Death

At first, the stab felt like a punch, but after a second the real pain started.

Leus felt as if his entire body was on fire, which was quite accurate.

Leus consumed whatever Mana he had left on casting Lightshield and creating Water Mana inside him.

But the pain was too much!

It didn't stop!

To Leus, the few moments that the sword remained inside him felt like an eternity.

By the time the knight pulled out his sword, Leus didn't have any strength in his body, so he fell to his knees.

'This ... h- ruurt-s' 

He fell on the floor

At this point, all the light spells were consumed, including the Robe's.

Leus didn't have any mana remaining, even his Abstract of Concealment got deactivated on its own.

Blood was pouring out of his body

'This is - .. bad'

'I - ha-ve to do ... So'-me thing'

He closed his eyes and focused on his Life Force.

His heart was beating as fast as humanly possible, and his Life Force was all over the place.

Leus did his best to keep his composure.

He began by trying to regulate his breathing.

Slowly, Leus tried to take control of the Life Force that was left in his body.

He tried to stop it from getting wasted and only concentrated it in his mind and on his fatal injuries, trying to stop himself from losing consciousness and trying to keep himself alive for as long as possible.

He was able to hear shouts from around him, but it all sounded like an incoherent buzz.

After some seconds, someone came and flipped him over.

With difficulty, he opened his eyes and looked at the person

It was the Light Mage!

He felt hope!

'I - Forg-ot about hi-m'

The Light Mage chanted a couple of spells and stopped Leus' bleeding.

That was good, but only to an extent.

It reduced the consumption rate of his Life Force, which would keep him alive for a couple more seconds, but that was it.

His charred organs were literally killing him from the inside.

Leus looked the Light Mage in the eye.

"Li-fe For..ce"

Seconds passed, Leus' Life Force was still being consumed, and the Light Mage did nothing.

Leus moved his pupils down to his stomach level, to see.

'What the he- is he do-ing?'

The Light Mage was releasing Life Force from his hand, and his hand was on top of Leus' body

However, he was releasing it in the air!

Instead of using it to heal Leus, or at least save his life, he was only wasting it!

Leus grew angry

"What are ... You -- Doing?"

The Light Mage only glanced at him with a raised eyebrow then continued what he was doing.

'This can't be incompetency ... Can it?'

Leus gathered his energy and spoke in a low voice

"If yo-u can't heal me, O-pen the Barrier!"

No reply

The Light Mage only ignored him.

With every passing second, Leus sensed death approaching.

He coughed blood

'Ugh - Is ... This - the end?'

The faces of his family flashed in front of him.

'I - Don't Want ... To - die'

But there really was nothing left for him to do.

'RELEASE ME!'

From deep inside within him, a dark, sinister voice resounded 

'UNLEASH ME!'

The voice filled Leus' mind with an eerie, ominous feeling

'FREE ME!'

With nothing else left for him to do, Leus spoke to Diablo

'Why?'

'TO SAVE YOU!'

'...'

Leus' consciousness was starting to fade.

He had to make a decision fast.

Die? Or release this ominous being?

Leus was scared ...

He was scared that if he unleashed whatever that Element was then he would not be able to control it again ...

Should he really allow such a sinister thing to control him?

But death wasn't any better, Right?

'It's not like I really have an option ...'

If he did nothing, then the chance of survival would be 0%.

If he unleashed Diablo, then the chance of survival would be at least 1%.

Even if it was 0.1%, it'd be infinitely bigger than 0%.

Right now, Leus could sense what Diablo wanted to do.

He didn't really mind it, but he didn't want it either ...

If it happened then he wouldn't care, but if he had the choice then he wouldn't do it.

But did he have the choice right now?

Leus had absolutely no intention of sacrificing himself for morals ...

'I ... Don't want to die'

'Maybe ... maybe I'll be able to control it ...'

'If I can't, then so be it.'

His selfishness won

Leus made his decision.

He nullified all the restraints his mind was putting on Diablo.

Leus sensed a sinister smile come from deep down within him, but he didn't care anymore.

Leus broke all the chains that were constraining Diablo

It was finally

'FREE!!!!!'

Immediately, changes began to take place in Leus' body.

The first thing Diablo did was push away Leus' consciousness and take full control of the Vessel.

Leus' consciousness was pushed away, and all he could do now was watch.

The roles were reversed.

Leus has become merely a watcher in his own body.

After taking care of that, Diablo began to work.

All of Leus' failing organs were enveloped by jet-black smoke, stopping them from killing the body.

Then Leus' severed hand began to re-grow, but instead of flesh and bones, it was being re-made with ominous, black smoke.

The colors of Leus' eyes were slowly changing.

The right eye from blue to black.

The left eye from red to black.

And faint black smoke began to come out of both eyes.

Leus' hair color began to slowly change, from Magenta to Black.

However, after about 20% of the hair became black, it stopped changing.

Diablo was done altering the Vessel.

He pushed the Light Mage forcefully from on top of him and then stood up.

He raised his right black arm which was made of the ominous black smoke and his left human arm in front of his eyes.

He felt absolute disgust and abhorrence.

Diablo spoke in a demonic, guttural, and menacing voice

"What a weak vessel, restrained by the shackles of mortality"

The demonic voice echoed through the Barrier and instilled deep terror in the hearts of the two who heard it.

Slowly, Diablo turned around and looked at the Light Mage.

With a sinister smirk on his face, he extended his black, right arm forward.