Yesh Academy
Luna, Terra
Gaea Solar system
Milky way Galaxy
Neutral Free Zone
March 8th 2019
"So where are we going to," Sam said as they left Ginny's lab, Leon leading the way as they went to another part of the technology department. A part of Sam wanted to stay behind to talk to Ginny but the girl's attention had drifted back to her projects, working on her machines so Sam let go of her desires and kept up with Leon and Emily.
"We're heading to the Aviation sector," Emily said. "We'll be flying back to Earth. For some reason, Exodus transportation can't pick up the coordinates of the town." They entered a new room that was filled with lots of huge vehicles that were being maintained by machines. Sam couldn't stop admiring the technology wonder that befell her as she looked at every single ship that was in the huge spacious room. Some of the ships had hexapod shapes similar to insects like having three parts with the middle section bearing the insect shaped wings as well as six legs. Emily led them to a ship that reminded Sam of a yellowjacket wasp with its narrow shape.
"Sam!" Henry's voice came from the side of the ship. He was wearing a combat suit with a black cloak covering him.
"Henry, What are you doing here," Sam said. She had not expected to see Henry so she was surprised to see him.
"I told him to wait for us here," Emily said.
"Why," Leon said. He gave Emily a look trying to understand what she was up to. But as usual, he couldn't read her expression. On her face was her usual cold indifference as she returned Leon's look.
"Phoebe put me in charge of his training," Emily said. "I've been training him this past week so I decided this trip would be a good experience for him. I want him to know what battle is like for a Warlock like him." Sam wanted to disagree with Emily but she held her tongue. She intended to end her relationship with Henry so she had no right to tell him what to do. But that didn't stop her from still caring about him. This might be a dangerous experience and she didn't want him to lose his life.
"Fine. He can come," Leon said. They all boarded the yellowjacket ship with Emily taking the pilot seat. She turned the ship on, getting it ready and setting the coordinates that Phoebe had given her. While Henry found a place to sit on the many seats behind the pilot seat. Before Sam could take a sit, Leon gently grabbed Sam's hand and pulled her to the back of the ship as it was about to take off. Sam nervously watched as Leon raised the hand he held and with a swift brush of his hand on hers, Sam felt a tingle go through her body. She wanted to question him as to why she had brought her to the back but then he smiled at her. He showed her his hand which had a silver cuff bracelet. Sam gulped as her anxiety flared up. She was very conscious of his hand on hers and was caught off guard by the jewelry he was showing her.
"What's that?" She said.
"It's a ward charm," Leon said. "It's a bracelet enchanted with protective magic." Leon put the cuff on her right wrist as he trailed his fingers around her palm. "The bracelet can duplicate a section of space and everything within it, and then store it in a hidden space. If anything were to happen to you, like dying... the bracelet would automatically switch the original space of you with the copied space." Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing. What kind of magic was this?
"That's kind of Op, isn't it," Sam said. Leon raised an eyebrow at that.
"Overpowered,' Sam explained.
"Well, Unfortunately, it's a one-time use," Leon said with a smile. "It's an artifact that was made by one of my family ancestors. It's one of many series of artifacts that belong to my family. Though to be honest, most of them have been lost, used up, and destroyed over the centuries."
"I can't take it," Sam said trying to take it off but Leon stopped her. The smile wore off his face as he looked into her emerald eyes.
"Keep it," Leon said. "I don't have much need for it." Sam nodded as she stared at the bracelet around her wrist. As Sam was admiring the jewelry, the jet was taking off from the deck on the moon. Sam's attention was turned to the window showing the vastness of space. Her eyes widened as she got the chance to see what outer space looked like up close. Within the vastness of the darkness that was outer space were tiny dots of light and celestial bodies. Drawing Sam's attention was a glowing orb of light in which the celestial bodies were orbiting. Sam's senses picked up on the vastness of the dense concentration of Od flowing through the darkness of space and the source of it came from the yellow star that held the planets in place. Leon noticed Sam's attention to the sun and could tell what she was thinking.
