There was once a little girl.
Kind and beautiful, they called her. Azure of eyes and fair of skin, how gleaming she was despite her accursed sin.
"Offsprings of the Sun" her people were aptly named - Arai'i, in their mother tongue.
Their tale is still whispered under every shade, far away from daylight's embrace.
"Listen and learn," the Marai'i would sing to their young - of how a single child once sold her own.
For she longed and dreamed, yet had never known her place. In quest of greed, she had forfeited her grace. And at its tragic end, she had forgotten her goal.
"Study and grow," they would continue, weary of Fate's growl.
It was not a tune to repeat, as they had lost enough. But forever, they would remember.
The fable of the purest mind - who in its joy to bask in radiance, condemned everyone else to eternal darkness.
- Threnody of the Arai'i
Black was all they could see. The corrupted ichor encircled the entire settlement, oozing inky liquid as it split into tendrils, hands, and even ghastly faces. They forcibly pushed every Cochlinian towards the central square, dragging them like cattle for slaughter.
The duo arrived briefly before the darkened onslaught, mouth agape at the Devourer's might. That wasn't something regular spellcast was capable of doing.
"Aeden! Megi! We're here!" yelled a panicking Nihil, his barrier barely keeping him and Decima out of harm's way.
However, they weren't the only ones to notice their arrival. Like predators having spotted juicy prey, the monster's coils launched themselves at Aeden and his friend.
Megissa immediately reacted, her sported hand gleaming with a golden sheen.
"In Obice!" Yellow protection diverted the blackened flow in time, but she never was as skilled as Nihil in Sealing spells. It slowly got altered, weakening under the strain of such an attack. "I can't hold much longer." she managed to say, trying not to lose her focus.
She had already used much of her Mana in the earlier fight, and true to her spellcasting class, only possessed an average reserve.
'Damn it!' Aeden cursed his impotence, holding on to the unconscious Vita with his remaining arm. 'Should I really…? No, we can still battle through this. We're Numidean warriors; this is nothi-...' His train of thought was interrupted by the ensuing phenomenon.
The tidal wave of black liquid suddenly stopped its assault, frozen like an ethereal mirage. It gently orbited around a cocoon, from which the Mana flow was fiercest.
"What? What's happening?" They all seemed to hear, only then noticing the settlement's inhabitants, forcefully paralyzed against the stone ground.
Junia leisurely exited the creature's egg, a mocking smile adorning her wrinkled face. The nest collapsed behind and then, like an extension of hers, slithered under her pristine robe.
"I must say, it was quite the endeavor. Burying me below the Prius Woods…" she mused, her floral earrings tinkling with each sway of her head. "Hm, perhaps I must thank you for the effort. It does make an impressive tomb."
"If it pleased you that much, maybe you should've stayed there." Megissa's retort came quickly as she gently took Vita, putting her next to Nihil.
"Still protecting that child?" her sneer made Aeden's blood boil. "Cochlinia has been good to me; thus, I wasn't planning to take more lives than necessary."
Junia elegantly motioned towards the terrified villagers. "But you've forced my hand. I'm almost there… That power is within my reach. The child is the last piece. One single spellcaster is worth a thousand common humans. Give her to me, and I'll release them all. I only need her."
Aeden stepped forward, putting himself between his friends and the old woman.
"You won't take anyone, vile hag. I can't believe you've killed so many people for a goal so mundane. Power? You're putting an end to an entire culture for the sake of dullness."
"A Numidean dares to lecture me?" she spat, irritated by his remark. "Your entire civilization is based on individual might; you have no right to criticize me. As a Homunculus, you were built with innate faculties - you never had to work for it, nor curse its absence."
"Numidean philosophy preaches respect for strength in all its forms. Your twisted view cannot be compared to such wisdom." Megissa answered, her eyes flickering between each Cochilnian, searching for a way to save them.
