[Double length chapter (again!)]
"Incredible…" Darrel Bold looked on at everything, the incredible explosions of force and light, in sheer shock and awe. His face was pale, the King Class Aura that surrounded him flickering.
"M-men. Retreat through the door! We'll conquer the Trial with treasure next time!" Darrel boldly ordered his men to escape, wanting nothing to do with what was happening.
At the same time, he burned the image of the fierce warrior into his mind, a being named Dorian that shifted between different physical forms, bearing strength the likes of which he could not fathom.
Dorian had snuffed out the soul and presence of an ominous King Class creature, one that even Darrel felt threatened by, with what looked to Darrel like a casual touch. Bright light and energy had exploded out of the creature, and immediately after, its presence vanished, destroyed.
"Fall back! We'll meet my brother in the courtyard!" This was not the first time Darrel had been inside the Ascension Ruins, nor would it be the last if he had any say in it.
The older brother of their Mercenary Team was their leader and chief of intelligence. The news of a powerful King Class expert of Dorian's caliber was definitely bound to be worth a pretty penny to the various intelligence groups, both in and out of the Blue Moon Mercenary Alliance.
CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK
At that exact moment, a loud, shuddering creak shook the air. Warbling energy seemed to cascade about in the air itself, painfully echoing in Darrel's ears.
"Heavens above…" Darrel muttered, staring at the figure of Dorian as Darrel raced towards the Leaving Door. Dorian was still in his Ifrit form, hugging on to Helena.
"He actually is destroying the Ruins."
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
"Will…" Dorian smiled at the man, unable to hold back a grin.
"Good to see you again." He stroked Helena's head as he talked, still comforting her. She had gone through a lot of suffering in the past few weeks it seemed.
"Heyo, Dorian." Will rubbed his forehead, looking around in a confused manner. He looked down at his body, dressed in only a loose grey robe, and at his lightly glowing hands.
"What happened? My last memory is of me jumping in front of you to stop that rampaging Titan. I can vaguely recall being in a warm place, trying to hold back some fearsome darkness that felt dangerous…"
When Will had been connected to Dorian's soul, Will had been able to sense Yukeli's presence. Will's soul focused on Light and other things associated with it, and was naturally antithetical to Yukeli's darkness, both literally and figuratively. The two presences had interacted, with Will inadvertently helping shield Dorian from Yukeli's touch at times.
"A lot, buddy, quite a lot has happened." Dorian said, still smiling uncontrollably.
CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK
A warbling echo crashed, causing everyone there to freeze. Raw energy ran flush in the background, moving towards a dangerous crescendo.
"Is that normal?" Will looked around the treasure room, taking everything in as he adapted to being in his current body.
"Oh my. No, I don't think so. That can't be good." Dorian muttered, his eyes twitching.
WHOOSH
In the background, giant explosions echoed forth as several empty parts of the castle blew up, energy shaking the air itself.
"Crap. Let's get out of here. We'll finish talking later!" One could exit the Trial by walking away from the castle, back outside. Once you got far enough away, you would be automatically transported atop the Flame Empyrean Turtle. Dorian had learned this in the process of preparing for this journey.
"If we can reach the exit of this room, I can activate an Artifact that can help us all escape quickly!" Helena had recovered enough to get back to her normal state, wiping her face as she stood up. A powerful, commanding air rose about the beautiful Vampire as she stood up, giving Dorian a nod.
"Alright! Let's go! But first…" Dorian jogged over to a spot a few meters away.
Where a Spatial Ring lay in a lonely pile of ash.
He looked down at the pile, his face somber.
Arial's remains. When she had been absorbed by Veritas, her body had fallen away to ash. Her Soul Spell Matrix was long since gone. There was no chance he could bring her back.
Dorian picked up the Spatial Ring from the pile, carrying it gently. He used it to store Arial's remains, not leaving them behind. Inside it, he saw a large collection of what appeared to be vials of blood alongside several sets of clothes. He gave a quiet nod as he turned around, looking back at Helena and Will.
