"Ah shit."
Seventeen swiftly dodged the foot before it slammed on the floor. 'Thanks for the heads up.'
(Well. I was curious whether you can be squashed into a pancake. Too bad.)
'Oh, you dead bastard.'
Seventeen faced the huge statue. His fists ignited and he jumped. His eyes glowed as he activated magia vision.
He saw a network of magia lines originating from the throne and connected to certain spots in the statues. For the big ones, the spot was in the middle of the chest.
'An artificial magia core.', he thought.
The statue facing him swung its arm. Seventeen dodged it and landed on the arm. He then launched himself onto the statue's face and struck with his flaming fist.
The punch obliterated the statue's face and a shockwave spread across the room. There was a brief silence as everyone looked at him with shock.
The now headless statue reeled back. Seventeen grabbed its shoulder and swung himself at its chest and landed a powerful punch that shattered the stone as if it was glass.
He saw a big orb in the middle of the destroyed chest glowing with magia. He ripped it out of the statue and crushed it. The orb shattered into millions of tiny pieces.
The statue stopped moving on the spot.
Seventeen jumped off, {Fire Code: Wings of the Pheonix}.
He flew to the second statue and increased the intensity of the flames in his fist. He dodged its swings and punched the statue right where the magia core was.
He concentrated his power on that one spot and blew a clean hole, destroying the magia core and stopping the statue in place.
'Compared to Violet's stone giants, these guys are slow.', he thought as he turned to the third statue.
But before he could do anything, the entire statue was suddenly encased in thick ice which froze it in place. The statue's eyes still glowed blue but it was unable to take a single step forward.
"Told you I would steal your opponent.", Ruth landed beside him with a smug smile.
Seventeen grinned, "Not bad ice queen."
Alvin landed beside them, "Damn. You guys are really good."
Seventeen looked behind him. The youngsters were doing pretty well but he felt their magia getting weaker. 'We have to finish this quickly.", he thought.
He pointed at the throne, "Every statue and armor has a magia core in them which gets magia from the throne. We have to stop the magia flow to the cores."
"Yeah. But how?", Alvin asked.
Ruth's eyes lit up. She looked at Seventeen, "You think Code Cancel will work?"
Seventeen looked at her and nodded, "That sounds like a good idea."
He dashed towards the throne but suddenly two more giant statues emerged from below. The one which Ruth had frozen broke free of the ice. "Damnit."
Ruth and Alvin came beside him, "Go. We'll take care of these guys. Now we know how to shut them down.", Ruth said.
Alvin nodded, "I don't know what you will do but I have faith in your abilities.", he clenched his fist and the stone rubble formed a giant fist that smacked a giant statue right in the face.
It staggered backward and accidentally crushed some statues and armors. Fortunately, the students weren't harmed.
"Guys! Each statue and armor has something that resembles a magia core in them. Destroy them to stop the enemy!", Ruth called out.
"We already figured that out, Miss Ruth!", Arthur responded.
Seventeen chuckled, "Well. That was quick."
Ruth's face reddened and she proceeded to vent her frustrations on the giant statue facing her.
Seventeen dashed forward and jumped across the hole when another huge hand emerged from it.
"Oh, I'm getting sick of this.", Seventeen ignited his foot and kicked the hand while also launching himself in the air.
He landed in front of the throne. He activated his magia vision. The magia coming out of the throne was increasing. He bent his ring finger inwards and placed his palm on the throne.
He felt resistance from the throne, as it didn't want anyone but its king to touch it. Seventeen released some of his presence on it.
{Code Cancel}
He saw the magia from the throne diminish and disappear. Suddenly every statue and armor in the whole place complex stopped moving. The blue glow in their eyes disappeared and they stood lifeless again.
Seventeen sighed, "That was close."
He looked back. Two giant statues were encased in ice. Ruth was sitting at the base of one. Alvin was examining the statue that stopped in front of him.
Seventeen jumped across the hole. He saw Arthur sitting on the floor, exhausted. Many broken statues and armor lying around him.
Robin lay on the floor, panting and with his daggers beside him. Gray leaned on her polearm, mist still surrounding her.
Vesta, on the other hand, was sitting on a pile of broken statues and armor looking slightly less exhausted than the other three.
(That girl is scary. No wonder she's a top Shadow.)
She jumped off the pile and landed in front of Seventeen. "That was amazing, instructor Seventeen. You are a really powerful fire warlock.", she said excitedly.
"But why didn't you use your sword?", she asked.
Seventeen smiled, "Just for a change."
Vesta was impressed, "Damn. That's badass."
Seventeen nodded to Arthur, "Aren't you going to check on him?"
Vesta shrugged, "Arthur has faced worse situations. He'll be fine."
Seventeen chuckled, "You are amazing as well. It's hard to imagine Arthur getting in danger with you around."
Vesta laughed nervously, "Well. There was a time when an alpha Spark Wolf almost ate him when I accidentally fell asleep."
