COI C258
The box is dangling near the edges from the waterfall, disrupted by events with no control what happened to its surroundings. It lies waits where the rumbling ruin made it move a little. Rocking where it can’t move on its own and left under the environment’s control. A drop of a large mechanical spider almost fell on top of it, from the sheer weight of the machine in high speed, helps it to continue drop down into the abyss. The mechanical spider finally regains its strength as the water stop flowing down on it. It gets up as more of them are coming from the shattered wall.
Few days have passed, since Tabitha’s team defeat. It was too late for the man catcher’s men descend down to help them because of those mechanical spiders. Brought into the fray of battles. It is an absolute mayhem. One of his men tiredly sit watch the horde scurry away
“Impossible, they are immortally impossible”
“To the grace of god, we all made it to the least”
“If it was god’s intervention or a help with the enemies. Then he would free us from this accursed death”
They turned to the wall where it sealed countless of mechanical spiders inside, its imprisonment.
It is clear, the tidal city was still alive during that era. There is no doubt this ruin is more than a city compared to the others. They still have the documents about these steel menaces. Their origins are always from the south. Closer where the dwarves reside inside the mountains while these machines reside where iron and magma are side by side in nature. Its hybrid of both machine and flesh are one like demons testing their augmentations. The Enders thought the Dexter was reinvented it. The rival guild was hoping for it to disband. Flesh forged but only to carry in arms, they think of them are nothing more nostalgia to return that prosperous era.
Some of his men are braved enough to investigate, after days of nonstop surviving and bringing them all to the wall. It was death defying act, and all lead to their victory they could have done earlier if it wasn’t for the realization of their rival guild to coordinate. McS4 was with them, he surprisingly never used the resources he had and go for the lenient action using the chaos to his advantage. Bringing the machines down to the waterfall. Through his visor, he finds out there is one mechanical spider near at the closed hidden camp. Time continues to waste.
Then a message appeared on his visor. R-cord gives him the recorded video, only audio he can hear is
“Observing the threat. It is blocking near the hidden camp. No surrounding waterfall protecting them to go down”
McS4 relaxes himself as this is not the actual behavior of the mechanical spider, mostly they will find any life to feed with its hidden attribute. He said to the man catcher
“Will you and the Circoston coordinate again like last time?”
All of his men disagree crowding and voicing him with their rejections, the man catcher responds
“The truce is made for all of us, together. You know who these men were”
McS4 laughs “Then how long will you save them after for so long”
Hidden within the camp, terrified and waiting for the mechanical machine to leave. Both Mina and Tabitha’s team were closed in, trapped by the single ancient monster right before their eyes. Through the water reflected on the waterfall. The head of Aoi’s brother is gazing at the entrance knowing that they are there. There are many ways to get out of here, but too afraid if it suddenly appeared right before they opened the doors. Resting at this very camp, they could only do now is to collect the information from the woman. Two weeks have passed, one and half month since their dispatch.
The woman and Silfa were the only two tending them since that day. Surprised from the woman’s reaction just to let them heal themselves without potions and magic. Silfa gives a strict order as they must endure what they have experience. Juela can’t believe her eyes during their fight. Obviously, Tabitha has little experience getting hit because she has a guardian. It was shocking to the least when her robe is good enough to shield it until their nerves split through her head and finds herself in shock. Mina’s team had it worst, one fell swoop getting rammed with its own armored plates. Mechanical spiders never used their body, only its magic and legs.
Juela checks on their conditions carefully. It is predictable if Myrrkei was here. From his research, those machines are always to destroy any form of living being. Yet, attached to the citizen’s head, it acted really strange. Someone is actually controlling the mechanical spider. A machine that has only the will within its engraved runes inside of its mechanism. Getting controlled by a citizen made her rethink of their powers. Is it possible that these citizens possessed the power to undergo the Demons Faction’s puppets? Or, they must be other race’s creation. Which race was that?