"Let's go!"
Trajan and Probus had finished their reunion as well, the duo grinning from ear to ear.
"So I was really dead?" Probus asked as he stood up, stretching his arms. He was dressed in his customary light armor, with a blade strapped to his back.
"Dead as that wagon of endangered Orange-Tailed Pigs that you accidentally destroyed back on Tintulo." Trajan said, a hint of his familiar humor coming back to him.
"Oi, those pigs had it coming."
"They literally did nothing but exist."
"They were orange."
"And?"
"I don't like that color."
The duo grumbled back and forth as they followed Helena and the others, their footsteps assured. Huge mountains of treasure still existed all around them, but neither of the Vampires batted an eye.
"Is everything alright?" Probus abruptly said, looking between Trajan and Helena. He could sense a certain distance there, as if the two weren't on friendly terms.
A deep, flash of red light glimmered in Trajan's eyes.
"Right, my friend… There is something I do need to tell you. It has to do with leaving the Aurelius Family and joining another group. It also has to do with the Ancestors and the ability to evolve our Bloodlines into something greater, into that of an Ancestral Vampire…"
WHOOSH
Dorian looked up at the ceiling, seeing faint dust particles drift downward. The entire castle was shaking, warbling back and forth in a confusing motion.
'Damn it.' He mentally swore. He still had several million points of Growth Energy resting in his soul. If he was given free time, he could Evolve several forms and then absorb more energy from the Main Treasure Depository, potentially finding tons of new forms.
Unfortunately, it seemed like Fate wasn't going to give him that opportunity.
In just a few moments, the group arrived at the Leaving Door. The other occupants in the treasure room had long since fled.
"Alright, everyone. As long as you aren't carrying any treasure from the room, you should be able to be transported through the door!" Dorian said aloud, turning back to look at Trajan and Probus. The duo nodded, listening attentively.
"I'll go first." Helena bravely stepped forward, laying her hand on the gold door.
WHOOSH
In an instant, her body was automatically teleported away, vanishing.
"Alright. Will, you want to go next?" Dorian said, turning to look at him. He clapped the man on the back, smiling uncontrollably. This had worked out perfectly.
"Sure." Will shrugged, rubbing his head again. He felt stuffy, his mind still trying to catch up. Everything around him felt different, even his body. It was like he had been viewing the world through a set of old, broken down glasses before, but was now viewing it through the latest, state-of-the-art perfect vision enhancers, able to see things he'd never seen before.
Without hesitating, though, Will stuck his hand out, resting it upon the Door of Leaving.
WHOOSH
He vanished as well.
"Alright, you two. I'll go on ahead. Just follow us by putting your hand on the door." Dorian turned to look at the duo, nodding at them.
"No problem, boss-man." Trajan replied.
Dorian put his hand on the door.
WHOOSH
The world around him seemed to stretch. Then he, himself, stretched as well, feeling energy wash over his body.
brrr
Dorian felt the slightest hint of resistance, trying to stop him from teleporting away.
He frowned at that, immediately pushing the full force of his will to smash it aside. That resistance instantly folded, crushed by his command. That must've been the main part of the Trial, Dorian realized as an afterthought. Since he hadn't taken any treasure from the room with him, he didn't have to deal with anything that was too difficult to move past.
After he smashed that aside, Dorian's body vanished from inside the Main Treasure Depository.
And reappeared in an extremely tense scene.
"That's the one, Scythe Master!" Darrel Bold's hands trembled in fear as he pointed at Dorian's Ifrit form.
The Main Treasure Depository opened up into a grand, but indoors, courtyard, covered with a long, arching stone roof. The ground was covered in a lush, red carpet, and several exquisite paintings hung on the wall, between glowing crystal torches.
Several figures currently stood, facing off against each other. Helena and Will stood looking at several other figures, their guard up.
"That one?" A rippling, fiery Late King Class Aura burst forth from a red haired man wearing a dark burgundy suit, wielding a long metal scythe. The air around this man seemed as if it was about to burst into flames, shivering with danger.
