A horse rushed towards the giant, artificial cave, its female rider groaning at the thought of what happened, “That moron. I swear, if you leave him alone for more than ten minutes something will go horribly wrong.”
The rider, Lizali, came to a stop outside of one of the cave walls and hopped off commenting, “Although, he isn’t a kid anymore, so perhaps my judgment is wrong.”
She pulled out a disc-like object from her satchel and placed it against the wall, grumbling, “Still though, I can’t believe he went and destroyed my backpack, I worked hard on that thing. I’ll be sure to chastise him thoroughly!”
-
Zycor stares Mr. X down with furious anger, his new tendrils swaying and wiping around. Mr. X can’t contain his joy and amusement at the development and goads the boy, “That’s right! Rage, hate, despair! Let it consume you as you try to kill me! If you don't, your friends are going to die!”
Zycor’s tendrils darted towards Mr. X with incredible speed, but were deflected by the latter’s own. Zycor roared with a slightly distorted voice and charged Mr. X. His fist missed and plunged into the ground in front of his friends, sending them flying back as the ground fractured. Zycor whipped his head around to face Mr. X again and charged him again, extending his tendrils to strike ahead first. Mr. X met the ferocity of the boy's attacks with his own, smiling ear to ear as he watched Zycor’s body slowly ooze more and more black sludge.
Zycor began firing bolts of lightning wildly, too focused on Mr. X to care about anything else. Aisha watched stunned as a stray bolt ripped towards her. She closed her eyes, but when nothing happened, she opened them and saw Mylon standing in front of her, his shield raised. A hand rested on her shoulder, startling her. When she looked back, she saw Baz crouched behind her and Mylon. Baz’s eyes narrowed, looking on at the spectacle and asked, “Any idea what’s happening?”
Another stray bolt crashed against Mylon’s shield, pushing him back slightly. Regaining his footing, Mylon responded, “Nothing concrete, looking at the situation though, I would have to assume Zy is being corrupted by the bastard.”
Baz clicked his tongue, “Yeah, that X guy seemed really happy about it, so it’s probably what he was going for. Mylon, can’t you call on your goddess to do something? I thought you were a paladin of the church.”
Mylon sighed with annoyance and spoke with a tone that suggested he has had this conversation before, “Baz, it doesn’t work that way. Plus, I left the church so I’m not too sure she would even give me the time of day anyways.”
Zycor let out another cry, producing a massive black tendril and slamming it on the ground where Mr. X stood. He finally managed to hit him, but he quickly reformed himself laughing hysterically, “Good! Now further! Go further into the power, come and kill me!”
Zycor’s other eye began to slowly turn black as the battle dragged on. While the trio thought of what to do, an explosion behind them drew their attention. From the rubble, stepping into the cave, came Lizali with a grin on her face as she saw Mylon, Baz and Aisha, “Ha! Caught you idiots!”
A stray lightning bolt struck the wall next to her, causing her to stumble down the rubble and to the ground. Baz darted out and grabbed her right as another bolt struck the ground. Retreating behind Mylon’s shield, Aisha shouted, “What the hell are you doing here Liz?!”
Baz seconded the question with his own, “Yeah, I thought you and Zy had a falling out?”
Lizali chuckled, “I couldn’t just leave things like that. Someone helped me see the problem both Zy and I had. So, I am here to talk some sense into him!”
Another bolt struck Mylon’s shield. He grit his teeth and grunted, “Yeah well, I don’t think now’s the best time for a chat!”
Aisha racked her brain for an answer, some way they could save Zycor from Mr. X and himself. A sudden, morbid idea came to mind as she spoke, “I think I have an idea… but it’s a huge gamble.”
Mylon glanced back at her momentarily, then refocused to blocking, “Well, don’t keep us waiting! I am open to any idea, considering I don’t know how many more direct hits my shield and I can take!”
Aisha swallowed as she began to explain, “Remember what the lecturer said about awakening, Mylon? The body is torn apart and rebuilt? Maybe if we can trigger an awakening in Zy, his body could be ‘reset’ and free him.”
Baz and Liz stared at her in horror, Mylon chuckling, “Well, it might work in theory…” He peeked around his shield at Zycor roaring with black ooze and tendrils whipping around him and assaulting Mr. X along with bolts of lightning, “...But how do you propose we do it?”
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Aisha nervously chuckled in response, “We… stab or cut him mortally, but not severe enough to instantly kill him?”
Mylon slowly turned his head to look at Aisha in astonishment. Aisha began to justify her idea, “Think about it a second! He is probably already in extreme pain and his body is most likely keenly aware of the danger along with his subconscious! So all we would have to do is, in theory, get him to be coherent long enough to process the situation, and that should be enough!”
Lizali grabs Aisha by the shoulders and stares daggers into her eyes, angrily exclaiming, “And what if you're wrong and one of those conditions aren’t met?! I won’t let you kill my-...” Lizali pauses, teeth grit, and continues, “I won’t let you kill our friend.”
Mylon, facing ahead again, responds, “Right then, let’s do it.”
