Chapter 50

To proceed with the plans, Ashborn has to neutralize the inner problems of Dicathen. It was necessary to halt the pace of the Alacryan Army, which might or might not proceed with the previous plan of declaring war on this continent.

It would be necessary to eliminate another group of traitors anyway, as they will cause far more problems than the Asuras do now if not dealt with. He could tell the council, but alone they wouldn't be able to take care of the white-core mages.

The Kingdom of Darv officially betrayed the continent of Dicathen, so their current leaders all had to be eliminated, including their Lances.

This is exactly what Ashborn is doing right now: eliminating the Dwarven Kingdom's rulers. In the capital of Darv, an underground city, the former Greysunders' castle, which this time served as the senate.

From the outside, the castle appeared unremarkable, especially in comparison to Ashborn's ant-built fortress. What was within, though, was a mystery. For Ash, it was evident that the castle was under the influence of some sort of enchantment that concealed presences within structures.

'Huh, my own mana is messing with my perception?' wondered Ash, as he couldn't sense anyone behind the walls of this castle.

'Then I'll look into it myself.' He made his way closer to the fortress.

Upon getting closer, Ashborn saw that the castle was not guarded by Dwarves, nor was there anyone outside of the castle.

Inspecting the watchtowers, there was no one.

Inspecting the gates, there was no one.

Many people would be perplexed as to why there were no guards. Either, they have a variety of defenses in the palace or they believe no one will attack them, which is foolish, as you technically betrayed Dicathen, the continent you live on.

Whilst also wandering to the unguarded gate, Ashborn looked back every now and again to see whether anyone was nearby.

It had to be muddy on the road he was on, but it was already dry. The issue was, where the hell were the individuals who hadn't stepped on those roads in a long time?

The Queen, Glaudera, who was useless to Ashborn, was most likely slain. The elder dwarf Olfred mentioned was almost certainly a traitor from the start. It was, however, too early to reach any conclusions.

Ashborn walked through the gate not before pushing the large metallic door, which was left open… suspicious.

'Were they rushing?' Ashborn pondered. Why would they leave the castle's gate open if they didn't have to?

Despite this, he proceeded. It felt like he was diving into the pool when he entered the castle grounds. This indicated that some type of barrier had been erected around the castle, and Ashborn could already sense a presence within it.

'Are they preparing for a surprise attack? Ashborn reasoned that it would be a waste of time, because he didn't see why they would ambush him. His skills should be known by both the Asuras and the Vritras.

He drew his brows together. When he looked around, all he saw were dark corridors and doors heading somewhere else. Ash made the decision to keep heading into the darkness.

All the luxuriousness of the royal castles was nowhere to be seen. Just plain walls, floors, ceilings, doors, and every piece of furniture was moved out of here.

Ashborn tapped his fingers on the wall.

"Dust isn't even gathered here." In the underground city, dust should gather quickly on things. But there was none, so this meant the castle was just emptied.

Ashborn followed the dark passage, which, with its enigmatic silence, would frighten anyone. Only Ash's footsteps could be heard throughout the castle, his metallic-like boots resonating throughout the corridors.

His attention was drawn to the door at the end of the passageway. Without hesitation, he pulled the door wide, showing a large hall with a desk in the center. He closed the gap, looked at the desk for a few moments, and then pulled the drawer out to see what was inside.

"Hm." Ashborn hummed, when he saw some kind of letter.

The papers were nothing special, so he put them back and proceeded to open a second drawer. Curiosity got the better of Ashborn, and he took the entire drawer out of the socket, which had some kind of thin string attached to it.

Ash frowned. Certainly there was some set up, but it was merely a meaningless ambush. He didn't understand the reason behind it.

The next thing Ashborn saw was the hall's floor bursting open and engulfing everything in flames.

____________________________________________________________________________

A few people could be spotted outside the castle on the surrounding walls. They were both viewing the horrific spectacle of the entire castle being put on a bluff and lighting the enormous caves.

It felt like the underground city had finally viewed the sun, but no, it was just an explosion. An explosion big enough to blow up the entire castle and its surrounding area.

"Mica thinks we hit him." thought out loud the small dwarf, with a childish appearance.

Someone would mistake Mica Earthborn for a kid, but she is older than everyone might think. She was around 50 years old.

"Don't let your guard down, Mica, Lord wouldn't call him the strongest enemy for no reason!" called out the elderly man with a gruff voice.

Olfred had already confronted Ashborn and was well aware of his power. The painful memories of his humiliation haunt him to this day, and the reason for it was Ashborn.

Despite the fact that this surprise ambush had been meticulously planned, he remained terrified. The whole castle was planted with a lot of explosives, but even this wasn't the end. A few seconds after the temperature in the cave rose, the planted roof rune started working.

Lightning struck the core of the explosion in a blitz, causing yet another huge bang. The shock waves traveled across the if not them being white-core mages, it would surely knock them of both.

"Mica suggests checking out if he is dead, old man." Not waiting for a response, Mica flew forwards.

"Wait!" Olfred shouted at her and turned to the person next to her, waiting for command.

"Go save your brethren, before she dies without any use," the horned-creature told him. Olfred gritted his teeth in anger and flew right after Mica.