"The Sun is one of many sources of Od in the universe," Leon said.
"It's beautiful," Sam said.
"Guys, we're about to enter Terra's Gravitational field," Emily said. "Better hold on tight," Leon pulled Sam towards one of the seats. He helped her with a seatbelt before sitting down. Henry tried catching Sam's eyes but she deliberately ignored looking at him. The ship began descending into the planet, with the help of the planet's gravity and Emily's expert pilot skill. After ten minutes of flying past the first six atmospheres, they soon got through the last atmosphere. Emily flew the ship towards the coordinate that Phoebe gave her, while covered by the camouflage features so as not to be detected in the airspace of the mundane country. It didn't take long for them to reach the coordinates though as they were approaching the location, the ship's radar began beeping. Emily didn't need to look at the sensors to know what was ahead. She felt the presence of the corrupting energy ahead of them even before they got close to it. Below the ship was a mist of darkness, darkness so dense that no one would be able to see past it.
"Tch, They've begun," Leon said. "Emily, land the ship," Emily nodded and began to descend the ship into the darkness. As soon as the ship entered the mist, Sam felt her connection to the Odyllic cut off. A part of her wanted to panic, not just because she couldn't feel the Odyllic but also because of the darkness that covered her town. Leon got up from his seat, signaling to Sam and Henry to follow him to the back of the ship where the exit was. As soon as the ship landed, Leon turned to face us as the exit door opened. Sam gulped as she saw the town where she grew up. The town did not look the same as it did a year ago when she was last here. It looked like a disaster had ripped through the town, destroying the infrastructure. Some random vehicles were on fire, black flames that kept on burning, even though the vehicles were unrecognizable. Sam could smell blood, not just blood but rotten flesh of the dead. The sky was covered by the darkness that obscured the town, and none of the night sky was visible anymore. The air itself felt putrid, making it hard to breathe.
"Abominations," Leon said. "Corrupted beings known for their hunger for violence and depravity. Abominations are cut off from the Odyllic and are unable to use pure Od like us. The only form of energy they can use is Infernal energy."
"Infernal energy," Sam said.
"That's the corrupted energy of the Infernal plane," Emily said. "According to the doctrine of Annunaki, the infernal plane is a realm of miasma and malevolence. When Abominations invade a planet in the physical plane, they normally defile the lands by using Dimensional encroachment to infect the atmosphere with Infernal energy."
"Such an act cuts the land from the Odyllic," Leon said. "The Abominations can siphon ambient energy to refill their reserves while we can't. We can only use the Od in our reserves till it runs out." There was a grimace on Leon's face as he considered Henry. "You might want to take it easy with how you handle your energy from here on. If you try to channel external energy, you'll only get infected with the infernal energy and fall into depravity." Emily made a couple of gestures with her fingers, and a medium-sized magic circle appeared, the mana within her Star core flowed and activated the spell she had weaved. Two orbs of light flew and entered the other's chest as they became enchanted.
"What kind of spell was that," Henry asked. He was surprised by the speed at which Emily had cast her spell without even an incantation. For the past weeks since he left his home, and his job, and learning about the existence of Magic, he had become consumed by learning the Arcane arts. He wasn't surprised that he had the talents for it, but he had also realized as a human, he had a certain limit that he couldn't push past. Such was the ability when it came to casting. As a Regular Mystic, Henry was forced to use hand gestures and spoken words to cast his spells. But Emily didn't have that problem.
"That was a protective spell," Emily said. "It's a three tier spell that should protect your mind and body from the energy's corruptive influence. So take it easy when using your Od. You don't want it to clash with the spell and dispel it." Emily turned to face Sam, scrutinizing her. "And you, as an Empath, this place will be terrible for you. Be careful to ward your mind from the psychic echoes." Emily was already feeling the residues of pain and suffering that were imprinted into the land from the destruction. Her mental endurance was the only reason why she hadn't succumbed to any psychic torment. Sam nodded to Emily's suggestion.
