Chapter XLIII

It was the same sensation as the night she fought the nerich. She became one with the two voices in her head, feeling everything merge together into one clear consciousness. Her instincts became finer tuned, her flexibility and speed became inhuman, and her power came from her body without the need for incantation. She had promised the others that she would buy them enough time to take down the mana port so she not only had to beat Nigreos, but also ensure that none of his attacks reached Scott and the club. She had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t let anybody die, and she intended to keep that promise. The only one who would die that night was the Master of Darkness. Through one way or another, he had been handed to her on a silver platter, and while she didn’t understand why or how he had entered their realm, she knew she couldn’t allow herself to miss this chance. This would be their final confrontation. She would make sure of that.

“Coreas!” Nigreos snarled, bringing the tendrils of shadows up to meet her attack head on, but with a simple wave of her hand, light burst out from her palm and cut through the darkness, shooting straight for the Master’s chest.

Yet, the beam went through him as he blended in with the shadows around him, an ability that wouldn’t be as strong as in their previous encounters. According to The Angel, Nigreos could only fuse with shadow when it was dark enough, meaning that at night, he could essentially become one with their surroundings. However, the sun was only halfway below the horizon, meaning that the beach was perfectly lit. He could only merge with the shadows he created, and that would severely limit how far he could move. So she was ready when his body formed only a few feet away.

Lilly landed on the sand and immediately jumped back toward him, shadows of her own erupting from her body to combat the darkness he was already sending her way. The roiling masses of shadows collided, ferociously tearing into each other. Lilly had never actually fought Nigreos herself, nor had she witnessed any of Eric’s battles with him, so she wasn’t sure what to expect from his abilities, but the knowledge of The Angel picked up that slack, allowing her to innately know just how fast he was.

The man moved gracefully, blocking her light attacks with powerful bursts of darkness and meeting her shadows with his own, effectively keeping up with her despite being at a disadvantage while the sun was still out, and she already knew what he was planning. The Master was fighting on the defense, only worrying about surviving rather than winning, but he would only do that for so long. He would be stalling, attempting to keep the battle going until night truly fell.

And when it does, his ability to merge with shadow will become impossible to combat. I may be able to keep myself alive, but he would be able to get to the others with the snap of a finger.

But just as she thought that, she was reminded that she would also be able to do the same, meaning there would be a small chance of protecting them, but she far preferred to avoid taking that chance.

What’s making it so hard to gain the upper hand isn’t that he’s stronger than me! It’s just that I don’t have the experience he does! He’s a Master, so he’s fought opponents better than me and won! If I want to beat him, I need to find some way to get an edge on him!

And she knew exactly what that edge was, and she’d already been told to find a way to get them an opening. If Scott or Damien could get a clean shot at him with one of the anti-mana bullets, Nigreos’s power would significantly weaken. All she had to do was get Nigreos’s attention only on her. The issue was that he never allowed his back to be completely turned to where the others were gathered around the mana port, as if he expected an attack to come from them.

But perhaps it’s not that he expects anything from them. He’s just naturally cautious now. I’ve rattled him with the sudden appearance of The Angel, and with our memories back, we’ve defied all of his expectations. For all he knows, we do have more tricks up our sleeves, and he’s not going to let himself get taken off guard a second time.

Gritting her teeth against her frustration, Lilly did all she could to increase her speed, allowing The Angel to fire off whatever spells they thought would be most effective. It was then that she felt her body begin to change once more, her physical form shifting into pure white light. It was an ability she used to escape the nerich, allowing her to become light itself and move at such a speed that she was almost teleporting. The downside, however, was that she couldn’t attack while in that form. She had to become physical to cast another spell, and Nigreos was always just fast enough. The man always had darkness swirling around him like a shield, and in the half-second between her regaining physical form and casting a spell, shadow would erupt upwards, concealing him from view and blocking any attack she attempted.

Nigreos remained in the same place as she flashed across the beach, reappearing, attacking, and becoming light once more all in the span of seconds, yet never once actually wounding him. His power and skill were truly impressive, and as she fought with magic of her own, barely keeping them at a standstill, she was forced to face just how helpless they had been back in Wilham. Nigreos and Album had never sought to kill them. Sending them to this realm had always been the plan, but what if they had simply decided to take their lives? Nigreos’s power was so strong that he could have cut them down without effort.

Hell, he could have easily killed everybody in the town if he’d wanted to. This man is a living weapon of mass destruction—a god compared to the magicless. We were lucky we weren’t ordered to be killed!. This man is a monster, and so I need to kill him!

