Online In Another World



"Destroy the town?" Emilio responded to that claim with a raise of his own mana signature.

Maximus smiled, "I chose Desim as my spot to lure you both here for that reason–it's a perfect place to sacrifice for our goals. A thriving town, full of life and dreams–crushing something like that, well, that's truly worth something, no?"

"Hate to break it to you, but we're not letting that happen," Sirius said.

"Yeah. Not a chance," Emilio added.

Emilio prepared himself for the fight as well, having no clear idea of just what sort of abilities were wielded by the one who was once thought to be merely a merchant.

'Our intel was off. Or…maybe it was intentionally given to Bastian to trick us. Maximus isn't a merchant; it seems like he's an executive of the organization itself merely in charge of supplies–not the other way around. This man is an anomaly,' Emilio thought.

Bringing his palms together, Maximus smiled as he laid his azure eyes on the two reincarnators, "The moment you two walked through those doors, this encounter was mine. Sing and spring through the clouds–Skyborne Rhapsody."

Just as both Sirius and Emilio were about to make a move in tandem to approach the figure, the floor itself seemed to extend infinitely, placing an insurmountable distance between them and their enemy.

"Ghh–!" Sirius let out.

"What the–" Emilio stopped.

The scenery unfolded like two dimensional papers flopping to the side; the environment shifted by the will of Maximus, bringing them from the luxurious interior to the utmost exterior itself–the grand blue heights of the sky, brought onto a plateau of clouds.

"The sky…?" Emilio looked around, glancing down as he found himself somehow standing on the air itself, far, far above any ground.

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"Huh," Sirius seemed surprised and impressed.

Maximus stood a fair distance away, parting his hands as he held a small smile, "Welcome to my Skyborne Rhapsody–shall I begin the show?"

The sky itself seemed to be different from that of the natural one that loomed over Vasmoria; the sky was so purely blue, shining with the radiance of life that was almost too sublime to be real. Each of the clouds were so vast and fluffy, swirling and marching through the skies and over the horizon.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh after a moment, "The sky? Hate to break it to you, but the sky is my domain."

"Is that so?" Maximus asked, raising his hands as the distant clouds seemed to swirl and change shape, "--You might find that this sky is a foreign one to you, but you're welcome in it all the same."

"Oh yeah? Let's see!" Sirius accepted the challenge with a yell, raising his hands as he attempted to conjure something.

Emilio didn't recognize what it was that his companion was trying to do, but by the look of surprise on Sirius' expression and Maximus' smile, it was clear that it failed.

"What's wrong?" Emilio asked.

"I can't conjure storms here," Sirius admitted, "This place seems to be separated from the normal world.

Maximus took it upon himself to respond, yelling out as his voice seemed to be carried through the fantastical skies, "That's correct. This is my Skyborne Rhapsody–a world created by my gift, one where grand stories of impossibility can come true!"

It was with that proclamation that the clouds behind Maximus were suddenly penetrated by the arrival of something grandiose in scale: two, twin dragons of dazzling, cerulean scales arrived through the clouds, flapping their wings with wind that mimicked that of a storm.

"Dragons?!" Emilio questioned, planting himself down as he felt the mighty wind.

"This is starting to get interesting," Sirius said, holding an excited smile as that childlike glint sparkled in his eyes.

'There's never a boring moment in this world, is there? Just for once, I was hoping a task would go smoothly,' Emilio thought, readying himself.

At the very least, it seemed as though the creator of the sub-world of boundless, azure skies wasn't on the offensive yet; the dragons conjured flew around the area, encircling them, but not yet attacking.

Emilio stood close to Sirius' side, whispering, "I think we need to consider the possibility it wasn't just our intel that was off."

"Yeah?" Sirius glanced at him, staying ready.

The amethyst-eyed reincarnator nodded, looking at the silver-haired man in the distance, "The Children of Chaos probably have somebody on their side like the Atlan Oracle–somebody that can either peer into the future or something else similar. Either way, they always seem a few steps ahead of us."

Sirius raised his arm as electricity wrapped around his limb, holding an unrestrained smile, "So what you're saying is, nothing's changed with our mission–we need to capture this guy and find out what's really going on with that sneaky cult."

