" Come on! We have to hurry!"
Estrella urged as she pulled Lenny's arm and pointed at the ledge.
" How can you trust the words of a demon?!"
Lenny demanded as his mind was too saturated with all the action to question why Darzirak saved them and connect the dots.
" I'll explain later! Please trust me and hurry!"
Estrella begged as she tugged harder on Lenny's arm. Lenny study her eyes and expression, concluding she could be flustered too make the right decision but then again Lenny didn't have any other solution.
" Fine."
Lenny nodded with a heavy sigh before raising his hand and controlling his barrier around them. Making the barrier hover above the ground and slowly lifting them toward the ledge.
Darzirak stretched out onto the ground in a small circle a short distance away from the Orc. Darzirak started chanting in an ancient language as his body lit up in a blue light before catching on fire. A ghost appears standing in the middle of Darzirak's circle. Little by little as if it was phasing into the catacombs, the pale white ghost became easier to distinguish. It was a young man sitting in air as he laughed and look quite engaged in a conversation.
"Teacher to student forcefully hear my call! Shadow passager summon, Joey!"
Darzirak announced and instantly the ghost became flesh and bone. Within seconds Joey sat in mid-air still laughing and the moment the glow of Darzirak's circle faded, Joey fell to the ground.
" Ow! What in the world?"
Joey looked around just to go pale at the sight of the wraith sucking the soul out of the Orc.
" Come on! Join with me!"
Darzirak ordered as he stretched to the Joey's height.
" WHY SUMMON ME AND NOT USE AMON?!"
Joey demanded as he kick and did a back crawl away from the Orc, not feeling comfortable being so damn close.
" Cause his bond with me only allows me to enhance one area and not the whole body. Now come, please! Only you have a chance to win against this. We just need to distract until the Holy Mage cast her spell and exorcise the wraithor or else it will suck the soul of everyone here and move to the village nearby!"
Darzirak begged as he pointed at Estelle and Lenny standing on the ledge and the purple barrier around them being dispelled.
Joey turned and noticed them but then from the corner of his eye he saw the Orc that was on it's knees, dropped to the ground, dead. Joey slowly turned, his expression frozen in shock when he clearly saw the Orc's eyes were pure white as it's face was twisted in agony. Joey's gaze slowly moved to the wraith that was relishing in the Orc's soul for moment. The wraith release what looked like a satisfied breath before it noticed Joey and turned to look at him.
" I pray your words are true."
Joey blurted out as he scrabbled to his feet and dove head first into Darzirak's paws. Darzirak warped around Joey becoming bulky amour. Joey leaped backward to create some distance between the wraith and himself, with the enhancement of Darzirak the movement was fast and strong. Putting almost 4/5 of the catacomb space between them. (Btw the catacomb open area here is as big as a football field.)
" Too far! You gotta be in between the wraith and the people here to protect them."
Darzirak reminded as one of his paw stretched into a lance and his other paw into a shield.
" Yeah, I know. I'm not used to you, yet."
Joey informed as he tested stabbing with the lance and defending with the shield.
" Darzirak do you have a soul?"
Joey questioned as he took a step forward and took note of how it felt and how much he had been enhanced.
" YES! I DO! So, please dodge if you can."
Darzirak nodded his head furiously but since the demon's head was Joey's helmet, it looked like Joey was nodded his head furiously. The sight charmed the crying Messiah for Darzirak's long ears flap along with the movement, making Shadow Joey Knight look quite silly. It took awhile for the Messiah to calm down and silently watched Joey with much curiosity.
" Philomel!"
Amon called out as he leaped over huge flat rocks and slide down to her.
" Are you alright?!"
Amon placed a hand on her shoulder and another on her cheek, his thumb caressed her cheek slowly bringing her back to reality.
" Don't leap with all your strength! LEFT! LEFT!!"
