“Help is here!” Standing proudly at the entrance, her arms crossed and held the widest smile on her face. Elenora greeted the survivors with their backs against the Tower. “Hmm? Why are all of you making that face?”
“Elin, are you insane?! You just opened the door in front of the enemy!” Kaeth shouted.
“Because we won. We made it.”
“I don’t see how we won!”
Dumbstruck by Elenora’s action, the Shadowed army tried to process why their foes would unlock the door into the Tower for them. The Shadowed Acolytes paused with the Paladin and Defender exchanging looks.
“El…lin?”
“Seems almost not all of you are consumed by the Shadows, ••••••.” Elenora beamed a smile at the Shadowed Knight. “Everyone, you’ve done well fending off impossible odds for so long. Everything is fine now.”
The Knight was the only one pacified by Elenora’s appearance. Unfortunately, the others quickly launched their attacks at her. Elenora was met with hail of enemy fire.
“Don’t just stand there!” Kihet was the first to act. He used his [Chain] to try and pull her to safety.
But it dispelled before it could touch Elenora and Kihet watched his [Chain] struck by visible noise, disappearing in a blink of an eye. Subsequently, a silver lined coffin dropped in front of Elenora and shielded her from the barrage of spells the Shadowed Wizard casted.
Kihet then felt a hand gently shove him off to the side and a man walk past him. He was the one from the murals in Vivrus’ dungeon who carried the coffin. His clothes were too casual to be called an undertaker or a grave keeper, but also were very plain when compared to Elenora and Kaeth, the two from his same timeline.
The man shared appearances with Henrick and looked identical, but the air around him didn’t match. He carried confidence in his bold stride, not so much to strike Kihet as narcissistic. He was the only one who dared to step out of the Tower and stared at the limitless enemies opposing him with a bold smirk on his face.
Whereas Henrick wore a green swallow-tailed coat, the man had a grey jacket with his large hood down. He had plasticity pads covering his right arm and a transparent visor over his head. A black stone shaped of a handle rolled in his left hand.
“So? Your fellow Acolyte is here.” He opened his arms wide as if inviting the enemy to take the first initiative. “What’s wrong? Why isn’t anyone attacking? Are they scared of me, Elin?”
“They are simply cautious of you.”
“Well, after I managed to thwart their invasion, they should be. Three against one wasn’t fair. And to put it out there, I was severely handicapped, but somehow I managed to win.”
After he boldly faced his back to the Shadowed Knight, it sprang into action with its black scythe in tow. The two of them blurred out and the Knight’s weapon rebounded from an invisible force. To those with trained eyes, they saw his hand waved into the general direction of the attack and casually backhanded the curved blade said to destroy anything without magical protection.
“He’s strong!” Alam exclaimed.
“Appearances can be deceiving.” The Elder lectured. “Even more so, I cannot sense any magic emanating from him nor his equipment. Could you confirm that, young Lemi?”
“I can’t hear the magic’s song, but the air felt strange and hollow when he passed us.”
“If he can’t use magic, shouldn’t he be cut by that scythe?” Kihet questioned.
“That’s not to say he can’t.” Kaeth lifted his upper half off the floor. “But we can trust him in a situation like this. I can say that guy is strong but he’s often not right in the head.”
“My methods may be unorthodox at times, but people around me often put themselves in situations that calls for it.”
“Just put an end to this will you?”
“Don’t tell me how to do my job.”
The Acolyte lifted the silver lined coffin like a shield and set it to his side. He took a breath and examined the enemy before his lips began moving.
“Tzurari. Tzuari. Goshet hoi, bwheki gala. Through the ••••••••’s light, the burning flames of hope will purify. Search then bear, fall and tear, until they all become nothing and leave their spirits crumble to dust and ashes in my name. Xaief Lonic, Wach.”
The world suddenly turned black and white as if someone flipped the switch to turn off all colors. The looming clouds hanged above turned static. Their shapes were distorted like puzzle portrait with all the pieces jammed in wrong places.
Kihet blinked once and the buildings surrounding the Tower disappeared without a trace. The second time he blinked, the Shadowed army vanished leaving the Shadowed Acolytes left. By the third, colored returned to the world. The crimson sky was now blue reflecting off the purified mirror lake.
“W-where did everything go?” Kridas gasped.