"Exactly," Emilio confirmed, immediately charging in alongside Sirius as he reinforced the draconic armor around his body. The scales darkened, becoming more steel-like in appearance while retaining the ferocity of the grand beast he represented.

[Dragonheart System Activated]

[Current Stage: 4/10 | Dragon Elite]

"Come, reincarnators–let us dance until our bones ache!" Maximus shouted as he raised his hands, "Ravenous Harpies, rise!"

Manifesting from the call of the silver-haired man, sapphire feathers flowed around the skyhigh plateau like snowflakes before creating multiple monstrous creatures that somewhat resembled human woman: the grotesque creatures bore limbs like that of a avian, possessing wings on their arms that allowed them to fly swiftly.

"Leave these ones to me! Handle those dragons!" Emilio shouted, readying his sword.

Sirius looked up at the massive dragons that overshadowed the unique battlefield, smiling before launching up as a thunderbolt, "No problem!"

Facing the harpies, Emilio felt the powerful winds of the colossal heights he fought at as he used his sword to block the incoming projectiles that suddenly shot at him. Each one had a force like a cannonball, yet backed into a slim object.

'Feathers?' He realized.

Sucking in a quick breath, he exhaled sharply while puffing his cheeks, doing so while using his sword as a small shield against the fathers. The mystical exhale came out as a powerful gust of wind, pushing forward as a powerful cone that swept away the lethal feathers: "Breath of The Horizon."

"That's certainly a unique spell," Maximus remarked, sitting himself down on the plateaued cloud while watching.

Emilio ignored the remarks as he dashed over, spinning around before cleaving his sword straight through the midsection of one of the winged, feminine monstrosities. As he cut through one, he found another one of the screeching avians swooping in towards him with their talons primed for his neck.

"Haah!"

Lifting his sword, he blocked the dagger-like talons of the harpy, causing sparks to fly out like bright-orange droplets of rain before counter attacking. Surprisingly, he missed by a hair when trying to cut the harpy's legs, witnessing just how swiftly it could launch higher into the air with a single flap of its wings.

'Nice try,' he thought.

Though it managed to escape the sharp edge of his steel blade, he quickly flicked his wrist, conjuring and launching a small fireball upward without any casting time, sending it up as a speedy curveball. The bright-blue sphere of fire closed in on the flying harpy quickly, reeling a panicked screech from the creature before–BOOOM.

The resulting explosion left the harpy descending as a charred figure, clad in smoke and lifeless in its descent. For the entire time he combated the harpies, he kept an eye on the main target, though the entire time, Maximus remained seated without a worry in the world.

'One more,' Emilio thought.

It was the last harpy that seemed more hesitant to face him, staying in the air as it continued shooting projectiles down at him. He seamlessly dodged the feathers before taking the initiative himself, thrusting his hand upward as he flung a chain forged of water towards the harpy.

'I've got you!' He thought.

The swiftness and unexpected nature of the water chain caught the winged monster off-guard, allowing its ankle to be caught before Emilio yanked it down without hesitation. As it plummeted straight towards him, he needed only to swipe his blade upward just as the harpy got within striking distance of him.

After cleanly dismantling the harpies, Emilio's unwavering expression set itself towards the silver-haired man, who brought himself to his feet.

Maximus slowly clapped his hands, holding a small smile, "The rumors are true. The Dragonheart has developed into quite the fearsome force."

"What's with you people?" Emilio asked, "...What's so damn appealing about destroying everything you touch? Hurting so many people? Taking away everything from them? What is there to enjoy about that?"

The question lengthened the smile on the blue-eyed man's lips, "It's not the act itself, Dragonheart. Chaos itself is sustenance for ourselves. It is what we strive for–total chaos. Make no mistake–this is for the benefit of Arcadius. It may not appear so now, maybe not for decades, or even a century…but time will tell."

"What're you talking about?" Emilio asked, "Nothing you're doing could possibly help the world in any way shape or form–you're monsters that take everything and give nothing."

"Dragonheart, you know nothing," Maximus said, "Stagnation is evil. In order to evolve and create a world capable of withstanding what's to come, chaos must brew; through that anarchy beyond reason and logic, unreasonable forces will arise–past preconceived thresholds and into a new era. That's what "Chaos" stands for: uncontrolled evolution."

Though spoken with a silver tongue, the words sounded as if they poured from the lips of a madman to the Dragonheart.