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As Moryuu placed the bombs on the back of the gigantic creature and ignited them, a bright light burst followed by loud booming sound and a wave of air of the explosion spread. Everyone lost their footing, their ears rang and saw colourful spots dancing in front of their eyes as they slowly tried to get back on their feet. They all staggered as if drunk and some coughed. Soon a brief shower of warm blood rained on them, and Moryuu was nowhere to be seen. Talon tried to call out for him and search; however, he could in his condition, slowly recovering from the shock. At the same time, the creatures around them recovered from the shock and slowly neared in on the others.
Ignatius was amazed to see Jayden recovered quick and struck down a handful of creatures down with his scythe. Carlos half-dragged Senshi by holding under the armpit and defended with a sword in the other hand. Suddenly another creature with bat wings came aiming at Carlos, quick-witted Ignatius spoke the arcane language and made two cutting gestures with his hands in the air. Soon the creature had deep gashes in that angle Ignatius gestures with his hands, flew past Carlos and crashlanded into a building. Carlos looked over to Ignatius and gave a thankful nod of appreciation. Ignatius nodded back and looked over to Vandal. He was using his axe and gun while facing a handful of dark creatures. He fought intensely with some roars and saw wild fury in his eyes for the first time. He's taken what happened to Nu. Ignatius has learned from Ussb that fighting in rage or any other emotions will make one an easy target for the opponent. Soon two more creatures sneaked in from the sides to trap him from behind. Quickly Ignatius muttered the lightning spell and electrocuted the two to a crisp. Vandal looked over his shoulder and blinked as he realized but gave a grin and a nod before shooting a creature in the face and threw the axe at another's head that nearly split in half. "You need to stay alive Vandal if you want to save Nu! Don't let your fury cloud your mind!" Shouted Ignatius to him.
"Same can be said with you for Magpie!" Reminded Vandal while fighting on.
Ignatius smiled briefly to his notation and faced what was ahead of him. Talon was sprinting towards the leftover carcass of the gigantic creature while dark monsters were close at his heel. Drooling, growling and snapping after him like hounds. Talon did place a few portals to make them vanish or trip but there were too many for him alone. Rapidly Ignatius cast a spell out loud and faced the red sky as he did. Soon his eyes began to glow bright orange and soon his entire body. He felt the shift of his body as he is morphing to that he shouted in the spell. A pair of wings sprouted from his back, and Ignatius cried in pain to the process. He soon clenched his teeth to cope with the pain; his mouth morphed to a large beak of a bird's, his hands changed into large paws of a lion with sharp claws. Soon the twitching pain ebbed away and took a deep breath as he unfolded his wings. His sight and all other senses have gotten sharper. As he wanted to call for Talon, a loud eagle's shriek cried out instead of his human voice. As a fully transformed gryphon, he flew off towards Talon and drew out his claws to strike from above. His sharp claws cut them, creatures, down like butter. Quickly Ignatius reached to Talon's mind with a telepathic connection. "It's me, Talon, Ignatius. I can't hold out much in this form, but I'll try. I'll look for Moryuu if you can create a portal for all of us to retreat to a safe place."
Talon blinked and soon nodded, Ignatius flew towards the carcass to search with his sharp orange eagle eyes for Moryuu. He felt his magic, he's alive but where?
Soon Ignatius started to feel how the magic is starting to drain him. Suddenly he heard Talon's voice shouting for him. Ignatius flew around and spotted everyone has assembled, there was unconscious Moryuu among them.
As soon Ignatius landed, he knocked down the creatures nearby and transformed back to his human form. As it was over drops of sweat dripped from his face and exhaustion weighed on him like a ton of rocks. His knees buckled and fell onto his hands. Quickly he looked up and panted. "What-What's going on? Is Moryuu alright?" Panted Ignatius, crawled closer and slowly found some strength to stand.
"Yeah, Vandal found him. He'll be fine once he's awake. I've found a place where we can retreat and recover." Talon opened a portal, revealing a dark hole.
