“How much time left?” Gaius rasped, his voice weak and soft.

“Ten minutes, tops. Can you do it?” Nexus asked back, its voice soft.

“Won’t know until I try.” He glared at the Demigod’s defenders. Qi continued to course through his battered body, causing pain where it passed.

His right leg was broken and most of his internal organs were injured badly. Some of them had probably shifted a few centimetres from their original spots. His muscles weren’t working well, and the damage from taking on a barrage from more than ten Knights had taken its toll.

The sickly-sweet taste of blood filled his mouth as he pointed the Terminus at his enemies. A thought flashed through his mind, and the Stellar Core’s Barrier vanished.

Qi, now freed from powering the boy’s only defensive ability, began to gather at the extremities of his body. Gaius flickered and vanished on the spot, his speed forcibly increased by devoting all the qi he could muster towards his Flight ability. Power trailed from his body, manifestations of qi that served to increase his speed beyond a maximal application of the Stellar Core’s Flight.

Hundreds of qi projectiles filled the space between the boy and the Lord, but few of them even got close, thanks to the erratic movements that Gaius made as he struck down Knight after Knight. For every swing the Terminus made, someone would shatter — but it came at a cost. Gaius could feel that the extreme stress on his body as he made movements that would have been impossible with Flight alone, and the places where he’d forced qi out from to make these movements were burning up.

“DIE!” A Knight, clad in black, sent an arc of light flying towards Gaius as he slowed for a moment, and the Dragoon shattered as it blocked it for the boy. It would reform, but just not in time to break past the encirclement.

The boy gritted his teeth, and an enormous amount of qi blasted out from his spine. The back of his tunic turned to shreds immediately, but Gaius didn’t care about that at all, his eyes fixed solely on the Lord in his way. The latter took out another sword from somewhere, holding it in a low guard.

Gaius’ left hand gripped the Moonshot tightly, trembling the entire time. Sparks danced as the Terminus met the Lord’s weapon, each of them too bright to look at directly, and the sword once again shattered. With his enemies caught off-guard by the sharpness of the weapon, Gaius followed through with the Moonshot.

The handgun-like artefact fired five times, the Lord jerking as the Moonshot’s blasts ripped into his skin and flesh. At the same time, another barrage of projectiles closed in on the boy, creating a small sun as they slammed into Gaius. He grimaced as the Stellar Core’s Barrier spun up, but nothing could prevent the impacts from the Knights’ attacks from getting to him.

Tens of Knights eyed the boy as the light faded, and behind them, the Demigod’s ritual reached its crescendo. The four pillars of energy — that of the Cardinal Champions — had been fully formed, and within the next minute or two, Nox would begin absorbing them.

“Nexus…any ideas?”

“I have one. But only if you’re willing to.” The artificial intelligence’s voice echoed in his mind, but Gaius was past the point of caring.

“Do it.”

“There’s a switch on the Terminus,” said Nexus. Its voice in his mind had an alluring quality, and the last speck of rationality in the boy’s mind immediately likened it to that of a demon’s. “It’s at the tip of the handle. Open the cover, aim the blade at the Altar, and press the button for its Zeroth Release.”

“What would it do?” Gaius asked, ignoring the unfamiliar terms.

“It would destroy anything caught in it. Anything.” Nexus replied. “It has a high chance of killing the Demigod Nox, and even if it doesn’t, he would release divinity enough for me to analyse.”

“And what price would I pay?” Gaius asked, as he opened the cover on the Terminus.

“The gods will hunt you down. Or you’ll die in your sleep peacefully one day. Use it. Or don’t. Your choice.”

Gaius wanted to smile, but his fine muscle control was too weak to do it. There wasn’t much he wanted to consider — there were no consequences too big for him. All he could see was just that little girl, sleeping in the corner of the Library.

He pointed the Terminus at the mass of enemies that were blocking his line of sight towards the Altar of Gods. The air warped around Gaius as he pressed the button on the hilt, and in that moment, his mind turned white from sheer pain.

In his blurry vision, the boy watched as every ounce of energy in his body burst out of his skin and gathered around the Terminus’ blade, cladding it in a silvery-grey energy. Bloody mist danced around Gaius as Nox’s guards noticed the abnormality surrounding him, but before they could do anything, a blinding silver light rampaged towards them, towards the Altar they were protecting.

A horrible darkness followed where the light passed through, and the entire contingent of guards vanished as the Terminus’ true might swallowed them, leaving behind no trace of their existence. Time slowed to a crawl as Nox’s eyes flicked up, just in time to see the tsunami of silvery light crash into him, and the resulting collision forced the boy’s eyes shut. Two energies were clashing with each other, the resulting shockwaves carving giant grooves in the land all around them.

“Master Gaius,” said Nexus, “I’ve managed to analyse the Demigod’s divinity. I’m beginning Nakama’s treatment now.”

Gaius’ vision cleared, just in time to see an eerie darkness where the silvery power had passed through. The centre of the colosseum had vanished, leaving only an expanse of darkness where the Altar once was. The four pillars of power that the Demigod Nox had painstakingly created no longer existed. The audience and the members of the Republic’s delegate, who had been watching the boy’s struggle from start till end, began to scream and flee.

A bestial howl reverberated around the venue, revealing the Demigod Nox. Half of his body was covered in darkness, a shadow-like form that made Gaius tremble imperceptibly when he laid eyes on it. Smoke rose up from the darkened half of Nox’s body as a prismatic radiance ate away at the blackened areas of his body.

The Demigod and the boy exchanged stares for a moment, before the former vanished from the spot. Gaius could see a whole host of emotions in his eyes as Nox warped away — surprise, fear, anger…and a vow of vengeance. The Last Star probably never expected someone to charge in here the way Gaius did, after all.

The change from day to night reverted, and the sunlight began to illuminate the entire colosseum once again. There, under the sun, the black void stood out, and Gaius immediately understood what it was.

“A wound on Orb itself.” Nexus spoke in Gaius’ mind. “This is the price for that single attack. The gods of Orb will not let you go from now on, not with such a weapon. That is your personal price. And there’s more to come. By your hand, the Altar of Gods has been destroyed. What comes next…is yours to bear.”

Gaius closed his eyes, and chose not to speak. If he had the choice, he would do the same thing, over and over.

Nexus sighed. “As we speak, multiple Demigods are en route to kill you. It’s time for you to go. Your sister should be waking up soon, but she’ll be the least of your worries from now on.”

The world shuddered once again, and the sky began to change.

“Let’s go.” Gaius closed his eyes, and the Library’s emergency teleport function brought him away, leaving behind the surface world of Orb.

[End of Book 3: The Last and the Lost]