This man was standing next to a few other figures, one of whom Dorian recognized. The man with the chess-piece like hair,.
–
Species: Human
Class – King Class (Late)
Maximum Energy Level: 1,412,881
–
'Damn it! Why am I hitting all of this bad luck? Come on, Fate. Twist in MY favor!' Dorian swore as he saw the hostile, and extremely strong, King Class fighter.
"Yes, Scythe Master!" Darrel responded, backing up in fear as Dorian turned and gave him a glare.
"How dare you destroy the Ruins! Do you have any idea what you've done?! The Blazing King is not a figure you, or even I, can survive angering! I may very well die because of you!" Henry stalked forward, his voice filled with raw anger.
"Ho-hold on. I didn't destroy anything. This happened witho-" Dorian began trying to explain himself, holding his hands up.
BOOM
Before he could finish, however, the Scythe Master attacked, a rippling wave of fire shooting out of his metal scythe as he casually cut towards Dorian with it.
BOOM
Before the flames could reach Dorian, however, a shockwave burst into the air as Helena jumped to his defense, unleashing a powerful impact. Half the force of the Scythe Master's attack dissipated, falling to the wayside.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU HURT HIM!" Helena's eyes glowed as a unique, King Class Aura of her own broke forth.
"Hmph. You've only barely broken through, don't act like you can match up against me." Henry returned, his scythe whipping around to go on guard as Helena leapt at him, unleashing a flurry of blows.
Meanwhile, the broiling flames slammed into Dorian who had opted not to dodge, washing over his Ifrit body. The cutting impact from the attack had been blocked by Helena, leaving only the burning essence.
'Hot.' Dorian thought, feeling the flames rock against him. This fire was infused with the Law of Fire, containing the raw power of Law within it. Despite that, it was unable to hurt him. His Ifrit form was largely immune to most types of flames, save, perhaps, Dragonfire.
WHOOSH
Two more figures appeared in the courtyard, one after another. Trajan and Probus.
"Hup!" Helena grunted as she was blown backwards, her hands covered in small, bleeding cuts.
"Don't think you can escape, brats! It's my head at risk here, you're coming with me to see your fate whether you like it or not!" The Scythe Master was incensed, practically spitting as he raged at them. He was apparently fully convinced that they were responsible for the currently shaking Ascension Ruins.
Creeeeeeeeaak
Shudder
A second warbling echo rose through the air. This one, however, caused space itself to shudder. It was an incredibly unsettling experience, one that made Dorian feel as if he was about to throw up. His body felt like it was in several spots at once.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Explosions began to echo out, growing louder and louder as the Ascension Ruins began to literally explode. Several spots in the Ruins were protected, namely the places with ancient Law inheritances. But every other place began to detonate, collapsing in on itself.
Darrel Bold and the other onlookers had fled, retreating out of the castle as fast as possible.
"We need to go! Now!" Dorian yelled out loud. He could feel that the place they were standing in was about to explode. He immediately ran over towards Will, grabbing ahold of him. The human was looking about in confusion still, not yet used to being alive again.
"YOU AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE!" The enraged Scythe Master ignored the impending spatial destruction, dashing forward to attack once more.
BOOM
Another explosion, however, drove him temporarily off balance, causing him to come to a stop.
"Quickly! I can get us out of here with an Artifact!" Helena dodged backwards, landing down on the ground next to Dorian. As she turned to motion towards Trajan and Probus, however, she realized something.
The duo had already left.
"Huh?" She looked around in surprise. The two Vampires were well aware that Helena had an ancient Inheritance treasure that could be used for fleeing. Yet, they had opted to quietly leave on their own, separating themselves.
"No time, Helena! Activate it! Let's go!" Dorian yelled.
Around them, the air was starting to spark, raw bolts of energy flying. A melting smell spread as space itself began to fluctuate.
"Not on my watch." Henry muttered, throwing his own personal safety to the wind. If he didn't capture at least one of the perpetrators, Henry had no doubt the Blazing King would take his anger out on him.
