– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 19 –

The earth was quaking underneath Matteo. As he moved his hand through the air, the floor broke apart and a stone hand slapped a channeler across the room.

The wind surrounding Matteo pushed him out of the path of another channeler. Before the channeler had passed him, Matteo stomped into her face.

Making use of his backwards momentum, Matteo slashed with the fiendish blade in his right hand at yet another enemy.

Purple lightning was projected from Soul Fury and assaulted all enemies in its path before being blocked by a wall of gold.

Behind the gold, Anem was frantically trying to keep up with his healing duties.

“Damn it!” Anem grit his teeth and retreated. He interrupted his channeling from the Bright Lady.

A moment later, an intense flame breath from Matteo was melting the gold and another slash from Soul Fury followed.

Further to the side, the purple lightning dragon was electrocuting a silver-clad giant, whose rotating blades came to a sudden stop when all life had left her.

Matteo suddenly stopped in his tracks. His vision had started to flicker in front of him. It was involuntarily shifting between different elemental senses. He subconsciously moved his left hand to his temple and looked for the cause.

That was when Matteo noticed the hordes of aspect beings that were invading the area.

Matteo growled and hurled blue chain lightning at the channelers in his path. He viciously slashed at every opponent in sight and made another attempt to break through to the location of Anand and Willow.

Behind him, a glacial elemental was clashing with another silver-clad channeler. The channeler’s blades hacked into the mass of ice while the elemental exhaled a freezing breath.

A moment later, a ball of lava was hurled at both of them from another elemental.

Long-range attacks were crossing over the whole area with folks fighting aspect beings, channelers fighting Guardians, elementals of different factions fighting each other…

Among the chaos, barely anyone noticed that the elementals closest to Matteo were beginning to act differently. Instead of lashing out against other elemental factions, these elementals began attacking the spirits of their own aspects. They feasted on them wherever they found them and their own elemental mana grew more powerful as a result. All the while, they were moving closer and closer to Matteo.

From the back, Anand smiled thinly.

A moment later, Anand frowned. He moved his gaze over to the dimensional gate that had just collapsed. He caught the mana signature of Amelia, who was already moving to the next gate.

“The deaths of such young talents would be an unfortunate loss for this realm…” Anand muttered. “…but I can’t allow you to stand in the way of this.” He flicked his wrist and a death siphon appeared that transformed the nearby loss of life into mana for him to use.

***

In front of Amelia, a giant grey skull manifested to swallow her. Her expression became grim and she rapidly channeled mana into one of the purple mana crystals on her staff while simultaneously casting several spells.

A spherical bubble of anti-magic surrounded her and erased the death-aspected attack.

In the next instant, Amelia had already teleported to a new location where she was unleashing several magic disrupting bubbles that then floated towards strategic locations in the air.

Without waiting around, Amelia was teleporting to the next location.

In the back, Anand clicked his tongue. “How annoying.”

Anand whirled his head around to see that the purple lightning dragon was not far from his spatial barrier. He observed the effects of the lightning strands on his barrier and clicked his tongue again.

“Remember our lesson on extraordinary power and spatial barriers?” Anand glanced at Willow and then nodded towards the purple lightning dragon. “That thing won’t hit any less than the Divine Hammer.”

“Stay here if you want,” said Anand casually. “I’ll need to take a walk. They are getting in the way.”

Anand first reestablished the dimensional gate that had been closed by Amelia. Then, he himself teleported into the middle of the battlefield.

Not far from Anand’s new location, Terry was fighting almost in a trance. He barely had any room left to think and just fought on by trained reflex and instinct.

Terry nearly jerked his head around when he noticed the mana distortion without apparent cause. Fortunately, he had suppressed this particular instinct or he would have been hit by a golden throwing knife.

Terry glanced towards the location when his own fight allowed him to. He caught a glimpse of Anand before the man teleported away again.

If I did not know who he is and what he is capable of, I would still believe that man to be manaless. So much for my rumored ‘outstanding’ mana sense.

Terry scoffed inwardly.

Not enough. I need to improve.

Terry shook his head forcefully.

Focus.

Even without the ability to precisely track Anand’s location with his mana sense, Terry was able to get an idea of what was going on.

Anand was probably the one that opened these gates. These aspect beings near exclusively carry the aspects from the core system. Amelia and Dargones are destroying the gates again.

Terry spotted Dargones, who was bursting his mana and wreaking havoc among the aspect beings nearby. His mana presence alone was lethal to the ethereal spirits while his giant axe and strength dealt with the more corporeal elementals.

The mountain of a man charged straight towards one dimensional gate. Dargones punched out a wave nullification mana that erased the mana that anchored the dimensional gate in the air.

