Lucius swung his blazing sword, easily disarming five of the other party. The bright-red ether stretched every swing, catching everything it touches on fire. Sparks formed when Lucius raises his sword—turning into an explosive once the sword crashed onto the ground.
*What a monster!* I watched in amazement.
He was totally surrounded, both on air and land. Nevertheless, he's fighting a winning battle. The foes on air fell like flies, bunt to crisp after receiving multiple waves of flames. The one on land tried to create a barrier, only for it to crumble into pieces from the continuous explosions. A few of the injured men crawled to the side, where a group of water attributes were trying their best to save them.
"1, 2, 3, ...….20 left standing," I counted.
There's already dozens of the opposing party being neutralised, all piled up on the ground. At the far rear, two of the cloaked individuals weren't fighting, what are they doing? My eyes faintly discerning them taking a pill-like substance.
*Ah, I think I saw those in my vision!*
Believing that the element was to be the cause of Lucius' harm, I swiftly sneaked around them to prevent the future I saw.
*You ain't causing troubles to my wallet, idiots.*
While I'm on it, Lucius took down yet another couple of the opponents. The ground shook every time he let out an attack, proving just how powerful he is even by his own. Dashing towards the rear, I transferred some of my mana into my sword. Transferring mana into an item or weapons took a lot of effort, yet Lucius could be doing it like breathing. Albeit not as perfect as his, my mana managed to infuse the sword in my hand, surrounding it in white ether.
"RARGHHH!!"
As I leaped towards the target, my sword roared and activated the skill I learnt recently—a long-ranged attack; 'Windslash'.
*FWISHH—*
This is a skill that I managed to use after trying an error. By wielding a concentrated mana-infused sword, I could create wind blades that's sharper than solids. However, I have yet to master it completely, still unable to control the blade's course of direction. Fortunately, the attack managed to slash the shorter one of the two, causing the long-haired woman to fall on her knees.
"THERE'S ANOTHER!" The guy beside her yelled.
This alarmed all the other members of their organisation, dividing their attention that was previously focused on Lucius. Amidst the chaos, I accidentally made an eye-contact with the silver-haired man. Far from being surprised, he already seemed to know of my presence, currently staring with his sharp gaze.
*Yeah, get mad or whatever.*
Dozens of fireballs flew my way, looking like a meteor rain from afar. Swiftly avoiding each of those attacks, I jumped and activated the 'Flying' skill. A group of wind attributes faced me up on the air, ready for an aerial combat. I may had looked down on these people after meeting the dart guy before, but they are undoubtedly as strong as a knight! To top it off, most of them were at least a mid-level elemental attribute.
In this world, everyone were able to awaken their respective elemental attribute. However, they could still be sorted by six levels in total which are; low, mid, high, rare, legendary and finally, mystique. Most people only managed to obtain a low-level attribute; one that can barely be used to aid in their daily life. Hardly one-third could reach a mid-level like these people.
"What a hassle," I muttered, clashing swords with two of the foes, all the while avoiding yet another long-ranged attacks. Even daggers came flying from all directions!
Back to the topic, for Catherine's case, I believe that she is a high-level or maybe more. It felt very easy to wield the wind attribute, given the massive amount of her mana. Lucius was said to reach the legendary-level, which is two level above the high-level.
*Focus on your fight,* entity reminded.
"I'm hella focus, I just needed to do a bit of explaining!"
Parring yet another dagger, I immediately fished for the dart in my pocket, aiming for the guy zooming towards me. I even enhanced it with my mana so the speed would be similar to that of a bullet. Once he tried to reach for me, I immediately shot it at him.
"KEUGHH!" The man groaned, clutching onto his injured shoulder.
Without a warning, I felt a strong force tugging onto my legs, forcefully pulling me towards the ground. My heart skipped a beat at the sudden ambush as my eyes struggled to keep track of the accelerating view. I felt the strong breeze glided across my body. Perhaps, this is what free fall is, except that it's made with external force.
*BAMMM!*
My body was slammed onto the ground mercilessly. I could even feel my body sunk to the ground from the impact. Had I been a bomb, I would've exploded without a doubt! The concussion excruciatingly hurt my head, the world I saw began to spin. My breath was stuck and my lungs refused to cooperate. I was at the brink of losing consciousness, until entity yelled again.
*WAKE UP, DORK!*
The piercing ringing snapped me up in no time. Warm sensation had soaked through my hair, while my head felt like it had cracked into two. It might've even been the end of me, had entity not used the fourth plot armour.
*There goes it. Ha…can't you be more careful?* entity complained.
*…sorry,* I apologised inwardly, slowly getting up.
The cloaked people immediately stepped away when they saw me got back to life. I even caught a glance of Lucius in distraught. Was he surprised? Maybe he got worried, too? Propping my body up with my arms, I finally caught a glimpse of the thing that pulled me down. Slithering up to my torso was a shadow slime, gripping tightly as if restraining me down. I could even feel my mana slowly draining from it.
"ACKK! W-what the f—k is this?!"
