Fun Fact: Aside from Arcani, pyrite and sulphur are almost equally as valuable due to their impressive ability to store enough Arcani to power an apartment within a mere two cubic centimetres.
However, wands made of these materials are relatively uncommon due to the high cost of manipulating such a magically sensitive material.
~ ~ ~
“Die, monster! Die—”
A Guardian choked, blood spilling from his mouth as a large claw gouged through his chest. He released a blood-curdling cry, hitting the lizard-like Abomination weakly in a vain attempt to get it to let him go. It roared in his face before opening its scaly snout.
The man’s head snapped off with a sickening crunch, and the rifle slipped from his lifeless fingers. Another deafening roar shook the whole building as the Abomination dropped the headless corpse and lumbered towards a cowering herd of people.
Something huge slammed into it from nowhere.
The Abomination staggered to the side and crashed into a wall. An elephant bellowed in triumph before turning its attention to the crowd. It shrank into a skinny man.
“Get out of here, my homies!” Nero shouted desperately. The people quickly obeyed and scurried out of the room, except for a girl who was still frozen in fear.
“Parthena, move!” He gestured wildly towards her, but a flash of movement caught his attention a moment too late. A giant arm caught his torso, flinging him away.
Brown fur sprouted all over Nero’s body in mid-air, and a large bear landed with a loud thud. It released a paralysing roar and charged towards the Abomination without hesitation. The animal mauled its foe relentlessly, but it had little effect on the monster’s tough hide. The bear got on all fours again.
With nothing more than a small woosh, a rhinoceros sprang forth and gored the Abomination. It trumpeted with effort, trying to push its opponent back. The monster seized the three-tonne animal in response and tossed it at the girl cowering in the corner.
A sparrow slammed into her instead, chirping weakly as it dropped onto her palms. Parthena screamed as she narrowly avoided a claw flung in her direction. The bird leapt out of her hands and transformed into a gorilla this time. It picked her up and hopped away frantically—
The Abomination sent both of them flying.
Nero turned back into his human form as he tumbled onto the floor, dazed by the hit. He crawled forward, trying desperately to bring himself back to his feet. His breaths got more desperate; the Abomination was closing in on him.
A blue beam of light flew dangerously close to the man, grazing the monster’s side. It turned around and shrieked at the shooter instead.
“I’m not afraid… I’m not afraid…” Parthena muttered to herself as she fumbled with the rifle and fired off another blast. It struck the ceiling this time, and the Abomination began to charge towards her.
“I’m gonna be a hero like him… I will be!” the girl yelled aggressively, missing yet another shot at the approaching monster.
She gritted her teeth in determination, struggling to control the weapon’s powerful recoil as she fired more blasts. “C’mon… Hit that thing, you stupid gun…”
An energy blast finally struck the Abomination squarely in the chest, causing it to stumble. The girl yelped in delight and fired again at the writhing monster. A familiar figure caught her attention from the side, and her eyes brightened with hope. Her hero had arrived just in the nick of time, too. Parthena giggled in giddy delight. This couldn’t get any better—
She gasped, dropping the rifle onto the floor.
“NOOO!” The cry seemed distant as blood rushed towards her ears.
Parthena’s body flopped limply as the Abomination swung its tail, tossing the girl away carelessly. She wheezed, clutching the gaping hole in her chest where the monster had impaled her.
Through blurred vision, Parthena watched the boy leap towards the Abomination, punching holes in its slimy body. His screams were primal, almost beastly sounding. But she knew he was no monster.
He was her hero.
“Parthena! Parthena… Oh gods…” The boy fell to his knees beside her as the ground trembled slightly under the weight of the Abomination finally toppling over. “No, please… Hang in there. The infirmary is just around the corner—”
She held his hand weakly and shook her head.
“Thank you, Gaius…” The girl struggled to breathe. “I’m glad… I met you.”
“No, no… please. Please don’t say that. I can’t lose you too…” Gaius sobbed, his hands trembling as he pulled out the flower again. “You still have a promise to keep, remember?”
Parthena choked violently as blood spilt from her mouth, but she smiled nevertheless.
“Keep this flower safe, will you?” she whispered. “You’ll… always be… my hero.”
Her lifeless hand dropped.
“Parthena, I’m so sorry…” Gaius choked in sorrow. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you on time—”
There was a resounding crash as another Abomination broke through a nearby wall. The Sorcerer’s laboured breaths turned into heavy breathing as he stood up slowly, glaring at the monster.
Energy flushed through his body more violently than ever, and his skin flaked away under the strain of the turbulent power. Somewhere deep inside his mind, something cracked. His eyes rolled back in his head as the energy within finally took over his sanity.
Gaius screamed.
~ ~ ~
Pink blasts pelted against the Abomination. They were not strong enough to hurt it, but annoying enough to distract it. The monster turned from the terrified group of people and roared at the smirking boy.
Yes, that’s right… Charge at me, you ugly brute…
Felix pirouetted out of the way right before the Abomination could swat him aside. It crashed into two other monsters, effectively knocking all of them away from the medical bay. Tentacles intertwined them together in a writhing mass of flesh as they collapsed in an entangled heap in front of a blast-proof door.
“Kleo, now!” the boy called out.
“Bombs away!” A grenade rolled on the ground comically, choosing to remain silent for a few seconds.
And then it exploded violently. Flesh and gore splattered against Felix’s psionic shield as the blast shuddered through the building.
