The angelic being gracefully furled all six wings, enveloping its body and deflecting Cesar's spear effortlessly.
With ease, it had disemboweled Al before casually discarding his body. It freed itself from Al's chain and knife while blocking Cesar's spear and unwrapped its head, revealing the top was adorned with numerous eyes while its face was featureless.
The angelic being closed all its eyes, except for one, generating an intense and blinding flash of light. As the brilliance engulfed the area, temporarily robbing everyone of their sight, it closed in on Jin.
Al's Stubborn Will gradually mended his torn organs, allowing him to rise to his feet. The angelic being found itself pulled back. Al's knife pierced its back, and Al pulled the knife's chain with all his strength.
The angelic being's pike-like hand was mere inches away from Jin. Jin could evade the creature's reach at the last second, thanks to Al's actions. Jin summoned his Lightning Will, shooting a lightning bolt from his stone emblem.
The lightning bolt rushed toward the last remaining embryo. As the wisps of mist entered Jin's etheric shell, the stone emblem emitted a distinctive blue radiance. The form of his etheric shell was transforming.
In response, the angelic being was driven to an agitated state and forced itself forward, ignoring the crooked blade that Al wielded.
With astonishing velocity, it flew towards Jin, who could not use his etheric shell.
Cesar unleashed a mighty wind with a single slash of his spear. The wind diverted the creature just enough to grant Jin space to flee.
Reunited with Al and Cesar, Jin urgently spoke, "That's a Dawn-keeper. None of us stand a chance against it. We have to run."
Cesar and Al shook their head in disagreement. They realized the impossibility of outrunning such a fast enemy.
Before they could make their next move, the Dawn keeper lunged at Cesar, violently knocking Jin and Al aside with its colossal wings.
Cesar steadied his breath. After his fight against the dark acolyte, he realized that his Wind Will flowed more naturally through his Muay Thai techniques. When he shared this insight with Romann, Romann suggested that Cesar's unfamiliarity with the spear was likely the cause.
Cesar was excited to learn that Muay Thai provided a valuable framework for mastering the spear. After two months, he discovered that the spear and his fists were one and the same—both extensions of his Will.
Confronted by the charging nine-foot Dawn-keeper, Cesar remained composed, assuming his Muay Thai stance with a slight modification. Gripping his spear firmly, he directed its sharp point towards the approaching enemy.
The Dawn-keeper thrust its pike at him while Cesar mirrored its movement, winding-like thrust with his spear.
Like a slithering serpent, Cesar's spearhead maneuvered alongside the creature's pike, producing a delicate gust of wind that diverted the pike away from Cesar's neck, causing it to miss. Meanwhile, Cesar's spear moved with precision.
The Dawn-keeper's speed made it challenging for Cesar to strike its head directly, but he managed to slice through the side of its face, tearing away a handful of its numerous eyes.
Enraged, the creature forcefully swung its human-like arm at Cesar, sending him unconsciously crashing toward Jin. Jin caught Cesar, preventing him from crashing to the ground.
Gently placing Cesar down, Jin couldn't help but be deeply impressed by his Captain's calmness and precision amidst the chaos. Turning his attention back to the looming Dawn-keeper, Jin found himself no longer clutching his stone emblem. Instead, he was now wearing a regal steel gauntlet adorned with his family's name.
A sense of confidence washed over Jin as he realized that sticking with Cesar and the team had been the right decision. They had stumbled into a blessing for his etheric shell. All that remained now was to escape alive.
As Jin locked down on his enemy, arcs of electrifying blue lighting crackled and danced across his steel gauntlet. Both sides closed the distance in a split second, their movements a blur.
The Dawn-keeper brought down its pike, aiming for Jin's head. Jin utilized his gauntlet, unleashing a lightning bolt that propelled him upward. He executed a graceful spin in mid-air, evading the incoming pike while extending his gauntlet directly at the Dawn-keeper's face.
In a spectacular display of power, a burst of lightning erupted from Jin's gauntlet, triggering an explosion upon contact with the Dawn-keeper. The creature was sent tumbling in the opposite direction. As the wraps that had concealed its lower face fell away, a tongueless mouth filled with sharp teeth became visible.
The Dawn-keeper relinquished its restraint. Suddenly, the room grew unbearably hot as it dropped to all fours, its tongueless mouth gaping open, emitting a horrifying sound as it voraciously sucked in the surrounding air.
A flickering flame ignited before its mouth, gradually growing in size before swiftly shrinking. Immediately, a radiant miniature sun manifested before the Dawn-keeper, casting a brilliant light across the room.
The small ball of light emitted scorching heat. The Dawnkeeper hurled the blazing spell toward them with tremendous force without warning.
Jin's heart raced with dread as he shouted, "If that thing explodes, we're all dead!"
Ellie had taken Kesha and had already evacuated. Cesar swung a gale of wind, and Jin shot off an arc of lightning. Neither had any effect on the blazing spell.
