Taking the golem into a pincer attack, the Squire hadn't much trouble actually hitting its mark, and even if putting more focus onto his own survival the human made weapon did surprisingly well against the cold stone of the golem, inflicting a few cracks onto the construct. The druid on the other hand, would have been less lucky, if not for their teamwork, pinning the golem onto the ground with the giant bear on top. But even if he hit, it could have nearly been called pathetic that the Squire's weapon did apparently more work than the slow mauling of the bear. The golem was obviously not amused and mustered all his strength to get back up, but his attempt was ultimately in vain.
"Hmpf, what could glorified trash like you do against the power of alchemy?" Cristoph being more human than lizard, Alexander didn't seem to be scared in the slightest. The man aimed his weapon at the charging Knight.
"WELL, THEN SHOW ME JUST HOW SPECIAL YOU ARE!" Triggering his cylinder once more, the Knight had an easy time dodging the two resulting Fireballs that emerged from it.
"Not bad..." And just like last time, a second salvo of ice followed, this time hitting its mark. Luckily, the damage was negated by his old blood, which finally allowed him to be close enough to get a strike of his own in and while it hit, was simply absorbed by the leather armor he was wearing.
"Hmpf, weak."
Now, Alexander lifted the arm with his cylinder up in the air, this time shooting out a ball of lightning that simply continued to float a few metres above everyone.
"Was that all you are capable of? I guess I should get a liiittttllle bit more serious~" His smug face became even smuggier, now looking at the witch.
"Who the hell do you take me for?! You already forfeit your live."
The last golem, who was still busy playing with the living undead, quickly changed his target at Nen's pathetic attempt of sprinkling it with water. Maybe it was the scent of the forest or the lack of the ocean? But ultimately his little magic tricks didn'T seem to work for now.
Meanwhile, the corpse of the lizard started to dissolve itself into a myriad of lightning particles, a few of them forming a very small reddish globe that easily fit multiple times into one's hand.
"They show promise."
"Indeed, they have potential...at least some of them do but-"
"But what? If they can't overcome this maggot on their own, they wouldn't be worthy in the end. I hope you didn't plan to intervene?"
"I wasn't talking about him. I meant one of the unbelievers. The one that killed her own kind."
"Her? Hah! While her sight is set right, she will just end up death with that temper."
"But what if not? What if she manages to kill one of them? It would be too soon! Do you want to take that risk?"
"Then what do you suggest to do? Just kill her?"
"Just kill her? Did the millennia in the void dull your very being? Can't you sense she has the potential to become one of our own?"
"That is not what she desires..."
"That is not for her to decide..."
"But what if they notice?"
"They didn't notice Lyria either."
"..."
"So?"
"Do what you want, but you will have to do it alone."
"So be it."
Before Lucifera was capable of giving the curious male an answer, a invisible, ominous presence could be felt, accompanied by the voice of what appeared to be female.
"What I felt first is Love, what
I desired after is Communion.
Touching with my hands will behead anyone.
Thus, I can neither love nor be loved.
Oh, just how sinful I must be, to be
deserving of such punishment.
That is why I wish for it. The hope
that lies at the end of afterlife.
Because, it must be the light that shines
upon everyone far and wide.
Let us watch over the birth of every
new life for all eternity--
Because I will hold everyone in my embrace."
With that chant spoken, a humanoid figure clad in a black full body cloak suddenly appeared in front of Lucifera, fast enough to give the fire woman a quick touch on her forehead with her gloved finger.
What followed immediately after, was the hot tempered girl throwing herself onto the ground, crying out in pain as her body started twisting in ways that made it just painful to watch.
Zephyr's eyes widened and his jaw clenched with a great deal of force as he reacted with the first thing he thought to do.
He held one arm out towards the cloaked figure, the other hand pressed against his wrist.
A shape made from white light formed in his hands, and Zephyr pulled back the string and let a pair of arrows fly free from Erys at the figure who had no problems dodging them.
Whether the magic that the figure had used was straight-up pain induction or outright harmful, Zephyr had no idea.
It had been a sinisterly-weaved construct, but not something he'd seen before. Delightfully simple, and yet without a doubt dangerous in one way or another.
Akasha might -- maybe -- have been able to lift whatever curse had been placed on this girl, but in the process, he would have to inflict a wound.
That wound could, in combination with the magic, very well be fatal from shock, if not on its own.
And even then, if that cloaked...
entity were to attack him?
As Lucifera continued wincing in pain, her skin additionally started now to melt, giving off a smell of roasted flesh. The humanoid figurine completely ignored Zephyr for now, instead, she seemed amused about Lucifera's struggle, giving off a light chuckle.
"Just surrender yourself, that fragile body does not match your strong mind."
Zephyr clenched his fists in frustration at his powerlessness. He had never been all that capable compared to those around him, but never before had his helplessness been so apparent as now.
As if I'm just going to stand here and be useless.
He took a deep breath, and did the only thing he thought of that could have been of any use.
"You! Lady in the black! Why did you do that?" he demanded.
The cries of pain were now replaced by a simple whimpering and if the Silver One didn't know any better it was hard to think of this...thing...on the ground even as
human. The 'lady in black' now locked onto Zephyr, a moment of silence passed before she replied.
"Your time will come, Liberator. For now, I have no business with you."
