Maat's Battle

Maat enters the arena where a man shrouded in white robes is standing in the middle. While the three of us just chill on the bleachers. Kraugr is healing himself, Zuriel eats popcorn with a can of soda, and I just sit here looking around. Damn, this power is impressive. I wonder what it takes to summon this kind of place.

"Go, my girl!" Zuriel claps so loud like a fanboy. "Kick his bum!"

He's embarrassing himself. The vibe he gives out is the opposite of this domain. Desert sand surrounds the whole place, the clouds above are purple, and the floor of the arena is littered with corpses. That man in the middle is calmly waiting. He's not afraid of us nor does he care. He gives off a dark yet confident aura that he can take all four of us at the same time. I guess we'll find out when Maat makes him unleash his power.

Maat is saying something that I can't hear. She's too far. I assume it's about taking her revenge and it could be that she's channeling her powers. A few seconds later, she extends her linen wraps like they're living snakes. They whistle in the air as they aim to pierce the mage. Then something invisible stops them. Sparks spread throughout and dust clouds get lit up by blue light from inside. It clears up and I see that he has a barrier. It kinda reminds me of Helena.

I almost forgot about her! Wasting time is not an option here! Impatient, I ask, "Can we just Let Maat handle this and we'll go ahead to the next floor?"

"No can do," Zuriel answers while his mouth is full. "Haven't you noticed that there is a barrier in every staircase?"

I turn my eyes at the staircase in the distance. "I see nothing."

"You haven't unlocked your Eyes of Verity—that's why."

I open my Frame User skill tree and found that it's hidden well among the side branches. It's ready to be unlocked so I did. I give it a try and see that everything seems to be blue in this place.

"Everything is blue," I describe as I look around like an owl. "Well, except for you guys. You're all orange."

"That's because we're made out of physical matter. Anything made from magic is blue like this whole domain."

"Oh. . ."

This is interesting. I can see the invisible barrier right before the staircase now. There is no way around it. Also, that mage's barrier. It's very dense and radiates so much power. Maat's linen wraps are imbued with dense magic power because it's so blue. I go back to the skill tree to check this skill again.

Seeing magic and living things aren't everything it can show me. There are various advantages I can get if I upgrade it further. The most promising is the last upgrade which is named, <All-Seeing Eyes>. I'm speculating that this has something to do with the All-Seer that Zuriel wants to defeat. This skill is apparently called a "Legendary Skill".

Zaori mentioned this in the File: <You can only have a limited number of Legendary Skills. One Legendary Skill per 1000 of your level. I have four Legendary Skills. I'm not gonna reveal it to you because they're my trump cards. Enemies might figure it out if they take you as a Frame.>

This could be the reason why she won't start doing the Divine Trinity Quest before she becomes Level 5000. There must be a Legendary Skill she wants to unlock.

"Zuriel," I say as he drinks his soda.

"Yeah?" He wipes his mouth before turning to me.

"Do you have a Legendary Skill?"

He stretches his face in a grin before saying, "Yup! In fact, I have two." He holds two fingers as if he needs to do that for me to understand. What am I to him? A child?

"What are they?" I ask anyway.

"Oh, you'll see soon enough. Can't tell ya because the All-Seer is watching and listening to us."

"What the heck?!" I look around paranoid. I'm looking out for floating eyes and ears or something like those.

"Isn't that right, All-Seer?" he says to the air as he moves his index finger like an inverted pendulum. "But ah, ah, ah. . . I'll keep it secret until we meet as a surprise from me to you." Then he winks and sticks his tongue out.

He's weird. . .

<>

**

Zuriel's smirk is shown in the All-Seer's room. His servants are peeved, clenching their teeth and their eyes glowing intensely.

"I'll teach that boy a lesson!" one of them rages, closing his grimoire in a loud crack.

"Patience," says the All-Seer. His words are as smooth as the clear water in the shallow cold brook running through the stones.

"But. . . he's mocking you, O' great All-Seer!"

"His mocking does no harm to me. It is merely his taunt to strike dissent among us."

"All of us can end him right there, Your Excellency!"

"All of you will die."

The other didn't take this well. Their feelings of pride are being pulled by the leg.

"With due respect," another one speaks up on the others' behalf. "we are confident that we can defeat him, O' great All-Seer, even with minimal effort."

"That is how he wants you to think. I'm the All-Seer, so I know. Now, all of you, carry on with your tasks."

They bow in humiliation before they do what he said. The All-Seer rests his head on his hand as he sits on his floating throne. He narrows his eyes, thinking about what Zuriel is hiding from him.

"We soon shall see," he mutters.

**

<>

This is going bad for Maat! She's doing all she can to defeat that guy but nothing seems to go through his defenses. I'm worried more than these two beside me.

"Hey, should we be worried?" I ask, feeling my neck and face moist with sweat.

"Nah, if she dies, she dies," Zuriel says lacking concern as he chews on his popcorn.

"I thought she was someone special to you."

"Tch," he scoffs. "Special? Of course not. She's just a side chick. Zaori is the only one for me."

Hearing that from him is a little weird because I was once in the harem and we have a child. He mustn't have known this. Zaori kept it secret, after all.

Everything goes quiet when Maat stopped attacking. She's exhausted. She's low on mana now. What even is that barrier? Is that stronger than my daughter's?

The tables have turned as the mage shoots a huge blue energy beam at her. She gets blasted away, her linens catch on fire.

"Maat!" I yell out of concern.

Rising from the ground, she looks at us. Her gaze looks like she's asking for help. "Help!" she yells.

"You can do it, girl!" Zuriel cheers instead.

"I can't even touch him!"

"Get your revenge!" He's not listening!

Kraugr laughs while folding his arms. How could he? He's lucky he faced a weaker enemy. Maat could've ended his fight in a second. What a bloke this bull is.

The fight still ensues and I'm on my tippy toes even though I'm sitting. I couldn't help but be concerned. If Maat is defeated, our chances of beating the All-Seer would be decreased.

"Yup," says Zuriel, resting his chin on his hand in disappointment. "I thought she was better than this. Kraugr, can you beat that guy?"

"His strength is beyond me."

Sighing, he turns to ask me, "How about you?"

"If they couldn't, how much could I?"

"Ugh. . . you guys really want me to work, huh?"

"Oh, that would be nice! Finally!"

"What are you talking about? Of course, I won't."

"Then I'll go help her, instead!" I rise from my seat and jump over the railing and into the arena.

"Good luck! Don't die because Zaori will get angry at me."

Then get your ass down here, dammit! Just bossing around without doing anything. He's worse than Zaori. *Sigh* Let's just get to Maat.

The mage is attacking her relentlessly as she encased herself inside a ball of linen wrappings. It's on fire and soon gonna reach her. I don't have anything to interfere with the mage's attack so getting her out of there is the only choice I have.

Right after another beam hits it, I rush behind it and scream, "Maat! Get out of there!" She can't hear me. "Argh!" I get blown away by the blast. That mage keeps shooting! "Maat!" I scream for her once more but received no response. Maybe she's dead.

As my hands are on this huge ball of linen, I feel it trembling a little bit. This is not because of the explosions. Pretty sure it's from inside.

Dense magic gathers inside of it and I can sense it. The ball explodes in my face!