Vol 6. Chapter 148: Declaration of War

The combat capabilities of these Void Insectoids weren’t particularly high. They posed no real threat to Noa.

After swiftly dealing with them, Noa grabbed Moon and Aurora’s hands, pulling her sisters behind her. Then, she turned her gaze toward the massive armored beast not far away.

The academy’s guards had already shifted to their dragon forms to engage it in battle.

However, the outer shell of the armored beast was incredibly tough. Neither magical attacks like dragon flames nor physical assaults using dragon bodies could inflict any real damage on it.

Of course, the downside of its extreme defense was its sluggish movements and weak offensive power. It couldn’t effectively harm the guards either.

Thus, the two sides were locked in a stalemate.

“Maybe we should try using the Primordial Force,” one guard suggested.

Noa nodded. “I’ll get Moon and Aurora to a safe place first, then I’ll come back to help.”

With that, Noa glanced toward the other students from Moon’s class.

“Everyone, follow me. I’ll take you away from here.”

The dozen or so young dragons followed the three sisters in an orderly fashion, quickly evacuating the playground.

But the roars of the armored beast continued to echo from behind them.

While evacuating, Noa took a moment to look /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ back.

She saw that the Void Armored Beast’s hard shell had suddenly sprouted countless sharp, menacing spikes.

The next second, it suddenly went berserk, charging wildly between the dragons.

In an instant, it shattered the formation of the guards.

“It can easily pierce through dragon scales?! What the hell is this monster?!”

“Injured guards, fall back! Everyone else, hold your ground! We can’t let that thing reach the students!”

“Yes, sir!”

But saying it was easy — doing it was another matter entirely.

Now that the armored beast had shifted from its defensive posture to a full-on offensive, it was like a walking meat grinder, ripping through everything in its path.

Blood spattered across the ground as several guards suffered various degrees of injuries.

After a few rounds of skirmishing, they had no choice but to take to the skies to avoid its onslaught.

“The academy’s reinforcements will be here soon. We just need to hold on a little longer.”

“But right now, no one can stop this thing. What should we—”

“Wait, look at it! Is it... is it searching for something? Or someone?”

Now that they were in the air, the guards had a better vantage point.

From above, they could clearly see the armored beast’s movements. It wasn’t charging aimlessly; it really did seem to be searching for something.

“What’s it looking for...?”

“Look! It just rushed over there!”

That direction was farther from the students.

“That’s... the training hall?”

“Not good! There’s still a teacher who hasn’t evacuated!”

The guards squinted in that direction.

Sure enough, not far from the training hall, a slender figure stood calmly, her arms crossed over her chest and her gaze lowered.

Even as the armored beast charged toward her at full speed, she didn’t show any intention of dodging.

“Get out of there! Move!!” one of the guards shouted at the top of his lungs.

But Safina remained as she was, completely unfazed.

It was as if she couldn’t see the monster hurtling toward her.

“Roar—!!”

The armored beast bellowed, extending one of its longest and sharpest spikes toward Safina.

Even now, Safina made no move to evade.

The spike pierced through the air, heading straight for Safina’s forehead.

And just as the razor-sharp spike was less than two centimeters from her brow, a shadow descended from above, slamming down onto the back of the armored beast.

The force of the impact was so powerful that half of the beast’s body was driven straight into the ground.

The spikes on its back shattered and scattered, flying in every direction.

When the dust settled, Kaiser slowly stood up from the beast’s back, looking down at Safina.

“Sis, are you okay?”

Safina shook her head.

“I’m fine,” she said softly.

This scene was witnessed clearly by the guards who had come to provide support.

“Wait... isn’t that the newbie who joined less than two months ago? He... he just took down that monster...”

“That’s insane... I thought he was just some rookie!”

“Never underestimate those who keep their true strength hidden. The last one who did that turned out to be stronger than a Dragon King.”

“...”

Safina calmly walked over to the armored beast, which was now lying motionless on the ground.

Its breathing was weak; its life was ebbing away.

Kaiser’s attack had been measured. It was strong enough to incapacitate the beast without killing it outright.

“Sis, was it... looking for us?”

Kaiser asked.

Safina let out a low hum, her eyes fixed on the beast’s head.

“To be precise, it was warning us.”

“A warning?”

“Yes,” Safina said.

“The Time God Clio in Samael is on the verge of falling. With his power fading, he can no longer maintain the seal over the Void Gate.And I suspect something went wrong with Leon and the others while they were searching for the Five-Spirit Crown. That’s why these Void creatures have been able to force their way through the Void Gate and tear open a rift to enter here. But if Clio completely loses his power, and we get invaded, even with Atos’s unending reinforcements, he wouldn’t be crazy enough to start a full-scale assault on Samael from here.”

“So, all of this is...”

“A warning to both of us.”

Kaiser understood Safina’s implication.

“No matter where we run, Atos will always find us. And...”

Kaiser looked up, his eyes following the direction Noa had gone.

Her sisters were still gazing at her back, worry etched on their faces.

Kaiser clenched his fists.

“And he’ll also hurt those around us.”

Safina closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

“That’s right. We can never truly escape the Void. We can never escape Atos’s shadow.”

Kaiser glanced at his sister.

In her dim, dark eyes, he could see the hint of a new resolve.

Kaiser could already guess what Safina was thinking. After all, they had been siblings, relying on each other for over twenty years.

“Teacher!”

Noa came running over, her eyes darting to the fallen armored beast before focusing on Safina and Kaiser.

“Teacher, are you both okay?”

Safina smiled gently and shook her head.

“We’re fine. Noa, are your sisters safe?”

“Yes, they’re all fine,” Noa said, her face still clouded with worry.

“These creatures... are they all from the Void?”

“Yes. They’re Atos’s armored vanguard unit.”

“Vanguard unit...? Does that mean—”

Safina crouched down, looking directly into Noa’s eyes.

Before Noa could finish her sentence, Safina said,

“Yes. The Void is about to launch a full-scale war against Samael. Today’s chaos was the opening signal.”