Silfa turns to Tabitha “That magic. What magic gives everyone an instant KO. Tabitha, you got struck down quick by its toothpick legs”
Tabitha sarcastically laughs “If those toothpicks are the same monster inside the sphere, this one magic I have never face it before”
“I know what you mean” Silfa quickly turns serious and said
“A vacuum like spell. Sorry for asking, Juela, but what magic did it use”
“Old magic, it must be those high tier spells you people keep mentioning about. This one is too different for any spells I have come across”
Aoi feels the dread of the void magic. Trickling into its doom, too fast for any of her senses to analyze it. Her body turns pale due to the amount of blood drained off from her. It was a miracle to see someone in Tabitha’s group bringing block packs. Blood packs! It is hard to believe that there is a use for it. Her skin returns back to normal as she sees the paleness disappeared after these past few days. Sakura confronts her, still surprised
“One vile of blood, and one girl loses a third of her own blood from the blood sucker. It was enough until the vile still has more”
Mina was surprised too “And we waste it too. It quickly rotted from the exposure”
“They didn’t know. They still have two more though”
The significance of them having lost hope the moment it can’t be beat. Tabitha and SIlfa weren’t kidding, leaving them into death’s doors. With the resources they have, there is no solution regarding beating a machine. All they have are countering magic. This machine sheltered its own magic inside, filled with the mass remains by Aoi’s brother and the other man. Its capability to hunt down Aoi is both stupid and reckless, and the outcome leave them devastated. The potential of the mechanical spider will deliberately put them out of their misery after what they tried to escape or fight. It was lucky for them it didn’t.
Tabitha calls out a meeting with Mina’s team. It’s been days for them not even trying to come up with the plan. The wounds leave them traumatized, waiting for the Dexter Guild to come to their rescue. None of them have arrived yet and Tabitha is receiving many news inside the ruin bringing more dangers than secured.
“I know it is been a few days, what I am trying to wait it out until the Benedictus would come and help us. R-cord is already down below searching for them . . .”
She went silent after few short moments.
From the waterfall, they can see all around the ruin. There they could see large numbers of silhouettes passing through. An army of mechanical spiders, they thought. Twirling down like a cyclone of thick smoke going down without stopping. They watch it goes where nightmare is descending down to no end. A horde of them racing to the bottom. A glimpse of them emerged with their own heads, different race preserved to no end of its unique head shapes. No idea whether the heads possessed powerful warriors mounted on it with great tenacity. Coming down here, nothing will Tabitha’s team will ever try to face them in such massive numbers.
The children saw it as they rush to look at the people who saved them. Little to no idea of their predicament, the children are quick to harden to comfort them with the best of their abilities. The woman stopped them, not even say a single word. The kids understand her expression completely. Except one girl who knows Tabitha, willingly to pass through the woman’s warning. She goes straight to them with a big serious look on her face. As she is about to call out to Tabitha, she hears a soft bell ringing outside. The girl quickly shouts for joy
“It’s the old man!” Boldly calling out with excitement.
Tabitha hears the bell too. “What was that?”
Juela tries to cast her spell on the waterfall. It changes the direction where it faces the machines, and to find a group of men already pushing the monsters into the wall. Along with McS4 accompanied them trying to grip and hold the thick smoke back into the wall. They are bravely pushing them back to the wall imprisoning them again. Daringly doing so in such high speed. Silfa has a knack for this kind of speed thanks to Ruby. Studying its tricks may probably prove useful.
“Juela where are they at”
“Lower than us, they have passed us just now”
“We were keeping an eye on it for the entire time, how did they pass us?” Kenta confidently said intolerantly.
Tabitha turns to everyone as an idea struck. She tries to contact them one more time through telepathy. Again, there is no respond, only silence. Through the waterfall, it shows the outside. To see McS4 joining the fight like that, he can fight and communicate like no big deal. They watch continuously the rest of the fight, when the mechanical spiders are moving back up. They swiftly going up, it seems no weight could stop them from their sheer speed. The moment it passes at the entrance of their secret camp, where they see Aoi’s brother suddenly disappears and reappears in a blink of an eye.
