As Elianor shut herself in to work on her project, she prepared large glass tubes filled with microscopic pollen. A single pollen would be useless when forming the spell, but when a few thousand were bundled up, they had the capacity to take a certain shape.
Figuring out which pollen would be the best, she went through a lot of trouble to select the most fitting one. Preparing it all took a considerable amount of time and effort. Time passed by without her knowing as the room didn't allow any light in, only being visible thanks to magical lights she installed herself.
After she was finally finished, she wanted nothing more than to go back to just managing the underground city. It might've come with a lot of hassle and difficult decisions, but she felt alive. Stuck in the same constant task, the mind was being numbed.
As she finally opened the doors to her home, she stepped outside to feel a smooth and hard surface underneath her. Looking down, her feet were standing on tiled pavement. Ahead, a neat road formed from basic bricks were placed next to one another to form a basic pattern.
"Huh?", lifting her head, she needed to blink twice as the everlasting light that lit up the underground city was gone. 'It's dark? Did someone invade? Why didn't I feel anything?'
Checking her surroundings, nothing seemed to be off except for a single tower that stood above the other buildings. She stared at what looked like a tower that suddenly began to ring. The noise covered most of the town as it started to give off artificial daylight. She could hear birds chirp as a rising sun was simulated on the ceiling, the warm colors giving light to the city.
'Have years gone by?'
The entire space looked and felt bigger, there seemed to be places where nature took over, as birds could be seen flying through the fake sky. The houses seemed to have been improved and basic defense arrays were set up around the streets. Standing still, a nearby demon approached her.
"Excuse me, Miss Elianor. The Boss has asked to meet you the moment you finished your seclusion."
"How long was I gone for? Why was it dark?"
"About 7 days. The Boss has made sure that the cycle of time is the same as the one outside, so when the tower goes dark, all lights installed around the city will dampen as well, signifying that it's night outside."
"How...?"
Being guided to the town hall of the city, she saw many demons she didn't recognize as well. Entering the place, demons were running haphazardly around, but all with a strange determination in their eyes.
In the main office, Lucas was reading over a few papers before she entered. Seeing her appearance, he placed the papers down, relieved his work was over. "You're finally done. I thought you just needed a day or two. Not an entire week."
Standing up from his chair, he dusted his clothes off as he started to stretch his muscles.
"What did you do? What happened here?"
Lucas didn't bother answering her, without having to work on his projects, he focused all his attention on the underground city. Being distracted and busy with work made him push his desire to go get Asta somewhat repressed.
"You'll see, I think there's a report around here with all the changes since I took over. I happen to have some experience living underground, so I changed some things. Only the food and water system have stayed the same since those were perfect. Now, have you finished up your work?"
Elianor had to put aside her questions and doubts, the facilities and overall defense of the place had grown tremendously, so she just had to accept it. Grasping her head to stifle an oncoming headache, she led Lucas to her home.
Showing him the canisters filled with millions of pollen. Lucas started to understand why it took so long.
"If you release it in the air of the capitol, they'll use the wind until they reach a surface with mana. Then they'll stick to it. Once enough of the pollen is gathered on the same surface, they'll start to form the necessary runes. If the spell is complete, they'll activate."
"Perfect," placing the canisters in his dimensional pocket from his ring, Lucas gathered the tools he needed.
"Now you'll be able to liberate the capital."
"Hmm? My goal isn't liberation, I just need a distraction," happy that he would finally be able to get out of this place, Lucas cracked his knuckles with a smile covering his face. "And while I'm at it, be sure to take trips to the world above, you don't want to be stuck inside this place or your skin will start to turn gray."
"What?", Elianor was confused, but the figure of the man was already out of the building.
"Goodbye."
It was the last time she heard anything from him, as he vanished from the underground city. Even now, she couldn't tell what to make of him. Shaking her head to herself, she felt the corners of her mouth go up.
"Good luck, Lucas."
---
Arriving back outside, Lucas started to fly back to the capital he fled from. He didn't have a strong plan, but knew where to find someone who should.
Along the way, platoons of angels stood in his way, but not for long before they were completely consumed in his magic, turned to corpses on his path.
Since the only threat in a platoon was their Rank 3 or sometimes Rank 2 leader, they were quickly taken care of.
Seeing the bodies on the ground, Lucas acted on his second plan to survive his visit to one of the most dangerous place on the planet and invited some older friends. If he dared to taunt his strength in the capital without the aid of Lord Alastor, he would be dead within hours.
The moment the big ruined city came into view it was still surrounded by thousands of angels. Lucas took risks and fought hard, but facing against that many unprepared was asking to die since the ones in the sky were the strongest. There were plenty more just patrolling the streets and surroundings.
Previously, he had the aid from both Alastor's to combat against them, now that wouldn't be the case. But they were his goal. If either son or father was still alive, they might've had a plan to move forward.
Since the son was fighting in the sky against Rank 4 mages, it wasn't exactly a place for him to intervene, so the next best thing was to find Lord Alastor that used his aura to strengthen the troops.
Lucas still remembered the origin of the flames, so he just had to fly to the correct tower. The only issue was the fact that there were thousands of angles just flying above the city, let alone patrolling through the streets.