"Molten Scythe Technique: Volcano Slash!" Henry cut down with his metal scythe, bringing it down as if it carried the weight of an entire volcano. A huge, brilliant slash of white light sailed forward, cutting through the air itself as it sailed towards Dorian. The slash was infused with a vast amount of mystic energy, carrying enough force to easily split a mountain, and moved at an incredibly fast pace.
'Perfect Body, activate!' Dorian activated his Perfect Body Ability just in time, feeling the world around him slow, color fading as his physique was vastly enhanced.
"Woah!" The attack crossed the distance between them in an instant. Before Helena could activate her Artifact, her hand just now grasping around the bracelet, Dorian forcibly pushed Will to the side.
WHOOSH
BOOM
An explosion of fiery energy sounded off behind them as the scythe attack left a huge, black scar on the extremely tough rocky ground, throwing up a storm of wind.
The attack had been aimed right towards Dorian and Will. By pushing Will to the side, Dorian managed to just barely dodge the attack. The attack had moved with such speed and force, it would've been impossible to react to without his Perfect Body Ability active.
"Escape!" Helena activated the Capitoline Wolf Bracelet in that instant, her eyes widening in shock as she saw the attack fly by and Dorian push Will away.
A small dot of grey light touched Helena's forehead, shooting from the bracelet at lightspeed. This dot then moved over, touching Dorian's forehead.
When it tried to move to touch Will's forehead, several meters away, however…
shudder
shudder
Shudder
Shudder
SHUDDER
SHUDDER
Space began to shudder over and over, making everyone there stop attacking as their molecules themselves were distorted. Dorian felt pain in his soul as his body vibrated.
At the same time, the dot of grey light fizzled out, unable to reach Will.
CRACK
A huge, energy full crack appeared in space, just a few meters in front of him.
'Oh dear.' Dorian stared at it.
The crack stared back, energy boiling within it. The sounds of explosions happening all around the castle made sense as Dorian saw this.
The energy in this crack had reached a huge, abnormally concentrated amount, containing enough explosive force that it should be able to obliterate even the abnormally tough stone that made up the Ascension Ruins.
Dorian, and everyone watching, knew for a fact that they had less than a second before it exploded.
He turned his head around, desperately looking at Will.
It was too late for him to move. The bracelet had already activated, energy swarming around him and Helena, starting to transport them away.
'No…' He had just saved Will… was he about to lose him all over again?
WHOOSH
"Ah yes, it seems like I made it in time." Dorian heard a voice echo out, a being talking extremely fast yet also slow, understandable in the split second that they had left.
A lithe, staff-wielding monkey landed on the ground next to Will, appearing from seemingly nowhere. The monkey had a large necklace of fist-sized beads wrapped around his neck and a friendly smile on his face.
"I got you." Sun Wukong smiled as he grabbed ahold of Will.
The monkey's eyes seemed to flash with knowledge as he turned and looked at Dorian, all in that accelerated split second.
He gave Dorian a friendly thumbs up.
As Sun Wukong grabbed ahold of Will, Will stared at the monkey in shock. Deep within Will's eyes, an alien darkness tried to stir. Darkness that was immediately forced down by the holy Light that was infused in Will's body.
"And I have you now too, Yukeli. You can't escape from me." Sun Wukong's eyes turned cold.
When Dorian had cleansed Veritas' body to resurrect Will, he had cast out the soul of Veritas, destroying it.
Unbeknownst to Dorian, however… there had been something left behind. Something he had been unable to wipe out, hidden from his eyes.
The remnants of Yukeli.
Every Anomaly had a piece of Yukeli merged with their soul. Dorian was able to destroy Veritas, but he couldn't destroy Yukeli's soul, not even when there was only a small shred of it remaining.
Through a twist of Fate, that remnant was still there, present on Will's new body.
But Will was not an Anomaly. His soul and Soul Spell Matrix could not Evolve. Therefore, the remnant was unable to merge or do much of anything to Will at all.