Ignatius wanted to give out a sigh of relief after crossing through a portal, but the dark room he found himself with the others was somehow unsettling. He sensed strange and powerful magic nearby and the air was filled with a low buzzing. It was magic but not from his world, from here; it felt similar to Talon's and Moryuu's and yet again different. In front of him stood a dark wall with a hole, showing a piece of the red sky. What sort of magic is this? What is this place? He tripped and fell to his knees and hands of exhaustion.
"Ig!" Called Vandal from behind. Carrying unconscious Moryuu by holding one arm over his shoulder.
"I-I'm fine." Ignatius stuttered and blinked, the buzzing is distracting him greatly. He found himself staring at the rubble and small rocks as his hands clenched into fists. Suddenly he heard from among the low buzzing a lighter and softer zinging sound, and a bluish light glowed from above him. He looked up, seeing a floating round lantern giving bright blue light to see. Soon he heard more of the zinging sounds and soon floated more lanterns near every person in the room.
"Don't worry. They're just lanterns giving us light to see." Assured Talon with a warming smile. "They're harmless."
Vandal placed unconscious Moryuu down while Carlos did the same with Senshi by letting her rest against the wall. Talon went over to check on them and tried to wake up Moryuu. Carlos sat beside unconscious Senshi and sighed relieved to get some rest and cope with the pain of his wounds he collected from his recent fight.
Ignatius turned around and sat down to face the others. Jayden went to sit at another wall and stared at his feet while at times muttering to himself or rather Cordis. He acted as if the wounds were nothing but mere scratches. Vandal sat near Ignatius and started to clean the guns that he used before instead attending to his wounds. At times he threw a glance to his surrounding and kept pressing his lips together with a silent grunt. Without a doubt, still feeling angry after what happened to Nu.
Ignatius sighed, knowing how it feels. He is in the same situation. Immediately his mind recalled the moment as Magpie accepted Shadow possessing her. Her sad smile and eyes filled with tears of joy and sorrow. Soon Ignatius' mind wandered on to the riddle, Ravage and what Shadow's plans could be. With all the thoughts muddled and unclear from exhaustion, his stomach began to knot. He rubs his face, trying to clear his mind and lets out another sigh to calm down. Soon his eyes fell at Magpie's dagger strapped at his boot and unsheathe it to inspect. The windows to the soul is the key to break the circle that holds me. Is it really that what I think it is? It is simple, and yet again, not. Windows to the soul are known as eyes; in this case, Shadow's eyes. Since his original form isn't solid like any other body, the only way to attack or harm him would be by his eyes. But that would affect Magpie too! There must be another way. There must!
He held the dagger so tight that his knuckles turned white. Ignatius throws a glance across the room. Everyone else was asleep and recovering. He turned back to the dagger staring at his own reflection within the blade. What about the circle? The possession spell as well as Shadow's tattoo, is round. That must be it. It must be cut and at best with this dagger to give its full effect. So the eyes are the key to break the circle- He blinked in shock. So my theory was right, damn it! I need to inform Magpie but how? His eyes fell on the tattoo at his right hand. I wonder if this will do?
He ate a protein bar and closed his eyes while whispering the arcane words to enable a telepathic connection to Magpie via the tattoo. Soon his tattoo glowed orange and shifted between red and orange as the spell was complete. Ignatius clenched his teeth as he felt Shadow's strength, trying to cut him off and fought hard. Soon drops of sweat rolled from his brow and gasped as Shadow managed to cut him off.
Vandal looks up and faces Ignatius. "Ig?"
"It's Shadow. He's gotten stronger than I anticipated. We-we must hurry before it's too late for Magpie and Nuallis." Ignatius gets up.
"Not in this condition." He pulled him down by the arm. "You need to rest after what you did. I'll watch from now on." He sat up and handed Ignatius a bottle of water.
