Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra-Chapter 566: Trust Me

Her fingers trembled, but she clenched them into fists. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her falter.

Veyron exhaled, as if the weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders. "My master promised me something real. Something you could never give me. You were never meant to succeed."

Sia's emotions reached their peak, boiling like molten steel beneath her skin.

"You trash bastard-!"

And then—

"Sigh..."

The Black Star Lord shook his head, almost disappointed.

"Come now, Sia," he drawled, spreading his arms lazily. "Don't take it so personally. A good strategist knows when to cut their losses. It's just a shame you never realized that until now."

Sia inhaled sharply, forcing herself to push past the seething rage curling in her chest.

The situation was dire. But she wasn't done yet.

Far from it.

"Are you truly so confident?" she asked, her voice dark. "You act as though you've already won."

The Black Star Lord chuckled. "Haven't I?"

And there it was. That insufferable, arrogant certainty.

Well, he had all the means to back it up.

Even the End plan meant nothing now. He must have taken precautions.

But still...

Sia couldn't control her fury, but just before she could lash out, his tone shifted.

"But," he mused, "I'm feeling generous today. Why don't we just stop and put all this behind us? I will forget your and your people's rebellion, your foolish defiance. I'll even restore your position—no, I'll promote you." He smirked. "We can forget all of this. You and I both know you're wasting your time fighting me."

Sia hesitated.

For a split second, the offer hung in the air, tempting.

Then—

(Don't trust him.)

A voice.

(He's lying. He will kill you all.)

Echoing through her mind.

Sia bit her lip, cursing herself for even considering it.

Of course - he never said he forgives them.

And of course, he would try this.

She must have forgotten—the Black Star Lord's power didn't just lie in brute strength, but in his ability to manipulate.

To twist emotions, to plant doubt. To control people like chess pieces.

But whose voice was that?

It was familiar.

Outwardly, she scoffed, curling her lips into a smirk. "Join you?" she mocked. "Like that scum?" Her eyes flicked toward Veyron, watching the brief flicker of irritation in his expression. "You must think I'm desperate."

"You b*tch!"

The voice spoke again.

(Go all out, if you want to survive.)

Sia tensed. (We will be annihilated if we do that.)

(Don't worry about that,) the voice replied, steady and sure. (I will make sure it doesn't happen.)

(W...who are you exactly?) Sia asked.

(Remember the masked man from the Elvins' world?)

Sia's eyes widened briefly—but she masked it in an instant.

Him.

The mysterious figure who not only disrupted both her and Black Star lord's plan but also forced the Black Star Lord's clone to self-destruct effortlessly.

If he was here…

If he really had a way to defeat this black scourge...

For the first time since the battle began, Sia felt something shift.

A chance.

A gamble, but a real one.

She exhaled, closing her eyes for a fraction of a second. Then—

She chuckled.

"What, offended?" she taunted.

The Black Star Lord's smile faded, his crimson eyes narrowing.

"Why," he murmured, his tone dropping to a chilling coldness, "must you make this difficult?"

Sia ignored him.

Instead, she connected to her forces through the link, her voice steady despite the storm raging inside her.

'Listen to me carefully. Fight the moment I give the signal. Trust me… one last time.'

'...Please.'

And with that, she opened her eyes.

"For the White Star City!"

The tension in the air snapped like a drawn bowstring.

"Engage!"

Sia's forces surged forward, their auras erupting in full force, shaking the very ground beneath them.

Battle cries rang through the battlefield, raw and unyielding, as they unleashed their strongest moves. Flames roared, lightning crackled, and the earth trembled under the sheer intensity of their combined might.

At the forefront, Sia gripped her scythe, dark energy coiling around its blade. With a single pulse of power, the weapon grew, its black steel extending to nearly five meters, humming with destructive force. She twirled it once, the force of the motion sending a deadly gust of black mist slash outward.

The Black Star Lord clicked his tongue, unimpressed. "How troublesome." His gaze flickered toward his forces. "Subdue them. And make sure she stays alive."

At his command, a tide of warriors surged forward. Nearly four times Sia's forces, they moved like a flood, overwhelming everything in their path. Sia's fighters clashed against them, but the sheer difference in numbers was crushing.

The battlefield turned into chaos.

A knight beside Sia gritted his teeth, barely deflecting a blow that would have crushed his ribs. "There's too many—!"

A mage let out a pained gasp as chains wrapped around her wrists, dragging her to the ground.

A monstrous beast swung its claws, sending three of Sia's men flying.

Despite their power, despite their strongest attacks, they were being pushed back, their movements growing desperate.

Sia gritted her teeth. If the Black Star Lord had given the order to kill, they would have already been wiped out. The only thing keeping them standing was his command to keep them alive.

But for what purpose?

Was it amusement? A twisted game?

Then—

A crack.

A sharp, unnatural rip in the air itself.

For a brief moment, everything stood still.

Sia froze. The Black Star Lord's forces hesitated. Even he narrowed his eyes slightly, his head tilting toward the disturbance.

The crack pulsed. Expanding.

And then—

A voice cut through the silence.

"Attack!"

It came from the Black Star Lord's side.

A hunter, standing beside the princesses.

His eyes gleamed, but not with loyalty.

He wasn't one of them.

In an instant, the battlefield erupted into chaos once more—this time, in complete reversal.

Hundreds of figures descended from the crack, shadows against the broken sky.

And then, as if an unseen spell unraveled, hundreds of the Black Star Lord's men shifted.

Their bodies warped, their skin turning a greenish hue.

They weren't hunters.

They were the Elvins.

They had been hiding in plain sight.

---- --- -

The battlefield trembled under the sheer intensity of clashing forces, but the sudden shift sent shockwaves through both sides. The Elvins, hidden among the Black Star Lord's ranks, had revealed themselves, throwing everything into disarray.

And then—

A sharp cry.

Princess Bella gasped as an arm wrapped around her throat, yanking her back.

The same hunter who shouted held her hostage, a jagged blade pressed to her delicate skin.

At the same time, a young Elvin warrior, his features now fully unmasked, had a dagger hovering just above Princess Mira's heart.

The battlefield froze.

The Black Star Lord's forces halted instantly, their weapons still raised but their movements stiff with hesitation.

Sia's breath hitched, her gaze darting to the princesses.

"Is that it?" she muttered under her breath.

The Black Star Lord remained still, but something dangerous flickered in his eyes.

Then, he exhaled, clicking his tongue. "So you have finally shown yourself," he murmured, his tone neither amused nor angry—just… expectant and blissful.

His fingers twitched.

And then—

Snap!

Dark spikes erupted from the ground, jagged obsidian spears lancing upward at unnatural speed.

The hunter barely managed to twist away, dragging Bella with him. The Elvin holding Mira jerked back just in time, his dagger nicking the princess's sleeve instead of piercing flesh.

But the attack had done its job.

It forced them to retreat.

The hunter's eyes gleamed as he sneered. "Tch. Looks like you're still sharp."

The Elvin warrior growled, gripping Mira tightly as he and his allies joined the war.

The battlefield remained eerily still for a moment.

Then, the Black Star Lord exhaled through his nose, almost in amusement.

"So, the rats still have some fight left in them."

His crimson eyes gleamed, a slow smirk forming on his lips.

"How interesting."