CHAPTER 75 - A LANCE'S FAREWELL
LUKE HODGES POV:
As I jumped over the pure edge of where everything had turned the main character into something similar to his old self, to King Grey… the death of a lance in the hands of the retainer Uto. Everything that was a turn point in the novel revolved around my mind like it was my 7 minutes before dying.
What I was about to do was going to affect me… on this continent with some mistake of saving or at least tempering with the original time line. But that no longer mattered, it was a long time since it really mattered, where I had decided to not intervene in important events but not anymore.
And now with this act, I will accept anything that Fate throws at me, whether it be the Alacryan army at the wall, all the Scythes that Agrona could produce, or even the wraiths themselves. I wasn't going to back down now that my childhood friend was in danger.
Perhaps this was foolish thinking on my part but I welcomed it without any regards to the consequences. In moments, I closed my eyes and focused on the sole thing that was powering my core, the sole essence that ran through my veins even though I decided to ignore it for a long time.
Then I held my arm towards the now unconscious boy who was a Professor in the most prestigious academy in all the continent of Dicathen.
[Healing Confinement]
Green outlines formed around Art and when they all connected it closed off like a cube. This was my first time really using this spell and I was proud of it. It was something similar to a certain spell from this other anime. Instead of being made as a perfect cell or protection spell, this one was made for healing those inside of it.
Now that Art was being healed, I needed the wind element to stop us from falling but…
My eyes darted to where the Queen Snarler tried to use the wings that were damaged, failing to realize that the damage from the battle earlier did a number to it. But it had resolve, not the kind that we human beings have, no, it was being used as a puppet to even have intelligence but also that made me question that. In the Queen Snarler's dark red eyes there was this sensation of pure hatred, killing instinct that all mana beasts should have, but the Queen Snarler's was above and beyond that normal bar.
Of course it would be above and beyond, Uto or some other alacryan used their junked up serum to upscale this low ranked mana beast to something further its own beliefs.
When I was reading the novel back in my old world, I would find that serum fascinating as the wonders of its work, the duration of the effects and what it would do to certain specimens. However, as I see it now in person, seeing it on a mana beast no less brings me nothing but rage and disgust towards the creators of this serum.
[Ice Lance]
On my other free hand, I conjured an Ice spell powerful enough to kill this Snarler in one hit. And I knew this because I made sure to use enough Aether to contain the huge amount of mana in the spell.
"Die."
Before the Queen Snarler could even comprehend what I had just said, the sound of the Ice Lance breaking the speed barrier of sound echoed and overwhelmed the hole.
The Queen Snarler's body was left with a wound wide enough to put a teenager's body in there and still would have space. The head and the two limbs that survived the spell quickly split off the entire body because of the impact and fell to the light faster than what we were dropping at.
Fuck!
We were closer to the ground than before!
[Ariel Plane]
A plane spell of wind appeared below us like a platform, though this spell was a little too agitated in activation. I panicked and resulted in only hitting the spell hard with the picked up speed I had from earlier.
"UGHHH!"
A groan left my mouth but I quickly had to let it go, getting hurt was the least of my concerns now. My eyes quickly scanned my childhood friend's condition, hoping that my spell didn't deactivate as I hit my spell.
Thank god. I said to myself, now being able to see that we were now in a passageway of some sort. Further down the hall came a brighter source of light.
Then I sensed multiple mana signatures, one strong core stage and multiple lower core stages.
That is when I came to the realization that it was time for this event.
"Who's there?!" A female voice echoed.
I closed my eyes, stealing myself from what is to come.
"S-Sorry, my friend and I were injured from the fall."
There was a pause on her end.
"Y-You and your friend were injured from a… fall?"
Her words became forced, breaths that suddenly seemed almost deathful.
I decided to leave Arthur here but with [Healing Confinement] still active so that he would wake up faster.
"Y-Yes, I am currently healing him right now so the only conscious people are you and me."
As I got out the tunnel, my eyes adjusted to the light in the cavern. Then I saw something I thought I would never want to see in my life.
The sole warzone that was made up from the corpses of the Snarlers, humans, elves, and dwarves. Laying dead some whole while others didn't, having their limbs and pieces of their body scattered all around.
There were around forty-fifty corpses, spread out in the cavern with their weapons next to them. The damage done to their bodies' revealed torture, even coming to the conclusion of decapitation.
A cough came from the opposite direction from me, deviating my attention from the land of the dead.
And in a weak voice it said, "Are you… still there?"
"Y-Yes I am heading towards you right…now…"
Upon laying my eyes to the source of the female voice I felt my heart drop, my soul crumble and my eyes water as they widened in confusion in hopeless salvation.
Leaning on the giant white and grey pillar was a woman, an elf. Impaled by a black spike that went through the course of her left eye, left arm, and right leg, pinning her against the wall like she was a picture, a sacrifice.
"Why… How?" The concentration I once had for the Healing Confinement was now cut as I fell to my knees, water streaming from my eyes as I couldn't handle the reality of what was going on. The sentiment of seeing one of my masters, a sister to me, be pinned to the pillar like some trophy on the verge of death.
She was a Lance. She was chosen to represent the continent as one of the strongest mages in Dicathen.
"You're a Lance… How?!" I couldn't manage to keep my sobbing from my voice as I ignorantly said it. Each breath I took felt heavier and heavier seeing as my master was fatally injured and I couldn't do anything to save her.
[Healing Confinement]
The spell that had disappeared on Arthur was now on her, wrapping her body all together, trying to stop her from dying, it was doing everything it could to stop her from dying. I was… trying everything… I could… I didn't want her to die.
The Lance, my master, sensed my mana riled up and felt the warmth of [Healing Confinement]. "Y-You don't need to u-use your mana on m-me."
