Dave’s entire body seemed to radiate exhaustion. Orbs still moved in the air, ready to create more shields at a moment’s notice.
Steve couldn’t see Dave’s face as his shoulders moved, as if he were panting.
Steve gritted his teeth. Rocks pinged off his body as he continued forward toward the soul array.
“Still not dead yet? Very well. It seems that you are worthy to be my opponents. My name is Che, leader of the clan Ish’tal. Let’s see what you Emerilians are made of!” With these words, a crater appeared under Che’s foot. None of his soul energy leaked outward as he rushed Party Zero.
Jung Lee rushed to meet Che. Even with the six Affinity spirits, his attack was smashed to the side, his feet leaving deep grooves in the ground.
Deia cut out with her blades, the black flame dragons behind her lashing out. Che destroyed the dragons. His massive blade moved as fast as Deia’s two blades, sending her in another direction. The soul energy-consuming flames tore at his soul energy protection but it didn’t stick as he made an annoyed sound and it was expelled.
He made to attack Deia, who had annoyed him with her flames, when Anna’s titan form appeared next to him.
Che dodged the first few attacks, regaining his footing and fighting back. Lox and Gurren joined the fight. Che cut Gurren’s armor’s shoulders and forced him back. Jung Lee raced in and replaced them.
Once again, Suzy called upon her power as more of her creations rose to meet Che. They were smashed constantly but Che had to split his attention to deal with them even as he sent them back, trailing Mana that repeatedly tried to rebuild them time after time.
Jung Lee pressured Che, only to be rebuffed, and Che lashed out with the momentum of defending against Jung Lee’s attack to smash against Anna’s titan. Screeching, noises filled the inside of the castle as Deia charged in. Anna recovered her titan body while Deia’s swords were blocked by Che.
Their speed and coordination had reached the apex as they sensed as soon as the other was in danger and targeted areas that would allow the others openings.
Dave was recovering as fast as possible, drinking Mana potions and holding back his attacks. His movements made it look as if he were almost drunk from the repeated Mana consumption and fatigue the entire day.
Suzy’s creations, Lu Lu’s lightning, Deia’s flaming swords, Anna’s Air titan, Lox, Gurren, and Jung Lee’s gray smoking swords: all of them flashed through the air, hitting Che again and again. They battered him into a position where he could only react; to be able to keep them all off at once showed just how powerful his techniques and abilities had reached.
With each hit, a section of the castle was torn apart and a crater deepened around Che, creating a sort of arena in the midst of the castle.
Steve continued to crawl. Feeling danger from the Xelur runes he saw moving around the soul array, his mind was running analytics on it against his knowledge. The magical coding that was being repaired made any assessment sluggish.
“It seems you Emerilians are stronger than I thought!” Che yelled out. Power surged from him, creating a shock wave of soul energy. He lashed out at Party Zero. His sword slashed at Deia. She was able to shift the angle of the sword but it was too strong and powerful; a deep line streaked across her collarbone. Her Abscondita armor stopped the blow from actually hitting her, but the kinetic energy tossed her back as Jung Lee dodged away from a vicious kick. Lox blocked a fist with his shield that dented inward before dissolving; a new one was conjured just a moment later as Che’s blade hit Anna’s titan once again. That screeching noise as the Air blades of the Air titan met up with the sword made everyone’s ears flinch in pain.
Jekoni called upon his sea of blood once again and attacked Che from several directions.
He jumped free of his encirclement and slapped the blood-formed snakes away, breaking their spell constructs. He was breathing heavy as he and Party Zero stared at one another.
A cold smile passed over his face as he looked at them. “You might’ve killed my elders and destroyed my citadels here, but you have only invited your own death!” Che laughed and jumped into the air, facing toward the portal at the center of the citadels.
“Down!” Malsour’s voice echoed through the heavens as a spell formation appeared above Che.
Che was thrown down to the ground as the gravity greatly increased on him. He smashed into the ground. A crater formed around him, the strength of Malsour’s spell formation too strong to allow Che to move.
Steve saw that the runes had finally stopped moving around the soul array. All of his processes were focused on figuring out what it meant.
“Looks like you’ve been learning something from my gravity manipulation,” Dave said in a tired tone as Malsour glided in. His claws rested on a part of the castle that hadn’t collapsed. His weight made part of what he was standing on crumble away; he had to adjust his claws to remain upright.
“Seems that you’re all all right,” Malsour said in a conversational tone as a four-meter-long metal spear with runes carved on it dropped from the heavens. It passed through the gravity spell formation, multiplying its speed.
Che let out an enraged howl, actually able to raise himself, moving slightly.
Malsour frowned and increased the power of the spell formation as the created spear smashed into Che’s stomach instead of heart. The blow wasn’t what damaged him the most but the runes along the pillar that pulled that energy and sent it to the Stone Raiders’ soul gems that they kept on them.
Che, with blood running from the corner of his mouth, coughed wetly as the gravity rune was released, the spear still in his gut. “Seems that today I will not be leaving, but then, neither will you,” Che said with some madness in his eyes.