"Huh," she raised an eyebrow, a bluish tint barely sparkling behind her black irises. "I thought you of all people would understand. Golden eyes, pristine white hair - traits shared by the accursed of Scaevola. People speak of your kind in disgust even in the Central Continent."
Megissa somehow flinched yet didn't want to back off. She replied:
"Why would I understand you?"
At that moment, Junia swept the air in front of her face as if unveiling it anew. Darkened fumes exited her eyes, canceling the spell hiding them. Her pitch-black gaze became pure azure, and instead of one pupil, she had two.
Those were the characteristics of the Arai'i, whose inborn talent made them unmatched in barrier conjuration.
"So you lied to us." Megissa braced herself, even though she had almost no Mana left.
"Why is it so shocking? Your friend lied and is still lying about his true abilities." she turned towards Aeden, her snow-white garments oozing inky liquid. "I do not pursue power simply for the sake of it. I suppose you're familiar with the Threnody of the Arai'i? About how our forever cursed ancestor damned us all? My people were kept as living cores, chained like objects in the bowels of Lichtenhimmel. We were fed like livestock and strung naked to power their domes. They treated us as less than humans, laughed at us when the rotting carcasses of our own made us sick, and burned our tongues when thirst forced us to beg for water."
Her Mana flow picked up, becoming more hostile by the second.
"So no, I do not care about power nor its meaning. For me, it's a tool for revenge. The only way for me to topple Lichtenhimmel and its loathsome king. I ask again, give me the child, and I will harm no one else. Once she's absorbed, I'll be able to transition into an imago. Then…"
"Wait, YOU will? It's been bothering me for a moment, but…" Megissa instantly activated her Mana Oculus, studying the older woman's body structure. "Aeden… I think she's fused with the Devourer."
"It'd be more accurate to say that IT devoured me. Once you know what you're doing, it's a child's task to overpower its remnant personalities and gain control."
"When did you do it?"
"Right before you buried me. It was the only way, after all. Keeping the Devourer under control, unfortunately, took quite a toll on my Mana reserves - which is why I could barely fight."
"Going to such lengths… You're mad." Megissa hissed, not noticing Aeden's expression.
He analyzed their situation, knowing very well that they had little chance of winning.
'If I give her Vita, everyone else will be safe. It'd mean breaking my Oath, but if it stops her from killing my friends.' he thought, barely stifling his indecisiveness. 'But I'm afraid. I won't be able to see Mother anymore - I'd disappoint her, make her sad. However, if I don't do it, I'd have to…"
Junia sighed before she elegantly raised her hand towards them. "I'm tired of speaking."
"All that talk about getting revenge and power being a simple tool. Admit it. You're just insane." Nihil suddenly walked out from behind his friends, eyes brimming with Mana. "Otherwise, what purpose would keeping us in Cochlinia achieve? We were only planning to spend a single day here and then go on."
The old hag furrowed her eyebrows.
"You got greedy and thought that absorbing Numideans would make you stronger, despite knowing very well that Vita was sufficient for you to reach the Imaginal form." his constant flow of power twirled his grey robe and long hair as he continued:
"Yet your dumbest decision was saying how blessed we were as Homunculi while not knowing anything about our struggles. For that - I, Nihil, will destroy you."
"You're too arrogant for a mere puppet. I've made my decision. I'll wipe you all out and erase this settlement from history!" her arm tensed, and the earth itself wept pure black, sending thousands of darkened tendrils from every direction towards them.
"Al Averro." He barely finished his chant as a wave of pristine blue Mana clashed against Junia's attack, sweeping everything in a series of localized explosions. "Don't phrase it as if you've never meant to do it from the beginning. The moment you exit Cochlinia, the link between your Devourer and the barrier will be canceled, effectively making it collapse. Everyone here would die from Mana poisoning. Deci!"
"ON IT!" Brazen as ever, Decima landed like a meteorite on their enemy, her muscular body glistening from the surge of power.
The effects of the Artist's spell had worn off entirely, meaning they could finally fight at full strength.
