One wrong step, and who knows what could happen. If we attack too recklessly or don’t control our output of power, we could create problems worse than the ones we’re already in. Thankfully, Chrollo and I were not as naive as we should have been. After all, we had both read from the book my father had given me, and within the section on Ruined creatures, Imps were one of the first to be introduced.
“Elex, behind you!” Chrollo warned me as I averted my gaze.
Surprisingly, despite their stiffness when they move, Imps were agile creatures that traveled faster than you would expect. Of course, the Imp that stood before us didn’t have the speed that a pair of second-years like Chrollo and I couldn’t handle. However, it was still shocking to see it move the way it did.
I quickly rotated where I stood to see the Imp behind me, Its arms stretched out to grab my garments. Thankfully to Chrollo’s warning, with a strong gust of wind, I created a gap between myself and the creature before anything could happen. Under different circumstances, this fight shouldn’t have been a problem. Chrollo and I were more than capable of handling this ruined creature by ourselves. However, the room was now dark, and its entire body was covered in its own blood. Two factors that worked heavily against our favor. The first, because Imps thrive in the dark, in fact, it’s the only place they can survive. They simply cannot exist in the light of day, and unfortunately for us, it had turned dark outside some time ago.
“Thank you,” I replied panting. Our fight had been prolonged simply due to our caution and discreetness toward this battle.
When I gazed down at the ring on my finger, It told me that its supply of mana to my body would soon come to an end and that I would then be using the rest of my natural storage.
“How are you fairing?” I asked Chrollo, still keeping an eye on the creature.
“I’m fine,” he replied curtly, “It’s just frustrating. Its body is light, meaning we can throw it around as we please, but at the same time it’s extremely tough to actually do any damage to the damn thing.”
“I get what you mean,” I said, “maybe it’s time you used that sword, huh?”
“I think you’re right,” He said clutching the hilt of the weapon around his waist. ”Where’s your own?” he asked.
“I left it on the bottom floor with the other pile of things Zack brought. I think I’m starting to regret that decision.” I said with a wavering smirk.
“It’s alright,” Chrollo replied, “I think I’ll try and attempt to slice open its body and we can attack it from the inside.”
“From the inside? What do you mean?”
“When the time comes, I’ll need you to hold it in place, and allow me to get close enough so that I can send my flames inside one of its wounds.”
“That's an extremely reckless idea, Chrollo,” I said taken aback.
“Well, I’m only suggesting that its body may not be as stubborn to damage on the inside as it is on the outside.” he said, “I’m sorry if you think it’s a foolish plan.”
The creature stared at us talking by the window. It hadn’t moved an inch, as if it were waiting for us to make the first move, or as if it were listening in on our conversation. The creature stoically held its face high, eyes tensed wide and glaring down at us with intent.
“I mean, it’s a bad idea because it’s too risky.” I insisted. “What if its blood touches you? What would happen then?”
“Well, I suppose if everything goes to plan, that won’t happen. Besides, if we can kill the creature before its blood gets on either of us, its mind-controlling effect will wear off, I think,” he argued with a slightly nervous chuckle. “Just trust me on this.”
I sighed, “Ok, but if anything we don’t account for happens, you need to create distance between you and that thing as fast as possible.”
Chrollo formed a smile on his face while slowly unsheathing the blade around his waist from its scabbard. He aimed the tip at the creature and with a sudden flash of light, the blade harbored the blue flames of Chrollo power.
“Just follow my lead, Elex.” He said whilst holding his confident smile. To which I replied with a nod.
With swift movement, Chrollo charged at the creature which stood there blankly waiting for his attacks. He swung and jabbed with precision at the beast, moving in ways that most of the students in our year would be too overwhelmed to react to. The Imp, however, not as erratic as Chrollo was, had skin as tough as nails, and so despite its attempts to dodge and counter Chrollo’s barrage of attacks, it was saved by its biological features. However, not indefinitely. Chrollo's attacks may have seemed to do little from the start, but they were most definitely taking effect on the creature. Little by little, small cuts and slits were made on the creature’s body, albeit slowly, but they would lead to a bigger wound in time.
