King Of Limbo

Lady Rose and Aron watched the explosions occur in silence before the shockwaves generated from it passed by the ship, blocked only by the barrier so the ship didn't tilt in the slightest.

In the next moment Lady Rose performed another gesture with her other hand and the serpent suddenly shot up near the eastern area of the Komi Islands.

The gesture was to recall her scouter but even if she didn't do so, the large blast of heat alone was enough to attract the attention of the serpent and cause it to emerge.

*Hisssss!*

The timing between the two events made those who witnessed it immediately assume this was the serpents doing. High tier mages were rare after all and each blast would need to have one behind it, the only plausible explanation was that it was this unknown creature that did this.

Soon the members of the Sovereign rushed out onto the deck to see the situation. Although the ship was tilted, the sheer sound of the blast still had many of member's ears ringing.

"What the-" Jin walked onto the deck but even he couldn't believe the sight before him, the large mushroom clouds dissipated towards the sky while shrouding much of the devastation they had caused.

"My clan!" Jagu yelled and looked towards his clan's region only to see the part of it shrouded in smoke, he only calmed down slightly after seeing that the settlement he and the others had visited was further away from the blast region.

Though the shockwaves alone had to have caused damages while the debris that was chunked may have even taken lives.

What's worse the serpent appeared and began making it's way towards these inland regions. Even thought the blast was over some fires had began and the heat from the explosion was still apparent meaning the serpent was attracted.

"That thing can't be stopped... we should report back to the academy or at least wait for reinforcements." Xavier voiced while looking at scene in disbelief.

They too thought the explosions were linked to the serpent so fear towards it began to grow, however what Aron and Lady Rose saw were entirely different.

What they saw now was an opportunity, the blast and shockwaves must have left many clan's in a state of panic and unrest, which meant they were in no capacity to fight the serpent especially after thinking it displayed such a terrifying attack.

"No, that attack has left it low on mana so now is actually the best time to attack. The mana fluctuations surrounding its body have even lessened." Lady Rose explained clearly and eased the worries of many of the members with her twisting of the truth.

The serpent's mana fluctuations had indeed lessened but this was due to the sudden rise in temperature in the region. Since the air had become warmer it no longer needed to coat itself in mana for warmth.

Lady Rose didn't know this was its trait, rather she simply observed that the fluctuations around it had lessened and then incorporated that part into her vague yet satisfactory explanation which would prove to be true because the explosions would not occur again.

"The search team..." Riya muttered as she stood at the far back of the deck alongside the other lower rank members.

"It's very likely they got caught up in the blast, if not that then shockwaves alone must've decimated them." Aron let a sigh and commented causing the others to also show varying expressions, some grief as they had friends among them while others fear that they might be next.

The groundwork had been laid for Aron, now was the time to play his part accordingly. "We can't allow this chance to go by and our members deaths to have been meaningless, that creature needs to be stopped even it means going against the Komi Islands." Said Aron with complete seriousness in his voice.

"What's the plan?" Jin crossed his arms and asked the question on everyone's minds, just how were they going to take down such a beast of a creature.

....

Meanwhile much further away from the Islands, Sayiva stood on the deck of her airship and observed the disastrous scene occurring.

"What is happening? Is that creature really capable of that level of destruction?" She muttered to herself with clear dissatisfaction on her face.

[ If so then it would be problematic to encounter it again. Hopefully those pests can get rid of it for us ]

[ Isn't it more troublesome to face an enemy capable of taking down that creature ]

[ Maybe we should abandon our ambition, this world has clearly evolved and breed some strong individuals ]

"No! This world belongs to us, that person earlier comes from limbo so as long as he returns with that damned partner of his we won't encounter any issues! Everything will be as it was... it has to be..." Sayiva hugged her own shoulders so tightly that her nails dig into her flesh and drew blood but she showed no pained expression, she instead looked more determined than before.

....

The crew of the La Belle also witnessed the huge explosions and had similar thoughts on the matter, that the creature was an absolute monster.

"We should retreat or at least wait for reinforcements." Sharla suggested out loud and Lucas immediately agreed. No matter how good he was becoming he knew for a fact it would be suicide to fight that creature.

It's size alone rivaled mountains so what could a swing of his sword possibly do? Worse off unlike Sharla and Juliet he didn't know any powerful techniques nor was he adept in any form of magic yet despite having the talent.

Juliet only observed and made no comment, she had her own thoughts on the matter. She didn't believe it was an attack from the creature but something else, perhaps maybe the after math of discovering a ruin.

No matter how good her deduction skills, the only proof to link Aron or Lady Rose to matter had been completely destroyed in the blasts. She could only assume he discovered something and it lead to this.

'Just what is going on.' She thought before something in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

She looked in the far distance and saw that the Sovereign was raising it's altitude while heading inland.

"We're going inland. Scarlett, slowly follow Lady Rose's airship. They must have a plan." Juliet instructed and kept her thoughts on the matter simple...at least on the surface.

...

While the airships began to make their own moves, the Komi of the Komi Islands were dealing with what could only be described as the greatest disaster to ever befall their people.

Numerous settlements along with thousands of Komi from varying tribes all vanished in an instant without warning.

The weaker clan's sought refuge from much larger clan's but it wasn't any better with them. They too suffered many losses, be it resources, lives or food.

Personal greed and hatred could only be put aside now as they tried to all rally together and defeat that creature.

However this was easier said that done, many warriors and fighters were either killed or injured and those who did live also lost people important to them.

For some this absolutely crushed their spirit and left them unable to fight. Others refused to believe and foolishly rushed towards the sight of the explosions, clinging to an invisible string of hope that they may be alive.

It was this disorganization that left the leaders unable to properly rally their own forces, especially since time was against them.

This was true for all clan's except the Crown Rigars whose discipline and sense of duty surpassed their grief.

Yugar who hadn't even fully recovered from the previous battle still lead another group of fighters towards the creature. The goal this time was to try to by time for as many of their people to evacuate completely from the Komi Islands.

Although this pained him he had no choice, from his perspective they were only delaying the inevitable. Without proper cooperation among the clan's it was impossible to stop this creature. The least he could do is give his life so the next generation can survive and continue the Crown Rigar legacy.

However before he and his men even reached the serpent they saw the Sovereign going towards it.

Standing atop it's deck was a single figure who looked ready to take on the creature which was simply madness.

This figure was Aron who was ready to begin carrying out his part of the plan. As he looked at the serpent his aura grew heavy and he began to walk forward until he stood on the ledge of the deck.

He took a deep breath and then without hesitation he jumped from the airship with such great force that it propelled him forward several hundred meters towards the serpent while letting his wild aura go free, which in this case was an enormous amount of mana fluctuations.

The serpent couldn't help but turn in his direction and open it's mouth ready to attack. In that moment however he took out his arcane gun and fired a compressed shot towards it's gigantic mouth.

*boom!*

The impact caught the snake off guard and forced it's head to move slightly up. Aron used this chance to land an attack right below it's jaw with all the strength he could muster.

*crack!*

The sound of bones creaking resounded from both Aron and the creature. The force from his fist made the serpent's entire body jerk back while the recoil sent Aron flying to the ground with an equal amount of force.

He gritted his teeth as the many bones he broke in that moment quickly began to repair themselves. 'In the end you're not invincible...' He thought while looking up at the serpent who had already recovered from his attack and was now keenly staring at him.