Ep 146. This ot Be Mere ce. (5)

  Pnting her hand onto the ground, Light carefully calcuted the area before exeg her spell.

  In response, a small patch of earth in the distance began to and twist, shifting into yers of sinking sands.

  The oblivious yeti that stomped its ast Chell’s walls immediately stepped into the magicked quid. Its crimson eyes fusedly stared at the foot that refused to lift itself, angrily shaking its leg to no avail.

  Soon after, Urgus leapt into the air with his axe, smming it into the rooted yeti’s head.

  Light drew a couple of heaving breaths as she watched the yeti fade to dust. Her vision was blurry from the excessive spell usage, and her mind seemed ever so distant.

  But every time her mind began to wander, a bellowing roar would jolt her awake.

  In the distance, aorrent of fire would raze the earth.

  Ilias had long thrown herself into the midst of the oning horde. The red dragon ractically on a rampage, doing everything she could to cull the vicious creatures as much as she could, easing the efforts of those behind her.

  Biting her lips, Light stumbled several times as she rose back from the ground. She desperately shook her head, trying to stay awake.

  But exhaustion wasn’t the only thing trying to take advantage of her mental toll.

  “e…! e with us!”

  “Ehehehehehe!”

  When two spirits attached themselves onto each of her legs, Light garnered every ounce of her strength to stand firm.

  Unfortunately, the exhausted half no longer had the energy to resist their pull. She could feel herself slowly being dragged along the phantoms’ pull.

  That is, until Urgus crashed down from above with a giant thud, smashing the ghosts beh his feet.

  “Are you alright?”

  “…Y, yeah. I’m okay.”

  “Rest if you heir numbers are dwindling; we hahis on our own.”

  At the chief warrior’s behest, Light briefly took a moment to s the area round them.

  Thousands of spirits were still about in the air, orchestrating what seemed like hell oh to haunt the living. Those who gave in to fear were almost immediately snuffed of life, and even those who’d once held firm were still faced with a horde of moo fight. And when their strength would wane from all the fighting, the cag phantoms would take advantage of their exhaustion t them off to Twelve-knows-where.

  But even in their despairing situation, a glint of hope was beginning to form.

  ‘There’s…less.’

  Sihe monster horde had first showed, Light had seen at least a thousand of these vicious creatures being sughtered by Ilias and Asarda’s warriors. But each time one would die, two more would take their pce; she’d thought their numbers infinite in the beginning.

  But now, after long, grueling hours, the endless horde was finally seeming to recede. Unlike before, the mohey’d kill were no longer being repced by more.

  To boot, even the haunting spirits seemed to decrease in he world was still flooded by them, but the deathly mists didn’t seem as thick, and the spirits that whisked the living away were far fewer than before.

  ‘Just a little more…’

  Gatherirength, Light stepped forward to stand by the chief warrior’s side.

  She couldn’t bear to colpse alone – especially not when Ilias was still fighting for everyone.

  ‘Just a little more. We’ll get through this.’

  And when they do, she’d go scold her teacher for all the mess he’d made.

  ? ? ?

  A drop of light rippled against the ground's surface.

  The possessed academic watched on with a horrified expression as he saw the light’s ripples evaporating the ground whole. He could swear they were standing on solid ground, ahe dragonlord’s spell seemed to treat it as if it were water.

  He had o raise his head. He could hear the droplets falling about him, drumming the ground with hideous sounds.

  When a drop finally mao find his shoulder, Felicir felt a pierg sesation through his body. The droplet instantly burhrough him like molten va; what followed after were feelings of sharp, weightless ice, rippling throughout the rest of his body to freeze him from i.

  Felicir’s first response was to shield himself from the deathly rain. He was quick to form a yer of bck around himself, preventing the drops of light from toug the possessed academic.

  However, it only took another drop for him to realize that the falling rain could not be barred by any magic.

  ‘…How? Even that cursed son wasn’t able to…!’

  As his shielding spell powerlessly eroded away, the Reaper grit his teeth in frustration and pain. Dozens of additional drops touched his feathered skin, burning holes and freezing the insides all the same.

  The Reaper then began to sh out at the swirling spirits with additional s.

  Shrieks of pain echoed about as the souls were once again dragged back to their captor. Each were used as food to restore the eroding monster, prolonging his life beh the unending rain.

  Serenis watched in indifference as Felicir struggled to survive, glowing blue eyes darting about rapidly.

  '...How much longer will this take? Perhaps I should...'

  “Looking for another escape?”

  The dragonlord's questioning voice immediately cut off the Reaper's thoughts.

  With a small sigh, Serenis dismissively flicked her hand in the air.

  At the dragonlord’s behest, the rain of lights immediately ceased; the droplets instead gathered into a single point, far above where she stood.

  From that singur point, a pilr of perfect brilliance pierced through the ing mists to smite the monster before her.

  “…Dragon…lord…!”

  “…”

  Gradually, the feathered silhouette began to fade within. The ray of light drowned out the b its midst, redug it to nothing.

  When the pilr finally dissipated, Serenis looked down towards the ground.

  She’d hoped to find nothing but a single mana shard on the ground.

  But instead, a molten hand was stig out of a ing bck pool, spttering against the ground beside it. The rest of the feathered body soon followed, climbing out of the bck liquid like a freshly summoned horror.

  Soon, a yer of eerie mist disappeared into the possessed academice agai the shio his gleaming blue eyes.

  “…”

  “…”

  A heavy silence fell betweewo as Serenis studied Felicir’s restored form.

  She’d seen others prevail against her spells in a myriad of ways. In that sense, perhaps Reaper’s prevalence was nothing to be surprised about.

  What did disturb her was the hell that was swirling around them – and how her oppo was using it to return to life, over and over and ain.