Her hands shone like two blue suns while closing on the old woman's throat, digging through her darkened defense like butter.
"Huh?!" She barely managed to utter before having to transform her body into inky ichor, slipping under the Homunculus assault while trying to gain more distance.
However, it wasn't going to be that easy. The woman followed her like a relentless predator, fists gorging themselves with Mana. A single hit was all it took to obliterate two-thirds of the central square, the released explosion ravaging everything in its path. "Al Optero!"
Body fuming from the impact, Junia tried to reconstruct herself on a crumbling building - only to be intercepted by a ray of destructive light. It tore her newly formed lower half as she crashed against bare stone, closely tailed by Decima.
She glimpsed at her maddened smile and could only shudder.
"What kind of monsters do they create in that damned land?!"
"Oh? I realize we haven't properly introduced ourselves yet. We are the latest masterpieces of the genius spellcaster and first amongst Numidea's spellcraftsmen, Archelaus." he sneered. "Let us give you a taste of Porsena's fighting style. Al Diruo." Another blue beam disintegrated her shoulder, yet she endlessly reformed, her corrupted ichor becoming more and more restless.
She quickly raised her hand, and a darkened blade erupted from her sleeve, decapitating Decima mid-attack. To Junia's surprise, the Homunculus' head sprouted back the next second, thrusting her strengthened fist through her skull. It imploded in blackened liquid, which solidified and tried to impale her opponent.
"Ul Secare." Nihil snapped his fingers, and numerous wind blades hacked at the tendrils. His sister instantly followed, hitting the ground with a fully charged kick. "Al Optero!" The ensuing explosion sent the old woman's intangible form flying in the air, exactly where the boy wanted.
"Your control over the Devourer is still unstable, shown by the fact that you haven't used any spellcast until now. Your victims and the creature itself are fighting against your hold. You were never meant to be absorbed, not this early. Your hastiness backfired, dear Junia."
Nihil swept the air with his hand in a graceful movement as Mana hardened around his target, conjuring a transparent, spherical prison the size of a human head. "In Phylaca." It compressed her, forcing her to stay shapeless while struggling inside.
"Good job, Nihil! Now-..." Aeden praised him, surprised by his effectiveness.
"Don't be hasty. This is only temporary." his tone was confident, but he visibly scuffled while maintaining the spell. "We can't guarantee everyone's safety right now. Just stay with Vita, forget the others."
"But-..." he was about to protest before getting interrupted.
"Please! Aeden! We can't save them all. It'll be a miracle if we manage to restrain her, don't forget that you and Megissa are unable to fight…" he grimaced from the strain. "She's growing stronger by the second. At some point, it'll become impossible to hold her. Our priority is to keep you alive - your Oath is the only reason why Vita is include-..?!"
A resounding boom shook the settlement as the Mana prison collapsed, releasing a literal wave of darkness.
It descended right towards Nihil, quickly gathering speed during its assault.
"Nihi-..!" Decima tried to intercept it, but pikes of darkened ichor momentarily pinned her to the ground.
"Ul Campe." He conjured a gust of wind under his feet at the last moment, launching himself out of the way.
Crashing against layers of stone, the darkened mass unnaturally bounced, following its prey with no delay. Black claws materialized from its sides, ready to eviscerate the young Homunculus.
"In Obice!" The spherical protection kept the attack at bay, but the impact sent him crashing onto a nearby wall. Pain shot through his limbs and dizziness began to settle, a relatively common strain due to Mana overuse. The metallic taste of blood emerged in his mouth, yet he wasn't going to abandon that quickly.
Nihil tried to channel another Destruction spell, but his enemy proved to be unrelenting. The blackened ichor morphed into an enormous maw, closing on the barrier and crushing it in a matter of seconds.
'Is this the end?' he thought in his panic, taking too much time to focus his Mana.
However, when the jagged teeth were about to lacerate him, a viridescent light blinded his surroundings, ramming into Junia from the sky.
Then he heard the chant, loud and powerful.
"Vis Millea!"