Noah and the group rode through the night, trying to escape from Scyler and his minions. On the plus side, Valia’s slash seemed to have inflicted some lasting damage because he wasn’t pursuing them on foot like he was before, and he was keeping his distance as though fearful of another attack. Perhaps his regeneration wasn’t working, or it was slowed. Either way, it gave them some breathing room. However, that didn’t mean he had given up. If anything, he had returned to his original strategy, chasing relentlessly so as not to give them time to rest while traveling inside a slime. He was wearing them down, waiting until they could no longer resist.
After fighting so much, Seraph and Bojena were utterly exhausted, falling asleep in their saddles, with Valia yet to wake up, but Shannon and the horses were suffering the most from this long pursuit. The horses were aware that death was coming for them, and knew they had to run for the sake of their own survival, even without Shannon telling them. Yet while fear did give momentary strength, it could not alleviate fatigue.
Whenever they had time, the group would stop to recover, and Noah would go to work, gathering herbs and other ingredients to make potions to restore everyone’s stamina, even mixing in some alchemically-crafted caffeine and amphetamines. Soon enough, they would sense Scyler and the slimes’ approach and be forced to keep moving. Noah’s potions took the edge off, but everyone in the group, two legs or four, was being pushed to the edge of their endurance.
Once the sun returned, Valia awoke on Shannon’s back while Noah rode her horse. “I’m sick of waking up like this,” she grumbled.
“My Lady!” Shannon exclaimed in relief, though Bojena and Seraph were far less joyful.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You managed to land a significant blow, but Scyler survived, and he chased us through the night. Valia, those powers….”
“We can’t trust her,” said Bojena. “She’s been turned, just like that whore that killed the king.”
“I swear, I’m not one of the Profane. I don’t know where that came from.”
“Welindar,” said Noah. “Kaisen’s explosion, you were wandering around in the fallout, looking for us, breathing in all that dark mana and contamination. Then, when you made the run to Colbrand, continuously expending all of your energy and replenishing it with potions, that contamination kept circulating through your body, working deeper and deeper into your system. All of the healing magic you’ve received probably prevented the infection from spreading, but it couldn’t dig out the roots. If Lumestada can’t purify you, our only hope is the Star of Sylphtoria, but we can’t get there with Scyler pursuing us.”
“It doesn’t matter how it happened! Now that she has Profane energy, she’s a danger to all of us!” Bojena shouted. “We need to put her—” Noah shot her with a mana bullet, silencing her and nearly making her fall out of her saddle.
“I thought I made it clear that your job is to guide us to Lumestada. The only words I want to hear out of your mouth are which direction we go and how much longer it will take.”
She glared at him and sat up in her saddle. “I don’t know where we are. We need to get our bearings.”
They kept riding, finding some of their strength recovering with the rising sun, but always with the slimes in pursuit, giving them no chance to properly rest. Eventually, they reached a road and followed it to a fork with signs, one pointing to Rorik, and Bojena pulled out her map.
“I know where we are. We should reach Lumestada by midday if we continue in this direction. Running for our lives has advantages; we’ve made good time.”
They abandoned the road and cut across the wilderness towards their goal, not wanting to risk travelers getting mixed up in the fighting. What relief the sun gave at dawn withered as the morning grew late. Everyone’s sleep debts and empty bellies weighed them down, and the summer heat wasn’t helping. They scavenged for food where they could, but with Scyler on their tail, there wasn’t much they could gather with what little time they had, and their hunger pursued them just as relentlessly.
“I never told you this, but when I fought Tysinger back in Welindar, he offered to make me a ghoul,” said Valia weakly, leaning against Shannon.
“He made me the same offer when I faced him,” Noah replied, riding beside her.
“Yeah, he said I was a better choice,” she chuckled.
“I thought what he and I had was special. I can’t believe I let myself be fooled by his pretty words,” Noah sighed, making her laugh again.
“I didn’t tell you because… part of me wanted to give in and let him turn me.”
“My Lady!” Shannon exclaimed in shock.
“But you refused him, of course, right?” Noah asked.
“I didn’t have the chance. Kaisen blew up before I could answer. And to my shame, after seeing all the horrors the Profane wrought, while running to Colbrand to warn them of the horrors they set to unleash, I kept turning Tysinger’s offer in my mind over and over. Despite all of my best judgment, I still felt temptation tugging at me.”
“I don’t want to hear this!” Shannon said, shaking her head.
“Because of Valon?” Noah sighed.
“We both said we needed to get stronger before we faced him again. When I slashed Scyler back there, deep in my heart, I wondered if my prayers had been answered. I imagined that blast cutting through Valon’s shields, cutting through the barriers around his mind, and letting me finally reach him. You should know what that’s like, to have a prayer so desperate you’d even make it to a demon. The power, it gives you wild ideas. I understand why so many accept it. I wish I didn’t, but I do, and even now, I still wonder if it could be what allows us to save him.”
“Valia, this isn’t power. You haven’t been turned into a true Profane. You haven’t gained anything. All you’re doing is burning through your life force. If you keep this up, you could lose your immortality, if not your life.”
Valia reached out and grasped his hand. “Yet for all the times I’ve heard you explain your reincarnation, all your fears of dying in this world and being reborn into another one, all the reminders that death is not the end for you, when I saw Scyler lunge for you, when I saw him threaten to take you away from me, it seemed like a good trade, and it still does, even now.”
“There, that mountain,” Bojena said, pointing ahead.
They hurried up the mountainside, where the town of Rorik could be seen in the distance, and as Noah glanced back, he saw trees falling over in the distance.