SHUDDER
Space fractured.
Will and Sun Wukong vanished.
Henry, the Scythe Master, retreated furiously, blood spurting out of his body as he threw up protective Artifact after Artifact, expending his every iota of Late King Class energy, trying to survive. He had stayed too long in his anger, something that might have gotten him killed.
Helena and Dorian vanished as well, the energy in Helena's Artifact warping them away.
However, as space fractured, the blip of energy that was Helena and Dorian being transported seemed to vibrate along fractured space.
And, instead of returning to the city of Tomo like Helena planned, their blip of energy shot off into fractured space.
And vanished, off and away to destinations unknown.
BOOM
Explosions of light and energy shook the air as the castle folded in on itself, destruction inherent. Everything within the confines of the castle was turned to dust, save for the stores of knowledge and Law inheritances that were previously locked away. These were transported, vanishing from the collapsing Ruins.
The Ascension Ruins, in all their dangerous glory, collapsed.
And were no more.
The space that held the Ruins began to collapse as well as all the participants that had managed to survive the castle's collapse escaped.
A black skinned monk looked on at all of this, his eyes somber.
"My apologies to those that died. I could not delay, not any further, and I doubt any of you would have listened to me." He sighed.
"Kaladin, I have done your will. The Ruins are destroyed, the Law inheritances sent to the Monastery." He bowed his head and walked away, his body vanishing into the fog as he exited the collapsing space,
"We must no longer hide such knowledge, but spread it freely… openly… for the End Times are upon us… The 30,000 Worlds must prepare…"
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
"That was it, my Prince! The beast that tried to slaughter us! You have fought with a great evil!" Jasper's voice was full of fervor as he spoke to Isaac.
Holy Prince Isaac frowned, rubbing his exhausted eyes as he looked around. They had just barely managed to escape the Ascension Ruins, a set of Ruins that had decided to explode for some reason. He'd lost track of Veritas and the creature he had fought.
He'd only barely managed to find his comrades, all of them miraculously having safely fled the Ruins. The Shades were all standing atop the enormous Flame Empyrean Turtle now, on its southern side.
"We should fall back for now, Holy Prince. Standing atop this huge beast is unsafe." Gerulf's gruff voice broke in, frowning as well.
tap tap
Before Isaac could respond, however, a light tapping noise rang out as a figure landed down on the ground near them.
A robed man giving off a powerful, dangerous Aura, carrying what appeared to be a wrapped up body on his shoulder. A body that was giving off an even more powerful Aura, one that made Isaac sit up, feeling a very real sense of danger.
"I believe you have someone that belongs to me." Mello's voice was smooth as it rolled off his Ancestral Vampire form's tongue,
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
"Are we really just retreating now?" Taemin sputtered as he looked at the Head of his Department in annoyance. His eyes were cold, anger and irritation filling him.
*HIC*
"Yes, yes we are." Jiro cheerfully responded, his eyes unwavering as they jumped from rock to rock, several miles away from the towering Flame Empyrean Turtle in the background.
"It's that or we fight the Almighty Ruler of the Graal Alliance." Jiro shrugged,
"Besides, that monkey shared some information that must be reported immediately, information that Telmon would want to know." Jiro's eyes flashed as he turned to look back at the huge turtle briefly.
"Interesting information indeed…"
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Aiden took several deep breaths as he rested atop a collection of boulders not far from the Flame Empyrean Turtle, his eyes cold with anger.
"How dare that creature desecrate her body! We will find him and destroy him immediately!" Aiden sputtered with rage, a majestic King Class Aura rippling off his body as he cursed at Mello.
Standing next to him was a silently concentrating Mira, looking intently at a large, jade-colored scale that had hundreds of intricate patterns carved into it. It fit snugly into the palm of her hand. The Communication Scale Artifact, a mystical object that allowed for snippets of information to be transported across worlds, that she had used before.
"Aiden, I've received word from the Tribe." Mira's voice sounded off to Aiden, as if full of shock and horror.