It was a good thing most of the demons were relocated to somewhere else, but it would only delay the inevitable.
Taking out the canisters he received from Elianor, he started to influence the weather in small ways. He send warm air currents on the ground and cold ones in the air. He made sure to make them turn regularly to create a very small spinning effect. If he bothered, he could create a tropical storm, but that would be useless to his plans. Instead, the capital was caught in a bubble of seemingly never ending light winds.
Releasing the spores from inside the canisters, he waited a moment before hiding his presence and sneaking into the capital. There were angels walking along the streets as well, some were even using their willpower to check for any kind of movement.
If Lucas was caught in it, he would be immediately detected. Of course, he wasn't so lucky as to avoid them all, especially since he couldn't tell who had their willpower out and how far it went.
The only thing he had was the moment he stepped into someone else's perception, he could calculate the source pretty quickly. And since they mostly kept their willpower around themselves, they were the first target Lucas assassinated as fast as he could.
It wasn't easy, not in the slightest. Turning a corner, near the tower he needed to reach, he found around 15 bodies of compressed bloody armors. 'The pollen work better than I thought.'
'She wasn't screwing us over... Kinda surprising,' Lucas wasn't expecting much from the pollen, since he had no experience with the magic involved. So he had already implemented a second solution.
Entering the tower, Lucas rushed to reach the top to find an extremely fortified room. The door was incredibly thick, the walls were covered in protection arrays, but they were all dormant, drained of energy.
Pulling the door open, he stepped inside to find incredibly complex arrays covering every wall, the floor and ceiling with his target at the very center.
Sitting cross-legged, a single elder sat down with a very light smile on his face. His cheekbones were very visible as his eyes had hollowed out. His skin, dried like a blade of grass during summer. His hair had mostly fallen out, as his hunched posture made it tumble down to the ground before him.
His old decrepit hands were tightly grasping a large empty crystal. Not a speck of mana was visible in the room, it was all sucked out, drained to nothingness.
"Dammit."
Lucas let the image of the man settle in his mind. 'Those flames, it wasn't just his aura, huh?'
'Yes, most likely, his aura incited the feelings, the arrays spread it and his Demonic Powers enhanced it.'
'So we were fighting as he was sacrificing his own life to give us energy? ....Fuck.'
'It's certainly... unpleasant.'
Standing in front of this man, who was capable of outsmarting Lucas numerous times without breaking a sweat, made him think of another woman that easily surpassed his scheming. But unlike that fox, he wouldn't be able to have another match with him.
He didn't dislike the man despite their combativeness. 'He gave us his powers so we would be able to survive and lead his subjects to safety at the cost of his own life. I achieved his goals and we can't even get back at him.'
'...'
'You win.'
Lucas wanted to make the corpse vanish, but let it be. This place would be his grave, just as he wanted, he was in no place to reject his wish.
It didn't take long before he heard the device he received from Alastor activate. "So father has sacrificed himself for the greater population? He achieved his wish, don't mourn him, this is what he wanted."
Lucas didn't answer, losing ones father must've been terrible, not that he could relate. But if he had to compare it to losing his mother figure, any outburst of emotion would be acceptable to him.
"Looks like you made it back in one piece? You should be glad you're the only one who's thoughts are so jumbled. You're easy to find."
'Hey smartass, I think it's pretty normal.'
'You're not exactly the one who should've said that.'
"Well, it doesn't matter right now. We're in trouble. The Guardians are starting to get completely drained. The angels are giving us no room to breathe and are as defensive as we are."
'If Alastor has problems with it, I don't suppose we have any advice to give.'
'Nah, fucker's just too protective, offensive is the best defense.'
"I would love to strangle you for your thoughts, but I can't be bothered. I will release Astaroph, which should lure one of the Rank 4's to him. Can you both handle him?"
The answer was obvious, considering the strengths and powers they had at hand, the chances of them winning were close to zero. Lucas might've had some lucky streaks with battling mages above his Rank in the past, but this was simply not worth attempting.
At every Rank, the wall they had to climb was taller and taller, the gaps between them were vast and almost insurmountable. Without a doubt, they would be risking their life just because they could.
"Of course."
And yet, the almost matter of fact way he said it convinced Alastor they stood a chance. To Alastor, Lucas and Astaroph were distractions, a willing sacrifice to break their stalemate. But the thoughts running through Lucas' head gave him pause.
"Then I wish you the best of luck. He should appear soon."
'Can you be a bit more clear? From where exactly?'
"I don't know that. Just make sure that you move fast. I... Just know that I appreciate you doing this for us."
Lucas didn't know what to think of it, he chuckled, 'Then how about I make you feel real indebted?'
'Yeah, hey smartass, remember these runes real good, will ya?'
'Just place them on a piece of armor of the angels, and the shape will compress, crushing whatever is inside. It only works as a surprise attack though.'
Projecting the runes in his mind, Alastor picked up on them quick. Understanding what each individual one did purely through Lucas' research plucked right from his thoughts, Alastor shook his head. "A dragon recognizes his kind. I wasn't wrong about you," his light tone made Lucas feel good for some reason.