“What happened?” Alam asked. “Everything’s back to original.”
“I felt it was too crowded and thought I should make the place more spacious.” The Acolyte hopped atop of the standing coffin and took a seat atop of it. “Let’s see. I’ll start with [Territory of the Sloth].”
Just as the Paladin hurled a buckshot of crystals, an orange tinted screen of light washed over everyone. The crystals pointed at the man came to a full halt, suspended in midair.
The Acolyte plucked them off the air and inspected their shine. Without so much as to watch his attackers, he gave the coffin a little nudge with his foot. “How about, hit them with [Flames of Envy].”
The coffin slammed opened. Its contents was a scenery that led to a starry space. A cyan blue Will O Wisp emerged from it and floated towards the enemy for a few seconds before popping. A raging cyan hued firestorm erupted where it popped and engulfed the Acolytes standing in front of it.
It covered Kihet’s entire view. If he were to guess, it was as large as the dust storm following him when he sailed through Pamalyra’s desert.
“Next. [Void of Gluttony].”
The contents of the coffin changed as stars gathered to the center. The blue wall of flames was extinguished by the Defender and poking out behind its sturdy shields, the Wizard rained thousands of lances conjured by every Elemental attributes. They were immediately sucked up into coffin.
“Imagined if I had this during our fight.” He glared at the Knight and smirked. “What’s wrong? You guys had so much bravado when I wasn’t here. Did I kill all the fun you had?”
The Knight and Paladin raised their weapons and charged the Acolyte who flipped down the coffin and hid behind it.
“[Depths of Lust.]”
The Paladin bashed its mace against the coffin and its arm exploded from the recoil. The Knight attacked from a different angle and thrust its sword through the man’s chest. It was thought to be a fatal strike until the Knight couldn’t feel any feedback of its sword piercing flesh. Its blade phased through as if it struck an intangible ghost.
The Knight hurriedly withdrew and retook its stance.
He turned to face the Knight with a sinister grin, raising the stone in his hand as to take a wild swing though they were worlds apart.
Red lightning crackled from its tip as the energy blade extended to a size of a dagger. The object felt contradicting as though its length was both long and short at the same time. To those who laid their eyes on it, patches of visible noises scattered throughout the environment as the fabric of reality was on the verge of tearing.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
When he slashed at the Knight’s direction, images of different weapons of all variety overlapped with one another. The attack reached the Knight. At first, the knife’s edge was guessed to be incredibly sharp, yet it shattered the Knight’s shield as if a blunt object smashed it, but also like a pick piercing it.
“Was that some form of martial arts? Impossible. It’s as if there were phantoms of him that existed out of place to cut that Knight for a second.” Shibata grounded his teeth.
Next were the two large hands controlled by the Defender approaching the Acolyte. The Paladin snapped its severed arm back and led the assault. The earth pushed against its heels allowed him to glide along the ground while invoking another spell.
“••••••!” Elenora warned. “[Greedy hands of Hansel and Gretel] are moving!”
“I’m jealous of her arsenal of story weapons. I kind of want them.”
One swept at him while the other reeled back for a punch. Hansel was the hand with blue veins while Gretel was one with red. Hansel flattened everything in its path while Gretel pummelled everything below. The mirror lake rippled to the edge of the world from their attacks.
Seconds later, the veins on Hansel and Gretel blinked. Both giant hands collapsed as if the energy powering them were suddenly depleted. A red line tore the fabric of space, turning them into fragments and their remains disappeared into the void.
“Man, I’m starting to get pissed off.” The man muttered. “I should’ve just wiped you all off the face of the world back then.”
The Paladin skated past him and bashed his mace at his skull. The moment its mace was inches from his nose, a spell detonated, taking the shape of the large cross erected as tall as the clouds.
His hand snatched the Paladin’s head and the next moment, slammed its face on the surface of the mirror lake. His foot hovered over its head and with a stomp, created a fracture in the ground where Kihet thought was impossible. Small whirlpools formed as the water drained through the cracks.
“He’s freakin invincible…! Elenora, that’s not your doing, is it?” Alam asked.
“This is him, but he’s fooling around to relieve some stress. I can tell he’s angry being forcibly sent here.”
“He’s angry?” Lemi inquired.
“It’s best if you don’t ask for the reason. He won’t stop talking afterwards.” Elenora flashed a wryly smile at Lemi.
