“So that was it?” Everyperson asked as he looked around goofily. “It was my fear that manifested Death?”
“Yeah.” Maya nodded as he patted him on the shoulder. “You aren’t dying.”
“Thanks, guys. You really helped me despite being sinful, horrible, evil, corrupted, perverted, abominations who denied the grace of the Lord. I see it now. The Camp misjudged you, although you are being labeled as, degenerate, immoral heretics, you are good people.” Everyperson said with tears in his eyes.
“Gee, thanks, man. You really didn’t hold back your praises.” Alex rolled his eyes.
“What are you going to do now?” Miles asked.
“Have to return to the Camp.” Everyperson sighed. “I have a sick mother, and can’t leave her alone.”
“Alright, you be careful,” Miles said and nodded towards the others. He would love to help Everyperson, but he couldn’t. Chanters couldn’t be taken to the Earth as it would jeopardize the safety of strongholds. If Everyperson one day decided to leave the Camp, he could do so and Miles was more than willing to help him out.
They stood up to leave since they were done with Everyperson. Now they had to find the Invisible Knight and kill it. Maps weren't covering the Phantom World, as monsters named it, thus they had to follow the crude doodlings survivors passed. But Val’s superpower was still as effective. Her Clairvoyance power allowed her to see through any facade and obstacles in their ways, with the sketches they had, it didn't take them to arrive at the area where the academy had signed.
“It must be around here,” Val said as she took one last look at the drawings on her wristwatch. “Miles, you are up now.”
“Alright, lemme see.” Miles activated elemental vision and took a look around. The forest was still the same green, and other elements were splashing all around it to create a harmonic canvas. But in the middle of it all, there was a wisp of red not far from where they were.
“Blood,” Miles whispered as he walked towards the source. There, they found a student from the academy. Its head and limbs were missing, but the uniform on the torso was clear.
“We can’t take it back.” Alex shook his head.
“Let’s burn it,” Maya said as she walked toward the body. She raised her palm and let the fire take the shape of a shroud. As she was about to bring it down to the body, Miles shouted.
“Fall back!”
Maya knew better than ignoring the direct order in such situations. She instinctively jumped back and brought the fire in front of her. Something stiff hit her on the arm but luckily it wasn’t dangerous because of the defense she raised at the last second. She pulled back towards Miles and others and let her energy create some Earth Walls around them. Not too tall, but still enough to let her know if there was any creature approaching them.
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“Nice.” Alex praised as he let his ultimate out. The Starmap floated in the air and sucked energy from the atmosphere, while Alex formed lightning lances and kept one in each hand.
Val was behind Miles. She was holding a pair of pistols filled with different elemental bullets. She was aiming in two opposite directions and was looking around. “Where is it?”
“It is not the Invisible Knight.” Miles kept his eyes on the creature only he could see. It was still on top of the dead body, staring right at him. Its bloody eyes were pinned to his, while its body was resting on or in the dead body.
“What the hell is it then?” Maya asked.
“Incinerate the body from afar,” Miles muttered. Maya raised her dainty hands and let a wisp of flame fly towards the body. It didn’t look impressive but when it landed on the body, it shone like lava and burned vigorously.
It took almost a minute for the fire to die down, but when it did, the torso was still there, as if nothing happened to it.
“Why did the Academy classify this creature as a knight?” Miles asked as he started to look around.
“There were hoof marks around whenever students went missing and holes in the bodies they could find pointed out lance-like weapons. So, they thought it might be a knight.” Val explained.
“Can you see the hole in that torso?” Miles asked.
“Yeah.”
“There is a creature in that hole. That is not a lance hole, it is the creature who opens that injury to get inside the body. It is smaller than a palm.” Miles said. “But another one is hiding nearby. It is a giant donkey.”
“Two creatures?” Maya asked.
“Seems like it.” Miles pointed at the area where the donkey was hiding, and said, “You deal with the donkey, let me deal with that invisible creature.”
The trio left towards the forest where Miles detected the monster, while he still kept his eyes on the small creature. When Maya was about to touch the torso, the monster opened its little mouth to shout and a shock wave spread out. It was silent, despite the effect it caused.
“You are not just invisible. You are also inaudible, probably can’t be felt when touched, am I right?” Miles slowly walked towards the torso as he raised his hand. Invisible energy covered his arm and he slashed it. When it landed on top of the torso, the invisible and attributeless energy changed its color. It turned into electric blue and sounds of lightning filled the air. The energy swipe hit the monster head-on, but it passed through it as if it didn’t exist.
“You are also intangible. Interesting.” Miles looked at the creature in fascination. “You can attack but cannot be attacked.”
“How about this?” Miles long noticed the energy link between the body and the creature. Although the creature looked intangible, it was feeding on the body’s energy to survive. His theory was that it needed a host to keep on living. So, he pulled out a fire arrow and fired it towards the body. The creature shouted once again, but the arrow took a curve in the air and dodged the shock wave. It would be impossible if Miles couldn’t see it, but he could, so he was able to move the arrow so it would fly true.
The arrow hit the body and fire started to burn it. The creature cried in panic as it failed to protect its host. When Maya attacked, the creature let out a shockwave to protect the body. But Miles used it to his advantage to burn it.
After the body was incinerated, the creature shrunk at rapid speed. Not long after, it crumbled to dust and vanished. At the exact same time, a roar filled the forest. Followed by Val’s scream.
“VAL!”