The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 160

Chapter 160: Frozen Storm
“What’s going on?” Clara asked in confusion.

She was currently standing in front of the rift with the two commanders, Owen, Reid, and the others.

They were fully prepared to enter the rift but for some reason, they couldn’t.

Commander Ajax outstretched his hand, trying to pass it through the rift but as soon as his hand got close enough, it was stopped, as if an invisible wall was between it and the rift.

Ajax frowned as withdrew his hand, before saying “Something’s stopping us from entering.”

That was the only plausible explanation right now because the other side of the rift was visible to them but they weren’t allowed in.

[A restriction rune] Evo informed Reid.

‘A restriction rune?’ He mentally questioned.

[Yes, but this time it seemed to have been programmed with the entire rift] Evo answered [and it’s made in such a way that it only allows specific people in, while also allowing anything from within to walk out.]

‘Can you destroy it?’ Reid asked, hopeful.

[No, not from out here] Evo dashed his hope.

‘What if I use Nyx to teleport us inside?’ he suggested.

[That won’t work either] she answered [although the rift is right in front of you, it’s actually in a completely different dimension and you do not have enough soul power to cover that distance, just yet.]

‘I can’t just stand here and do nothing.’

Reid was getting agitated by the second and it was evident on his face.

“Are you okay?” Lisa, who was standing by his side, asked.

Reid didn’t answer at first, his fist clenched tightly at his side. He knew his mom was strong—strong enough to handle almost anything.

If she couldn’t defeat whatever threat she was facing inside the rift, then none of them stood a chance.

But still… he couldn’t help but worry.

Releasing a sigh, he turned to Lisa before explaining “The rift is layered with restriction runes”.

Lisa’s brows furrowed. “Restriction runes?”

“They’re runes used to limit access,” Reid explained, his frustration evident in his tone. “They let you block specific things—people, primals, forged beasts, whatever—from being in a certain location. It’s like a filter. If you’re not on the ‘allowed’ list, you’re locked out completely.”

“How do you know about… I-I mean how are you so sure?” Commander Voss suddenly cut in.

Reid looked at him with suspicious eyes.

Ever since he learnt that the commander was the one who gave the green light for their previous mission, he had been Reid’s first suspect as the cult’s spy.

But since he didn’t have any proof to start pointing fingers, he decided to just observe for now.

“Before Malrath previously attacked the city, Major Cross and I had to face a group of people that called themselves the Cult,” Reid replied anyway, keeping his tone neutral. “We encountered a similar restriction rune back then, one that restricted us from summoning our forged beasts.”

Voss’s expression didn’t change, but Reid didn’t miss the subtle twitch at the corner of his mouth. Whether it was surprise or something else, he couldn’t tell yet.

“So you’re saying this rift was deliberately opened by someone as a trap for Lady Fletcher?” Commander Ajax asked, a frown overlapped his usual one.

Whoever opened the rift was either recklessly underestimating Vivian despite her being a Mythic rank or was confident, because the only reason to bait her in alone would be if they had a Primal stronger than Platinum tier waiting inside.

And that, that was a terrifying thought.

Commander Ajax couldn’t imagine mythic tier primals walking on earth, after all, the platinum tier ones had done enough damage.

Reid clenched his fist again, even harder this time.

“Yes, Sir” he answered, “I believe the cult wanted to get Mom out of the way since she might be a bigger variable than they can handle.”

The group quieted down before Owen asked “is there a way to by pass the rune?”

“Not from out here,” Reid said “we need to pass through it and destroy the rune from within.”

Silence followed soon after. They had no way of entering the rift in the first place, so there was nothing any of them could do.

Then Lisa spoke, softly but firmly. “Then we’ll have to have faith in your mom.”

Reid didn’t reply, but his clenched jaw said everything. He hated it. But for now… he had no choice.

____________

While Reid and the others stood outside the rift, Vivian faced off against the lightning dragon.

They were in a stand still as no one had made a move yet, but Vivian’s patience was quickly running out.

