“Uah!”
Velvet sheets clung to Novus’ chest as he sat up.
His rapidly blinking eyes searched the room for what had awoken him so abruptly, but there wasn’t anything.
The silk curtains that mimicked different shades of blue swung in the breeze.
Were the curtains always blue?
Novus’ grip nearly pierced the azure-coloured sheets in lingering trauma.
The various items around the room were all in odd positions, looking like the maids hadn’t yet cleaned Novus’ room.
“My room?”
Novus’ brows scrunched together.
“But I remember….”
Novus attempted to recall something, but it remained elusive, like it was actively trying not to be remembered.
“A bad dream?”
Novus waved his hand as he tried to manipulate the ambient mana. However, it remained static or avoided his hand like a feather in the wind.
Novus pulled the velvet sheets from his body and jumped from his messy bed.
Thud!
Novus hurried off the floor, unable to stretch out his wings as usual.
What's going on with my—
Slam!
Novus couldn’t continue thinking as a figure burst into his room and attached themselves to his thigh.
“Brother!”
It was a young girl wearing a light purple dress that flowed like a river around her. The frail arms held a dainty strength as they precariously wrapped around his thigh. A relieved sigh escaped Novus as he affectionately rustled her strawberry-blonde hair and caused her to smile up at him.
“Hehe. Brother, I thought you were going to—”
“Awaken, my prince.”
Novus’ smile broke as an unfamiliar voice clouded his mind.
“Brother, are you listening?”
Novus had his attention pulled back by the cute little girl, and he shook his head with words caught in his throat. Instead of saying anything, he lightly pinched her nose. That felt natural. Like he had done it many times before.
“Ouch! Hey, I told you not to!”
The girl lightly complained, burrowing her nose into her cupped hands in pouting defence.
Seeing the girl’s weak protest reassured Novus: everything felt the way it should.
Dramatically, Novus put one hand up and another behind his back as he vowed to the little girl.
“Of course. I, Ultio, will never—”
“Awaken, my prince.”
The little girl squinted as she hurried behind Novus and successfully untwisted his loosely bound fingers.
“I won’t fall for it anymore! See! Now, brother has to keep his promise!”
The little girl held Novus’ untwisted fingers before him as a trophy of her victory, and Novus let out a dull chuckle. But, as he stared at his sister, something began to feel misplaced.
The little girl pulled Novus to the patio and insisted on playing a game, despite his lack of playfulness. The little girl continued pulling Novus until below loomed the cloud layer edge. Then, the little girl let go.
“Catch! Catch!”
“Awaken, my prince.”
Novus clutched his throbbing head before suddenly realizing the missing little girl. Novus fought through the pain as he stumbled off the patio and descended into the cloud layer below.
Novus tried to urge his wings to steady his free-fall through the air, but they were never there. Instead, all Novus could do was frantically fall head-first through the clouds and desperately begin to speed up.
“Eeeee!”
Novus’ eyes darted among the concealing cloud layer as he searched for the source of the screaming. However, Novus couldn’t find the little girl anywhere until his body exited the clouds.
That was when panic started to set in.
“VIVIAN!”
“EEEEE!!”
The little girl’s initially excited screams turned fearful as she saw her brother untransformed. With each moment, the ground inched closer.
“VIVIAN!!!”
“BROTHER!”
“Awaken, my prince.”
His shouting sister was already near the ground, and Novus felt one thought become exceedingly clear as his hand outstretched.
HURRY, NOVUS! YOU CAN’T LET HER DIE AGAIN!
Tears streamed across Novus’ eyes as he yanked his hand further than he could and felt pain starting to ache his body.
Distance abruptly zoomed past Novus as his hand touched the tip of his sister’s. Then, the voice loomed.
“Awaken, my prince.”
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Time froze to a stop as the world around Novus fractured. The hand he had touched, the sister he had yet to save, dissolved into a million pieces that twisted and pulled away just as slow.
Novus hardly processed anything until he felt the dirt clenched inside his hand and his nails piercing his palm.
“No. No…”
Novus’ eyes closed as he weakly protested with his forehead pressed on the ground. Tears wet the dirt around his eyes, but Novus stayed there, unaware of the events around him.
----------------------------------------
Crash!
Goibhniu blew a long line in the ground as he reentered the tattered throne room through a smashed wall.
Gula descended from above, with an arm twisted like a willow tree and untwisting just as gruesomely. By the time he landed on the ground, Gula was already using the weakened but functional arm to lick the blood from his cutting knife.
“Giant’s blood? What a delicious, savoury taste. Nostalgic, almost.”
Goibhniu looked hardly any better, with shallow and deep cuts littering his body. However, the power of giants running through his bloodline made his wounds heal so fast that the superficial cuts disappeared within seconds.
Hack! Tou!
Spitting out a hardened ball of blood from his throat, Goibhniu used his warhammer as a crutch to raise himself.
“Oi, shorty. That tickled.”
Disaster struck in pairs as another wall was torn down.
Crash!
Circe’s body skipped like a stone on the water as she coincidentally landed beside Goibhniu.
Ack!
Circe’s body was no better as the cuts on her body oozed with dark shadowy smoke.
Hack! Tou!
Circe refused to lay down either as a black ball of spit landed a few inches away from Gula’s shining boots. Whether this was intentional or not, only Circe knew.
“The Hidden Shadow has really fallen. A filthy servant and his vomit-stinking underling are only this good?”
From behind Gula’s anger-flexed legs, Mercury appeared.
“Uncouth mouth.”
