Images. The foundation for an astral body and finally stepping into the ranks of the higher echelons of the universe.
The process of stepping into the realm of spirit lords is one of the most important transitions in one's life. It was also the last time the world spirit facilitates one's ascension into a higher tier, as the realm of spirit lords is when one begins to live their mortal coil and ascend into something otherworldly.
The process of stepping into the realm of Spirit lord was delicate as it involved wielding a massive amount of Essence to construct your Astral body.... A delicate process that could leave you crippled if handled carelessly.
An astral body, illusory at first, was a process that could take years to fully become solid.
Images are the foundational blocks for creating an astral body. A very incorporeal astral form built from scratch with nothing but your will and the energy provided by the World Spirit.
An illusory astral image could serve as an energy booster, increasing your power manifold. It was usually a last-minute card that could change the outcome of a battle.
The problem with astral images, though, was their mental strain. Keeping an astral image manifested was a sink in one's mental energy, draining it like a whirlpool. Although they could be used to turn the card on a battle, they could also be the cause for their summoner's death if manifested prematurely.
Summoning hundreds of feet tall behemoths. Elena and Igor rose higher and higher until they floated in front of their respective astral images. Damien had to admit, they posed an intimidating sight.
Elena floated in front of a giant black snake with scales that seemed to drink in the light around it for miles around. Its slitted eyes shone a glowing silver, and it bared fangs that promised a very long and painful death.
The aura the snake exuded was that of a silent hunter lurking in the dark, unseen but felt, waiting until it was time to strike.
Igor's was a humanoid figure made out of shadow, With two deep voids where the eyes should have been. It wore a cloak of shadow that slowly smothered the lights around it, plunging the world into shadow. Its aura promised a suffocating death.
Floating in front of their images, their mere auras warped the world around them, turning day into night and drowning the desert sands in a sea of shadows.
Damien decided then that it was time to get more serious.
***
While coordinating the evacuation of a city's worth of people, chosen Ymal was beginning to wonder if they were all going to make it out of the city alive. Judging from the sounds of explosions coming from the city, he didn't think it likely.
The soldiers he had placed to monitor the fight had reported Damien battling two combatants and was winning handily, that was a relief.
He had begun to have hope of them surviving this ordeal, but all was squashed when lady luck took away her smile and the day suddenly turned to night, and the world was drowned in shadow.
Turning back, what he saw almost made him collapse in terror. From the screaming and raw panic that began amongst the evacuating people, he assumed some people might have collapsed.
Two apocalyptic creatures towered over the city from miles away. A giant snake rising over hundreds of meters bared its silver fang, and its silver slits shone with scales so black they drowned out the lights of the day.
A monstrous human-shaped thing made out of shadow towered next to it, with eyes that seemed to shroud the world in Shadows. At its feet was a sea of shadows that seemed to rise like a tsunami.
Ymal almost died from the promise of death those creatures exuded, but they were overwhelmed by the new aura that rolled over them like a wave, tinting the world a touch of grey
An aura that foretold destruction.
***
Floating in front of his now massively empowered opponents, Damien decided to get more serious.
The first thing he did was summon his old trusty armor. Silver metal enshrouded his body from neck to toe, giving a soft glow.
He'd had this armor for years now, crafted out of star metal that had crashed onto the planet. He admired the dozens of cracks and dents in the armor, signifying the battles the armor had endured.
Next, he manifested a part of his astral image, cloaking himself in grey flames that flowed down his body, drifting around his body like liquid fire on a nonexistent wind. His aura flowed out, contending with theirs.
Powerful as he was, even he could not contend with a fully manifested astral image. A partial manifestation was powerful enough.
Levitating, enshrouded by his armor and cloak made of grey flames while holding his war spear, Damien looked down on his opponents.
Having seen his obvious refusal to take them as a threat enough to summon a full manifestation, Elora lost it.
Summoning dozens of daggers, all of them two meters long. She sent them down at him with speed that left behind trails of darkness.
With a sweep of his spear and release of grey destructive energy, Damien wiped out half of them, dodging the remaining. Moving closer to Elora, he stabbed through the black construct she tried to shield herself with, stabbing straight into her palm. His spear spear through their entire arm, coming out through the shoulder. Channeling destructive energy through the spear, Elora screamed as her whole arm exploded, spraying her face and body with her smoking flesh.
The poison mistress gazed at him with pure hate as she quickly fled into the distance.
Igor came in with his hammer aimed at Damien's chin. He scoffed, stopping the approaching hammerhead again with his bare palm, the shockwave from the collision crushing any standing structure around him for a mile.
He sent back his reply an instant later with a punch to the man's temple, slamming him into the sands dozens of meters below and creating a devastating crater. His cloak swept over the wind as if with a mind of its own, destroying the two daggers that came at his back.
Elora then decided to up the fight. Her image stretched higher, looking down onto the city from miles in the sky. It opened its huge maw, releasing a sea of poison mists towards Damien. He grunted as his cloak enshrouded him protectively, obliterating any poison that touched it. The city at his back wasn't so protected, though.
A huge swath of the city began melting. Stones and metals alike turned into black sludge that emitted a putrid smell.
He looked towards the giant snake and Elora floating in front of it, smiling like he should have dropped dead in terror.
Damien smiled back in turn, returning in kind. He pointed his spear tip at her image and released a sea of grey flames, drowning it in destruction. There was a loud hiss as Elora's image burned, the flames eating up its body.
Elora's expression changed from happiness to horror as a portion of her foundation was destroyed. She crashed into the ground a moment later as her mental capability wasn't able to handle the pain of what Damien knew was surely to be a hefty spiritual damage.
He swore at himself for his constant distraction. He should have kept a part of his mind on Igor. He paid for that when he couldn't react quickly enough to the massive hammer, dozens of meters tall, that crashed into him, blasting him down the sands and into the already destroyed city, leaving a large trench from his passage and destroying more of the city.
Standing up, he dodged another approaching hammer blow from Igor, replying in kind with a punch to his chest plate. Igor was blasted back out of the city. He threw his spear after the man for good measure, piercing him and pinning him into his image.
Following, he passed the city's now destroyed gate and was almost upon the injured Igor when a pillar of darkness rose to encircle him, sealing him in.