“Elenora, could you ask everyone to cover their ears for a bit? I need to let off some steam.”
“You all may want to cover your ears.” She relayed.
Everyone obiediently put their hands over their ears.
The Knight and the Wizard dove at the Acolyte. He went to take a slash only to find the Defender sacrificed its floating shields to protect the others charging at him. That forced him to remove his foot from the Paladin.
The man expertly deflected their attacks and knocking them back one by one. He jumped at the Wizard with a kick launching it into the horizon, tossed a punch sending the Paladin into the sky and a batted his weapon which shot the Defender miles away.
Finding the Knight isolated, He jumped after the Knight rushing at him and slammed his coffin onto its back.
“You think your actions are justified because you’re the Hero? The world was at peace after we defeated the Shadow Lord, and you decide to start another war. I was trying to live a peaceful life with her and you ruined IT!”
He lifted it up again, hammering the bottom of the casket as he angrily howled. His enraged voice shook the core of their bodies. His anger was converted into quaking blows.
“YOU- MOTHER FUCKING- RUINED IT YOU PIECE OF SHIT! WHY DID YOU WANT TO HAVE THOSE MEMORANDUMS?! YOU COULD’VE JUST LET EVERYTHING GO ABOUT WITHOUT ANOTHER SOUL NEEDED TO BE SACRIFICED FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR ‘JUSTICE’! YOU’RE A FUCKING HERO! SO, WHY ARE YOU POINTING YOUR SWORD AGAINST THE PEOPLE?! THIS, EVERYTHING, IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU’RE FUCKING FAULT! IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU, I’D STILL BE WITH HER! I ONLY FOUGHT WITH YOU TO PROTECT HER! NOTHING ELSE MATTERED TO ME AND BECAUSE YOU GOT IN MY WAY, I HAVE TO PUT ALL THOSE PLANS TO HER HAPPY ON HOLD! BECAUSE OF YOU, I HAD TO LET HER SEE THE VERY THING SHE SHOULD NEVER SEE! BECAUSE OF YOU, SHE THINKS I BROKE MY PROMISE WITH HER! BECAUSE OF YOU, I WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE HER SMILE FOR A LONG TIME! BECAUSE OF YOU, BECAUSE OF FUCKING YOU!”
Every word, he dropped the coffin onto the Knight with overwhelming force, each time more devastating than the last. The fracture on the supposedly indestructible mirror lake spread as far as one could see into the horizon. The Shadowed Knight under the coffin remained still, alive but unable to move due to its pulverized body slowly mending itself.
The Acolyte raised his hand and gripped it into a fist. In an instant, shapes began to distort the air as if an image was pinched and stretched into a cone, stabbing into the other Shadowed Acolytes returning. There were so many invisible spikes, the enemies became riddled with holes. Even the Defender who was protected by its shields and barriers found itself pierced all over.
“Tsk. They just won’t die in this realm.” He growled, drawing a line across his throat with his thumb. “Get out of my sight. If any of you ever show up when I return to that world, you’re fucking dead.”
Knowing they were outmatched, and their attacks were rendered useless against him, the Wizard struggled but managed to create a magic circle underneath its comrades to quickly warped away.
“Elin, can you confirm if they’re still in this realm?”
“I-I am certain they’ve retreated.” Stunned, Elenora barely composed herself and answered.
“Great! Time for phase two.” He spun towards his spectators with a brimming smile as if his meltdown never happened. “Anyone who isn’t the Oracle or the Saint, make your way into the Tower please and thank you.”
Assuming he was an ally, it would be in everyone’s best interest to follow his instructions. Lemi gave Kihet a look, to which he silently reassured her and prompted everyone else to follow Kaeth towards the Tower’s chamber.
Only Kihet, Elenora and he remained.
To break silence after hearing the heavy doors closed at the end of the hall, the man laid the sliver lined coffin in front of Kihet.
“Alright, so where are you at on your current adventure, Oracle? I want to know everything if you want my help to send you back to the material world.”
----------------------------------------
“To victory! Cheers!”
The sound of great joy and laughter came out from the crowd.
A large celebration took place. Everyone who fell during the battle was revived and joined the feast. Though there were those whose souls were unretrievable, this feast was dedicated to all those who bravely fought off and sacrificed themselves in the impossible battle.
