The Cursebreaker hovered above the ground as our group descended.
Myself, the twins, Aldaril, Nasuria, Nirani, Ranis, and Triglavikk.
We looked around at the ruined streets and I tried to get a feel for the magic in the air.
"I would just like to say that I'm not fond of being on the ground right now..." Ranis said.
"Shut it. I want to try and understand something here," I said.
"What is there to understand? My handiwork?" Triglavikk said.
"I hate you so damn much..." Aldaril said.
"Time magic. For some reason, this realm feels like it's part of a clock. But...it's broken in more ways than just being ruined. Like a gear that won't turn... It feels like anyone or anything touching this realm could be scattered into either the past or present. Unless it uses the gateway, that is," I said.
"Darling? Does this have significance?" Cassandra said as she gently wrapped her arms around mine.
"It could. Time magic is incredibly powerful and complex. One of the most complex forms there is. It might be a benefit to us. If we can launch our enemies into a different time period, that could even delete them from known creation if it causes a paradox. Just something I learned from Vakra a while back," I said.
"As expected of his Majesty! Always looking for more ways to get stronger in order to save everyone! I'm so in love!" Cassandra said as she buried her face in my shoulder.
Then she started inhaling deeply.
"Down, girl!" I said as I quickly tried to shake her off.
"Uwaaa...my darling smells so good!"
"This isn't the time!" I said angrily.
Isabella quickly moved in and pried her off of me.
"Haah...sister, you should really learn to control yourself..." Isabella said.
"Yes...I will atone later..." Cassandra said, seeming to have called down.
"It's fine! Just focus on the mission, okay?" I said.
Cassandra nodded happily. She looked like she was having trouble containing herself.
"It boggles the mind that such a beautiful lady could be such a deviant...right, my dear sweet Nirani?" Ranis said.
Nirani glared at him and remained silent.
I resumed trying to get a sense for the magic in the air and felt a rising power nearby.
"Uhh...Mizik? We're about to have company," Aldaril said.
"Gods damn it all..." I said.
A portal opened in the ground nearby and a figure rose out of it.
It appeared to be a heavily armored silver knight with glowing dark blue symbols and lines crossing its body. It had a shield covering its front with a greatsword behind it stabbed into the ground.
"Who dares...invade?" A male voice said.
"We're not invading. Who are you? Can you tell us where Kestel is?" I said.
"Hey Mizik? That isn't someone you should be talking to," Ranis said.
"Shut up."
"Kestel...missing. Hikari...deceased. The Order realm is under my jurisdiction until further notice," the knight said.
Suddenly, Ranis stepped forward as Isabella and Cassandra got in front of me.
"Warden of Order, we mean you no disrespect. We are searching for Kestel. All of my evidence points to this being the last place he was seen. We've talked about this," Ranis said.
"Light Avatars detected. Nirani of peace, Ranis of Life, and...Eye of Order."
"Wait, he can sense that!?" Aldaril said.
"Ehm...they're normally supposed to leave when they see us... Is he okay?" Ranis said.
The Warden grabbed his sword and shield and prepared for battle.
"EYE OF ORDER DETECTED!!! TOP PRIORITY: RETRIEVAL!!!" The Warden roared.
"Of course he wants to fight. Why wouldn't he? THAT WOULD BE TOO DAMN EASY, WOULDN'T IT!?" I screamed.
"GET READY!!!" Ranis said.
There was an explosion where the Warden stood and series of portals began opening everywhere.
Soldiers began pouring out by the hundreds and within seconds, we were surrounded. Each of them had to have been at least ten feet tall in full armor similar to what the Warden had. They wielded mostly spears, greatswords, and axes. Many of them had shields as well.
As Aldaril, Nirani, Triglavikk, and Ranis prepared to fight, they suddenly collapsed.
"Gah...no..." Ranis said.
"Damn...cowardly Warden...! Bastard...!" Triglavikk said.
"What's going on here?" I said as I kept my eyes on the Warden.
"Wardens...and their sentinels... They control the flow of elder essence... They were made to protect realms from other Avatars!" Ranis said.
"Hm. So if I kill him, you'll be fine?" I said.
