Chapter 20: Golden Requiem

The company burst out as they executed the plan.

Following their choreography, Lu created a mist so Autumn could test her animus on the aurum. It crushed the armor with the arm it used to block and she backed off as soon as she appeared.

Jen's lightning infusion was also casted but did not affect the aurum, even for a scratch.

Allan's rolling stone also does not do anything, but it staggers the aurum and pushes it back from the impact.

They regrouped under the rock again and Lu told them, "Autumn's animus works let's go with plan D"

Right after they bust out the aurum was about to start on Gaze's unconscious body however they stopped him by staggering him with Allan's rock.

Lu created another mist and the two guards attacked the aurum, to distract him from Autumn coming from behind him and using her animus on his head.

The headgear of the aurum was blown away into a million pieces and they backed off to regroup again, and this time Gaze's body was with Lu, who sneaked to steal her during the combat.

The aurum bellowed a low and eerie laugh as he reformed the gear on his right hand into another headgear. Then he placed the one on his foot to his unguarded arm.

"Tsk" Lu expressed his annoyance on the futility of their labor.

"You really are Lu" the aurum said, pulling out a hammer from thin air and leaping at them.

"Scatter and regroup!" Lu commanded as they dispersed before the giant smashed the ground where they stood.

None of them were affected and they immediately stood behind a rock one more time as they slipped into it unseen when Lu scattered his last smoke bomb.

"Now what?" Allan asked. "I thought you said the armor was already his manablade?"

"I thought so too, but it could have been worse. Since he could manipulate his armor, it should be his animus instead. We can only be grateful he didnt get to kill anyone by surprise using it. Also since he didnt recast his armor and instead reusing his sleeves for his helm, so we can assume that the full armor probably costs him all his 3 charges. At the very least, we know some of his limits now.

"What if he can form 3 armors and a stronger one after?" Jen asked the question nobody dared to.

Lu paused. "We can only pray that it's not the case" Lu said before busting out of their hideout again.

They erupted out of the rock and ran into position before the smoke dissipates. The aurum swings its hammer in a full circle as the smoke dissipates as well, defending itself from attacks that might come as soon as the smoke disappears and also getting a full view of its surroundings.

Both unfortunately and fortunately for him, their plan did not involve attacking as soon as the cloud subsides. However, they are also out of sight, hiding in the grass and rocks.

Autumn pounces at him, and they clash weapons as soon as they make contact, but she was was blown away by the sheer force of his strike.

Just as the aurum expected, there was a follow up from Allan and Jen also aiming his spear and her sword at his exposed arm. He countered this by swinging his armorclad arm, knocking them just as far as Autumn went.

A golden feather pierced his arm, though he did not writhe in pain but rather only took a good look at his wound.

Lu who was staying as far as he could to protect Gaze had landed his shot, and the aurum smiled at him as if thanking him for revealing his position.

The large man swung again at Autumn who got too close and flicked her away again, this time likely breaking a bone of her from the way she took the hit. He then started charging toward Lu, specifically Gaze who he had targeted from the start.

The two guards ran as fast as they could but they could only keep up with his speed. They were moving as fast as he was, thus they could not approach to land a hit.

Lu carried Gaze and started to move as well, but instead of going away he charged toward the aurum.

Right before they were going to collide, Lu slid under the aurum attempting to path between his legs.

He would have been able to react if it wasn't for the 7/8 on the man's wrist. The same place where the 0/8 on his wrist was marked.

The giant of a man stopped Lu in his tracks by stepping on him and took Gaze's body.

Luckily, Jen and Allan who were following right up finally reached him and landed a strike before he could attempt to back away.

Through this, Jen landed a slash on the Aurum's unguarded arm with her lightning-infused blade. Autumn took Gaze away from him yet again during the course of the exchange. Meanwhile Lu got back to his position with the rest.

Enraged, he leaped at them again but they did not move an inch. Instead, Allan let him face a rolling boulder head on, and right after the aurum smashed through it, out came Autumn from behind it and landed another shot of her animus on his head. The destruction did not behead the aurum, but it did remove the helm, then immediately a return feather that Lu had prepared followed up.

The aurum managed to dodge it, leaving only a big slash the side of his face.

He smashed all who were right in front of him to ward them all away and both parties were at a distance again.

The aurum laughed in his deep voice again and transferred the armor from his legs and feet into his arm and head.

He leaped again and they dispersed as if an automated response, but he threw his hammer midair and hit Jen clean, who was slow from carrying Gaze. It crashed with a loud smash and Jen's blood spilled everywhere. Her head burst into fragments and everyone knew she was gone in that instant.

"Jen...Jenerator!" Allan shouted in top of his lungs

And just like that, they have lost another member and the aurum once again has gaze and did not waste any second and started consuming gaze's soul.

A golden orb appeared from Gaze's chest which did not happen when the big man absorbed the souls of the other guards.

Unexpectedly, a black beam emitted from the side of Lu which incinerated half of the armor, clothes, and skin of the man, leaving him with deep burns.

Everyone looked toward the source of the attack, and Esther appeared with nine tails spread out like a fan and an ominous aura which disappeared as soon as it emerged.

"That orb... is mother's... take... it..." Esther pointed to the orb the aurum dropped from the attack before she slept again, vanishing into the unknown.

"You are with them!" The aurum ran to the orb.

Without any more reasoning, Lu merely followed his instinct and raced him to it and got there first. When he made contect with the orb, he emitted a burst of energy strong enough to send the aurum and his colossal body flying back.

"No! I will remember this day, Lu!" The aurum said before he ran away.

When they tried to stop him, he went through the floor as if it was liquid, but when they followed him, the ground was solid as stone. Nobody could follow where he went, and thus it appeared that the battle was over.

Lu checked up on who was still alive and found that there were no other survivors save for the three of them.

They could only be thankful they were still alive because Esther intervened. He did wish that she did that earlier before they lost anyone though.

Lu was left with many, many questions, and the soul of the only one who could answer them had just been absorbed by an aurum.