Greyre, village of the Sons, reduced to ash. It was just a pile of burnt wooden planks and roasted bodies. " LORI!! " Noirre's voice echoed. He dashed through the town running towards his house.
Still standing at the villages gates was Sion, he didn't know what reaction should he be giving off. It was, pathetic in a way.. his life that is. He was a slave from his birth, used by West Alliance. He proceeded to save the people of Ravensborrow and escaped to the South. What did he achieve? A village, not even his own, got destroyed because of him. Maybe if he never got here they would continue to hunt down Sons, but would they still go that far to destroy a village full of innocent people? After all, this is just the aftermath of Sion trying to become something he isn't.
Step by step, he slowly walked into the village. He looked around the piles. He was absorbing the atmosphere.
" My fault. My fault. My fault.. "
Drained of energy from the battle, now drained psychically from Golden Emperor's punishment. His thoughts got distracted from a loud scream. He knew very well it was Noirre's, and he could only assume what he found. But no matter how hard he wanted, he couldn't speed up. He was still only making a step, by step, by step...
Nonetheless, it was inevitable that he would reach the house, as he did.
Upon reaching Lori's house, he found Noirre, kneeling down, holding what appeared to be Lori.
His face was severely burnt, his left eye and part of the face seemed to be slashed in a collision with some object. Several wooden and iron shards were punctured through him. He was lying in a pool of blood.
" Lori! Oh god... Wake up! Wake up! " he started shaking him, then suddenly stopped. He would lower his head to Lori's nose to try to hear if he was breathing, then all of a sudden proceed to gently slapping him. Not a moment passed by when he started looking at all directions, he was mumbling through tears. After running his now bloody hands through his own hair, he placed both of his hand on Lori's chest and started pushing for several moments.
Sion stood still, few meters away. Noirre was panicking, but that's not really what he was looking at. What caught his attention was Nemma. She stood from the opposite side of Lori and Noirre. She watched Sion too, with equal amount of tears in her eyes.
[ SOME TIME EARLIER ]
Bright light was followed by a shockwave that almost completely leveled all the houses. In an instant, it was safe to say over 90% of population vanished. Nemma opened her eyes to see herself pierced to a massive iron beam with her left arm missing. Just few meters away, Lori was pierced through tens of wooden pikes, they most likely flew from some fence nearby. He had a large wooden pike pierced right in the middle of his forehead. He was not moving.
The village was silent, occasional scream could be heard, but it was quickly silenced in moments after.
Nemma tried to push herself off the beam, but unsuccessfully. She just started bleeding more.
Just as she felt she would once again fall asleep, Lori's lifeless body started radiating strong energy. It felt as if it was pulsating. His body quickly got enveloped in powerful energy, far above what he showed so far. It spread around the entire village. Once it enveloped entirely of Greyre, it pulsated several times and then...
[ WOOSH ]
Nemma was standing next to the Lori, they were looking through the window.
She jumped back and places her hands on her stomach. No blood, no iron beam. She looked around swiftly and saw that, obviously, nothing happened. The house was as tidy as ever.
" W-what? " she mumbled.
" It's not over yet.. be steady. " Lori said while still looking through the window. Nemma returned back and looked towards the same point Lori was looking at, the sky. But before she could see anything, another massive, shockwave hit the house.
[ WOOOOOSH, CRASH ]
Only thing she heard before falling unconscious was the sound of her own bones breaking and getting crushed to dust.
...
And just as she falled asleep, she once again woke up to the sight of herself in a pool of blood. She was lying under some heavy wooden beams that crushed her body in half, she couldn't feel her legs. Her body was too numb to feel pain, it just tingled a bit. She didn't even have strength to push it off.
That's when she noticed Lori, or to say, his leg. He was crushed underneath a beam as well, but completely. Only thing left, was a leg.
Nemma closed her eyes, she didn't want to look at it. But she also tried controlling the creature inside of her. Her thoughts were disrupted by a pulse. Same pulsating feeling she felt moments ago, after the first shockwave.
She opened her eyes to Lori, once again standing next to her looking out the window. She gulped.
Lori swiftly exited the house and looked up. His fists were clenched; " He's here... ". Up in the air, a tiny, sparkling object could be seen. Nemma squint her eyes to see better. Hundreds of meters in the air above the village, levitated a man in golden armor. He raised his hand and his body acted as an epicenter for a massive shockwave that emerged and swallowed the village again.
....
She opened her eyes... Again, and again, and again.. She lost the count after 32nd shockwave. Her brain stopped recognizing when she was in pain and when was she back whole after Lori reseted the village. She would sometimes get healed back and continue screaming.
Lori was sweating. To restore village so many times, his energy was ridiculously exhausted. What time was it now? 50th? 60th? He didn't know either, but one thing was certain... he mustn't stop.
With his ability allowing him to restore everything he marked, in this case the entire village, back to the original form, he could withstand any attack, even if he died.
After all this time, he finally meets Golden Emperor again. He wasn't even thinking about letting this opportunity go by. He will stall. It will either lead to Golden Emperor falling back, or some Son returning after some time.
...
Shockwave 143 struck Greyre. A minute later it was restored. Lori wiped the sweat of his forehead and looked through the window once again.. and noticed something. Window had a crack in it. He looked better, and saw his own reflection.. his lip had a scar on it, he was bleeding.
His energy expenditure was too great, he no longer posseses enough energy to return everything perfectly back to the original. That meant that in near future, some people might be left dead. The moment arrived. After all this back and forth, Golden Emperor must've ran out of energy himself, at least partly. Just enough for Lori to use his trump card.
