Arthur's Point of View

The Island

“I’d like to do this without the judgmental gazes of your sister and students.” I commented.

Arceana stepped beside Elincia with a worried expression. “I am nervous about leaving you to your own devices when regarding my sister, Sir Arthur.”

Gesturing to Elincia, I replied. “Elincia’s nervous about the situation in general, and I’m nervous I might fuck up. So, we’re all nervous. Now that we have that settled…” I made a shooing gesture, and the students walked off with a nod from the Priestesses. “Arceana,” Calling out to her as she looked at her sister, I continued. “I’m not your enemy. Believe it or not, but I just want to help Elincia right now.”

With a more reluctant nod, she hugged Elincia and left. “So, how do we begin?” The High Elf inquired.

The entire beach was lined with the private guards the Priestesses brought with Arceana, the students, and Ty among them. In the sky was Kheri, Ziah, and every other Zugal, all watching from a distance. Thankfully, I don’t get stage fright.

“A lot of this is going to be some manner of experimentation. I’ve no idea if the parasite is still inside you and separated, or fused, to you. Many things depend on how this is going to go down, but can you try to focus on your magic at all?” I inquired.

She took a deep breath and began to summon her magic. “Like this?”

I nodded. “Yes. Bring it all forward if you can.”

Elincia did as I instructed. “This takes quite the toll, Arthur.”

“That’s the point. You using up your regular magic will hopefully reveal your Demonic Magic. Every time it’s flared up is because you’ve been strained or under pressure.” I explained and gestured to her. “Like with the Ghouls, and another time with me.”

Magic was flowing off of Elincia like crazy, and it was rather wasteful, but she had to do it. With the Island boosting the magic in the area, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was almost like a second power source to her or was constantly refilling her reserves. Soon enough, her magic started to flicker, and she started to strain.

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“Arthur…” Elincia panted heavily. “Is that enough?”

My eyes studied her and saw no signs of the Demonic Magic. “It is, but before you stop, try to focus on bringing out more magic from a different outlet. I’d like you to do this yourself before I interfere.”

Elincia’s magic faded as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her expression was strained, and she looked tired. No doubt wasting copious amounts of magic would take its toll on her. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like there was any sign of the Demonic presence.

She sighed and opened her eyes. “I am sorry, Arthur.”

“It’s fine. However, this next part may not be as fun.” I told her and she looked at me. “I’m going to send currents of my energy throughout your body. It will not be pleasant, but it’s to see if I can initiate some manner of reaction to pinpoint where your Demonic Magic is coming from or focused around.” Giving her a more concerned look, I continued. “Will you be okay with that?”

Her eyes steeled over as she returned my concern with a firm gaze. “I will not cower before this Demon, nor will I shy away from your methods. If you believe this to be the best course of action, so be it.” Elincia’s tone was full of resolve, and I nodded.

“Very well. Turn around.” She did as instructed, and I placed my hand on her upper back. “Are you ready?” With a deep breath, Elincia nodded.

With her permission, the first stream was sent through her body. This wasn’t like when I helped Ayda by giving her my energy. My energy had a purpose in Elincia’s body, and it was invading with her permission. That didn’t make it any less painful. The Priestess shook in pain and grunted in pain before the first charge stopped. I waited for a moment and nothing came.

Gritting my teeth at that, I eyed the back of Elincia’s head and sighed as I knew this was likely going to be very painful for her. With that in mind and no other option than to provoke the foreign Demonic Entity, I continued on ruthlessly. Prob after prob was sent through the Priestesses body and I could hear her crying softly.

It wasn’t until the moonlight disappeared that I felt a chill run down the back of my neck. The Demonic Magic flared, and I found it was coming from the back of her neck. So, both our necks were clearly having issues. My energy quickly focused on the source, and when I isolated it, I thought everything was over. I was wrong.

Elincia folded over and began heaving as I pulled the Demonic Magic from her neck. Immediately stopping myself from ripping it out, I kept my hand in place while I checked on her.

“Are you okay?” My concern was real.

She stood and wiped her mouth. “Maybe? It feels as though something has just been ripped from my entire being.”

That made me pause. “In a good way?”

Elincia was quiet for a moment before taking a deep breath and smiled at me. “I think so. Things feel different. My body feels lighter.”

My eyes darted to the bile on the sand, but before I could respond, the surrounding temperature dropped. Elincia didn’t seem to notice until she exhaled in an exhausted manner and saw her breath. Being on a tropical island made it easy to realize something was wrong. However, when a hole appeared in Elincia’s back where my energy was pouring in, and the Demonic Magic I had surrounded disappeared, I thought I had killed her.

Blood began to pour down her back, but soon stopped and was followed by black ooze. “Is something wrong with my back, Arthur?”

The Demonic Magic ignited violently as it returned in the hole as I quickly removed my hand. A sword shot forth from the hole, and soon, Elincia collapsed into the sand. Needless to say, I quickly leaned back to dodge the attack, which left me unable to catch her. Soon after, a black and red fog began to crawl into the air above Elincia’s prone form.

You ever have one of those moments where you know you fucked up, but you have to just continue with the fuck up? “That’s not good…”