'Alright, Sam will lead us to her home, and from there, we'll search for any clues that can tell us what happened to Stella and her disappearance" Leon said. "Is that clear," The rest of the team nodded as they left the airship.
-
As Sam led the others to her childhood home, a part of her felt numb as her eyes glazed over the destruction that had happened to the town. Everywhere they went, there were bodies littered on the ground. Burnt corpse that the skin was blackened from the scorching flames. Torn bodies that were ripped apart like they were animals that had been hunted down. The numbness in her heart was the only choice that Sam had because otherwise she would be consumed by the sorrow and pain of seeing the scene around her. Henry felt sick in his stomach from the massacre that surrounded them. He was not used to seeing this and he would have thrown up if not for the smirking glance that Leon was throwing at him. They were about to turn around a corner in one of the streets when Emily suddenly stopped. As a skilled Sensor, Emily had been in the front alongside Sam, so she had sensed a presence ahead of them. She put up her hand to tell the others to stop moving. Across from them, moving in the streets were a bunch of people, chained up with handcuffs and shackles on their necks. They were being led by two humanoid beings with dark green scales. These Abominations wore armor and were bipedal holding spears as they used it to shepherd the chained humans toward a certain location.
"There's still survivors," Sam said. She was about to rush over to rescue them but Emily grabbed her pulling her back. "What are you doing? I have to help them."
"Don't be in a rush to die," Emily said with an expressionless tone like she didn't care if Sam did rush off to die. "This is different from fighting a couple of assassins in the Academy. One mistake and you're dead."
"You're being too frigid, Emily," Leon said walking out of the corner without a care for stealth or strategy, facing the Abominations that would soon sense his presence. "They're a couple of Mid-rank Abominations. Nothing to fret about."
"Leon...Idiot!" She muttered. Although she was cussing herself more than she was towards Leon. She should have realized what type of person Leon was. He was the same idiot who played with a Greater Beast Abomination in the middle of battle. Leon leisurely strolled towards the Abominations who sensed a powerful presence close to them. The Abomination in the rear end turned around, its snake-like face screeching upon seeing a Pleiadian. Leon faced the Abominations and the miserable-looking humans who were in bondage.
"Abominations always keep a few more survivors to get the Infernal engine running," Leon said. "The suffering and pain of the humans will strengthen the Dimensional encroachment spell." His eyes landed on a spot in the distance where a black twisted smoke filled with black lighting was mixing with the atmosphere of the town. That spot was probably where they process the human soul to twist it into Infernal energy.
This means there has to be a Greater rank Abomination guarding the Magical Engine. Leon thought. He flicked his index and middle finger, summoning a double-edged broadsword with a translucent crystal blade with runes etched on both sides. Its golden guard was covered by a golden basket, filled with all kinds of gemstones on it. The sword itself radiated power and authority, specks of golden light were caught in the crystal blade, swimming through it in a gaseous-like way. The blade itself measured up to around 93cm and was wide enough for cutting and thrusting. As soon as Leon's finger tightened around the hilt, he zoomed through the Abomination, cutting its head off before it could even blink. The abomination in the front attacked, sending its stabbing spear at Leon's face. He used the sword to parry the direction of the spear to the ground and then sent his blade to sweep through the monster's neck. All this was done within one and a half minutes. Leon banished his sword away and with a wave of his hand, the humans fell unconscious.
"What did you do to them," Henry asked.
"Knocked them out," Leon said. "Trust me they're better off that way. We need to keep moving," Sam nodded as she glanced away from them squeezing her fist. She was trying her best not to feel anything. So instead of focusing on the fact that she recognized one of the humans, she kept on walking. They had just passed two blocks when they were forced to stop once again. In front of them were hordes of Abominations. The monsters were all growling, a look of ravenous hunger and madness on their scaly face. There were a lot of them that for a moment Sam couldn't help but freeze. She felt something squeeze her hand and she turned to see that it was Emily. She didn't look at Sam, her focus was on the Abominations in front of them. But Sam was grateful for the actions as she summoned her shield vambrace on her wrist. Meanwhile, Leon didn't wait for the others as he unleashed a devastating attack on the hordes.