“Move! Move!” he shouted.
They picked up the pace, arriving at a shelf high up on the mountain and facing a large circular door. The earth and vegetation gave way, revealing a solid material underneath that Noah recognized from Colbrand’s royal vault, with the door to Lumestada of a similar design. The solid black material reflected sound uniquely, early silent as the Shannon’s and the horses’ hooves knocked on it. As Bojena went to work opening the door, Noah examined the ground.
“These are Enochian ruins,” he muttered, turning to Shannon. “We’ll leave the horses to you. Wait for us on the other side of the mountain. Scyler may target Rorik depending on what happens here, so stay clear of it.”
Shannon, though wanting to stay with her Lord, nodded. “I understand.”
“Let’s hurry inside,” Valia panted, still weak from earlier. Without saying a word, Noah conjured his hat from his ring and put it on her head, binding her movements. Valia’s body stiffened up, and she nearly fell off Shannon’s back, but Noah caught her, not that she was particularly grateful. “Noah, what are you doing?!”
“We both know you’re in no condition to fight, and we both know that won’t stop you from fighting anyway.”
“Take this fucking hat off me! I’m not letting you do this alone!”
Noah turned to Shannon. “This is my order to you: keep her safe. If we aren’t back by nightfall, get to Sylphtoria. The two of you will be protected there. Do you understand me?”
“Wait, I can’t just leave—”
Noah cupped her cheeks, silencing her. “I’m not going to let either of you die, understand? Not for me. No matter what Valia says, you do not come back here. If I survive, I’ll find you.”
Shannon’s tears dampened his hands. “And if you don’t?”
“Then my journey continues, just as it always has, you know that, but I’ll remember you for all the ages to come. Now go, both of you.”
“Don’t you dare send me away! Noah! Not like this!” Valia shouted with angry tears.
“If you’re willing to act out for love, I will too. If we fail to meet again, find Valon. Tell him… I wish we could have been friends. Shannon, get her out of here.”
“Yes… Noah,” Shannon mumbled, trying to put on a brave face. Noah kissed her for luck, and she galloped off, leading the horses with Valia shouting in fury.
With the two of them gone, Noah turned to Bojena, adjusting the tumblers of the giant door. She was following instructions on a piece of parchment, and just from the look on her face, he knew there was no point in telling her to hurry up. However, they were short on time, and the slimes could be seen climbing up the mountain towards their position.
“Be honest, what do you think our chances are?” Seraph asked.
“If we can’t get that door open? Zero. Come on, let’s try to buy some time.”
Noah held out his hands and formed an illusory rocket launcher, shooting mana missiles at the approaching slimes. He managed to hit one, and surprisingly enough, it flinched. Whether it was the core or the parasite, there was something within the mass of ooze capable of being affected by his most powerful illusions. However, it was only a momentary pause. Seraph joined in, firing small bursts of light, and got the same effect.
“Bojena, how’s it looking?” Noah hollered.
“I’m almost there!”
“Almost isn’t good enough!” They were running out of time, and he needed to buy more. “Seraph, go stand near Bojena. I need you out of the way. Make sure she gets that door open.”
Seraph hurried to Bojena’s side, and Noah took off down the mountain towards the slimes. He couldn’t risk them getting caught in his technique. Once he reached a safe distance, he pulled out his monster grimoire and flipped it open to the page with the basilisk scale. He gathered all of his mana together and cast the magic, summoning the basilisk behind him.
“Sweet mother of God!” Seraph exclaimed in shock, with Bojena pausing her work to stare in disbelief.
“Bojena, work faster!” Noah shouted before he unleashed the scream.
It took everything he had, but he restricted the reach of his mana to just the distance between him and the slimes, and focused it as much as he could into a linear attack. The illusory sound waves washed over the slimes, bringing them to a halt, with their surfaces rippling in response like goosebumps. It seemed to be working, but the moment he stopped to catch his breath and gather his strength, the slimes once more advanced. Unlike the knights, they suffered no lasting pain from the noise. It only made them halt their advance momentarily.
Noah drank a mana potion and once more hit them with the basilisk scream, but it was getting weaker and weaker each time he used it, and he could only maintain it for a handful of seconds. Even with the potion, his full strength refused to return, as though his body simply couldn’t retain the power he needed. Try as he might to push through the fatigue, he was exhausted. He was holding together better than the others, but his vessel was still only human.
After the fourth scream, he heard Bojena’s voice. “It’s open!”
He was unsteady on his feet, but Noah dug down for every last bit of strength and hauled himself up the mountain to the door. The slimes were struggling with the mountain’s steepness, the same as him, and had much more mass to move, but they weren’t as exhausted as he was. It was a desperate race, Noah breathing raggedly like a chain smoker, narrowly dodging the tendrils trying to grab him, with the slimes tripping over themselves as they struggled to climb. Seraph met him halfway, helping him to the door.
Not caring what was on the other side, the trio threw themselves into the darkness with the door sealing shut behind them. All three of them hit the ground, and though it was hard as stone, it felt like a warm bed for the exhausted travelers, and sleep took them instantly. However, it felt like they had just closed their eyes when they were forced to open them, awoken by a grinding sound coming from the other side of the door.
“Oh gods, now what?” Bojena groaned.
“Scyler, he must be trying to cut through,” said Noah. “If we can hear him, then he’s made significant progress. Come on, we have to keep moving. We can’t stop now.”
Noah projected a sphere of light to illuminate their path, and the three got to their feet, proceeding down the dark corridors.
----------
Shannon led the horses down the mountainside, trying to swallow her doubts and focus on keeping them safe. It didn’t help that Valia refused to give up convincing her.