Ignatius took a few sips before returning it and gave an exhausted chuckle. "I bet you can't sleep either. Yet we must in order to safe them and capture Shadow once and for all." Soon he drew out from Magpie's pouch the last protein bar. "Here, you'll need it more than I do. I've had mine before. Eat it. It'll give you plenty of strength for what might come next."
Hesitantly Vandal took it and spotted Ignatius' tattoo. "Ig, your tattoo."
As Vandal mentioned the tattoo, Ignatius felt the tickling from the tattoo and looked at it, two lines at the eyes vanished.
Suddenly Shadow's deep sinister laughter echoed. "Ha, ha, ha! Time is ticking Ignatius, and you dare to sit, rest and share some food with friends as if it is a simple trip. What would Magpie think of that? Not to mention, you are the one who brought all this onto Magpie and yourself. If you hadn't cast the spell wrong with doubt Magpie wouldn't be possessed by me and you won't be sitting here in this other world." Shadow paused. "Above all, would Magpie ever forgive you for all this? Is it even forgivable in the first place such as this?" Suddenly from the darkness, Ignatius spotted a pair of red glowing eyes looking directly at him. "This is all your fault," Shadow whispered into Ignatius' ear.
Ignatius gasped loud and sat up. He blinked as he saw everyone around him asleep and recovering. Shadow was nowhere near nor his magic. He sighed and laid back. Just a nightmare, I guess. He wondered as Shadow's words echoed in his mind. But he does have a point; it's all my fault. I shouldn't have doubted my powers and warned Magpie instead.
A strange smell of alcohol (old disinfectant) brought Nu out of the heavy darkness and opened her eyes. The room was dark, and she found herself lying on a strange white bed. She blinked while trying to recall what she last saw. The glowing red eyes of a little girl, her needle-like teeth and she a held a dagger to her throat. Carefully she felt out with her hand her throat, it was little harmless cut, and a thin crust of dried blood sealed the wound. From her pocket, she pulled out the water stone and let her powers heal the small cut.
Suddenly she hears nearby a child's giggle echo beyond the room. Rapidly Nu got out of bed while her eyes were focused at the slightly ajar door. Nu recognized the giggle. It was Ravage's; fear began to seize her mind. "Nu?" Spoke a familiar voice that thawed her fear and turned to see. "Van!" She ran into his arms and embraced.
"So, Butterfly is awake." Hissed a child's voice nearby.
In a blink Nu found herself facing Vandal's back. "Stay behind me." He noted without turning to her and aimed his gun at Ravage. Nu held onto his arm. He gently held her hand and led her out while the barrel of his gun was focused at smiling Ravage. Shortly before exiting the room Vandal fired his weapon and hit Ravage right between the eyes. She giggled eerie laughter that wasn't human and dissolved into red smoke. Vandal grunted angered. "Come on!" He raced off down the hall while holding Nu's hand. Nu tried to keep up with him but was soon out of breath. Vandal threw a glance over his shoulder as he noticed and made a sharp turn into a poorly lit room and slammed the door shut.
Nu exclaimed surprised of his strong jolt at the turn and nearly tripped over her own feet as she was in the room. "Will-will we be safe here for a while?"
"I hope so." Gave Vandal absent-minded while eyeing the locked door.
Without thinking, Nu embraced him, taking in his warmth and scent.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2M8hsfAyE
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Suddenly a deep sinister snigger echoed in the room, soon Nu realized it came from Vandal, she looked at him wide-eyed in terror as his eyes glowed red and pierced her's as they met. A crazed smile cut across his face. "So innocent and gentle it makes the masquerade all the more amusing, little Butterfly."395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCv8moNuCU
Nu gasped and made space from him. "Where's Van? What have you done to him?" Her voice trembled.
Vandal morphed to dark grey skin and red veins with different apparel and short hair. "He was never here as a start." He crossed his arms. "I wanted to see how you would react if he were around because I sense great power from you, but your cowardice doesn't match with what I see, dearie." He pauses. "I'm beginning to have doubts that instead of a butterfly, you are a caterpillar."