Silfa surely sees it. It was fast, too fast for her to get the right idea how it did. Then she turns to Juela
“Hey, Juela. Can you lend me the monocle?”
“Ah sure, are you planning something?”
“Not something, I am expecting what all speed attributes have in common”
Silfa waits when they return back down, from their fights. The monsters are spread apart. This is what she thought how the Benedictus getting those monsters one by one. It is what she expected, there is no way they could beat them in groups. More like how they are able to separate them is more she wanted to observe. With R-cord’s monocle, what surprises her probably be more on her hands.
Another swift drops, Aoi’s brother suddenly flicks. Silfa was able to capture it and asks Tabitha “Hey, Tabitha. Can you ask R-cord how to get this thing motion sequence?”
“You mean slow down the video?”
“Right, Ruby did really put a voice on my head making different names about her speed abilities”
“Ok? Then you also can’t remember I can’t contact him either, right?”
“Oof! Fine, I’ll try to get myself to work on it”
Silfa pouted at how she forgets about Ruby’s speed capabilities. She remembers how they could not interact each other because of the different sense of time. This is probably the reason. They can’t hear her because it slows down, while for Silfa can’t hear them because it is too quick. Faster than they could listen.
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There are more ways like writing messages they left behind. Ruby did that. However, it counters drastically as the environment shift into highspeed zones. Silfa turns and checks any small holes left even a single note. New holes popping outside of their hidden camp. More holes than before, then she notices a same holes like the bullet holes. They thought they were bullet holes but needle legs. Yet, R-cord told Tabitha what to do. This made her think what did he do in the ruin while they are at the surface. She shakes her head and quickly focused on the holes. The monocle was able spot it as there is a flat glass left inside one of the holes. It is close to the waterfall.
“Tabitha, I have found something. Could I get it from here?”
Tabitha looks where Silfa is pointing. Only by a finger reach where the hole is at. As everything itself going after each other, she just nods and returns to contact with McS4 and R-cord. Silfa took a deep breath as she hurries to the waterfall here inside the camp. Her hand is placed on the waterfall almost touching it, her magic casts on quickly forces down while she channels it. She must do it quickly as she did for everyone outside of the camp. This waterfall is so strong, none of them would be able to control it once it caved in by the current. One single tap of her finger, then the outside exploded from the full blasts of its sounds.
Everyone inside of the camp fall unconscious. After a few hours, they recovered looking around to see that everyone is safe. Kenta loudly shouts at them, waking them up
“What in the world did just happen!? Mina! Toba! Aoi! Sakura . . . Ouch!”
Sakura hits him “Stop shouting we are next to you”
Everybody gets up. Juela remembers what happened “That’s right. Silfa, did you get it?”
Silfa nods and gives her the glass. The glass is flat but still has something inside. A message. The Enders never used this such literature in glassworks.
Juela tries to test it using lights. The refraction of the lights shown writings, but poorly seen as the light couldn’t even decipher it. Frustrated like last time, she has to use her magic to quickly get it done. The rays of light refracted through the glass showing an image in each fragment inside. She slowly starts to figure it out and reveal the glass pictograms written under the dead language.
“Del’Montra Esteval, images of them battling those waves of machines. They use a mechanism to capture them instead of destroying it”
The images becoming hard to deciphers as the surrounding pictures using those kind of devices shows discontent from those people. A large image of the woman represents their deity who flat out ashamed such actions and guiding her people pointing downward into a world. The glass ends there. Juela checks again at the start and sees how it started. A crack blocks the rest of the images only the halfway part is still in clear view. The beginning shows instructions to deal with those mechanical spiders.
Tabitha and the rest of them were focusing on the pictograms from the light’s refraction pointing at the wall. Comparing it from the outside and starts to figure out how to do it.