“Shannon, I swear on the spirits, if you don’t turn around and get us back there, I will never forgive you!” she shouted, laid out across Shannon’s saddle like a dead body with Noah’s hat secured on her head.
“I can’t do that, My Lady, you know I can’t,” Shannon replied, trying to stay strong.
Once again, Valia struggled against her invisible restraints, but aside from her eyes and mouth, she couldn’t move at all. She could not understand how Noah managed to walk around and even fight with such binds. Yet as Shannon moved past a bush, an outreaching branch snagged the rim of Noah’s hat and pulled it off. Now free, Valia tried to sit up but fell off Shannon’s back.
“My Lady!” Shannon explained, stopping and turning back to help her.
Valia swatted her hands aside. “Get off me! I can’t believe you would let Noah do that to us!”
“He did it FOR us! He told me to keep you safe! I almost lost you once before, and I couldn’t bear it if I lost you for real!”
“And what about Noah?”
“I don’t want to lose either of you!” Shannon tearfully exclaimed. “You think I want this? You think I want to leave him behind, knowing what’s after him? With all my heart and soul, I just want to go home with you both. I want to lie in bed between you and Lord Noah like we did after Knight’s Day. I want to close the door to your room, shut out the world, and spend the rest of eternity held by you two. You’re all I have in this world! You’re all—” Shannon couldn’t even finish her words. She assumed her human form and fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
Valia’s anger was extinguished, and she crouched down, holding Shannon tightly. “We will go home, I promise you, all three of us. But if we leave now, you know that won’t happen. If we leave, we’ll never be whole again. We can’t walk away from this, no matter what Noah says. We have to go back and help him.”
“You know we can’t. Look at yourself. You’re in no condition to fight, and the more you try, the worse you get. If we go back there, you’re going to use that awful power again, and it’ll kill you. I will have to watch you die. Please, I’ve already seen so much suffering and horror. Don’t make me see that.”
“I’m not going to die, Shannon. This evil in my blood, I will not let it beat me, nor will I let Scyler or his minions. We will save Noah and return home; I swear on my very soul. Have faith, Shannon. I know why you’re afraid, why you have doubts, but I need your faith. I need your hope, your determination, your courage, and your trust. If you want us to return home together, all three of us, then I need you to fight for it. I need you to fight harder than ever in your life, just like I am, just like Noah is. If we leave now, you and I will regret it for the rest of our lives. The only way we’re returning home is together. Now let’s go.”
Shannon took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. “Yes, My Lady.” She reassumed her centaur form, and Valia climbed up onto her saddle. Shannon instructed the horses to find a safe place to rest and wait for them, then they took off towards the mountain summit.
----------
Noah, Seraph, and Bojena wandered the ancient halls, descending deeper and deeper into its shadowy gullet. They passed by countless rooms and chambers, stripped bare of all items by scavengers, archeologists, the church, or any others who managed to infiltrate the place throughout the eons. They moved fast, knowing that Scyler was behind them, but as they traveled, Noah couldn’t help but notice the architecture, and how eerily familiar it was. He didn’t want to voice his thoughts until he was forced to face them when they entered a massive chamber. A bridge spanned across the room, with the walls adorned with great statues of Enochians, and massive chains and cables hung across the ceiling.
“We’re in a dungeon crab,” he said as they crossed the bridge.
“A dungeon crab? What are you talking about?” Seraph asked.
“I explored one before traveling to Colbrand to join the knight academy. I passed through a chamber exactly like this one, except everything was covered by a hard shell. Then, after traveling to Sylphtoria, I went on an excursion to Kisara Island, an elven colony that was abandoned after it was taken over by monsters. According to the records, a dungeon crab emerged in the waters around the island, and a magical tool called the Wildheart was collected with the power to use summoning magic, bringing about the island’s destruction. It’s possible that all dungeon crabs are actually Enochian facilities like this one, each with a Wildheart that went out of control.”
“You’re saying there could be monsters down here?” Bojena asked.
“Possibly, but the fact that we haven’t seen any yet implies that this base either doesn’t have a Wildheart, or it’s dormant.”
They continued on, with Noah stopping them once they reached another chamber that caught his eye. The entire structure was made of the adamantine synthetic material, except for the wall of this room, but its surface, and the ledge in front of it, like a slanted bench, stood out to Noah. It was engraved with more than just runes like the rest of the facility; it resembled a keyboard, with added nobs, levers, and buttons, and the panes on the wall above almost looked like screens. Noah had seen this technology before. It looked just like the tech the Pack was using in their labs.
“Let me see if I can get this working.”
“Get what working?” Seraph asked.
Noah didn’t answer and instead began tinkering with the machinery, using a mix of engineering and runecraft. Old formulas needed to be cleaned up and retouched with fresh ink, while cables for circulating magical energy were repaired and rewired. Seraph and Bojena watched as he opened up panels in the walls and floor, revealing parts and components they couldn’t even begin to imagine the function of, yet Noah adjusted and altered them as though it was second nature.
“We can’t linger here. Scyler could arrive at any moment,” said Bojena.
“Hang on, I’m almost there.” Noah closed a floor panel and went back to the central console. “Better start praying.” He twisted a nob, and for a moment, there was nothing. Then a low hum began to echo through the corridors as magical lights activated, illuminating the facility. “Yes, we have power!” The keyboard in front of Noah lit up, and from the screens before him, holographic rune sequences were projected into the air like magic circles. “Accessing the data archives now,” he said, using the controls to dig through the ancient knowledge.