[ Hyperion: Supernova] Leon hovered in the air, above the hordes as his fist manifested a massive surge of heat and light which pushed back against the darkness that had invaded the land of Cedar Lake. There was a surge of shockwaves, the earth itself quaked from the attack, and even Emily had to cast a barrier in front of her and the others to protect themselves from the heatwaves that came from the explosion. Henry could not believe his eyes, staring at Leon with a mix of apprehension. He had always known that the arrogant bastard was powerful, but he had never thought too deeply about it. While Sam recognized the power that Leon had displayed. It was the same move he had used against that Ape Abomination that had attacked her months ago. Only this time, the power had been limited within his fist. As the dust cleared, a cater was revealed where the hordes had been, but nothing was left of them, not even their ashes. The entire ground of the crater was scorched, and red hot veins of heat were engraved upon the land.
"Are you crazy Leon," Emily said. The houses around the hordes had been incinerated alongside an entire block of houses. The ground around the crater was extremely hot and burnt, some part of the dark sky that covered the town was cleared away, showing the purple midnight sky. "Are you trying to destroy the entire city using Supernova,"
"Take it easy, I barely put any power into the attack," Leon said as he flew back down into the middle of the crater. Leon spoke the truth for he had made sure to restrict the destructive capability of the technique while ensuring the potency of the attack. All this was possible due to the perfect Od control that allowed Leon to control the output of his attack. If he wanted to he could have destroyed the entire town. Leon took a deep breath, the air itself was rid of the putrid stench of Infernal presence, pure Od flowing through the clear sky. Maybe he should incinerate the entire town. Leon thought as he turned his head to the other side of the crater where more abominations were crawling down towards him.
-
Over a mile away from the townhomes, in what used to be the former plaza district of Cedar Lake town, in one of the many buildings, on the roof was a structure that looked like a black box. On the surface of the box, engraved on it, were human-like faces, their expression that of despair and suffering. On their faces were traces of what looked like tears. On each side of the box were holes in which black smoke trailed out, flowing into the atmosphere and corrupting the land. Guarding the structure was a 167 cm pig face figure adorned in black armor, two tusks extended from its mouth, its fiery red eyes looking across space. A black veil of ominous power emitted from its body as it observed the light that had torn through the dark sky. It was like a star had descended upon the land to purify it of the corruptive energy of the Infernal plane. The Abomination, Geb, came close to the edge of the roof, sensing the presence of the beings who had recently invaded their territory. Holding on to its helmet, the Abomination put it on, looking forward to what was about to happen.
"Looks like his majesty was right," Geb said. "The Asha'Yee did indeed return to her home. And it seems she bought with her a troublesome foe." Geb could sense the presence of the powerful ranked beings with the Asha'Yee and knew that one of them was the one responsible for the lightwork earlier. "Hmm... I wonder if they can make it all the way here. It matters not. In the end, I will fulfill my duty." The Abomination walked back to the box, standing guard over it as the sound of pain and suffering drifted from below the box, to the inside of the building, where rows of metallic tubes connected to the ceiling extended down where pods were placed. Inside these pods were the remains of humans, some of them still alive and in the process of being decomposed, their suffering and pain tainting their souls as they flowed through the tubes arriving inside the box. In the empty pods, humans were being shoved inside by Mid-rank Abominations, unable to fight back due to their petrified state of being. Some of the Abominations, those of the Mid-rank who were able to maintain their intelligence unlike the Lesser ranks, operated the machinery that was there, conducting the process of maintaining the Dimensional encroachment through the Infernal engine that was above them.
