If not for the warning, I most likely would’ve reacted too late, but thanks to the presence in the crystal I dodged him right on time.

He did not even flinch, instead rammed weapons first into a first set of monsters that were barreling towards me.

-What the fuck?! - I managed to spit out, jumping towards the two unconscious people on the floor.

On the sound of my voice, he flinched, but did not respond. Instead, just swung towards the crystal.

The presence did not react. Would that be because it was still confused or it deemed the reaction unnecessary, I had no idea. In any case, Axelrod managed to score a solid hit on the large crystal, yet it was ineffective. The leaf-blade sent a bunch of sparks in contact along with a metallic clang, just like it would be a blade striking another blade, none of them taking damage in the process. The only other visible effect was the shimmer, like a ripple, going through the king's glowing blades.

-Give them back!

His voice echoed throughout the cave and the corridor behind him.

-Can we…

I could not even squeeze out the full sentence before a set of those leech-like creatures jumped again towards me.

I hesitated for a second, before using a spell, not sure how that would turn out in my current environment, but I did not have to even lift a finger.

Just as the creatures were half way towards my face and I was raising my hand to blast them away with my magic, I felt a rumble and a sudden pressure from the crystal next to me.

A gust of wind sliced through the cave, pushing me back a step or two away from the two on the ground and everyone else. I barely managed to stay on my feet.

Monsters and Axelrod were not that lucky though.

The creatures were mid-air when the blast hit, so they got sent all the way to the walls of the cave, splatting there and staying stuck on the wall, pushed by the continuous stream of air.

King on the other hand, even with his four legs, got slammed by the wind so hard that he ended up back in the entrance of the cave, just at the end of the tunnel. His weapons, just like sails, were pushing him back, definitely not helping in the sudden storm that appeared out of nowhere.

-I should’ve known! You were a crystal remnant!

What is this creature? Is it one of yours?

The voice echoed in my head, along with the howl of the wind, making thinking impossible.

Apparently its voice reached not only me, because Axelrod shuddered, surprised by the strange way the presence was communicating.

-Who’s there? Show yourself!

I am not exactly hiding…

Shaking off the initial impact I managed to reply to both.

-I guess I have the honor to introduce you both… - I said, taking a step forward. - Although I thought you knew each other. This is Axelrod, the current king of… well, wherever we are. And the voice, or rather the words that just popped in your head, are from this, eh, person, right here - I pointed to the crystal.

-Another crystal remnant...? No…? What the fuck?

You’re one to speak. That creature is a king? Definitely not the one I remember.

Well, I had to give that one to it, it was absolutely right. The form he had was hardly a human one and definitely not similar to the man I had seen back in the capital.

-I am the king. What of it? And who the hell are you, kidnapper?

Again, you’re the one to speak. From what I know, you were the one who kidnapped them first. I just saved them. As a family should.

-Family? What the hell are you blabbering about?! They are MY family, not yours.

-Excuse me?

Excuse me?

Both of us spoke in unison. That was the first time I’ve heard of this.

Ridiculous. My memory has holes, but not that large ones. No king was part of our family, nor was it any creature like you.

-I am not going to explain myself to a piece of rock!

And to highlight his words, he slammed his… eh, hooves? Yeah, let’s go with that. He slammed them into the ground. It was not just for show either. As he did, a ripple of light, or rather condensed mana, got sent through the ground towards where Melle and Il were laying. Passing the wind wall, as it got closer, the floor started cracking and from below a large thick root sprung to life, aiming right towards the women on the floor.

I don’t know why, but my body acted on its own. I jumped right in front of the root, shielding them with first the anti-magic field from the drive that I still had on me, and, as I noticed that it didn’t even slow down, with my own, crystalized body.

But the vine was not aiming to hurt, instead as it made contact, it wrapped itself around my arm and slowly was going further and further, like a snake, trying to tie me up.

I don’t think I have to say that I did not let that happen. Honestly, I surprised myself. As I pulled on the vine, I had more strength than I expected - one sharp motion was enough to pull the thing out of the ground it sprouted from, free my arm and whip it towards where the wind wall was still active. The spell made quick work of the creature. I don’t know if the presence in the crystal somehow changed the spell, or maybe the creature was just that weak. Probably the latter, because as soon as it got pulled out of the ground though, the vine started to change color to dirty brown and gray, after which it promptly crumbled in my hands.

DON’T YOU DARE!

