I grabbed his collar and chucked him into the night as his body soared into the vast darkness. I took out a small reed pipe which Mars told me to blow when I was ready and chucked it into the night. I didn’t need Glow Vial to kill this guy, I just needed my hands. I floated into the sky and blasted off towards Ilias. An extremely bright light lit up the night sky as purple chains with golden, crescent shaped blades attached to them rushed towards me. I leaned to my side and rolled away from the steel tentacles of death as I blasted upwards into the air to get some height. The chains looped and shot all around me as I slipped left to dodge, flipped backwards to evade a slashing attack, and blasted towards the ground to–dodging more chains which all seemed to be magically locked on to my skull. I began to gain speed as the ground got closer and closer and closer to my face before I pulled up hard and shot back upwards into the sky. The chains couldn’t keep up and they lodged themselves in the ground. I shot towards Ilias who flicked his wrists up towards the sky. chains suddenly twisted and spun around in the air and shaped themselves into a sphere with me in the center of it. They crashed in on me in the blink of an eye but a golden barrier—now etched with ivory white markings—appeared around me and shattered the chains into dust. Ilias’s eyes went wide with fear as I focused in on my attack.

I could hear it, his heart beating, his breath quickening, I could smell the adrenaline and panic coming off of him, and I could see it—I could see the irregular flow of liquor and blood in his body. My senses all came together like one sentient entity and screamed at me to aim for the lower ribs.

So I did.

I launched my fist into his lower rib cage and felt it go clean through his body. It was a really weird feeling—I hadn’t ever really landed a strong blow on anyone before, much less put my hand through them. But as my fists and arms were soaked with red, scarlet blood a small smile dawned onto my face. I looked at Ilias who’s eyes were filled with blank shock and I thrust another hand through the center of his chest. My arm went through his body like butter and I flew into the sky and spun his body around—violently spinning and scrambling him into dust and ashes. I finally let go and a sickening squelching sound rang into the night as he went flying off of my arms and crashed down onto the ground like a meteor. I flew down and stomped on his body with both of my feet as the impact of the attack created another crater in the cold, hard soil. My arms felt stronger, my strikes felt faster, and my muscles felt far less fatigued then they normally would have been. My new and improved body was doing its thing. I felt something move under my feet and a torrent of purple, gold, and white chains shot out from Iliad’s body and wrapped around me in an instant. I was flung up into the air and smashed into the ground with immense force. I felt my head hit the earth and everything got really fuzzy for a second before my body was slammed down into the ground again. I tensed my body and tried to force my way out of the chains but it wasn’t easy… My breathing quickened, my muscles started to fail, and I started to feel really lightheaded. I was perfectly fine one moment ago but as soon as the chains got a hold of me everything went downhill… It may have been because I was getting slammed into the ground at blinding speeds but that explanation felt too simple. A weird clicking sound echoed through the night as my shoulder seemed to pop and twist from the impact of another intense slam. I looked at the chains and noticed a faint energy emitting off of each of them—almost like they were imbued with some sort of liquor magic. The purple one had the most energy coming off of it and it was also the only one which seemed to be taking energy out of me as the sharp golden crescents on the chains sliced into my arms and seemed to be pulling out clouds of glowing energy. My brain started to turn and I felt the dots connecting in my head.

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Oh, I see.

Ilias tossed me into the air and prepared to slam me into the ground as I felt my body go limp at the apex of my ascent. Time slowed down and everything went strangely quiet as I honed in on all of my senses. One, two…..three. I grabbed the purple chains and released all of Gold’s Veil—all of the godly golden energy I had—right into the chains as the normally purple tentacles of metal suddenly transformed into a shade of pure white. Ilias smiled and withdrew the chains as golden cracks started to form on his face, arms, and chest. He looked at me with maniacal and excited eyes as a bright golden glow shone around his body. His chains started to float and encircle him in one big sphere of protection as he pointed one finger directly at me, “Off with your fucking head.” A shockwave of sound echoed out into the air as one of his chains cracked and sliced through the night in one big arc of death. I looked Ilias dead in the eyes and smiled as his whip of death cracked and shattered before it ever reached me. His face filled with shock and surprise as the golden cracks on his face started to grow and spread. He gingerly touched his cheek as a blank stare of confusion dawned upon his face. I smiled and watched his chains slowly start to shatter and his body start to crack,

“You can absorb energy—I can see that. You were taking away my energy as well but I figured that there was a limit to how much energy you could absorb before you… you know—started to crack.” Flecks and pieces of his face and body started to float away in the wind like burned pieces of paper as he started to march towards me with murderous intent in his eyes. I smiled, “My energy isn’t the type you're used to absorbing—your body isn’t used to handling it.” Ilias’s body suddenly fell to the ground as his legs were blown away by the wind. I looked down on him with a cold and impassive look in my eyes as he stared at me with extreme hatred. He grabbed a hold of my ankle while crawling on the ground but it didn’t matter as his hand slowly drifted into the wind. I knelt down and looked him in his one and only eye, “For all of the people you have killed, the families you have ruined, the peasants you have disgraced, you will die today. I told you right–that I’ll enjoy killing you very much. I guess I was right.” I smashed my hand into his face and it immediately crumpled into fine dust and drifted into the sky. I felt all of the energy he had taken from me slowly come back into my veins as my limbs and body began to regain their strength. Only Ilias’s arm was left—sitting on the cold hard soil alone and looking for its master. I watched it slowly disintegrate into the night as the last of Ilias dissipated. I felt a large hand grab onto my shoulder as I stood up immediately. Mars looked at me with one big smile—almost like he was happy to see me,

“Well, fuck the glow then you say?” The rest of his squad came running behind him and I dusted off my suit and pants before looking them in the eyes,

“I want my end of the deal, and I trust you will honor your word?” Grace looked at me and spoke reluctantly,

“Unfortunately yes, but we would appreciate it if you kept us in your good graces in the future.” I looked at her and scoffed,

“I didn’t know my ‘prize’ for holding up my end of the bargain had an asterisk on it. For future reference, this is exactly how you get someone to not ‘keep you in their good graces in the future.’” Grace flashed me an angry look while Mars let out a loud laugh,

“Of course you don’t owe us anything you fucker, but we’ll hold our end of the deal—just like we promised. What do you want? I’ll give you a happy ending if I have to.” I looked at Mars and his squad and took a deep breath,

“You guys are good at finding people right? I want you to find me someone.” Grace nodded,

“Easy enough.” I clenched my fists and steeled my nerves,

“Find me Amie, of house Sella—I won’t take ‘she’s dead’ for an answer. That’s my one request and wish. Please, find her.”