"What?"
"It's nothing.", she turned around, "It appears my job here is done for the time being.", she said and sank back into the shadows. Seventeen looked at the spot and walked towards Ruth
Seventeen sat beside her, "You were right. Code Cancel did work on the throne."
She smiled, "Told you so."
"How did you figure that out?"
"I can answer for that.", Alvin came up to them, "I just examined the throne. It was enchanted to act as the main core and distribute magia to every statue and armor in the palace. It's a really clever system."
"You were right about each statue and armor having a magia core but things are a bit different."
Alvin pointed at the smaller statues and armor, "They had an enchantment engraved in them that would act as a small core when magia is supplied and hence, making them move."
"But these guys.", he patted the toe of a giant statue, "They were too big for the enchantment. So big magia orbs were put in them to be their cores."
"This entire defense system was enchanted with one command: To protect the palace and throne.", Alvin gestured around him.
"I believe the will of the Mad King was imbibed into the throne.", he added. "Is that even possible?", Robin asked. He now sat up and had a confused expression on his face.
Seventeen nodded. "Indeed Robin. Magia is living energy with a will of its own. And one can instill their will on it or on an object with the help of magia. In the case of this throne. The Mad King Oserion used the enchantment to instill his will in it. It's truly remarkable."
"Damn.", Robin was impressed.
They all looked at the throne and imagined a time when the elven king sat on it and ruled his people.
"Alright then.", Seventeen stood up, "I believe that was enough exploring for today. How about we head back?"
"Great idea. I really need a good rest after we've been through.", Arthur stood up and sheathed his sword. Gray nodded in agreement and put her polearm back in her storage ring.
"You three were amazing back there. I believe you now know how strong you guys are.", Ruth said with a smile. Arthur and Robin grinned while Gray smiled shyly.
"Alrighty. Now, how do we go back?", Arthur asked. "Back the way we came. Duh.", Robin rolled his eyes.
Arthur raised a finger, "Well. About that.", he pointed at the corridor they previously came. It was fully crowded by statues and armors that stopped in their spots when the enchantment was stopped.
Seventeen scratched his head, "Well we can smash our way through."
"Absolutely not.", Ruth and Alvin said in unison. "We have already destroyed a lot of artifacts by now. We cannot destroy more.", Ruth said.
(I agree with her. You can't just destroy ancient artifacts.)
"Then how do you suggest we get out?", Seventeen raised his eyebrows at Ruth.
Alvin thought for a moment, "Well. Since this is an ancient palace. There could be a secret passage in this room that the king could use to escape if the place was under siege."
"That is a possibility. But how do we find it?", Ruth asked.
"I have an idea.", Seventeen said and closed his eyes. He sent out a small magia pulse around him and after a minute he opened his eyes, "The entrance to the passage is behind the throne."
Alvin checked behind the throne, "You're right. There is a secret door behind the throne. How did you figure that out?", he asked.
Seventeen smiled, "I used a magia pulse to find a hollow space. Since the passage was to be a secret and hidden place, there would be an enchantment that masked it from earth users who can sense with their attribute. Magia was a better alternative for that."
"That's interesting.", Alvin remarked. Soon he and Robin were pushing against the stone door. It swung open with a grinding noise and revealed a long and dark passage.
Alvin activated the light stone and looked behind at the group, "Well. Let's hope nothing attacks us in there."
"Please don't jinx us, Alvin.", Robin rolled his eyes.
Seventeen grinned, "Well. What else can go wrong?"
(Actually, a lot of things. For example, an earthquake that buries you all under tons of rock and earth.)
'Jeez Prime. Please stop it.', Seventeen thought.
Alvin looked back at the throne room before entering the passage, "Well. See you later.", he said and disappeared into the entrance. The others followed him.
Seventeen was the last one to leave the throne room. Before he entered the passage, his eyes fell on a statue whose broken head was looking in his direction. He suddenly saw a faint blue glint in its eyes.
He frowned. Was it leftover magia? Or was someone watching them? He took one last look at the empty throne of the Oserion Syrel, the Mad King.
He had a feeling that this was just the beginning of something.
He turned around and entered the passage. The eyes of the giant statues gazed upon the throne that remained empty for 3000 years.
*******
On an island far away from Arken, a young man closed his eyes as he leaned against the trunk of the tree he was sitting underneath.
His white hair that reached his nape lightly swayed in the breeze. he had a tall and slim figure with really fair skin, like snow. He wore a blue shirt and black pants underneath a white hooded cloak.
He opened his eyes which were as blue as pure magia and looked at the clear sky. He had been seeing the events that unfolded in the throne room of Oserion through the eyes of a statue.
The last thing he saw was the purple eyes of the android who was looking straight at him.
He smiled, "The wheels of destiny are starting to turn. Things will be interesting from now on.", he said, remembering those same purple eyes, "What do you think? Old friend."