Act IX - The Ruin of Elengaud

Chapter 1:

We met up with Ms. White and the others and we made our way to the center of the kingdom. At the town square, we saw the ultimate outcome of the battle. Lucius was lifting Dariel with his blade as he impaled him. Lucius turned to us. "Ah, so the rest of you have arrived. Good, good." The throws Dariel in our direction and Bale catches him, setting him down. "You are all probably wondering why I've done this." He sits down on a rock. "But do you really think it would matter if I told you?" He put his hand out and the Grimoire appeared in his hand. "I'm impressed you managed to defeat those five demons. They were once heroes in the past. No issues there. In just a moment I'll gain true power over this world." We all branded our weapons. He frowns, "You really don't want to fight me."

He's probably right. But it doesn't mean we can't try to stop him. "Hmm, how about you?" He looked at Ms. White and she immediately summoned a golem to block any sort of attack he might unleash, but he didn't move an inch, yet Ms. White was now in front of him. She was surprised and tried to back away, but he swung his sword at her neck. 

Just when I thought we lost another person. I heard a loud clanging sound. There was someone who pushed Ms. White away and blocked Lucius's attack. "Damn you, I thought the people I sent killed you." The man who stopped Lucius's attack was Arthur. He looked around and saw everyone battered up. He then pushed Lucius back. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was dealing with a problem of my own." The others seemed really shocked, but I was standing there a little annoyed that it took him so long to get there. "Hey Theo, how long has it been since I last saw you? Ten years?" I smiled. I felt like Arthur would win just from that. "No, two years. You went senile while I was gone?" He laughed. "Well let us continue this later. I have a job to finish."

Lucius looked at him with an imposing expression. The two got into a fighting stance and they stared at each other for a while. Suddenly they launched at each other. Arthur swung quicker and almost landed a blow on Lucius before all his momentum stopped completely. Momentum… "Dariel, could you tell us his ability?" Dariel got up slowly and spoke. "I think his ability has to do with friction." Hmm, that seems close but not quite that. That wouldn't explain his absurd speed at times. Oh, I get it. "Arthur, he's manipulating momentum. 

He's able to store/steal that type of energy and use it for himself." So basically kinetic and potential energy manipulation, but they don't know those terms. "And from the looks of it, he has to touch you in some sort of way. Whether through his hands, legs, or even his sword." Arthur looked at his sword and he noticed that just before his swing landed on Lucius. Lucius's sword propelled at a faster speed barely grazing his arm then he suddenly stopped. "Thank you for the explanation, Theo." Arthur shrouded himself in a thin sheet of Magos. He dashed at Lucius who quickly moved behind him. Arthur ducked down to dodge his swing and swung back. The moment his sword touched Lucius's body, it stopped. Then Lucius kicked him back and using his ability launched Arthur far out, into a distant building. Arthur unfazed stood up and used wind magic to boost his movements. Their swords collided and Lucius pushed Arthur back with a greater force. Unrelenting Arthur dove in, to land a blow. Lucius backed away to dodge but it seemed his movement slowed down. Lucius reached out with his hand, in an attempt to block the attack. The blade made contact with his hand but unexpectedly pierced right through. Then a hidden magic spell activated and shot him up into the air where Arthur used a move he showed me once before.

"Wind Wyvern."

A large snake-like dragon emerged from Arthur's hand engulfing Lucius. The spell began to cut Lucius until it ended. Lucius fell down to the ground lifeless. Arthur came up to the body to confirm his victory. Then Lucius suddenly opened his eyes. "Grimoire, activate once more." The Grimoire appeared and opened, flipping through a bunch of pages. Arthur moved forward to finish the fight, but a dark energy stopped him from progressing any closer. "Now… feast your eyes upon one of the strongest magic drives." The Grimorie stopped flipping pages when it reached a black page. "Strings of Ruling". White and black strings shot out from the book attaching to random objects. A white string approached me. I tried to cut it but it phased through my weapon and attached to my magic core.

"Balance… Equilibrium. Destruction and Tranquility. All shall be fair within my rule." Lucius raised a hand and everyone kneeled. Huh? I wasn't kneeling. I looked again, everyone else was kneeling. What did he do? Lucius headed over to Arthur and watched Arthur as he kneeled to him. He tapped his sword on Arthur's head. It seems he didn't notice me yet. "Arthur, why are you interfering with my plans? You're long retired, just go back home."

