“...Impressive...Using...Gift...Talent...” Stunned, Lucious opened his mouth but no word could describe what he heard. Turning to Emma, the trainee found the lady Maeist shown the exact expression he had on his face. “...Interesting...Stop...Truce...Lend...Strength...” Bewildered by the conversation, Lucious dumbed for a moment before comprehending the fire apparition’s proposal. “...What makes you think I should spare you? You killed my brother and invaded my soul!” Lucious shouted with disgust. “...Continue...Win...Me...Lost...Grimkeeper...Meaningless...Spare...Me...Lend...Power...” Lucious could not help but bite his lips in frustration over the fire apparition’s reasoning. If he continued the fight with Emma, they might emerge victoriously, but what about the Grimkeeper? With their exhausted condition, it was impossible for them to fight, let alone win, against the Grimkeeper.
“Wait...” Lucious gestured to Emma and took several steps behind without turning to his back. “Emma...how’s your condition?” Emma sighed in exhaustion. “Not too good, I spent substantial Natura on something out of my expertise...” Lucious nodded in understanding. Summoning and using an incompatible element consumed more time and Natura, not to mention concentration and focus. “...What do you think about that fire demon?” “...Not to be trusted...but risky to deal with...in our condition...but it’s not good to leave it like that...” Lucious lowered his eyes in contemplation before walking forward to the fire apparition. “...Deal. A truce it is. Lend me your power if you don’t want to die...”
Satisfied with the exchange, the fire apparition shifted its weight and widened its jaws as if grinning. “...Exchange...Lend...Strength...Knew...Way...Extract...Power...” With a loudening hiss, the serpent-like demon retreated into the depth of Lucious’s nightmare. “Lucious...” The trainee smiled weakly at Emma when the lady Maeist called out to him with concern. “...Let’s go. We don’t have much time and strength left...” Emma nodded firmly. Although their struggle lasted only several seconds in the reality, Julian and Lucson had almost overburned themselves as the fatigued Maeists had covered the absence with sheer willpower. Lucious expanded his senses and detected the flows of malicious energy coursing from the depth of his will. Pinpointed the flows, Lucious rose to the surface with Emma.
“...About time...What’s next?” Julian grimaced with effort as the fulminating orb of malicious miasma working its way to shattering the barrier despite its strength had been syphoned slowly by the fire demon inside Lucious. “...Leave the barrier to me and enter my inner sanctuary!” Lucious took over the barrier and tensed with the immense effort at the insurmountable pressure. “...What is that...? What...are you?” Lucious could hear the horrified and amazed gasps of Julian and Lucson as the Maeists stunned by the unidentified raw energy channelled across Lucious’s inner sanctuary. “...That’s not all of it...but I need your help...” Lucious chose his words carefully. “...I need you to trust me. You knew what happened to me.” The lingering presence of other Maeists in Lucious’s mind was silent.
“...I need you to illuminate and rid of the sprouting darkness that will fill my inner sanctuary...Is it too much?” Lucious frantically shook his head. Several loudening buzzes tugged his mind as the Maeists laughed and snorted relaxedly. “Who do you think we’re, boy? We can do this much...but do let us know the details later.” Lucious look surprised at the casual acceptance the Maeists displayed. “...Sure, although I don’t think you will believe most of it.” “Leave that to us. Go ahead.” With a collective tug of reassurance, the Maeists urged Lucious to go ahead with his plan. Nodded appreciatively, Lucious expanded his will to his wavering barrier and unleashed the pure energy he procured during his battle with the demonic being inside him.
Lucious’s barrier became malleable as it absorbed the pure energy and transformed into a softer and more elastic surface. Lucious ignored fascinated gasps from the rest of the Maeists and concentrated his full attention as his barrier started to envelop the throbbing orb of miasma. A loudening roar was heard from the Grimkeeper as the demon aware of the situation and released several dozens of darkening spears toward Lucious’s barrier. The sheer power of the miasma orb and dozens of spears strained Lucious’s barrier to the point of disintegration. Crying in pain, Lucious quickly tapped into his nightmare by tracing the flows of syphoned energy. Reached into the depth of the dark corner of his mind, Lucious felt terrible scorch of heat and called out for the demonic being that lurked within.
A deep yet wicked growl was heard from the depth of Lucious’s nightmare as a flare lighted up within the oblivion and approached Lucious. Sensing danger, Lucious quickly enveloped his will with an illuminating light before the fire struck through him. Cried out in scorching pain, Lucious waged his entire Natura to create a large stream of light. Even with his greatest effort, Lucious could not keep the rampaging inferno in control. The young trainee was cursing silently when a giant stream of water descended to the demonic flame. Lucious brimmed with relief as Julian and Emma loomed in his mind and offered assistance. An aurora with cyan-green and purple enveloped Lucious’s light-draped will. Feeling a surge of his resistance toward the flame, Lucious muttered a thank to Lucson and closed in toward the reeling flame.
Weakened, the demonic flame flared in defiance when Lucious reached toward it. Unaffected by the feeble resistance, Lucious reached and channelled his light into the flame. The demonic flame struggled with its flame flapping against the thin air before exploded with massive power. The familiar sensation of the abnormal pure energy permeated Lucious’s inner sanctuary. “...What...is this?” Holding down their uncertainty, the rest of the Maeists reached to the energy and was shocked by its nature. “...I don’t know...There might be more of these flames...” “Leave them to me and Emma. Julian will help you with the barrier.” Lucious nodded appreciatively at Lucson’s suggestion. “Julian, let’s do it like this...” Lucious conveyed his thought to the white-robed Maeist. “...Interesting, not hurt to try...can’t be any worse than now...” Julian shrugged helplessly with their precarious situation. “Let’s go, Julian.” The white-robed Maeist took some of the pure energy with him before surfaced to the world once again.