“This is it!” Silfa confidently says to them
“This is must be the same ways they did to fight those monsters outside”
Kenta feels troubled “Can we really going to bait against the wall? How will we going to do that with little . . .?”
Silfa turns to Aoi, and Aoi’s friends are covering her. Sakura refuses
“You’ll think we could let our friend to”
“You see what happened out there! We will be trapped here forever”
Everybody went silent whereas Aoi remained traumatized what happened that day. Aoi sees her friends and rescuers are all in a dilemma. If they can’t go forward like this, what happened to the rest of them? Is there any chance left to get to the surface and out from this forsaken realm? The East Coast is truly the words will never venture here. Tabitha definitely understands why they have to do it. The struggles as they go deep are the moment the East Coast’s most vulnerable state. Ready to save them as they are confident, and the timing surely helped because of their curse. After what happened here, this makes her want to know more how Voldemyr and U’ecin got here.
“Aoi?”
Sakura watches Aoi as she tries to face her older brother again. All that happened is because of him, she feels like she is the one who is going atones of her family sins. Inside her head is in deep thought making choices in the middle of their arguments. Silfa’s words are trying to convince them to do it. Her friends were like that before the influence. The demon who cursed them had made them weaker than she had remember. Diminishing all of their experience and life down here made her feel worthless. The influence is resetting them to no end. Aoi must pick soon after her resolve with her brother.
The voice reaches her, guiding her to the glass on Juela’s hand
“Would you mind?”
Juela sees Aoi’s hand reaches to the glass. Reluctancy reaches out in display knowing she can’t say any further than this. Aoi is starting to shake not knowing why the voice to instruct her to get it. She sees Juela is giving it to her with a warm smile, but her expression was a little worried on her eyes when they both look eye to eye.
“Honor your words, my dearest. You are not a woman yet, and it doesn’t mean you have stay like that”
Aoi was surprised then quickly turned serious. Juela is right, she had to deal with it.
Aoi grabs the glass and hurried to the waterfall. She remembers how Juela fought them, even fighting against the mechanical spider as they know they can’t beat. All those cloths giving to her quickly turned into magic sashes. A crafty woman, a woman she yearns to become. Yet, remained elegant like her . . . mother. Her memory returns back in their home world. The pain she had done with her own mother because she didn’t listen to her father serious remarks on their son. Everyone who brought here wants a new life, but she was forced by her older brother. This is her decision. She wants to go back home.
The glass touches the waterfall. The strong torrent supposed to pull everything down where the current is, but it grazes it as it begins to removing the cracks. The water flows and washes down the glass. When the glass finally fixed, the ruin begins to erupt. Geysers appeared out of nowhere scattering everywhere in different directions. A spell rises like tide covering only the people who could feel the cold drench within their feet. Surging upward in their bodies, they can feel the acceleration and senses go beyond they could comprehend.
Silfa feels this sensation, more powerful speed than she had imagine. It didn’t go into their bodies but harmonizing their mana as it flows through them freely. The fear wakes inside of her as if she is being controlled again. It wasn’t this time. A voice calling out to her and shows great sympathy for them. Hearing the voice, it calls out to Fae-chan. She begins to learn about that doll is it must protect the daughters of its creator. The way she uses to protect multiple people at the same time is not meant for a single doll to do. A hint of a child holding her doll, sharing is sometimes not good for a selfish girl, and possessing the power of her family. On this moment, they are going to risk it.
Aoi’s older brother, madness possessed on one target. His younger sister. So long, he is giving the chance like this to happen. Sacrificing his humanity for this power is rewarding. The influence had offered him such rewards that this war it mentioned will begin again. If they win, not only they have immortality. He will also receive the dreams becoming a reality. At first, he thinks it was just a fluke. Memories from past lives prove it otherwise. These other immortals are hiding. Not in this world, but waiting to be release. Time will no longer the concept, but an opportunity as their turn will soon come.
