Jerome shot after Hedon, not bothering to use his wings. He flew faster than he ever had determined to kill the Alvric.

“Why the hell would you—” Jerome stopped himself from saying something he would regret. He was so angry at Achilles for preventing him from taking his revenge that his anger made him doubt if the AI was ever on his side.

“Why did you stop me, Achilles?” Jerome asked as he sped through the forest after Hedon. All the trees in the area he just left had been destroyed and he soon flew into a part of the great forest that had remained untouched by their battle.

Achilles said nothing, but Jerome could almost feel him processing his thoughts. Jerome decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the AI could sense something he couldn’t. But that didn’t mean he’d give up on his mission. Until Achilles came up with a good reason not to snuff out the Alvric’s soul, Hedon was as good as dead. No more games.

Jerome began knocking down everything in his path, causing a commotion through the forest that would attract magic beasts he may or may not be able to handle. This tactic seemed reckless, but it was the only way he could think to keep the Argonaut off his back if he happened upon them without showing too many of his cards. He spread his perception a mile around him and took off in a particular direction. Jerome unfurled his wings and spread it wide as he dove below the canopy of the thick forest, cutting through full-grown trees as though they were twigs.

With a flick of his wrist, Suzie wrapped around one of the enormous fallen trees and picked it up. The tree was so big, you couldn't see the one who picked it up. He flung the tree at Hedon who was visible above the greenery of the forest.

~~~

Hedon had never expected such a thing to happen to him. This was a disgrace to his person. A disgrace to his honor and his family's honor. The Alvrics never retreat, not in front of a single foe! He couldn't take out one Sprout, even with the help of fourteen others. His shattered knee brushed a tree branch as he flew, bringing pain again. He had to heal and he had to do it fast. He had overused the Epos and he felt like his body was shutting down, refusing to heal.

What was this kid eating that gave him the strength and confidence to act like this? What fortunate encounter did he have to increase his strength like this? Hedon thought frustrated as he grit his teeth against the pain. He felt so weak and only his willpower was keeping him up.

Something covered the sun for a moment as they flew a few inches above the trees. He and Arkesha looked up thinking it was Jerome, come to deliver justice. What they saw made their hearts tremble. A large tree over a hundred feet tall and twenty feet thick had been hurled at them from a distance and was already falling on them.

Both of them dived out of the way, separating to escape the gigantic tree. Hedon's heart clenched the next moment as he felt the hand of death upon him. He quickly dived back down to the earth, but he was not fast enough. A blood-red steel blade the length of his forearm sliced through his shoulder cutting off his arm in one smooth move. Hedon screamed as he crashed into the forest at high speed.

From the looks of it, he had on a new armor. I thought it’d be able to withstand Suzie, Jerome transmitted to Achilles.

“Do not underestimate Mythril, Xerae. The Mythril has remarkably changed the composition of the living steel so it’s a lot more powerful now,” Achilles said. “Did you notice how you deflected the Argonaut’s blade—a blade that wasn’t made from physical material?”

“Yea, let’s talk about that later,” Jerome shot toward Hedon.

~~~

“Staunch the blood flow!”

“Quickly…”

Hedon could hear his teammates around him call out to one another as they tried to help stop his blood loss. Their voices sounded far away sometimes and too close at other times.

“Hedon, cycle…”

He couldn’t keep conscious for more than a few breaths, alternating between fainting and waking. The pain was unbearable. He couldn’t feel his left arm, and half his face was covered in blood. He could smell it…taste it even.

“He’s here!” someone shouted.

Another lifted him up and for a few seconds, Hedon’s eyes fluttered open. What he saw made his heart nearly freeze over. Goosebumps rose on his skin, and he could feel his mouth go dry and his eyes moisten. Hedon had never been so afraid in his entire life.

Jerome held his severed hand as he walked toward the Alvrics. His long thinning hair was blowing into his mummified face covering it partially. Sunken black eyes met his and he shivered lightly. There was an almost concealed red glow in Jerome’s eyes that made him look like a demon from hell as he walked toward them. Robes billowing in the wind, Jerome walked forward slowly.

Jerome was still some distance away but Hedon felt like he was right in front of him. As if he could stretch his hand and grip his throat, squeezing the life out of him. Hedon’s remaining hand went to his throat subconsciously.