After all, she couldn’t—no, she shouldn’t—stay in this form for too long, lest she risk losing her emotions.

Spinning the spear made from her white flames, she hurled it at the lightning dragon with enough force to rupture a mountain.

Boom!

The spear let out a sonic boom as it cut through the air, headed directly for the dragon.

The dragon sensed the unnatural cold radiating from the spear long before it reached.

Despite being a creature of pure lightning, it chose not to take any chances—swiftly dodging the incoming attack.

“You have not learnt—” before it could complete it’s words, another spear shot at it, forcing it to dodge again.

In response, it created a storm cloud above Vivian which constantly released bolts of lightning at her.

But Vivian didn’t even bother dodging the bolts, she didn’t need to.

When the lightning got close enough to touch her flames, they were immediately encased in ice, causing them to harmlessly fall to the ground and shatter harmlessly like glass.

The lightning encased in ice was a beautiful sight, but unfortunately, the two combatants had no time to admire it.

Vivian then opened her wings and immediately took flight, aiming directly at the dragon.

Seeing her approach, the dragon opened its mouth, letting out a stream of lightning at her but it was useless.

Her cold flames turned every lightning bolt to ice.

Vivian continued her approach, flying faster than before, with a trail of cold flame chasing her.

The dragon gathered even more lightning, hoping that this attack would work but before it could release it, Vivian was already upon it.

Clenching her fist, she didn’t something the dragon thought was impossible in its current form.

Her fist was coated in the white flames as she released a punch too fast for the dragon to react.

The attack connected, sending the dragon into one of the still standing but frozen mountains.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed the dragon stuck deep in a crater, and it had reverted back to its physical form.

Most of its scales that covered its chest area were completely frozen, so we’re it’s wings, and pressure applied to them, no matter how small, would caused them to shatter.

“YOU DARE!” The dragon screamed in anger.

Of course It had expected Vivian to be stronger with her white flames, but her being strong enough to force her to devolve was out of its expectations.

Vivian said nothing, preferring to keep floating mid air before she summoned her flame spear again.

“W—WAIT” the dragon panicked.

If a single hit from Vivian had forced it into this state, it couldn’t imagine how much damage her spear could cause.

“Y-YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO ANGER MY MASTER BY—” it started but Vivian didn’t care.

Without a bit of hesitation, she hurled the spear at the dragon.

Stuck within the crater and unable to move, thee dragon chose the only other thing it could do.

Gathering every ounce of energy within it, it released the biggest flame breath it ever has throughout its life.

The bolts encased the spear, trying to stop its movement forward, but it was useless.

The spear maintained its speed, freezing every bolt of lightning in its path before finally,

The spear struck the dragon’s chest embedding deep enough to reach its core.

There was a moment of silence as if time itself had halted before,

BOOM!

The dragon exploded into a storm of lightning, but before a single bolt could escape, the white flames from Vivian’s spear wrapped around them and froze them solid mid-air.

The dragon didn’t even get a chance to let out a scream before it was defeated, just like that..

Vivian’s cold eyes watched the spectacle with not even a stir of emotion within.

“I should’ve probably saved it’s core for Reid” she muttered but her voice lacked their usual warmth when mentioning Reid.

“Let’s just leave” she said and turned to the frozen cloaked figure.

He wasn’t dead yet, just completely frozen since Vivian didn’t want the rift to close if she killed the anchor.

Reaching him, Vivian created a makeshift net with her flames and dragged him while she flew towards the rift.

Moments after Vivian left, the space where the battle previously took place tore open like a sheet of paper.

From within the tear, an entity that stood upright like humans but with black scales arranged like armor, massive black wings extending from its back and a tail walked out.

“Hmm?” he took in the destruction around it in a bit of surprise.

“White flames?” he muttered as he observed the single lightning that tried to escape be encased in white flames “Interesting.”

There was a grin on his face, although covered by the helmet-like scale, as he spoke “I can’t wait for us to meet again little phoenix.”

With that, he turned around, ready to return back to his castle.