****
[Light creation: Luminous shower]
A yellow circle of light stitched into the space as the runes within it triggered the spell that manifested what looked like white rain. The spell fell upon a group of twenty lesser Abominations, exploding upon making contact with them. In front of them was Emily, moving through more Abominations with her two Adamant shortswords, slicing and cutting the Abominations while at the same time casting multiple spells with just her mind. Her star core within her mind was absorbing Od from her reserve within her Odic core, and then converting it into mana and then being released through her spells. And at the same time, she was infusing her body with her Od to enhance her physical prowess. This time, Emily was using martial arts, mystic arts, and Arcane arts, showing excellent skills in the various arts as she plunged into a dalliance of pure savagery. She was clearing twenty Abominations in one go, freezing, burning, and slicing them both from a long distance and from up close. She made sure to position herself in front of Herny, who was trying to cast spells from the safety of being far from the Abominations. As a Wizard, Henry was more suited to long-distance fighting, as he needed a lot of time to prepare for his attack. Assisting him with casting his spells, was a silver wand he had received from the school. At the tip of the wand was encased a blue gem that possessed mana which he could use to weave his spells.
[Earth creation: Rock bullets]
From the Magic circle he had weaved with his mana, the Elemental energy that was part of the World energy itself was separated from the rest of the Elemental energies, the Magic circle singling out the Earth's elemental energy and converting it into pure physical matter. Five sets of rock shaped like a cone spined in the air as it accumulated kinetic energy, and then was shot out at the speed of sound, tearing through the Abominations like it was a cannon blast. This was how Conjuration magic worked. By evoking the Magic circle through his mana, Henry was able to interact with the World's energy and manipulate any of the six elemental energy that made up the World's energy itself. Through his hand gestures and spoken words, he could input the command that communicated his intentions, and then through the power of mental computation, he could determine the outcome of the spell cast. All this required tremendous mental prowess which was why Mana was considered the power of the mind. As such, Henry needed a lot of time and preparation for him to attack. This goes to show how much skill and luck Emily had when it came to the Arcane art. As an Awakened Mystic, Emily could use the Arcane star system that had allowed for faster, more efficient speed of conversion of Magic power into Magic by her omitting most of the methods when it came to the Magic circle system. With just her will, Emily could command the Elemental energy to convert into any shape or physical properties she desired, using her intent to manifest the Magic circle. At the same time, while concentrating most of her mental power on her magic, she was still able to concentrate on using her other skills. Such a thing was only possible due to the strength of her Odic rank and her talent. Fighting alongside them, Sam was striking and punching her way through the hordes of Abomination. But as she was doing this, something was bothering her. Sam had been trying her best to keep her emotions in check. To be numb to any feeling, but that was getting harder and harder as she made contacts with these creatures. As she struck another of the Abominations, sending it crashing against a building, Sam felt a tug in her core....No...it was more than a tug. She thought to herself. It was...
"Resonance," She muttered to herself. The more Sam developed her Odic power, the more she came to understand her Empathic ability. Her ability to feel the emotions of others came from her ability to interact with the soul. Through music as a medium, Sam was able to connect with the souls of living beings. This was what her Unique technique, Música conductor allowed her to do. And then there was Resonance, the technique that allowed her soul to resonate with the souls of other beings. This was what was happening as Sam attacked the Abominations. Somehow her soul was resonating with that of the monsters, and their emotions, their true emotions that went beyond the corruption that had consumed their soul, bleed into Sam. She was feeling their pain, their fear of being cut off from something intrinsic, of becoming a perversion of themselves. The more Sam struck them, the stronger the feeling became to the point that she didn't even realize that her attack output had become less and less. One of the Abominations growled and jumped at her with it's claws and fangs. Sam prepared to smash it with her fists, but then her soul shook again with resonance, and then she saw a flash of human face on the Abomination. Her hesitation brought her to slow down her attack but then someone came and pushed her away, a silver sword tore through the Abomination, dividing it into two sides.
