Felix's pov
I knew we were fucked before we even started fighting, the wind spirit or Ventus was definitely the strongest person here excluding the Don but I still made a rash error in judgement in thinking that we had to save our strenght for him. I had hoped to buy time for Kalen to come back so I asked that we all refrain from going full force from the beginning but before the fight was over I learned how wrong that was, the regular spirits proved more than our match, only thank to the previous injuries they suffered were we able to win but then the supposed weakest of the bunch displayed his overwhelming superiority to us all, if we had fought him together when at full strenght we still wouldn't have been able to beat him, it was only because he seemed to want to toy with us that we were able to last
"'Please tell me you have a plan"'
said Lucas through a telephatic link
"'I wanna hear it too"'
added Jesse
"'I'm all for some orders"'
said Desmond, I had none, I gripped dream staff so tightly my veins began to show but my face was a masknof calm
"wroing wroing"
the jewel on dream staff glowed with a dull light in my hands,it didn't speak but I could feel it, this weapon had a message for me
"trust me"
it said, a soul weapon was a weapon bounded to someone's existence, only those with a powerful soul could posses one, the strongest of them could use the excess of their masters souls to develop their own consciousness resulting in their powers to develop even further, dreamstaff wasn't at that level yet but it could still send simple messages and hold something of a conversation it was up to the master to earn their weapons trust and only then would it reveal the true power it possesed one of the powers I had managed to unlock from dream staff was the ability to absorb all types energy whether it be ki mana or life energy and it seems it had decided to reveal a new function to me, the information pertaining to this function instantly transmitted to my brain, I nearly stumbled back in shock, this move was crazy, but if we got it right we were sure to win the only problem was it needed power, a lot of power more than i had as a god class mage.
'Everyone I'm going to need your help'
"""Roger"""
I began to sphion energy from the surroundings, subtly so as not to attract attention but at the rate I was going it would take at least 3 hours before the skill was ready so I decided to do something drastic, Jesse had just been knocked out of the fight and placed at my feet she had probably expected me to start using healing magic on her but I decided to explain to her my plan to which she nodded grimly and said
"do it"
'thank you'
energy absorption could absorb all kinds of energy it paid no concern to the differing types and could even absorb them simultaneously that was why what I suggested to Jesse was so risky I had asked to use her mana reserves as fuel but one wrong move and I could drain her of her life force and shortening her life at best and turning her into a mummy at worst, luckily we avoided the latter, Lucas appeared and agreed to the same and with that we had even more energy but not nearly enough i decided to add to it using one of my safety precautions, Kalen had known about my soul weapon and whenever we had time he would unleash a technique at me using ki which the staff would absorb and transfer the energy back to me if i needed a boost in the middle of a fight, i could also release it if an enemy got too close for me to cast, even when he became a Don we still continued this tradition but this time he didn't hold back, in my staff was the full powered attack of a Don who wasn't holding back the powerful energy within it would be enough to kill or at least deliver a lethal wound on the opponents in front of us without them being able to block but that was only if I could hit them, I recalled how the spirit dashed across the field like he was untouchable there was no way I was hitting him and I knew the Don was faster my previous scheme was to finish up with the spirits and use this attack on the Don but if we all died now that plan would bust,
'dammit'
I couldn't help but muttering, the energy was still insufficient we could make due if we absorbed Desmonds mana but who would hold back the spirit
'fuck it'
I decided to be reckless and began to drain the spirits mana in half a second I was done unfortunately he was on me in that same amount of time but I cleared all my doubts and uttered the words
'BEGONE'
in a voice too holy and powerful to be my own a voice that carried the aura and majesty of a higher species one that could command the world to do it bidding haughty as it should be for haughtiness was a reward saved for those who were powerful, it was the voice of a dragon.