Though Mercury had no visible tears or injuries, his breathing was heavy, and his skin pale. He had visibly paid a cost to injure Circe.
While Gula voiced his wrath, Mercury scanned the battlefield and grew shocked.
They're escaping the delusion? Already?
“Gula.”
“What!?”
“The boy.”
Gula’s eyes turned razor-sharp as he stared at Novus’ clear eyes. It was barely a moment, but they flashed an azure ring before receding into Novus’ regular golden colour.
Gula’s eyes shifted to the other two behind Novus, and his gaze lingered on Adrianne before being interrupted by Mercury again.
“Gula, we have a problem.”
When Gula finally noticed, he knew Mercury was right; they had a major problem.
A stifling pressure crept up on everyone. What felt like a mountain, or perhaps a whole range of mountains, was slowly pressing on their bodies, and suppressing their very being. There was only one word to describe the gradually awakening Edna.
Overwhelming.
Her eyes opened a millimetre at a time, but the pressure rose exponentially as she didn't consciously control it. It unnerved Gula so much that he felt shivers run across his skin.
From behind, Mercury’s expression turned frantic, cursing the island's informants.
Negligent, rotten... If she can break through a Hidden Shadow Gem this fast, she’s much stronger than we anticipated.
Mercury’s eyes shifted to Circe and Goibhniu, who had already purged enough of their wounds to begin the battle again.
Moreover, unexpected variables have appeared.
“Gula. We're retreating.”
Mercury’s sour expression dissolved into Gula’s shadow as he completely disappeared.
Meanwhile, Gula nodded as he activated the Hidden Shadow Shard hidden within his forehead. Suddenly, Gula wondered, would people still remember his title after hiding himself for so long?
The Butcher.
It was a simple occupation to many and a terrible reminder of the slaughters Gula had enacted during his prime.
Gula’s flesh wriggled in excitement as the pincer attack from Circe and Goibhniu approached him.
SHING!
Circe and Goibhniu were sent back in a contest of strength as Gula let loose a peal of hoarse laughter.
“HAHA! You think you can defeat me!?”
The remaining throne room wall became swiss cheese as Circe and Goibhniu blasted out and then back in again.
Giant’s Ancestral Hammer!
Taking Gula’s taunt into consideration, a phantom of a colossal figure in full armour appeared behind Goibhniu, and a mighty warhammer smashed down like a comet wreaking spacial vengeance.
Poison Reaper!
From behind Gula, Circe’s scythe glinted green as it snaked from Gula’s shadow and pierced at his back like a snake ambushing its prey.
Devour!
Gula’s blades released an evil, purple-tinted gas as they swung to meet with both attacks.
Munch. Munch. Crunch.
Eerie chewing resounded as the gas covered Goibhniu and Circe’s weapons. Circe felt the end of her scythe go limp as she used her hand and mana to cut off the connection just in time. The rest receded into Gula’s devouring gas.
Goibhniu felt a prickling sensation on his hand until he unsummoned his warhammer back into the dim tattoo on his arm. From his fingers down, his hand was riddled with bite marks, some shallow, and others with flesh missing.
Gula's gas flew around the air before receding into Gula’s open mouth.
Burp!
Gula wiped his mouth and felt the lingering power tingle his mana vessels. He grinned wide.
“Not a bad snack. Would you like to see a real attack?”
Gula’s eyes turned the same eerie purple as the pulsating shard as he stepped towards Goibhniu, who hurriedly pulled out another warhammer.
Butcher’s Culling Strike!
Gula instantly appeared before Goibhniu, and his butchering blade fell towards Goibhniu’s head, leaving behind a trail of devouring gas.
Rip!
Goibhniu’s warhammer was cleaved in two, along with a portion of his arm. But, he had deflected the blow.
SLAM!
The ground quaked as a deep earthen scar opened in the goblin settlement and stretched to the nearby ocean.
Chuckle!
Travelling too fast for Circe’s surprise attack to hit, Gula reappeared a few meters away. He unhanded his butchering blade and left it mysteriously floating in the air. Then, plucking the piece of flesh from his blade, Gula licked his lips with his tongue and opened his mouth wide.
Too wide.
The motion was reminiscent of a snake unhinging its jaw to eat the whole body of its prey. Then, with a deep gulp, passion steeped in Gula's eyes.
“Delicious! The giant blood makes for a tender umami taste!”
“Bastard!”
The back of Gula’s butchering blade sent Circe barreling away, coughing up black blood.
“How cute. A wife attempting to save her husband.”
In another quick step, Gula reappeared before Goibhniu and slashed at his legs.
Rip!
The cutting knife slashed tendons, and Goibhniu cried out in pain. Usually, his physical defences could block even magically reinforced weapons. However, the shard on Gula’s forehead applied a power that transcended his defences and slowed his regeneration.
Gula shuffled his feet and appeared before Circe, who continued to spit out black blood with each of Gula's battering strikes.
“Haha! It’s almost too much!”
Gula laughed and raised his butchering knife high in the air.
“Watch Goibhniu. Watch your wife’s tragic end.”
Gula lowered his butchering knife, and a fog greater than the one before was unleashed.
Well, lowered was the wrong word for it.
Gula tried to lower his butchering knife.
All that stopped it from coming down was a frail-looking index finger and a thumb suspending the knife mid-air.
“Eh? You’re shorter, Gula. And you’ve lost weight.”
Gula’s short height made it appropriate to look above and behind him at the tall woman garbed in white Victorian armour. Her cruel smile reminded Gula of the infamous devils as she fully released the pressure she had been carefully containing.
“This is going to hurt. A lot.”