"Stay quiet! I will save you, get you out of here and then we can go see… Alea." Not being able to hold back my tears any longer, the hot sensation of water pouring down my face was all I could feel.
"So please, Aya, stay with me. You can't die, not here. I'm begging you…"
The hue of green was dimming the more I cried, the necessary concentration for the spell was not up to where it needed to be at. I just couldn't concentrate, no matter how much I just wanted to stop crying, to use my beast's will, to undo my spell… I just wanted to save Aya…
As I was lost for answers and no leads were open for me to walk on, a soft, gentle touch grazed my face. I turned to face her, to see what she was thinking or at least feeling. I needed something to confirm with me whether or not I was really doing everything I could to save someone important to me.
But all I saw was a sincere and warm expression that veiled over the wounds her body currently had. There was no pain in her black glossy eyes, instead it was just a form of happiness that formed in there. It was almost like she was looking at something she had been waiting to see for a long time.
Then finally she spoke using what seemed to be what remained of her life force. "L-look at you, you have grown into t-the man Alea and I-I had talked a-about." Aya smiled, her hand still being kept on my cheek where my tears kept flowing to. "You are stronger than before, perhaps in the same core stage as I."
"Please Aya… stop talking… I will take you out of here I promise you…"
"I know you will Luke, I always knew you would keep your word ever since I saw you fight the ElderWood Guardian alone.You always had a tendency of keeping your word, whether it be nonsense or fantasy to the ears of others."
Aya's mana signature began to falter… But her smile didn't…
"I know, as well as Alea, that you will continue to grow stronger than any of the Lances and evolve into a realm of your own. You just have to be true to yourself… There are people around you now, you are no longer alone… These battles don't need to be silent any longer Luke."
It was getting smaller…
"Who was it that did this to you… was it Cadell? Or was it Uto? Aya I beg of you…"
Her head could no longer support itself alone and instead requested help of the very same thing that it impaled her.
"I desire no vengeance for you Luke. I want you to live a happy life as a normal boy, someone who can surpass the Lances and become someone as a pillar for Dicathen, for your own family, Luke."
Smaller…
"Enjoy the things that are to come into your path Lu, always look forward to things with your head up. I certainly know you have the power to be a pillar even now."
Her words began to be sluggish and sounds started to falter…
"Be…afe… *cough*...nd… te… lea…"
Almost like she knew her next words were going to be her final, with mustered strength and perhaps of what [Healing Confinement] was able to recover for Aya made it possible for her.
And in complete words she said, "Tell Alea that I leave the rest in her hands…"
Then, Aya's glossy black eyes that were filled with life were now closed. Her hand that was placed on my cheek fell to the ground.
Now, there was no longer a mana signature coming from Aya…
It was gone…
My master is gone…
She had come here in place of Alea, fought the Retainer Uto, leaving her in this condition.
I felt a log of rage engulf me as I contained my tears from overflowing any more and with the same eyes that cried now only saw the condition that she was left from the battle meant for someone else.
I enforced my fingers into my fist without any care for my palms. That mattered less now, Aya was dead and whatever type of injury I was to do to myself was not going to bring her back. Whatever I do now won't have the power to bring Aya back from the dead, what's more, the Aether surrounding her is now gone.
No mana or Aether was around her, only the pure quietness that the cavern provided as a moment of silence.
I had rage building up inside of me.
Where was I going to let this steam off?
Should I just go to Mordain and take the Fourth Keystone, King's Gambit?
No.
I need to check in with Elder Virion and the Council to make sure it wasn't forced on her to take on this mission. And if it was…
I felt the concentration of my spell disappear, letting huge amounts of mana overflow the cavern. Pure waves of my mana made the ground tremble as I began to imagine walls. Those walls were for my mana leakage but the mana affinities looked at it differently, like it was a type of order.
They were confused whether to follow my orders or to ignore them, however Aether knew my true intentions and began to put itself like a wall between my thoughts and reality.
If it wasn't for the Aether seeing my true intentions at the moment, this whole cavern would have turned its surroundings differently from what they were now.
"What happened here, Luke? Why does this all seem like a–"
"A battlefield?" I answer back, bringing me to the present. I should be able to calm myself here and reconstruct the barrier in my mana core once more. Not that Arthur will tell the difference now but he will currently ask if he were curious, and I can't have that now.
Arthur nodded.
"It's because it is a battlefield… or more like a one-sided massacre." I said coldly, my eyes still fixed on Aya's bloodied and wounded body hoping for some sign of the mastermind behind her death.
That's when I noticed something behind her. A sleek black stone, something similar to teeth in some sorts. No I was wrong, it was a fragment of a black horn. More precisely, a Vritra's horn.
I don't know if it's Uto's or Cadell's but one thing is for sure, and that was that I was going to kill them to avenge Aya.
No matter the cost…
I collected the fragment from behind the fallen Lance and stood up with a plan already in my mind.
With that now established, I turned to my childhood friend with a smile that quite didn't reach my eyes and said, "I'm sorry Art but can I leave the rest to you, I want to bring them all home if possible but I need to take Aya back first to Elenoir."
My eyes then turned to the giant black obsidian dragon walking out of the tunnel.
"Hey Sylv."
I petted her as she somehow remembered me. She was excited but I could tell by her eyes that she was concerned about me, perhaps she was even talking to Arthur telepathically.
Once again, Arthur nodded. "Are you sure you're okay, Lu?" I could hear the concern in his voice.
Truth to be told, I didn't know whether I was fine or not. There were too many unknown emotions welling up in my heart and many decisions in my mind to post them as important at the moment. But remembering what Aya had told me before she had died made me realize that maybe she was right, that I wasn't alone in these silent battles that I've been participating in.
I smiled.
That was my answer towards my dear best friend.
If only we both knew that this was the last time I was going to smile genuinely.