He exited the house and looked at Golden Emperor. He was prepared to use his ability again. This time, Lori raised his hand in the air too.
" My ability... reaches far beyond healing, Golden Emperor. " his blood was boiling from rage he felt.
[ WOOSH ]
Shockwave was released, but never reached the village.
" After... hundred and something attempts... I've finally did it.. " he lowered his hand. To Nemma, it almost appeared as if he was smiling.
" I have marked your ability. Meaning I can just return it to the point it was never released the moment you use it. " Lori fixed his clothes, moving all the dust on it; " You've turned me into who I am today. You will pay the consequences for that. "
Golden Emperor lowered his hand. He slowly started descending down. But Lori didn't wait, he leaped at him. From his blouse, he pulled out a small dagger with inscriptions on it.
' The Greed Fang '
?? Class Item
Golden Emperor creates a small orb of blue light in his hand and directed it towards Lori. As the attack approached him, he cut through it. The orb got completely absorbed into the dagger.
Inscriptions shined red and the dagger made a *click* sound.
" Here, you can have this back you bastard! " he swung the dagger which reflected equal amount of energy and concerted it into an energized slash.
Golden Emperor didn't flinch one bit, in fact, Lori felt clearly that all the energy from his slash was just absorbed instantly.
" Same ability as my dagger?! " his eye twitched as he switched his blade to other hand; " How about this then? " he tried to land a punch, but the man just caught his fist. Golden Emperor firmly squeezed and caused some bones to break in Lori's hand. He raised him up and thrashed him down towards the village.
" Agh-! " it was obvious that things like punches won't work. He'll need a powerful, powerful magic to even think about hurting him. The man in armor finally landed. He was standing next to Lori's broken body.
" I've-.... turned you-... in this-...? Consequences? " he asked almost mockingly. His golden glove reflected on the sunlight as he once again raised his hand toward Lori.
" The shockwave thing.. won't work. " energy started enveloping Lori again. In a fraction of a second, he was healed once more and immediately grabbed Golden Emperor's ankle; " I still have a way or two to take you down! ".
" First, let's see how you def-! "
His arm exploded. Golden Emperor was looking at him from above, and through his mask a disgusted voice spoke through heavy breathes; " Don't-... put your-... dirty-.. dirty-... dirty-.. weakling-.. hands on me. ". It appears Golden Emperor sent a surge of own energy through Lori's arm, causing it to explode from density and quantity.
" Your..!? Your energy is this refined? Still, this much? " Lori clenched his teeth. His arm swiftly healed, and he pushed himself up. Lori sensed Nemma nearby, but she wasn't alone. All the villagers were rilled up, obviously. They all experienced dying hundreds of times just now.
" This battle is pointless, for you at least. No matter how many attacks you release on me or the village, I will restore everything the way it was. "
~ Judging by my energy reserves, I'm good to use my ability few more times. My "untouchable" bluff won't work forever.
" I-... see-.. your energy-... "
" ... "
" Why-... don't you-... see mine-..? " his energy slowly started leaking out.
" Huh? "
[ WOOOOOSH]
Like an egg, Lori's body cracked apart, reduced to nothingness in an instant. The nearby houses were blasted away, as if another shockwave hit them. Greyre was essentially, completely leveled and erased by this man.
" Erased-.. to nothingness-... " he opened his arms wide and looked up; " ..to eradicate-.. all pitiful-.. pitiful-.. weaklings-.... What's-.. more-.. noble and-... and righteous-... than that?! ". He was enjoying himself.
" Why-... don't you-... stop all of this-... lay down-.. and die like dog-.. you are-... Lori. "
Out of nothingness, Lori's energy formed and formed a sphere around, now destroyed, Greyre. It pulsated few times before it flashed. Everything inside of it got restored.
" AAAAAAAHHH! " as Lori reappeared, he immediately felt pain running through his body. His arm didn't get restored. It was bleeding vast amounts of blood. Naturally, it would heal very fast as Lori's healing capabilities are extreme, but he want to preserve his energy to that extent, he didn't want to separate any on healing himself.
" You bastard! " Lori was exhausted. Evacuating the village would be pointless. This man can either track them all down if he wanted to, or just blow up enough area to take them all out. This is all he could do for them... or was it?
" Fine. " Lori said.
Golden Emperor flinched; " Huh? ".
Lori raised his hand at Golden Emperor; " I told you.. I still have ways to defeat you. "
~ Access his energy. You've marked him when he blocked you punch. Somewhere in his energy, must be a recorded moment.... Find a point in his life when his energy was depleted. He must've fought other Royals or SSS Class Monsters. After the battle, his energy must've been low, nearly empty. If I find that moment, I can return his energy back to that point, erase this massive difference between our strengths, and defeat him!
" Never-... " heavy breathes interrupted him.
Lori body was shaking.
" I have-.. never-... depleted-.. my energy. Not once-.. in my-.. life-.... have I ran out-... of it. " he started walking towards Lori.
He gulped. This man wasn't joking. His energy reserves are, gigantic, indescribable. Are all Royals like this? Even compared to Santiago, this is comically different. Not just quantity, but the quality too. He needs to expend way less energy for a magic of way higher caliber.
~ This man.. wasn't challenged in his life? His energy never went below, 60% or 65%.... it's ridiculous. If this is reality, then no matter how many Sons-...
His thoughts got disrupted by heavy breathes ringing in his ear. Golden Emperor was standing face to face with him, looking him in deep in the eyes.