"Make it out alive of this Lucas. Don't die on us."
'Do we look like we have a death wish?'
"Sometimes I can't tell. Good luck Lucas, you'll need it more than me."
---
In a hut in the forbidden forest, not much had changed. Every day, an elder demon would make his trip to the basement where a demon was strung up by his wrists. His body covered in scars and wounds, the entire floor had become a carpet of dried blood. Since magic kept him alive, his blood was never ending.
The old man cared little for the outside world, sticking to his routine to keep his calm. Even when the world trembled, he never bothered stepping outside his neatly curated planning. The demon who got strung up by his wrists looked lifeless.
Taking a closer look at his face, one of his eyeballs was missing. Not only that, but his eyelids were roughly pulled out, leaving it scarred and open. A cavernous hole was all the man had left. Were it not for the burn marks inside, blood would be pouring out.
Arriving at the cell where the man was kept, he opened it slowly. Taking a step inside, he tried to converse with the demon. "Hello there. This is the... 173th day? It seems I've lost track. So let's start from zero again. Are you willing to use your powers yet?"
It wasn't the first time the man had lost count, but the strung-up demon couldn't recount it. No reaction was available from the man.
"I have tried my best to make you awaken using physical and mental pain for a long time. But all my efforts have been in vain. I still remember you mentioned that your friend would save you eventually, but he still isn't here."
There was a slight change in the man's eyes, a glint of hope appeared, and as small as that tiny ember might be, it gave him warmth he had long forgotten.
"I was thinking that your hope that this friend of yours might come to save you would be the thing that holds you back somehow. So I have brought with me proof that he will never arrive for you."
'But it will also make you much more unstable. To use this would only mean Master has given up. But orders are orders. How tragic.'
Placing a small stool in front of the strung up demon, the older one placed a light crystal on the seat. Activating it, a recording started to appear. On one side, Lucas was sitting with his arms crossed, while on the other side, Lord Alastor sat with a grin.
Seeing their faces, Asta started to come to life again, his body didn't move in the slightest, but his eyes seemed to gain something. Recognizing his friend's face, his source of hope and endurance, it almost made him smile, but he couldn't. Physically, it was hard, but he mostly couldn't due to the fact that Lord Alastor sat on the other end of his friend. He recognized him in an instant. Enemies sharing a table didn't make sense.
An older voice came from the recording, the voice itself seemed to be almost compressed, altered in a way, but hard to pick up.
"You actually did it..." something seemed to crackle, as Lord Alastor's mouth seemed to keep moving, but the voice wasn't coming through, "..As a fellow mage who's too busy to experiment, can you tell me how you did it? I want to hear it all."
The fascinated look on Lord Alastor's face paled in contrast to Lucas'.
"Well, the first step was just to understand what the state of his core is. It wasn't hard to befriend him, he's got a little pride, but behind it, there's nothing. An inferiority complex perhaps, but that's about it. It's not hard to play to his emotions and trick him. He didn't even know it was all an act. It wouldn't surprise me if he would seek me out after all this, I'm quite good at pretending to be friends."
Asta wasn't sure what he was hearing, the words coming out of his mouth, the smirk on his face, the arrogance and pride displayed twisted his heart harder than what the old demon could ever physically perform.
"After getting close to him, I just had to wait for a moment when he was asleep to check it and devised my plan around it."
Asta couldn't believe his ears, but he heard Lucas' voice loud and clear. His eyes wanted to close, to distance himself from what he was seeing, but this wasn't an illusion he could escape from.
"I'm aware you're smart, even this task, which would seem impossible to some mages, you completed in mere months. How?"
"Well, you get the most data from field practice."
Lord Alastor smiled deeply, "Hahaha! Yes, you're a true mage. You would make for a great company. Are you interested in joining me and the Duke sometime?"
Lucas instantly waved it off, "No thanks, I don't like dealing with mages myself. I'm more interested in my reward."
The older man placed his hand on the crystal to stop the recording from playing. It was more than enough.
Once the light from the crystal was gone, the old man saw an emotion he hadn't seen over all those days. Finally, a feeling of hopelessness was visible on the demon's face. The torture and illusions he suffered from every single minute of every passing hour did nothing to tear down his resilience. But now, the ember that was flickering in his eyes started to flicker.
Tears ran down the old man's face as he smiled. "Awaken, Astaroph."
Asta screamed his lungs out, letting the pain and despair take him over. The cell started to shake, in fear of what was happening. Mana started to rush all around them, unable to sit still.
From Asta's head, two massive horns started to force their way through his skin. Reaching for the sky, the air began to spark in response. The old man felt his body being pressured to the ground as the chains were destroyed in a mere instant. Nothing was holding back Asta any longer. "Finally," with a light smile on his face, his being was reduced to mush as Asta awakened to his powers.
Scales started to show up on his face and hands. His nails grew back long and black. His horns grew larger and larger, raven black in color, they contained powers long suppressed.
"LUCAS!!!"
His angered peaked as the entire cell and hut blew up, a lone crater formed in the middle of woods with a seething monster at the very center. It's anger and fury that made his heart beat.