However, Al found himself frozen in place, tormented by a familiar voice that inflicted unbearable agony upon him. "Too bright!" it hissed, causing Al's knife to move of its own accord, compelling him to leap towards the blazing sun.
Al believed he was about to be incinerated, but to his astonishment, his small black knife absorbed the entire miniature sun, leaving even the Dawn-keeper momentarily stunned.
Collapsing to the ground, Al struggled to recover from the knife's possession.
Undeterred by the failure of its previous attack, the Dawn-keeper unfurled all six of its wings. It unleashed six lesser spells simultaneously.
Cesar and Jin swiftly rushed to Al's to prepare for the enemy's assault.
The first spell materialized as a colossal fireball hurtling towards them. Cesar bravely leaped forward, signaling Al and Jin to keep their distance. With a mighty swing of his spear, he summoned a destructive gale of wind that intercepted the fireball, dispersing it before it could wreak havoc.
However, they had no time to catch their breath as a blazing twister broke through his gale. The remains of the first spell intertwined with the second spell, creating a fiery twister encircled by small avian forms crafted from swirling flames.
Realizing that his most potent attack had been ineffective against the assault of spells, Cesar found himself at a loss. Jin leaped forward just as Cesar braced himself to be consumed by the flames.
Jin released an enormous amount of his Lightning Will, creating a lightning arc the size of a human arm. The arc of lightning sliced through the massive flaming vortex. "Even though I can't use spells, my improved etheric shell allows me to funnel large amounts of my Lightnin Will into powerful attacks," Jin remarked.
However, exerting so much of his Lightning Will took its toll, leaving Jin weak and vulnerable.
As the third spell broke through the dissipating ashes, a flickering dark flame emerged, emanating scorching heat that seared their skin even from a distance. After the dark flame, a ring of fire followed, accompanied by three mysterious figures formed entirely of flames, charging forth in a coordinated assault. Those were the subsequent two spells, with one more yet to come.
The impending onslaught threatened to overwhelm them, leaving little hope for survival. Sensing the imminent danger, Al prepared to expand all of his Stubborn Will and pulled Jin and Cesar behind him, determined to shield them from the incoming black flame.
"I may not survive, but perhaps I can regenerate enough to mitigate the impact for them," Al pondered as he ran forward, arms outstretched to confront the impending inferno.
Cesar screamed, unable to bear witness to Al's sacrificial act. Before Al could be incinerated, Al's knife blazed with a bright red glow, radiating like the miniature sun it had swallowed.
Emitting a horrifying scream, Al's flesh seemed to be entirely consumed by the black flame, his blood vessels boiling and his muscles ablaze. Yet, in a desperate attempt, Al swung his blade as if attempting to sever the flame. Al's twisted knife grew even brighter, surpassing the intensity of the surrounding flames.
A slash of condensed light erupted from his blade, obliterating everything in its path, including the following spells. The slash traversed the entirety of the stone chamber.
Darkness swiftly descended upon the room; even the Dawn-keeper appeared to have been reduced to ashes.
Jin and Cesar frantically searched through the debris and ashes in the darkness, calling out for Al. "Al! Where are you?" Cesar's voice echoed, filled with desperation. Focusing their senses, they listened intently, hoping to catch any sign of Al.
"Ughh, g wagh," a weak groan reached their ears. "I hear something," Jin shouted, his voice tinged with relief. Kesha and Ellie joined the search, and Ellie provided light.
Jin used the light to reveal a horror scene. Al was lying on the floor. His entire body was charred and burned. His hair had burned to his scalp, his eyes had evaporated away, and his nose had collapsed inwards. He struggled to cling to life, gasping for breath through his damaged mouth.
Jin carefully shifted him onto his side, ensuring he wouldn't choke on his blood. As the blood dripped onto the ground, it sizzled and steamed.
Ellie, her voice filled with desperation, turned to Cesar. "Shouldn't he have healed by now?" Cesar, his gaze fixed on Al with quiet determination, remained silent. Meanwhile, Kesha knelt on the ground, overcome by inconsolable sobbing.
"Just breathe... That's it," Al thought, engulfed in total darkness and a chilling coldness that threatened to extinguish his life. With painstaking effort, he activated his A.R.C. through controlled breaths. His Stubborn Will spurred the regeneration of nerves and their endings, gradually healing the burns and injuries.
However, each step toward recovery was accompanied by waves of intense pain that invaded his consciousness, causing Al to cry out in anguish. In his pain, he recalled Martin, the Stubborn Will cultivator whose memories he had seen.
Al persisted, gradually restoring his eyes and nose as well. Kesha stared in awe at Al's regeneration while Cesar and the rest sighed in relief. Suddenly, a resounding howl reverberated throughout the entire sewer, its haunting cry reaching the depths of the room.