“Ugh, nasty.” Pieces of meat splattered on the ground as the psychic released his power. Kleopatra stood up from her cowering position behind him and straightened her clothes, staring apprehensively at the two B’javiar-tear-shaped crystals on the floor.
“Is that all of them?” she asked.
A grating roar answered her question.
“Just one left,” Felix said, scurrying in its direction.
It did not take long for the two of them to find the last Abomination, along with a rampaging Gaius.
Felix’s face darkened. His friend was hardly recognisable now, with barely any skin left on his energised form. The screams he was making were also more akin to a wounded beast rather than a human.
He watched on grimly as Gaius vaporised the Abomination with a huge beam of energy bursting out from his chest. The mass of corrupted Arcani had already consumed his friend. Was it too late to save him?
“Oh, Gaius…” Kleopatra whimpered.
Gaius swung around in response to his name being called. Dozens of energy spikes flared angrily from his body, making him look like some sort of humanoid centipede. He roared and charged towards them without warning.
Felix hissed, putting a barrier up while Kleopatra only widened her eyes in shock.
“Stop, Gaius! It’s me!” she yelled at Gaius, who was now throwing a barrage of punches at the shield. “Why are you attacking us?”
He only roared further in response, before turning his attention to a nearby supply tent. The boy lunged towards it instead—
A pink psionic hand slapped him away. Gaius tumbled along the ground, screeching in anger.
“Your mental pain is immense; I can sense it even from here!” Felix shouted, standing between his friend and the refugee camp. “But I know you’re still in there, Gaius. Fight it!”
Gaius growled as the energy around him intensified, making him seem to grow larger in stature.
Pink covered the psychic’s outstretched hand in response. “Come on! Don’t give up, my friend! I don’t want to hurt you!”
“Des…TROY!” Gaius covered the distance at an alarming speed. Felix flicked his wrist and sent the boy soaring into the sky.
He burst off the ground as well, reaching Gaius’ position in less than a second. Psionic energy pooled in his fist, and Felix punched him away once more. The psychic chased the tumbling body, fully intent on restraining it.
But Gaius was done being tossed around like a ragdoll.
He bellowed in anger as beams of light burst from his body. Felix darted around to avoid them, but one of them still managed to strike him in the abdomen.
The psychic grunted, allowing himself to drift back. That energy blast had packed more of a punch than he expected. He looked up again and narrowly dodged a follow-up kick. Gaius flew around him in a blur, launching a barrage of explosions at the psychic.
Damn it, he won’t let me breathe…
“Enough!” Psionic energy rippled through the air, pushing the Sorcerer back.
Felix raised his hands again, throwing a pink beam against another incoming orange blast. The two light beams collided with a blinding flash as both of them pushed against each other. Gaius yelled with effort, increasing the output of his attack.
A small shockwave crashed into Gaius as Felix overwhelmed the energy attack with one determined push.
“Stop this right now, Gaius!” the Meta yelled. “You’re not a match for me—”
Orange tendrils wrapped around his neck without warning, before it tossed him back to the Earth. A dirt road slammed into his back before he could form a coherent force field. Gaius landed in front of him no more than a second later.
“To hell with that!” he roared, flinging the energy tendrils at Felix in a frenzy. “Why does it have to be you?!”
Felix somersaulted around the flailing beams of light, psychically boosting his speed even further.
“All you do is fight for yourself!” Gaius’s hoarse voice cried out, almost as though he was in pain. “I’m the one who wants to be a hero! I’m the one who wants to help everyone, but I can’t save anyone! Why do you get to be strong?! Why not me?!”
“What?” Felix stared at his friend in confusion. “I didn’t know—”
An energy ball blasted him away in that split second of hesitation.
“You don’t know! You never knew; you never cared about us! We’re too weak to make a difference to you!”
“I… I never thought that way—”
“Lies!” Gaius burst towards Felix with a frightening explosion of speed, slamming him into the side of a mountain. “But I’m different now. I’m stronger like this. I need this; it makes me a better hero! You… You just want this power for yourself!”
Blood spurted from Felix’s mouth as Gaius drove an energised fist into his abdomen. Bloody hell, it reminded him of how hard Titus Angelo hit him back then.
A couple of rock pillars slammed into Felix’s back before he crashed into another cave wall.
“We… we need to get that corrupted magic out of you,” he coughed, pushing himself to his feet. “You’re not yourself. This isn’t you, Gaius.”
“Wrong!” Gaius lifted Felix by the neck and slammed him back down, sending deep cracks along the rocky floor. “This is exactly who I am, you stupid Meta. It is our destiny to destroy the world. You’re not stopping us. Not today!”
Felix grabbed the pulsating energy tendrils around his neck. “I am stopping you. Right now!”
Gaius threw his head back, letting loose an animalistic roar. Two grotesque tusks plunged downwards from his mouth, and several eyes popped up around his face with sickening squelches. Hundreds of insect-like legs burst from his sides, all of them wriggling in the air.
“What… is happening to me?” The pressure on Felix’s neck loosened temporarily as Gaius fell back, clutching his face in horror.
Felix hissed in realisation; all that fighting and negative emotions must have accelerated his friend’s transformation. Gaius was probably a few more minutes from completely turning into a monster.
Felix lunged forward and put his hands on Gaius’s head, his eyes burning with psychic power. He didn’t know if he could make any difference, but he owed it to his friend to try.
Their minds connected, and Felix was sucked into a different world.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniI9sbR6P4
