Freedom
The Aegis’ Presence was still pressing down on Logan and the rest of the Legion like the hand of a spiteful god. It didn’t affect them bodily, per se, instead making it more difficult for them to move their bodies at all, like their minds and spirits were being separated from their physical forms.
As such, Logan struggled to even lift his head to witness his impending death. Slowly, some of the Harthian soldiers roused, as the Aegis still floated, imprisoned in his chair. From Logan’s view on the ground, he realized that the man’s legs had been removed, leaving him incapable of even thinking of escaping his torment.
Then, while their enemies still gathered, a crackling static started coming from the Aegis’ muzzle. Logan doubted anyone else here had ever heard it's like, but it was chillingly familiar to Logan. From a set of speakers overlaid over the Aegis’ mouth, a man’s voice rang out.
“-Hello there, Austenian soldiers. This is the High King of Harth, Conqueror of Grecia, Zlatan Hvarthfelt. I hope you enjoy the present I left you, as a warning and a reminder just before the Conclave. This is the fate that awaits my enemies. Surrender now, and I may yet decide spare you.-”
Next to him, Logan heard a rustle that he couldn’t turn to see. However, it wasn’t long before he heard what, or rather, who, it was.
“Y-you monster! I’ll kill you for this!” Anastasia raged next to him.
Logan barely managed to lift his head to see that she had struggled to her feet, although her balance indicated it was only temporary. It was an impressive feat nonetheless, reminding Logan he had been mostly useless so far in this battle. With his back slowing him down, he had been a liability as much as a boon for his Squadron, and even now he could barely move his head.
“-Ah, Aegis' daughter. Does seeing your beloved protector in such a state pain your heart? I truly hope it does. Don’t fret too much, however, you’ll soon be joining your father in my experiments.-”
At this, Anastasia fell back to the ground, a fresh pulse of Presence enough to nullify her resilience.
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Logan had to do something. As he continually failed to move his body, his mind whirled ever faster to make up for it. Eventually, Logan thought about something. The Presence may be making it harder to move his physical body, but what about his spiritual one?
Giving it a go, Logan flexed his tentacles just to find they were just as responsive as ever, floating about however he wished. However, at this, Logan realized it was pointless. Even if he could move his tentacles, both his Root and Soul Sword Abilities were useless here. All the greenery had long since been stomped underfoot, and Logan obviously couldn’t move his body enough for the Soul Sword.
However, when Logan looked back at the Aegis' tortured soul, something clicked in his head. Logan did actually have an Ability that he could use here, but he would only get the one shot at it. Really, attempting what he was about to do was likely suicidal, but it seemed likely he was about to die regardless, so why not?
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Whipping his tentacles into motion, Logan began to weave the first Ability pattern he had ever learned. First, he started it with all eight tentacles, but over the repetitions he continued to remove his spiritual appendages until he was running the pattern with his practiced minimum, three tentacles.
The mental effort was intense, but Logan wasn’t done, as he let the white lines that indicated teleportation locations flood his eyes. Strangely next to the Aegis was a spherical dead zone, like the man’s Presence was pushing the spatial rifts away from him. Straining, Logan looked up, to a spot directly above the human weapon.
Pulling the mental trigger, Logan slipped in and out of the Void, bursting through the Presence’s interference fifteen feet above the Aegis. Immediately, Logan reached out with his five free tentacles, grabbing all the fragments of the Aegis’ soul.
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As soon as Logan made spiritual contact, his descent halted, the air suddenly suspending him. A purple glow emanated from his body, while the Presence slackened on the rest of the Legion. A scattering of cheers sounded out at Logan’s interference, but he wasn’t aware of any of it, instantly being tossed into the metaphysical maelstrom.
To Logan, he was suspended in a pure white void, the only reality was him, fighting to maintain his tenuous grasp on the Aegis’ soul. The fragments each resisted him separately, and Logan couldn’t spare enough attention to capture any individual piece without beginning to lose his hold on the others.
The thought crossed his mind that the tradeoff would be fine, but something ground against that notion. Now that Logan was in this mental space, he suddenly felt free of a fog that had been over him since he arrived here. Looking back at his decisions, Logan wondered why he had made many of them. Some of them seemed entirely unnatural to him, but he didn’t have time to think too heavily on the topic.
Instead, he focused on the choice he was currently making. Comparatively, it seemed so normal to him to want to keep the Aegis’ soul intact. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, maybe Logan didn’t need to keep a tentacle on all of the fragments after all…
Straining, Logan reversed his previous actions, instead of pulling on the fragments, Logan began pushing them towards each other. Like a magnet with the wrong polarity, the pieces refused to join, pushing against each other while turning slippery in Logan’s grasp. Still, he pushed onwards, refusing to be swayed from his course of action.
With a mental roar, Logan forced the fragments the remaining distance, then held the newly whole soul together in his tentacles. A warm started to spread, and then the white void Logan had found himself in began unraveling. Logan wanted to see the results of his actions, but a familiar song was calling his number.
Logan slipped in unconsciousness.
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When Logan had done whatever he did to the Aegis, suddenly the overwhelming spiritual pressure faded from Amar’s soul. However, no one still moved, everyone’s eyes drawn to the unfolding spectacle ahead of them.
Amar heard cheers from the assembled Legionnaires, but let the noise pass through her head without giving it any thought. All her attention was consumed by the glowing purple luminescence of Logan as he contended with the Aegis’ full power. Sparks flew out of the air, summoned by the intensity of whatever internal struggle they had engaged with.
Getting back to her feet, Amar noticed the rest of the Squadron doing the same. To her left, Anastasia had tears in her eyes, looking at her father. The young woman’s story reminded Amar of Jeremiah’s death, and she felt great sympathy.
Just then, Logan let out another of his resounding roars, the purple light intensifying suddenly in concert. Another voice rang out, this time from the Aegis himself. The metal muzzle covering his mouth burst apart, and his scream was raw but surprisingly healthy.
Then, to another round of even louder cheering from the Legion, the lightshow finally concluded. Logan slowly descended to the ground, the Legion shouting for him the whole time.
“Warlord! Warlord! Warlord!” They screamed.
Running over to Logan, Amar made sure he was okay. His eyes were open as he stood there, facing towards the Aegis. However, when Amar drew close, she realized immediately that he was unconscious.
‘He did it… I must say I didn’t have faith in his success.’
“I didn’t either, Goddess. Is he alright?”
‘Yes, well, he’ll need to sleep for quite some time, but young Logan has managed to avoid burning out his brain, at least so far. You’ll need to watch over him, in the meantime.’
“Of course, of course.” She said, holding up Logan’s shoulder.
Slowly, they made their way back to Fort Errstile, as the rest of the Legion cheered.