Mushoku Tensei: A different path

(Third POV)

"Everyone, get the hell away from here! This place will become even more of a disaster!"

Such were the words shouted by the lightning-induced Rudeus.

Most of the fighters were confused, mostly because of the smiling freak they had to witness massacre most of the insects.

The only ones knowing what he meant went to do as he said.

"Come on, people! You heard him! Leave!"

Soldat, along with the rest of [Stepped Leader] and [Counter Arrow], encouraged the survivors of this battlefield.

Meanwhile, Rudeus swiftly placed the remains of the monsters near him. The fairy was regenerating again, her head returning in the form of liquidized flesh before her main body was sliced into pieces and then electrocuted to prolong her reassembling process.

On the other side of things, the survivors grabbed anyone injured, the dead and deceased ones left behind for now.

Susanne and Timothy assisted the injured Mimir, Jino ignored everything to go and find Nina, and Soldat had to reprimand the two girls who were reluctant to leave.

"Sara, move it. You too, lady."

Both the young swordwoman and the archeress were firm on their feet, their weapons ready for any other attack they might find open.

Rushing towards the blond girl, he grabbed her by the shoulder, turning her around.

"Get going already," Soldat said sternly.

"But—" Sara tried to argue but was cut off.

"Why should I listen to the likes of you?" Eris sternly said, her resolve to aid Rudeus still as adamant as ever.

But Soldat did not care about anyone's resolve after imagining what Rudeus could mean by 'this place will become a disaster'.

"Look, lady, if HE says we should leave, then YOU must listen."

"What do you know!?" Eris furiously said with furrowed eyebrows.

"I know him well enough to know better that his weakness is fighting around people! What you can do is let him do what he does. I mean, for the love of god, there is Calamity in his name for a reaso-."

*Boom*

Interrupting Soldat was a stomp from Rudeus smashing the head of the fairy.

"Guys! Just get everyone to safety already," Rudeus shouted out before turning his eyes to Eris and continuing. "That goes for you too, Eris."

With that said, he proceeded to shred the morphing with his claws in another barrage.

Seeing as time was of the essence, Soldat had enough trying to talk some sense into the red-haired Sword Saint and instead chose to drag her away by the arm.

"Hey!!"

"Oh, shut it! He specifically mentioned you, meaning he doesn't need you here. Now, come on! Sara, you too."

Forcefully pulled away from the scene, Eris resists less than expected, mainly because Rudeus called her out to leave, leading her to believe that he sees her as a hindrance rather than an ally he could rely on.

As they ran away, Sara, who was running next to Eris, saw the devastated look on her face.

She connected the dots and figured that the swordswoman was the Eris Rudeus occasionally talked about, the granddaughter of the executed feudal lord of the Fittoa region.

Half expecting the daughter of a noble to ditch the fight the moment she gets told to leave, Sara is baffled by the young woman's resolve for Rudeus and feels threatened by losing him to her, deep down regretting not having asked him out on a date in the last few days.

***

"Finally," commented Rudeus after the last survivor left the premises.

As he looked down, the remains of the three insects lay before him, all shredded and heavily electrocuted but still regenerating.

He could've just deactivated his technique and tried to seal them in a small, airtight black metal container, but that would have taken time and led to the insects regenerating before it was completed.

There was a better solution. One that would involve his recently discovered technique combined with a new method of forming it.

As his laughing intensified, so did his smile grow wider. The following move became his signature dance in this world—a performance that would cast a devastating element upon the grounds of Sharia.

He placed his hands on the ground and swung his legs as before. As he spun his body around, he gathered ambient mana, gradually increasing speed. He then used his shoulders, protected by barriers, as a cushion on the ground.

It didn't take long before the air around him started to crackle. Dust and rubble were swept along, and so did the shredded insects, their slowly gathering parts being caught in the storm that started brewing.

After approximately twenty seconds, the lightning tornado intensified, with electricity gathering in every direction and flowing along Rudeus's rotation.

By this point, it had become a thunderstorm with Rudeus at the epicenter.

The fairy insect regenerated first but could not escape the lightning's paralyzation effect, her shield useless in the face of the storm. The morphing and muscle insects soon found themselves in a similar situation, their own abilities proving pointless.

Soon, the lightning tornado pillared upwards, its captives getting thrown along with it.

Further away, many witnessed the immaculate pillar rise up, and the roaring thunder reached distances beyond the city's defenses. One could say it was truly a disaster, as the young magician had said.

Fully charged and ready, Rudeus stopped his dance and swiftly ran to the top of one of the remaining pillars of the destroyed building. He then leaped high enough with the help of Gravity Magic to be above the tornado he had created on the ground.

Channeling all the rotating lightning in his body to his right fist, he held it ready for his technique's signature special attack.

"Here comes [Terabolt]!"

With the name of his technique yelled out, he swung his fist down, and a second lightning tornado descending into the first one rotated in the opposite direction.

The two tornadoes collided with each other, the center between them expanding two-dimensionally, tearing anything and everything apart.

Like a tree rapidly growing out its branches, the lightning extended to even the edges of the Magic City, the spectacle lighting up so much that even from far away, one could see specs of light going off.

***

Not so far away from the pillar, if one could call it that anymore, the onlookers were mesmerized by the lightning-covered sky.

Most, if not all, of the teachers had to admit their foolishness in seeing Rudeus as nothing more than a child.

After witnessing the level of destructive power he unleashed, paired with the speed and technique he demonstrated earlier, it dawned on them WHY he was recognized as one of the seven strongest warriors in the world.

Seconds went by as the thunder disk demolished before vanishing completely. Not a speck of clouds was left in miles, only the echoing thunder resonating in the air.

This continued momentarily before people asked aloud if the fight was over... until something peculiar was heard in the distance as it came closer.

"-No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No-"

Instead of a victory cry, the crowd heard the Magician cry out a single word of denial multiple times. His technique was already deactivated as he jumped over the roofs of the buildings and headed toward the people.

"Rudues!" Soldat yelled out. "Did you kill them?"

As Rudeus approached, he was seen carrying his giant shuriken, his momentum not slowing one bit as he jumped past the crowd.

Once Soldat and the others saw a glimpse of the boy's face, they understood from his upset look that something must have gone wrong.

Instead of waiting for his friends, he skipped them and headed toward the insects he had seen through his Clairvoyant Eye.

Thinking she could help this time, Eris followed him; however, the crowd stood in her way as she shoved her way through them, Sara following suit with the same intention.

Very few thought about why the young man was in such a rush. Some thought he may have failed to defeat the three monsters, while others assumed another threat was lying outside the city. Both were right.

Before Rudeus's performance climaxed, the three monsters vanished into thin air.

Having already picked up the direction they were located at before his technique reached its limit, he spared no time heading there after healing himself quickly.

His destination was the west side of Sharia's walls, where he launched his initial attack with his dragon.

Unbeknownst to him, there lies a surprise more than just unexpected.

///