Night Flame Barrier

The Saint appeared from within the church, his relaxed footsteps echoing throughout the battlefield. When he stopped in front of the church, everyone could see his appearance, clad in a blood red robe, an almost illusory red halo shining from his back. His body was radiating intense heat, enough to begin melting the debris around him. Every time he would he step forward with his bare foot, the ground would melt, leaving behind a red hot footprint.

The atmosphere became thick and the battlefield went silent. Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at the Saint, a look of horror on their faces. They had never seen a human look like that. Blood gushing like waterfall from his mouth, the Saint stared at each one of them with the tens of eyes across his forehead. The eyes moved independently, each looking at a different direction, a different person.

His amber hair, which was long before, was now even longer, touching the ground. Moving their gazes from the ground, they could see that the amber hair stopped being amber from his waist, and started becoming pink. Upon closer inspection, the bloody pink hair strands were parts of the Saint's brain. Thin strands of wriggly brain were coming out from his hair follicles, fusing with his amber hair at it's roots.

"...Run..." Zaros blurted in a low voice. "RUN!" He shouted, disrupting everyone from their focus. The Saint tapped his foot on the ground and disappeared. As Zaros turned to retreat, he found the Saint already behind him.

"I..... am your god now..." The Saint spoke to Zaros. When he spoke, his voice sounded like metal scraping against metal. The sound was so disgusting some knights and rogue seekers stopped in their tracks and vomited out everything from inside their stomachs.

Zaros widened his eyes and quickly moved his hands in front of him to block the incoming attack. The Saint smiled at Zaros with a set of sharp bloody teeth and pushed his fist forward. Knowing full well that he couldn't block the attack, Zaros changed his mind last minute and decided to dodge. He used all the essence he could muster up in the short time and enhanced his legs, stepping to the side.

*BAM*

But he was too slow, or rather, the Saint was too fast. His punch hit the left side of Zaros's stomach, leaving nothing but a crescent shaped hole. *Spurt* Zaros coughed out a mouthful of blood, a large gaping hole on the side of his body.

The Saint flicked the blood off his hand and scanned the rest of the people with his excess eyes. "Disgusting....insects...." His sound gurgled , blood flowing from his mouth. From the back, Haskell and some knights threw the Night Crystals at the Saint.

*Boom Boom Boom*

The crystals exploded when they reached the Saint and dust rose up. Everyone kept on staring towards the dust, waiting for it to die down, not moving a muscle. When the dust slowly dissipated, they saw the Saint, without any scratches, a wide smile on his face.

Every eye of the Saint was now focused on the person who threw the crystals at him. Haskell's whole body shivered and his hair stood on it's end. "HAAH" He clenched his teeth and used his <Arcane> to make a flaming barrier in front of him. Night Flame Barrier, one of the basic <Arcane> they taught knights in the academy.

Haskell Burress, the only son of a small nobility of a small county in Astra. His parents sent him to the academy with little hope that he would become a knight. He was often called the burden of Burress family as a child, as he showed no talent in anything.

Even though it was unexpected for Haskell, he exceeded their hopes. He practiced and studied hard in the academy, giving it his all. Eventually, he caught the eye of Thorn after becoming a knight, and even got the chance to become a Night Leader candidate. But he had always doubted himself. No matter how much he practiced and tried, he couldn't specialize in any specific <Arcane>. He was good in defense to an extent, but he didn't want to specialize in something boring like defense. He was also exceptional on using the basic <Arcane> of the Sacred Order, but that was where he felt the limits of his talents.

All of his senses alarming him of danger, his instinct was screaming to him to run away. But he clenched his teeth and mustered up all of his essence, creating a rock solid Night Flame Barrier. 'This barrier...' he thought as he looked at it. 'This is my best one yet...' a small smile escaped from his lips. 'I should've specialized in defense...'

Buck, Thorn, Vine and the other Leaders hastened towards him, trying to use their <Arcane> to save him. Some put up the same kind of barrier while some used offensive abilities towards the Saint.

*Zoom* A red line passed through the attacks and barriers, cracking each one until it reached Haskell's barrier. *Crack* The glowing red line passed through his barrier easily, leaving behind a small hole, from which lines of cracks began appearing. *Crash* The barrier cracked down into pieces, revealing Haskell, his hand up and reaching towards the barrier, his eyes wide, and a small hole on his forehead.

A line of blood streamed down the hole, reaching his eyes and mouth, which was agape. Unable to make a sound, Haskell's body dropped down on the ground, his eyes slowly drained of life.

"NOOOO!!" With a loud scream, Thorn ran towards Haskell's body, while the others defended against the Saint.

---

Inside a dark room, Zane was still slouched on the couch, looking up at the ceiling, unable to move his body. When the church quaked and Zaros left the room, Zane stood up and tried to follow him. But just as he stood up, he felt a shock of intense pain in every muscle and nerve in his body, falling right back down on the couch.

Since then, he couldn't even move a muscle, forced to stare at the ceiling. 'Dammit!' The only thing he could do was think and focus on his body. 'I could move when I woke up, why did this happen suddenly?...Haah..' He drew a mental sigh.

Closing his eyes, he focused inside his body again. 'Essence... It's not that I don't have enough essence to move...' He focused again, this time on the slug that was inside his stomach. The slug was coiled up, black shadow aura radiating from it. 'The bastard has stopped wriggling... Its not dead right?'

Zane fused some of his essence with the slug. *Wriggle* The slug instantly began to move, now no longer radiating any aura. After the slug began to move, Zane could feel his body becoming light.

"What..." He widened his eyes and stood up. He didn't feel any pain when moving his body now. "Was the slug doing that?" He thought back to how the slug was radiating a black aura and spreading it throughout his body. "Does it have to do with the aura it was spreading?" He was lost in thought again until a distant sound of explosion brought him back.

"Right. I'll look into this later." He looked towards the door and smiled. "I'm coming my treasures!" He opened the door and dashed along the corridors.

After a moment, Zane reached in front of the altar with the hidden door and hid himself. "Huh.. it's open." Seeing as how the door was open, he decided to move closer and peek inside.

He stealthily went towards the door and peeked inside from the side. "Huh!?" His eyes and mouth went wide in shock, his face blue from fear. His whole body shook when he saw the state of the hall.