Channelling the mysterious energy into his barrier, Lucious watched with utmost attention at his soft yet resolute barrier which worked its way around the orb of darkness while nullifying the Grimkeeper’s attack. Sharing the energy with Julian, they adjusted the flows of the mysterious energy according to the barrier’s situation. “...Oops...” Julian covered for Lucious’s mistake by taking back excessive energy which made his barrier looked stickier and more viscous. The barrier managed to envelop the whole orb of darkness while covered for the team. The rest of the team looked at Lucious’s handiwork with dumbstruck surprise. Even Merridian could not hide her amazement as she looked at the barrier with wonder and smiled with a wicked expression as if she already has plans for the young trainee.
The Grimkeeper howled with frustration and surprise as Lucious’s barrier kept its ultimate firepower at bay and absorbed its energy. With an angry roar, the behemoth demon charged at Lucious. Swallowed nervously at the gigantic size of the demon, Lucious cast his barrier once more when a sudden heat of a boiling concoction engulfed Lucious. That accursed fire demon. “...Lucson...Emma...Help me...” Lucious grasped the flows that ran deep into the depth of his heart and forcefully ripped and syphoned them to his inner sanctuary. A frustrated howl was heard from the oblivion as Lucious cut off its scheme to gain the Grimkeeper’s power, but the fire apparition made no further action. The reaction of the demon within his heart was less of Lucious’s concern as a monstrous amount of burning energy crashed into his inner sanctuary and threatened to consume his mind and body.
“Emma...Lucson...!!” “What sorcery is that?” Lucson gasped with horrified voice, but the Maeist knight quickly separated him, Emma and the remaining space of Lucious’s inner sanctuary from the gushing tide of hot lava-like energy with a long and sturdy barrier. “...Take my Natura...also the unknown energy...if you need...” “We will manage...just hold yourself and keep the Grimkeeper away!” Lucious looked ahead to the Grimkeeper. Rushing with its gigantic stature protruded with thorns and spikes, the demon’s momentum was terrifyingly fast and powerful as the ground shook and the cave quaked with every pound of a step it took. Channelling his barrier with the remaining pure energy, Lucious created the final barrier he could make. His inner sanctuary was greatly damaged although it was protected by Lucson, and his adrenaline and overwhelming Natura was spent. Straining his overburdened mind and body, Lucious was only a step away from death’s embrace. “...Lucious...” Noticed Julian’s serious expression, Lucious smiled weakly but determinedly as he braced for his last stand.
The Grimkeeper crashed toward Lucious’s barrier and bent the elastic barrier with terrifying force. Lucious swallowed in fear as he concentrated his focus on maintaining his barrier. The Grimkeeper outstretched one of its talons and reached for Lucious. The barrier tried to stop the talon but it made slow but firm progress toward Lucious. “Julian!!” Unable to divert his attention from the barrier, Lucious called for Julian. The white-robed Maeist nodded and reached into Lucious’s will. With his arms outstretched, Julian drew the pure energy extracted from Emma and Lucson’s effort and spread it across Lucious’s will. Brimming with the unknown energy, Lucious threw every drop of it toward his barrier.
At the sudden, the barrier lost its form and became so sticky as if it melted and turned to a viscous fluid. “...What...is...this?!” Leaden by the extremely sticky and heavy fluid, the Grimkeeper stopped. The demon tried to blast the fluid away with its Natura but ended up feeding the fluid as it grew larger and heavier before it enveloped its giant frame. Lucious looked at his handiwork in shock as the Grimkeeper was trapped in his ‘barrier’ and struggled in vain within the unnatural fluid. “Julian!!” Wasting no time, the white-robed Maeist extracted Lucious’s Natura and called for a freezing wind. Taking several steps ahead of Lucious, Julian lifted both of his arms and beckoned for the falling of snow as the winter wind blasted at the trapped Grimkeeper. The Grimkeeper struggled to claw its way out but its sharp talons and jaws did nothing to graze the elastic and squishy barrier. Before long, Lucious’s barrier was frozen with the Grimkeeper suspended in the middle of its fight.
The battle has ended. Relaxed, Lucious turned to meet the rest of the team. Suddenly, he was lying on the ground with his side as his vision was veiled by a thin layer of whiteness. Sounds seemed distant and incomprehensible. Lucious looked up and saw Cassia shaking him with panicked expression while calling out to him. Emma grabbed his arm and closed her eyes in concentrated weariness. Lowen and Olwen watched the Grimkeeper in caution while Merridian shouted and issued her orders to the team. Pop was nowhere to be found.
Amidst the chaotic situation as various noises mingled, Lucious thought he could hear Floki’s curse and Cassian’s wavering voice. There was no way for the young trainee to know as he looked ahead and saw Julian and Lucson raised their staff and sceptre and threw a large orb of light up to the oblivion high above. Bathed in the brilliant light of the orb as it expanded to envelop his vision, Lucious felt at ease and without pain as if he was released from the terrible ordeal and burden as the one who survived. He had done all he can. He endured the loneliness and torment of being alive, battled beasts, undead, and demons. He had prevailed every fight and turned the odds to his favour. Feeling immeasurable tiredness, Lucious slowly closed his eyes as his vision blurred and faded into nothingness.
ns 15.158.61.54da2