Dragons were the most powerful species in the world beings that on average stood well above even blade masters and god class mages that's not to say we couldn't beat them its just that you'd have to be some one really special in order to 1v1 them, fights against dragons were almost always numbers games, a large fully balanced party of high level bladmasters and 7th to 9th teir mages that were very well coordinated and with a lot of experience could kill one even easily but that only worked on dragons upto 3000 years of age beyond that we had the class of dragons that had surpased most of their race creatures treated as regional gods worshiped over the course of centuries and fully established their lore and power in countries regarded as continental superpowers they were elder dragons and they were only rivaled only by one type of being, a highly skilled Arcanum user or rather a Don but Don's aren't human, they're another thing entirely, the skill I used wasn't from an elder dragon it was from a being even beyond that, it was from what was probably the only being a Don had to fear in this world besides the spirit kings and the Don's association, it was from an ancient class dragon. The skill I used was called dragon tounge and it was the ability to rewrite the world so long as enough mana was used the level of rewrite is based on what was rewritten and this time in order to banish a high rank spirit I that had been summoned by a Don with my practically zero spirit affinity I needed to empty out my mana organ that of my friends and my soul weapon and even then I barely managed it.
Yet we were not saved, I dropped to my knees as blood gushed out of my mouth my insides were screaming in pain and a wave of light-headedness crashed into my consciousness but I didn't pass out, I couldn't, because something just as scary as an ancient dragon was standing a few metres from us and he was very angry, his bloodlust stirred my companions who were resting but that would do us little good I could feel it whether or not Kalen came back this man would kill us
"you BUGS"
he screamed as his aura gushed forth kicking up strong winds and terrifying all the creatures for thousands of square miles
"I'll end you in fact i won't even leave a trace of your existences"
the presence of a predator surrounded us, a beast so large that with one bite it could empty half a country, it was his Arcanum, there was no blocking or dodging this, all we could only wait for silent death
"Field BELLY OF THE BEAST"
as he spoke pitch black darkness surrounded us but my senses picked it up an endless cavern filled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth it was our doom
"begone edict of acid"
the room began to fill up with the corrosive liquid Desmond had placed himself in front of us probably thinking to block it but I knew the liquid in front of us would simply take him first and the rest of us not long after.
I didn't want to die, at least not yet, I wanted to smile more laugh more make more friends I wanted to propose to Shainne make our own family and grow old with it, I wanted to help my best friend I wanted to be of use to him and help him find happiness I was looked on as a disappointment growing up, the son of a reasonably wealthy business man but with 4 talented and greedy older brothers it was certain that there would be nothing for me to inherit, I didn't have their skill or their head start in life and I was definitely not favored by them for obvious reasons, at 8 I had already given up hope of ever accomplishing something in this life, that was when I met them, a bright blond girl and a dim black haired boy one looked at me with kindness and empthaty while the other taught me magic and gave me the power to move on it was obvious whom I appreciated more, he pulled me up, he gave me purpose and he made my laughter real, all I wanted to do was to be of use to him
'Kalen please'
I found myself saying
'when I die, don't cry for me'
he wouldn't hear it yet I continued
'don't feel bad, there was nothing you could have done anyway, it wasn't your fault'
Desmond had tried erecting a barrier but failed he was grunting due to the pain as his mana circuit was probably feeling the strain supporting such an attack with his injuries, Jesse would have looked defiant if not for the tears in her eyes while Lucas had a solem gaze as of he was ready for something he didn't really like, me? I was on my back gazing upward blankly no doubt with my injuries I definitely look pathetic
'you won't be able to handle it because that's just like you, a man who could only smile with his eyes and his heart so please don't let it break, for your own good, my friend, my brother, my Don, don't let it break for me'
the end was near and I had accepted it we shouldn't have hoped for a miracle in this fight yet we did regardless and this is where it led us to
"just to confirm does anyone regret this"
Desmond said in between grunts
'nope'
I fired back instantly
"nope"
said Lucas albeit more reserved
"a little"
said Jesse before she broke down in sobs
"good"
said Desmond as the last of his strenght gave way before he passed, as the mad rush of acid threatened to consume us I heard a sound, a sound like the tearing of fabric, the Don must have heard it as well because he turned towards the side only for his face to twist in shock, I craned my head with the last of my strenght only to see light, a tiny film of light was filtering through the walls of the cavern, in an instant a rush of power exploded from that direction and the wall was ripped apart the cavern disappeared almost instantly along with the acid that was about to kill us and at the point where the miracle happened stood a man, long silver hair and golden eyes a long sword in one hand and bottle or what I presumed to be gin in the other he looked around carefully with the eyes of someone both important and powerful before opening his mouth to say
"did any of you say Kalen"