I assisted Chrollo where possible. Whenever he made a cut on the Imp, its blood would spill and the beast was smart enough to throw what little blood he could in Chrollo’s direction. However, with my intervention, the blood never reached him, as I would catch the liquid in a pocket of air before it could even touch the ground. Whenever the Imp attempted to make an attack on Chrollo, with a slight resistance of wind created by me, I could throw it off balance or cause its attacks to go wide, allowing Chrollo the chance to counter with ease.
“Elex give me some air!” Chrollo shouted stepping back from the Imp.
He began to swing his sword in the motion of slicing down toward the Imp, however, his fiery blade was never going to reach its target due to the distance between them. Chrollo’s intentions were made clear to me when I saw the arc of the blue flames that had been produced after he swung the sword in the air and I swiftly proved the the fuel it needed to rage toward its target. I fanned his flames with fervor, and the effect we had created was much bigger than what I had imagined.
Chrollo’s blue flames spread toward the Imp’s side of the room like water filling a cup. The huge wave of fire scorched everything in its path leaving blackened walls as it traveled. The Imp, as tough as it was, was hurled back unforgivingly by the blue flames and crashed into the wall behind it, and I took advantage of the situation to lock it in place with a sheet of conjured air that held it against the wall.
“Chrollo, Now!” I shouted at my friend, indicating for him to move in and make the laceration he needed to send his flames into the body of the creature.
Chrollo wasted no time in closing the distance between himself and the Imp. Accompanied by a burst of flames, he moved at a speed I had never seen him or anyone else even attempt before. As if he had used the flames themselves to teleport in front of the bound creature, he used the speed he had gained to insert his flaming sword into the Imp’s exposed torso.
It wailed in pain as the blade not only sliced but seared its insides as Chrollo continued to push through. Despite its cries of pain, the Imp unexpectedly wrapped Chrollo within its arms and looked down at him with a pained expression on its face.
“Chrollo, hurry and send it to hell!” I shouted as I watched the spectacle.
With a loud grunt, Chrollo inserted the blade deeper into the Imp’s tough flesh and ignited his blue flames hotter than he had done before. While at the same time, I could see a trail of blood leave from the Imp’s mouth as it stared down at Chrollo’s head and spat intentionally toward his face.
“Chrollo!” I shouted, while at the same time, I was thrown back from the force of Chrollo’s ignition into the creature.
I couldn’t see or determine anything from among the smoke and rubble that had accumulated after the attack. All I could make out was the silhouette of both my friend and the Imp amidst the cloudy fog.
“Chrollo?” I called out, “Did you do it? Is it dead?”
I waited patiently for a response, but to my surprise, none came.
“Chrollo!” I shouted one last time before taking it upon myself to clear the dust and ash that had risen with a fierce gust of wind.
I saw my friend, facing the creature, his hand held on the hilt of his blade which was still lodged in the Imp. The Imp’s hands still wrapped around his body and a trickle of blood dripped from his mouth onto the dark blue highlights of Chrollo’s hair.
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“Chrollo?” I said more cautiously as I saw him begin to move away from the Imps arms.
Suddenly, the creature looked up at me and coughed up a portion of blood that landed perfectly on Chrollo’s face. It wasn’t dead. Not yet. However close to it. Perhaps we were foolish enough to assume that the inside of the Imp was more fragile than its exterior body. However, as Chrollo began to turn around slowly to face me, I saw on his face a blank expression that told me he was gone.
He opened his eyes to look at me, and the night-blue iris' that usually rested peacefully on his face had been replaced with the same dark red circles accompanied by the blackness that resided within the Imp behind him.
“Chrollo, are you ok?” I said with an outstretched arm.
If the Imp wasn’t dead and Chrollo had just received a face full of its corrupted blood, he was most likely under its manipulation. I watched him as he stood there motionless. He raised an arm up toward me, palm stretched out. I would have thought he was reaching for me if it weren't for the blue wave of fire that came out shortly after.
Swiftly, I flipped and maneuvered myself away from the trajectory of the flaming missile. Instead of hitting me, it hit and broke through the window behind me, creating a large hole in the wall of the tower. The wind of the night hurled strongly into the room causing it to quickly grow cold.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I fight back, or run? The Imp was critically damaged, I could most likely finish it off myself if it weren’t for the new obstacle in my way. However, I wasn’t going to fight Chrollo. Not seriously anyway. As far as I know, there are only two ways to kill an Imp. The first way would give it an attack so powerful that it destroys it completely. Something Chrollo and I had regrettably failed to do. The other would include light. Since they’re creatures of the dark, their natural weakness would be to light. However, not just any source of light, it would either have to come from the sun or from an Ascended adventurer who had obtained light magic. If I could kill the Imp, I would be able to release its effect on Chrollo.
