QT: Against My Will-Chapter 576 - 8.93 - Broken Oath - Monster Heist

Just as the Ether’s claws closed on Linda, a sudden blur of motion came to her rescue. It was Henry.

With a swift, well-practiced move, he intercepted the attack with a thick metal shield.

· · ─────── · ⊱❈⊰· ─────── · ·

Two days later... 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Everyone retreat! Back to the ship, now!" Tia bellowed, her tone resonating with the urgency and severity of the situation.

Navigating through the narrow corridors, Henry took a deep breath and leaned his back next to Felicia’s room door. "Do you know where she is?" he asked in a whisper.

Felicia pressed her pointer against her lips in a silent gesture as she opened the door for him, "She is sleeping," she whispered, her eyes halting on Henry’s missing arm.

Henry’s tense features relaxed as he spotted Shina sleeping on the bed.

Her uniform showed signs of scorching, and she carried the distinct scent of sulfur, earth, and smoke. But despite these marks of battle, she appeared to be alive and unharmed.

Felicia opened the door once more, this time without the need for a knock, and ushered Liam and Juliet inside.

Soon after, the room was filled to capacity. Some of Shina’s teammates chose to sit on the ground by Shina’s bedside. Others opted to lay flat out on the floor, their fatigue evident as they found whatever space they could find to rest.

’If only one person could determine the course of a whole battle, then this society really deserved to go extinct,’ they thought about her words. In a way, she didn’t entirely determine the entire course of the battle, but she also kind of did.

No one had the faintest idea that Shina had brought back a spaceship, primarily because the culprit herself hadn’t bothered to even inform anyone of her return.

What the heck was a spaceship? In this world, they were accustomed to small planes and helicopters, but the concept of a vessel capable of traveling beyond the boundaries of their known world was utterly foreign to them.

However, the evidence discovered within the ship indicated that such possibilities were indeed attainable.

· · ─────── · ⊱❈⊰· ─────── · ·

"We’ve identified a potential escape route," a few Wraths communicated through a mind link to select soldiers. "Our focus now is to breach that second layer with this ship and carve out a pathway. Relay the message."

As the soldiers in the EMP area retreated inside the ship, mechanics and engineers frantically studied its intricate controls and manuals.

The language was eerily familiar, yet now was not the time for speculation. Hands flew across pages and screens, a race against time to unleash the ship’s hidden capabilities.

Once a thriving society of twenty million, they found themselves reduced to a mere fifty thousands in a shockingly short period of time. Their numbers continued to dwindle at an alarming rate.

Bombs and artillery were useless. The Ethers had a knack for nullifying and dissolving explosive materials and jamming mechanisms before they could inflict harm.

Leon’s sacrifice showed how much power he had to extend just to slow down Ethers’ advances.

· · ─────── · ⊱❈⊰· ─────── · ·

The orders to fall back and regroup fell on deaf ears on many alphas. Once proud and honorable soldiers from all ranks, had lost everything that tethered them to their former selves. In their place were figures consumed by a raw, unbridled fury.

"They took everything!" one alpha yelled, his voice cracking. "What’s left to hide for?"

"This ship is our last stand! We protect it, or we perish with honor!"

Their pain was too profound, too all-consuming to take cover or seek safety, driven by a relentless need to externalize their anguish through action, however destructive.

A soldier, standing tall and looking out towards the encroaching danger, shouted to his fellow defenders, "We will hold this ground to the last breath!" For their future!

Even some Wraths emerged from the relative safety of the ship to join their troops on the front lines. The were ready to buy more time for the key people to find a way out.

They lashed out with a frenzied violence, channeling their anguish and despair into a relentless assault on the beasts of the land and the very nature that surrounded them.

Not far away from the battlefield, the Ethers enveloped Nathaniel from all sides, their elemental magic merging into a pulsing net of energy that negated his icy assault, "They all must die without an exception! You swore your assistance with an oath!"

"I believe I’ve done plenty," Nathaniel retorted, staying further away from the main battlefield.

"Then give us Shina Night, at the very least," the Ethers demanded. "Fulfill some part of your broken vow and give us that one life!"

"I’d rather face the consequences of a broken oath. You saw it yourself, killing her isn’t as simple as snuffing out a candle."

