Destroying The Lair (8)

Crack.

I seemed to have heard the sound of glass breaking. But I could be wrong since there was a ringing in my ears due to the invisible collision between the 'man' in suit and I.

The land was in chaos. The forest ground opened up spewing lava and toxic fumes a moment ago. The trees caught fire turning into white ashes. The sky was covered with red mist.

In a blink of an eye, the entire scenery has changed. From a mysterious large forest I was thrown into the middle of an apocalyptic scene.

I didn't mind the inhuman heat or the violent tremors. That isn't to say they weren't harmful to me but at the moment my main focus was my ethereal confrontation with the enemy.

Thankfully if I had one thing in abundance, it was stamina. Though, my consumption was getting close to my recovery rate. There was also the fact that my body wasn't strong enough. Handling so much pressure took a toll.

Crack!

This time I caught it. I wasn't dreaming. There was indeed a cracking noise. It wasn't a glass or a mirror, the adversary's illusory power was showing signs of wear and tear.

I smirked.

In the gaps created by the cracks, I could see my companions struggling against conjured threats. Chloe seemed to be atop a castle fighting valiantly against numerous men wearing heavy armor. The defensive power of those armors was incredible seeing as they were holding on against Chloe's scythe.

I sighed in relief after seeing Chloe's state. She only seemed to be inconvenienced, not hurt. The injuries she had when we came up were already healed. Only the tears in her clothing indicated that she had been hurt a couple of moments prior.

As expected of her. The main issue was the glamour ability of this Fae. i was willing to bet that save for this cheated ability, most of us would trump him in direct combat.

Of course, blaming the enemy for maximizing his strength was a stupid thing to do. We could only do our best to cancel his advantage.

I jumped to avoid the surging magma. I knew that these were tactics to distract me.

The enemy seemed to have focused a lot of his power on holding me back. Hence the cracks in his ability and the fact that I could see Chloe and the others.

Speaking of the others they weren't doing so well.

Arum was fighting and entire army by himself on a vast battlefield.

He was covered in his purple mystical aura goring through the enemies one by one. Sadly, his enemies were never ending. For each enemy down, two other would come in replacement.

As the battle progressed, Arum's aura started thinning. He wouldn't last for long.

I gritted my teeth turning my attention toward the others. Lorn was trapped in an underground maze, occasionally he would be attacked by stealthy shadowy creatures. The twins were fighting with an unidentified creature. If I had to describe the monstrosity, i would say that it was very close in terms of appearance with a dragon, minus the feathered wings and the multiples limbs. Needless to say, the twins were struggling against it. Their fur was burnt in various places and they were sporting gouging injuries all over.

It was a wonder they could still fight off the creature. Lelia was in an obscure space. It looked like the inside of an old castle. She was wearing rags and had one foot locked in iron chains. She had a frightened expression.

She was trying to disappear In a corner of what I guessed to be a cell while looking in abject fear at a figure clad in darkness.

Things were bad. I had to admit that the bastard was beating us into submission. That weird power was truly insidious. And I knew the guy to be a mage also judging by the spells he casually thrown when he was ganging up on me with his clones.

He'd barely used any grand magic and we were failing to do anything to him.

I made quick calculations, slowly overpowering his glamour seemed to be the way to go, judging by the cracks that appeared a moment ago. Alas, the state of my companions didn't leave any room for a slow approach. I couldn't take the long but safe route anymore. I needed to end this now.

I took a deep breath and in a single moment I mobilized the entirety of my willpower. I gathered it to form a metaphysical cone and made it rotate before poking the void with it.

Break!

The entire sky shattered like glass.

« Argh!! …. » The condescending voice was now pained.

The fiery doomsday like sky above left and the starry night sky re-appeared. I felt all strength leave my body and I knelt on the ground. My head was spinning and I was bleeding from all my orifices. I was dying. Again.

I couldn't maintain consciousness this time, my willpower was far too exhausted. Still, I was glad I managed to break the glamour.

I was about to sigh in relief when a sense of unease sprouted in my heart. I looked back at the sky. There were three moons. I felt cold.

« Good effort, you are quite the headache, Samsara Yu. » The suit wearing man appeared once again. He looked worse for wear this time. His expertly combed hair had turned messy and there was a trail of blood at the corner of his lips.

« I failed? » The words were a whisper I didn't have much life force remaining.

« Technically, you succeeded. But you only managed to break one layer of my glamour. I am able to weave up to 3 layers of glamour. With your current strength, defeating me is delusional.»

I wasn't listening anymore as life had already disappeared from my eyes.

********

I don't know how long I stayed dead. In one moment I was nothing and the next my consciousness suddenly rushed back. When I opened my eyes I was back at the garden-like rooftop. The others were also here, they seemed to have been freed from the glamour. They were all heavily injured, some were unconscious such as Arum, the twins and Kelia. Lorn looked tired but otherwise fine.

As for Chloe, she was fine, just hungry for blood. How did I know that? I could feel it through her mark on my neck. There was also the fact that I was resting on her lap and her eyes glowed a hungry crimson.

« How did we break the enemy ability? » I asked when I came to.

« Thankfully, he reached us before it was too late. » Chloe answered looking in certain direction. Two men were facing each other with ten meters between them.

One of the men was the prince who I'd been cursing earlier, the other was naturally our foe. The man in old fashion suit had none of his usual calm and condescending manner, he was looking at the prince with reserve and a hint of solemn respect.

This was the gaze of a subject looking at his liege.

« Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Isn't that our former chief of the palace guard? » The prince still carried his signature smile.

« Your highness. » The man bowed slightly.

« I didn't think I would meet your honorable self in this filthy world. For that I am most pleased. Sadly, as your highness is with those ants, I fear I am going to have to offend you. » The man suddenly said after his gaze fell on the prince left hand. His posture straightened and his condescension returned even stronger.

« Oh? » Eric's eyes narrowed.