Darzirak warned but Joey had already leaped which brought them charging towards the wraith. Fearing his soul to be sucked, Darzirak ordered with much panic, hoping his student would listen. Joey shifted left barley dodging the wraith and crashing into the catacomb wall. The impact broke the a Darzirak shaped Knight into the wall.
" I'm... "
Philomel started but sighed as she looked down and picked up the blue sand that was once the protection stone her father made for her.
" Ow."
Joey groaned as he tugged himself out of the wall, causing a crack to grow and touch the celling.
" I'm fine."
Philomel gave Amon a weak smile as she look up at him.
" Aaaa!"
Darzirak screamed when he saw the ceiling collapsing onto them. Joey quickly raised his shield to block but Darzirak quickly took control of Joey's body and dodge.
" I promise you, you'll see your father again this maybe a memento from your father but I definitely will make sure it wouldn't be your last. Ok?"
Amon rubbed Philomel's back, comforting her lost as he slowly helped her rise to her feet.
" Dodge boy!"
Darzirak growled at Joey , reminding him.
"You said when it's the wraith!"
Joey snapped back.
" DO I LOOK LIKE A PUNCHING BAG TO YOU?!"
Darzirak barked.
" YES!"
Lenny answered which made Darzirak pout and grumbled about how he was being unappreciated and mistreated.
" Keep your barking to a minimum, please. I'll begin the spell."
Estelle informed as her book came flying from one part of the catacombs and into her hand.
" Also the wraith is in your tail."
Estelle informed as she opened the book and started flipping through it .
" Wa?"
Joey questioned.
" AAAA."
Darzirak jolted and quickly rolled to the side and backed up. The wraith had swung it's hand and clawed up where Shadow Joey was standing. The rocks that the wraith touched burst into pebbles.
" Why didn't it attack instead of soul sucking?"
Joey titled his head.
" Be grateful it needs 15 minutes to send such a huge soul to the void, instead of questioning it, boy!"
Darzirak stretched out his tail, picked up a nearby rock and catapult it at the wraith. The wraith let out a scream and broke the rock before it could hit him. The scream cause the Messiah to cry but his cries were ignored.
" That's... "
Philomel trailed off as she watched Joey and Darzirak's combined form.
" Yeah, Shadow Knight form. Darzirak is currently sucking the envy out of Joey converting it into magic but because his body can only hold up to a certain amount it must quickly be used or the magic would be absorbed into the air. Darzirak can't focus on fighting while converting at max speed, which is why he needs Joey to determine how the magic is used in battle. But since Joey is inexperienced, Darzirak is using his own stored magic to sustain this form. They wouldn't be able to hold out for long if Joey doesn't get it together."
Amon informed as they watched Joey swing his lance and shield bash the wraith. The attacks when through the wraith but the effect was like fanning away thick smoke and able to push the wraith back just a few inches.
" If your bond with Darzirak was strong, would you be able to do that?"
Philomel studied Amon's expression, wondering if he was jealous. Amon nodded, his expression was stoic.
" Don't step there!"
Darzirak warned but it was too late. Joey stepped on a peg and triggered one of the many traps causing a log to swing down. Darzirak forced Joey to bend backwards even though Joey's body wasn't that flexible, narrowly dodging the trap. Darzirak then kicked the log, changing the direction of the swing causing it to hit the wraith. The wraith jolted but quickly did a loop over the log to dodge.
" Oh! You hate trees? Is their life source too hard to swallow? Oh! Right ! It's the symbol of life for a reason!! Guess and undead like you would find living hard to swallow ?! No wonder you choose to be undead since a wuss like you can even handle breathing every second."
Darzirak mocked with a huge laugh. The wraith raised it's hand, showing it's palm at Darzirak's head, instantly death energy collected around it and shot a ball of it at Darzirak. Joey quickly dodged out of the way, the ball hit the ground and everything 5 inches around was instantly teleported into the void.
" Oh, snap... it's not playing around anymore. I think you hint a nerve."
Joey comments as he backed away from the wraith.
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