Chapter 11
"I do not believe the situation is dire at the moment," Lux said. "The Alpha is clearly not among them, and if they were Betas, we would feel them. By necessity, they can only be Gammas or Deltas. Most likely they are Gammas as it would be foolish to send only five Deltas to confront us. The Alpha must believe they have a chance of winning. I am unsure of their abilities, so it is possible that the battles will be somewhat evenly matched. We are fortunate that they do not view Thaddaeus as a threat, they did not send a warrior to battle him."
Thaddaeus opened his mouth to correct the mild error of underestimating him, but he was willing to let it go this time since there were such dangerous enemies that demanded their focus.
"Have you decided on a plan, Tempestas? Is it time to loose all of my power?" Ignis asked with a smile.
Lux appeared amused at that comment, but he didn't correct him this time. "I am unconvinced that it will be necessary for you, Ignis. Ultimately, the thing we require is information about the Alpha, we do not need a battle. The plan will be to separate your opponent immediately. If you cannot get information without a battle, then you must destroy the crystal on their chest. It is unfortunate, but it is the only way. If they are not lost in darkness, then they will be much more agreeable."
Thaddaeus furrowed his eyebrows, "Why do Imperials have crystals?"
Solis looked over at Thaddaeus in surprise, "Oh, you are awake! I thought you had gone to sleep." The others giggled at Solis' silly sense of humor. "If you are awake then listen closely. The Imperials are actually very similar to the Damna. They both are empowered by the energy of nature. The ones who become Damna cannot control this power so the nature energy takes over. The imperials do not change physically except for the manifestation of a small crystal in their chests made of hardened nature energy. This allows them to control how they use the energy as well as possibly gain more in the future. If we destroy it then they will lose their accumulated nature energy much like the Damna when they are defeated."
"That sounds like great news," Thaddaeus said. "So, what would cause them to be lost in darkness?"
Solis patted him on the back. "That, my good son, is the unfortunate part. Unlike the Damna, the Imperials retain all of their memories. They remember the horrible things they did while under the corrupting influence of nature energy. Many of them cannot bear it, so they go into a coma-like state when their crystals are destroyed."
Thaddaeus nodded his head, "I see why that's bad now...and don't call me 'son'. It's creepy."
"So that is the plan," Lux announced, "Our primary goal is to gain information. We will choose our opponents here to avoid unfortunate matches. Solis, describe to me what details you have observed about the individual imperials."
As Solis relayed his observations to Lux, they matched them as well as they could to their own abilities and fighting styles. Then, Lux gave his orders to each member of the group including Thaddaeus. His orders were basically to just wait and observe until it was over. Lux did his best to convince him it would be a good learning experience, but Thaddaeus was pretty sure he just wanted him to hide.
The group continued their journey down the path that led them to their opponents. Eventually, they came to the edge of a small cliff that overlooked a wide valley. As they came to a stop and dismounted their risastor, they were able to see their opponents patiently awaiting them down below.
"Luna, when you witness my transportation strike, immediately push each one in a different direction. When you accomplish your goals, everyone meets back here." Lux gave his final order. "Everyone be cautious and fight with honor." Then, he hugged Telu and walked to the edge of the cliff. His entire body began to glow a vibrant blue and sparks were shooting off him in every direction. Suddenly, he was gone and they saw a horizontal lightning strike flash through the valley. Lux and the leader of the Gammas were nowhere in sight.
Luna followed orders as her hands were encompassed by a dark purple energy. She stretched her hands out in front of her causing a crater where the remaining four Gammas had been standing. They were each launched in different directions.
"Loyalty to the first," Ignis said. He held his arm up diagonally to Solis.
"Loyalty to the first," Solis responded meeting Ignis' arm with his own.
They both disappeared running off in the direction they saw their opponents go. Luna and Telu hugged one another and then followed suit. Soon Thaddaeus was standing alone on a cliff with the four risastor.
Oh great, he complained to himself, they left me here with these overgrown fluff balls. And Look! They all ran off where I can't even see them. Explain that one!
As Thaddaeus continued the rant in his mind, he carefully climbed down the edge of the cliff so he could go watch someone battle.
"Now which direction did Ignis go?" Thaddaeus asked himself aloud. "That's the fight I want to watch."
As He wandered around looking for Ignis he felt the temperature in the air behind him drop drastically. At first he just thought it was the weather, then he remembered the first day he met his new friends in the wilderness. He turned his head slightly in the vain hope that he was wrong. Much to his dismay, he was not wrong. Snow had begun to fall heavily behind him, and in the midst of the small snowstorm he could see the form of an ice Damnum making its way toward him. As it got closer he could feel its footsteps shake the ground.
"Of course, this many powerful people in one area. All of their energy together would be irresistible for the Damna. I can't believe I didn't think about this." Thaddaeus deduced the reason for his predicament. "That's alright Thaddaeus, you can do this. This is the moment we've been training for."
He untied the strap that held the sheathe on his back which contained Alexander. He readied himself for anything as he entered his sword stance. The Damnum held out its hands as two massive ice spears began forming. It quickly hurled one, then the other straight for its human opponent. Thaddaeus immediately struck left, then right which shattered the spears to dust.
"Wow, this thing really is powerful, and I bet my reaction time is several times faster than ever."
Feeling quite confident in himself, Thaddaeus made the decision to initiate his own attack. He lunged at his giant aggressor with a decisive downward swing which amputated its right arm. However, the beast reacted too fast for the warrior to prepare. As soon as it lost its right arm, the left executed a backhand attack which landed Thaddaeus on the ground. Surprised by the speed of the Damnum, he felt his mouth with his hand, and when he pulled it away it was covered in blood.
"I admit, that was a good one." He muttered as he struggled to climb to his knees.
Just then, He noticed the creature open its mouth slowly. It began firing countless ice crystals to rain down on his position. Fortunately for him, he had followed Solis' advice to perceive and gain intelligence on his enemy. He knew it was preparing for an attack, so just as it began firing ice crystals, he rolled forward toward its leg. Immediately exiting the roll he slashed off its left leg near the very top. Now, missing an arm and a leg, the monster was the one to find itself on the ground. Thaddaeus chose not to underestimate his opponent this time so he thrust Alexander straight into the chest of the fallen ice Damnum.
He sat victorious just a small distance from the monster. I've got to come up with a different story to tell Solis, he thought to himself. There's no way I can tell him that his advice saved my life. As Thaddaeus continued thinking about his victory, he felt the ground shake once more. He turned to see multiple Damna closing in on his location.