“How do you know how to do this?” Seraph asked.
“I was working on Enochian tech just like this in Welindar for Lupin, and similar human tech back in previous worlds. There are only so many different ways you can make a computer. Hmmm, most of the information has been erased. Whether it was on purpose or simply due to damage and deterioration, I’m not sure. However, looking through the data that remains, my theory seems to be correct. This is an Enochian research facility, one of countless scattered across the globe. They were created by the Enochian sage Carobrant as part of a doomsday recovery scenario. Carobrant… I’m sure I’ve read that name before.”
“Doomsday recovery scenario?” Bojena asked.
“Any society that reaches sufficient technological advancement has to prepare for the end of the world. Whether brought on by a meteor, super volcano, solar storm, or manmade annihilation, steps must be taken to ensure that life goes on. I’ve worked on similar projects myself for various governments throughout the multiverse. Roroaka, the dragon that brought me to Colbrand, said that the wars between Enochians and dragons repeatedly brought the world to the brink of oblivion, so these facilities would be the most logical step.
One of the main goals is the cataloging and preservation of as many life forms as possible. With just a sample of an organism, it’s possible to clone it and resurrect extinct species. According to this, many of these facilities had Wildhearts for just that purpose. It says that the world’s summoning circles are dictated by the spirits of nature to ensure every species remains in balance. However, the spirits cease to exist when there is no life, and can’t be found in sterile areas. The more abundant life is, the more spirits there are, and the more spirits there are, the more abundant life is.
The Enochians collected the biological data of every life form and stored them, so that if the world was brought to ruin and the spirits ceased to be, then life could be replenished using the Wildhearts to restore the lost species. These facilities could even burrow down into the depths of the planet to escape the devastation and resurface once everything quieted down. After the Enochians died out and could no longer maintain the facilities, the Wildhearts must have gone out of control and turned the labs into isolated ecosystems.”
“This is all fascinating, but how does that help us? What about Lumestada?” Bojena asked.
“All the information on Lumestada is gone. However, if I’m reading this right, it remains in the facility, and I think I’ve found it.” Noah brought up a map of the ruins, momentarily surprised by its vastness, but then pointed at a spot in the back with a blinking light. “There’s our prize.” Noah took a picture with his phone, and they stepped out into the lit corridor, only to realize they weren’t alone. The end of the hallway was blocked off by an advancing wall of black slime, swirling with bones.
“Scyler’s found us!” Seraph shouted.
“Let’s go!” Noah barked.
The trio took off in a run with the slime in pursuit, certain that more were behind it. They were following Noah’s phone, but keeping his bearings in this situation wasn’t exactly easy, and it took all of his focus not to get lost. As the corridor narrowed, Bojena momentarily hung back. “Tempest Hammer!” She formed the biggest sphere of wind she could and hurled it at the oncoming slime. The sphere tore through the black fluid like a bullet into ballistics gel, and the slime’s body was eviscerated as if it had been poured into a giant blender. Compressed into that narrow hallway, it was harder to keep its core out of danger, and the slime and all those behind it were slaughtered.
“I smell your blood, Noah!” Scyler’s cackling voice echoed. “I’m going to savor every last drop!”
The trio entered another expansive chamber, with the floor dropping far below and numerous catwalks stretching across the chasm, suspended by chains. As they ran across the main bridge, Noah sensed an attack coming from behind. A storm of blades was rushing towards them, slashing the corridor’s walls, floors, and ceiling as it approached.
“Jump! Now!” Noah shouted, prompting Seraph and Bojena to leap to the nearest catwalks, barely a moment before Scyler’s attack bloomed through the chamber, severing chains and sending the bridges swinging wildly and banging into each other. The trio hung on for dear life as they threatened to fall into the abyss.
Scyler stood in the doorway to the chamber, looking at the three warriors and laughing. “As much as I’m tempted to turn you, Noah, I’m even more tempted to just let you fall!”
His smile vanished and he suddenly leaped onto a catwalk, narrowly dodging a burst of dark mana erupting from the hallway like a black geyser. Valia appeared where he stood moments before, her sword burning with dark flames.
“Noah, you and I need to have a talk,” she growled.
“We’ll talk later! Bojena!”
Cued to act, Bojena hurled a bundle of rings at Scyler, severing the chains holding up his catwalk and leaving him dangling, barely holding on. Scyler let go with one hand and prepared to unleash an attack, but Noah was faster, hitting him with a flashbang. With Scyler distracted and hanging on by a thread, Seraph charged up a desperate attack and targeted the ghoul with a burst of light. Though Scyler’s magic activated to block most of it, he was still hit with enough mana to shake him off the catwalk and send him falling.
Far from vanquished, Scyler spread out his limbs, and from his back, long mana blades extended like spider legs and caught onto the sides of the chasm, stopping his descent. He then raised his hand and launched another storm of blades straight up, shredding the catwalks and leaving everyone scrambling to find something to hang onto, but Noah had nowhere to go and he fell.
“Zodiac: Baol!” Valia cast, boosting her strength and shooting herself at Noah, grabbing him in midair and hitting the chasm side, where she dug her sword into the wall to stop them like Scyler had.
“Valia, I—”
She didn’t give him time to finish what he was saying, instead throwing him with one arm up to one of the semi-intact catwalks. “Find Lumestada! I’ll deal with him!” She then pulled her sword from the wall and leaped into the middle of the chasm, falling straight towards Scyler. “Zodiac: Rakshon!”