It would seem that my options were limited if it weren’t for my opponent against me. I could most likely destroy the Imp, but Chrollo’s intervention would make that difficult, and on top of that, it didn't seem the sun was going to show itself for me at this moment. I deduced that my best option was to create a situation where I would wait out and avoid Chrollo’s attacks until an opportunity for one of the options to arise.
With that being said, I created a gust of wind to pull everyone and everything within the room, including myself, outside the hole that Chrollo had made. We fell from the high room within the tower towards the ground, and Chrollo, still under the Imp’s control, relentlessly sent barrages of fire toward me as we descended.
I landed with a cushioned platform of air, while Chrollo slowed his descent with a blast of fire beneath him. Thankfully, the Imp had been rendered immobile from its Chrollo’s previous attack on its body, causing it to land brutally hard against the uneven land of the mountain. Unfortunately, the fall wasn't enough to take its life, but it still hurt the creature.
It was now a face-off between Chrollo and me. I had no intentions of attacking him while he was under the Imp’s control, but I could argue that now we were out in the open, I had the advantage. Out here, I could take advantage of both my arc stones to their full potential. The open space gave me more room to manipulate the air, and the fresh earth that lay beneath our feet was just waiting for me to lift and manipulate it to my will.
Chrollo wasted no time in attacking me again. The Imp was making him stand in between me and the creature, meaning my options of ending this quickly by killing it, would be halted by Chrollo’s hand.
‘Damn beas,’ I thought.
His blue flames shot and fired toward me with speed and seemed unforgiving in nature. I dodged and weaved between attacks and tried my best to not waste too much of my energy. Perhaps it was the strong winds or maybe even our high altitude, but Chrollo’s attacks seemed repressed. If he was struggling to produce powerful attacks like before, it could be due to the height of where we were, but it almost felt as if he were fighting the Imp’s control. Of course, if it were another person here instead of me, they wouldn't think the same. Chrollo’s affinity for fire was definite, and whenever he used his abilities it was apparent to all that he was better than most our age. However, I knew Chrollo personally. We were sparring partners after all. I knew what he was capable of, and I had seen him perform more life-threatening attacks than the ones he did now.
Nevertheless, he continued his barrage of attacks, creating waves and missiles that destroyed the ground where we stood after I dodged them. I was able to make the earth crumble beneath Chrollo’s feet at times, causing him to lose balance or send his attacks in the wrong direction, but he would always recuperate himself almost instantly after all attempts. His attacks were loud and somewhat frightening. I had seen him do things similar to this in the past, but seeing him fight wasn’t something you get used to. Some would say the same about me, but Chrollo was different. There was something special about him, something I had noticed before, but still struggled to fully understand.
They threw a large inferno wave in my direction, leaving no opening to dodge. I created a ridge of earth to rise and protect me, while the rest of the sea of flames went by. Scorching everything that was unfortunate enough to meet its touch. Chrollo came crashing down from above and broke through the small earth wall I had made, catching me off guard and pinning me down to the terrain. He held his hand around my neck, squeezing tightly while producing flame in his other. He looked into my eyes with his own. Corrupted by the Imps blood-ritual magic, his face was blank but his now red eyes screamed with rage. Rage that didn't belong to him. I could see just behind him and behind the side of the tower, the sunrise began to peek over the tip of another mountain in the distance.
“Chrollo,” I splurted.
As he lowered his palm to send the fire to my face, I could feel his grip around my neck loosen slightly, and I used the opportunity to blow a mana-induced gust of wind from my mouth back at the flame in his hand. The flame raged back upwards toward his face, causing him to jolt back and cover his eyes as he screamed in pain.
