Elliott stabbed his scabbard into the ground to avoid being dragged closer to Orion, and kicked the tail away with his other leg.

"You may have taken me by surprise, but you will not best me with just that."

He rapidly stood up and took a few steps back to ascertain the situation.

"..."

While the true fight between the monster Elliott and the berserk Orion began, Amelia and Karteira observed with distress in their eyes Orion's sudden rage and changes.

"That wasn't something I was expecting, but I should have known. The previous forgotten magic user was a pain to deal with in the past. Not that I know, though."

Elliott clenched Vanitas and its scabbard.

"Vanitas, we might have to go all out for this one."

The blade shone from within the scabbard, before Elliott unsheathed the sword out at his eye level horizontally.

With a clean drawing off the sword, no sounds escaped.

He threw the scabbard far away so that it wouldn't hinder him anymore.

"AaAaaA!"

Orion's distorted voice echoed in the surroundings as he shouted to the sky. Blood dripped from his eyes continuously, staining the grass in a deep red color. By some magic or unknown force, his clothes were cleaned of any trace of his blood on them.

"That might have been my mistake. I knew it wouldn't be easy to discuss this matter, as I have indeed committed quite a lot of cruelty a long time ago. But how can I even tell you my side of the story if you refuse to listen."

Holding his sword with both hands, Elliott took an offensive stance. He patiently waited for Orion to make a move.

"Grr!"

Suddenly, the berserk Orion glared at Elliott with his reptilian eyes, and vanished, leaving only a cloud of particles behind him.

*Vrrrrrrrr*

A long vibrating metallic sound was heard the next moment when a fist enveloped in darkness impacted Vanitas from above.

*Cling* *Swing*

Orion vanished repeatedly, attacking in various spots around Elliott at an incredible pace. He attacked, vanished, reappeared, and attacked again. Elliott also began to swing his sword at Orion in hope of stopping his madness, but he was slightly faster than his reaction speed.

It wasn't difficult for Elliott to block the blows, but the impacts and the vibrations caused by Orion's fists caused him to suffer some inconvenience.

A few minutes of clashing continued uninterrupted. The more they saw Orion fight, the more they saw an animal fight. There was no trace of the everyday Orion in there.

That made Amelia and Karteira question if his mind had disappeared, or if he had given up everything so that he could fight Elliott.

The more time passed, the faster the exchanges of blows were. Elliott was beginning to be pushed back, as the ground under his feet showed the fresh dirt were he stood before.

"Aaah! Damn it! You want me to go all out, right?! Fine! I have to make you return to your senses anyways!"

Elliott released one hand from Vanitas, and tapped on his chest before Orion appeared above him.

"Invidia!"

An almost imperceptible magical armor formed around his body. It wasn't a simple protection, it was the 'best' protection he could bring out.

"Ira!"

A shield similar to the armor appeared in his other hand, as he began to hold Vanitas with one hand.

"Making me use three of my artifacts, that's quite the feat, I'll give you that. Though, fighting the giants made me use all of them. You've got to do better than that!"

He blocked Orion's fist covered with light magic with Ira, the magic shield, and pushed him away.

Orion flapped his four wings in unison, creating magical particles that were blown away by the wind, before vanishing.

He recovered his balance and dropped down. The moment his feet touched the ground, he rushed toward Elliott with such speed that it even surprised him.

A fist approached his face, and as he watched the hand get closer, he bent his knees forcefully, to avoid the punch, but that wasn't all yet. Orion went for his face again with his knee.

Elliott blocked the knee with Ira again.

*SLAM*

A loud noise resounded, while Elliott displayed an not so thrilled expression on his face. Orion's tail went past his right shoulder, and slammed his back, shattering a bit of the magic armor Invidia in the process.

"D-D-Da-DArK DesCeNT!"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Orion distorted voice ringed in Elliott's ears.

"Have you recovered some of your mind ye-"

But Elliott was unable to finish his sentence, as the moment he looked at Orion from below, he noticed his grey eyes shining at him, and an abyssal darkness punch his guts.

"Khhhh!"

Elliott's endured the hit and only scrapped the ground in the same position he was previously. He traveled a few meters, before he looked at his stomach.

"That power. With this... yes. I understand."

Standing up with not a single scratch on his body, he looked Orion.

"You are also a hero. No wonder. This power, the forgotten elements, the blood of the strongest factions..."

"Haa~haha~"

A maniacal laugh escaped his mouth.

"You witch! What have you created!"

He looked at the sky as if his words were directed at someone else.

"I'm amused by this-"

Seven arrows stopped his mouth from running again. He perfectly avoided the six first, before slicing the last one.

Orion swiped his white colored fist in front of him, creating afterimages of Alcyone that shot arrows before disappearing.

One, two... ten crossbows fired and vanished, before Orion swiped his other hand, creating multiple afterimages of Taygeta.

When he noticed that none of the arrows were landing, someone that broke nature itself happened. Again.

Just like the new element Orion brought to this world, something that shouldn't happen happened again.

"AlCyO-ONe... TaY-TayGeTA..."

The real Alcyone and Taygeta that Elliott shattered earlier appeared in Orion's hands.

"PLEIONE!"

He crashed both weapons together with such force that they exploded in an horrible mix of light and dark shards.

In the middle of those shards, a very tiny sphere appeared, which began to force the shards to rotate around it and agglomerate into a very new form.