Arthur didn't answer. Annoyed Lucius asked again. Arthur mumbled something so Lucius leaned in closer. "Remembrance of The Heroes." A surge of energy surrounded Arthur. Lucius moved away confused. "What are you so confused about? This is my magic drive."

Chapter 2:

"No no no no no… NO!" Furious, Lucius swung his blade at Arthur. Arthur blocked the blow and unleashed one of his own flinging Lucius back. "Ribbon Case." Small magical ribbons came from Arthur's hand and began to wrap around Lucius's arms and legs rendering him immovable. "Arthur, you sly fox!" Arthur's magic drive is very unique and difficult to acquire. There are very few magic drives that need a requirement before enabling you to use them. Arthur's magic drive "Hero's Path" required that the user had to have been a hero at any point in time. At the time of acquiring the magic drive, he was the current hero. The only downside to this magic drive is that it only records the skills of heroes who once had the magic drive. That special ability allows the user to replicate a past hero's strongest move or most reliable. Arthur was able to move because of one of its abilities, more passive though.

Ribbon Case was an example of a special spell. Ribbon Case is an offensive type spell that renders the target unable to move. The ribbons it creates are made of multiple layers of magic. Lucius was unable to stop the ribbons from moving because the moment Lucius tried to stop the ribbons, the ribbons would destroy its outer layer and replace the layer instantly. He tried to squirm out of the bonds with no success. He smiled and started to laugh hysterically. "Oh, I'm not even in the right mind anymore…" The Grimoire appeared again. "Fairness." Suddenly everyone except me and Arthur was strapped by the same ribbons. "I'm certain you realized now, but whatever you inflict on me will be inflicted on everyone else." Arthur hesitated then noticed me. I made a swinging motion. He looked back at Lucius and lowered his sword. Lucius smiled. "That's right you can't hurt me anymore." Almost immediately after, Arthur raised his sword and cut Lucius's neck cleanly. As Lucius's head fell, he blinked confused.

Of course, he'd be confused. Arthur has super sensitive hearing, knowing this I exposed Lucius's lie. Here's what I said. "He's lying. His powers are not that extensive. He's used Grimoire's powers twice now. First was to create the crack in the sky and second was to activate his newly created power. He's very weak currently. Not only that but Every time someone obeyed him, he spoke verbally. Arthur, you kneeled because you heard the words: all shall be fair within my rule. And what's fair to a ruler is bowing down to him. Everyone was wrapped by your spell because he said the word fairness, which I conclude to mean that any sort of condition he was in was inflicted on others."

His head hit the ground rolling a bit before stopping by Arthur's feet. The ribbons from everyone disappeared and everyone stood up. "Did we win?" From the looks of it, we did, but something felt odd.

"Ugh… Each and every one of you… I guess my plan has failed." Just below Arthur Lucius's head was talking. "No matter, I'll end everything that once was with what life I have left." The beheaded body moves its hands together, summoning the Grimoire into its grasp. "Grimoire gives me all your power." The book melted into a mist of black energy flowing into Lucius's body. His head flew to his neck and reattached itself and Lucius's hair turned black in the process. Arthur readied his sword, "Divi-". Lucius grabbed Arthur's face and dug it into the ground. Arthur didn't move an inch after that. The other's took a defensive position and Sumie, Marcus, and Ms. White applied a barrier. Lucius looked at the triple-layered barrier then looked at.

I blinked

Lucius stood right by my face. The barriers were melting, did he break through the barriers in an instant? "You've caused much more trouble than I anticipated." Thunk. What? What is this feeling? I look down to see his sword piercing through my chest. I coughed out blood and blood started to flow from my mouth and the stab wound. He yanked the blade out and I immediately collapsed. Oh, I think I'm gonna die again.

I heard the people around me yell out my name, but I couldn't respond. Their voices started to become quieter.

And quieter,

Then completely silent.

