[Read the author note, pls. xd]
Lucen couldn’t react in ti. He summoned his spear in the path as Peter’s wild swing ca down on him. His feet left the ground, and the air roared as he was sent flying.
He slamd into a tree, and a river of blinding pain rolled up his spine. He collapsed to the base of the tree as leaves rained down on him.
There were only a few seconds till a counterattack. He used [Sinking Sand] on the earth below his feet.
Using the tree as a crutch and groaning as he rose, Lucen began to walk and move his back. He used [Breath of nding] and [Breath of Veil] together to try and buy so ti to at least breathe.
There was a grunt behind him. Peter sank into his trap, but Lucen knew worse was coming.
He tried picking up the silver spear, but his fingers felt like all his skin had been peeled off, and his arms were shaking uncontrollably.
He dismissed the spear, resolving to just summon it if he needed to. But he couldn’t take another hit like that.
"Lucen, move!" Aya shouted beyond the trees.
He started running just as Peter ca down. This ti, the force was far greater. There was a flood of ear-piercing noise—trees being uprooted, the air popping, and the ground split open like a ripe coconut.
Lucen’s feet stuck to the ground more easily thanks to [Traveller’s aid], but even he was thrown into the air. He pushed off a tree and caught hold of a branch.
His shoulder burned, and his waist felt like a poorly put-together puzzle piece. He avoided moving too much to focus on maintaining the almost five skills at once.
A lot of it was usually instinctual, but the physical ache of his body was mixing with the ntal stress. Using [Surging Flas] and [Breath of nding] at the sa ti was like juggling his lungs.
He had to maintain a steady rhythm to his breath while also holding his breath sotis to create powerful bursts of speed and power. [Breath of Veil] was his darling; all it required from him was a light breath and a clear mind.
Lucen weaved between the trees as Peter rampaged. The golden spear was burning the air with its heat, and each swing toppled trees and sent a rush of wind bearing down on Lucen.
Using his Mana sense in tandem with [Targeting] and [Reading] was the only way he could keep up.
Occasionally, his hand would slip into his pockets and pull out a bone fragnt before planting it in the ground as he ran from Peter.
If the man were any better with a spear, Lucen would be long dead. But that didn’t put him at ease because Peter’s mana grew as his body and mind were destroyed by the spear.
Whatever Life magic Peter was using was the only reason the man stayed standing.
Peter jumped into the air and brought the spear down on Lucen’s head. Lucen spun behind the man as he dodged, crouching low and sticking close to Peter and the burning spear.
The man swung his spear after him, wailing.
"I’ve not suffered enough for my sins." The man doubled over in pain as the heatwave from the spear seared both of them. Lucen glanced at Aya, who was holding on to a glowing ball of fla.
She couldn’t attack with Lucen so close, and he didn’t want to try and immobilise Cross with [Sinking sand]. Lucen expected that the next light transformation that Peter perford would destroy a large radius.
"You, too, suffer from your wrongs," Peter cried in utter anguish. "You see no path towards righting your wrongs."
Lucen froze for a second. Peter attacked imdiately, and he had to throw himself to the ground as the spear swung over him with the force of a train.
Aya fired the spell off to give ti for Lucen to roll away. The flas licked the back of his neck as he ran, but his skin was already so raw from the heat that he couldn’t feel it.
"Your sins..." Peter croaked, surrounded by flas, but still marching forward. "You will never shed them if you do not suffer."
Lucen struggled to his feet. His mouth and throat were dry and burned from breathing the super-heated air. He summoned the silver spear into his hand and watched as the shimring material glowed in the light of fire.
"No, thank you," Lucen spat, "there’s nothing to gain from destroying yourself for your mistakes."
Peter’s tears evaporated before they could leave his eyes. He gripped the spear once more, its terrible golden light scorching them.
Aya used another spell. The one that created bursts of white flas and tracked its prey. Seven wisps of sizzling flas drifted towards Peter as he launched himself at Lucen.