The gate collapsed as a result.

Much to Anand’s annoyance. He clicked his tongue and muttered. “Don’t overestimate yourself, Magebane.”

Anand flicked his wrist and giant bones emerged from the floor and formed a cage that captured Dargones inside.

“Nullification does not affect the physical realm, does it?” Anand returned his attention to his ongoing magic confrontation with Amelia while side-stepping the occasional attack from the surrounding battlefield.

A volley of Death Spears flew towards Amelia while a spatial lock snapped shut around her and obstructed her teleportation.

Amelia scoffed and a corner of her lips rose. Instead of attempting to erase the death spears, she prepared her own attack. A moment before Anand’s magic arrived, she whispered. “Dargo, here.”

Instantly, Dargones appeared in front of Amelia. All the death spears dispersed into nothingness after coming into contact with him.

Amelia flew up from behind Dargones and her own volley of Fire Spears flew towards Anand.

“Right,” mumbled Anand in annoyance. “The spirit bond ritual. Can’t trap them that easily.” He clicked his tongue. “Do I really need to kill them?” He tilted his head while casually blocking the fire spears with a water barrier. He shrugged and reestablished another dimensional gate.

Anand glanced over at Matteo and was satisfied to see him locked in battle with dozens of high-rank elementals and with a few of Willow’s channelers trapped in there as well.

The different elemental factions had put aside their hatred for each other to focus entirely on vanquishing Matteo.

“As I thought,” murmured Anand. “They instinctively perceive Matteo as an incomparable threat.”

Anand glanced back towards Amelia and Dargones, who were moving towards Matteo while also targeting dimensional gates on the way. “Buying some more time should be enough. No need to rob our realm of talents unnecessarily when—” Anand jerked his head around.

Another dimensional gate collapsed underneath his gaze.

Anand narrowed his eyes at the figure darting around not far from the gate. The traces of a disruption discharge were still visible in Anand’s mana sight. The discharged mana was pulled back towards the figure.

“You again?” Anand’s cold gaze was resting on Terry. “How did a mere disruption discharge…?”

“Alright, that’s one disturbance too many in my book,” growled Anand. “Losing some talents may be a pity, but if you insist on meddling, then you stand in the way of what is necessary. The realm outweighs you all.”

For the first time this day, Anand did not care to cloak his own mana signature as he prepared his spellwork.

In the vicinity, people instantly grimaced at the overwhelming aura of death.

Anem, who had been standing practically next to Anand, felt cold sweat gather on his brow. In his dazed state, he did not move a muscle.

“You’re in the way,” growled Anand and back-handed the stunned channeler of the Bright Lady.

Anem’s face contorted in a horrifying scream but no sound escaped from his lips even as his flesh dried up and a large chunk of life was drained from him.

Further away, both Matteo and the purple lightning dragon reacted to Anand’s released mana. They were roaring furiously in unison.

The dark clouds above began swirling as mana was pulled towards the battlefield…

***

The purple lightning dragon grew yet another size.

It swung its tail and evaporated an ice elemental. It spread its large wings and slapped aside two earth elementals. It roared and an intense lightning discharge enveloped everything in its path.

It pushed down its claws and jumped forward. Every obstacle it touched was electrocuted. Several elementals had their mana formations broken and evaporated instantly.

Meanwhile in a different location, Matteo’s eyes were glowing brightly as he raised his head. He saw Amelia and Dargones locked in an intense battle with Anand. He saw Anand firing a death-aspected spell at Terry.

Matteo uttered an inhuman growl and a stormy whirlwind erupted around him. With a blast of lightning, he flung himself into the sky.

The wind elementals that stood in his path were broken apart in a second.

One unlucky channeler that was caught in the horde of elementals on Matteo’s tail did not survive the experience.

Matteo fired lightning bolt after lightning bolt at Anand while raising the earth between Anand and Terry.

Unfortunately, elementals kept being drawn to Matteo and obstructed him every inch of the way.

While Terry had already dodged or disrupted the previous attacks from Anand, Matteo was already livid beyond measure and his every breath was leaking fire.

For a moment, the surrounding fire elementals halted their assault on Matteo.

The purple lightning dragon roared and slapped its tail on the floor. Lightning was sizzling all the way to Matteo despite the distance between them.

The fire elementals resumed their attack and Matteo’s breath had returned to normal.

Not far from them, Anand was clicking his tongue in annoyance. In the current crossfire, even he did not feel completely at ease anymore. “That accursed dragon soul.”

A purple lightning bolt found its way next to Anand and abruptly changed its trajectory. It landed right on Anand’s face.