Far from my right, stood the two that had previously consumed the pills. Perhaps, this slimy thing was their doing! Before I could be completely freed from the restrain, the ground erected around me, forming an earth dome. It had trapped me wholly, not leaving even a single gap. Darkness had filled my eyes, but that's not what scared me the most.
***
"HEY! LISTEN," A desperate voice was faintly heard, slowly becoming louder. "WE CAN STILL FIX THIS!"
*Huh? What was that? Is it my voice?* I pondered, still in a trance.
A blurry vision starts to get clear. I was currently sprinting on a never-ending route of the night, gasping rapidly from running the miles. Tears streaming down my cheek, only for it to well up right again in my eyes. My hand was clutching tightly onto a cell phone, placing it very close to my left ear. The hands were very sweaty that the phone could slip down had I been careless.
*HA.....HA...*
Despite the pleading, no response was heard from the other line.
"Please, don't do it!" I begged. "Don't you trust me? I promised that all will be fine, right? Hm?"
*How vivid,* I commented on the vision.
Those voices are indeed mine, yes. It's a memory, one that had happened a few years back. I'll recognised this scene anywhere. Yeah, how could I ever forget such an incident? I have no idea of what is going on nor why am I being forced to go through this VR-like recollection, but I do know that this is my most painful experience. Like a game character, I am unable to control my movements, speech and worse, emotions. I simply am conscious, that's all.
The body sloppily skidded and took a turn into an abandoned building. The heart rate increased rapidly. Not only from the long run, but also from the anxiety of the future to be seen. It was a decently tall building of eight stories, making the flight of stairs felt endless. The lactic acid accumulation had made my legs numb, my side also had a painful sensation from the fatigue. Nevertheless, I ignored all of those to reach the rooftop.
The other line that had remained quiet finally spoke, only to fill me with absolute dread. "….thank you, sister," a boy said, before a chilling silent pierced my ear.
"No…" I muttered, reaching the eighth floor. "No, you don't sa— no, no, please, NO!"
Realisation began to kick in. My last rush of adrenaline pushed me to climb the last flight of stairs towards the rooftop. My vision starts to get blurry again, perhaps from the overwhelming tears. My hands trembled like crazy, and I start to get hysterical through the way.
"My brother…my baby brother…" My legs were getting weaker but I finally made it to the top. "DON'T DO IT!" I yelled, barging through the door to the rooftop.
*KYAAAAAA!*
A pair of dirtied school shoes were left next to a cell phone with deliberately broken screen. I could hear a scream from below, horrified at whatever they saw—I know of what it was without even looking. My legs finally gave up, losing any bits of strength left.
Collapsing onto the ground, I desperately rejected the reality. "This is not true…it's not true…not true," I repeated, starting to hyperventilate.
"Why…Why won't you trust me?" Tears streamed down uncontrollably as I tried to reach for anything of strength, only to be left fumbling around helplessly.
It was nauseating.
My head felt excruciatingly dizzy, and my stomach churned as if trying to throw everything out. I clutched onto my own collar, struggling to stay sane. Despite the wide area, I felt extremely cramped. My lungs refused to function normally even though I was desperately in need for air.
Yeah, air.
I need to breath but I can't. I can't breath. I can't breath…but why? Why can't I? I can't breath, (Help) I really can't! I can't breath, I can't breath, (Please help) I can't. breath, I couldn't, I can't breath. I want to—BUT I CAN'T BREATH!
*OI, SNAP OUT OF IT!* entity's voice rang in my head.
The vision finally dissipated and darkness filled my eyes once more. Ah, right. I was in the vacuumed-dome! Was it the hallucination spell? Those bastards!
"Eeeupp!" I held onto my breath as the space had very little air left.
My hands groped around in search for my sword, not being able to see properly. Once I got to it, I swiftly stabbed the wall and used a 'Gustblast' through it.
*BOOOM!*
The wall exploded, filling the space with air yet again. The surge of oxygen was incredibly pleasant, reminding me of how great breathing is!
"Ha...Ha….that was…..no joke…" I gasped for air, looking around to assess the current situation.
Most of the enemies had been killed by Lucius, not only neutralised like before. All that's left was the previous rear guy, though he's now scrambling on the ground.
"S-spare me!" The man pleaded.
Not giving a single care of the man's fear, Lucius mercilessly slashed his head off, causing blood to splatter like a fountain of crimson.
*Shit, that's nasty.*
Seeing me staring from afar, Lucius promptly stomped my way. His face lacked of emotions from the killings, but I could still sense the remnants of rage radiating from him. Sitting still, I was ready to receive an earful.
"If you're going to nag m—"
Before I could even finish my sentence, he kneeled down and held onto my shoulders. "Are you hurt?" Lucius asked, his voice heavy on concern.
"Huh? Uh, n-no…." I stammered a bit from the unexpected reaction.
Lucius remained silent, staring at me with a worried gaze.
This dude, he made my heart fluttered a bit there. Should I tuck my hair behind my ears to fit the moment? Oh well, I still have one more unsettled thing to do.
Avoiding his gaze, I turned to the biggest tent there.