## CHAPTER 43: The Orchestration of Ruin
The clearing felt like a stage, and the trio of high-born boys were determined to play the leads in a movie that was rapidly turning into a tragedy. The three backed away from the Great Earthworm, their boots skidding in the churned earth as they prepared a desperate, final gambit.
"Ready when you are," One said, his voice cracking with the strain of his depleted mana. The others nodded, a silent pact of arrogance and necessity.
One stood at the center of their formation, channeled every remaining drop of his energy. "**CRISIS!**" he roared. He thrust his hands forward, and a vortex of dark, gravitational mana began to swirl between his palms, condensing into a dense, pitch-black sphere.
Seeing the signal, the other 2 leaped to his flanks, extending their arms toward the sphere to feed the flame.
"**WIVERIN WAVE!**" One yells. A jagged, cobalt-blue beam of pure kinetic force erupted from his hands, striking the black orb and causing it to vibrate with unstable frequency.
"**SONIC REPULSION!**" The other followed, a crimson incantation circle snapping into existence before his palms. A searing red beam lashed out, merging with the orb.
The sphere didn't just grow; it ignited. It began to emit a blinding, Red-white radiance that pierced through the forest's gloom. The light acted like a siren's call to the Great Earthworm. The creature's gargantuan eye fixed on the brilliance, its primitive mind mesmerized by the sheer intensity of the mana. It wiggled forward, its massive mouth agape, drawn toward the light like a moth to a funeral pyre.
"Chew on this!" He hissed, his face pale from the drain. "**OMEGA FLARE!**"
He shoved the ball forward. It transformed into a roaring, straight-line beam of white-hot destruction. However, The boy's hands were shaking too violently; the beam whistled past the worm's flank, striking the ground behind it.
*BOOM!*
A cataclysmic explosion ripped through the clearing, uprooting trees and sending a mushroom cloud of dirt and smoke into the sky. The sheer concussive force of the impact tossed the worm backward, slamming its massive body into the earth where it lay still, half-buried under debris.
Silence fell, thick and heavy with the scent of ozone.
He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air as if the very atmosphere had been sucked out of the clearing. The other Leaned on their knees, sweat dripping from their chins, but grins were already spreading across their faces.
"That... was something," one wheezed, a arrogant chuckle bubbling up.
"Yeah," Another muttered from the dirt. "At least we won."
"You know," He said, sitting up and wiping his brow, "there was a small chance I would have lost control and that blast would have blown us up instead."
"At least it didn't," One replies replied with a smirk. "We're still alive, and that worm is a corpse. It's a win-win."
"For us, maybe. Not for the worm," One joked. They burst into a loud, triumphant laughter, the sound of boys who thought they had conquered the world.
But the laughter died in thier throat.
---
"Guys," One suddenly whispered, his eyes locking onto the "corpse" in the distance. The other two were still recounting their glory, ignoring him.
"Guys!" he called again, his voice rising in pitch. The look on his face shifted from exhaustion to pure, unadulterated terror. He froze, his body locking up as if his blood had turned to ice.
"**GUYS!!!**"
The scream finally cut through their celebration. The other 2 turned to him, following his trembling finger. Ahead of them, the Great Earthworm was wiggling. Its skin, though scorched, was far from broken. It raised its head from the craters of the explosion, its massive eye now a deep, burning red.
"How?" one asked, his voice a ghost of a sound.
The worm opened its maw, revealing rows of brown, dagger-like teeth that dripped with caustic saliva.
*ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!*
The roar was a physical force, a sonic shockwave that shook the very foundation of the forest and sent the boys tumbling backward. The beast was beyond angered, It charged, the ground buckling beneath its massive weight.
"Quick! Again!" One yelled, scrambling to his feet. He leveled his hand, his fingers twitching. "Cri—"
He never finished. The worm struck like a battering ram, its massive head slamming into his chest. He was sent flying like a ragdoll, striking a tree with a sickening *thud* before falling motionless to the ground.