As she fell, Scyler’s automatic defenses activated, and a volley of blades reached up to impale and dismember her, but with her steel body enhancement, they barely broke the skin. “Zodiac: Pravek!” Channeling her new dark power into her sword to increase its piercing ability, she stabbed Scyler in the center of the chest, setting off an explosion of dark mana that enveloped them both and sent them plummeting into the abyss, wrapped in black flames.
“My Lady!” Shannon exclaimed in terror, standing where Valia stood.
“Shannon!” Noah shouted before tossing her his phone. “That has the map to Lumestada! Get Seraph and Bojena there!”
Shannon understood and didn’t like what he was saying. “My Lord, don’t!”
However, Noah ignored her and jumped off his catwalk, plummeting into the abyss.
“Noah! No!” Seraph cried out.
“They’ll be fine!” Bojena shouted. “Get us out of here!”
Shannon nodded and threw down a rope. With no shortage of skill and courage, Seraph and Bojena jumped and swung over and grabbed it, and Shannon pulled them up in her centaur form. Following the map Noah copied to his phone, the group hurried through the facility, but Scyler’s slimes were on the hunt, following their footsteps.
As they set off, Noah continued to plummet, and as he fell, he conjured a magic tool from his ring and threw it at the ground below. The engraved wooden cube hit the ground and activated, with white runes glowing along the sides. All of the air in the chasm was momentarily pulled towards the spike and condensed to form a cushion, decelerating Noah just enough that he managed to avoid breaking any bones when he landed, though he wasn’t without pain. He got to his feet and went after Valia and Scyler, who had already moved the fight into an adjacent tunnel. Scyler was hurling endless blades at Valia, who was narrowly dodging and trying to close the distance with darkness burning along her blade.
Noah opened fire with a machine gun, and finally, his bullets started to slip through Scyler’s defenses and hit his body, interrupting his magic. It was just as Noah had suspected when he and Seraph attacked him above: His defenses were weakened due to all the damage he suffered in their earlier fight and regenerating so much of his body. He likely hadn’t fed since then either, meaning he was in a similar exhausted state. Scyler dodged the continuing spray of bullets and raised his hand towards Noah, directing his defenses. He could still protect himself, but only if he focused on it.
“Noah, I told you to find Lumestada!” Valia shouted.
“Shannon’s leading them. Right now, you need me more than they do.”
“How touching!” Scyler laughed, launching a massive blade at Noah.
Noah ducked and rolled to avoid it and continued firing at Scyler, who similarly moved to dodge. Noah reached Valia. “Stop using magic, damn it!”
“If I stop, I feel like I’ll die,” she panted.
“You’ll die faster if you keep it up. You said you weren’t called the Sword Goddess simply because of Zodiac.”
“I’m not, but this isn’t an enemy we can hold back against.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re not allowed to die here. We still haven’t found Valon, so I’m grounding you from using magic. Just leave it to me.”
“What a sweet reunion this is,” Scyler taunted. “Maybe I won’t turn you, Noah. That way, you both can die together.”
“I’m getting real sick of your shit, Scyler,” Noah replied before bombarding him with flashbangs.
Left disoriented by the light and sound, Scyler was open to attack. Noah and Valia slashed him with their swords, but he blindly threw up a barrier of blades. With his free hand, Noah shot Scyler with several mana bullets, breaking his focus and allowing their slashes to land. Scyler’s blood sprayed freely, but he countered by aiming his hand at Noah and unleashing a storm of blades.
“Zodiac: Rakshon!” Valia cast, activating her steel body enhancement and shielding Noah. Though her wounds were shallow, the attack hit them like a car crash, knocking them off their feet.
“I swear to God, Val, I shoot myself if you keep using magic.”
Valia laughed. “Then stop needing me to save you!”
Scyler launched himself towards them, holding two blades like swords and slashing at them both, but Noah and Valia blocked his attack. Once again, Noah shot Scyler to interrupt his magic and then splashed him with monster repellent.
“Not this filth again!” Scyler shouted in disgust.
He took off in a run, unable to fight while his senses were being attacked. Noah and Valia chased him through the tunnels, passing by globs of viscera left in his wake. Since he couldn’t wash the repellent off, he was taking the next logical step and slicing off his own flesh to escape the stink, much the way a gangrenous limb would be removed, even carving out his blinded eyes and letting them grow back. Noah kept shooting him to try and slow him down, but Scyler proved resilient, and the chase continued.
As their fight continued, Shannon, Seraph, and Bojena fled the slimes while heading closer and closer to Lumestada. Finally, they arrived at the largest chamber in the facility, comparable to Colbrand’s arena. It was completely empty, with the floor occupied by a colossal sealed portal of converging slats. The group sprinted across the portal to a console on the far side, pursued by the slimes, with Bojena and Seraph trying to fend them off with what little magic they had left.
Shannon reached the console and typed away. Noah had given her some lessons in Welindar on how to use magical tech, and though she was far from an expert, she managed to open the portal. In the very center of the portal, the slats began to retract, and vibrant light poured out, with the entire facility rumbling. The light flooded the chamber, and the slimes, mere feet away from their prey, writhed in agony from its radiance before being reduced to ash.
“We did it,” said Shannon, shielding her eyes. “We found Lumestada.”
Her joy was interrupted as the three of them were brought to their knees by a sudden crash. Something was rising up through the portal, not even bothering to wait for it to open.
Meanwhile, Noah and Valia were sprinting through the facility corridors, trying to escape Scyler, who had gotten his second wind, while Valia’s strength was fading fast. Her dark magic was enough to break through his defenses and withstand his attacks, but her body simply couldn’t keep up. The gray mark had spread and now covered almost half of her body, and with each passing moment, she could feel it eating away at her life force.
