Earth's Alpha Prime

Chapter 288: Devastation

Dante had known exactly what was going to happen before the four of them even began their march toward Yinad. His ability to glimpse into the Fate Sequences of everyone within a ten-minute window had once again proven invaluable. 

The Fate Halo above Min-soo glowed a deep violet, a sure sign that death was coming for him within those fleeting minutes. The same fate loomed over several other members of the Raid Party. They were destined to fall while battling the overwhelming army of Alpha Chosen that had closed in around them.

This foreknowledge weighed heavily on Dante's mind, pressing like a silent burden. He was the only one capable of saving them, yet the grim certainty of their deaths gnawed at him. From the moment the fight had begun, he had been desperately searching for a way to defeat Yinad quickly enough to return to Olivia and the others in time. But it seemed hopeless. Yinad was far too powerful, and defeating him with their current strength bordered on impossible.

The Aura Disruption Debuff had offered some assistance, allowing them to level the battlefield slightly, but even that advantage wasn't enough to tip the scales in their favor. Dante had scoured through every possible scenario, every variation in the battle's course, only to end up in the same place—Min-soo, Henry, and half of their Raid Party would perish no matter what he did.

He still had three more debuffs at his disposal, and combining them would allow him to unleash an attack more powerful than anything he had ever managed before. Yet, even then, it wasn't enough to guarantee Yinad's death. The sheer strength of their opponent was staggering, leaving Dante acutely aware of just how formidable a foe they were up against.

Throughout the battle, he had maneuvered as strategically as possible, trying to prevent the deaths he had foreseen. Yet, the violet Halos marking the doomed within his 100-kilometer perception radius never lessened, not even by one. The inevitability of their fate closed in like a tightening noose.

Dante knew he had only one option left, a path he had been hesitant to tread. It was time to unleash his third Innate Exclusive Skill—the one he had pinned all his hopes on.

The skill Dante was about to use was the very one Jay had warned him against, urging him to save it for the direst of circumstances. His life wasn't in immediate danger—he could easily escape if he wanted. But that would mean abandoning his friends and comrades to their deaths. He wasn't willing to pay that price.

Letting his bow slip from his grip, it fell softly into the snow beneath his feet. Dante drew a deep, steadying breath. His mind raced with the weight of the choice he was making, yet his resolve was unshakable. He whispered, almost apologetically, "Sorry, Jay, but it looks like I'm left with no other choice but to use this."

║FATE SHOWDOWN║

Grants the user the ability to absorb another's fate and take it upon themselves, while simultaneously imposing their own fate onto others. The cost in Fate Stats varies depending on the target's strength.

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Dante's first target was Min-soo. As the skill took effect, a sharp pain ripped through his abdomen, and a dagger-sized wound appeared in his stomach—the exact spot where Min-soo had been critically injured moments earlier. 

Blood poured from the gash, soaking through Dante's clothes as his face grew pale. But he clenched his teeth and shifted his focus to Yinad, who had just poised himself to strike Min-soo once again with his dagger.

Before the blade could find its mark, Yinad froze, his eyes widening in shock. His hand hovered mid-air, and he instinctively glanced down at his own body. A blade-sized wound had opened in his stomach, identical to the one he had dealt to Min-soo. Confusion flashed across his face as he tried to comprehend the injury, the pain catching him off guard.

Meanwhile, Min-soo, who had been bracing himself for the fatal blow, looked down in disbelief. The wound that had almost ended his life vanished entirely, as though it had never existed. His astonishment was short-lived, though, as he quickly took advantage of Yinad's momentary distraction to distance himself from the formidable foe. Whatever had just happened, it had bought him time.

Then, the sky darkened. Min-soo, Henry, and Kensei all looked up, their hearts sinking at the sight of meteors streaking down toward them, burning through the air with fierce intensity. In an instant, they remembered Dante's warning, the words he had spoken just before they set out for battle.

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"If you spot anything that looks like meteors falling from the sky, don't hesitate—run as far away as you can the moment you notice. Remember that."

None of them hesitated. Without a word, Min-soo, Henry, and Kensei bolted from the battlefield, sprinting with all the speed they could muster, knowing that to ignore Dante's advice was to court certain death.

Yinad, on the other hand, remained where he was, bewildered and injured. He glanced between his fresh wound and Min-soo, unable to understand how he had been struck. 

But before he could react further, his attention was drawn upward. His eyes locked onto the fiery meteors hurtling down toward him at terrifying speed. There was no time to think, only the dawning realization of the devastation that was about to befall him.

Yinad quickly realized that if he didn't escape soon, things would take a disastrous turn for him. Even with the gaping, bloody wound in his abdomen, he tried to move away. But just as he took his first step, a sharp pain shot through his leg. 

Glancing down, he saw a deep stab wound in his right leg, blood pouring from the gash. Before he could react, the same thing happened to his other leg. Both gave out beneath him, sending Yinad crashing to his knees, his body unable to support his weight any longer.

Far away, Dante mirrored his suffering onto his foe through the║FATE SHOWDOWN║. Blood poured from both of his legs as he gripped the bloodied dagger tightly, enduring the pain to keep Yinad from escaping.

He had stabbed his own legs, enduring the excruciating pain in a desperate attempt to keep Yinad from escaping the impending onslaught of meteors that were about to rain down on him.