The void crossbow.

It was an intangible crossbow only Orion could touch. It was there, yet it wasn't. It was blinking, or was it not? No one could tell, as the perception of this weapon was different to everyone.

But there was only one truth, it was an incredible sight, and it was awful to be the target of its aim.

"What now?"

Elliott taunted Orion, but the other party remained stoic. Only wrath and chaos remained in his heart.

*Click*

Pleione fired its very first arrow. It blinked out of existence for a second before reappearing closer to Elliott.

"Hmpf!"

With a simple waist movement, he dodged the arrow. Or so he thoughts.

*Pierce*

The arrow was stuck in his shoulder as if it was fired from behind him.

"What's the meaning of this?"

He tried to grab the arrow, but he couldn't touch it at all.

*Click* *Crack*

The second arrow fired, but Pleione began to break down. It was only possible to hold its power for two shots, even with Orion in this form. Or maybe was it because he was in this form that the crossbow broke down, no one knows for sure.

"You won't get me a second time!"

Elliott swung Vanitas and tried to break the second arrow. It blinked out of existence the next moment, and appeared behind him.

He jumped over the arrow and sliced at it again. The arrow vanished and reappeared at an angle that made sure he would be hit when landing back on the ground.

"Ha!"

Throwing Vanitas where he was supposed to land, he used the hilt to change his trajectory. But the arrow was done following him.

To make matter worse, Orion looked at his new crossbow shatter in pieces. It was a matter of time until he went for the attack again.

While looking for a way to counter that strange arrow, and to find a way to remove the one stuck in his back, Elliott observed.

"Now, I guess?"

The moment the arrow blinked out of existence, he turned around and slashed preemptively. He successfully destroyed the warping arrow, and focused on breaking the one in his back next.

He looked for Orion after removing the arrow, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is h-"

With a smooth bending of his back backward, he avoided the fist coming at his face from the side.

"You sure don't like my face very much do you?"

Some blood began to drip from Elliott's cheek. He touched the heated spot and smiled.

"My own blood. Last time I saw it was when I fought your parents, isn't it?"

"HaA! AaaaAaaaA!"

Orion grabbed his head in pain at the word 'parents'.

"Orion! Get yourself together!"

Amelia stood up and shouted at him. She tried to turn him back to normal.

And she did grabbed his attention, but not in the right way.

He warped to her and grabbed her neck.

*COUGH*

"W-Wha- AAAGH!"

"STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

Karteira immediately switched to her Cerulean Aegis form, and slammed Orion's side with her shields.

Seconds later, her shields were broken, and she was on the ground holding her chest while puking.

A single punch was all it took for Karteira to lose to this Orion.

But it was only now that they both realized. It wasn't Orion anymore. In no way, ever, would he lift a hand on these two.

"I can't have you do that."

Elliott stabbed Vanitas in Orion's back, and twisted the blade.

"Ah!"

*COUGH*

Amelia fell limply on the grass while holding her throat. She caught her breath before she noticed blood on her hands.

It was not her blood, but Orion's.

"I will thank you for the diversion. If not for that, I wouldn't have found a way to stop this guy."

Plunging the blade further, blood flowed from Orion's mouth and wound, but his eyes were still wildly glowing.

"NO! Don't kill him!"

She tried to stand up, but her strength was lacking. Her and Karteira's mind were lower than ever, and it made it hard for them to understand and logically react to everything happening.

But there was one thing they knew for sure. They wanted him back.

"Wait..."

Elliott looked confused for a second.

"This... might be bad. You two should flee- no, you won't make it in time."

"What are you *cough* speaking about?"

Karteira glared at him while holding her stomach.

"This guy, he thinks of blowing himself up, us comprised."

Just like Noah did against the Miasma, the forgotten elements became a ticking bomb that would destroy everything and the land around him, resulting in all but ashes.

Orion lifted his left arm and grabbed the blade stuck in his chest. While doing so, the bracelet he wore at all time touched the blade.

The chain broke, as he watched the bracelet with his name fall to the ground.

He reflexively tried to grab it, but it was too late. A massive ball of magic erupted from his core, and covered everything in a white light.

"Avaritia! Devour everything!"

Elliott brought out his trump card out. A golden vortex appeared above his head, and began to absorb the magic released by Orion.

"As I thought. It's way too much."

Avaritia disappeared when it couldn't hold more, leaving Orion with a sliver of power, enough to blast them away.

"I'll at least protect you from the blast."

"Gula. Protect us from the blast."

A hexagonal cage of gold magic enveloped Amelia, Karteira and himself.

"You seriously made me use every skills I could. You madman."

Elliott shrugged, before everything exploded.

*BOOM*

~

The sound of an explosion echoed in Noctelagia.

"What's that sound?"

Olivia Lakis, Lord of Noctelagia, opened her window and looked outside.

"There's nothing in the distance, but from the sound itself, it came from Eogis? Wait..."

She jumped from the window and began to walk on air. Precisely speaking, she was walking on steps made of water.

In the distance, she noticed four lights coming in her direction.

"This trajectory... whatever it is, it's going in the sea."

Making a pistol shape with her hand, she pointed at the foreign objects in the distance, before pointing above her head.

"Water Net."

A big net made of water covered the skied of Noctelagia. Five minutes later, the four lights fell into it.

"That magic! Impossible."

Four people were caught by the net, rescued by Olivia.