Her vision was blurred, every breath felt like inhaling broken glass, and no matter how much she spat out, her mouth kept filling with blood. Noah would pull her ahead and fire at Scyler to slow him down, but this couldn’t go on much longer. Noah was also running low on strength, but the rumbling gave them hope. Lumestada had been found, and if they could reach it before Scyler killed them, maybe it could heal Valia, or they could join up with the others and use the divine light to defeat him.
“You can’t escape from me!” Scyler laughed as he chased after them. “Which of you will watch the other die first?!”
Again and again, he launched blades of darkness to cut them down, each one narrowly dodged, disrupted with Noah’s bullets, or blocked with another desperate use of Valia’s corrupted Zodiac. They kept turning corners, each time sensing one of Scyler’s attacks striking the wall, missing them by a hair’s breadth. Finally, they turned one last corner and could see light ahead. However, the moment it hit Valia, she was awash in pain. The Profane energy within her was reacting to the light, and her corrupted flesh was burning. However, she moved towards it with Noah, willing to bear more pain to reach the others.
Scyler, similarly turning the corner, howled in agony as the light assaulted him, far more vulnerable to its radiance than Valia was. She and Noah reached the end of the hall, looking out over the portal chamber, just in time to see a massive shape rise up. After breaking through the portal, it struck the ceiling, continuing to rise to freedom.
Topside, the forest behind the mountain was lifted into the sky and cast to the breeze as the mass broke free of its earthen tomb, rising into the air. The dirt and debris fell away, revealing its true shape. Seven massive gold rings flipped and spun like a gyroscope around a colossal spherical core, reminiscent of an eye, with the mark of Lumendori imprinted on the iris. The outer ring, the seventh, was lined with wings that looked like yellow stained glass, and exuded indescribable power. Dark storm clouds churned overhead, and lightning arced across the sky as the atmosphere was saturated with power. Floating above the landscape, the mysterious being released a deafening hum, one that Valia could never forget.
“Oh my God,” she gasped, “it’s an angel.” Noah was likewise shocked, able to sense its incredible power, surpassing Roroaka’s like a miniature star. Valia’s weary eyes were drawn down below, where she saw Shannon, Seraph, and Bojena trying to escape the chamber, climbing up the rubble to reach the surface. “There they are!” she exclaimed, pointing to them.
“Shannon!” Noah called out before they both jumped down and chased after them.
As they ran across the open chamber, circumventing the open portal and dashing across debris, blades of darkness flew through the air and whiplashed across the angel, managing to chip and scratch its surface. Protected from the sun by the clouds overhead, Scyler had stepped out into the open and was waging war on the angel.
“Hear me, Lumendori! I strike down your messenger in the name of Zyrga! The darkness will swallow the light!”
The angel turned its eye towards Scyler, and the mark of Lumendori began to glow as it charged an attack.
“Everyone, take cover!” Noah shouted.
He, Valia, and the others all ducked behind debris as the angel unleashed a blast of light, one that sliced through the mountain and exploded, sending holy mana surging in all directions like fire from an atomic bomb. The angel restrained the force of the attack due to its proximity to the blast, but it was still enough to annihilate the Enochian facility. Had they not hidden behind a slab of the synthetic material, the blast would have reduced them to ash. Noah hoped to return after the battle and use the tech inside, but now that option was lost.
Scyler, who should have been obliterated by the light, was flying through the air with wings made of blades, continuing to slash at the angel with dark magic. Annoyed by his impertinence, the angel charged another attack and fired, this time without restraint. The beam of light missed Scyler and whipped across the landscape, even carving straight through the town of Rorik, before blossoming into a chain of explosions that reached the sky, and sending shockwaves that ripped trees from the earth and echoed for hundreds of miles. The village was completely wiped off the map as mushroom clouds rose from the blast craters. Now Noah understood what Bojena meant when she said Lumestada was the power of God in all of its beauty and horror. This angel was basically the lovechild between the Ark of the Covenant and a hydrogen bomb.
Scyler continued flying around the angel, trying to chip away at it with his blades. The fact that he could even injure such an incredible being was a testament to his power, but ultimately, it seemed he was inflicting nothing more than paper cuts. Using its rings as a shield, it protected itself from major damage. The angel continued trying to shoot him down, utterly indifferent to the destruction it caused. Noah and Valia reached the others, still cowering behind debris as explosions bloomed across the landscape. They all hurried to escape the ruins of the facility and reach the forest.
“What do we do?!” Shannon shouted due to the deafening noise.
“I don’t know. It’s taking care of Scyler for us, but if it doesn’t kill him soon, this entire province will be turned into a wasteland,” said Noah.
“Your Highness, you may be able to control it, or at least communicate with it,” said Bojena.
“You can’t be serious!” Seraph exclaimed
“You are Light’s Emissary! You and that angel are both born from the power of Lumendori! If there is anyone it will listen to, it’s you.”
“How in the world am I even supposed to reach that thing?”
“No, she may have a point,” said Noah. “Try hitting it with your magic, not as an attack, but as a greeting. I doubt that thing converses with words as we do, but you may be able to communicate with it via holy energy. Call out to it with your mana.”
Putting his trust in Noah, Seraph stood up and aimed his hand at the angel. He didn’t have much energy left, but what he did have was channeled into a beam of light that he shined upon the angel. Holy magic had various wavelengths depending on how it was used, from attacking, to defending, to undoing magic, to healing. Seraph tried to adjust his wavelength to be as nonconfrontational as possible and project his peaceful will. The beam of light hit the angel, and it stopped its attacks on Scyler, then turned its eye to Seraph. It fired a countering beam of light, equal in strength, the two beams pressing against each other like joined palms.
