CHAPTER 39 - CONFRONTATION II
LUKE HODGES
I stood there, silently. Observing the person right in front of me with nothing more than pity. The one man that everyone hated when he made his first appearance as an outsider of Dicathen and an enemy at the same time. Later down in the hundreds of chapters, he was given some compassion and even some "I'm sorry" comments from some readers when he had shown a side that even Agrona didn't know about.
Draneeve.
If the novel is still ongoing, I'm sure the author hasn't revealed his last name or his blood name.
In a year and a half he will initiate an attack in Xyrus Academy by using Lukas Wykes as a distraction while he intended to recruit more spies from Dicathen to work under him.
Truly, I commend him for not being noticed all these years while picking trash just to make them feel slightly above insects with that drug. Either way, he will die by my hand no matter what.
With the two swords I had already pulled out of the dimension ring, a little but stable, I pushed my connection to my deviant. Ice.
This shook the oranged-haired man the moment he noticed the counter to his main elemental affinity.
I noticed this and a grin formed in place of an emotionless expression.
"Who are you? Stepping in front of the Mighty Draneeve and not kneeling down?!" He spat, swinging his arm like he was some king giving me definitive orders that would not be in the human norms.
I scoffed at the words that left the soon to be Retainer. Instead of putting all my attention to him like I should, part of my distraction was on Aya and Alea. Though they were Lances, that wouldn't mean that a Scythe or a Retainer would be creeping around here.
My mind was screaming to be on guard, whether it be the Scythes, Retainers, or even Draneeve. And I wasn't going to push this thought and plead when I knew anything could happen in this world.
After confirming that Alea and Aya weren't in a position to be on the death list, I slowly turned to Draneeve who in turn had an irritated look on his face.
If I was correct, he would be wearing a white mask with a creepy smile edged on it yet I don't see it anywhere.
Suddenly, the air around me felt different. Draneeve had activated his fire spell to a certain extent, reaching past me but fully to land on the Lances.
"You know what? I had enough of you!"
The fire blazed with pride all around me, cutting my contact with my masters. Instead of panicking I took a deep breather in, feeling the bite air enter my lungs and later leave in the cold.
It had been the effects of the Ice deviant. It was affecting my body as well as my swords. Dangerous. I thought.
The colorless sword on my right hand had been completely engulfed in Ice magic, from the tip of the blade to the bottom of the hilt. On my left hand was a sword full of multiple colors, quite opposite from its twin and yet it was covered in the same elemental deviant as the other.
But the problem was that the Ice deviant wasn't satisfied with just the two swords. The frozen layers creeped onto the tips of my fingers and started to climb from there. Fingers, whole hands, forearms, all the way to my elbow.
Out of all that happening, what I found interesting was how I never felt the coldness of the deviant trying to devour my body and turn me into a popsicle.
"I just have to kill you before I become a human flavored popsicle." I felt my body start to feel different, lighter than usual. It was a new feeling with using my ice variant, but it still felt out of place.
Draneeve closed his hand, forcing the spell that surrounded me to shrink rapidly. I felt the heat radiating from the fire dome-like.
Breathing in and out, I noticed that my breath was visible. Had it reached the negative degrees? I thought paying more attention to my breath than the deadly spell.
My plan in mind was to make an ice dome to cover me while I'd activate a wind spell powerful enough to knock the fire dome away. Yet something deep down told me to not be afraid, to let me give control to the ice deviant and the results were to be done.
Alright.
As the fire closed in, shards and pillars of ice shot up from the ground and into the surrounding fire making steam and a hissing sound.
One of the giant shards broke through the dome and allowed oxygen to flow through.
It was refreshing.
It was a reminder of how short life can really be. If it wasn't for that feeling… No. Let's just stop thinking about that.
Draneeve…he has to die by my hand. I gave up on the original story the moment I decided to become an adventurer.
Stopping the invasion of Xyrus Academy. That was the first step I needed to take, the only option being on killing this orange haired bastard in front of me.
With that statement, I looked at my surroundings with little to no care. I need to increase its power. I said to myself lightly swinging my dark sword to the side at shoulder level, pushing more of the magic into the weapon. Later, I position my sword just above my head before giving it an aggressive slash, cutting the dome with pure sheer of the negative degree element.
The cut left traces of frozen layers on the ground below my feet leading up to where the cobblestone throne resided.