Lizali looks up at Mylon and shouts, “Mylon, come on!”
Baz places a hand on her shoulder, standing up with his zweihander, “You got a better idea, girl? We probably don’t have much time until Zy’s body turns into that same ooze and we really won’t be able to save him.”
Lizali clenched her hands into fists, her knuckles turning white, relenting reluctantly, “Fine, but if he dies, I am holding all of you accountable!”
Mylon smirks, asking, “So, what’s the plan to get close enough Aisha?”
Aisha freezes for a moment then responds, “I… don’t know…”
Lizali sighs angrily, “See! You didn’t think this through!”
Mr. X notices the group get up, his eyes immediately drawn to Lizali. He hadn’t thought his day could get any better. Yet, here he is, being served the perfect sacrifice to send Zycor over the edge completely. He swiftly rushes the group while Mylon readies his shield as he cries, “Oh shit!”
Mr. X stops abruptly, his face plummeting to the floor. Zycor grabbed his leg and jumped on his back., his right eye halfway black now. A wild tendril whipped out and slammed into Mylon’s shield shattering it and sending him flying. Baz catches him with a grunt. Realizing the perfect position he is in, Mr. X spits some ooze at Zycor’s eyes, temporarily blinding him. He staggered back while the former cast illusion magic on Zycor’s eyes.
Removing the obstruction to his vision, Zycor looked back at the ground to see Lizali, who he didn’t recognize. All that mattered is they weren’t Mr. X. Zycor looked up and saw his target standing next to Aisha and blitzed them, a tendril piercing through their stomach. Blood spilled forth and Zycor smiled with euphoria. He had finally dealt impactful damage.
But, with a snap of his fingers, Mr. X released the illusion with a smile that ripped his face to become wider. Zycor’s eyes widened as the illusion faded and in his grasp was Lizali. His mind went into overdrive, overcome with grief, confusion and sadness. The tendril that pierced her dissipated as he brought her to the ground in his arms. Mr. X stood back, admiring his work and reveling in what was to come.
Zycor’s mouth was agape, words trying to escape, struggling to form a sentence. Anything would have sufficed, but nothing would come out. The tears of his right eye and the ooze mimicking them from his left rolled down his face. Lizali’s hand came up to rest upon Zycor’s face. Her touch was weak and probably took a great deal of her remaining strength. She gently caressed his cheek, smiling. She, weakly, managed to speak, “Don’t cry, Zy, it doesn’t suit you.”
Zycor’s heart broke completely as he began to sob, his head falling forward. He couldn’t find any words other than ‘I’m sorry.’ Lizali brought her other hand up and placed it on his other cheek, guiding his face weakly to hers, “Don’t be sorry, it wasn’t your fault. I want to ask that… you don’t remember me like this… dying. Please, remember the good memories we had together… Good memories… like this.”
She guided his face closer to hers and brought her head up slightly, kissing him. Mr. X raised an eyebrow and sarcastically cooed, “Oh~? Isn’t that just the sweetest thing~.”
Breaking the kiss, Lizali’s eyes began to go blank. She managed to weakly and quietly chuckle, “Ha… looks like… I beat Aisha… at the end…”
Her arms went limp, falling to the ground. Zycor let out a pained scream as his tears rolled down his face. Mylon grit his teeth and shouted at Baz, “Now! This is the one chance we are going to get! There is no chance he will come back after this if we don’t do something now!”
Baz gripped the handle of his sword tightly, furious at the position Mr. X put him in. Forced to stab his friend after he lost someone so important. He steeled his resolve and rushed at Zycor, plunging the blade through his chest. As the blade sinks in, Baz shouts, “I know it hurts! To lose someone that close, trust me I understand! You can’t give up! Fight on, because if you die, the memories of Lizali will be lost to time!”
Mr. X, enraged, slammed a tendril into Baz’s side, fracturing a few bones and sent him tumbling away. He scowled, “You bastard, what did you do to my new battery!”
Mr. X pulled the sword out of Zycor with haste, hoping to trigger the transformation. Zycor felt the blade slide out of him. He knew this was the end, there was nothing to be done. He had killed two of his friends. He lost Adria, he lost his village. He just couldn’t seem to win. On the brink of giving up, Baz’s words echoed in his head. He realized Baz was right. If he died, their memories would be lost. He wouldn’t let that happen, he wanted to live.
The sword removed, Mr. X took a step back tossing it towards the trio, “Take your scrap back, you wretches.”
The sword clanged on the ground as Zycor’s body slumped forward. The wind in the cave suddenly went still, and everything went quiet, as if nothing animate or inanimate dared to move. Mr. X looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what was happening. In the next instant, a massive pillar of light descended from the sky, ripping the cave’s top asunder and enveloping Zycor and sending waves of powerful mana outwards, forcing Mr. X back along with Baz, Mylon and Aisha.
While Mr. X stared at the pillar of light with a mix of confusion, horror, and fury, the group looked on in awe. Aisha couldn’t help but smirk, chuckling, “Here it is… we did it.”