“My God,” Seraph gasped.
“What is it? What’s it saying?” Noah asked.
“I don’t know, I’ve never felt anything like this before. I can feel its mind, and it’s… it’s incredible. It’s like something from another dimension. Our thoughts take the form of pictures and sounds, but the angel’s thoughts are like the churning of a storm. I can’t understand what it’s saying, but it’s clearly aware of me, and I can feel it trying to communicate like a human trying to communicate with an ant.”
“Tell it why we’re here,” said Valia. “Ask if it can restore your—” Instead of words, a splash of black blood poured out of Valia’s mouth. She broke down into a coughing fit with more toxic bile spilling onto the ground, and an aura of dark mana surrounded her. The infection was spreading faster now, and soon she would either die or become a minion of the Profane. At that moment, the angel ceased contact with Seraph and released another machine-like drone that everyone understood.
“Shannon, get her out of here! It’s targeting Valia now!”
As the angel charged an attack, Shannon assumed her centaur form and took off with Valia on her back. Everyone else scattered as the angel fired a beam of light down upon them. There was no explosion, but the holy laser carved through the earth like a cutting torch through ice. Shannon galloped with all of her strength, trying to outrun the beam.
“Noah, what do we do? It’s not listening to me anymore!” Seraph exclaimed.
Noah downed a mana potion and switched his wyvern coat for his anti-paladin cloak. “I’ll try to get its attention. You keep trying to talk to it. Tell it Valia needs to be healed, not killed.”
“It’s too late for her, and you know it!” Bojena shouted.
“It’s not over until it’s over!” Noah countered.
He formed an illusory rocket launcher and fired a missile at the angel. The angel’s radiating light dispelled the illusion before it could land, but the angel still paused its attack on Valia to turn its gaze on him. Noah took off in a run as small blasts of light rained from its wings, blanketing the landscape like a firebombing. He dodged most of the blasts, but one hit him in the back. Though his cloak managed to absorb half of the power, he came so close to death that he experienced war flashbacks. That one hit bleached his mind of all thought, and he experienced a level of pain his body couldn’t even comprehend. The closest he could compare it to was a sudden, lethal dose of radiation, as if he had been stabbed through the heart with the fuel rod from a nuclear power plant.
Noah fell to the ground and lay there for several moments, unable to think or feel, just gripped by pain. His mind had to reboot like a computer, at which point, it took all of his strength to get to his feet. It was clear to him that if he took another attack like that, he’d die, but seeing the angel continue trying to erase Valia, he knew that inaction was not an option.
He stood up and fired another rocket at the angel, again drawing its attention. However, now his cloak was charged with energy, giving him a full-body monk enhancement. As the blasts once more rained down onto the devastated forest, Noah took off in another sprint, moving so fast that he was almost a blur.
Meanwhile, Seraph continued trying to communicate with the angel, using every drop of mana he had to open up another dialogue, but it had completely shut him out and continued to fire upon Valia and Shannon. Valia was leaning against Shannon’s back, with black blood steadily dripping from her lip. She could barely see, and every inch of her body was wracked with pain. She knew she had reached the end of the line. Likewise, Shannon had reached the end of her strength. How she was still galloping, Valia had no idea, but days of endless pursuit and fighting had burned her down to nothing.
“Shannon, that’s enough. Just leave me behind and get out of here.”
“No! I’m not going to leave you behind! Noah told me to keep you safe!” Shannon argued with tears in her eyes.
“If you don’t stop, we’re both going to die. I’m already doomed, but you still have a life ahead of you.”
“It would be an honor and privilege to die alongside you. I love you, and I’m not going to let go alone.”
Behind them, the angel paused its beam attack to deal with Noah once more.
“You’re such a wonderful, amazing, brave girl, Shannon. I can’t let you die, even if you hate me for it.” Valia then struck Shannon in the back of the neck, a precise blow that rendered her unconscious like a light going out. Shannon collapsed and sent Valia rolling across the ground. She slowly got to her feet, barely alive, and hobbled off to get as far away from Shannon as possible.
“One more time,” she panted. “Zodiac: Udan.”
Unholy power flooded her ravaged body, making her want to scream in agony. She took off in a sprint, feeling like her flesh would melt off her bones. The angel once more fired its beam at her, with Valia running for her life to escape it, not that she had much left.
She glanced at the angel. “If you’re so dead-set on killing me, then the least I can do is leave my mark.” She raced ahead of the beam, buying herself time to stop and face her foe, raising her sword above her head. All of the dark power coursing through her veins, ravaging her flesh, she channeled into her blade, creating a massive torrent of Profane energy. “Zodiac: Teez!”
She swung her sword, unleashing all that power in a wave at the angel. Where Scyler’s blades had only managed to cut and scrape, Valia’s attack sheered through the rings and carved deep into its eye, nearly splitting it in half and erasing the mark of Lumendori. The angel released a groan, which could only be interpreted as a sound of pain. With that brief opening, Scyler attacked, slashing at its wings with everything he had and managing to sever a few. The angel groaned again and began to drop from the sky. In retribution, it managed to shoot down Scyler, failing to kill him, but pushing him to the brink of death.
Valia dropped her sword and collapsed, her body rattling in a violent seizure. “Valia!” Noah shouted as he rushed over. The angel was falling towards her, so he scooped her up and kept running. It hit the ground with catastrophic force, upending the land and sending dirt and rock splashing like water. Noah was nearly crushed by the impact, and he and Valia were sent flying when the ground beneath his feet was thrown skyward.
