As soon as that blue crystal crashed onto the floor, the tip of the crystal impacted the floor just right behind Mandy. Mandy immediately came sprinting at me as the rest of the crystal fell towards me. I quickly silently casted My earth spell, Tremor. Jagged pieces of the stone floor sputtered from the ground and moved their way towards Mandy. Soon as they got near him, the ground erupted, leveling the ground in front of him. Mandy then managed to jump over it, but it was just enough stalling for the large crystal as I aimed for this to happen. I aimed to my left side and casted a Wind spell, a gush of air came from my hand and launched me out of the danger zone of the falling crystal. I tumbled on the floor, but I quickly found my feet and got back up.
I watched as the large crystal fell, Causing the floor to quake as it now laid sideways. Debris and smoke rose from the fall and clouded the surrounding area.
Did I get him? I squinted my eyes to analyze the situation, But I couldn't see any movement. Damn, if only I was able to detect Mana. I shouldn't take any risk, even if I didn't detect him…he might still be there!
I planted my hands onto the stone floor, silently casting another spell I learned from the University…Or to be more specific, a spell that almost killed me before. Ice storm, an intermediate spell.
I imagined thousands of icicles shooting out right at the direction I was looking at. A magical blue circle formed above me, the air suddenly changed around me and it became a lot colder now. The sound of ice being formed crackled above me before it unleashed itself. A barrage of icicles shot out of the magical circle, hissing through the air and passing through the smoky clouds.
At this point, my main concern is how I'm going to handle Mandy's fast movement. If he was able to close the distance between us, then I need to think fast-No, Think of steps ahead. I could turn the floor into quicksand and maybe that'll give me the edge. I don't think this ice storm will do any good, if anything it's just giving out my position.
More and more icicles formed and shot out of its magical circle, it was practically a machine gun at this point with how many rounds I was shooting. But…there was still no sign of Mandy. Where was he?
"Kota!" I gazed to my right to look at Amelia, she was the one that yelled at me. But she was also pointing at something…something upwards. "Look out!"
I immediately looked up, amongst the dust and icy mist that formed around where the blue crystal was…Something shot out from the ground. A trail from the smoke and mist shot up and a figure was coming right at me, diving down with utter speed. It was Mandy, who held a wicked smile on their face as they started to maniacally laugh.
Shit, I didn't think he'd jump over to me! I was too focused on the ground!
"So, you're finally getting on with the hero act, huh?!" Mandy yelled, his Bo staff aimed right at me. I stopped all the things I was doing and dove away from his lunge. The pink haired boy crashed onto the floor, his Bo staff driving itself into the ground and cracking it. The sudden impact made a gust of wind that propelled me further than I expected, I found myself tumbling again on the floor.
As I laid on the floor, I heard Mandy speaking again. His Bo staff dragged along the floor to create a screeching noise. "You ain't gonna get that far with how you act. Put a little more effort into this, or else I'm just gonna kill those girls! Come on, I know what's in you, let it out!!"
As I slowly got to my feet, my hands trailed along the floor. I once again silently casted Tremor, the stone floor beneath me rumbled as I then flung my hand upwards to cast it. The floor beneath me cracked open and rocks sputtered from the ground, cracking the ground as they made their way towards Mandy. But Mandy saw this and prepared himself, he drove his Bo staff into the ground and attached himself to the upright staff. Once the tremor spell came towards him, the erupting floor blasted the pink haired boy into the air. He twirled in the air and managed to correct himself in the air, aiming himself right at me.
Mandy then raised his free hand in the air, a black substance began to form around his hand. Mandy held a wicked smile as the black substance began to form into the same black hands that held me down before. They waved in the air and moved like tendrils before the pink haired boy casted his spell, The hands rocketing their way to me with open palms.
"I'll entangle you in this, and I'll let you watch as I drain those two into a husk!" Mandy laughed. "I'll start with the young girl, just so I can watch the other cry!"
I don't have time to move, I wouldn't even be able to avoid this even if I Moved! Shit!
Ding
The sound of a bell hummed through the cave, one that reminded me of a bell church. But that wasn't the only noise being made, as once that bell sound stopped…a hissing noise came from where Amelia and Claire were.
As my gaze slowly turned to that direction, I saw a white glittering aura surrounding Claire…and someone standing next to her. Claire's bonds were seemingly burnt now and were no longer, her long blue hair fluttered around inside this aura. The strange being standing next to her looked similar…as if it was an adult version of Claire standing next to her. The figure wore a white adventurer outfit, a leather strap wrapped across her shoulder and chest. Her arms were stretched out as she was holding a longbow, an arrow notched into it that glitter with the same aura that surrounded them. The hissing noise emanated from the arrow as suddenly, The figure shot it.
A white aura exuded from the arrow as it traversed the opening, its speed at a ferocious one as Mandy didn't even seem to react to it as the arrow pierced through the black tendrils that darted towards me. The black hands dissipated and no longer existed, but it did something else as well.
"Urgh!?" Mandy made an audible groan of pain. The pink haired boy lurched in the air before falling to the stone floor with a thud, his hand holding his chest in a painful manner. "Agh! Fucking hell!" Mandy writhed in pain, curling into a fetal position.
What on earth just happened? I turned my gaze back to Amelia and Claire and looked at the white figure. Claire then spoke, with a much more aggressive tone.
"You aren't hurting my sister, Stay away!" Her demeanor seemingly shifted, like a switch activated in her. She stood right in front of Amelia, protecting her in a sense. The white figure that stood next to Claire whisked at the air, another arrow forming as it did. It quickly grabbed it and aimed at Mandy once more. "I made a promise, and I'm going to hold it! Even if it kills me!" And then, Claire raised her arm. The bracelet she had on her arm glowing a white aura. Was Claire…Commanding this figure?
Then the figure next to her shot the arrow once more, wind trailing behind it as it intended to make this the last hit.
However, Mandy swiftly brought his Bo staff up. By the look on his eyes, it seemed he was…Excited? Blood seemed to be coming from his nose as his smile grew into a large wicked grin.
The Bo staff was able to Deflect the Magical Arrow and redirect it towards the ceiling. The absolute strength of that arrow was now evident as once it crashed into the ceiling, a loud crackling noise erupted from above and shook the whole area we were in. Rock and dust began to fall from the ceiling, the blue crystals that lined the ceiling also shook and shattered. Pieces of blue crystal fluttered to the ground as Mandy stood up, placing the Bo staff on his shoulder and looked at Claire with fierce determination.
"I get it…I get why she wanted me to take you. To nourish me!" Mandy sounded maddened when he spoke. "It's whatever is inside you! Whoever your family managed to get mixed up with is a problem for her!" He then clutched his chest, squeezing at the black spandex like clothing he had. "That arrow you had shot at me, some was different. You managed to actually hurt me." He began to laugh. "Haha…What other secrets do you have?! There gotta be another reason besides being another food for me!)
Claire looked at Mandy with a serious expression, her right arm strained as she held her hand up. It was likely that having this figure summoned was taxing her, and Mandy saw that. The pink haired boy grinned.
"You can't hold that summon for long, can you?" Mandy snickered, lifting his Bo staff. The pink haired boy readied himself, even as his nose bled. "You don't use it often, I bet it's exhausting that man of yours as we speak. I can wait it out."
As Mandy was talking, I took this time to enact a sneak attack. His focus was on Claire, his vision on me was obscured by the falling blue crystal pieces. I could probably bait him with quicksand and then hit him with dry ice, I should be able to at least freeze his arm or something! I silently casted Dry ice, ignoring the coldness and pain that came with it. A white ball formed in front of my hand, frost forming around my palm. I could hit him right now!
I then shot the white ball, kneeling down as I then silently casted Quicksand. The floor beneath Mandy turned muddy, which caught his attention.
"Ohoho! Trying to keep me stuck? I didn't expect you to pull a sneaky on me, Kota!" Mandy laughed, he dug his bo staff into the floor and launched himself into the air. But that didn't matter as I predicted he would do that, My dry ice spell was aimed higher. The pink haired boy only noticed too late as the white ball collided with the left side of him, spreading around.
"Kota?" Claire noticed me. She was ready to fight Mandy as the figure next to her was already aiming another arrow at Mandy.
I began to run towards her, pointing at her. "I have several questions! But right now, we need to kill Mandy before he kills you!" As I got closer to her, I felt an odd sense of warmth from her. Maybe it was the Figure that stood next to her? It was an odd feeling…Like something brimming with life. I quickly brushed it off as I then heard Mandy laughing once more.
The blue crystal that was falling slowed down, Small crystal laid across the large opening as I noticed Mandy was holding his left arm. It was frozen solid. The pink haired boy looked at me with his cold blue eyes. "Haha…You got me. Didn't expect myself to be hit by something like that. But…" He licked his lips. "You're becoming a real pain in the ass. I'm starting to think I should've killed you back in that cave. No point in absorbing that mana of yours…It's not my taste."
"Tsk, fuck off." I blatantly said, staring at him. "I'm not letting you get to either of them." I took a protective position. "I'm not letting Arael have her way…"
"Arael?" I heard Amelia say, confused. I can't be blurting things out like that…But I really can't let her do this, these are my friends. Also, I swore I saw the figure next to Claire tilt its head to me….Can it understand people?
"I'm done chit chatting." As he said that, Mandy began to unwrap the bandages that were wrapped around his hands. His mouth formed into a malicious smile as the bandages fell to the floor, I could see from this distance that his hands had reddening scars on them. "Keeping Arael waiting would be a mistake on my side now…It's time that I finished my task." His left arm twitched, a gross crackling noise came from his arm as it…Fell off. His arm looked like it was shedding, revealing a new blackened arm. This new arm of his shook the old one off, letting fall to the stone floor with a wet and squishy noise before slowly dissipating. Mandy stared at his new arm, unfazed by it. "Man, it's so nice shedding into a new skin. Feels so good. It's been awhile since I've done this."
His new left arm looks exactly like those black tendrils he used before, Though now they've taken the form of his arm. What's with this guy? He can do necromancy and summon monsters, but I haven't seen him do that yet? Maybe he needs bodies around for that…wait, can he use necromancy on himself? His arm began to dissipate, which means mana was used on it…
This…That body isn't Mandy's, He's gotta be using it as a body to use. He said he's lived a long time, and that body surely shouldn't look like that after all these years.
I'm getting a bad feeling from all this…
Before he could say anything else, the figure next to Claire shot its arrow. Claire stifled a groan and buckled as it did it. The arrow flew through the air and almost hit Mandy, But he quickly deflected it downward with his Bo staff. The arrow exploded under him, obscuring our view of him.
"Kota…I don't have much time left with this summon." Claire gasped. Her breath heavy as she slowly sank to the ground. I kept my eyes on the field for Mandy, but I felt a sense of panic when she said that.
"Are you alright?"
"I rarely use spirit summon, It's taxing…"
"Big sis!" Amelia shouted, panic filled her voice. "He's next to Kota!" Claire turned to me, surprised and wide eyed.
The sound of steps echoed to my right as I turned to face it. But it was too late as Mandy was already here, swinging his Bo staff at the upper body of mine. I felt a sharp pain course through me as his Bo staff hit my left side, sending me flying across the opening. Blue shards from the crystal flew through the air as I rolled and crashed onto the floor, now away from Claire and Amelia. But I didn't let this stop me, I immediately pressed my hand against the floor. Ignoring the pain enveloping my body, I silently casted a earth spell. A wall erected itself between Mandy and Claire, it was a thick wall that was about two meters of pure stone. Mandy was already lunging at Claire, completely ignoring Amelia and focused on the bigger threat. When the wall erected itself, Mandy pulled his Bo staff back and readied a thrust. Claire backed away from the wall, The figure next to her raising its arm.
Mandy punctured the wall, even with the amount of thickness it had. His Bo staff went right through as he laughed. "Haha! You ain't stopping me-Woah!"
His sentence was cut short as Claire's figure casted a wind spell. It was similar to Amelia's own spell, something that she noticed. The burst of the wind decimated the thick wall, pushing Mandy back and sending him Flying through the air.
I don't know what the hell that figure is…But it's strong. I don't recall Tera or the university teaching about spirit summons that worked like that, The occasional summoning circles come to mind. But this…I wasn't sure.
Mandy flung towards the wall with the slope, hitting it with a hard thud. An audible "gah" echoed through the cave as he fell down, landing into the pool of water. He laid motionless in the water.
As I watched him, I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming amount of pain coursing through my left side. I've been ignoring it due to the adrenaline. It stung and burned, forcing me to my knees as I buckled from it. "Gah! Hrngh…"
"B-bouane!" I heard Amelia shout. The young blue haired girl was still tied. But she yelled at the maid. The maid herself was hiding behind a piece of blue crystal that fell close to her, her face showed no sign of expression yet she moved her way towards the other two girls. However, I noticed Claire was panting heavily. Her stance was weak, almost as if she was ready to fall. The figure next to her looked at her, it didn't have a face…yet its body language showed concern.
Besides the girls…I was in bad shape. I needed to cast a healing spell on myself before anything else happened. I placed my right arm on my left side and began to chant.
"Oh great…Nebus, Lend me the strength-." I started my chant, but was interrupted by another laugh…I peered up to see Mandy standing, wet and staring at me.
"I got it figured out. I know what that girl has." Mandy pointed at his head. "I should've figured it out when I saw it." Mandy had a large gash on his face that was slowly consumed by the black liquid he had, parts of his face now a black color.
I tried to get up as Mandy walked towards me, but found myself struggling to. Mandy continued on. "A spirit brimming with life and cleansing the corrupted…like Nebus. And those girls are somewhat of a descendant of them. I guess Arael wanted to really cease their existence here. And now that I've dealt with them? Yeah, I don't blame her."
What? The name he called was literally the one I was going to use to cast my healing spell. Nebus was the goddess of life, the opposite of Arael…Wait.
I glanced at Claire and Amelia, the sudden realization hitting me now.
Mandy turned his head to Claire and Amelia as he walked to me, his Bo stag in hand. "Is my guess correct? The two of you come from the family that have Nebus's blood in them?"
Claire stared Mandy down, gritting her teeth. Amelia looked at her, dumbfounded by all of this. But with Claire's long silence, Amelia realized that Mandy was right.
Mandy grinned as it looked like his answer was right. "Claire Nebus, and Amelia Nebus. Practically my polar opposite. You keep spirits alive while I corrupt them, ain't that some weird shit." Mandy made his way to me, crouching in front of me. "Makes me more excited about killing them."
"But…" Mandy took a glance at me. "Gotta get rid of the thorn before I pick the flower!" He then stood up, raising his Bo staff at me. "It's a shame I didn't kill you after I let you see me kill them. But whatever, It doesn't matter to me now." He looked down at me. Speaking at a much lower voice."We could've done a lot more if you just stuck to Arael's guidance!"
Mandy then slammed his Bo staff down on me. My eyes closing as I braced for the impact.
…
The sound of rushing water splashed louder, it sounds like…someone was running towards us? Was it Claire? Amelia? Whatever it was, it was coming fast.
"Oh, what the h-." I heard Mandy speak before a loud slam echoed through the cave. A sudden burst of heat emanated in front me as I heard crashing and some of the blue crystal breaking. My eyes opened, seeing what had happened.
In front of me, a burst of air hit me as someone seemingly came out of nowhere and punched Mandy. I couldn't even register what it was. A crackling punch that seemed ready to shake the opening we were in, sending Mandy reeling in the air.
It was Lilith, floating in the air as I looked at her. The silver haired girl's left eye glowed with a fierce red color. Her left arm outstretched as she used it to punch Mandy, her arm had a fiery glow to it as scales were forming on it. It was like when fought that monster back at Amelia's second home. She had her eyes set on Mandy momentarily, before looking down at me. She landed where Mandy used to be, her leather boots laced with a black liquid. In fact, all of her clothes were matted with this black liquid texture. In her other hand, she held my staff.
"L-Lilith?!" I blurted out, surprised. I then felt another sharp pain go along my left side, I clutched it before Lilith picked me up with her right arm.
…Holy shit, she is lifting me with one arm. She hauled on onto her shoulder, gripping me as suddenly she turned to Claire and Amelia. I couldn't see their reactions. In fact, I couldn't see a damn thing as Lilith blitzed her way towards them. The blurry stone floor was all I could see before we suddenly stopped, I could see the rubble of my stone wall I made just next to Lilith's feet.
"Can you watch him?" Lilith asked Claire and Amelia, she then leaned down and dropped me on the stone floor along with my staff. Another shot of pain coursed through me as I fell. "Sorry…" I heard her say with some concern.
"Ow." I mumbled, looking up towards her. "How'd you even find us?"
"Kale and I heard loud noises coming from one of the opened sides of the sewers, And I knew that had to be you." Lilith explained, she looked around the opening and saw the rubble surrounding us. "Looks like I was right to follow the noises." She turned back to me and bent down, her hands rested her knees as she looked down at me. "Let me handle this."