Whispering an incantation under his breath, Nathaniel unleashed a spell of illusion that made the air ripple. In an instant, multiple copies of himself appeared across the battlefield.

A vortex of elemental magic began to form between his palms. Then, with a resonant boom that echoed across the forest, Nathaniel hurled the concentrated vortex straight at the barrier.

The impact was seismic, sending ripples of multi-elemental energy coursing through the Ethers and the magical wall.

As the dust settled, Nathaniel stood amidst the wreckage, his silhouette framed by the dissipating energies of his spell.

Then, another copy of Nathaniel raised his hands, this time with even more force. A new vortex formed, larger and more chaotic.

The nature was unable to restore itself before Nathaniel readied his next devastating strike.

· · ─────── · ⊱❈⊰· ─────── · ·

Amidst the rain-soaked battlefield, Victor’s rugged features were accentuated as he tried to shake off the Ethers that were worse than a sea of zombies, {"He is trying to break the barrier with brute force?"}

Nora, {It took Ethers centuries to get through ours. How many lifetimes do you think he’ll need to shatter theirs?}

Victor flew at a distance, {"He is the male lead. If he fails here, he should consider auditioning for a supporting role instead."}

Victor could easily tip the scales, unleash his power to change the course of the battle. Yet, he did the opposite. With a subtle flick of his wrist, he discreetly wove a secondary layer of magical interference around the already formidable Ether barrier.

Victor wanted to see if Nathaniel, as the supposed male lead, had the mettle to overcome this dire situation on his own.

Sweat trickled down Nathaniel’s forehead, mixing with the rain, as he pushed his magical energy to its threshold. His eyes darted across the battlefield, finally locking onto Victor’s distant figure.

He didn’t want to die yet. Not like this. Nathaniel’s determination was tinged with an awareness that survival meant more than just another day of existence—it meant there was an opportunity to witness an unfolding of a new Chapter.

For a moment, the world itself seemed to hold its breath. Then, much to Victor’s surprise, a tiny crack appeared in the second barrier, rapidly widening into a gap — the spaceship had crashed relentlessly against the enemy’s barrier.

In a symphony of destruction, the ship’s barrier gave way simultaneously. Unable to withstand the onslaught, it exploded into a myriad of light fragments, scattering like glass under a hammer’s blow.

"Damned fools!" Victor muttered angrily at whoever decision was to gamble their own protective measures. He had no choice but to join Nathaniel in breaking the second layer.

The ship’s barrier, having served its purpose, dissipated into the air, its energy spent, leaving behind a trail of luminescent particles that slowly faded away.

The moment the second barrier shattered, Nathaniel groaned as the air thickened around him, suffused with the energy of a collective curse being cast.

Ancient words of betrayal and accusations became woven into a spell, the incantation enveloping his body like a shroud.

Betrayer

Traitor

The curse settled over his body, causing him to stagger and finally begin to fall.

The weight of this world’s newfound hatred bore down on him, dragging him to his knees.

Nathaniel was this close from reaching his goal, yet he threw it all away. He was the one who had caused the breach of the first layer. He was meant to be the beacon that would guide this world through the darkness.

This society was supposed to fall. He meticulously planned to cause its collapse, yet the actions of a single woman had thrown it all into disarray. Now, the world consciousness wanted to cast him as the villain for siding with the ancient invaders.

It felt as if invisible chains were tightening around him, each link etched with the world’s disappointment.

A rift in space-time opened behind Nathaniel. Sergeant Rills materialized. With a swift motion, he grabbed Nathaniel and teleported them both to a safe location. The seargant had done the same with the rest of the soldiers that protected the spaceship on the outside.

╔═══ Author’s note ════╗

Heh. ∠( ᐛ 」∠)_

I hope you liked the little twist.

Lu Kai’s decision to annihilate an entire population without a flicker of remorse wasn’t out of revenge or anything like that. He just decided to play the hero for the opposite side.

It’s impossible to track Nathaniel’s kill count because he never does the dirty work. His attempts to kill Silvia/Shina were the only exceptions because the usual attempts didn’t work. 😁

Lu Kai’s inspiration for creating Frosty were actually Dai An, Ting Zi, and Xue Bi — Bing Shi’s past lives. (~‾▽‾)~

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