Landing painfully, Noah looked around and saw Valia nearby. He crawled over to her, using up the last of his strength. He kneeled by her side, lifting her head. The gray mark now covered most of her body, and wounds were opening up across her infected flesh and leaking syrupy black blood. Even if Roroaka himself were to carry them to Sylphtoria, she would die long before they’d reach the star. She gazed at Noah, her glazed-over eyes unable to see him, but still producing tears.
“I’m sorry, Noah. I know you wanted me kept away, but I couldn’t leave you behind. I don’t care if you end up somewhere else, I still can’t bear the thought of being without you.”
“I shouldn’t have told you I loved you; it just made you even more stubborn.”
“Promise me you’ll find Valon and help bring him back to what he was before. I don’t want him to be alone. I need you to be there, to be his friend, like you said you wanted to be. Tell him I love him and forgive him for everything he’s done. And take care of Shannon. A beautiful soul like hers deserves everything the world has to offer.”
The ground began to shake, and Noah could feel power radiating from the angel. Cracks were opening up across its surface, and a continuous unnerving hum echoed. Noah knew what it meant, what was happening. The angel had become destabilized and was about to explode like a star at the end of its life. Even if he had the strength to run, Noah couldn’t hope to escape. There was no chance for any of them.
“You don’t have to worry about it. If there is an afterlife, you’ll be there for Shannon. Valon will just have to find his own way to peace. As for me, my journey continues.”
Valia understood what he meant. “So that’s it, then? I’m sorry. I really thought we could break your curse.”
“I’m used to it. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be reborn into another magical world, and I can try again.”
“Well, if that world is like this one, and there is a version of me there, find her. I want you to make her as happy as you made me.”
“That’s the plan.” He then held her close, waiting for the angel to explode and erase them both.
“Will it hurt?” Valia asked.
“It’ll be too fast for you to feel anything. Don’t worry. I’m here.”
“Noah! Valia!” Noah turned, seeing Seraph running over them.
“Sorry, Seraph, we failed. This is goodbye.”
“No, we’re not done yet! We can’t be done!”
“The angel is dying and about to take us all out with it. We can’t escape. Even Scyler is going to burn with us. Take comfort, Seraph. You’re going to die a decent man after all.”
“If I’m going to die, I’ll die making sure you survive.” He then drank a mana potion and faced the angel with his arms outstretched. “I’ll use everything I have to shield you from the blast! As a paladin, I have a higher resistance to holy magic than others! The world can’t defeat the Profane without you!”
Noah was about to refute him but stopped. If Seraph was going to die, Noah would let him die hopeful. “Thanks, Seraph.” He then turned back to Valia and held her tightly.
The angel exploded, releasing all of its holy energy in one big burst. However, death failed to claim Noah, and he opened his eyes. A massive pillar of light was rising from the angel, as if the explosion had been focused into an invisible cannon barrel. Seraph marked the perimeter, seemingly projecting a barrier to enclose the explosion. Such a feat was impossible with how little power he had, but Noah realized that power wasn’t radiating from Seraph—it was pouring into him, like a black hole swallowing a star. Whether this was Seraph’s will, the angel’s, or Lumendori himself, Noah wasn’t sure, but Seraph was absorbing the power into himself.
Watching from the sidelines, Bojena fell to her knees. “Light’s Emissary has returned,” she gasped.
Finally, the explosion faded, but the light had yet to be extinguished. Seraph stood, radiating holy energy with such volume that it looked like he was standing in the heart of a bonfire. The shape of his body could barely even be seen through the dense, focused aura. Noah recognized this form. Seraph used it when they fought on Knight’s Day. He turned to Noah and Valia and kneeled beside them, forcing Noah to look away, lest he be blinded. Seraph grasped Valia’s hand and held it to his forehead.
“Never in my life have I ever been able to heal others, only myself. But if there was ever a time I needed to help someone, if ever there was a time I needed a miracle, it’s now. Please, Lumendori, help me save her!”
A blinding flash ignited between them, forcing Noah to turn away. Once it faded, he looked down at Valia in his arms. The gray corruption eating at her was purged from her body, with all of her wounds healed. Valia gasped for air as if she had been holding her breath, her eyes wide from shock. Seraph still kneeled, the light having receded, and now back in his original form.
“Seraph? How do you feel? Has your power returned?”
Seraph pulled down his shirt, revealing the mark of Lumendori on his chest, as clear and pristine as the day he was born, prompting tears of joy to pour from his eyes. “It’s not all back, I used most of it to save Valia, but… the flame is lit once more, and just needs to be fed. My powers have finally begun to regenerate. It will take time, but I can feel myself healing. Once again, I am Light’s Emissary.”
“Thank you, Seraph. Those words don’t do justice, but thank you for saving us.”
“No, Noah, thank you. You didn’t just help me get my powers back, you made me worthy of them, and I’ll never waste them again.”
Bojena ran over. “We need to get out of here before Scyler comes after us again.”
“I’m not sure we need to worry about him,” said Noah. “Even if he’s alive, with all of the wounds he’s suffered, plus the absence of anyone to feed on to restore himself, I doubt he’s in any condition to pursue us, but we can't be too sure. Two of our members have their magic back, but none of us are really in any shape for a fight, and an animal is most dangerous when it's wounded. Normally my rule is to confirm the kill, but it would be best if we not push our luck and instead deal with him another day. If he has any sense, he’ll find a dark hole to crawl into and stay there for a while. In either case, our work is done.” Noah looked down at Valia, the two sharing a loving smile. “Let’s go home.”