Within this mechanical body, he realizes how this world operates. The Heroes Faction was the pinnacle of this world. The kingdom fell because the opposing faction won by a few demons join the war after years being neutral. It pushes them back from the west and desperate enough to use multiple magic spells cast down from the sky into the world. To save those cities and its citizens, they were ascended in order for them to be spared from the counter assault. A continent survived from the east made refuge to many inhabitants into their shelter. It was a great triumphant for the demons’ faction, now they are in pursuit to end the war as they invade from the north coast of Kinteinnou region. For there, it is the fate of these united city states.
Another passerby, the older brother quickly turns and hide as the mechanical spiders are running to escape from their pursuers. A group of Benedictus chasing them as the sound of the bells cleansing all laws of this world. The banner has powerful godlike divinity denying all advantage of their enemies and turned in as their own. As it looks carefully where is the man who has a man catcher deliberately using it to take the souls out from the mechanical bodies. Where the heads it preserved turned to ashes the moment the water ang the man catcher strike it at the same time. Then pushes the body back against the wall, trapping them as before.
Still has his human nature to coward like any man should see danger approaching it matters not for him to find ways to take them down. The important matter within this immortal soul, he has his eyes on his younger sister. Sour from the words she said to him, he gains an act to use that he never used before, void magic. This world’s void magic is different from other magic. He can relate with their own version of magic. Void magic supposed to be dark attributes. It is more than that. It consumes, it is emptiness, it is oblivion, it is the end, and the void cannot be countered. The absolute magic.
The Benedictus has passed, and it begins to wonder again. His patience grew thin as his excitement to test his powers by thinking about it. He looks down on the floor and sees the devastation of Juela’s cloths. The moment his dead head smiles at the cloths. The cloths scattered around begin to encircle him. Its ashes mix with small pieces of paper concealing itself in sooth. It dimmed itself fades away. On that same moment, he senses his younger sister is coming out from the hidden camp. By sheer speed alone, it somehow teleported where she is.
Aoi is right in front of him, already ready to use his needle legs aiming at her ankle again. His torturous sensation grew grim as the excitement reaches into his head.
“NOW!”
He hears someone shouting. It is impossible for this highspeed abomination to hear words normally because of its senses are in hyper speed. The moment it tries to hit her a thud coming from his needle legs quickly moves a side piercing deeper into the ground. It digs deep as its void magic release like venom. The void trapped into the ground couldn’t absorb it. Aoi takes this opportunity and punches his head, beheading him.
The mechanical spider catches his head and reattached it. The older brother feels something pushed him and his legs tumbling near to the wall. Steadily, he goes at his sister. It reaches to her heart. He hits her leaving her body impaled. He laughs maniacally then he quickly finds out she is not gushing blood from her body, a gush of smoke air coming out where Aoi is nothing more of a handcraft doll. On the inside, where Fae-chan appeared. It casts its rituals releasing hot air. Blinding the older brother as it moves back. The spirits filled with his dead head with senses filling with life, unleashing the nerves gasping for pain.
He intentionally pierces his head to absorb the rituals’ curse. Regaining his numb senses, he returns to the fray. He blinks away from the doll’s curse. The water rushes forward towards him as he reappears, pushing him back to the cliffs. He tries again, the water continues to attack him every attempt he tries. Yet, he is able to go around it if he is sane enough. Foolishly, he senses his sister close by being provoke with her new spell whispering into his head.
“Go Die, you piece of trash. Horrible brother. Idiot . . .”
The list goes on as he wrathfully enraged from her insults.
The anger grew and grew to the point of nothing to be careful. He fills everything inside of his head with nothing but power. All he had done to enjoy his life being a troublemaker getting it back. Continue to wash over to the edge of the cliff, Tabitha’s team gives the signal. The ground crumbles slowly as the others tried to hold it at the right given moment. The cracks appearing ready to fall in the midst of seconds. Deep within the hypersonic speed, the ground crumbling wasn’t fast enough. Where Mina’s team digging up as soon as the forced of the water hits it.
