CHAPTER 131: COOLBIRD

"Bigbird, tell me what happened?" Auren asked, his eyes still clouded with confusion.

His breath came shallow, his body tense as his memories lagged behind the present. The last thing he remembered was Aurelus crushing both his arms as he landed, then driving his sword straight through his heart.

He could still feel the phantom pain of that strike. The sensation of ribs cracking, lungs collapsing, his chest burning with the taste of blood.

After that came the strange encounter with the angel Gabriel, who spoke of some so-called "side quest," and then darkness swallowed him whole.

The next time Auren opened his eyes, everything had been flipped upside down. Somehow, he was still alive, standing again, but the world was not the same.

Now, in the quiet recess of his mental space, he faced Bigbird—yet not the same phoenix as before.

Bigbird had changed.

The bird that once seemed almost playful now loomed larger than life, at least twice its old size. The once-golden feathers now glimmered with streaks of deep crimson, like veins of fire running wild.

They radiated a raw, untamed energy that pressed down on Auren’s senses. Sparks of black lightning flared occasionally in the phoenix’s eyes, as if chaos itself had nested in its gaze.

Even the long plumes of its tail had shifted, some feathers curling into jagged lightning shapes instead of the usual fiery arcs.

The aura rolling off Bigbird was staggering. Heavy, domineering, almost suffocating. It wasn’t the same playful flame Auren once knew. This was sharper, deadlier, unchained.

"You wanna see how I did it?"

Bigbird asked with a sly grin in his voice.

Before Auren could even reply, the phoenix’s eyes glowed, and suddenly, memories not his own crashed into Auren’s mind.

Images surged, raw and vivid—the moment after his death, when his heart had stopped and his body lay limp. Bigbird had taken over.

...

Hyah!

Aurelus loomed over the corpse, his crimson blade raised high. With a snarl, he swung down, aiming to sever Auren’s head in one decisive strike.

But before the sword could bite into flesh, the supposedly lifeless body twitched. Two fingers flicked sharply, and the fallen Divine Rapier flew back into Auren’s grasp as though summoned by instinct.

KLANG!

The clash rang out, steel against steel, stopping Aurelus’s blade cold.

"Who dares touch my master’s body?"

The voice that came from Auren’s lips was deeper, sharper, and carried an authority that froze the battlefield.

Aurelus staggered back, his eyes wide. He couldn’t believe it. Auren’s body was moving, speaking, fighting back—despite the fatal wound that should have ended him moments ago.

Even more terrifying, the wound across his chest was already knitting itself together, the torn flesh glowing as it closed at an impossible pace.

"I knew it," Aurelus growled through clenched teeth, recognition flashing in his eyes.

"The blood of the Holy Phoenix runs in this one. My suspicion that he is the Frameless Warrior is getting stronger. But I shall end you today!"

He pushed harder, straining against the lock of blades, but to his shock, Auren’s body held firm. His own strength, which had crushed countless foes, was being resisted blow for blow.

Then Auren’s eyes snapped open. They weren’t his usual eyes.

These glowed with a fire untamed. His mouth opened, and from deep within, a torrent of searing flame burst forth.

BWAAAAH!

The blast roared like a dragon’s breath. Aurelus barely raised his sword in time, his body engulfed in flames as the air rippled with heat.

His armor sizzled, skin blistering before his healing factor clawed to keep up. He leapt back, grunting, his chest scorched and smoking.

Before Aurelus could recover, shadows shifted. The members of Dark Fate closed in, weapons raised, encircling Auren from all sides.

The circle tightened—bows drawn, spears thrust forward, wands glowing with charged spells.

"Please, Lord Aurelus," Marissa’s voice cut through the chaos. She appeared behind him, hands glowing with green light as she poured healing into his burns. "Leave this one to us."

"No," Aurelus snapped, still glaring at Auren.

"I will take care of him myself."

But Marissa blocked him, her expression tense.

"Please remember our greater plans," she pressed, her voice sharp with urgency.

"You hold the final piece for the activation of the Thugknaw. If we destroy this place, we achieve everything. Risking yourself against a mere pest is pointless. Leave it to us."

"She is right, Lord Aurelus," another of the cult’s warriors echoed.

"Yeah," one more added, nodding quickly.

"Save your strength. He is nothing compared to our mission."

Their words layered one after another, until even Aurelus, begrudgingly, relented.

Tsk.

He clicked his tongue, his glare never leaving Auren.

"Very well. I leave him to you." He turned his back, but just as he did, a shiver crawled up his spine. Instinct screamed danger.

"Yo, old man!" Bigbird’s voice thundered through Auren’s lips, mocking and sharp.

"You think I’ll just let you walk away?"

SHEOOBBH!

Light exploded outward. A blinding golden aura burst from Auren’s body, erupting into the heavens and painting the battlefield in brilliant fire.