“Truly a nuisance,” exclaimed Anand with half of his face blasted off. He turned towards Matteo while his face was reconstructing itself. “Come, then.”

Matteo stomped his foot on the ground and the floor broke apart as the earth rose from beneath. The ground moved to push away the elementals and opponents between himself and Anand.

For one breath, all Matteo could see was Anand.

Involuntarily, images were flashing in his mind. His days in the orphanage. The day Anand brought him to the Elemental Tower. His happy childhood days studying magic with his two fellow disciples. The scenes of them dying at his own hands. Sigille when she found him after he had regained consciousness. Sigille’s corpse…

Then, Matteo’s thoughts ground to halt. He roared like a beast and charged at Anand. The elemental phenomena around Matteo intensified.

“Good,” approved Anand. He cast several barriers and counter-attacked with elemental spells.

The elementals changed their targets and the different factions clashed with each other once more.

Matteo instinctively gripped Soul Fury tight and slashed the barriers apart.

The purple lightning dragon roared and lightning rained down from the dark clouds in the sky.

The dragon grew in size once more.

“NO!” yelled Anand.

Matteo stopped his assault on Anand and instead slashed at the nearest elementals.

Anand cursed when he noticed the change in Matteo’s aura. “That mind was not yours to take, lizard.”

The purple dragon was rampaging just as wildly as Matteo.

Anand glanced up at the dark clouds. They had formed a large vortex that was continuing to swirl with increasing speed. “There’s still a chance.” He looked at Matteo. “Sink or swim, Matteo. I’d hate for you to disappoint me.”

Anand flicked his wrist and several elementals in the vicinity died instantly. Anand flung their mana towards the vortex in the sky.

Closer to the entrance, Terry was confronted with a terrifying scene as a giant purple dragon formed from lightning was charging into his direction.

He could not even muster a scream as he hurriedly hid inside a tertium cube and transfixed it.

Please hold, please hold, please hold.

Terry only heard a deep rumbling sound.

What represented a breathtaking moment of suspense for Terry inside the cube, was a startling sight for everyone outside.

The lightning dragon had suddenly changed direction and snapped its jaws towards Matteo’s direction.

Matteo roared back. Tongues of fire were circling him.

Purple lightning formed between the dragon soul and Matteo. Then, the two travelled across the lightning in an instant and confronted each other in the middle.

The dragon soul lashed out against Matteo, while Matteo responded with a breath of fire and his own spirit-infused lightning that was channeled through Soul Fury.

They clashed again and again while the vortex in the sky accelerated further and further.

Inside the tertium cube, Terry finally mustered the resolve to peek outside again. He returned the tertium cube to his storage bracelet and observed the battle between Matteo and the dragon soul.

Then, Terry’s mana sense caused him to look up.

Isn’t that… Like in the demon fortress?

“But…” Terry narrowed his eyes and gulped. “Matteo isn’t a demon, is he?” He became increasingly anxious.

Suddenly, the mana vortex in the sky compressed and smashed down to the ground – right into the location of Matteo.

Waves of elemental mana rolled away from Matteo as he and the dragon soul halted their attacks and remained staring at each other.

A low growl reverberated in the surroundings as people watched with bated breath.

The moments ticked by until unexpectedly, the purple lightning dragon shrank in size and even changed its shape.

Eventually, a purple silhouette of lightning in the shape of a human remained.

Matteo raised his left hand… The lightning silhouette did the same.

“EXCELLENT!” exclaimed Anand with glee. “Not how it was planned, but well done indeed.”

Another pulse of elemental mana wafted from Matteo and afterwards, all the floating elemental mana on the battlefield formed another vortex around Matteo.

All the elementals in the vicinity halted in their tracks.

Anand laughed loudly and summoned a dimensional gate. “Let’s see who is possessing whom in this realm from now on.” Anand snapped his fingers. All of his other dimensional gates as well as the spatial barrier in front of Willow disappeared.

“Excellent.” Anand smirked and stepped through the dimensional gate, which immediately closed behind him.

***

“NO!” Willow screamed. “ANAND!” The self-satisfied grin on the man’s face as he had walked through his dimensional gate had terror welling up inside of her. “ANAND!”

*Crackle!*

Willow was blasted out of her thoughts by a purple lightning bolt that hit her from the side. She fell to the floor and looked back with dread.

Matteo was walking towards her while being surrounded by a vortex of elemental mana. Only his silhouette, his glowing eyes, and the purple lightning of Soul Fury indicated his presence in the vortex.

More and more of the surrounding elementals took on the shape of Matteo. They immediately turned around to attack the channelers that were defending Willow.

“EVERYONE TO ME!” yelled Willow. She rambled quietly in anguish. “Protect me. This can’t be it. Help me, Bright Lady. I don’t want to die like this.”

