Edwin Lunar Chapter 21: Fire Across the Clouds

Read chapter 21 of Edwin Lunar by MananTayal on NovelPedia.

Smoke spread across the skies of Noroel. Pieces of broken arena platforms continued falling through the clouds while emergency drones rushed across the damaged sectors of the Skyblade Arena. Thousands of students watched in stunned silence from the viewing towers above. Nobody understood what had just happened. But everyone saw the same thing. ORION CONFIRMED. The sentence still echoed through Edwin's mind while he helped injured students onto emergency transport platforms near the eastern sector. Carl landed beside him shakily on his Skyblade. "I think I almost died six separate times." "You exaggerate constantly," Iris replied while reconnecting damaged arena systems through a floating console. Carl pointed toward the burning skybridge behind them. "That bridge literally exploded." "…Fair point." Lucien stepped down from the remaining platform nearby. Even he looked more serious than usual now. "The academy sealed the eastern sectors." Edwin looked toward the distant command tower. Dozens of professors and security units moved rapidly across emergency platforms while giant energy barriers activated around the damaged area. Something about this felt familiar. Too familiar. Like the train incident. Like Sector Zero. Like the Shadow Ruins. Every system failure somehow connected back to the same symbol. Project Eidolon. Professor Raith suddenly arrived through an aerial transport craft. The moment he landed, the atmosphere became tense. His sharp eyes moved immediately across the damaged arena. Then toward Orion Team. "What happened here?" Nobody answered immediately. Because honestly— None of them truly knew. Iris finally stepped forward. "The eastern platform systems were externally overridden." Raith's expression darkened slightly. "By who?" "That's the problem," Iris replied quietly. "There was no visible network source." Carl folded his arms. "So basically invisible haunted technology again." Raith ignored him completely. His eyes shifted toward Edwin. "The arena systems reacted to you." Not accusation. Observation. Edwin looked frustrated. "I didn't do anything." Before Raith could answer, academy alarms echoed loudly across the sky. WARNINGLOWER POWER INSTABILITY DETECTED The professors around the arena immediately reacted. Several emergency drones accelerated toward the lower academy sectors beneath the floating towers. Iris checked her scanner instantly. "That's impossible." "What now?" Carl asked nervously. "The Eternal Flame conduits beneath the arena are destabilizing." Lucien's expression sharpened. "If the conduits rupture…" Nobody needed to finish that sentence. The entire eastern sector of the academy could collapse. Students around the arena began panicking again as emergency barriers activated across the skies. Professor Raith turned sharply toward the command tower. "Evacuate all students immediately." But before the evacuation could begin— The arena lights died. Completely. Darkness spread across the floating platforms. Then every screen in the sky activated simultaneously. The silver eye appeared once more. Project Eidolon. Gasps spread through the arena. A distorted mechanical voice echoed across all sectors of the academy. "…Orion located…" Edwin's heartbeat stopped. "…synchronization nearing completion…" Carl looked horrified. "I officially hate whoever keeps talking." Then something enormous moved beneath the clouds below Noroel. At first Edwin thought it was a shadow. Then the clouds split apart. A gigantic mechanical structure began rising slowly from beneath the lower academy sectors. Students screamed. The machine looked ancient. Massive black armor covered its body while red Flame energy pulsed through giant cracks across its frame. Multiple glowing eyes activated along its head while mechanical wings unfolded slowly through the clouds. Lucien stared upward in disbelief. "…That's a war construct." Even Professor Raith looked shocked. The giant machine turned toward the academy towers. TARGET IDENTIF