RIKU
It had been fifteen minutes since that Dark Order member and I shared glances with each other, but the memory and the shock remained vivid.
The whole room was filled with anxiety and fear not just from what I told them, but also from the fact that anytime soon, we would be surrounded by that evil cult.
Mister Glancis hugged his daughter, Gladia, to calm her, while Shiro silently sat on the floor with his back on the wall. Daku, on the other hand, just stood on his spot since earlier like a tree. And as for the three of us, we were thinking about what to decide.
"There's no other choice. We can't run and hide knowing that we are trapped in here. The farthest we could go is the edge of the barrier, which is still within the city," Arano explained, and I couldn't help but agree.
"So you're saying that our only choice now is to defeat those people?" Keiro asked.
"Isn't that our initial plan?" Arano replied. "Only by defeating them can the barrier be broken."
"Me..." an eerie voice suddenly jumped in, jolting us out of surprise.
"Geez, Daku!" Keiro complained.
"What is it, Daku?" I asked the man whom we didn't know had walked toward us.
"Me... help..." Daku mumbled, and even in those two words, I had already understood what he meant by it.
Normally, I would be having second thoughts about Daku's offer knowing his condition. But after hearing Shiro's story on how he single-handedly defeated the intruders, I was pretty much convinced that Daku could still fight despite his situation. After all, he wouldn't have thought of offering himself if he knew he wouldn't be much of a help.
"That makes four of us," I declared.
"Are you seriously gonna bring this guy into a fight?" Keiro asked in annoyance.
"Let's just go with it, Keiro. And besides, only he can purify the Evil Remnant. We need him," Arano convinced Keiro, but he just scoffed and didn't say anything anymore.
Now that we had decided to infiltrate the enemy's hideout and confront them, I pivoted myself to face the remaining three individuals. I told them about our plans and they agreed with it. Thankfully, Mister Glancis had memorized the route and relayed it to us. After exchanging best wishes with each other, we all went our separate ways.
Arano was in charge of navigating the catacombs since he had the best memory among the rest of us. Also, he was our navigator since then, so it was just right for him to take on the role. And he did a pretty good job when we finally reached our destination.
It was indeed spacious here, and only fire torches illuminated the place, which was not enough to provide a decent amount of light. But only one thing caught my eyes, and that was the woman I saw while scrying.
"There are roughly twenty people in here. Three are most likely Dark Orb Wielders based on their robes, including the woman you saw. The rest are probably minions," Keiro reported.
"You were right, Mistress! The guests have visited us!" a manly voice shouted.
"They knew we were coming?" Arano asked.
"Look out!" Keiro alerted, and when I turned my head to see what he meant by those words, an explosion rang in my ears and blocked my vision.
We thought we were goners. No one could survive an explosion that strong. But I was mistaken. Knowing that I could still think and that I was not feeling any pain only meant that I survived.
But how?
I opened my eyes, which I didn't know were closed, and discovered a dome of green energy enveloping the four of us. Its color was so familiar that I instinctively looked at the person who I once saw wield green magic like this.
And I was right. It was Daku who saved us. His barrier shielded us from the explosion.
Arano coughed a few times before speaking, "That was so close."
"Stop wasting time and fight!" Keiro signaled and dove in first to where our enemies were. Arano grabbed his bow and prepared some arrows, while I brought out my grimoire.
And just like that, the entire space was filled with sounds of clashing blades, magic casting, and ripping flesh. Explosions and cries could be briefly heard, along with running footsteps.
I took on a few minions by sending them multitudes of elemental magic. But then I saw something both interesting and terrifying.
It was Daku. His hands were ominously glowing red. He didn't even have to strike hard to defeat his enemies. A simple touch from him could make their bodies either explode, rot, or break.
"Is he using the Rupture Magic?" Arano asked, whom I didn't realize was watching the same scene as me.
"What a badass friend you got there!" the same manly voice said, which brought our attention back from Daku to the fight in front of us. He had this arrogant and confident face while holding a blade in his right hand and an orb in his left. "I guess it's time to be badass as well."
The man lifted his left hand holding the orb and was about to devour it when someone stopped his hand. We were as shocked as he was when we saw Daku beside him, looking at him stoically.
A crackling sound resembling a broken bone echoed from the two of them, followed by the man's agonizing scream. The orb dropped to the floor and shattered, releasing a thick black smoke which I believed to be Evil Remnant.
The next scene was horrifying. After Daku spread his Rupture Magic to the man's entire body, all of the bones broke simultaneously, including the man's neck. And in an instant, without even breaking a sweat, Daku won the fight.
The next Dark Orb Wielder didn't survive that long either. After he saw the downfall of his comrade, he angrily lunged at Daku. But Daku skillfully evaded his attack and did the same thing to him—all of his bones were fractured, which killed him instantly.
"Such useless fools," a woman's voice said, and all of our eyes landed on the remaining member of the Dark Order.
The woman, who was in a fetal position, moved and stretched her body to relieve the soreness of being in the same position for five years. She reeked of ominous energy, implying that she had already consumed the Dark Orb. That explained why she was able to constantly supply the barrier with magic for years.
"I don't want you," the woman sluggishly said, and in just a blink of an eye, an invisible force pushed us away from our original spot. Thankfully, Daku was able to cover us with his barrier before we hit the walls. "I only want him."
Daku didn't notice the woman's attack on him as he was thrown away and landed on the wall with such force. Based on how the ground shook and how the impact created a dent and thick cloud of dust, I could say that was powerful.
But it was a different case when it came to Daku. When the dust subsided, Daku was already on his two feet, unscathed.
"As expected, but how about more—and this time more powerful?" the woman threatened and then delivered several thin sheets of black rectangular energy. They resembled wall-typed barriers.
Successive tremors shook the ground along with explosions. The dust cloud that was gone awhile ago reappeared, but in a larger scale. I couldn't help but worry about Daku.
But then again, he was Daku.
A figure suddenly jumped out of the cloud of dust followed by a loud sound of beaten metal. When I looked at the source of it, I saw Daku with his punch on the barrier the woman conjured to protect herself.
Daku jumped back but would launch again to deliver another attack. He repeated it several times that the woman couldn't find the right time to fight back.
Then, Daku jumped back a few times until both of his feet touched the wall. While looking at his target ahead, he bent his knees to gather momentum and infused his entire body with healing magic.
A second after, a crater was left on the wall as Daku dashed toward the enemy. The woman felt a single barrier wouldn't stop Daku, so she decided to conjure multiple on top of each other.
But with Daku's momentum and purifying ability, he broke through the barriers like they were just mere papers until he reached the enemy.
With his right hand on the woman's entire face, Daku delivered Rupture Magic into the woman's body before jumping back to distance himself.
"ARGH!" the woman screamed as the forbidden magic invaded her body. She went back to her fetal position as her skin boiled and bubbled. Even her voice sounded like she was gurgling something.
And just like what I saw earlier with one of the minions, the woman's body exploded and not even a single trace of her body remained. One could say she disintegrated into the smallest particles.
The purple magic circle beneath the woman flickered a few times before totally disappearing. And that was our sign that we won this battle.
"And the MVP belongs to Daku," Arano jokingly announced.
"Tsk! Show-off," Keiro complained.
Daku walked to us stoically as if he never defeated three Dark Orb Wielders all by himself.
"Thanks, Daku, for earlier," I thanked, and my eyes gaped in utter shock when I saw his lips curved into a smile.
"You're welcome! Shall we head back?" Daku invited.