Aiden paused in his rant as he turned to look at Mira, a confused expression on his face as he heard the odd tone she spoke with.
"What of it? We can't go back now, not when we found Lady Ausra's corpse. We must bring it back with us to put her to rest proper-"
"Aiden. We must return." Mira's hands trembled as she spoke, her entire body shaking.
Aiden immediately jumped forward, grabbing ahold of her and supporting her.
"Mira?! What is it?!" His heart dropped as he spoke, feeling a sense of foreboding rise.
"It's the Heavy Wing Tribe." Her voice was a whisper.
"Yes?! What of it? Is their Dragon Master alright?" Aiden could faintly remember Mira telling him that one of the Heavy Wing Tribe headquarters had been attacked by some gigantic Lion-type beast.
The Heavy Wing Tribe was one of the 12 Draconic Tribes, a massive, powerful force within the Tribes that had hundreds of Dragons in it, dozens at the King Class. The Dragon Master was a powerful, Pseudo-Angelic expert, one of the strongest Drakes in the entire 12 Tribes.
"They're dead."
"The Dragon Master has died?!" Aiden spurted, his eyes widening in shock.
"Not just him, Aiden." Mira said, her voice shuddering,
"All of them." She continued, tears falling from her eyes,
"The Heavy Wing Tribe has been wiped out."
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
"Ahh." A man with long white hair and a handsome, muscular appearance exhaled softly, looking down at his hands. He wore a vest of white pants that covered his lower half and nothing else, his thick, burly chest rippling with energy and strength. He had a strong jawline and a blocky nose, with a pair of golden eyes that carried with them such force of will that it seemed he could make reality itself follow his command with a single glance.
This man looked away from his hands, over to a huge pile of corpses off to his right. He was sitting on a wide, white-stone mountain peak, in the middle of a mostly destroyed mountain range. The signs of a huge battle could be seen all around him. Large holes that had blasted through several mountains, enormous gouges in the earth that went on for miles and miles. A fight of such scale it was unfathomable had taken place here, destroying dozens of miles of land.
"Your sacrifice will not be forgotten." The man spoke aloud as he stood up.
"Your bodies have fueled my merging with your Bloodline. My main form has grown stronger, far more defensive and tough. I've gained Abilities, like this convenient Humanoid Form." The man continued, stepping forward to look at one corpse in particular.
The remains of a huge, towering grey scaled dragon, with wings that looked as if they had a wingspan of 200 meters. A beast that, even now, with only bones left, gave off an Aura that caused the air to shiver.
"I am confident that if I were to face that fearsome Monkey again, he would not be able to blow me away and injure me again, not with such ease." The man smiled.
He frowned, however, as he remembered fighting against Sun Wukong, and the terrible force the monkey had held with such casual ease, not even the slightest sign of strain.
"But I will not go for him, not yet." The man's eyes narrowed as he turned to look in a specific direction.
"It is time for my brethren to join with me and increase my power. I will come for you when I am ready, monkey."
Zero nodded his head, the smile returning to his face.
"And I can sense one of my own among another of the Tribes. The Red Wing Tribe, yes?"
Zero took a step forward, turning to look back at the hundreds of Dragon corpses he had laid out, all around the mountain.
A veritable valley of death, great leviathans of the sky with shattered spines, proud majesty dashed to the base earth. A slaughter of an entire species, a species that had ruled with impunity.
The 12 Tribes were now 11.
"Be ready, my brothers and sisters. Prepare yourselves. Resist me with all of your might, grow as powerful as possible…" Zero muttered, walking to the edge of the peak,
"For I am coming for you."
.
.
.
The End of Book 5
– Stats –
Number of Chapters: 34 (Though also a bunch of double length chapters I'm counting as one each)
Word count: ~93,000 Words
Avg. Word/Chapter: ~2,740
Book 5 first chapter released: November 15th
Book 5 last chapter released: December 19th
Avg. Word/Day: ~2,740
Total Views – 7,982,000
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