“It’s a bomb!” Steve yelled out. Fear ran through him as he saw the lack of time that he had in order to do anything.
The soul array exploded outward, expelling all of its energy in one blast that tore apart its very structure.
Jekoni, who was closest to the soul array, turned and let out a yell.
Jung Lee’s sword flashed brightly with power.
Jekoni’s Grand Demon Lord body was destroyed, all of its energy barely able to restrain the energy of the soul array’s explosion.
Shields smashed into the explosion, containing it and driving it upward, but these shields continued to be destroyed.
Jekoni glanced back at Party Zero as that power raged against the shields.
Steve saw the small, kind smile on the edge of Jekoni’s lips.
An imaginary staff appeared in his hands as his hat stood proud on his head. His mage’s cloak fluttered as magical runes making up his spectral body glowed with power.
Steve watched in awe as Jekoni embodied the archmage of legend.
The shields failed and the power surged outward again.
Dave collapsed on the ground. His body had gone past Mana fatigue.
Jekoni let out an angered yell, his body submerged into that vortex of soul energy.
Steve could see Jekoni, his robes whipping around him as massive powerful spell formations appeared around him. The energy was focused upward and away from Party Zero.
Steve knew that Jekoni couldn’t stop all of that energy. His analytical mind was over overclocked, giving him the cold hard facts of what was happening in front of him.
Lox and Gurren charged forward and Steve hurled himself forward. The three of them entered that energy beam, their armor and, in Steve’s case, body, acting as massive magical conduits to change the direction of the power.
Suzy, Deia, Jung Lee, and Anna rushed forward.
The raging air threw all of them back but Anna’s titan reduced in size and power as the soul array’s energy climbed once again as the stored energy was continuously broken through.
Steve saw Anna pushing forward, his eyes filled with fear. As much as they had joked around and dodged their relationship, Steve knew that without Anna he would not exist. She hadn’t been forceful but at moments he
had felt that almost motherly feeling coming from her.
Anna saw his face and smiled. She entered the soul energy beam that was shooting hundreds of meters into the sky.
As soon as she stepped into that energy, it rushed through her body. The spell formations Jekoni had made with Steve, Lox, and Gurren’s assistance allowed the power to surge upward.
The rest of Party Zero struggled forward. Even Dave, when he regained his consciousness, hauled himself to his feet. His hood fell down, showing his pale face and the grim look of determination underneath.
They stepped into that beam of energy, firming up their control and directing it upward. Each of them stepped forward without pause or regret on their features. With all of them, the power started to become more manageable.
Their bodies glowed with power, their eyes shimmering with power. All of them worked together to share the burden. Jekoni, who had stepped into it first, had taken the brunt of the soul energy.
“Seems I will be going ahead first. Look after my mage’s guild and college and see that Emerilia survives. These few months have been some of the best in my life.” Jekoni smiled at them all, his face at peace as his body faded away. The control over the soul array surged, relieving the pressure from the rest of Party Zero.
Lox and Gurren’s armor overloaded from the energy and ejected them out of the beam. They rolled on the ground, their energy drained.
Steve stepped forward. With each step, the power running through his circuits was more powerful and savage. He eliminated any of the extra circuitry just to route the power until he got to the center. His armor was being ripped off as his soul gem construct body was battered and wrecked by the energies that assaulted him.
He stood in the center of the formation and placed his hand on the soul array, directing the power through his body and reducing the stresses on the others.
He felt a hand in his already badly damaged hands. He looked over, finding Anna with a metallic look in her eyes.
She had been created from the merger of a wolfkin body and the monitoring AI of Emerilia that Bob had created. He saw in those eyes that she understood what was going to happen.
The soul array couldn’t be contained by all of them, but if the two of them were to use all of their energies, then the others could survive.
Emotions that Steve didn’t know were there moved within him.
“Look after them.” Anna’s voice passed through the destructive energies of the soul array. With that, her head snapped upward; the beam condensed and shot upward, reaching to a height level with the citadels.
Magical Circuits aligned around the citadels and suppressing grand working spells worked, tearing apart that beam of energy.
All eyes were focused on that beam of energy and the members of Party Zero who stood within that beam of destructive energy, the energy enough to make those looking at it tremble with fear.
Steve’s mind was slowly being erased away as his Magical Circuits were destroyed. The central power directing magical code within his body became larger and stronger to try to contain the massive amount of power that ran through him.
His body shut down, his eyes on Anna as her hand reached up to the necklace she wore as soul energy started to tear at the very fabric of her body. A small but sad smile was on her lips as she held that necklace.
Chapter 22: Victories and Losses
The Lady of Fire and her brother the Lord of Water descended from the sky like the gods that they were supposed to be.
The Jakan, thinking that it was an attack, used their ranged attacks against the two of them. The ranged attacks slammed into a barrier of water and fire that appeared only as the different attacks landed.
“Well, they certainly like to fight,” Water said, not sounding too pleased. He had been called from the ice planet, where he’d been able to use his powers to the limit and without the ability to fall back on his divine wells. He’d not only worked at his full power but his knowledge had been greatly increased as he came to understand the different things that the Pandora’s Box Initiative was working on.