To start, giant barrels landed soundly next to his group as rowdy adventurers watching from the sidelines bookkeeping bets being made.
“Alright lads! Last one standing wins!” The barkeeper slammed the first round of drinks on the table.
Kihet snapped awake and found his table surrounded with bystanders. Earlier, he retold all events to the Acolyte leading up to this moment. After the man had heard enough, he dismissed Kihet.
Forced to be in the center of attention, Kihet’s table was the center of a drinking contest. His group had Kridas and Alam -both heavy weight drinkers- and Shibata. At that moment a barrel was placed next to him, he regretted everything that led to this unfortunate circumstance.
“Kihet! Hannah will be cheering for you!”
“Do I have to drink all of this?”
“I must ask as well. This container next to me is half my size.” Shibata squinted.
“And mine as well… do I get a handicap?” Lemi asked.
Alam smacked the one next to him. “Want to switch? Mine’s bigger.”
“I will refrain from doing so.” The Elder looked at the ‘barrel’ next to him.
“It’s because of our differences of our weight we get more.” Kridas laughed. “Now then, are we ready? Referee, get countin!”
“On your marks… drink!”
Rozzalians had enough strength to pick up and chug directly from their barrels. While Shibata dunked his mug into his barrel, Kihet silently stared at the surface of his old nemesis that once gave him a scarring experience.
“Don’t think of trying to dropout early.” Kridas’ face was flushed having to already drained his first cup. “You’re the type to never back down on a promise, aren’t you?”
“I never said I was going to drink till I passed out either.”
“Don’t be such a party pooper. Get started already.” Alam took a swig.
Lemi and the Elder began taking large sips. Seeing them, Kihet scooped a cupful of the contents and began to work through it. “Screw it.”
By his eighteenth mug, he only drank half the barrel next to him. The effects of alcohol kicked in. He felt floaty. The world was spinning and put him in a trance like state. Nonetheless, he kept drinking because that was the most mindless thing he could do at the moment.
Voices around him began to sound muffled. He couldn’t hear Hannah cheering him on who was right next to him. Kihet was impressed he drank this much and hadn’t blacked out yet, though he preferred he did. His stomach was filled, and he was on the verge of vomiting.
Beside him, Shibata, Lemi and the Elder set down their nineteenth and their expression as though he hadn’t drank a drop.
“What’s wrong, Kihet? We’re all waiting for you to finish your drink to get another round.” Lemi asked.
“How could you all stay sober, after all that?” Kihet burped.
“I’ve been trained to have a high tolerance to attend banquets.” Shibata immediately gave his excuse.
Kihet grunted as he tossed what’s left from his cup into his mouth and slammed the table. Another four servings dropped on the table and that was when he felt a bulge crawl up his throat. Fortunately, he was able to prevent himself from making a mess.
“Ugh… if I was still alive and drank this much, I’d lost my livers. I forfeit.”
“It’s impressive you can stay sober.” Kridas commented.
“I could be returning to the material world at any time. That Acolyte said he needed time to come up with a method to send me back.” Kihet stood up. “Besides, it’s pointless for me to sit around watching you all not getting drunk. You said it yourself.”
He was aware a ward Lemi set up in the corner was empty and no one at their tables have passed out. He also remembered Kridas mentioned something about the souls here unable to get drunk in this realm.
“Looks like the Oracle found out. He stopped on the eighteenth. Did anyone guess right? Come and collect your winnings.”
“Damn, I thought he’d stop with one more drink!”
“I guessed three more.”
“Tch.” Kridas clicked his tongue. “That was quicker than I’d thought, but I should’ve known you got sharp eyes and ears. Even so, that’s not entirely true. I said we’re not as susceptible to get as drunk as we did back in the material world.”
“But you don’t look too good yourself.” Lemi commented on Kihet’s face. “You’re swaying all over.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not…” Before Kihet could get another word in, he collapsed on the floor, fast asleep.
“Ah! Kihet fell asleep.” Hannah rolled him on his back. “Angel Sis! Kihet passed out!”
“That means I must stop here as well. Hannah, help me carry Kihet.”
“Damn, he must’ve been holding on by a thread.” Alam waved Lemi over. “Welp, the feast is going to continue anyways. Anyone want to take on the Oracle’s place?”