"Don't even try that!" the Silver One hissed, refusing to be brushed off like nothing. "What are you?!"
Silently, though, he hoped that she would leave as quickly as possible. The sooner she left, the sooner he could try to neutralise… whatever was melting the fire mage. If he tried to act sooner, there was no telling what this woman would do to him for interfering.
"I am a necessity." With that said, even the whimpering and wincing stoped, and instead parts of her body now seemed to
grow as if a balloon was being inflated. The woman in black made a simple gesture with her hand in the air, paying Zephyr no more attention.
Necessity. Another word that Zephyr didn't know. A race? A title? A job?
Whatever it was, he'd had enough of sitting around asking questions. On the off-chance that the magic turning the mage to liquid was a distortion, he summoned Akasha in his hand in a flash of emerald light.
"That answers nothing," he declared, lightly sliding Akasha into the pooling flesh that was a girl not a few moments ago.
And then she burst.
The melted flesh and blood alike spurted into the air like a bursting water balloon, the contents of which had recently left the sanctuary of a kettle.
Boiling liquefied body splattered across Zephyr's armour, clothes, and his face, but he didn't react.
He just stood, mouth agape and eyes wide, staring at the spot where Lucifera had been falling to pieces not a second ago.
His mind was closed off from anything and everything else, desperately trying to process what had just occurred.
The word
necessity echoed in his ears as Akasha slipped from his grasp, falling to the ground with a clattering noise.
This time, it was on the
necessity to spend a time in wondering, as Zephyr pulled out Akasha, even having enough time to poke the pile of inflated flesh. When blood and human-y parts spilled all over the place, an apparent invisible shield made sure the woman wasn't getting hit. Nonetheless, it seemed the Silver One had induced her anger.
"YOU FOOL! WHAT did you do?!" Now, she pointed a finger at him and crackling could be heard.
"...I…" he breathed, but he could barely speak. His lungs couldn't fill, no matter how much he tried to breathe in. "...I only tried to save her…"
He raised a trembling hand to try wiping some of the liquid off of his face, but paused midway, deciding it was best to not. He swallowed a lump in his dry throat, trying to speak again, but couldn't get a single word out, and he remained completely still save for the shaking of his entire body, a faint rattling audible from his armour.
The crackling intensified, but then died down.
"It's not on I to decide over your life." With that said. The small parts, and blood, of Lucifera's body started to disassemble into shimmering light that slowly collected itself until it created a small purple globe that would easily fit four times in one's hand.
"And now I have to work with this…" The woman reached out for it.
Zephyr finally reacted. His hand moved like a bolt of lighting to clutch the violet, marble-like object, squeezing it tightly in his palm.
"No!" he cried abruptly, before lowering his voice to a whimper. "No… You can't take the last part of someone… Not like it's nothing…"
"You!..." The being now continued to speak words not understandable for the Silver One, but he could
feel that the woman wasn't amused in the least.
"Surrender her Soul to me...and I shall reward you with power." She tried to tempt him now, apparently she wasn't gonna going to use force.
"I don't know what you are... but... I won't let you take this last part of her... Not when you just did that to her…" Zephyr murmured shakily, ignoring the words he didn't understand. It wasn't inconceivable that he just outright wasn't listening. In reality, that was almost true; the words she spoke had no meaning to him. They were just sounds, insignificant next to what had just occurred. His hand just tightened around the soft violet orb, and his wide, hard eyes stared harshly, almost violently, in terror and anger.
"Fool. Great misfortune shall befall one who clings on relics long past. Do you want to end up like her?" With that said, a small blood red colored orb formed in her now outstretched open palm, bursting in the same fashion as Lucifera just moments ago.
Zephyr flinched hard enough that he slipped backward, falling over, but never once breaking his terrorised gaze.
"...Leave," he whispered harshly, his voice still trembling, his throat so tightly closed that little to no sound could escape it.
"Leave?" The figurine now seemed amused. Giving off a sadistic sound she wouldn't just stop here. This time the same blood red colored energy appeared, but bigger and in more detail: A omni-colored Lucifera was stretching out her hand towards Zephyr, giving him a warm smile and waiting for him to return what belonged to her.
Zephyr snapped.
He immediately grabbed the black spear on the ground beside him, throwing himself forward with it, and from his mouth spilled an unholy screech that did not belong in any world. The sound itself was as a glitch in nature, a noise that should not have been able to be produced by anything.
As Akasha pierced the phantasm of Lucifera, it burst again, spraying scarlet at the Silver One again.
He kept running through the spray of gore, shrieking at the top of his lungs.
"
[glow=silver]₺Э͝ᵹϷϮͰ[/glow]"
The shout echoed through the forest as his spear simply kept moving towards the cloaked figure in a futile, desperate attempt to remove this entity from existence.
As the spear hit the cloaked figure, it disappeared into a storm of shadows followed by a maniac laughter. All he heard now was her voice coming from everywhere.
"So shall it be Liberator, we will meet again."
The Silver One said nothing else. His few breaths were short and sharp, air rushing through teeth. Akasha slipped from his hand again, his knees buckling as if the weight of the events of the past few seconds had been placed upon his back. His shaking body was cold, but his pale forehead was covered by a heavy sheen of sweat.
A drop of something red fell from his face and onto a blade of grass, and Zephyr vomited.