His eyes held a cold light to them as he looked at the Jakan. He didn’t care for them; , if they could become allies, then Water was ready to show his powers. With the information he had come to know and understand, he knew the threat that the Jukal were. These Jakan were just taking up time and resources that could be put to better use with the Pandora’s Box Initiative.
All of the petty fighting within the Pantheon seemed to be ridiculous now that his eyes were open. He knew that no matter what, the others in the Affinities Pantheon wouldn’t give up their struggles, no matter what evidence that he, Fire, or Air brought to the table. Their rivalries and their anger were too great to be swayed anymore.
Water and Fire floated over the Jakan’s defenses. Their strongest attacks did not affect them in the slightest as they floated over the citadel’s walls and headed over the inner walls toward the central castle.
“You must be the commander of the Jakan forces. We’ve come to discuss your future campaigns.” Fire walked into the command center. The Jakan all looked at the two of them with slack jaws.
“I think by now you should understand that with your weapons and abilities, it would be extremely hard for you to kill us?” Water asked in an annoyed tone.
“Sorry about him—he’s a bit grumpy that he got taken away from his various tests.” Fire smiled and took a seat. “Never thought that you would get so wrapped up in theories and testing.”
“What can I say? Your people at the mage’s college opened my eyes,” Water said, a slight smile on his lips. He wouldn’t be able to express the joy he had come to find with working with magic and the excitement of working on new magical theories that had been opened up to him by Fire’s mage’s college.
“Who are you?” the Jakan commander demanded, his voice becoming more firm.
“I am Water, and she is Fire.” Water pulled out a book and started to read it.
“The so-called gods of this planet,” the commander spat.
“Some people say that. I personally don’t— just a gal with the ability to burn your little citadel down and I’m getting mighty pissed off with all of you people attacking us. I swear, there’s no honor in this world anymore. People just ganging up on one group, saying that they want a fair fight but instead suppressing us in every direction and calling it fair.” Fire shook her head.
Water shot a disgusted look at the Jakan, who were taking on ugly expressions. Water went back to his book. Even as he frowned, inside he felt a smile coming on.
The Jakan were a race that thought of fighting as a holy thing, complete with rituals and conditions. If these conditions were not met, then it would not be a battle that their god believed in.
Emerilia was being attacked on every side by multiple people, not allowing them to bring their most powerful forces to bear. This wouldn’t make it an honorable battle, but if Fire could plant the idea for them to fight these other enemies and that they, Emerilia, and their people would stay out of the fight—or at least the Terra Alliance would—then they would be able to deal with two birds with but one stone.
***
Air and her people had spent a large amount of time trying to look over all the possible contingencies that they would need to deal with when the players started to wake up in Ice City.
Now all of them were looking at what was being called an implantation laboratory. It was the first of its kind, with a total of seven cloning laboratories that were working nonstop to create the bodies of the players who were within the server farms at the north and south poles of Emerilia.
Bob was at the controls, looking over the whole procedure. With this, they would be destroying the player’s brain in order to code it to the cloned body. At the same time, Jeeves’s program would insert an AI-controlled program that would replace them within their Earth simulation in order to make sure that the simulation’s AI wouldn’t be able to detect anything amiss.
/> The runes around the player’s body glowed, Mana thick in the air as everyone’s eyes were on the player.
Bob’s eyes were fixed on a series of complicated-looking medical screens.
After a few hours, the glow around the body dimmed. Bob’s eyes moved from screen to screen. Silence fell over the room as different people checked out different status screens.
“We did it!” Bob yelled, a smile on his face. “We’re going to have to wait for them to wake up to see just what everything is like for them and to check their condition. Though all of the readings I’m getting show that they’re healthy and good to go!”
It was like a dam had burst as everyone cheered and yelled out in excitement.
Air smiled and looked to Venfik. He nodded to her; halfway through the motion, he suddenly stopped and frowned as he looked over to Bob.
Air also looked over, seeing Bob’s face turn from joy to sorrow in a moment. The look on his face pulled at Air’s heartstrings.
***
The Lady of Light sat up from her chair and looked to Khanundra.
Her hall was more bright and refined than ever with the power of all Markolm coming in and more people joining in, giving their devotions to the Lady of Light that protected them from the war that was happening across Emerilia.
Many of them had turned fanatical with the turn of events, something that Light had grown and worked on.
“Khanundra, go retrieve them,” Light said. With a wave of her hand, Khanundra disappeared from the hall as Light looked to Daeundra.
“Seal Markolm. Only the followers must be allowed in. The Legions of Light have returned.” A cold light flashed in Light’s eyes as a cruel smile formed on her face.
Daeundra disappeared in a flash.
Light used her pool to look at the location where she had felt a large outpouring of energy and devotions to her. She looked at the air above Heval where formations of angels appeared one after another. The air filled with their golden armor and weapons as they looked at Emerilia.
Their cold faces seemed to deem everything as trash within their eyes. As Khanundra appeared, they all kneeled. Those who appeared afterward also dropped to a knee in mid-air, their wings flapping behind them to keep them aloft but on a lower level than Khanundra.
Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9) Page 42