Hearing that, a fresh wave of icy dread trickled down everyone's spine. No one had a shred of defiance or courage in their faces, only shock and fear.
At this point, they all knew who this man was, and the understanding shared in the unbearable silence was telling.
Because they all also knew that they were all going to die.
"Ugh…"
The escort let out a silent groan as he struggled to his feet. In the stillness of everyone and everything, he limped forward, clutching his broken shoulder. His blood dripped in dark trails, his body was covered in scars, and molten dust still sizzled around him— weaker this time.
"Decterion," he called the name of the darkly figure with a dreaded whisper.
The man's blue eyes moved, gazing impassively at the limping tamer. The rest of the squad slowly turned their heads to the escort's direction as he limped past them. Soon, he was standing in front of everyone, his bludgeoned body a weak shield.
"Let me die first," he said with a cracking voice, almost like he was begging the figure. "If these young ones watch me fall, then perhaps… they'll be prepared to face theirs."
Decterion said nothing.
Jethro and Padva caught each other's frightened gazes, though he was certain his face was more horror-stricken than hers.
Silence reigned again. For a short time. Before Decterion gave his response.
He tilted his head coldly. "There is no preparation for death."
In an instance, his armor disintegrated alongside his body into nothingness. He had vanished!
Everyone panicked, whipping their heads around to find where he would or had reappeared to.
A furious roar caught their attention immediately, snapping their gazes towards the Liongolem's direction.
They saw that the escort's mechbeast had leaped away in surprise and now was charging towards Decterion who had reappeared not far away from where the beast had been moments before.
The escort's eyes widened and he let out a yell to his mechbeast. "Mountain, no!"
But it was too late.
Even if the mechbeast wanted to stop, its feet wouldn't brake on time. The mane of lava spun around the Liongolem's body until it turned into a volcanic tornado, aimed at the unmoving target.
Just before it struck him, Decterion raised his weaponless hand.
From the depths of his shoulders, spiralling tendrils of obsidian energy curled into his palm before bursting out in a thunderous beam of black.
It struck the Liongolem mid-charge, causing an explosion that forced rocks into the air and filled the cavernous expanse with a dense, acrid pall of smoke and pulverized stone.
Covering their faces, they all heard the Liongolem whimper in terror. But the escort, he was the only one who could feel it. He could feel the fear in his mechbeast's heart.
Before the smoke could clear, Decterion appeared on top of the beast, his feet immune to the scorch of its synthetic rock skin. He lifted his massive weapon and with a movement as fast as light, slashed the beast's chest.
A wail of pain filled the air.
"Mountain!" The escort cried, yelling into the smoke, feeling his mechbeast dying yet unable to see anything.
SLAASSSSHH! Decterion slashed the beast's legs before vanishing once again, and appearing high in the sky, landing with venomous monstrosity and beheading the Titan Liongolem with a clean swipe of one of the blades of his double-edged sword.
The golem didn't make any noise after that. And silence fell upon the Rift once again.
In that moment, the escort felt every single aether in his Soul Core disappear, violently rushing down an invisible stream and returning into the atmosphere.
His eyes widened with fear and heartbreak. Even though he already knew what had happened, when the dust finally cleared and Decterion's figure stood before them with the Liongolem's headless body on the ground, the escort dropped to his knees.
Pathetically, he began to crawl the blood filled ground toward his mechbeast, whispering its name; 'mountain, mountain,' as he dragged himself closer to its head.
Decterion lifted a foot coldly and strode towards the rest of the team, utterly ignoring the grieving man. When he passed the escort, fury filled the man's eyes, and against the judgment of any wise person, he bolted to his feet.
"You killed him just to leave me powerless!" His arm moved slower than it usually did and threw a wild punch at the back of Decterion's head. It was like hitting an immovable object, leaving the escort in even more pain.
Decterion stood still for a moment, although irritated. He merely drove the other end of his sword through the escort's chest with effortless force.
The man gasped, breathless. Without any words, Decterion bent the weapon sideways and withdrew it out of the escort's body before continuing forward, while the escort staggered backwards and collapsed beside the body of his beast.
"Now," Decterion finally spoke, his voice like a song of horror, "which of you children dies the loudest?"
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
"Argghhhh!" Pott, trying to be brave, or rather not wanting to die afraid, charged at the conqueror.
"You then," Decterion whispered.
The moment Pott stepped into Decterion's range, he was instantly stifled by the imposing aura of the dark lord of beasts.
It was like drowning in liquid lead. His body weighed on him and his knees clogged, causing any kind of movement to be impossible. His Geargrinder Rhino, who had charged with him, bellowed in fear and desperation as it tried to charge away.
Too late.
"Fear is wisdom," Decterion stated as he moved in an eye's blink and appeared right beside the Vanguard. "Your rush for battle doesn't hide the stench of your cowardice."
He spun the sword like the blades of a helicopter. Blood flew like paint and Pott's seemingly rigid body collapsed in numerous pieces. Before anyone could even process that, the Rhino was sliced in half, joining its master in the ground with two separate sickening thuds.
Only Jethro, Moffrey, Anson, Mory and Padva were left.
"Run," Anson whispered. "We have to get out of here. Run now!"
With a scream, Moffrey fired up his jet boots and hung in the sky, blasting volleys of aether bolts from his gun toward the conqueror.
Decterion stood there, completely unaffected as the blasts bounced off him. When he was irritated enough, he lifted his gaze up at Moffrey, who froze at the sight of those threatening blue eyes.
"You use borrowed power like a child dressed in their father's robes," Decterion said. "If you can not wield aether, do not let machines do it for you!"
He shot his hand forward. A white-hot laser fired from the center of his palm. Moffrey tried to jink sideways, but the beam tracked with impossible speed, burning a charred hole clean through his chestplate and torso.
He dropped hard to the ground, and when his mechbeast slithered toward him to try to cover the wound with ice, it was slaughtered by Decterion's spinning blade which returned to his grasp after.
Anson was fast on his heels, searching for where to hide. His Lynx was following after him, but when its senses flared, Anson realized that Decterion was close by.
A wave of crimson fire struck them both, sending them crashing to the ground, but when they fell, the rocks immediately covered their bodies, suffocating them into the ground until they stopped moving.
Mory, once again, was planted to one position in fear. This time, it happened way too fast for Jethro or anyone to help her.
As she stood there, clutching her Sunspire Sprout, shaking in her knees while tears flowed down her face, Decterion appeared behind her without a sound.
She looked up at his terrible face, and her heart pounded harder while tears overflowed. "Please," she begged. "I can't fight. I don't know how to, but… I also don't want to die."
She cried uncontrollably. "Please, I don't want to di—"
Decterion placed a hand on her hand. Instantly, her entire body erupted into fierce, all-consuming yellow flames. As she burned to death, her plant sprung to the air and began to flutter away.
Decterion watched it impassively before looking away dismissively.
Yet, when he turned, one of the living particles of his armor detached itself and sped into the air. It struck the Sunspire with stabbing speed.
The tiny plant withered instantly, blackened, and fell to the scorched earth. Dead.
Now, only Jethro and Padva remained.