The skeleton froze, skull cocked, then let out a triumphant rattle.
"…Aha. Of course. Gravity Invidia, ancient relic-class nullifier. Priceless little trinket."
"Nope."
My pockets held exactly one magic tool: a wallet that boomeranged home if dropped. Pickpockets hated it. I loved it. Once turned the tables on a thief, lifted his coin purse, and bought drinks for a week. Best investment ever.
Item Box storage was for suckers. Mine was a landfill; finding anything took forever. Daily essentials stayed on my person. Gravity nullifiers? I owned three, rotting in a drawer somewhere. Useless fertilizer.
The skeleton hissed. "Fine. Raw power it is. Everyone dies screaming. Abyssal Black Flame, Teneb Life Ranma!"
Black fire blossomed in its palm, lazy, almost gentle, drifting toward us like a sleepy ember.
I raised a hand to swat it.
"JIREI, DODGE!"
Wedd's scream cracked the air. Too late; the flame enveloped my body.
*WHOOM.*
It exploded, swallowing me in a roaring obsidian inferno.
"…Jirei? JIREI!!"
Wedd's voice cracked, raw with horror. The others stared, pale.
I blinked through the haze. "What?"
"You're… on fire. You're literally on fire."
"Dragon breath was hotter."
"Dragon— You're alive? In that?"
"Feels like a warm bath."
Wedd's jaw worked soundlessly.
The flames clung, thick, greasy. Annoying. I peeled a sheet off my arm, crumpled it, and flicked it to the ground. The fire hissed, sulked, and died.
The skeleton gaped. "Impossible! My Teneb Life Ranma— You've got another artifact!"
"Told you, no."
"Elemental barrage, then! Disaster Dragon Water, Calamity Hudor! Karma Coffin Rock, Karma Petler! Dead Storm, Des Huragano!"
Torrents, boulders, hurricanes, one after another.
I slapped the water aside, punted the rock into the ground, and exhaled. The storm disappeared eaily.
Every spell met the same fate: pinky finger, stomping it into the ground,or simply casual dismissal.
The skeleton wheezed, bones trembling. "You… are a monster!" Funny hearing a monster call someone else a monster. "Fine. The trump card."
It straightened, voice dropping to a reverent growl.
"Dark spirit of the abyss, hear the Chosen of Death, Yuri Vastorg Carfes, servant of the Demon King—"
A black sigil bloomed beneath its feet. Three verses, four, five. Wind screamed. Birds fled. My skin prickled; real power, finally.
"Absolute death to the living. Eternal torment for the dead. To the foolish and frail: void and oblivion. Moon Disaster, Eclipse Catastrophe."
it chanted seven verses. It must be God-tier.
Magic condensed, thick, suffocating. I planted my feet.
Nothing happened.
I glanced around. Forest, friends, skeleton, same as before. Was it a bluff?
A faint whimper behind me.
Wedd stared upward, face drained of color. Everyone followed his gaze.
I looked.
The sky was gone.
A sphere of black fire, vast, silent, eclipsed the sun. It hung motionless, drinking light, growing, until the world narrowed to its hunger.
Then it began to fall.