“Indeed,” she chuckled. “Do you have anything else in your inventory?”
I took a quick glance and noticed that everything else was pretty much the same. “No,” I shook my head.
“Intriguing,” she said. “Maybe you got just these items since you broke only one part of your seal.”
“That could be the case,” I said, slowly shifting around, taking in my surroundings.
DING!
Alert: Your mana levels have gone below 50%
What, I blinked, and then it hit me.
My weapons were consuming a ton of Mana. I quickly opened up my stats menu and tapped on my Mana option, summoning my Mana regeneration screen.
Mana Regeneration
16% per second
Damn, I cursed, realizing that meant I didn’t have enough of a Mana regeneration rate to use both my sword and my armor at the same time. I quickly shifted into my Equipment inventory menu and sent back my Berserker armor, a tad of disappointment brewing in me as I did.
“What happened?” Freya looked at me, a little surprised I’d just done that.
“Can’t use both at the same time,” I said. “They consume Mana at a rate larger than I can replenish.”
“Wait they consume Mana?” she blinked. “Weapons can do that?”
“Well apparently mine can,” I sighed.
She stared at me for a second. “Interesting.”
I looked at the ruins we were in. I’d come in here looking for answers but now I was not sure I wanted to be anywhere close to this thing anymore.
“We should probably leave,” Nyx said. “Do not dwell on your thoughts too much, Diablo. They will do you no good at this stage of time.”
Fine, I said, even though I was quite certain I was going to end up thinking about it anyway. One didn’t turn into the Phantom Lord all of a sudden and just not think about it. What did bother me however, was that I still had no memory of being the Phantom Lord itself.
“That is to be expected,” Nyx said. “You’ll have to break through more than one part of the soul seal before you start getting significant memories back I believe.”
Ugh, I grunted, not really responding adequately. I stepped forward and looked around, wondering what was the fastest way out of here.
“We’re going to have to go back the way we came in,” Freya walked up to me, still in her Demon Form.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“It’s the easiest solution I’d say,” she said.
“Fine then,” I said. We traced our steps back, making our way back to the pile of death in the rooms. We made a quick jump onto the floor above us, which with our strength, was not that hard. Wraiths of ghastly white appeared, just like they had before, but this time, they didn’t even look at us.
“A Wraith, even a tortured one, would never dare go next to the Phantom Lord,” Nyx said.
“I guess Demon Elves chase away Wraiths,” Freya mumbled, not aware of Nyx’s voice.
I smiled to myself, enjoying the amusement in isolation.
We quickly made our way out back into the wide field of darkness we’d dropped down to from the bridge. I heard a hiss as the Desert snake slithered up to us. Its red eyes emerged all of a sudden and it lunged at us violently.
“Ugh, shut up,” Freya swung her sword, slicing through the beast in half. I watched as the body split cleanly into two and dropped to the floor, lifeless
Poor thing, I thought quietly. The snake had probably been so confused about how the two of us had gone in weak and come out like this.
I looked up, at the broken ends of the bridge a ways above us. “Guess we jump from here,” I said.
“Yeah,” Freya said. She crouched, recoiling her muscles and surged upwards, sending dust and mud into the air.
“Hey wait up!” I yelled and shot up as well, the ground beneath me cracking as jumped up.
The elf gracefully timed her leap, landing herself on the edge of the bridge. I on the other hand, was more rugged and almost went straight into the roof with my uncontrolled jump. Freya had to quickly cast her portal magic to bring me right next to her, which was quite embarrassing.
“Thanks,” I said meekly.
“Sure,” she chuckled.
My face reddened as we finally walked out of the ruins, climbing up the staircase and back to the entrance of it all. I was already confused and troubled because of what had just transpired, but when we got out, the sight before me made me realize things were actually a lot worse.
A small army stood around us, at no more than a hundred yards away. Armor of white shone bright under the desert sun, the symbol of a silver Pegasus striking in the morning light. A horse stood next to us, its rider a young woman in a white cloak, an oak brown staff in her hand.
My eyes widened. My mouth opened.
But words had left me.
Viola looked at me, melancholy in her eyes. “Hello, Zoran.”
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ah dammit, I cursed.
Why did everything have to get complicated all the time? Couldn’t things ever stay simple for once? Did there always have to be some defining factor that threw everything head over heels and changed the whole scenario?
Well, so far the answer to all those questions was a brutal ‘Yes’.
I stared into the brown eyes of the woman in front of me. I could tell what they spoke of, of the trust that she once had for me, of the trust that she felt I had now broken.
“Viola I-”
“Save it, Phantom Lord,” she said with distaste. “I am giving you a chance to end this peacefully. Come along quietly with us, or face the might of the Alliance of Light against you.”
I looked at her, taking a moment to decide how to respond to this. The filters in my mind slowly dissolved away, my thoughts translating directly to words.
“You do realize how strong I am,” I said. “I should be the one giving you a chance to leave this alive.”
“You!” her eyes widened in anger. She thrust her staff forward, a blast of light shooting out of it and right at me.