I guess the attack made the presence angry. Along with the words, I felt a large mass of mana form right in front of the crystal. Hell, I could even see it without trying to, and that’s something. I noticed that it also dropped the wall of wind it created earlier, the creatures that attacked at first and were thus far just pushed against the walls fell down on the ground. It took them a second to regain their bearings and jump towards me again, but it was too late.

The large mass of mana was already turned into wind, and this time, it blasted right towards the king. If it was anyone else, they would be sent flying right into the sharp-looking wall of the cave, just like all those mana leeches. But it was Axelrod we are talking about.

He was ready. His legs were already partially unwrapped and were digging itself into the ground - he basically was taking root in the cave floor.

-Is that all you’ve got?! - he asked, mockingly.

No.

The wind intensified even more. Even though it was aimed towards him, I also could feel the wind smacking me in the face. But that was exactly what he wanted.

As he was taunting it, he reformed his weapon into a one, large spear, with one end being a leaf just straight up formed into a drill, and the other still having the leaf-halberd.

When the wind intensified, he raised his weapon to strike, but not using the pointy end. Instad, he used his weapon as one big leverage. Catching the wind with the halberd end, just like a sail, enhancing his swing with a power he was currently being slammed with, using his own body as an anchor point.

I got to say, it was surprisingly flashy. And loud.

The leafy spear hit the crystal so hard the wind spell fizzled. From the point of contact a large wave of mana got released, with a bright light hitting everyone around.

It probably would’ve hit the women on the floor as well, but since I was close enough, my crystal absorbed most of the loose mana.

I feel like that caught both Axelrod and the crystal presence off-guard - he got pushed back, just from the sheer force of the energy released on contact, and while the crystal did not change from the outside, I still could sense its feelings - this time a surprise with a faint hint of fear.

Do. Not. Attack. My family.

-They are not your family!

-Can’t we just somehow talk this out? - I tried intervening, but almost instantly got shot down.

No.

-No! Traitor.

-For fuck’s sake, I haven’t done anything yet!

-Yes, meaning that you are siding with the enemy!

As he said that, I felt another surge of mana from him.

-And here I thought you were at least a bit more sane than the rest of your people!

I guess he did not like that comment very much, because the mana he was releasing intensified even more. That or he just straight up lost control over it.

I was not sure what magic he was using, although I was expecting something adjacent to green magic, so you can imagine my surprise when I got nothing even remotely close.

What hit me was just a straight up series of projectiles of sheer magical force - no element imbued, no nothing.

That left me confused for a second. Obviously, it had pretty much no effect. Well, I just got a bit brighter, that’s it.

-You are full of surprises…

Noticing it was not working, he switched his target to the crystal. I don’t need to say that the effect was similar. Like me, the presence in the crystal was also confused.

Pathetic.

Wanting to take the initiative and flip the tables, the presence started gathering a mass of mana in front of it, including the stream of power she was being attacked with.

But, unknowingly to us, his attack did not exactly end. Before the presence was able to convert the mana into some kind of spell, Axelrod did it for it.

I was able to feel the spell take hold rapidly through the entire cave. In an instant the mana got converted into a mass of ice, spreading wildly everywhere.

It wasn’t just the mana that the crystal entity was gathering. It also included all the residue that was floating around us, be it from his attack on us before or even the natural mana which this place was flooded by.

I don’t think I have to mention that it was quite effective. The whole crystal, along with me and the two women got covered in a thick layer of ice. It was maybe half a meter thick at its densest places, that is, next to the crystal itself. I personally got covered with a ten centimeter layer, while the women on the floor had about five centimeters on them, same as the remaining creatures that were still hanging about, trying to attack anyone that was in their range. The floor was turned into an ice rink and the walls were now covered in snow.

Speaking of snow, it also filled the air. I guess that was thanks to the remaining residue of mana that was still about.

I got to give it to him - the spell was definitely effective. And painful. I could feel the sting of the frostbite the instant the spell took hold. Luckily, only half of my body was screaming in pain, thanks to my own crystal. Even though the layer of frost seemed harder and in some places even thicker than everywhere else, I did not feel any pain there. Honestly, I would most likely blank out and pass out if not that.

Even though my head was not completely clear, I managed to notice that he also got hit by his own spell, further confirming my theory that his spell indeed went a bit haywire. While his upper body was mostly intact, the legs that he dug into the ground before got iced over just like everyone else, effectively making him immobile. It probably was painful as hell, too.

