affinity... And it's strong!' I thought while my eyes darted towards the area, allowing me to perceive a very faint silhouette of a man that I could only guess to have been around 6 feet.

'His mana is growing!'

"We have to move" I looked around and looked back at them dead in the eyes.

"Heh? What do you mean we have to go? Didn't you hear any of what I had sai-"

"There's someone inside. They aren't too strong but if we waste any more time they will get to the treasure before us." I cut her off, yet she still did not look too worried. On the contrary, she was looking at me as if she was unconvinced by something I said, making me look towards Croloe for confirmation just to see him looking at me with the same expression.

"You know what? I am done taking your shit. I'm going in on my own" I showed them both my middle fingers before launching myself towards the large gates of the temple without thinking twice.

*thud*

Feeling a presence to my right, I saw that the large lion was running alongside me causing me to raise a brow in confusion, yet instead of complaining or making a witty remark about something stupid like I usually would have done, I simply shrugged and accepted that he was coming with me.

"Scar? SCAR!? Where are you going?!" Croloe shouted but his words landed on deaf ears as we had already entered the temple and closed the gates behind us.

"Does he usually do that?" Laila asked, perplexed by what just happened.

"We are moving in!" Croloe shouted and launched himself towards the gates as well with eyes that seemed ready to smash my head in when they see me.

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If you liked this, check out my other novel

Immortality System: The Rise Of The Last Human

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