A jolting pain that coursed through every fibre of his body hit Lucious when he returned to his senses. The pain quickly suppressed by the overwhelming euphoria of the immense Natura flowing into his veins and travelled across his body. “This...is...I...am...” Lucious tried to retain his will in the face of the insurmountable Natura that threatened to take over his soul. “Lucious!!” A hand quickly placed at Lucious’s back and the young trainee instantly felt relieved and exercised this opportunity to secure his mind. Rising from the ground, Lucious turned to find the spirited Floki. “Floki?” “Thanks to you, lad. Got some Natura from you.” Nodding thankfully to his instructor, Lucious stood and prepared to face the Grimkeeper.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMTVG3oxhZ
On the contrary, the Grimkeeper started to hiss annoyingly at the sudden turn of the situation and quickly took the pre-emptive attack. Dozens of miasma spears with its corrupting essence reeking out to the air flying toward Lucious. “Lucious, close your eyes and focus on my mind!” Lucious felt a hand grabbing his shoulder as he closed his eyes and dived into his torrential Natura. Feeling the faint tuck on his mind, Lucious opened his mind and felt a presence entered into his realm. “Lucious.” Recognised Floki’s pulse of Natura, Lucious focused his attention on Floki as his instructor started to invoke his Natura and chant. “O'Light, advent upon us and purify the evil that seeks to destroy all...” The young Maeist could literally feel the coming of the light. Feeling the fluctuation of Floki’s Natura, Lucious followed Floki’s chant and directed his senses to weave an unknown conjuration. At some point, an image of rain of arrows of light registered in Lucious’s mind as he began to understand of the element he called and focused every Natura he could muster to cast the chant.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4aeH8mRkr
Sparkles of light enveloped his mind as the light dawned upon him and filling his mind with its purifying rain. Lucious directed the light to his hand as he returned to the world. Facing the closing spears of miasma, Lucious could feel the light in his hand, eager to fulfil its purpose. With a faint urge tucked on his mind, Lucious focused his Natura and brought the light into the world. Dozens of arrows of light appeared around his staff and shot toward to intercept the corrupted spears. One by one, the spears were purified and cast to nothingness as Lucious conjured dozens more of arrows and threw them toward the Grimkeeper.
Hissed with frustration, the Grimkeeper withdrew from Cassian as it focused its miasma to shield itself from the light. Taking this chance, Cassia quickly rushed to her brother and hauled the wounded knight leader away from the spot. Feeling a slight relief as the Clypeus siblings retreated to their sides, Lucious focused fervently on the Grimkeeper as the arrows of light continued its relentless assault on the battered demon. Screamed in fear and frustration, the Grimkeeper released a miasma shockwave to hold the arrows for a brief second while gathering his tattered miasma. With a leap, the Grimkeeper was floating on the air. Eyeing Lucious with a ferocious growl, the Grimkeeper sped toward the young trainee.
Feeling another tuck on his mind, Lucious focused his eyes on the closing Grimkeeper as he called for the purifying flame and focused the flame into a large bolt of flare. Motioned his staff to the Grimkeeper, Lucious timed and released the flare. A pillar of fire flare appeared from his staff and travelled straight to the Grimkeeper. Unable to evade, the Grimkeeper could only gather its miasma essence and curved to a ball as the pillar of purifying flame reached and consumed it. The pillar of purifying flame reached toward the ceiling and knocked the cave to its quake as rocks and pebbles fell from above. Unable to withstand the power, his training staff burned and crumpled in his hands. Lucious looked apologetically at Floki as the old Maeist took his Natura and weaved a barrier to hold their ground.
Waiting for the quake to subside, Lucious searched for the Grimkeeper but the demon was nowhere in sight amidst the falling rocks and pebbles. Looking on, Lucious caught Julian holding a shield barrier with the twin shield knights. Emma assisted Julian to share the burden of Natura while Pop stuck his spear on the ground to catch his breath. It seemed they were exhausted, fighting with the giant abomination. The abomination was confused by the rain of rocks and pebbles and was temporarily disoriented as a large boulder fell on top of its grotesque body and crushed its back. Emma did not miss the opportunity to burn the rest of its body. Illuminated by the flame, the members looked tired as they cringed at the smell of the burning flesh.
Did they win? Trying to suppress his premature celebration, Lucious drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. Entering his inner sanctuary, Lucious could feel the fading of his Natura as his limiting points started to close instinctively to prevent more harm done to both the mind and body. Feeling a sudden wave of migraine, Lucious forced the sensation down with Natura and honed his senses to search for the demonic presence of the Grimkeeper. His search struck a ping as faint demonic energy was detected but it felt too weak for a dominating presence moments ago. Still, Lucious could not shake away the sense of foreboding. “But I still can fight...” Inspecting his inner sanctuary, Lucious nodded seriously before returning to the world.
“The demon is still alive...” Floki nodded briskly at Lucious’s report and continued to hold onto the barrier as the quake was subsiding. Bracing for any surprise attack, Lucious invoked his Natura and chanted slowly for a fireball. The quake subsided after seconds. Lucious scanned rapidly for the Grimkeeper and found it floating on the ground at the middle of the clearing. With its miasma tattered, the Grimkeeper still retained in its human form but a gem the size of a fist shone with ominous ray was exposed from its chest. “The core...” Lucious raised his eyebrows and shot his fireball immediately at the exposed core. The Grimkeeper dispelled the fireball easily with its fist, but the demon no longer maintained its relaxed and arrogant composure. Gritting its fists and mouth with anger, the Grimkeeper glared at Lucious in obvious hatred but Lucious could see the fear mingled within the gaze.