Draneeve's face betrayed him, showing an expression of indignation towards my escape from his spell. Blood dripped from his mouth while I only stared calmly.
"A mere insect dares to challenge my authority?! You are nothing more than a mere weakling compared to my power!"
"I grow impatient with your whining, Alacryan." I said, stabbing the floor with my multicolored sword, freezing the two feet radius around the sword. "Get off that fake throne, unless you want your high sovereign to demote you."
At that moment, I saw how Draneeve moved. As he walked, his after images followed in different colors like he was too fast for me to perceive. Draneeve's hand stretched, aiming it at my face. Being caught off by the moment of his speed, only reacted when he was centimeters away from me, pulling the ice deviant from the atmosphere into protecting me.
Upon realizing my barrier, fire spread from his shoulder to his arm hoping to melt the ice.
I coated my left arm with ice before going in to grab his right arm, inches away from my face. I felt the force behind his arm, it was enough to make me struggle physically. Next, I lifted my right hand, sword in hand, and sliced through his arm like butter.
Draneeve let out a howl of pain as he stepped back from my area of reach.
Ice enveloped the lonely arm completely before I crushed it with my bare hand. My eyes narrowed as Draneeve clutched his bloody wound. "Y-YOU! I'm going to kill you!" Lashing out his hatred and determination, he summoned his corrupted beasts.
A single step, then another, until I was in the rhythm of walking. Slowly but purposefully to pose a threat to him, Draneeve quickly burned his wound. Blood no longer flowed through his fatal wound but that didn't matter.
Flames shot up from the ground, covering and assisting the corrupted mana beasts who rampaged towards me. Some flew while others sprinted like gorillas, yet they all died the same. They were easily crystalized from the outside in. Motionless but still alive mana beasts fell to the ground when they stepped into my area of reach.
Green vines sprouted from everywhere in the ground, grabbing and even piercing the grey and black beasts. It was Alea's doing. Along with the vines, mist began to cover the area not far from me and sounds of monsters crying in pain from losing a limb or two echoed to the outside of the mist. Aya.
A firm but unnoticeable nod of appreciation towards them for keeping the beasts at bay all while I chased after Draneeve.
The once wall of fire that was conjured just minutes before, turned to solid blue matter in seconds.
The sound of shattering glass overwhelmed those near it, reflections of the shards overcame my tunnel vision.
I let the wind magic go to my feet, letting me go faster than a normal mage-less human. Next thing I knew, I was already far off from the lances who came for me. Again, I sensed for a Retainer or a Scythe but to my own surprise the location of the being I was chasing came to the radar.
A smile creeped across my face, my eyes narrowed and I began walking.
In possession of one of my weapons didn't make me feel unconfident, rather it was the opposite. Power welled up from inside, meaning, I was intoxicated from this power which I had trained under for three years and yet it was still stronger than my own will.
As I got close to my target, I let go of the wind element and decided to go in by walking normally without any magic in use. All of the elemental affinities I had burning up were now being let go. I idled for a moment, searching for any abnormality that might be wanting to ambush me. Yet, I only found drops of blood going deeper into the dungeon.
He still has energy even with all that blood he lost?
Feeling irritated by his determination to leave, I walked faster until I reached another open place inside the dungeon.
It was a bigger open place, yet the only thing that stood out was the giant portal surrounded by camp sites of the Alacryans.
Being caught off guard by a second campsite, I didn't realize when Draveene was already by the portal. An alarm went off, the sound being made by the iron hitting another piece of iron, waking up and getting them to be on guard.
"A futile thing to do… When you are being hunted." I said, in a normal sound level.
Not even getting to my stance, I readied myself and started to walk. Hordes of Alacryans came running at full speeds trying to kill me with their low-level bloodlust. Somewhere in the background, I heard Draneeve's voice full of pain and desperation. "Go and buy me some time! Don't let him get near the portal!"
I sneered, watching the waves of the Vitra descendants. They seemed slow, compared to other characters like Alea or Aya, and even Virion. Like time was being slowed down, everything that wasn't me almost seemed halted.
I let the frontlines of the Alacryans get closer to me until they were at sword length. Then one by one, no sound of pain or did they know their souls had left their body until the pupils rolled back and the headless bodies fell.
To some lengths the voices died down.
Ten…Fifthteen…Thirty…Sixty…
High numbers of the Alacryans decreased the more they approached me. Their known formation wasn't even done, they were just disparate to get rid of me.