Before the other 2 could react, the worm spun its body, using its gargantuan tail as a whip. The impact sent the remaining two flying in opposite directions. They hit the earth hard, their mana exhausted, their bodies broken. The worm turned toward one of the boys, racing closer with every thud of its body. One hit in this condition would be certain death.
---
"Hound," a voice whispered, cool and detached.
Edna stepped out from the shadows of the trees. She was a safe distance away, her eyes fixed on the beast. She stretched her hand forward, a translucent red cube forming in her palm. Unlike the charged cubes she used for brute force, this one was intricate, divided into dozens of smaller, humming geometric shapes.
One of the boys , lying in the dirt, saw her and felt a surge of hope. "Quick! Fire!" he yelled.
Edna didn't fire at the worm. She tilted her hand upward. The red cubes shot into the sky like glowing bullets, but as they reached the canopy, they changed course, weaving through the branches before detonating in a series of brilliant, crackling explosions.
*BOOM! BOOM!*
It looked like a morbid fireworks display, sparks and red flame-charges raining down through the leaves.
"You fool!" One screamed in despair.
" You've doomed us all!"
---
Miles away, the lights in the sky didn't go unnoticed.
Silas stopped walking, the heavy scorpion tail shifting on his shoulder. He looked up at the red sparkles through the leaves, his expression one of mild irritation.
"She thinks she has shine," he muttered to himself, his voice dull, before continuing his solitary trek.
Zerav, with Diane still clinging to his arm, paused to watch the red sparks drift down like dying stars. Behind him, Ben stared in awe, his hatred momentarily forgotten.
*"Edna seems to be turning up the heat,"* Zerav thought, a dark, knowing smile playing on his lips.
Louisa, still tucked safely on Kelvin's back, felt the vibration of the explosions through the air. She watched the crimson glow reflecting in the distance.
"Edna seems to be having fun," she mused silently, resting her chin on Kelvin's shoulder as he watched the display in wonder.
---
The "fireworks" had done their job. The Great Earthworm, attracted to the sound and light, abandoned the boys and lunged toward Edna. It tore through the underbrush, its mouth wide, ready to swallow her whole.
"Shoot it!" One yelled, trying to crawl away.
Edna didn't move. She stood perfectly still as the gargantuan head approached, the wind from the monster's charge ruffling her hair. Just as impact seemed inevitable—a mere three feet of space remaining—she whispered a single word:
"**Asteroid.**"
Suddenly, the red glow didn't come from Edna. It came from the trees.
Dozens of "Planted Energy Beams"—cubes Edna had hidden in the foliage while she was "circling the perimeter"—ignited simultaneously. From the left, right, and above, concentrated red lances of energy, shot all at once so fast, it intersected at the worm's position.
The beast didn't even have time to shriek. The beams punched through its hide from every angle, vaporizing flesh and bone. A geyser of gross, green fluid exploded from the creature, splashing across Edna's face and clothes. The worm hit the ground, motionless, its body little more than a hollowed-out husk filled with smoking holes.
"What... what was that?" One of the boys asked, staggering toward her.
"Planted energy beams," Edna replied, her voice dull. She pulled a cloth from her pocket and began cleaning the green goo from her cheek with practiced indifference.
"Not bad for a..." He started, his voice trailing off as Edna turned to face him.
The air around her shifted. The "silly" girl vanished, replaced by something cold and terrifying. Her eyes were dark pools of ice, and her expression was so void of emotion it was haunting.
"Do you want to die?" she asked, her voice a low, scary rasp.
He instantly froze, the blood draining from his face. The mockery he had prepared died in his throat.
"Not bad for a... beautiful princess like yourself," Another quickly interrupted saving his friend's life just in a Nick of time, his voice shaking as he stepped in to save his friend from the sudden, chilling aura.
Edna's face instantly snapped back to her usual, cheerful smile. The killing intent vanished as if it had never been there.
"Good," she said brightly. She turned and began walking down the path toward the next ruby, not waiting to see if the boys could keep up.