The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 341: The Raging Storm (2)

Chapter 341: The Raging Storm (2)

The storm raged.

The waves rose up to the skies, threatening to destroy everything below them when they slammed back onto the surface of the sea. Yet the two groups facing each other didn’t heed the fury of nature around them.

Althea’s comprehension of elements and Laws surpassed that of those at Enlightened Stage, but her actual stage was still limited to the Refined Stage.

Tinkering with Strings of Fate took its toll on her body. Her fingers wilted at a visible rate, and she felt her body’s temperature rising to dangerous levels. But it didn’t deter her.

She continued to pluck and push the strings. Her five opponents suffered tremendously. Her relentless attacks prevented them from mounting a counterattack. But the five weren’t easily defeated.

Caw.

Suddenly, a bird’s cry erupted, piercing through the noise of the howling winds. Althea watched as the one who had stood on top of the mainsail cried out and tore through the winds. Ethereal wings appeared on his back, pushing the turbulent winds aside.

The distance between them and Althea wasn’t great to begin with. His burst speed brought him up close to her. She saw the grin on his face as he flapped his wings, creating wind-sickles. She held his gaze. In the split second before the sickles were about to fly towards her, she released one of the Strings in her hand.

A wave behind her crashed down, sending her ship upward. At the same time, the crash blasted the air outward, causing the wind-sickles to be blown to smithereens. Not only that, the blast threw the bird-like man back.

He tried to regain balance but being close to the rising wave didn’t help. He was about to slam into the surface when a thick layer of slime coalesced, thickening the water, and cushioning his blow.

Althea hadn’t stopped her movement. The other four had sprang into action, being just a step behind the bird-like man. The fraction of a second she focused on him gave the others the respite they required.

’Idiots.’

A faint smirk appeared on her lips, reddened by the blood flowing through her nose. Even Fate itself couldn’t play with Fate without repercussions. She ignored it. Her opponents made one mistake. A simple but costly one.

She loosened her grip on the strings and lifted her head. The gold in her eyes receded and white crackling lightning took its place. She was Fate, yes, but she was Heaven too.

The sky thundered. Lightning streaked and crackled. Several sky-high waves caught the lightning. Filled with electric arcs they seemed like Azure Dragons, about to devour and destroy everything and everyone in their paths.

The faces of the five paled. They stopped their assault mid-air. Thick tendrils of energies surged out of each of the five and wrapped them in a cocoon of sorts.

Just in time too.

Althea relaxed her outstretched hands. And all the lightning-filled waves crashed at once into the group.

The impact of the several waves meeting each other didn’t only blasted the water around them up and away. The clash of lightning arcs also caused an explosion, creating a sinkhole at the center of the impact.

Seeking to balance itself, the sea tried to fill the gap but the sinkhole swallowed the water, creating a spiral. The cocoon cracked on impact. Althea, crashing with her ship against the surface – unlike the ship of her opponents, hers didn’t break upon impact – and saw through the cracks the frightened faces of the five. One even shouted something. His voice couldn’t break the howls of the winds but Althea could understand the plea he mouthed.

"Can we even save them?" Ardan asked, unsure whether to leave them to their Fate or not. Even an Enlightened Knight like him didn’t dare to struggle against such elements of nature. Not with the Crack at such a short distance.

Althea didn’t reply.

She lifted her hand and again plucked the Strings of Fate.

The spiral suddenly became even wilder. Panic filled the faces of the five. Regret filled their eyes. Althea ignored their helpless eyes.

Blood trickled down her face. Her eyes had turned bloodshot. Her fair, pale fingers looked grey. But she didn’t stop. The spiraling waters of the sinkhole turned even more turbulent.

Suddenly, one spiral of water seemed to have lost control and clashed against the other side. This caused the spiral to collapse. The surge as a consequence clattered against the cocoon. The cocoon, already filled with cracks, exploded.

The five people inside, stunned by the turn of events, didn’t react in time. The shockwave sent them up. Before they could fall back into the water, a wave caught them and sent them flying away from the center of the impact.

Bam.

All five slammed into a wooden floor. As Transformation Knights, such an impact didn’t mean anything to them. Rather, it was the continuous shock of the events that made them look like foolish people, staring blankly at the face of the young woman they came to challenge.

Against the grey and dark skies, her beauty contrasted greatly. It looked almost...divine.

"T-Thank you."

The one looking average among the five was the first to stammer. He tried to meet the gaze of the lady before him but she appeared too radiant at the moment to even look at. He lowered his gaze quickly, keeping it at the hem of her dress.

"So," he heard her melodious voice that caressed his wounds and worries into oblivion, "did I pass your little test, or should I continue to prove myself?"

The five looked at each other sheepishly. Continue? Wouldn’t that mean they would die? In the short time they battled, if you could call it a battle, they had been played without even a chance to get near her.

"No...I mean yes...I mean we are convinced."

"But I am not!"

Althea’s response halted their breaths. Would she kill them?

"Serve me in the upcoming journey and I will see whether you qualify to be allies or just slaves."