249 CHAPTER 246(Arcanum VS Arcanum)

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CHAPTER START---

"So what's the deal with Ais?" Thalie asks.

On floor eighteen she and Riveria were sitting on a ledge above the prepared battlefield, watching all the bored and anxious adventurers.

Some obsessively check their gear. Others simply remain vigilant in the dug-out trenches.

Thalie was wearing basic combat clothes, as basic as the highly resistant clothes Welf made can be. A set of black and gold pants and boots with a matching top. She had the Champion's Spear laying beside her while Hokori hovered behind her, above the ground on a cushion of wind.

"Ais is perfectly fine," Riveria says, her staff held carefully in her arms.

"Really? So you're saying I've been imagining the fact that all Loki's executives have been avoiding her. Well, not all," Thalie gestures to Lefiya and Ais who were having a quiet chat down in the designated battle clearing.

Riveria groans at the sight and looks away, "familia business," she says.

"Mhm, and Lefiya doesn't know?"

"She wasn't there, and, I don't think she'd take it very well considering how much she looks up to Ais."

"Was it that bad?" Thalie asks, turning her head to face Riveria, seeing the Elf frown at the very thought.

"I'm not allowed to discuss, familia business, Loki would be very upset with me."

"That's far from the first thing you've done that would upset her," Thalie teases.

Riveria's face blooms in a bright blush, unable to help the smile that forms on her lips. Riveria raises her gloved hand for Thalie to see, "her actions had consequences...and it will be a very long time before we forgive them, if we ever forgive."

"Ahh, it's like that," Thalie says. "For the record, Mikoto has yet to give me any issues..."

Riveria rolls her eyes, something she'd never do in the presence of most people, but considering how well Thalie knew her exploits she didn't much care. And spending the past two days getting to know the rather direct and crude woman made her painfully aware that Thalie wouldn't care.

"It's not a contest you know, and you've only had Mikoto for what, a year? I've had Ais for almost ten years, and Lefiya for half that."

"Everything is a contest, life is a contest, losers just don't like to admit it."

"Is that what you teach Mikoto?" Riveria asks, concern in her voice.

"Of course, to win is not enough, you must destroy the enemy so they can never pose a threat to you again."

"Like you did with Freya's familia, after they were clearly beaten..."

"Threat, eliminated."

Riveria just shakes her head and continues looking out over the battlefield, "remind me to never leave Lefiya with you."

Thalie chuckles, "mages aren't really my thing anyway, too much flash, not enough substance."

"You speak as if you aren't on a team with a man who sets himself on fire every fight."

"Fair point I suppose."

A few minutes later Thalie abruptly stops speaking and stands up, all the hairs at the back of her neck suddenly alert.

Riveria jumps to her feet and clutches her staff. "What's wrong?"

"I can feel it, get everyone ready, it's close..." Thalie says.

Only a few moments later and adventurers across the entire floor were at their designated positions.

The area immediately outside the tunnel to floor nineteen was cleared out for hundreds of meters. No trees remaining, only a field of short green grass.

Trenches were dug along the far edge of the battlefield for mages while frontline fighters were holding positions just behind them, ready to charge ahead after the opening volley.

Finn stood on a ledge above the battlefield a hundred meters away from the trenches with his team and Thalie beside him, ready to command the battlefield as needed. His entire strategy can be summed up by two simple words, 'support Thalie', having any member of The Trifecta on a battlefield makes everyone else the supporters, and he was fully committed to his role.

"It's close enough, start chanting," Thalie says.

"Mages!" Finn's voice reaches the entire battlefield. Thousands of adventurers were ready to obey his every command. "Begin chanting and hold your fire until my mark!"

Hundreds of Magic Circles in all different colours began blooming around the battlefield. The chants echoed from wall to wall. Embers and sparks formed around the mages. Thalie could see at a glance many of the non-elemental spells.

Some manifested sword constructs, others created bubbles of sound. The rare few even had mages focusing the magic into one large explosive attack, simple explosion spells.

Two minutes of chanting later, and a dim white light began moving through the tunnel.

"That's it," Thalie says. Looking to her right she sees Lefiya and Riveria chanting their strongest attack, the princess gives Thalie a quick nod before turning back toward the tunnel.

Weapons shake and lips tremble all across the battlefield as The Angel steps into view. Silently walking out of the tunnel it stands at ten feet -three meters- tall. Two large slender and featherless wings beginning from its back with the tips nearly reaching the grassy floor. The only features on its head were two glowing blue eyes, standing out among the entirely glowing white body, as if it were made of light. And finally, The Shard, in the middle of its chest with a clear outline.

The sexless, genderless form took careful steps forward. Gazing at all the chanting adventurers, curious and confused by what it was seeing.

"It's smaller than I thought," Gareth says. Naturally, they'd expected something akin to the previous Great Quests, gargantuan monsters that could level districts of Orario by simply strolling. But they could all sense the power of this monster. Every instinct in their body was screaming to run away.

"Prettier too," Tiona ogles the monster, eyes wide as saucer as she takes in the angelic form.

Finn glared at the monster, feeling his thumb trying to tear itself away from his body, he glanced over at Riveria and received a nod in return. "ALL MAGES FIRE!" his voice booms across the entire battlefield with his Command Shout skill.

The Angel didn't register any of this. Simply standing in the field staring at all the different adventurers.

So many shapes and sizes, colours and races. It had never seen anything like this before. So many of them were standing on spinning circles of light, pointing glowing sticks toward her. It was all so new, so wonderfully new.

One voice yelled across the battlefield, and all the lights moved, suddenly the sky was filled with streaks of fire and countless other things. The ground had streaks of lights darting across it toward her feet. The air around her exploded without warning, engulfing her in a kaleidoscope of colours, swirling together in a glorious display of destruction.

From the adventurers' side of this attack, there was a blinding flash, then a deafening explosion, finally a wave of heat, then nothing.

The ringing in their ears was all they could register while trying to rub the starts from their eyes.

Many mages immediately began retreating or were carried away from their original positions, either only being good for one use or intentionally putting all their magic into one attack.

As the magic and flames dissipate Thalie sets her eyes on The Angel. Standing on a hundred-meter-wide patch of scorched earth, the monster was staring at its hands and the surroundings.

A childlike confusion in its actions, a curiosity in its movements. Completely unhurt, and trying to understand why.

"What the hell..." Finn mutters. "Thalie?"

The woman narrows her eyes and continues observing as the mages get ready for round two. "It's confused."

"Confused?"

"It doesn't know what we were trying to do, it doesn't understand that we were even trying to hurt it," she says.

'It doesn't understand threats, it doesn't recognize anyone or what Magic is...it doesn't have his memories, we got lucky,' Thalie thinks to herself.

Finn's grip on his spear tightens, eyes narrowing into a glare, "and what happens when it realizes the situation?"

"Let's try to kill it before that happens," Thalie takes on step away and grabs Tiona's Urga. The large and clunky weapon seemed almost normal-sized in her grasp compared to the much shorter amazon.

"Hey what are you doing? I need that!" Tiona protests, completely ignored by everyone.

"Testing something," Thalie says as she holds the large double-bladed weapon.

BOOM!

Urga shatters the sound barrier, the draft nearly pulling Finn and Tiona off their feet as it rockets toward The Angel.

The Angel was still studying the battlefield, completely unreactive as the adventures began their next set of chants, so unphased by their magic that it didn't register any threat. Even when Urga struck it in the head.

The entire weapon immediately turned to dust. Instantly disintegrated before it could transfer any force. The exact same thing that happened to the Magic earlier.

"Only Arcanum can challenge Arcanum," Thalie grumbles.

Hearing this Finn wastes no time giving new commands, "it's using Arcanum! Follow the evacuation plan!"

Everyone reacts immediately and begins moving toward the exit, heading to the upper floors, back to Orario.

"Tione, Tiona, Bete, Gareth, Ais, get everyone up to the surface then reinforce the adventurers up there, if this thing gets past us you need to lead it out of Orario," Finn says before turning to the others. "Riveria, Lefiya, be ready to cast enhancement spells on Thalie, keep them constant, and coordinate with the other mages so they overlap."

As everyone rushes off to their positions Finn, Thalie, Riveria, and Lefiya remain overlooking all the panicked adventurers.

BWOOM!

A sudden feeling of persistence, of the will to continue fighting, to never give up, it permeates Thalie's entire being. It brings forth a desire to survive like never before.

An unexplainable phenomenon. As if there was a voice in the back of her mind screaming, begging, demanding that she never quits, never surrenders, never accepts death. A desperate voice pushing her to do whatever it takes, to survive.

She instinctively looks up, toward the dimming crystals on the ceiling. But she wasn't focused on them, not at all. There was just something there, something that she couldn't wrap her head around.

When she snaps out of it, the feeling continues for a short time before going away, and she looks around to see that every other adventurer experienced the exact same thing.

Her gaze immediately flickers to The Angel.

'More mind games?' she thinks. Thalie raises one hand to hold the Champion Spear, then lifts the other and summons Hokori to it.

Both spears glow golden as her Magic activates, the golden armor outline appears around her body. Adventurers look up to her perch, seeing their golden champion ready to join the fight.

Aiming Hokori at The Angel she crosses the divine spear across it.

WOOSH!

A massive vortex of green wind blasts outward.

Even Ais's eyes widen in astonishment. Such powerful wind that she, a half spirit, half wind spirit of all things, couldn't yet match, all from a weapon.

The Angel sees the attack coming, and again doesn't react. A painful mistake.

It's knocked off its feet and pushed into the dirt, carving out a brand new trench with its body.

"C'mon!" Thalie furrows her brow, she'd grit her teeth and snarl if her metal jaw allowed it.

The Angel struggles to stop rolling and take a knee. Forced to use its wings as shields, actually feeling the effect of this magic. Feeling the effect of magic laced with divinity thanks to the spear.

Through a gap in the wings it stares directly at Thalie, burning her face into its mind.

'The threat...' it decides. 'Kill the threat, find the source, go home!'

Silently, The Angel struggles to get to its feet, eventually crouching down and leaping to the side.

Still unaware of exactly how strong it was the force of the leap was far too much.

BOOM!

It slams into a nearby cliff face. Cutting through a massive crowd and instantly killing dozens of adventures.

Only ash and dust remain of them, instantly destroyed upon contact.

The nearby adventurers stare in horror.

"EVERYONE RUN, NOW!" Finn screams, snapping them out of their stupor and shock.

They all immediately begin sprinting toward the exit when The Angel moves again, this time barreling through the crowd, not intentionally trying to kill them. But much like a dragon doesn't care to avoid ants.

The Angel stops as the crowd begins parting around it, still ignoring the insignificant level three and four adventurers.

As it arrives back in the clearing, turning to look at Thalie, ready to leap. She disappears.

In a golden flicker before the eyes of every adventurer she vanishes.

BOOM!

Hundreds of meters away a cloud of dust is kicked up. The shockwave shakes the entire safe zone, knocking hundreds of people to the ground, trampled by their allies in panic and haste.

When the dust settled they finally saw it. Thalie and The Angel were stuck in a deadlock. The Divine spear was inches away from The Shard, held firm in The Angel's right hand, fingers wrapped around the blade and keeping it in place.

Their other hands were interlocked, fighting for dominance. The larger glowing white hands almost completely swallows Thalie's.

All the onlookers were amazed, people all around the world were shocked. A mix of terror and hope.

A mortal who could clash with Arcanum, a glimmer of true hope.

The Angel versus their Divine Champion of War, a battle for the survival of the world.

The beginning of The Trifecta's greatest battle yet...

END CHAPTER---

Place your bets and predictions here :)

Wish I gave 'The Angel' a name so I wouldn't have to type 'The Angel' so damn much...