“Jerome. Are you going to be so adamant?!” He yelled, his weakness evident in his voice. “Do you want to risk rousing the ire of a Great family?!” Hedon screamed hoping to scare Jerome into stopping his assault.

But Jerome only moved forward, undeterred. He rushed forward spinning his spear as myriads of attacks were launched at him from various artifacts from the Alvrics’ offensive teammates. Jerome countered attack after attack and kept getting closer. The essence began to spike in the air and become chaotic. Any magical beasts miles away would sense the fight going on here. The Alvrics couldn’t risk that. Hedon’s mind raced as he thought of what to do.

“Form up!” he shouted.

His teammates got into position as they began cycling. Jerome took a look at them and extended his perception.

“They are about to summon the Argonaut again, Xerae,” Achilles said. “But ground activity shows you’ve got another problem.”

Jerome raised an eyebrow at that. He raised his spear, blade facing up. “Mother Nature provides life…”

The butt of the spear hit the ground with a boom and the Alvrics lost their balance, flung into the air with a mighty force from the spear as the earth moved like a wave beneath them. The Alvrics took to the sky to complete their formation. But the earth rose up with them threatening to swallow them. Many of them were so afraid, they scattered in different directions, destroying any chance of creating the formation.

“Freak!” someone shouted at Jerome with venom in their voice.

Jerome ran after Hedon and Arkesha. But before he could get to them, he sensed something behind him and quickly dodged to the side. A gigantic wind blade passed through the position he was in the air a moment ago, just a hair’s breadth away from him as he twisted away. He crashed into a tree, disintegrating it in an instant and causing pain to shoot up his spine. He knew he had sustained internal injuries at that moment, but he couldn’t be bothered because a giant sword-wielding ethereal armored warrior stood in front of him.

Jerome’s jaw dropped. Is this the same Argonaut that attacked me before? This Argonaut was a lot bigger than the previous one. Towering over the trees…and still growing. But the most notable fact was its presence.

“No, Xerae. This is the real Argonaut,” Achilles said.

“But the Argonaut—”

“The one the Alvric clan reveres in their homeland is but an extension of this one. The Argonaut is a Spirit—a wind Spirit. Hedon’s father tasked him with finding this Argonaut for his own father.”

“Fuck!” Jerome cursed as he stood up. How the fuck did things get to this. “This was what you felt and said you had a bad feeling about killing Hedon?”

“I suppose it is, Xerae.”

The Alvrics began celebrating as they quickly flew into the giant. The giant grew even bigger—the tallest trees not even reaching its knees.

“How the hell did it get here then?!” Jerome asked as he scrambled backward, ignoring the stampede of beasts that came rushing out the forest toward him.

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“I believe it was Hedon’s injury that called to it, Xerae.”

“So in other words, this is my fault?”

The colossal Argonaut took a step to adjust itself and the ground quacked with intense vibrations. It turned around as if to take in its environment, clearing everything under foot as it moved. The wind moved with it and around it. Blades of wind sliced into everything its feet passed by, shattering rocks and disintegrating trees. Even from more than a hundred yards away, Jerome could still feel the effects of the Argonaut's movement, but more than that, he could feel the weight of its presence weighing down on him.

Then it cycled.

Jerome’s knees hit the ground as a force equal in power to the Sovereign’s pushed him down. Every magical beast around him at the time—including those that were unfortunate to be caught flying—hit the ground, some of them convulsing and foaming at the mouth before passing out. Jerome could feel himself gasping for air as if the very air he was breathing in was being pulled out of his lungs.

As the Argonaut cycled, wind essence raced towards it from everywhere. It raised its head and arms, clenching its fists as it roared to the sky—a loud roar that blasted everything around it for almost a mile away. Jerome had to bury himself in the soil so as not to have his bone shattered from the shockwave of the blast. He pushed himself deep down into the earth to escape the Argonaut’s hold on the world and everything around it.

As it cycled, the Argonaut created a hurricane around it pulling trees from the ground. The atmosphere became colder as the temperature dropped and the suction force tightened around the area. Jerome could feel himself being pulled out of the ground against his will. He willed the earth around him, shaping it into a dome to give him a brief respite.