One last water falls directly at it. Finally took the ground to give in. The older brother knocks down towards the wall, the struggling mechanism on back legs’ touch. The wall absorbs its leg as he tries to pull himself away. Using his void magic, the void only clears the wall revealing what lies inside. The bodies hidden within the void shows countless souls trapped inside the wall. Other mechanical spiders were free to move, but still trapped inside, desperately to get out. Its needle legs are crawling onto him. His mechanical body struggles to break free as others pulled him back in.
Tabitha watches it struggle, molding the fabric of reality with his void magic. They are getting pulled in as everyone at the front drop to ground on their bottoms and drag them close to him.
Kenta struggles to get back up “No, no, no! I knew this won’t be this easy”
Toba casts her spell. A release of her spell was pulled into like air absorbing into the void
“Our spells are drained away. Juela! Help US!”
A call for help as Juela let the mana out from the fades on the mechanical spider’s body. Large masses of mana release completely obliterated without even a chance what that spell was.
Mina’s team was able to escape. Juela gives them a small boost to have their feet on the ground and run as they could. Aoi tries to run in the safe distance. Her brother keeps looking at her as he delivers a void magic focusing on her. Now desperate because he is getting pulled into the wall. The ground breaks underneath Aoi’s feet. Pulling her close to him where the only part of the ground shatters.
“AAH!”
Fae-chan jumps on him stopping him from pulling her. He hits the doll and the curse gets through his head again. Dropping down as decayed blood chipping down from his mouth and eyes, his insane mind won’t tolerate the desire he gladly seek.
Aoi is right in front of him, raising his forelegs into a pincer attack. She dodges left and right. The older brother couldn’t see could only hear his legs couldn’t feel the flesh of his own sibling.
He shouted “How in the world do you have this kind of power? Move as fast as this steel limbs, who are you being influenced from?”
Tabitha comes to her aid and smack the machine as it absorbed the impact. The needle legs pincer again at them whereas Silfa brings her forcefield as it quickly pierces through.
Closer to the wall, as more and more of those steel limbs grabbing him his entire body chamber. A voice comes out from his dead head as the sound grew demonic. The influence roars out to them. It tremors everything around them breaking down as Mina’s team influenced by it. Aoi hears the influence. This same influence hurting them as it goes deep in their darkest thoughts. This time, there is none. Free. She calls out to her friends
“Wake up! You guys!”
Through using telepathy catches them before they are being possessed. They broke free. But they fell the floor as the influence is strong enough to take them out.
“No”
Aoi witnessed again of its terrible powers.
They are getting pulled in, where her foot is kicking his dead head. Stomping it as fast as she can. All three, Tabitha, Silfa, and Aoi are in desperate moment. The older brother pulls them closer and closer without fail. They continue to fight back as they called out to Juela.
“JUELA! THE WATER!”
“There’s nothing left, the hyper speed is too fast for it go down at this pace”
Fae-chan tries again to protect Aoi one last time with the spirits it had left. Another ritual. The demonic being controls him and destroy its hyper speed. Knocking it away to the air, they see it moved slowly where it thrown away. The mechanical spider has removed the spell to match pace between them.
They were so close. This is what they never thought to achieve like this. Getting it to the wall. Imprisoning it again, like the others behind it. As it raises its needle again it snips Aoi’s shoes. Exposed from her bare feet, one more strike closer will finally get his first kill as a monster. When he is about to raise his leg up in the air, something breaks. A box falling from the excessive water directing at him slowly made it down, where one of the glasses broke. The glowing fluid inside erupts and its body begins to shiver.
Countless voices coming from inside of the body screaming, screeching, and squeaking to no end. The monster pulls in as the first time it flinched. The wall absorbed it, leaving them shocked from what they have saw. Silfa looks at the box cut open leaving only four glasses left. The box looks familiar as this is the same box carried by Haw. Saved, from the Demon’s powerful puppet.