He hadn’t been running around for show this whole ti. [Surging Flas] built stores of extra energy as long as he kept moving.
A defiant roar rose from his throat, and a tsunami of mana followed its call. More mana than Lucen had ever drawn before poured into the silver spear.
The clash sent a wave of energy all around them. Their spears sizzling against each other, sending red, yellow and white sparks into the air. But he held back the man.
His mana also went to the bone pieces planted in the ground all around them. He made sure to keep them close as he didn’t know the range of the spell.
Bone-white spears shot from the ground, piercing Peter all over his body, and even grazing Lucen slightly. Aya’s white flas burnt more holes in Peter’s body, wounds cauterized as it sizzled through his this body.
Lucen retreated, dropping his spear and releasing all his spells to focus on healing. His body felt like a vibrating piece of tal, but he ran away from Peter.
Peter turned into light to escape the spears mutilating his body. Lucen knew where he would land, activating his enhancent as the attack dropped.
As the streak of light fell from the sky, Lucen felt everything shake. He cradled his head and tucked his legs in as he sailed through the air.
When his eyes stopped shaking and the dust cleared, he found Peter lying in a massive crater as the injuries to his legs healed.
He turned to scream Aya’s na, but she had already started casting. The colossal spell dominated his mana sense like a miniature sun.
Aya’s jaw tightened as she compressed the sun in her hand, sweating profusely, and scread as she let go of it.
A pillar of light split the earth and illuminated his entire world for a second. Peter Cross slamd his spear down in front of him before his tattered form disappeared in the blinding light.
Lucen’s eyes were closed the whole ti, but the light still stung.
He opened them slowly, blinking rapidly, and stumbling to his feet. He felt like he had been microwaved after being thrown into a washing machine.
The ground between Aya and Peter had been dug out and blackened. It was like a massive, burnt slide. Aya was on her knees, struggling to breathe. Peter Cross was a charred corpse at the bottom of the slide.
The golden spear glittered and still radiated unbearable heat beside Peter’s black lump of a body. Lucen considered going to retrieve it, but decided to wait until it cooled down.
He went to check on Aya first. [Velgor’s First Breath] was a Heroic-rank spell, sothing Aya wasn’t sure she could cast more than once. She had a High-rank channeling technique, but it was still an imnse strain on her mana.
Not to talk of the fact that she had to summon the runes in her mind, and hold them there till Cross could not escape.
Her detailed plan perfectly complented his plan to involve Warren and the others. If they had co here believing Peter was a simple clerk, they would have died ages ago.
Lucen helped her up, lanting the fact that he didn’t have any healing spells that he could use on others.
"Whoever told you that guy wasn’t dangerous is your worst enemy," Aya said, eyes closed because of the heat.
Liam gingerly approached their battleground, grinning madly as he saw them still alive. He started jogging towards them, but jumped back as the heat in the air stung him. Aya’s guards also stopped where they were.
"You okay?" Liam shouted from afar.
"All good, but we can’t get the spear till it cools down," Lucen answered.
"Okay! We’ll keep watch till—" his eyes suddenly widened, "Lucen!"
Lucen spun around, and his jaw dropped. Peter Cross’ burnt corpse was crawling out of the smoking row in the earth.
His eyes were black and empty. All his hair and skin had been burned away. But he was standing and staggering out of his grave.
He fell to his knees, and Lucen sincerely prayed for the first ti in his life that the man would just die there.
"Have I not suffered enough?" the black corpse muttered. "I escaped my torturers and but abandoned you with them. Rucia... am I a fool? Should I have accepted the power that entity offered to to save you? I wanted to bring untainted justice to Chester’s face, force him apologise for abandoning his friends."
The golden spear sent waves of heat over them. Lucen choked as the air was dragged from his lungs.
"No, not enough," said Peter. All the surrounding fires were dyed a blackish red. These black-red flas poured from Peter’s eyes and mouth. "Not enough!"
A terrible and anguished scream split the air.
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