“Achilles, get me outta here!” Jerome screamed.

“A moment, Xerae. If I act now, the Argonaut would sense me. Things would only get worse after that.”

Jerome remembered that the old succubus sensed Achilles once, which means the Argonaut—which was as powerful as a Transcendent—could sense him too. Not only that, she also pulled a pod of Hezvar out of the void—the very pod he bonded to himself. Who was to say the Argonaut couldn’t do that, or more?

Jerome could feel a strain on his mind. As if something was trying to break through his defenses. He chuckled darkly as the vein in his temple stood as he tried to resist the suppression field of the Argonaut.

The Argonaut may not be actively trying to break through his mental defenses, but the ‘working’ of its Will in the world was bending physical and metaphysical laws almost to the breaking point, if not past it—he wasn’t sure about the science of it— but he was not surprised; this was a Transcendent after all.

Jerome thought about how to get himself out of his situation. Fear rose in him for the first time in a long while. This would be the most dangerous thing he had ever tried doing. He hesitated for a long moment before taking a deep breath. He could do this. He had to. There was no other recourse. He exhaled, his breath coming out shakily and his hands shook as well. He had to clench his fists to keep calm.

He had overcome every disadvantage he found himself in, every problem that had been shoved in his face had caved to his will and perseverance. He wasn’t about to give in now. He wouldn’t stay here waiting for death to come. The Argonaut wouldn’t be merciful and let him go, not after he had caused one who revered it to suffer.

“Mother Nature provides life…” Jerome recited and willed the surface of the soil around him to shrink closer to him and solidify. He just had to get himself out of his troubles since Achilles was unable to help at the moment.

The earth rumbled as a golden glow covered the soil all around him. He could now control how the earth essence would permeate the air as well as the vital essence. But as he reached out with his own Will to move the soil, he found he could do nothing. The Argonaut had locked down everything in its vicinity. It had become the new law in the area around it. How much of the area its Will covered, Jerome could not tell.

“She provides vitality and protection,” Jerome continued under his breath. He pulled the vital aura from the earth preparing to come under the Argonaut’s full attention. If he wanted to survive, this was the least he could do—even though he knew no amount of protection could prevent the Argonaut’s attacks and intent from reaching him.

With every line of the earth mantra recited, the blazing aura of the earth became stronger around him. The area of the aura also increased in diameter and as it did, Jerome felt the pressure give way, a tiny fraction. Green motes of vital aura suffused the surrounding inside the dome-shaped hole and he sucked it all into his core. He increased the intensity of his will and drew tiny scripts in the soil around him to create an extra layer of protection, ready to take off.

Here goes, he thought. This was it.

As soon as he activated the scripts, the argonaut focused a little more attention on him. Jerome vomited blood, unprepared as he was to face the scrutiny of a being almost equal to a god. The scripts flared bright gold as his blood touched them, almost as if the vitality in his blood empowered them. Jerome felt the ground shake as he imagined the Argonaut giving him its full attention.

The ground burst open and all his scripts shattered. Jerome groaned as the weight of the Argonaut’s presence increased by a hundred folds. He felt his feet leave the ground and everything turned white in a split second.

