"You'll stay behind and wait for my signs."

Lucy wanted to object but a gentle, harmless force pushed a few steps back. She didn't even have time to open her mouth before Arthur vanished, leaving an inky black fog in his stead.

Sure, her help would facilitate many things, however, she has to remain here and guard Lissandra. As for Vyncent, he's more than capable of defending himself, especially after getting a gear upgrade from the parasite.

The trio hid in a secluded area, bereft of anything, living or dead. They were a fair distance away from the Cthulhu base, which could be seen from their location.

Unlike his companions, Arthur recognized this place, this broken city, once prosperous and bustling with people of all races. He fought Claudia here and the aftermath razed the whole place to the ground, leaving a few, very lucky survivors.

The causalities that day surpassed anyone's imaginations, innocents were slaughtered due to the conflict of otherworldly beings. It wasn't Arthur wasn't the one who caused the catastrophic explosion, his arrival and invasion of the castle did push the parasites into doing such a terrible thing. However, he didn't blame himself for he knew that one city massacred is still better than letting all of Riarravar fall into the parasites' hands.

Unfortunately, they changed the fate of one place but couldn't alter the ending. Their contribution, if it may be called so, was unnecessary, untimely, and consequential.

Currently, the barbaric monsters built shabby looking huts and tents, regarding this area as their 'home', a safe place where they can do whatever they wish.

As expected, even though there were fewer and fewer humans remaining in this world, that didn't stop the Cthulhu from capturing a few and torturing them in inhumane ways.

An eerie black fog traveled through the air, unnoticed by any of the resting monsters. The evil race was busying himself with food, torture, or other miscellaneous things, disgusting to even describe.

The parasite passed through them and paused for a few seconds when he got too close to one of the giants.

…

"I don't think it was a good idea to let him go alone. Their commander is dangerous."

Vyncent glanced at the Cthulhu base, his brows furrowed and his foot repeatedly tapping on the ground, clearly tense.

"It should be soon."-Lucy

Lucy raised her head and gazed at the red sky, her eye, strangely started emitting a blue light which startled Lissandra and the bearded youngster.

The light coming out of her eye enveloped the trip and turned everything around them grey as if time and space were stopped. From this point onwards, anything outside of the blue sphere's range of interference won't affect anything inside, no matter what it is.

Lissandra followed the woman's eyes and was shocked to see the sky turned disturbingly black, blocking the moon and dispersing all the clouds. This sudden change was followed by a passing breeze, ghastly and soul-shaking. As they were inside the blue sphere, they weren't affected, however, they were able to see the nothingness caused by the darkness. Hear the deep and threatening growls coming from the Cthulhu base.

The darkness lasted for a few seconds before it was absorbed by a minuscule thing right at the center of the enemy base. It was a speck of strange black light, devouring every inky blackness around it.

The Cthulhu also sensed the change in weather and environment but, sadly, before they could react, the earth started to violently shake and the sky cracked.

All sound was cut off and the world was stripped of any source of light, enveloping it in total gloom. It was an explosion using compressed Dark Magic and as per the parasite's expectation, it was able to demolish everything in its way. Turning all the monsters into absolute emptiness, even the half-dead humans were killed, leaving literally nothing behind.

The base was built on a large crater, however, even this crater disappeared, leaving behind it a dangerous black fog, negating all light. Nothing was able to get past the black fog, not even the suffocating heat that dominated the whole world.

…

Inside this black fog, there was a tall, blurry silhouette, its body even bigger than the giants. Its eyes releasing a golden glow piercing the fog and attempting to locate the source of everything. It took the commander but a few breaths to find a lonely figure floating above the fog, its flickering green eye dancing in the empty socket.

Without hesitation, the commander retrieved a silvery bow from its back and pulled the metal strings. It raised its weapon, aimed at the parasite and pulled the string, releasing an arrow of light that dispersed all the fog in its way and whistled as it made its way toward its target.

Before it could hit the floating skeleton, the arrow bumped into a transparent barrier, stopping it for three seconds. Arthur raised his staff and pointed it at the arrow, resulting in countless bony spikes to surround the arrow and hit it.

Though it had monstrous force behind it, the arrow crumbled before all the spikes, dispersing into countless specks of light. Arthur banged his staff three times, sending ghostly silhouette at the commander, who fired three more arrows, each one stronger than the last.

The screeching ghost-like creatures passed through the arrows and emitted deafening and wild sound waves that pushed back the Cthulhu, then, they entered his body, causing it to shake for a few moments before a cluster of blood was spat by the surprisingly handsome commander.

As the fog cleared up, the appearance of the infamous commander could be seen. He had long silver hair, brown skin, and golden pupils, totally unfit to be called a Cthulhu or a barbaric, brainless monster.

"What are you?"

With a piercing glare, the commander readied his bow again and asked, using the common language used by the humans. Alas, he didn't get an answer from Arthur, who sent dozens of bone spikes at him while filling the sky with fiery vermilion flames.

The Cthulhu bent his back, pointed his weapon upwards and shot three arrows at once. They twirled around each other and clashed with the falling sea of fire, breaking it and splitting the sky. It wasn't the end of the arrows as they fell back down, ready to disintegrate the undead.

As for the bone spikes, the commander, while making use of flawless footwork, agilely most of them while deflecting the rest.

"You have no idea who you're messing with. This isn't a world for your kind."

The commander roared and shot more arrows at Arthur. The parasite vanished, teleporting of few times and easily dodging the arrows.

"'Tis not a world for your crude race too."-Arthur

"So you can talk, vermin!"

The battle grew fiercer as Arthur unleashed a torrent of spells, mostly Dark Magic. As for the commander, he kept bombarding the parasite with his arrows. The Cthulhu was incredibly fast and wasn't the least bit injured even after being hit by two detonators, six bone spikes, and thirteen lengthy Dark Spears. His skin was tougher than metal and his movements were unfit for a creature of his size.