  “…Strange.”

  “Hm?”

  “You’ve lost your former body. A, somehow you appear even more attuo ‘death’ than you were before.”

  “Ha…haha.”

  The Reaper’s grin widened upon hearing Serenis’ observation. He opened his arms in a weling manner, as if to gloat about his newfound physical self.

  “Why, of course. This body was designed for my use.”

  Serenis’ eyes immediately thinned as she heard Felicir’s strange response.

  But instead of crifying, the Reaper withdrew his arms to gather mounds of pulsing bck mana into his cwed hand.

  Then, the spell was released in the form of dozens of razor bck arcs.

  The dragonlord’s eyes darted around the numerous bdes that were flying towards her general dire. A number of them weren’t even aimed at her properly; instead, they were aimed straight towards the backs of Asardans, struggling to fend off the horde of monsters and souls.

  Biting her lips, Serenis wove her hand in the air to instantly erect a barrier – but instead of a single yer to protect herself, it was a giant dome that prevehe Reaper’s spell from exiting its parameters.

  Meanwhile, Felicir feasted upon another wailing spirit, rest the mana he’d just used.

  “You were right, dragonlord. It wasn’t mere ce that I happeo find your friend in this distant nd. Even a fool could see the differeween your friend and a typical monster. No, this one – or as you call him, Karas – was created for a very specific purpose.”

  “…”

  “And of course, that purpose was to serve as my vessel during dire times.”

  With her expression twisting into a visible frown, Serenis gripped her open hand into a fist. The dome she’d erected began to rapidly shrink, trapping the feathered figure in mere moments.

  But in the instant her spell seemed to crush Felicir within, the possessed academiaged to rush a teleportation spell within the sliver of time, reappearing just beside where he would’ve been crushed to bits.

  “It’s in the name, really. They may be called monsters now, but they were once called ‘manaspawn’ for a reason.”

  “…”

  “Their birth is governed by mana – this you know already. But if so, whose divinity do you think could create them at will?”

  Typically, monsters were born from an excess of highly trated mana in the enviro.

  In other words, a monster’s birth was nothing more than a natural phenomenon. It was no different than a downpour of rain, or the reg tides of the o.

  However, on rare occasions – wheaiies would feel the need – they’d dictate suatural phenomena. They could make the sky rain at will or calm the waves at their discretion.

  Simirly, there was indeed a deity who could once create monsters at will.

  ‘Iris…’

  Serenis briefly closed her eyes, drawing upon the memories of the peculiar red-haired enforcer.

  A long time ago, the enforcer had e to Serenis in person to fess their identity. They’d admitted to their reluce to tinue as a member of the Twelve, and they’d been more than willing to py a role in facilitating ao her own brother’s rule.

  No matter how hard she tried, Serenis couldn’t possibly picture the same individual plotting their dreaded brother’s return.

  “…She’d never. If she had, she would’ve told me of it.”

  “You truly believe that she uood what she was doing?”

  “…”

  “Not at all. In fact, she was all for erasing the existenonsters altogether. She’d olerate ohat could cim thousands of lives a upon their souls.”

  “…Then, why…?”

  Beaming back at the fused dragon, the Reaper briefly spared a moment to clear his throat before tinuing in a harsh, dramatie from the past.

  “We thrive in the face of hardships. Without eo oppose as one, our bdes will once again point at each other. The existenonsters are a necessary evil, Felicis – and it’s your duty to make sure that mankind always has ao quer.”

  “…”

  “Given her reluce to design them herself, suggesting particur designs for her was a child’s py. This is but one of them.”

  The Reaper tapped his cwed, feathered hand against himself. His expression clearly expihat he saw n in his maniputive antics.

  And their beaming expression was the final straw in making something snap inside Serenis’ mind.

  “Now, don’t look at me like that. I didn’t lie to her, per se – I’d never lie to my dear sister. I merely-“

  This time, there were no forewarnings or telling movements from the dragonlord.

  In one instance, everything was as they should be.

  In the , the Reaper’s feathered figure were covered in starlit explosions from head to toe, rendering his body into powdered bits of dust. Sudden grunts of pain briefly filled the air, though they were quickly silenced by successive explosions of magic.

  Desperate, Felicir rushed to transform into the form of a bck liquid once more, attempting to slither away from the dragonlord’s array of magic. Additionally, dozens of translut s struck out from the pool to tto a nearby spirit, dragging them back towards their captor.

  But the instant he did so, several bolts of lightning struck the Reaper’s exact position from the skies to ie him.

  “…!”

  The liquid violently bubbled, and the captive spirits broke free as the s that ected them straio nothing. Pained cries grew clearer and clearer as Felciir’s spell began to lose its effect.

  Eventually, the burnt academic would powerlessly return to his inal, feathered form.

  Serenis slowly took a step forward thereafter. She began to approach her possessed friend, each step heavier tha.

  “…A useful spell. But you should know that it renders you vulnerable in other aspects.”

  No response was given.

  No response was expected.

  Eventually, the dragonlord stopped to stand before the professor on the ground. A pair of dreary eyes towered over Karas’ body, relud duty g within each of them.

  But the tter would soon triumph over the former.

  Serenis hovered her hand over Karas, emitting a soft, prismatic glow.

  ‘I suppose…I should apologize to Light.’

  When she’d sent the others away, the thought had always been at the back of her mind.

  And while she’d deferred for far too long, it was nigh time that she admitted it was the only option avaible.

  Even now, Serenis had faith that Karas meant no harm towards his student, or anyone in Chell for that matter. She still believed that were he to return, they could sort out their misuandings.

  ‘As…’

  Ideal outes are nothing more than a fantasy at times.