Again I find myself in the dark void. I couldn't see anything, much less feel anything. Then a bright light appeared in front of me. "I won't let you die." I looked away as my eyes tried to adjust. The light dimmed, and I saw a person appear before me. It was a beautiful white-haired girl with blue eyes. At first, her appearance made me believe her to be human, but I noticed two horns on either side of her head. A demon.

Chapter 3:

"What are you doing here?" She tilted her head. "Well I'm not actually real, I'm the embodiment of the person who's trying to save you right now. The real me." Hmm, okay. I sat down even though there was nothing to sit on. "You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?" She followed my actions and sat down as well. "I'm here to wake you up." Wake me up? "Okay, then why don't you?" She paused then spoke again. "Well, I need to hold you here until the time is right." I tilted my head. What does she mean by that? I'm not sure how that would help me. Whatever, I can only rely on her right now. "Fine, then let's just talk for a bit." She nods. "What is your name?"

"It's Amelia." That's a normal name, I kind of didn't expect that. "I also already know your name, you don't need to tell me." Oh. Okay then. 

We shared a few brief conversations. I learned that she was a demon from the fissure in the sky. She was observing the situation and I caught her attention. She said she was from a different world and on the other side of the crack was another kingdom in ruin. The demons there took over the area and were somehow in cahoots with Lucius. They planned to combine the worlds, allowing the demons to take over. Even though Lucius was human he hated them and wanted all of humanity to go extinct, hence his cooperation with the demons. I probably caught her attention because I was not from there either.

She helped me in hopes of stopping the demons. "Oh well, it seems it's time. It was fun chatting with you. Farewell." She waved and then I felt weak then collapsed. As I hit the ground I woke up. I quickly scanned the area and the place seemed more ruined than earlier. Boom! I looked up and saw two flashes of light hitting each other whenever the lights got closer. I saw that it was Lucius who seemed to be Amelia. They collided and massive shockwaves blasted everything around me.

Amelia shot a large beam that launched Lucius downward onto the ground. "Y-You! Why are you fighting against me!?!" She shot his right arm off. "Gahggh!!!" This Amelia seemed a little different, not only did she have red eyes she acted a lot colder than the one I spoke to before. I step back a bit and my foot gets caught on something and I trip. Ow… I looked next to me and saw Bale lying on his side completely still… "Woah!" Holy crap that scared me… Wait, is he unconscious? "Hey Bale, wake up." I moved him to his back. I almost yelled. Bale had multiple stab wounds around his body. No, no. Not again! Please tell me you're alive. I moved my hand to his neck and I couldn't feel his pulse. I felt a pain in my chest. It hurt so much. My head felt dizzy. I might've thrown up. My blood started to seethe in rage. Who the hell did this?

I stood up and looked at the two fighting. It was one of you, wasn't it? A black and purple energy started to leak out from my hand. I head for them…

Lucius was busy fighting Amelia then noticed the figure approaching him. He looked over and saw blackness. My hand was already covering his face. I flung him up and jumped after him. I grabbed his ankle and threw him into a building that was destroyed on impact with Lucius. Before Lucius could even think. I appeared from the dust and debris and started to punch him. I punched and punched and punched and punched again. My hands were covered in blood. I stopped and then grabbed his remaining arm and pulled it off. "Graaghh!"

He screamed in agony. I grabbed him by the neck and slowly picked him up with one arm. My hand caught on fire and was burning Lucius's head. The fire was a purple fire made by my powers. He yelled, he screamed. Then he begged.

I dropped him and he slumped to the ground. I looked at my bloodied hands. Just what am I doing? "Eughnoff…" Lucius's face was so pummeled that he could hardly speak. Amelia came over descending to the ground. "Theo… That man is about to self-destruct. When he does, everything here will be annihilated. The self-destruction cannot be stopped under any circumstance. I suggest you leave." I turn to look at her. She definitely was different. "What about the others?" She shook her head, "I'm afraid you can't save them." I grabbed her arm and yanked her closer to me. "What do you mean by that?" She pulled away rubbing her arm. "You're about to exhaust your power. When you do you'll be rendered useless. I'm not going to save your friends. I'm only going to help you live." I clench my hands. "I don't want to live if they're gonna die…" As I spoke this sentence my heart rang. It shook. I kneeled in pain. I could barely keep myself conscious. No, I can't fall asleep yet. But despite my best efforts, my vision went black.