The meteors weren't just any natural phenomenon—they were the very arrows Dante had fired into the sky before the group had confronted Yinad. These arrows were empowered by the three buffs he had received from the║Deck of Fate║.

The first of those buffs,║Zero Gravity║, had allowed the arrows to ascend all the way into the troposphere above the Trial World. They eventually halted after colliding with the dome-like barrier that encapsulated the world, preventing them from going any higher.

Nearly fifty arrows, each as massive as a small skyscraper—reaching up to 80 meters in length—hovered 200 kilometers above the battlefield. Their enormous size was due to the inherent skill of Dante's Great Titan Bow.

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║Arrow Gigantification║⧼Active ⧽ 

Upon activation, the arrow will grow in size, enlarging up to 100 times its original form based on the distance it covers along its flight path. The further it travels, the larger it becomes, maximizing its impact at greater distances.Once the arrow crosses 100 meters, it enlarges to 10 times its original size, growing further with distance.

Gigantification Range: 1000 meters.

Cost: 25 Spirit Energy per shot.

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With a single command from Dante, the gravity of the massive arrows returned to normal. From their lofty height, hundreds of kilometers above the Trial World, the arrows began their plunge back to earth, rapidly gaining momentum as they accelerated under the pull of gravity. 

Their weight, befitting their skyscraper-like size, ensured they would strike with tremendous force, but that wasn't all—Dante had stacked his buffs to turn their fall into something far deadlier.

The third and fourth buffs took immediate effect. 

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Aero-Dynamic Shield encased each arrow, reducing drag to nearly zero by smoothing the air around them. This allowed the arrows to reach terminal velocities far greater than anything naturally possible. Without the usual air resistance, their acceleration continued uninterrupted as they plummeted downward.

Gyroscopic Stability added precision to their descent, keeping the arrows perfectly aligned as they spun, ensuring they would not deviate from their intended trajectory. This spin also increased the penetration force upon impact, further amplifying the destruction they would cause.

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At such extraordinary speeds, the arrows began to heat up, friction causing the air around them to combust. They caught fire, blazing like meteors as they tore through the sky. From the ground, they appeared to be falling stars—dozens of them, each one a harbinger of devastation.

Yinad, sensing the overwhelming threat, scrambled to heal himself. He pulled out a bunch of Grade-4 Vitality Fruits from his storage space, consuming them hastily. His injuries closed almost as fast as they had appeared, but every time a wound vanished, a new one tore open on his body. 

Dante, still bleeding from his own self-inflicted wounds, ensured that Yinad wouldn't escape. He dug the bloodied dagger deeper into his own skin, stabbing again and again, all to keep Yinad in place. Even though Dante's wounds began to heal quickly thanks to their shared fate, the damage he inflicted outpaced his own recovery.

The first of the arrows struck.

The impact unleashed a shockwave that shattered the ground beneath Yinad. The arrow drove deep into the earth with a deafening roar, the force of its descent amplified by mass and the reduced air resistance. 

The ground split beneath the enormous weight, a quake rippling outward from the epicenter. The air howled as more arrows followed. Each one descended with lethal precision, and as they struck the ground, the shockwaves compounded into a series of violent tremors. 

A cascade of explosive impacts tore through the terrain, reshaping the landscape. Huge fissures opened, sending cracks spiraling across the snow-covered mountains. Massive chunks of ice and rock were dislodged, tumbling down in avalanches that buried anything in their path.

Each arrow's incredible velocity—reaching speeds that far exceeded typical falling objects—meant the energy released upon impact was immense. Kinetic energy, a product of both the arrows' mass and the square of their speed, translated into earth-shattering explosions. With the air resistance almost eliminated by the Aero-Dynamic Shield, their descent was more akin to orbital reentry, and the heat generated by their speed ignited the air around them.

Far away, the Raid Party members and the army they were facing, felt the reverberations from the first strike. The shockwave rippled through the battlefield, causing both sides to stumble. Their eyes were drawn to the mountains in the distance, where what appeared to be meteors fell in a relentless barrage. The sky, once clear, now glowed with fiery trails as the arrows continued to fall.

"Divine punishment," someone muttered, awestruck by the sheer force being unleashed.

As more arrows struck, the explosions grew louder, the ground shook incessantly. The pressure waves caused by the impacts sent blasts of hot air and debris scattering in all directions, toppling trees and sending snowstorms billowing across the area. In the distance, the battle briefly halted as fighters on both sides struggled to maintain their footing against the violent winds and tremors.

Back at the impact zone, the landscape was being utterly transformed. Entire sections of the snow-capped mountain range collapsed, as massive avalanches rolled down, burying everything in their path. 

What was once an imposing stronghold of ice and stone was now a crumbled, burning wasteland. The arrows had dug deep into the earth, leaving behind massive craters that glowed with heat. Fissures snaked outward, splitting the mountain apart and collapsing entire peaks.

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Author Note: 

Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.

I'm thrilled to share that I'm taking a big leap forward! Alongside Earth's Alpha Prime, I've launched the first sub-book for EAP.

ALTER REALITY: Online

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The first ten to comment for new chapter releases will get '1 ADVANCED CHAPTER' for free on Earth Alpha Prime's Discord server.

In the discord server, I opened a private channel for those Top 10 candidates, where I posted the respective Advanced Chapter.

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Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :

https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ

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