I stood still, watching as the attack thudded into my body. My eyes turned to my health bar, noticing it go down by nothing at all. I turned to her. “You have no chance.”
“Oh yes she does.”
A kick landed right on my head, throwing me a few feet through the air and onto the ground. I immediately tightened my muscles, alert that a strong opponent was here, and picked myself up, my eyes diverting to in front of me.
A woman stood there, red hair falling over armor of pristine white. A sword lay at her side but she did not reach out for it, choosing instead to throw her fists into the air. I heard chanting around me, and quickly realized the Alliance was attempting to cast a mass spell.
Dammit, I cursed.
“I can’t tell what they’re trying to cast on you, but it would be best to avoid it,” Nyx said.
Fine, I said. I threw my hands into the air. “Iktar!”
A blast of wind shot out of me, expanding in a circle and throwing everyone off their feet. The chanting stopped for a moment, but that wasn’t good enough. The woman charged at me, a few more men and women following her and surging to me as well, all at once.
“Level 400s,” Nyx said. “I did not know the Alliance of Light had such powerful warriors.”
“Tch,” I clicked my tongue. I lowered my body and went into a defensive stance, choosing not to reach for my sword. I knew what would happen if I did. I’d end up killing them, and that was just going to make me look worse in everyone’s eyes.
My Phantom Lord title already came along with a free ‘Murderer’ tag as is, so I didn’t want to aggravate that opinion of me anymore.
Punches and kicks flew around my body as the warriors attacked me, their strikes landing hard on my hands and legs. I centered myself, trying to maintain position, but I was still thrown back a second later when the lady surged to me and kicked my chest.
“Hey!�
� Freya yelled, coming out of nowhere and smacking right into the woman. The redhead shot through the air, going in nearly a straight line as she crashed into her own men, knocking down plenty of them before she came to a stop.
“You need to watch your back,” Freya told me, standing by my side.
I looked at everyone around me. The mages had all gotten back onto their feet and the 400 Level warriors had us surrounded as well. They all forewent attacking me bare handed and pulled out their weapons this time, brandishing swords and blades of various sizes and shapes.
All of them spelling trouble.
Dammit, I cursed. I didn’t want to take out Dawnbreaker, but I’d be forced to if I needed to protect myself against these attacks.
“Do it,” Nyx said. “If you’re worried about killing them, then just defend. There are others ways to defeat them.”
Maybe, I said. I heard a thud from behind me and glanced back, only to see Freya’s blade in front of her face, defending the conjoined strikes of three men against her.
I swiftly turned around, noticing the ones in front of me get ready to attack as well.
“Fine,” I muttered, my hand slowly reaching down to my scabbard. “You asked for it.”
The weapon hummed as I gripped its handle. I pulled my blade out, and chill immediately went through the air, the light of the sky dimming down noticeably as well. The soldiers around me backed away, clearly noticing that something was off here. The warriors on the field deterred a bit, their eyes not as confident anymore, but they stood their place, not backing down even an inch.
“How confident,” I said, and shot forward, making the first attack this time. I swung my blade at the first strong warrior I approached, but stopped halfway when I saw him try to hold his sword up in defense. I twisted around, catching the man half swing and ramming my fist into his side. He went crashing through the air, knocking over a line of army men.
“Behind you,” Nyx said.
I turned around, throwing my blade in the air just in time to fend off an attack from the red-haired woman. The sounds of metal echoed through the air as our weapons clashed, Dawnbreaker defending me from all her strikes.
She smiled at me. “Such an honor to take down the Phantom Lord.” She dropped her sword and immediately pulled back her arms, rushing them into my chest in one flow. The force blast me backwards and I immediately dropped to the ground, letting friction slide me to rest.
She’s strong, I thought, looking up at her.
“She is,” Nyx said. “High 400s as well. Her weapon gives her a high attack boost, and her armor gives her an even higher one.”
That explains it, I said as I stood up once again.
“Now!” I heard a voice call out.
Words sounded in the air at once and a flurry of magical attacks thundered down onto me, all relentless, and all at once. Spears of light, blasts of fire, and more surged towards my position, threatening to take me down. I quickly jumped up into the air, putting in enough strength to go about ten yards up or so. I saw the mages below me, about a hundred of them summoning all their attacks at the same time.
I gave you a chance, I thought to myself as I dropped. I gripped DawnBreaker tight as I went down and picked up speed, my eyes watching the ground rush up to meet me.
Good, I smiled. I waited till the last moment and swung hard into the earthen surface, my blade cutting through it easy. A tremor struck from within and thin fissures shot out, spreading out like a spider web, only deadlier. The men and women of the Alliance of Light fell to the floor as my attack coursed through them, pushing them all to the ground. I pulled up my blade and swung it over my head, summoning a blast of wind that pushed through the ranks of the knights right after.
I heard a shockwave and looked ahead of me to see one of the Knight’s fly off from Freya’s sword and surge high into the air.
Dammit, I cursed as I rushed to her. Why can’t we end this without any conflict? I asked myself, even though I knew there was no way that was going to happen. For the moment I myself had been pretty violent in my way of dealing with the Alliance of Light.