Whatever happens, Achilles. Make sure that thing never makes it to Vorthe, he thought before passing out.

~~~

Waking up to the sound of the forest around him, Jerome sat up abruptly. It was dark but he could see the silhouettes of the trees and leaves in different shades of green around him. The forest was alive all around him with the chirping of insects and croaking of frogs, which was a disturbance to his ears.

The moment he cycled, silence reigned as the creatures around him froze from the slight pressure he exuded. Jerome sighed. He looked around trying to figure out where he was. Standing up, he noticed something falling off him: his face and neck; his hands as well. He looked down to see his skin peeled off from his body.

Did I molt?

“Yes, Xerae,” Achilles answered.

He took off his robe and more dead skin fell off his bare upper body. He quickly stripped down and shook off the rest of the dead skin from his clothes. His new skin felt healthy and smooth to the touch, and his body had filled out. His hair had also grown out as well, looking healthy and shiny.

“That was quick. I thought it would take a while,” Jerome said, putting on his clothes.

“Xerae…”

Jerome sighed. He knew what was coming. For all his powers, Achilles wasn’t a true Transcendent. He could face one down but only for a while. He couldn’t stop a Transcendent if he—or she—wanted to leave.

“It got away, didn’t it?” Jerome asked, wondering what he’d missed.

“I could only make sure to keep it distracted,” Achilles said, sharing the memory of what transpired after he passed out with him.

Achilles had used the power of the Hezvar to attack the Argonaut. Golden beams of energy carrying tremendous power poured down from space to destroy the Argonaut. With that distraction, Achilles was able to get Jerome out of harm's way. Jerome was surprised to find out that the Hezvar was not just for surveillance but could be used as a weapon—a weapon that can destroy any target anywhere in the world, at least those that weren’t Transcendent.

“Using the Hezvar like this must have taken a toll on you. I can feel it.”

“Yes. Well, I had to get you to Csala so I could get you both out of there.”

“Csala,” Jerome perked up. “Where is she?” He scanned the forest around him and noticed her sleeping a few dozen feet away. “Why is she sleeping so far away?”

“You do know you cycle when you sleep, right?” Achilles snorted. “It was wise on her part to put some distance between you lest you invite trouble with your cycling. Nevertheless, I had to force you to stop cycling.”

“Thanks, Achilles. Are you gonna be ok?” Jerome had to know because he felt his connection to the pod he bonded with had weakened.

“Already at a hundred percent, Xerae. The pods are conserving power and recharging is all.”

Jerome sighed in relief at that. “Where are we?”

“Close to Terra Praeta’s equator. We covered a lot of distance in one jump.”

Jerome exhaled in relief. His battle with the Alvrics took place way down South.

“So…where is the Argonaut now?”

“It’s in Vorthe now, Xerae. But do not worry yourself. Vorthe’s Sovereign is more than enough to deal with it.”

“But what about those who’d be caught in the crossfire,” Jerome said as the weight of what he’d done settled on him. He frowned and scolded himself in his heart. He had unleashed a terror upon Vorthe and he wasn’t going to be there to stop it.

“One thing at a time, Xerae. Your friends at the North pole would be facing trouble soon. I suggest you lend a helping hand.”

Jerome’s stomach rumbled.

“... After you get something to eat.”

“When last did I even eat…?” Jerome wondered aloud as he walked toward the sleeping succubus. “What’s after them?”

“Unbound, Xerae. Hungry ones,” Achilles said, showing him a pack of about sixty bipedal wolves tracking prey. They had split up to cover more ground. The prey which were his friends, the Itakars.

“How long do I have?”

“At least four days before they are found.”

That might not be a lot of time for him to reach them considering the distance from his current location to theirs, but he could cover half the world in fifteen hours. Having ancient secrets of the Fae could help a Sprout do that. He had to fill his belly first, and then work on something that he could feel he could do now. Somehow, he had grown. He could sense it, the struggle to get away from the Argonaut’s hold on the world must have pushed him to another level of strength. He squatted beside Csala to wake her up..

“Hey, I’m awake,” he said and gently nudged her. “I’m going to hunt down something to…” he trailed off as he remembered he still had some roasted game in his spatial ring. Jerome quickly checked but frowned at what he saw.

Of course they’ll rot, he snorted to himself. He extracted them out of his spatial ring and quickly burnt them up so as not to pollute the air with the smell. They had been in his ring for too long.

“Huh. Jerome?” Csala woke, sitting up. She looked around to find darkness blanketing her surroundings but as a succubi, she still had enhanced senses.

“I’m going to hunt down something for us to eat,” Jerome said.

“I’m coming with you,” Csala said, almost too quickly. “You’re not going to leave me out here alone, are you?”

Jerome’s gaze lingered on her beautiful face for a few breaths, as he found it hard to keep the smile off his face. He offered his hand to her, palm facing up.

“Are you okay?” Csala asked, giving him a questioning look. She could see the worry in his eyes, and she knew it wasn’t for her.

“I’m ok,” he said, helping her up. He picked a direction after a mile wide scan and took off with Csala behind him, all the while, thoughts of his home being destroyed by the Alvric clan drowned every other thought in his mind. There was nothing he could do even if he wanted to. He just had to hope the Sovereign could stop the Argonaut.