Gemini gazed at the incoming spectres, and a contained rush of madness hit him. Up until now, the Demon Sovereign had avoided staring at the spectres directly, rejecting their subconscious influence upon his psyche. The crimson firmament that blanketed Orb had dulled the devastating madness that these spectres normally gave off, and—
“Normally?” Gemini jerked.
“What are you talking about?” Thasvia asked.
“I’ve…” Gemini took a deep breath, and then shook his head. “I’ve…dreamt about spectres long ago. Back when I was still Constellation Gemini, in Ark City.”
“Eh?”
Gemini nodded. “I stood alone on a crystalline bridge, fending off black, tentacled monsters that charged out of an enormous swirl of darkness. That madness I felt back then was far more intense than the insanity these spectres are emanating, but it’s the same madness nonetheless. But…why would I have such a dream?”
“Why…maybe you were already awakening to your powers of foresight?” Thasvia suggested, her eyes watching as the Five Lands’ fliers began to form up into sharp wedges.
As they sliced into the enemy spectres, who were moving into a curved formation, Gemini shook his head. “I was still an ordinary person back then. I didn’t have a pathway upwards; just a regular Constellation with all possibility of growth cut off. It wouldn’t make sense that I can see the future as I was back then.”
“Then what prompted it? Have you…”
Gemini bit his lips. He couldn’t be sure. There was a lot of things he associated with the boundless darkness of the Crying Abyss, which included people like the Demon God, Heritage Basestation, the impossibly dark pools that passed as the Abyss Sovereign’s eyes, as well as the dark world he remembered seeing when the God of Water passed away.
“Maybe a divine revelation from Hereward?”
“Hereward was caught off-guard by this sudden move of the Abyss Sovereign,” Thasvia replied. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Maybe it’s my instincts,” Gemini replied. “Who knows?”
“Who knows, indeed…” Thasvia bobbed her head up and down. “Why did you think it was your instinct? Was there any particular sensation or emotion that you associated with that answer?”
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Gemini blinked, turning his eyes away from the small skirmish at the front to look at Thasvia directly. “What do you mean by that? Are you asking why I came up with that particular answer?”
“In a sense, yes.” The Breath-maker raised her hand once, and a gale buffeted the distant spectres, causing them to shriek wildly. The area around these unfortunate spectres shimmered wildly a second later, and the phenomenon lasted for a few seconds before Thasvia lowered her arm.
“Something wrong?” Gemini asked.
“I removed the air around these spectres, but they were still able to fly,” said Thasvia. “Interesting. How are they flying, then?”
“I’m quite sure the same explanation applies to you and me,” said Gemini. “Don’t forget that these spectres are fragments of will. Mortal will, granted, but both of us know just how important one’s mind is. Especially for…minds” —he pronounced that last word with some difficulty— “that are as single-minded as these spectres are.”
“Will-energy manipulation,” Thasvia murmured. “Oh, don’t give that too much heed. It’s just a term that popped into my mind, that’s all. From my distant memories or something.”
“…Looks like that’s a common trend in today’s conversation,” Gemini noted, before focusing on Lila. Protected by all the defences Gemini could muster up, she was cutting through spectres like a hot knife, melting everything in her way with the sword Gemini had empowered with his divinity. With all these enhancements, Lila was more than enough to deal with weaker Paragons, let alone a bunch of Knights, ensuring that everyone’s eyes were on her.
“You must be staring at Lila,” Thasvia noted, amusement in her words, before reaching out with her left hand. This time, the spectres on the upper airzone let out a shriek, as the air around them hardened. With such an opening, the Paragons and Demigods of the Five Lands let out a piercing battlecry, before unleashing all manner of attacks on their immobilised enemies.
“I think you made that a bit too obvious,” Gemini noted. “He’s going to retaliate. Prepare.”
A mighty will surged out from the gigantic tower in the continent centre. Calling up thoughts of both Lila and Aria, Gemini felt his heart harden, his divine sense sweeping out with Thasvia’s to form a bulwark against the Abyss Sovereign’s retaliation. For a moment, the world seemed to split into two, coloured by three distinct different colours.
Black-gold for Gemini.
Emerald for Thasvia.
An all-encompassing shadow for Gaius, the Abyss Sovereign.
The three colours wrestled for the briefest of moments, before Orb returned to normal, but the small clash had left Gemini with a debilitating sense of exhaustion. The enemies’ boss had an overwhelmingly stern will, one that brooked no resistance. Whenever Gemini and Thasvia gave assistance too overtly, the Abyss Sovereign would retaliate directly against the two of them…and then end his attack before any permanent harm was done.
By now, Gemini was very aware that the Abyss Sovereign wasn’t intending on killing the two of them, if nothing else.
“The feeling of being tested isn’t a fun one,” he muttered.
Thasvia nodded her head. “’Us gods shouldn’t be interfering.’ That’s what he is saying.”
“He really wants to see if the Five Lands’ answer is satisfactory, no?”
The Breath-maker motioned at a second wave of spectres. “Seems like it.”