“You’re going to have kill someone sometime Diablo,” Nyx said. “It is inevitable.”
Killing someone is only going to make them think I’m indeed who they think I am, I said. I need to prove them wrong.
Nyx laughed. “Are you sure you know who you are, young one?”
A chilling wind passed through us and clouds surged into the sky. Dark fabrics flashed before my eyes as men in black cloaks and tunics summoned themselves into the middle of battle. More than a hundred of them stood opposite the ranks of the Alliance of the Light, their hands gripping onto black blades and swords.
“The Dark Alliance,” I muttered, my eyes automatically looking for Asterion, but from what I could tell he was nowhere to be seen. And that was something that unsettled me even more. Did I injure him too much? I wondered.
The men of darkness almost immediately pushed forward, attacking not me like I had expected, but the men of the Alliance of Light instead. Cries and yells sounded as me and Freya stood alone on the side, watching the Alliances battle it out.
“What the hell?” Freya asked, confused as much as I was. “What are they trying to do?”
I thought for a second, and my eyes immediately widened. “Oh gods.”
“Yes,” Nyx confirmed my suspicions.
“What?” Freya turned to me.
“They’re making it seem like we’re part of the Dark Alliance,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “Dammit!” she cursed, picking up her sword immediately.
An arrow whizzed right at the elf. I lunged out and caught it by its wooden stalk, my hand snapping it in half. I looked at the archer, a man in white armor. My eyes invariably drifted to behind him, at a pack of dark clothed men going straight at a girl with a brown staff.
No! My muscles tightened. I shot forward, my hand already going to my sword. I stirred up a storm of dust behind me as I slid to stop, extending my sword into the air just as a blade of metal came down on Viola.
The weapons clashed for a moment and my palm pushed out immediately, thudding into the man’s armor and throwing him far back. I quickly spun around, my sword blocking two other strikes against the woman from behind her and landed two more punches into those warriors as well, sending them back to their squad.
A blast of wind shot into me, not doing anything other than to annoy me so. I turned around, noticing, as expected, Viola with her staff in her hand, ready to attack me.
“Stay away!” she yelled.
Anger coursed through me. “I came for you to save your life,” I said. “If you that doesn’t mean much to you then go ahead and try to kill me. But don’t think you’ll succeed.”
I walked away and a blast of wind hit me again, but I didn’t even turn around to see her this time. I brought my sword out, and attacked, going after every dark-clothed man I could. I don’t remember if I used a skill, I feel like I did, but I couldn’t tell anymore.
The whole thing was quite a blur to me, my anger taking over most of my cognitive decisions. Nyx was talking to me the entire time, being my eye in the sky of sorts. He could see everything around me, I didn’t know how. But I wasn’t complaining though. It was amazingly useful to have a that kind of an advantage.
Spirit King is amazing, I thought to myself as I took down the last Dark Alliance minion around me. I could still see a few of them all over the battlefield, but their numbers had gone down a significant amount.
A last shadow emerged over the ground, not one from an object, but one that just existed by itself, in isolation. The Alliance of Light froze, immediately backing away to past its boundaries, sensing that there was something odd with the presence.
And boy were they right.
A dark hazy smoke burst from under the shadow, as though damp fireworks had been lit up. One second there was nothing in the circle and the next there a whole group of Dark Alliance people in there. I wa
s going to say they were minions but with one analyze I saw they were all around Level 200, even stronger than the ones I’d seen before.
“Well, well, well,” a voice chuckled. “What have we here?”
The men moved and I saw a scarred face before me, one that I wanted to punch right away.
“Hello, Asterion,” I muttered.
“I told you we should have killed him,” Freya mumbled, smacking my wrist in annoyance. The Alliance of Light had moved back quite a bit now, all of them worried about presence of powerful darkness in the middle of their ranks.
“What do you want Asterion?” I asked, stepping towards the man.
“Well, young one, I still have to repay you back for half killing me back there.”
“I can still finish the job if you’d like.”
“There will be no necessity,” he smiled. “There are much bigger things that I have planned for you.”
I gripped my sword and shot forward. Asterion smiled as I swung onto him, and the next thing I knew he was holding a sword out in front of him, his arms blocking my strike, his eyes still looking at me mockingly. I pulled back and shot forward again, willing my body to charge faster, willing my arms to swing quicker.
The Leader of the Dark Alliance blocked over and again, as if he had some sort of special skill or something.
And then I saw it.
A tinge of light violet around his body, the faintest presence.
An Agility buff, I muttered. He’d gotten much faster. No doubt he’d probably gotten an attack or defense buff too. That explained why my attacks weren’t doing anything to him.
“You had your chance,” Asterion swung hard, his movements way faster than any buffed man could have moved. I threw my sword up just in time to block his strike, but even then the force threw me off balance, knocking me down to the floor.
The Emperor of Dargonia stood above me, a smile on his face. “Now it’s my turn.”
“Don’t you-”
A large circle of darkness formed beneath me, and I felt myself get stuck to it, as though it were physically holding me down.
The Eternal: Awakening - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 1) Page 23