This time, instead of keeping her distance, Lilly propelled herself toward the giant mass of shadow, and just as she was about to dive headfirst inside, her body of light abruptly turned to shadow as well and she, too, merged with the mass, sending her own magic into it in an attempt to take control.

“You’re an overconfident fool.”

As she came to a stop, Nigreos’s voice echoed through her ears, sounding as if it were coming from all around, and that was enough to tell her that his body had also merged into the darkness. They were both one with the shadow, and because of this, she could sense him both within her and around her.

“You get a little bit of power and suddenly you think you can kill a Master?” Nigreos scoffed. “You’re still nothing more than a child, Lilly Harper. The Angel might be guiding you, but you aren’t a mage. You might be putting up a fight now, but in the end, you cannot win. A simple magicless girl from Omaruo will never have the power to be my equal, let alone surpass me.”

Lilly laughed confidently in the face of his taunting. “That’s what you said back then, too, yet here we are. I’m more resilient than you think. We all are, and no matter how many times we show you that, you still look at us like we aren’t a threat to you. I don’t want to be your equal because you’re nothing more than a murderer. We’re better than you, Nigreos, even without power. If you think your magic makes you superior then you’re the fool between us. After all, how can a disgusting, pathetic man like you ever compare to the people who only ever used magic to help! Eric is better than you! I am better than you! And everybody else you tortured and erased are better than you! Even if you kill us, it will never change that!”

He didn’t respond right away but she could feel his anger in the face of her defiance. She knew he’d always looked down on them, so that meant that if she refused to cower away—if she refused to back down in the face of his power, it would only enrage him.

“Then you can die with your pride intact,” he growled.

She laughed mirthlessly. “Let’s finish this, you bastard!”

With that challenge, Lilly sent waves of power through her being as she attempted to control the shadows. Nigreos remained quiet, but she could sense him fighting back as the two of them vied for control of their surroundings. Gaps of light began to peek through from the outside, and Lilly could feel the wings of energy on her back crackling with sparks of mana as she ripped the shadows apart, forcefully returning the both of them to their physical forms. The Master of Darkness was just a handful of yards away from her and she didn’t hesitate to rush forward and attack.

Their battle continued with flashes of shadows and light bouncing off each other as Nigreos once again held his position, keeping part of his attention focussed on the mana port behind him while keeping her at bay. As for Lilly, she returned to her previous strategy of never staying in one place. She darted all around the beach, pressing the Master with everything she had yet still failing to break past his defenses. Every time she attempted to steal control of his shadows, he would overpower her and force her back to prioritizing light magic. She knew light would have the advantage over him, yet she wasn’t skilled enough to be able to damage his darkness and reach his body.

This isn’t good! she thought frantically, seeing out of the corner of her eye that the sun was now more than halfway below the horizon. I haven’t gotten a single hit in and it’s almost night! Something needs to change!

Tension was spreading through her body in that familiar sensation that told her that The Angel’s power was becoming too much for her body. Her damaged left arm, especially, felt like it was on the verge of ripping open again, but she couldn't let up. She had to fight. She had to do everything in her power to win.

Yet, even with all of her resolve gathered, she hadn’t been ready when her left arm exploded from her elbow down, completely severing it from her body in a violent spray of blood.

***

Damien Clark watched with bated breath as both Lilly and Nigreos disappeared into the giant mass of shadows, concealing them from his view. He had already been apprehensive about leaving the Master of Darkness in Lilly’s hands, but when The Angel emerged, he could only stare in awe as he watched the girl successfully hold her own against the powerhouse that Nigreos Noctis was. It was a magnificent display of power as shadow and light collided with each other, and he was stunned by the inhuman speed his friend was moving at. It was one thing to be told about The Angel, but to actually see it in action was surreal, and he actually believed that Lilly had a shot of defeating the Master. Yet when the two of them vanished, he knew he no longer had the luxury of watching them. This was their chance to deal with the mana port.

“Alright, we need to get moving,” Damien said, turning to see that both Liz and Vinny had similar looks of shock on their faces. His words seemed to snap them back to their senses and both turned to stare back at him.

“Er, right,” Vinny muttered, then moved to survey the small ball of white energy floating just in the mouth of the cave. “But what exactly are we supposed to do? The plan was to have Lilly take the thing down, but she’s clearly a little preoccupied.”

“Should we wait?” Liz suggested nervously.