But, he did not care in the slightest, instead swinging his weapon at the crystal again. Honestly, I was just surprised that it was still intact after all this. Since it was plant based, I expected it to at least be damaged in this freezing weather he conjured, but nope. It was good as new, maybe even better - some of the loose mana that was leftover was apparently absorbed by it, making the whole thing glow, almost as strong as me not so long ago.

Speaking of, the stunt he pulled off dimmed my light quite a bit. Same with the other sources of light: walls and the big crystal in the middle, making his weapon be the brightest item in the cave. I still could clearly see everything thanks to the ice reflecting his light multiple times, maybe even better than before, making me spot even more of those leech-creatures spill out from the openings in the walls. Some were even already breaking through the ice he created and trying to free their own brethren.

My thinking was interrupted by a loud crashing noise and a sudden burst of emotions from the crystal presence.

When I stopped paying attention for a second, he imbued the leftover mana he had in his weapon and transformed it again. This time, the form was a bit shorter and looked more like a mace. A spiked mace, I should say - even in this icy environment, he managed to grow a bunch of spikes at the thicker end of his weapon - and hit the crystal once more.

At first, I thought it was again ineffective, because the weapon got stuck in the ice that was covering the crystal, but I was incorrect.

It was just the initial impact. After a split second, the head of the mace… I want to say, pulsed, although it was just some mana that got released after a strike. Like a wave, it spilled out and made the spikes grow to maybe three times the size they were before, digging deep into the ice and, judging by the frantic emotions from the presence, it also reached the crystal.

The ice cracked, and the shards flew in every single direction, embedding themselves in everything that was in range. Walls, floor, my frozen form, even some leech monsters that managed to approach got caught as well.

That’s when the third explosion happened. And it was a lot stronger than the two others combined.

It was accompanied by a frantic message from the crystal that I could not understand at all, the only thing I was able to recognize was sheer panic.

No wonder. When I got showered by the shards of ice during the third explosion, some dug deeper into the ice I was encased by. A lot deeper than it would be possible for the ice. That’s when I suddenly got hit by a feeling of deja vu. A large crystal, an explosion…

Just as if to confirm what I was thinking of, the whole cave suddenly started shaking. The floor started cracking, including the ice that was covering everyone.

-The fuck did you just do?! - I yelled towards Axelrod as soon as the ice cracked, but the rumbling drowned my words completely.

I managed to free myself completely, although it took me a good second. I still did not want to use magic, after his stunt I did not want to add more fuel to the fire.

Fearing that the cave might collapse at any moment, I wanted to grab Melle and Il and get the fuck out of there, but as soon as I stepped closer and wanted to grab them, suddenly I got hit by a large boulder, knocking me away, towards where the crystal used to be.

Used to be? Yeah, that also made me realize that the crystal, along with the presence, was no more. What the third explosion sent flying was not just ice, rather mostly pieces of the crystal. Only thing remaining now was a large crater in the ice after the explosion.

Honestly, I flew pretty far. And in a strange direction. For a falling rock to send me that far…

Shaking off the unpleasant impact with the icy floor, I realized that it was no regular boulder. It was a spell from Axelrod.

I only realized that because I got hit by another one, sending me even further back.

He was standing right where I just was, with his arm raised, still on his four legs, although now looking more like shaky branches than sturdy roots, getting the two women I was just next to onto his back. Turning the remains of his weapon into a long vine, he grabbed each of them and was tying them to himself.

I was surprised that, while I was being showered by rubble, he was standing in the middle of this pandemonium and not getting hit, but that mystery cleared itself as soon as he sent yet another chunk of ice mixed with rock towards me.

He wasn’t conjuring anything. He was just protecting himself, catching whatever was falling towards him with his bare hands, tossing it right at me. Hell, if not the current situation, I would’ve been impressed. To do something like this, even while having a freakishly weird body like his, was something else.

I wanted to toss something at his face too, if not a spell then at least a word or two, but you can imagine that it’s hard to focus when you’re getting bombarded by rubble and ice from several different directions. On the other hand, he had no issue smack-talking at me.

-I hope you stay here and never come back. Both of you. Fucking face-stealing creatures. I should’ve known better than to trust something like you.

“Likewise” I thought to myself as the cave around us started collapsing.

The last thing I saw was his wooden ass trot away towards the tunnel leading back to the village.

Then everything went dark.