We can do this! Heightened with exhilaration, Lucious could imagine their victorious return to Tressmoor. “...It’s not over, Lucious!” Returned to his senses, Lucious looked back at the grimacing Cassian with a nod and stirred his Natura to prepare for the final battle. Suddenly, the Grimkeeper gathered itself and roared with such ferocity that Lucious could feel the vibration of the air. Floki raised his eyebrows in alert as his barrier was rattled by the vibration but the barrier prevented the vibration to reach their ears. “...Watch out! Retreat!!” Lucious turned to the sudden scream and found Julian and Emma rushing toward them while Pop followed behind with the twin. The boulder that crushed the abomination suddenly shone with the ominous flame of Abyss as the flame worked its way around the boulder and covered it in titian veins.
“Floki!!” “...Regroup the squad...Help Julian...Barrier...” Turning to his instructor for help, Lucious was surprised when a voice answered him from behind. Cassian groaned in pain yet tried his best to stand up with Cassia’s help. “Watch yourself, you bloke.” Cassian ignored his sister’s protest and held his gaze on Lucious. Catching the determined and firm expression from the spirited Cassian, Lucious felt relieved to see the knight leader holding onto himself. “Lad...lend me your Natura...” At Floki’s request, Lucious grabbed on Floki’s shoulder and passed some of his Natura to the old Maeist who was chanting with a soft tone while tending to Cassian’s wounds. “Quick! Go to Julian and help them with the barrier!” Nodded, Lucious cast a final glance at the panting Cassian before turning to rush to the rest of the squad. Endowed with abundant Natura, Lucious could feel his feet became light as he approached Julian and Emma.
“Julian!!” Reaching the detached squad with surprising speed, Lucious gestured to the white-robed Maeist before the members could recover from the shock. “Lucious...you!!” “There is no time for this...The barrier! I will provide Natura.” Nodding in agreement, Julian chanted immediately as Lowen and Olwen turned to face the reddening boulder with their shields raised. Layers and layers of barriers formed with Julian as the centre while Lucious channelled his Natura to the Maeist. Emma and Pompadous watched out for the Grimkeeper. Lucious tried his best to discard his worry for Floki and Clypeus siblings and focused on his task. “They will be fine...Floki is there...I gave him some Natura...”
The boulder suddenly exploded when Lucious was distracted by his worry. The explosive impact broke through several layers and jolted Lucious from his distraction as Julian grimaced in frustration. Their vision was clouded by the miasma and dust as pebbles and stones hit and deflected by the barriers; their ears were shielded from the deafening explosion, making the whole experience quite surrealistic. Channelled a substantial amount of Natura consistently, Lucious closed his eyes and gritted his teeth in pain as his Natura was spent at an alarming rate and the euphoric sensation was fading. Flashing migraine became more frequent as every fibre of his body screamed in abuse and trembled weakly. The explosion subsided as fast as it came but the force broke through every layer of barriers.
Feeling relieved, Lucious dropped to his knees in pain. “Lucious!!” Julian and Emma rushed to his side and inspected the young trainee. “...Why?...Why’re you so reckless?...” Emma sounded with deep worry and frustration as she hummed a simple chant and put her hand on Lucious’s head. Lucious sighed in slight comfort over the easing of his migraine. “...You could have died...” “...He had done a good job, Emma. Leave it at that.” “But...” Before their arguments could continue, a massive surge of demonic Natura slapped the Maeists to silence as they were stunned for a second before searching for the Grimkeeper. Not too far away from the stoic Lowen and Olwen, the Grimkeeper was surrounded with a terrifying amount of darkening miasma gained from its abominated double. Remained in its human form, the Grimkeeper seemed to retrieve its proud and arrogance demeanour as it floated on the air and looked down condescendingly at the squad below.
“...It ends here, humans...” Twisting its lips with a wicked grin, the Grimkeeper shed its human silhouette as it absorbed its surrounding miasma and enveloped into a giant sphere before expanding its miasma to the surroundings. “Fl...Floki...Cass...” “They’re all right. Floki is still in the fight...” Grimaced at his sharpened migraine, Lucious could understand Emma’s hesitation as Julian deployed his barrier to ward off the spreading miasma. They were still alive but Floki was at his limit. Keeping the fact resonating in his mind, Lucious tried to stand up but his knees could not gather its strength. “Don’t, Lucious. You have done enough.” But it’s not enough. Biting his tongue with anguish, Lucious sank his head in dejection.
Suddenly, the miasma around them sucked back to the Grimkeeper once again and formed a miasma cyclone. A behemoth of a giant skeletal four-legged creature emerged from the cyclone which was absorbed and disappeared as fast as it appeared. Covered with miasma, the monster was ten flings in height and four flings wide with various protrusions of tusks, bones, and horns. Coupled with two pairs of giant razor-sharp claws and a terrifying set of fangs, the Grimkeeper was the largest demon guardian the squad had ever seen. Stunned with fear and helplessness, Lucious forgot his migraine as he stared at the demon in a terrified gaze. The rest of the squad was also mortified by the transformation that they were caught unprepared by the demon’s rush.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvhoHFgSdo
