PoV Valis
"Man, why did I agree on that stupid deal, I'm dying here while the others are having fun." said Diego while digging our hole.
"For the tenth time, shut up and keep digging." I responded while helping him dig, using my mana to carry away the soft sand.
"I don't get it; are we sure that we can trust his sixth sense?" He kept complaining.
"Valis, please don't get distracted; just focus on keeping the sand still." This time the one talking was Folarin.
It was all that God's fault. After all, he was the one who dropped us in the middle of a fucking desert.
We walked for days and nights in search of something—perhaps an oasis or a way out of this place—but we came up empty-handed. Then, Tsuitame started acting weird all of a sudden, claiming that there was something beneath the desert as well as proposing to split; three of us would go complete the tenth stage while the rest of us would dig up a hole in search of something.
'Not the best idea, but they've got two of the strongest members of our team, so there's not much to worry about at the very least.'
The positions in the hierarchy were obvious by now. At the top was Diego; he wasn't the strongest in terms of pure strength or magical powers, but his abilities were simply too overwhelming. At second place was Satsui; in terms of strength, he was second only to Forren, and his weird magical powers could easily counter mines; third was Forren; his immortality was just too big of a factor for me to even be able to beat him; I was probably ranked fourth; if I boosted my strength with my mana, I could easily beat up Tsuitame, and I had enough magical power to overwhelm him in a contest of pure magical powers; and lastly, there was Folarin. She was just too normal for a team like ours.
At the moment, Diego was digging along with Folarin while I was using my magic to keep the sand from filling the hole again. Then Diego came to a halt, staring at me strangely.
"Hey, don't start slacking now; we still have-" Folarin stopped as soon as she also looked my way.
So I did the most natural thing and turned around to check what was going on. What I saw was a huge sandstorm coming our way.
'Fuck! Really now? This?'
"I think this is the perfect time for you to show us your progress with magic." Said Diego while taking his shirt off and covering his head with it.
"How are you going to see if you're even digging well with that on your face?" Asked Folarin.
"Instincts." He responded while shoveling away the sand.
"How am I supposed to stop a fucking sandstorm? I know I'm powerful, but I'm not that powerful."
"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" He seemed pissed.
"But it's sand we're talking about, and at that speed, whatever wall I will build will get destroyed in an-"
"Then find a way."
'ThEn FiNd a WaY. So annoying.'
Of course I couldn't say that out loud, so I just rolled back my eyes and started gathering mana in the tips of my fingers, putting both hands on the ground. I started compressing the sand around me and creating sturdy walls around us.
"Valis?" Folarin was telling me to get closer to her.
"I'm not doing this because I don't trust you, but wouldn't you mind if I created another crystallized wall inside yours, just to be safe." she whispered in my ear.
"Do as you wish; I don't mind, and did you really need to whisper this to me?."
In the meantime, Diego was still shoveling sand away, and even with his eyes covered, he still seemed to know where the center of the hole was and where the sides were. He stopped to look around when Folarin started creating a dome of crystalized mana around us.
'Wait, let me test something.'
I started to fill the empty space between the walls and the dome using the sand beneath us, and he noticed it before I could even start moving the sand beneath us.
'So you can feel mana, huh? Nice to know.'
By the time I finished filling in the gaps in between the two walls, the sandstorm crashed against us. It felt like a massive wave had crushed against my little cube, and it was ripping apart the exterior part.
"What the-"
I had to stay still and concentrate on rebuilding the damage, but the constant stream of sand was making it an impossible challenge. It was constantly shredding my walls to pieces, so much so that the edges had already been destroyed. I maximized the output of mana to cover whatever remained in the sphere while also rebuilding the wall.
"Are you sure this is the only way?" Said Diego in the background.
I turned to look at who he was talking to. He was alone in a corner, far away from the rest of us.
"Okay then, Fury, come out." And a massive axe appeared in his hands.
'Wait, are you crazy?'
"Wait, what are you going to do with that?" Asked Folarin.
He raised his hands behind his back and stood still for a moment. His skin started to turn red as he started to emit more and more heat until he caught on fire directly. After that, he finally swung his weapon down to the ground.
The axe didn't do any damage to the solid sand beneath us, but after a couple of seconds, it started to emit light and became brighter and brighter; then the light disappeared, and some sort of explosion ensued, blowing away the solid rock that was beneath us.
"Reg! Keep them alive!" shouted Diego.
The last thing I managed to see was a blade flying straight towards my head.
Pov Diego
That was not the first time I had my body taken over by one of those weapons, and it probably won't be the last, but that doesn't change the fact that it was an extremely uncomfortable experience. Not being able to see but still feeling your body move on its own is not something I will ever get used to.
'This time they didn't even bother creating a pretty illusion for my eyes to see.'
When we fell into that underground river, they made sure I wouldn't let go of Reg's body. They went as far as using my ability to make sure I wouldn't pass out by crashing against the many walls of that place.
The river carried us to a waterfall, where we all fell to our doom—at least, that's what it would've been were it not for my incredible ability and Reg's amazing healing powers. The crash was strong enough to cause an instant reset, while the pain was enough to knock me out.
...
Dubir: I think we're done here, right?
Reg: Yeah, I think the only thing left is to wake him up.
Fury: No need, he's already conscious, though he seems a little off now.
'What happened.'
I was still blind, my body was not moving anymore, and I was laying down on some soft ground, completely drenched, with my hands still tightly gripped on Reg's pole.
'That's an awful way to put it, but I'm too tired to give a shit at the moment.'
Frey: We completed our duty, master.
Dubir: The girls are safe; we carried them to safety; we also took the time to recover your clothes so you wouldn't be naked once you finally opened your eyes; and lastly, we killed a bunch of small animals as food for you all.
…
Dubir: Diego?
'What?'
Fury: You have to respect your end of the deal.
'Okay, okay. I'm sorry I was rude to you all, and I promise I will rely on you more from now on.'
Fury: Demonstrate it.
'What.'
Dubir: You heard it right; prove to us you'll stop relying on other tools.
'How.'
Fury: Burn and break the shovel you just bought.'
Reg: Guys, I don't think that's necessary.
Frey: You're right, that would be a waste of money; you should gift it to one of your servants.
'Servants?'
Fury: How can we be sure he'll never use it again if that thing is still intact?
'Guys I don't think we should-'
Dubir: I know it's weird to admit it, but this time I agree with Fury. We cannot be sure he'll keep his word if temptation is always near.
'There's no way in this life I will ever waste 250 coins like that; that's a month's worth of-'
Dubir: A month's worth of nothing; you alone were probably strong enough to complete the first ten stages alone, yet here you are four months later, almost last.
'It's not like food and water fall from the sky, you know, plus I've been training-'
Dubir: Don't change the subject. Now choose: either keep the shovel and forget to ever use our abilities again, or destroy it and don't ever use anything other than us for the rest of your life.
'I've already promised you that I won't use other objects.'
Seith: You didn't, technically.
The argument lasted for a long time, and when I finally reopened my eyes, the shovel was set on fire, with the metal part being completely wrecked.
'Well, that didn't last long.'
The area around us was weird; somehow that underground lair had light, and as I looked up, I noticed some rather massive mushrooms covering the skies; their caps were literally sustaining a desert above them.
Then I lowered my gaze.
What was emitting light was some sort of mold that was present almost everywhere. It was blue for some reason, and it kept emitting a faint light. For some reason, the grass was also blue, and there were many black chunks of strange crystals on the ground, as well as many flowers, most of which were red or pink.
As I kept looking around, I saw the waterfall we came from in the distance, and I started to notice weird featherless birds gliding in the distance.
'Well, now that I've somewhat got an idea of where I am, I think it's time to start the preparations to create a shelter.'
Dubir: What about the girls?
'The girls?.'
They were lying behind me, held together by Reg's body (a scythe), and the blade passed through Folarin's torso and pierced Valis's skull.
'I asked you to save them.'
Reg: And I did; they'll be healed the moment you pull me out.
'Your way of healing people is a bit extreme, don't you think? '
Reg: No.