But Damien shook his head. “We can’t. Vinny was right. If Rista’s group destroys theirs and we take too long to kill ours, Album will know what’s happening and that’s the last thing we need now that Nigreos is already here.”

“Then, Mr. Reiner,” his girlfriend began, addressing Scott, who was still standing a few feet away, his shotgun trained on the shadows and his features tense with concentration.

He had been so obsessed with killing Nigreos that he spent a large portion of his life creating his serum, so what must be going through his mind as he helplessly watched Lilly take the Master on? Damien could see his frustration and anger at Nigreos’s sudden appearance, and he almost certainly wished he could be fighting rather than staying stuck with them, but he hadn’t argued with Lilly, and he wouldn’t miss a chance to take his shot.

“Mr. Reiner,” Liz repeated.

He seemed to snap back to reality as he glared her way. “What? The fuck do you want? Can’t you see I’m trying to focus?”

“I see that,” she replied calmly. “But we need your help. Do you think your mana bullets would be able to interfere with the port’s functioning?”

He snorted, already turning back to watch the shadows for the reappearance of the combatants. “I don’t have a damn fucking clue, Tao. I designed them to disrupt biological processes and that thing doesn’t look like a living thing. For all I know, it’ll just burn up inside of it.”

“Well, can’t hurt to try,” Vinny mumbled. “Damien, give it a go. Let’s see what it does.”

Damien hesitated. “And if it attacks us? Rista said it might have a defense mechanism of some sort and we really don’t need to be fighting this battle on two fronts.”

“Sure, but literally every option sucks ass right now,” Vinny retorted. “We have to try something and if you won’t do it then I will.”

He stuck his hand out, indicating for Damien to give him the gun, but the boy could only stare at the outstretched hand, his mind spinning as he considered his options.

If I let Vinny do it and the mana port hurts him, that’ll be on me. No…

Damien shook his head turning back to stare at the port as he unholstered Scott’s handgun. It wasn’t the most well crafted weapon he’d ever seen, and it was clearly made by somebody who wasn’t professional, so for all he knew, it might not even fire. Scott had tested them plenty of times, but he knew it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for it to malfunction when they needed it most. But even so, Damien gripped the weapon with both hands and took a step back as he aimed it at the orb.

“Thanks, Vin’,” he said with an apprehensive grin. “But I’ve got it. Just stand back.”

Vinny and Liz both seemed nervous as well, but neither argued with him as they did as he asked, moving away from the cave’s mouth to watch. It was at that moment that a loud shout echoed across the beach, and when Damien glanced back over his shoulder, he saw the shadows dissipate, revealing Lilly and Nigreos as their battle resumed, light and darkness flashing across the sand.

It’s now or never, he told himself, placing his finger firmly on the trigger.

The cave in front of him was a perfect replica of the place they first found the gemstone, and he remembered that day vividly. So much had happened since then and so much had changed, and in the end, he found himself back where it all started. The sounds of battle echoed through his ears, urging him to do what needed to be done, so Damien grit his teeth in preparation of what might happen, and pulled the trigger. There was a soft pop as the gun fired, reminding him of how little power it actually had, as the bullet sped toward the ball of light before being engulfed in its glow. He held his breath and watched, but after a few seconds, nothing had happened.

“Maybe fire again?” Liz breathed.

Damien nodded and pulled the trigger a second time, once again watching the mana port absorb the bullet, and once again having no apparent effect on it.

Shit! So do we actually need Lilly? Can we really not do this on our own?!

Damien glanced at Vinny and Liz, but both simply shook their heads, silently telling him that they didn’t have a clue what they should be doing. They were stuck, unable to do anything to help, and when he gazed back at Lilly and Nigreos, he could see how much the girl was struggling to get to him, even with the power of The Angel on her side. She was moving around the beach at the speed of light, disappearing and reappearing in different spots, each jump accompanied by a blindingly bright flash, followed by an attack of either dark magic or light magic. But Nigreos never once moved from his position, meeting each attack with a powerful defense without ever retaliating.

“The fucker’s stalling,” Scott whispered. “His magic is stronger at night, so he’s trying to tire her out before he reaches full power.”

“Then what do we do?” Vinny demanded desperately. “If she can’t break past him, we’re all screwed, right? Clearly we can‘t do anything about this port, so let’s help her kick Nigreos’s ass!”

The man nodded firmly. “I’m tryin’, Mickelson, but there’s only so much we can do. Just look at them. What are we before something as impossible as that?”

Scott’s words struck Damien where it hurt as he gazed at the battle. That had always been what kept them down. How could they ever hope to combat some of the most powerful individuals from a magical realm as high school students without power? Even Eric, who did have magic, only spoke of how terrifyingly strong they were. In the end, they couldn’t do anything but watch helplessly as everything they loved was taken from them.

And we just got it back! I just regained my memories barely a few days ago and I’m already back in this position?! I can’t just stand here! I need to do something! I need to save Lilly before Nigreos kills her! But what can I do?! What can somebody like me do?!

He’d always been stronger than his adversaries. Every time somebody tried to hurt him, he could defeat them with ease. But Nigreos Noctis wasn’t a mere school bully. He was somebody that Damien couldn’t even hope to defeat, and yet…

Lilly did so much for us. She worked her ass off to bring us back, and she’s determined to win this battle. If I can’t be useful with the mana port then maybe…

He glanced down at the gun still clutched in his hands, knowing that he had one card he could play, though also realizing just how many things needed to line up for it to work.

I already tried this before with a gun far more powerful than this one. The chances of it working this time are slim, but I have to try, don’t I?

It was just as he thought this that a bloodcurdling scream shook him to his core, and when he looked up, everything seemed to freeze as he bore witness to Lilly’s left arm exploding from her body.

***

The pain was excruciating and had she not had The Angel inside of her, she would have certainly blacked out that very moment. Blood was dripping from the stump of her arm, her severed limb laying in the sand a few feet away from her. Everything was spinning but she frantically pulled herself together, knowing that Nigreos wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of this chance to strike her down. Luckily, The Angel still had her back. A mass of shadows stretched out to rip her to pieces, but the powers inside her sent her own darkness from her right arm to defend against it, meeting it head-on and preventing it from reaching her. She weakly raised her head, her eyes trained on the suit-clad man still calmly standing in the same place as before, a smug grin on his face as he regarded her.

“Well, that’s quite the disappointing end after all of your grandeur, Harper,” he mocked. “The Angel is a powerful entity, but like I said, you are and will always be magicless. Your body isn’t compatible, and it seems you couldn’t hold out as long as I hoped.”

Lilly could feel blood pooling up in her mouth and dripping from her lips and her vision was getting blurry, yet Nigreos remained just as clear as before, her attention centering on him and him alone.

“It’s…not…over,” she grunted.

He smirked. “It’s not, is it? You think you have more in you? I mean, by all means, go ahead. Give me your best shot. I’ll leave you nothing but a bloody mess to present to Eric when this is all over. Now tell me, how did you coordinate this with him? What exactly have you been doing in here?”

She didn’t know what he meant by coordinating with Eric, but she felt some relief at the fact that the Master’s words essentially confirmed what she already believed: Eric was still alive and that fact managed to rejuvenate her, if only a little. She spat blood into the sand and shook her head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she hissed. “I didn’t coordinate anything. But thank you, Nigreos… Thank you for telling me that he’s still alive…”

The Master narrowed his eyes and she could tell that he was trying to gauge whether she was lying or not. “That seems almost an impossible coincidence, but then again, the two of you have pulled off plenty of impossible feats thus far. Perhaps you simply had good luck…or maybe this was bad luck. If I kill you, maybe he’ll think differently about his actions next time. The both of you were overly cocky and this is where it’s gotten you.”

The shadows continued to roil around him, informing her that he was getting ready for another attack. He spoke with confidence and hatred, just like he had back then, yet there was something off about him this time. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it was as if he was wearing a mask of calm and his words seemed to imply that Eric had done something to him.

Was he…the one who put him in here? But that can’t be possible. He can’t erase people… But something is definitely bothering Nigreos. There’s something he’s hiding.

Once again, silence descended over them as she and Nigreos looked into each other’s eyes, searching for the truths they each sought from each other, and while Lilly expected that moment to be broken by another attack from the Master, it was instead interrupted by the sound of footsteps and when she directed her attention to her left, she watched in horror as Damien approached them, his gun raised to aim right at Nigreos’s chest.

“So another challenger approaches?” Nigreos mused with a laugh. “You’re just as bold as I remember, Damien Clark.”

“Get away from her,” he commanded sharply. “Or I’ll shoot.”

The Master of Darkness cocked an eyebrow. “Or you’ll shoot? Just like you shot me last time? Yes, that was quite an effective attack of yours. You did quite a deal of damage to my shadows.”

Lilly weakly raised her right hand to motion for him to back away. In an ideal world, Damien’s bullet would be able to pierce the shadow, but Scott hadn’t been able to rig them that way. The serum was contained inside the bullet and would only be injected upon impact. The only way it would work was by shooting Nigreos directly and there wasn’t a chance in hell of that happening.

“Don’t mock me,” Damien snarled. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I’m sure you think you do.” Nigreos looked between both him and Lilly and for a moment, that mask of calm faltered, giving her a brief glimpse of raw fury. “You know what, Harper, I only need one of you alive in order to use against Eric, so why don’t I show you just how powerless you are.”

“No,” she choked. “No, stop! Don’t touch…him! Damien…run!”

But Damien ignored her, only continuing to approach them while Nigreos's shadows rose into the air, sharpening into spears of black as they directed themselves at his heart. She knew that if she didn’t do anything then Damien was going to die. He was taking a risk in hopes of getting his bullet to strike him regardless of what might happen to him. He wanted them to win no matter what.

But I can’t let him die! I swore that we would all survive! There won’t be any casualties! We will kill Nigreos without losing a single one of us! So do something, Angel! Save him! Use whatever of my energy you have to! Just save him damn it!

She didn’t know what more it could do, but she suddenly felt its emotions, which were a mix of reluctance and acceptance. It would do as she asked, but it might not be something she could come back from. If she died in the erased realm, it would be all over, but otherwise, she could take whatever pain she needed to. She could lose any limb necessary. As long as her heart still beat and her brain still functioned, it wouldn’t matter.

So take what you need! I’ll suffer a million times over to save them!

As if that was her final command, another spasm of pain shot through her body, so strong that she couldn’t keep herself from crying out. Both Damien and Nigreos turned to look her way just as she screamed again, the pain becoming more and more intense as The Angel did what it needed to.

Whatever has to be done. Whatever… Has to be… Done.

***

Nigreos could only gape as shadows began to grow from the stump of Lilly’s left arm, wrapping together like muscles as they took the shape of a forearm before spreading out into a hand and individual fingers. The Angel was using dark magic to grow her arm back, but upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn’t pure shadow. The darkness almost seemed to glisten like skin and he knew at that moment that it was combining with her genetic code to forcefully create an arm out of different parts of her body. It couldn’t create new skin, bone, and muscle, so it would be taking pieces of other organs and limbs to reconstruct her limb, spreading the damage all across the body rather than centering it in one place.

But that’s only going to kill her. If she fails to escape from this realm before the damage takes its toll then she will die. Nigreos clenched his teeth with frustration. And I’m certain she knows that. Are you really this desperate, Lilly Harper?

She was defiant and arrogant and cocky, and it only served to infuriate him. Just the fact that she thought she stood a chance against him was laughable, and now she was consuming her own body in a last ditch attempt to finish him off. Was that the extent of her hatred for him? Or did she care for Damien Clark enough to harm her very being?

Nigreos would kill Lilly Harper, that much was certain to him. He would make Eric regret betraying them and he would show the boy why he should have simply listened and remained content in the Citadel. When Eric finally found his way into the erased realm like he promised he would, he would only be met with the corpses of his friends and father. Nigreos would then leave one alive and use it to barter for Album’s body. His main priority had to be freeing Album since as long as Eric had her in captivity, Nigreos couldn’t fight him.

Lilly’s shrieking began to quiet as her newly formed arm of black skin trembled in what he knew had to be horrifying pain and her breathing was heavy as she turned her black and white eyes toward him. He could see her humanity slowly leaving her as her primal urge to kill him took precedence over everything else.

“Very well, Harper,” he said sharply. “If that’s your decision.”

So much had happened in one night and the situation with Eric was throwing him into disarray, but he had to put all of that aside as he dealt with Lilly and the rest of Eric’s idiotic friends. Damien Clark still hadn’t taken his shot, which was proof enough that the boy didn’t truly think his attack could work. He’d acted on impulse once he believed his friend was going to die, but now he was within range of Nigreos. He could cut Damien down and watch as Harper got to bear witness to his unnecessary and pointless death.

Yet the moment he turned to unleash his attack against Damien, a clear and painfully familiar voice echoed through his ears.

“Luminetta!”

He sensed the new presence just in time to dash out of the way, watching as the burst of light barely flew past his chest before slamming into the sand, sending it blasting up into the air.

No! I hoped I had more time!

Nigreos furiously turned around to see Album standing just a few yards away, but the confident and composed expression on her face could only remind him that she wasn’t who she appeared to be.

Eric Reiner had entered the erased realm.