Yet, it was already too late to stop the female-dwarf, as she was already far from there. Olfred tracked her down, and she was already at the ruins, watching as the blazing fire kept on burning the entirety of the castle. But it was too late to stop the female dwarf because she was already far away.

When Olfred found her, she was already among the remains of a castle, watching as the roaring fire consumed everything in its path.

"Mica, don't do anything without permission!" he scolded his partner.

"But, Mica thinks that the target is eliminated."

A rumble could be heard near them a split second after she finished speaking. The dreadful pressure flowed across the terrain, and the two white-core mages felt it, and they both went on high alert.

Glancing toward the noise, both of them were shocked to see the boy topless and only with trousers and shoes. The burns that the boy probably received from the explosion were steadily healing.

"Is Mica the only one seeing the boy!" Mica exclaimed, turning to the old man.

"Mica!" the man yelled back as he saw the youngster run for Mica's mana-core with his hand sharpened like a spear.

Olfred pulled Mica back and protected her from attack by summoning a magma soldier in front of him. As Ashborn's fist tore through the construct moments later, with this, Olfred gained time, as he created magma armor.

"I thought you have learned your lesson, but it seems I was wrong." Ashborn maintained his calm demeanor.

The more Olfred stared into a boy's eyes, the more uneasy he became. He felt incredible frustration since the person still didn't take him seriously, so he did what warriors do.

He tried to punch Ashborn, but it was in vain, as Ashborn effortlessly deflected the assault.

Strikes one, two, and three were followed by a slew of others, all of which had a lot of force behind them. But Ashborn successfully avoided them without taking any damage. The hot magma that made contact with his flesh left only a minor burn that quickly healed.

Mica, who was watching the 1v1 duel, couldn't help but feel both amazed and frightened. The man he knew as the strongest was getting played on by the unknown boy.

Each strike made by Olfred only played against him. The way Ashborn avoided the punches and deflected them gradually broke down the opponents' defense. Olfred's stance became faulty as the distance between his legs widened, making his posture unstable.

Despite his proximity to Olfred and the lack of supplementary shielding, Ashborn remained in Olfred's striking zone and neutralized it from the outset.

"Ahhhhhh!!!" Mica joined the combat with the war cry, only to be blasted flying by Ashborn's kick.

Ashborn's leg collided into the abdomen with tremendous force. Mica spits out saliva as a result and collides with a stone wall, shattering it.

'This is it!' thought Olfred, seeing the opening for the attack.

Unfortunately for him, his magma-covered magma fist was smacked away. Instead, his entire chest was now exposed.

"Shit!" Olfred cursed out loud. Squinting his eyes and crossing his hands before his chest, he was prepared to take the damage.

Olfred could see Ashborn's brilliant purple eyes approaching him, like an absolute predator, through his restricted and foggy vision. However, Olfred's anticipation was wrong, the best weapon for a mage here…

is the mana-core.

On the way, Ashborn thrust the man's abdomen with his palm, breaking the mana core. Olfred's eyes widened as a horrible realization dawned on him. Ash's hand was protruding from the person's back, and no amount of healing magic would be able to help him because Ashborn's corrosive to weak people mana was already on the wound.

Grabbing the man by the head and lifting him, Ashborn stared him in the eyes for the last time. He then tightened his muscles and crushed the man's skull before dropping him lifeless on the ground.

"Uwahhhh!" Another scream could be heard from behind Ashborn.

Mica, who witnessed the death of Olfred, gathered all her strength and stood up. Augmenting herself with tons of mana, enhancing her steps by gravity magic. As she hurried towards Ashborn, the earth rocked beneath her feet.

Mica swung a massive mace over her head and tried to slam it down on the boy's head. The attack was fruitless once again, as Ashborn's palm caught the mace and halted it in its tracks.

Mica's attempt to retreat was similarly unsuccessful, as the youngster drew the mace towards him as well as Mica. Mica's final recollection of the youngster was of his palm covering her eyes.

"You brought me a lot of problems…" the auburn-haired stated, before lifting the short girl from the ground.

He manifested the sword made out of darkness, prepared to quickly finish off the shorty. But, an unexpected occurrence happened, and someone swiftly landed close to him.

"Got you," with the abomination's grin plastered on its gray face, it actually cut Ashborn's hand with the sword in it.

"Hm." Ash tossed the woman to the ground and stared at the creature with his eyes focused.

"For a moment, I thought you were Seris. So, you are just snake-blooded." The remark made by Ashborn provoked the creature with horns.

'Is this just another Asura toy?' thought Ashborn, seeing some of his mana-eaten by the creature's sword.

"Surprised to see your mana being devoured? Heh, it's because of this sword, it was especially made to devour you magical energy."

[Ruler's Authority]

"Just great," the cut-off hand with the sword flew back to his place and reattached itself, Ashborn replied.

"Then, I'll get started."

________________________________________________________________________________

Sup, another chapter. Give me your thoughts about the battle, maybe I should work on writing battle scenes?

Anyway,

Webnovel Second FF: https://www.webnovel.com/book/tbate-%7C-destroyed-beginning_21385481106342305

Wattpad Second FF: https://www.wattpad.com/story/287446607-tbate-destroyed-beginning

Collab FF with (Erebus512, SocioPhobia, Psema): https://www.wattpad.com/story/284711075-tbate-severing-fate

Discord Server: https://discord.gg/jX4rWv8FQU

Cyaaa