I never intended on hurting him, but I didn't account for the fact that his own attacks damage him either. I jolted a pillar of earth to knock him off of me. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for. While Chrollo was distracted, I could take the Imp down myself. I got up and ran toward the creature, still lying helplessly on the ground where it had landed. I continued to make my way toward where the Imp lay until I suddenly stopped moving against my own will. I gazed down at my feet to see that they had been encased in a sheet of . . . Ice?
Suddenly, I felt the air grow cold, much colder than it had been before, I could start to see the form of my breath as I exhaled. I looked back to see Chrollo standing upright, and a trail of ice coming from his feet and leading toward me.
‘So you can control Ice’ I thought.
I had always seen two arc stones within the arc slots on Chrollo’s arms, but I had only ever seen him use his flames. For whatever reason, he seemed to limit his use of his other abilities. I always questioned why. Ice was one of the rare basic affinities you could get. Few people in the population of the continent are lucky to be born with that kind of gift. There are more Ascended mages than there are people with affinities for the rare elements. That’s just how special they are. However, this moment was the worst possible time for Chrollo to show me his special abilities.
Although his affinity for ice was a rarity, its hold on my feet seemed to be fragile, or at least deteriorating. I was able to break free from its grip with a forced step supported my mana. Chrollo, took another lunge forward, however he seemed to hesitate before making another move. It was clear that he was fighting back for control now. Perhaps now that he was using his other abilities, he was trying harder to take over his body once again. While he stood there, in the battle for control, I threw a torrent of wind toward him, throwing him backward slightly further down the mountain.
I continued my pursuit of the Imp, only to see that the sun had risen marginally above into the sky. The only thing stopping the light from reaching the Imp was that the tower was covering the path of the light.
‘I’ll lift it up high into the air,’ I said to myself.
As I reached the creature that lay flat on the ground, I lifted its tall lanky body up and threw what I could over my shoulder. I then raised the earth beneath my feet to create an ascending pillar that would eventually reach a part of the tower that wasn't blocked by the sun. However, as we ascended toward the light, the Imp let out a high-pitched screech like it had done before in the room with all the mongrels. It was calling to Chrollo. Asking him for his aid.
I looked down at the ground to see Chrollo, holding onto a lower part of the pillar I had created. His fingers and hands were covered in sharp thick covers of ice. He climbed his way up restlessly, and I knew he would catch up before I would make it to the top. Even as I sent down gusts of wind to make him fall, his iced fingers were lodged deep within the rising pillar, causing my attempts to be useless. He lunged himself up towards where I stood and slashed his sharpened fingers at me. Using the Imps body as a shield I lost my balance and fell to my feet as the pillar beneath us still continued to rise. Chrollo pressed his feet on my toro, and I felt my insides move from the impact of his foot.
With the hope of finishing this as quickly as possible, I used what remaining mana I had left in all of my body to create a tornado of wind beneath me, causing everything to rise up with great speed and with little resistance. The wind felt as if it were pulling us up toward the sky as if that was the proper way to fall.
We reached a point at which the tower did not block the view from the sun, in the heat from its body could be felt as we reached the plateau of our ascension. The Imp’s body began to dissolve, as if it were paper in water and Chrollo’s body became limp as we began to descend toward the ground.
I tried to slow down our fall with some wind, but I had used all of my mana to raise us up here. I grabbed Chrollo as we fell, holding him close to me, I attempted to lean and grab out toward the surface of the tower as we fell toward the ground. Unfortunately, landing on one of the roofs of the tower was not possible, however, I was able to grab the side of it slightly, slowing our descent with a rough tug on my arm, which I think may have done more damage to it than I would have liked. Still tumbling down, the ground came at us faster than I expected. Rotating so that I would be the one to land on the ground first, I felt my should pop down into my body, much more than what was natural, and I saw Chrollo’s head knock against the ground with a thud, despite my trying to take most of the damage.
I screamed in shock at the pain and gripped my shoulder with hesitation. I couldn’t move it, not at all. My fingers responded to movement and I could even rotate my wrists, but the rest of my arm was unresponsive. I gazed over at Chrollo, who lay lifelessly with a trail of blood coming from his head.
“Shit,” I cried aloud. My legs were tense, my muscles hurt, and my body felt nothing but discomfort. I could feel my mind slipping from consciousness, and despite my attempts at trying to fight it, the last thing I could remember was the sound of the large doors of the tower opening up, and footsteps heading toward our direction.