"What are you doing," Leon said. He wasn't wielding the broadsword from before but this time a Seriphium blade that had a single edge. There was an edge to his voice as he scrutinized Sam's behavior. He looked at the knocked out Abominations around Sam, noticing that most of them were alive but unconscious. "This isn't the time for you to be holding back. This situation is different from those assassin. You need to take them out," Sam was by the side of the Abomination that Leon had killed, watching as the body evaporated, leaving behind a shard of green rock. Whenever an abomination was killed, they left behind such thing. Sam had seen one before from the first time she saw Leon kill an Abomination. Before she didn't know what it was but now, Sam could tell what it was. A remnant of the soul of the Abomination that was once human. Since their soul were cut off from the Odyllic, they could not return to the Great cycle of rebirth, thus most of their spiritual energy was burnt off leaving behind just a shard of their former soul. That was what the green rock was. Sam could feel the pain and regret that was left behind, something that tugged at her heart as she focused on Leon.
"They're human," Sam said, her voice cracked as she said it. Was it wrong to bring her here. Leon thought.
"If you're going to become strong, then you can't hesitate in battle," Leon said.
"I...I.." But Sam was interrupted by a fiery arrow that shot pass them striking a group of Abomination that had been running towards them.
"Can you keep the conversations to later after we're done fighting," Emily said. She was the one who had fired the flame arrows to incinerate the rushing Abominations. Henry was behind her, marveling at Emily's skill. All this time he was focusing on surpassing that arrogant bastard but instead the one he should be looking up to was his teacher. Leon smiled at Emily who only shook her head at his behavior.
"I trust you to have my back," Leon said. Emily turned to regard Sam who was kneeling in front of the Essence stone. If there was anyone who could empathize with Sam's situation, it would be Emily. Like Sam, her telepathic ability to read minds also came from her soul based ability, but unlike Sam, Emily had twenty- four years of her life to hone her ability to the point that something like her being crippled by the trauma of others couldn't get to her. Sam would have to figure out how to handle it. The ground shook bringing their attention to a new group of Abominations that had showed up. This time there was more of them. But something interesting was happening. One of the Abominations had become glued to another, like they were merging together and soon enough, most of them began to merge and converge into one single entity that was large with multiple elongated limbs. The creature was huge, around ten meters in height, shaped like a blob with two glowing red eyes. A vertical line appeared and opened, showing a row of serrated fang that let out a roar that shook the land of Cedar lake. Even the limbs itself had mouths at the end with multiple eyes on it. A black aura emanated from the monstrosity, it's sight set on them as the elongated limbs moved to attack them.
[Darkness creation: Nebula arrows] A volley of darkness shaped as arrows pierced through the limbs, destroying each of them. But then the limbs began to regenerate at a fast pace.
"Darkness magic is the element of destruction and decay.," Emily said. "To think it can withstand a four tier spell."
"Instant Regeneration," Leon said. "Something all Mid-rank and above Abominations have. Such a headache," Leon's blade shone with a brilliant light as Leon infused his power within the Seriphium blade. "Listen to me Sam, and listen well. If you want to kill an Infernal quickly, the best way is to destroy its core. That's their weak spot. it's a major organ for them. And to find the core..." Leon dashed off, golden light danced through the air, limb flying up followed by dots of red. Leon kept cutting his way through the limbs that kept regenerating rapidly, a crazy glint in his eyes. "...you have to focus on the inside where the Od is more concentrated and denser." He kept dancing and cutting through the limbs that tried to keep him at a distance. But Leon was persistent, managing to close the distance between him and the Abomination. And then with a swipe of his sword, a long slash of yellow light cut through the Abomination. Leon flipped his body around facing his companions, the limbs that were close to attacking him paused a couple of inches away. But Leon ignored them as he walked out of their radius, and then the Abomination's body began to disintegrate, turning to ashes and leaving behind a bigger Essence stone. He sheathed his sword and began to yawn like what he did was nothing but a needless exercise. Sam was left shocked at Leon's capability, looking at all the chaos that surrounded them, the putrid smell of this accursed land bringing up feelings that she couldn't express.