The ground trembled. The very air warped under the heat.

Before their eyes, Auren’s body shifted. His small frame stretched, growing taller, broader, until he towered as a seven-foot warrior.

His dark green leather suit glowed, then shattered away like dust, replaced by gleaming golden armor traced with intricate phoenix motifs.

Flames licked across the plates, alive, as if the armor itself burned with divine wrath.

Golden gauntlets gripped the hilt of his rapier, which now lengthened into a shining blade wrapped in a crackling aura of fire and lightning.

Behind him, six flaming wings spread wide, radiant and overwhelming. He looked every inch a divine knight.

BOOM!

The transformation sent a shockwave blasting outward. The ranks of Dark Fate were thrown like leaves in a storm.

Agh!

Uggh!

Some slammed into walls and crumpled unconscious, others collapsed to their knees, suffocating under the crushing weight of his aura.

"Heok!" one gasped, barely able to breathe.

"Don’t fear him!" another shouted, desperation cracking his voice. "He’s only one man!"

But the moment Auren’s burning gaze swept across them, their bravado shattered. Sweat poured down their backs, their knees quivered.

"Get lost."

With a casual swing of his blade, a wall of fire erupted, roaring like a living beast. It crashed into the clustered cultists, swatting them away like insects.

Even Marissa, who layered herself in shimmering shields, was blasted back, tumbling with her staff shattering around her.

When the flames subsided, the battlefield was silent.

Only two figures remained standing.

It was Auren and Aurelus.

Aurelus’s eyes widened, disbelief cutting into his fury.

"No... How is this possible?" His breath was ragged, his voice hoarse.

Athena’s voice echoed from within his mental space.

"Such a level of transformation... It can only mean his blood purity surpasses yours."

"Impossible! I was the one who took the blood my self. If he is my descendant, it should be impossible to surpass mine... unless," Aurelus demanded, his face darkening.

"I feel the Phoenix blood within him, yes, but there is more. Another power layered on top, strengthening him. This can only mean he has received a Beastial Blessing."

Aurelus’s jaw tightened. "What nonsense is this? Are you certian?"

"I am not," Athena admitted, "but I suspect another Holy Beast—or something higher—has blessed him."

"Bullocks," Aurelus spat, though unease lingered beneath his anger.

"meeting the Holy Phoenix cost me my friends and comrades, and he gets to meet something like the Holy Phoenix just that easy?"

He raised his sword, flames crawling across its edge. Golden armor flared into being around him, intricate and heavy, wings bursting from his back.

But unlike Auren’s fiery wings, his were leathery and bat-like, darker, heavier, far less radiant. His flames paled in comparison.

His gaze locked on Auren’s form.

For the first time, fear and recognition cracked through his arrogance.

This one... he was almost certain now. The third child. The freak his men had failed to kill. The nightmare that haunted his dreams.

"No... No more failures," Aurelus growled, his flames intensifying.

"I know who you are. Fate may shield you when you were young, but this time, I will completley destroy you!"

He charged, every step cratering the earth beneath him, fire streaking behind his blade.

Bigbird, controlling Auren’s body, smirked.

His voice rang out, mocking yet deadly.

"You’ll pay for everything you’ve done to my master, old man!" and he too charged forward with the burning Divine Rapier in his hand.

Hya!

Graa!

BOOOOM!

The clash shook the entire place.

Their swords collided, sending waves of fire tearing across the ground.

Each strike carved devastation into stone and soil. None of the Dark Fate dared interfere, for even a stray ember could reduce them to ash.

Hyah!

Slash!

[PIERCING TWIST]

[TRIFOLD SLASH]

[AUSTERAN EDGE]

Aurelus unleashed technique after technique, his blade singing with fury.

"hyup!"

But Bigbird countered each one effortlessly, parrying, sidestepping, twisting around him as though reading his every move.

"What is this?" Aurelus thought, his strikes growing wilder.

"I should be faster, stronger because of my experience. But how can he anticipate every move?"

Bigbird smirked, eyes glinting.

"My turn."

He blurred, vanishing from sight. The next instant, his rapier slashed in a radiant arc.

"COOL BIRD SLASH!"

The blade ripped through Aurelus’s chest, carving deep, the force sending him crashing into a stone wall. Dust erupted, debris tumbling down.

THUD!

Silence.

The spectators—Robert, Mardonio, Austaire—stood frozen, unable to comprehend what they had witnessed. Their emperor candidate, the strongest among them, was being beaten.

Robert’s lips trembled as he whispered,

"Auren... is that really you?"

The words reached Bigbird’s sharp ears.

He turned his head, smirking proudly.

"Aaah, no. The one in this body isn’t Auren. It is the most handsome, the coolest looking bird."

He struck a pose in his golden form, wings flaring, rapier gleaming, his voice booming with ridiculous pride.

"And my name... is Coolbird."