Nu clenched her hands into fists and glared as she saw a dark version of Magpie with red eyes and having an inhuman voice. "What have you done with Magpie?"
"Oh, she's fine. Just borrowing her body and magic to get what I want and protect my interests. If you dare to resist my demands, it'll be over for Magpie." His red eyes shimmered in the dim light.
Tears began to well in Nu's eyes. "Have you no shame? Do you know how cruel you are?"
Shadow smirked. "I get, therefore what I want."
Nu gasped speechless to his answer and corrupt nature.
"My you are easily shocked than Magpie and more naive than her." Sighed Shadow amused. "Why does magic always hand over great power to the most naive person?"
"What-what great power?" Stuttered Nu.
Shadow smiles. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed your new abilities?"
"But-but those aren't-"
"I beg to differ, Butterfly. I know you sense it, the change; perhaps even a calling to something or someone."
Nu fell speechless.
Shadow chuckled. "Your silence confirms it. So, tell me what sort of power is it?" Nu remained speechless. "Tell me." Shadow hissed and stepped closer with glowing eyes.
Nu swallowed of Shadow's intimidating nature. "Ok." She paused to find her words and where to start. "I guess it started with this birthmark." Nu pointed to her cheek. "Where I come from everyone is an Elementalist, meaning they can control through magic an element like earth, air, water or fire. When I was born, I couldn't control one of them, no matter how hard I tried and felt useless." Nu clenched her trembling hands into fists as she recalled the moments vividly in her mind. How many laughed at her and called her useless or a waste of space, despite being the daughter of the chief in her village. "All-all that magic belongs to a greater spirit we call it the Aether Spirit. What are its abilities and powers varies as rumour has it. It can also revive the dead and such."
"And such?" Wondered Shadow doubtful. "Can you be specific?"
"How should I know? I don't have those powers!" Shouted Nu as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Suddenly Shadow stepped up close to her and wiped the tears away with his thumb while stroking her cheek. "You feel it, and you know it. You fought before by using ice and back in the penthouse you created an acid rain. That is certainly something, Butterfly." Noted Shadow softly.
Nu slapped his hand away and glared while more tears welled.
Shadow smiled at her. "And I'm sure there is more. Show me your powers! Bring them forth!" He hissed, and his eyes glowed.
Without thinking, Nu used ice to freeze him and closed her eyes as she held out her hands. Shadow's deep snigger made her look and saw a thick wall of ice standing in front of her. "That's it, dearie. Why don't you give me a taste of the Aether Spirit's power!" Shadow stood suddenly behind her with a crazed smile and glowing red piercing eyes.
"No! I can't!" Cried Nu and fell to her knees.
Shadow hummed amused and crouched down to hold her by her chin. "Yes, you can Butterfly. All you need is a push or an answer to that calling you sense. Let me help you. You've come so far, and you are destined for greatness. You can end this suffering that you have endured for too long, dearie." He offered his hand to help her up.
Nu looked away as more tears streamed over her cheeks and trembled. "There-there's the Eye of Aion. It's calling out for me."
Shadow tilted his head curiously. "Where can I find it, and how does it look like?"
"It-it's a blue glowing cross with a moving eye in the middle. Last I sensed it near Moryuu, but I'm not sure."
Shadow hummed content to the information. "It's at least a start. It might even save Magpie once I have it."
Nu stared at him wide-eyed. "Save Magpie? What do you mean?"
Shadow chuckled to her question. "Right now, I possess her, dearie. And as any possession goes it takes a toll on the mind, but I have affections for her and want to spare her however I can, by creating my own solid body, besides, have limitless power. The Aether Spirit power will enable that, and then Magpie will be free from my possession. I can be with her as lovers do. Surely you understand since you are with the gunman Vandal." He stands up and sighs. "Ravage." As Shadow mentioned, the name Ravage appeared from the darkest shadow with a broad grin. "You heard what Butterfly said, go and bring the Eye of Aion to me."
"It will be my pleasure, master." Hissed Ravage and vanished among the shadows.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQTiSncytv
