The Last Battle (4)

"You monster!" Isaac charged at the apostle. He fired red magic beams, and the Algus couldn't stop them in time as they penetrated his body.

"I see… You need time to stop my attacks!" he ran faster.

Seth hit Isaac's leg with his staff. "Don't get too close. You saw what he just did to Anne!"

Isaac frowned, but he knew Seth was right. The holes in the apostle's bones had already regenerated.

The apostle made another barrier, which Jenna shattered. Ejiro cut his body in half, and Christopher ripped an arm off.

Aaron fired bullet after bullet. The apostle wasn't immortal. It took mana to regenerate. They only had to exhaust it.

"Souls," it moaned. "I need more souls!"

Legless and with only one arm left, the apostle crawled on the metal road, eying Isaac with a grin. Ejiro cut off his hand as it raised its arm to attack. 

"Argh!" The apostle fell flat but kept looking at Isaac. The skeleton regenerated his hand and pressed it against the ground.

"He's not healing anymore. Finish him!" Luo shouted to Ejiro.

A new barrier appeared above the fleshless being to block Ejiro's sword. 

"Give up already!"

Ejiro was about to strike again when the apostle's hand twitched. A red spike emerged from the ground, behind Isaac.

The spike tore through into Isaac's abdomen, dragging him toward the apostle. Isaac couldn't move. The apostle grabbed him by the throat and began siphoning the red mana from his body.

Algus' flesh regenerated. "Ah~ So many souls saved up. It's a pity you never learned to purify your mana, but I'll handle that for you."

A blinding red light enveloped Algus. Three barriers materialized around him and Isaac, blocking any interference.

"It's time to die!" Algus tightened his grip on Isaac's neck.

As he choked, something stirred deep within Isaac. An energy he hadn't felt in ages surged from his heart. It was his original mana, the power he knew so well. As the red mana was purged from his system, his electricity mana was unblocked.

Isaac's eyes flashed with a blue glow, his body crackling with electricity. Startled, the apostle flung him aside. Isaac fell against the barrier but quickly recovered, sending a surge of electricity through the metal ground toward Algus.

The apostle dropped to his knees, writhing as the electricity coursed through him. Anne shattered the last barrier, and Seth teleported Isaac away just as the Algus unleashed explosive orbs.

Isaac collapsed, gasping from the pain as he noticed the gaping wound in his abdomen. He gritted his teeth and pressed his hands against the steel road with all his strength.

"Die!" An electrical surge approached Algus. The apostle made a new barrier around himself, but the electricity passed through the steel ground, frying him from within.

Algus lost consciousness, and the others who could still fight swarmed him, mutilating his body.

"I'll finish this," Luo burned the pile to ashes to prevent any chance of regeneration.

"What's this?" Isaac, catching his breath, noticed something strange. The red mana that had escaped the apostle's control now lingered as a cloud of mist. Instinctively, he absorbed it as if it were his own.

[You have 1314 mana points], his watch displayed. It was enough to heal himself and rush to Gabriella's aid.

Gabriella lay dying, her skin turning blue. Isaac pressed his hands against her wound, channelling his red mana into her body.

"Woah… what's happening?" he muttered as his mana behaved differently.

"It's like it's an extension of my body! I can sense everywhere it goes as if I were there. And it's much more efficient now. Is this what the apostle meant by purifying it?"

Aaron joined him. "Is she okay?"

Isaac removed his hands, revealing no trace of injury on Gabriella's body. "She should be."

Isaac summoned electricity in one hand, and red mana in the other. One eye glowed blue, the other red. "Now that I have better control over the red mana, I can use both powers at will."

However, he was starting to feel light-headed. The red mana still affected him.

Gabriella opened her eyes weakly. "What happened?"

"We did it," Isaac said. "The apostle's dead." 

"Really?"

Aaron pointed to the pile of ash. "See for yourself."

As they stood up, Gabriella quickly averted her eyes from a pile of flesh. "Is that Anne?"

Aaron quietly. He wiped his eyes. "Anne and her father's dream was to make a name for herself as a mage. She died before she could receive the DA's acknowledgement…"

After paying their respects, they regrouped with the others. Seth was talking to Stephen. "Where did that apostle, Euriel Blood, come from?"

"He probably wasn't from the Obscure Guild. I doubt he gave us his real name," Stephen replied.

"Then where could he be from?" Isaac asked.

Ejiro frowned. "Now that I think about it, that man looked familiar. I didn't realize it before since he claimed to be a vampire."

Let me know if you find anything," Stephen instructed, "I need to grab my tablet. I left it in an alleyway. I'll try to identify him."

As the group reflected on this last battle, Seth sensed a subtle pulse from within the ash pile like his own heartbeat.

'Am I the only one who feels that?' Seth knelt and sifted through the ash with his staff. The gold from Algus' accessories had melted, but a single stone was perfectly intact.

It was a purple stone, pulsing with a dark energy Seth found disturbingly familiar. 'What is it?'

As he grabbed it, his vision went black, and voices echoed in his mind.

>My apostle lost! What do we do?< a male voice echoed.

>He's your apostle. Take responsibility for once and blow everything up.< A female voice retorted.

>But, if I use that much power, it'll take me years to recover.<

"Seth, are you okay?" Isaac's voice was faint.

>No, I'll lend you some prayers to grow your strength. You'll get new candidates later.<

The male voice sighed. >Fine. I'll blow up the stone!<

"Seth! What's happening?!" Isaac shouted, pulling Seth back to consciousness.

"What?" he said faintly.

"It feels like there are billions of souls around us! I'm suffocating!"

Seth closed his eyes, and Jenna suddenly sensed a strange warmth in the air.

She gasped. "Something's wrong!"

The stone in Seth's hand was shaking.

"Seth!" Isaac called out again, as Seth wasn't moving. "I think the stone is absorbing the souls!"

The old mage threw the stone into the air and stood up. The strange warmth Jenna could feel entered his body.

"Everyone, come here!" Seth shouted, enveloping as many as he could in a shadow.

They vanished, leaving the rebels and citizens behind.

…

East of the Obscure Guild, outside the walls.

Seth awoke in a crevice near a forest, surrounded by his unconscious comrades, their bodies bruised and battered. "Their bodies couldn't handle such a long-distance teleportation."

-BOOM!

A deafening explosion came from the Obscure Guild. A purple cloud remained and tried to peer out of the walls but eventually dissipated. A loud rumble startled Seth. The guild's tall walls cracked and slowly collapsed. As the roof fell flat, all the people who had survived the explosion were crushed to death.

The explosion claimed countless lives. Many would burn, suffocate, or take their own lives to escape the horror. Billions of souls had perished… the Obscure Guild had fallen so swiftly.

Seth attempted to stand but fell back into the crevice, losing consciousness again.

…

Rico lounged in a movie theatre, watching the news coverage of the guild's collapse. "What a show! It seems the apostle went out with a bang, just as intended."

Rico was on a call with Jacob. "You what this means, right?"

"Of course. It's my time to shine!" 

Rico's laugh halted as he checked the GPS on his tablet. "Wait, what?"

"Something wrong?"

"It still shows Aaron on the map! How is he out there? That's impossible!"

Jacob took a look at his own GPS. He sighed. "The device doesn't lie. This tracker tracks your brother's soul as long as he's breathing."

"So what's the explanation? I don't know of any magic that can bring someone that far away!"

"Hm… Perhaps it isn't magic."

"Huh? Then what else could it be?"

"Rico, mana isn't the only source of power in the world."

…

Seth woke up again. Everyone was still unconscious. Isaac's red mana had healed his bruises, yet he hadn't woken up.

The moon shone brightly above. Blood stained Seth's hands and unnatural cuts marred his body. "It's due to the Rule… The world didn't like me using that much power."

"I need to hurry." He touched his watch, calling Commander Kray.

After a long silence, she finally answered. "H- hello?"

"Commander Kray…"

Kray wasn't alone.

"Who's this?" Scott asked.

"It's Seth Rayn!" said Micky.

Seth spat blood. "I need a rescue team. I've already sent you my coordinates."

Kray sighed in relief. "I thought you were dead. Who is with you?"

"I- I could only save a few of us. That power… it was otherworldly."

He looked around. "Ejiro, Isaac, Aaron, Jenna, Luo, Christopher, Gabriella… that's all."

"What about Stephen and the other vampire, Victor?" Micky asked.

"They were too far away. I couldn't reach them."

"I see…"

Seth threw his staff to the ground, welling up in his eyes. He wept that night, alone, as billions of abandoned souls haunted the ruins of the Obscure Guild.

He noticed an aircraft in the distance. Was it a rescue team? Were they coming to save him, or just scouting for survivors?

"I failed…" he murmured, looking at the youngsters. "But I see their potential. I can't do this alone. I need to form a squad. I'll call it the…"

Seth fell asleep.

…

"I can't sleep." Rico sat up in his sleeping capsule, in a stark white room.

He left the capsule, strolling through his laboratory - the one he had built for the Dark Faction. The walls were pure white, and the hallways were empty save for a few guards wearing collars.

Rico passed through a massive door, ignoring the guards who saluted him. Inside, he found large dog cages lining either side of the room. Some contained people, but most were empty.

"I'm out of doubles now. But with this lab completed, I can create my own. And once I do, maybe I'll visit you, brother."

He stopped at a particular cage. "I can't wait to kill him! Isaac too, if he's still alive.

The cage was meant for a dog, but what peeked out of it didn't have hair. "Wouldn't you want that, Henri Tremblay?" 

A bloodthirsty howl echoed from within the metal bars. Henri Tremblay, Isaac's father, was no longer human. His bones had been shattered and restructured into the form of a large, ferocious dog with a spiked collar.

As Rico unlocked the cage, Henri's rough tongue licked his hand. Rico seized him by the collar, yanking him out forcefully. "Wouldn't it be ironic if you ended up killing your own son?"

Silent, confused, and utterly broken, the creature simply tilted its head, drooling onto the floor.

—

End of Part 7 - Obscure War

Part 8: New Horizons

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