66. The Approaching Calamity Part 5

The black creature trembled and made weird sounds, exposing its horror. Its quivering body gave Cleo a new yet satisfying sense of pleasure, the change of positions reminded her of that one rule, 'the hunter is a prey too' that's what her teacher told her.

Who was her teacher?

An honest and strong old man who used to be a warrior, Cleo didn't know about the latter, not until his last days when he asked her to visit him.

"My child, I'm sorry, I should have told you this when we first met but... I was afraid you'll fear me or worst... Hate me" young Cleo shook her head and held his hand close to her forehead after kissing it many times, "please don't say that teacher. No matter what you're hiding, I know you did it for my safety so I would never hate you"

"No, my child, you don't get it. I was greedy and wanted to keep you by my side because you're strong, quick-witted, and reliable- No, more than all that. I knew at first glance you'll be the one who'll put an end to all this we are going through, the gates, the other worlds and dimensions, and even the first master of- cough, cough! Anyway, I'm sorry, all I did was to prepare you to be the next warrior. When I die, you... sigh, you'll take my place and protect our homeland from our enemies. I... Believe in you" he patted her shoulder before it fell back on his side.

Cleo stared at the dead body in front of her with an expressionless face, she didn't know back then how to express her feelings- No, she didn't know how to feel.

Ever since that day, Cleo prepared herself to be the next warrior, and for her luck, System 0 didn't come to her, not until five years later when she received the message from him after she stole Cleopatra's favorite bracelet, the serpent-shaped bracelet.

Back to the scene in front, Cleo's adrenaline kept pumping wondering what to do next to those betrayers, 'if I was you, I would make them swallow the fire' Cleo turned to look at The Dark Mana that had already taken a human's form. It was staring at her with an unknown expression, Cleo walked to it with her usual cold self. She stood in front of it and watched it turning itself smaller compared to her size, which was 170cm.

'Wh- What?'

"Teach me"

'What?' The Dark Mana looked at her surprised not knowing what she meant by that. When she pointed a finger at the flying black creature with flaming wings, "teach me how to create such fire and to transform to such creatures"

The Dark Mana stared at her before it started blinking rapidly, 'why though?'

"To become the fearless master?" She rose an eyebrow at it making it tremble from fear, 'y- Yes sir' it mumbled.

Cleo stood a few inches away from it but maintained eye contact, The Dark Mana sighed from frustration and rubbed its forehead, it leaned on the invincible wall and looked back at Cleo with a serious face, 'don't you know that awakening your whole powers and abilities will bring nothing but destruction?'

"I know"

'Don't you know you'll be called The Calamity beside your nickname The Abyss? And that will make others fear you and even avoid you?' It rose an eyebrow and kept staring at Cleo waiting to see any hesitation but she, once again, broke his expectations, "I know"

It looked at her in disbelief, wondering what is wrong with her to be this brave though she'll have no one by her side... 'Don't you know you'll be lonely for life?' Cleo remained calm but inside she flinched from what it just asked, 'After all, this is the life of the dark mana masters. Feared by all, no one wants to be by their sides, and imbalanced because, in the end, this is dark mana we're talking about'

Cleo bent her head down and kicked the black ground, The Dark Mana felt it had made progress and was about to celebrate, but Cleo didn't let it win the fight, "I've always been lonely, even when I'm around those around me, I remained the same" The Dark Mana was shocked by what its ears just heard, it stared at Cleo in terror later because waves of dark mana came out of her even though it's standing there in front of her.

'Impossible', it mumbled slowly turning white from horror and wondering what a horrifying mistake they had done by giving someone like her such powers.

Back to planet Earth, under its surface, Earth and Nature were working hard to fix all loopholes around them, starting from the teaching system for their warriors and ending with themselves.

The warriors weren't to their expectations, many had lost their lives trying to stop one beast, but they didn't have a chance against A-ranked beasts. It's not their fault though, the beasts seemed to have evolved so their abilities increased while their ranks remained the same.

As for Earth and Nature, it seems they were lean with everyone, so they decided to not go easy on them anymore. Again, it's not anyone's fault, it's just that their enemies grew stronger.

Nature was under the huge tree, and between its roots, she was building a new system instead of the ruined one, System 0. Cleopatra tried her best and helped her, but something was still missing, and none could guess what it was, so they delayed its release until the lost piece was found.

Until then, they kept researching other planets to find anything to help them. While they're going through that, Earth was trying to build a stronger protection fortress that even SS-Ranked beasts can't defeat but their mana was getting consumed more than the amount planned and that was getting them to the point of fainting.

Nature sensed the difference in Earth's mana from her place, so she rushed them down to the core of the planet to get more mana before using it again there. This type of sharing will keep Earth and the planet sane and balanced, so they don't lose control over their manas and turn them into dark mana.

Simply put, it's called the "Mana Cycle", Mana Cycle is like a loop where the mana keeps moving one way with no disturbance, this helps to keep the mana revived and sometimes makes it stronger to give better effects when shared later.

In the middle of moving the mana between Earth and the planet, a loud noise came from the sky. Everyone, those who live on Earth and even the intruders, halted and turned their attention to the screaming sky, the sound was horrifying like those you'd hear in horror movies, and now there it was, making every living thing on the planet tremble and fall at their knees from the sudden release of mana.

Seconds later, everyone met up with a huge black cloud that slowly started moving in a circle taking the form of a tornado. The tornado-shaped cloud started to move down slowly getting the tip of it close to the ground.

"Earth!"

"I know! Hurry up before it happens!!" The two yelled at each other and ran in different directions. Cleopatra looked around her and wondered what she can help with, but found nothing, so she went to the surface and help the others.

The tornado was inches close to touching the ground and Earth and Nature were fully prepared, they stood in front of the planet's core while Cleopatra and others on the surface took their positions after getting everyone notified.

They all rose their hands or any part of their bodies to the sky and the two underground leaned their hands toward the core, "ready?" Earth whispered. Nature and Cleopatra nodded their heads and took a deep breath.

Everyone watched the tornado finally approaching but with something unexpected, "wait" Nature halted and took her hand away from the core, "Earth!?" She screamed and pushed them away, "Cleopatra!? Get everyone away from there!!" Cleopatra flinched but before she reacted, the tornado's tail touched the ground, and a huge explosion occurred not only in their city but all around the world.

Bodies fell and the enemies vanished, the surface turned to chaos with dark mana floating in the air while the core was imbalanced and releasing some type of electricity.

In the middle of the disaster, and above Cleopatra and the other warriors, someone was floating with a nonchalant face as if they didn't just destroy a planet and ruined its core.

Cleopatra looked up and was shocked to see who it was. Her breathing hitched, and words were stuck in her throat, "Cleo?"