"Agghh!!" Chase shouted as
A searing pain overtook chases thoughts.
So much that he began struggling to move his arms that were now trapped, his hands and feet stuck inside different parts of the tree.
He did his best to not look as in pain as he was supposed to be. Clenching his jaw with strength he didn't know he had.
with one final push, the shard, pushed through his chest, beginning the process of melding with his heart. Chase opened his eyes wide due to the pain. they were becoming red unbeknownst to him.
'I won't let him see me at my lowest.' He owed it to his friends who died in much more honorable fashions.
his consciousness faded, he was now in a mysterious, dark place. "Where am I" he looked around and saw nothing but darkness.
"We are in your mana core or 'spirit sea' where your mana core should be." A familiar, hateful voice chanted.
Chase could see him clearly now. A demon with pitch black scales, wild long hair going down his back, and a beastly mouth, combined with a tall, imposing barely humanoid figure.
Chase was a tad more intimidated than he already was. At least until he started speaking.
"It's me, your ender, in the flesh." He said puffing his chest out. His intimidating looks betrayed his annoying chatter.
"All I'm looking at is a fossil, too weak to win hundreds of years ago, when you were much stronger." Chase replied. He grew tired of entertaining this thing. He would fight him in whatever place, win or lose.
He was about to run up, when Vantriel raised his hand to the sky, and two rods made of blood red energy slam down to his right at his left, slightly in front of him. And then more on all sides.
"You have no mana and you expect to do anything?" The demon said laughing. "You can't touch me in the physical realm, spiritually, you're less than a toddler."
It didn't Matter to him at all. Chase was going to give this scum trouble every step of the way. He knew that his run was short, and it was better to be stubborn until the end.
"I don't give a fuck about what some thousand year old failure thinks about me"
Chase tried to pry away at his mana cage, but that was when the Vantriel went to the pathetic pitch black, crumpled up thing that could be mistaken for a mana core if it had an extreme case of tuberculosis. I'm talking worse that Arthur Morgan.
"Dont like what you see? Maybe fuse with one of the many carcasses around us"
Seeing this, he turned around in utter disbelief. He didn't believe there could be a cord this messed up without the owner being dead.
"You are certainly a pathetic individual. No team no friends no mana core, and soon, no body." He began using his mana to pull together the scattered pieces, breathing life into them once more.
Chase felt weaker, his body changing even more. He fell to the floor as his mana pathways began changing, rearranging themselves.
Most importantly, his core was reforming, with Vantriel at the center of control. As he injected more of his essence, chases real body experienced changes as well, growing taller, stronger, more powerful.
Eventually he was finished, the mana core glowed red with demonic energy, but it looked perfect. "You're welcome" Vantriel said panting. "Now for your gratitude, I'll be taking your body"
Chases eyes opened, but in a horrible moment of clarity, he realized he couldn't move his body. On the contrary, Vantriel was looking at his new hands. He clasped them in excitement.
"Finally, a body in this new world. I truly must thank you idiots. If I had waited for those cultists to bring me more corpses it would've taken at least two more weeks for me to build one as strong and sturdy as this."
Vantriel slammed his hand on his chest, before aiming a blast of demonic energy at the tree, blasting through the center.
Walking out, he got his first taste of fresh air in this new world. "this is life. Mark my words, I will live forevermore. Unbound-" "Can you shut up? were trying to die here."
The demon went from looking to the sky- to bringing his eyes towards Chases supposedly dead friends. Make no mistake they were one foot in the grave.
"So you're alive too huh? Annoying pests clinging to life, refusing to die in silence."
Damian and Andrew were the furthest from healthy, they were bleeding out, but the entire transformation was only four minutes. Vantriel also took note of ice on their bodies, covering up key wounds to stop bleeding.
"And you managed to squeeze out a spell after all" the demon said, squinting his eyes in annoyance.
"And with no staff." Andrew bragged, slightly annoyed he didn't awaken this ability earlier.
"Of course it had to be on the brink of death"
Vantriel agreed "A shame truly" aiming a blast to finish them off. Cutting him off however was a blade, cutting through skin and piercing his heart.
Turning around, he saw a hooded figure. Deciding not to waste time, he jumped away, pull the sword out.
The two half dead prisoners were shocked.
"Donnie!?" Andrew said in disbelief.
Damian chuckled. "Though you left us for dead."
"Id try to joke, but I feel like laughing would do you in right now" Donnie was looking for the perfect moment to strike the entire time. As much as he wanted to step in what use was an assassin out in the open?
But that didn't matter now, Donnie readied his blade, preparing to attack. "I'll make it up to you both, and you, Chase." He said,Completely ignoring the demon and looking through his eyes.
POV:Chase.
"I knew Donnie was alright. If we make it out of this I will never get annoyed at anything you do ever again."
Chase was Given a sliver of hope, and was wasn't about to let it go, holding onto it like it was all that mattered.
he was watching all of this unfolding, but he felt a connection to his 'spirit sea' and realized he could take his focus there. If there was something, anything he could do to save the remaining members of his team, it would be there.
the problem was that his consciousness was in a cage. the moment Chase went back to his
spiritual sea, he was still in his cage.
Looking through it he saw his mana core.
Not as weak as it once was, glowing bright red. Because of this, His spirit sea looked violent and chaotic, reflecting the demon in control of it.Thinking about it, he was fuming with anger. it was completely useless to him, and only useful in serving another.
but he saw something else. Inside of that weird glowing red mana core, a glowing yellow light came out, it was tiny at first as it began leaving the core, coming to his cage.
the light broke through the mana cage and flew into his body. Suddenly he could see this beautiful woman to his left with a hand on his shoulder.
"Hellow young master, you seem to be in peril. Leave this to me."