More and more elementals were summoned from Matteo’s mind as well. Human-shaped elementals of all kinds sprang from the vortex. All of them were rampaging forward towards Willow.

Some of Willow’s allies were still trying to reach her, but none of them managed to get close.

With Anand fleeing the scene, they had lost their strongest mage. They were currently unable to deal with the growing number of elementals that were supporting Matteo, much less with all the folks that allied with Matteo.

Dargones pulled out his axe from the skull of a mana cultivator from Willow’s faction. Dargones spoke without a sound.

In a different location, Amelia was turning several channelers to ashes. She spoke anxiously. “I hope so, but I honestly can’t tell…” She glanced at Matteo with worry before focusing back on the enemies in front of her.

Amelia timed her own spell to match the attack of Palmer. Right before Palmer’s fist arrived, the protective mana layer that shielded Carlos was erased.

“MY… Hurgh. LIFE… Grgl. FOR… PAX!!!” Carlos’s mouth was filled with his own blood, but he continued his channeling and fought unflinchingly.

Not far from them, Terry stared at Matteo’s back and then turned around to block a channeler from Willow’s faction to keep that back clear.

“No no no no,” whimpered Willow. “I can’t go like this.” She channeled more mana from the Bright Lady and surrounded herself with layer after layer of gold. “I deserve so much more.”

Human-shaped creatures of magma and fire of varying colors melted the golden shell in a matter of seconds.

“N—” Willow’s scream got caught in her throat when the lightning-coated katana slashed her from shoulder to hip.

Instinctively, Willow channeled the healing abilities of the Bright Lady. Unfortunately for her, the blade was assaulting her again and again until the spirit-infused lightning finally touched Willow’s channeling anchor.

Willow gasped when she felt her channeled abilities disrupted. The last thing she saw was the purple glow of unblinking eyes.

Willow’s corpse emitted a bright warm light and fell to ashes…

All of a sudden, everything turned quiet. All the human-shaped elementals stopped in their tracks.

“The mission is a failure,” said Carlos emotionlessly. “Time to report.” He teleported away.

Wailing and weeping could be heard from among the channelers of the Bright Lady, but before long, they all turned to flee.

No one chose to pursue them.

Dargones teleported to Amelia’s side.

“One of the three siblings escaped despite heavy injuries,” said Amelia begrudgingly. “Their spell flinger.”

Dargones spoke without a sound.

“Yes, we can finish her later,” agreed Amelia. Her eyes resting on Matteo. “Let’s hope this is it for today.”

Terry and the others watched Matteo with bated breath…

The mana vortex around Matteo disappeared and the human-shaped elementals gathered around him.

Terry gulped and walked forward, only to be stopped by Amelia, who raised her hand next to her shoulder.

“Wait…” said Amelia with narrowed eyes.

The elemental mana in the area decreased slowly.

A human-shaped storm elemental stepped in front of Matteo. Then, it leaned in and they touched their foreheads.

Shortly after, the elemental had vanished without a trace.

Amelia heaved a sigh of relief and displayed a wide smile. “Thank mana…”

One by one, the elementals approached Matteo and vanished into his mind, the mind of the person that was possessing them.

A new kind of demon in which the host is in charge. The first of its kind.

Terry felt awed and yet conflicted at the same time. On the one hand, he was glad beyond belief that Matteo remained in control and that Terry had not lost another whaka. On the other hand, it irked Terry that this seemed to be exactly what Anand had aimed for.

Terry gnashed his teeth.

If only I had been stronger… or smarter… or… If I had been better, I may have been able to catch Anand like I caught Ava back in Syn City.

Terry clenched his fists.

Next time.

Next time, I’ll be better.

Matteo was still collecting his subordinated elementals when he raised a hand and formed finger runes. [I’m alright.]

Terry felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Amelia.

“Come on, we’re not done until there is nothing we can do,” said Amelia. “If you still have some of your potions and scrolls, I can sense a number of injured parties that would appreciate the support.”

Right. We don’t have that many healers and even Amelia does not have enough mana left to heal everyone.

“Of course,” said Terry. He ignored his throbbing headache and the queasy feeling in his stomach. All the potions and excessive scroll usage did a number on him, but he intended to push through. He looked around to search for a place to make himself useful.

“Do you still have some of the high-level scrolls?” asked Amelia. “I can make sure that we get the worst cases close together.”

Terry nodded.

“I really need to visit Arcana at some point,” said Amelia. “I think I would enjoy shopping there.” She teleported away to gather those with lethal injuries.

Terry moved as well while Dargones stayed back and watched over Matteo.

***