"That isn't possible! No one's ever managed to-"
"Alright. Isabella, Nasuria, defensive formation over these four. Cassandra, use the cloak and destroy the...Sentinels? I'll handle the Warden," I said.
"Understood," Isabella said.
"I will protect Master Aldaril with my life!" Nasuria said.
"Yes! Cloak of the Mastermind!" Cassandra said.
Her power rose exponentially as a cloak and hood appeared over her body. Her eyes went blank before rapidly darting around the field of battle.
Her cloak moved as hundreds of wires spread out around the enemies in every direction.
I shot forward through several Sentinels and slammed Vengeance into the Warden's shield.
As I did this, hundreds of Sentinels were obliterated instantly by Cassandra's wires.
"You can give up at any time, Warden! We've only just begun!" I said with a smile.
"UNKNOWN NON-AVATAR ENTITY! SURRENDER OR DIE!"
"Yeah, thought so."
I summoned my second sword and changed them both into maces. Then I slammed them both into his shield with as much power as I could currently muster.
The shield didn't budge. I felt a painful vibration in my arms as I jumped back.
"Wow...that thing is hard... Alright, let's try something else...SUPREME RAGE OF IRATUS!!!"
My body was covered in emerald magic as I felt my power surge. I changed my maces into a flail and a lance.
Flails were normally very difficult to use since they were essentially just a spiked iron ball on a chain. They were unpredictable, and an unskilled user could easily kill themselves with one.
However, since I had the Aspect of The Warlord, I had already mastered it despite never having used one.
I began by spinning the flail and charged at the Warden.
I lunged with the lance and feinted back as he raised his shield. Then slammed my flail into his shield, causing it to shatter.
Immediately after that, I thrusted my lance through the visor of his helmet.
"FLAMES OF RAGE, FULL MOON SLASH!!!" I yelled.
My weapons burst into crimson flames and I swung my weapons together, destroying his head and obliterating his upper torso. I was surprised, but the Warden was full of machinery and circuits. It was't a person at all.
I stepped back to admire my handiwork...just before instant reaction activated.
However...an unseen force caused me to be unable to move. I was impaled through the chest and thrown into a building.
When I opened my eyes, my body was already regenerating quickly. I looked and saw the Warden approaching...as if he hadn't been harmed at all.
I quickly tried to process what happened. Luckily, he didn't hit my heart stone. He only went for the center of my chest.
There was a type of magic lingering in the air as I stood up and waited for the Warden to approach.
"What the...? What kind of magic is this...?" I said.
My first instinct was time magic. It was what I had felt in the air after arriving. It made sense...
As I pondered this, wires wrapped around the Warden and bound him in place.
I smiled. Cassandra had come to my aid.
"HOW DARE YOU!!! MONSTER!!! NONE ARE ALLOWED TO HARM HIS MAJESTY!!!" She screamed.
"CASSANDRA! WATCH OUT! HE USES TIME MAGIC!!!"
Her eyes went wide as the Warden disappeared without a trace.
Her form was completely obliterated by his sword and dispersed.
Classic Cassandra. Never reveal yourself and always send a clone to accomplish your goals. Intelligence suits her well.
I had finally finished regenerating as I prepared to strike.
More wires wrapped around the Warden as I was suddenly pulled behind a wall.
Cassandra held up her hand to keep me quiet. Then she tapped her head.
"What is it?"
"I dealt with the Sentinels. They were like golems... Isabella and Nasuria are still protecting the others, so I decided to help you. That was reckless, darling. Please do not let your guard down against unknown enemies."
"I'll assume you're only talking like that because of Intelligence. That was my bad. I'm used to killing things pretty easily, so an enemy that can fight back is rare."
"You are correct. I will handle distractinng him. Please try to dismantle the time magic so that we can win. Otherwise, he will only rebuild himself and counter."
"Ha...giving me orders? You'll pay for that..."
"Ah...p-please do not get me started... I already have trouble focusing when you are nearby..."
I terminated the communication and Cassandra composed herself. She had been fidgeting and looking away.
She's so cute like this... I'll have to reward her later for her quick thinking. But for now, we have work to do.