"Mandy was trying to kill Claire and Amelia…" I said, and wincing at the pain. "He killed their dad too. It was all part of a plan on killing them to get their powers."
"Eh, powers?" Lilith looked up, staring at Claire. She stared at her for a while before noticing the white aura figure standing next to her. Lilith's eyes widened as she stood up, pointing at the figure with concern. "What is that?!"
"It…One of the spirits I summon." Claire weakly said, she looked tired. Her bracelet glowed a dim white glow as she looked at Lilith. "I only use it when absolutely necessary, and I can't even use it as much…"
The figure looked at Lilith, its head tilted. Lilith gave it a cautious look, her hand drifting to her black swords. However, it seemed the figure wanted no harm. Its head drifted to Amelia and Claire, as if waiting for their instructions..
"N-n-no! Lilith is good!" Amelia blurted out. "She's a friend!" The figure looked at her silently before nodding.
Lilith looked at the figure, eying it. "That thing was inside you?" She pointed at the figure with her left hand.
"Yes…It has a consciousness of its own. After all, it is someone's spirit." Claire explained. "But since it's attached to me, I need to give it instructions to enact things mentally."
"…Who's spirit do you summon?" Amelia asked, looking at her. Claire stiffened at the question for a moment.
"…someone down our family tree. I don't know who I summoned." Claire gave a vague answer. The figure next to her looked at her.
Amelia looked at her dissatisfaction in the answer. However her mind trailed a more important one. "Can someone untie me?"
"Oh." Lilith looked at her. "I can do that." Lilith then moved behind Amelia, Grabbing her back shortsword from its sheath. "Just hold still."
"I'm gonna heal that dumbo over there…" She looked at me, her eyes gazing past me momentarily. "…"
Claire noticed her look and looked at where she was looking at. "…Father." A sadness swept her voice.
Amelia continued to look at the body, much to my assumption. I was still lying on the ground. In pain. A lot of pain. However as soon as Lilith managed to free Amelia, the young blue haired girl came over to me. She placed her hand on my left side and tried to cast a healing spell.
"Oh great…Nebus, Lend me the strength to aid those in need. Protect the…weak and aid the strong. I ask that you give me the power to heal…" Amelia slowly chanted, her hand flowing a green aura. Her eyes widened as she realized she had done it right. The feeling of warmth and heat enveloped my side.
Amelia then turns for Lilith. "By the way, when did your arm start going on fire?" She looked at her left fiery arm.
"Hm?" Lilith looked down at her left arm. "Oh…guess you can say I awakened something to me, and now my dragon side is showing more."
"Why is everyone getting some weird power up?" Amelia groaned. She focused on me as she healed me "alright, hold still…"
The sound of rubble moving caught our attention. I was just healed enough to turn and look from the ground. My gaze looked at a figure crawling out of a hole made in the wall. They dragged themselves out of it, their Bo staff digging into the rocks as they finally emerged.
"Alright…what the fuck?" Mandy said, his angry gaze eyed Lilith. "How in the hell…did you get through my little monsters?" His tone was low and dark. "The whole cave was filled with them."
I heard Lilith moving forward, her leather boots crunching against the ground as she held her black sword in hand. She stood in front of us all, looking back at Mandy. Her left arm flaring a fiery aura.
"I slaughtered them. And now I'm going to do the same with you." Lilith spoke with confidence.
Mandy cackled, he looked fine from the punch Lilith gave him. His Bo staff scratched along the stone floor as he slowly walked. "Is that so?."
Lilith slowly began to walk as well, syncing her steps with his as she held her shortsword out. "you're gonna have to go through me. No one is touching Kota or my friends…" her words riddled with the heat of anger. Mandy caught this and smiled.
"Aw, how cute!" Mandy started to run, creating sparks on the floor with his Bo staff. "You're even a little different, Show me what you're capable of then!"
Lilith began to run as well, the rest of us watching as she did. The tension of the room intensified as Mandy and Lilith eyed each other, raising their weapons to attack.
The two met at the middle of the cave, Lilith swinging her blade at Mandy's body with a ferocious speed. Meanwhile Mandy was swinging his Bo staff at her body as well, the two weapons colliding with each other. The amount of force the two put into their swings sent shockwaves through the save, shattering the blue crystals around them and crushing the stone floor beneath them.
The two eyed each other, Lilith with her ferocious gaze as Mandy had a gaze of madness and excitement.
And then the two started their fight…