Cassandra disappeared and I peeked out to look at the Warden. I began trying to feel the magic in the air.
It was similar to some of the things Vakra used.
However, this would take some time. Time magic was difficult to unravel because it existed in multiple time periods in unison.
I had to use time magic, myself, just to touch it. Reaching into both the past and future and in multiple time periods all at once was exhausting.
As I worked tirelessly to do this, Cassandra's clones were being killed left and right while the Warden seemed to teleport around rapidly and destroyed them.
I felt something odd at that point...
He could rewind time for himself, but other than that, had no way of modifying his own time. Instead, he seemed to fight by slowing down everything else in his vicinity. It was amazing to watch, actually...
I wondered if the Eye of Order had that kind of power.
If so, then Hikari would have been extremely powerful.
It wouldn't make sense for her to be killed by anything other than a...
I stopped myself as I kept thinking.
"What...?" I said.
The idea had come to me so suddenly.
What if...it wasn't an Avatar that killed Hikari?
It seemed like a weird thought to have right now, all things considered...
But the implications were huge. It meant a possibility that maybe...a Warden had accomplished the deed.
I decided to push the idea into the back of my mind for now and focused on breaking through the Warden's time magic.
Cassandra's clones continued attacking the Warden and were repeatedly being killed left and right. I had no idea where the real one was, but every time her wires covered our enemy, he disappeared long before they could do any damage.
This is insane. What kind of machine could be capable of this level of combat power!? Who the hell made these things!?
As I thought about this, several more portals opened. More Sentinels emerged from them and began attacking the Cassandra clones.
Eventually...they noticed me. They approached and I prepared to attack with Vengeance.
Thankfully before they could attack, they were blown to pieces by light magic.
I turned and saw Isabella standing at the ready with her shield raised.
I immediately spoke to her with telepathy.
"No! Stay back! This thing uses time magic to fight!"
"I'll be fine, my love. Trust me!"
I felt nervous as Isabella moved in to protect Cassandra's clones. She began blocking the Warden's ferocious strikes.
"Mizik! Give me permission to unleash Bravery!" She said.
"Permission granted!"
"CROWN OF THE HERO!!!"
Isabella was cloaked in a burning aura of light as a crown appeared on her head. Bravery extended into light and she continued to fight the Warden up close.
Every time she blocked an attack, he would appear behind her and be blocked by a barrier.
As she kept the Warden's attention, Cassandra helped to destroy the Sentinels and limited his attacks against Isabella.
This kept going for a few minutes until finally...
"...aaaand done. That's enough out of you!" I said angrily.
I clenched my hand and the Warden stopped dead in his tracks.
"Error... Time manipulation no longer functioning... Danger!"
"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT! ISABELLA! CASSANDRA! TAKE HIM OUT!"
"With pleasure!"
"Of course, darling!"
Cassandra covered the Warden with her wires and pulled tight. She mouthed the words for magus stream and blasted him with her full power.
As his armor began to crack, Isabella smiled.
"SUNLIGHT BLADE!"
Isabella's sword flashed even brighter, as if it were imbued with the power of the sun.
She slashed through the Warden multiple times and he fell to pieces.
At the same time, I fully nullified his time magic...which had been set to automatically activate in the event of his demise.
The pieces of twisted and broken metal machinery fell to the ground and laid silent.
Just before I could order Cassandra to dispose of them, several daggers impaled the mechanical remains and melted them into a puddle of green goo with her corrosive poison.
"Hm. Impressive. I didn't even have to tell you to do that..." I said.
"Of course, darling. Although...it is a bit worrying that it took all of us to eliminate this machine..." Cassandra said.
"It makes sense when you think about it, sister. How often do we encounter enemies capable of utilizing time magic to such a degree? And how many of them are capable of reviving themselves after death?" Isabella said.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good point. Well, at least it's dead. I don't expect any other enemies to trouble us to this degree. Unless we end up facing Eris, of course..." I said.
"Do not worry, darling. I am certain that with our power, we can beat her!" Cassandra said with a smile.
"We'll see... Let's rejoin the others. I'm sure they're waiting on us," I said.
And with that, we collected ourselves and walked out of the ruined building.