(Written while listening to: "Untraveled Road" by Thousand Foot Krutch on YouTube)
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"A spark can set a whole forest on fire. Just a spark. Save it."
-Quote from "The Last Night of the Earth Poems" by Charles Bukowski
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The mystical protections around the Incandescent Keep were gone.
It was a serious problem.
Especially if one would consider the fact that the light-woven dome was fully covered with repulsive roots that belonged to Blatherer of Desires.
For a moment the blackish tendrils froze as if in surprise.
It lasted only for a split second, for in the next moment the tendrils shook a bit and advanced swiftly directly to the Cathedral. Ignoring civilians. Ignoring Knights.
They headed directly for the altar, right where Laito was.
'Shoot.' Laito thought and summoned the "Liduen abr Vurd"...- or the "Tome of Warding" as he just learned what its name is.
He moved the pages with his mind to open at the [Mark of Invulnerability] chapter.
The tendrils were already upon him…
And they were blasted by concentrated beams of purifying light.
Laito didn't even flinch as he started to read the full sequence of the Spell he was now casting.
Gandeon raised his sword again and sent another purifying beam.
Now. These beams weren't inherently his abilities. They were Tiabeth's.
Gandeon's Ascended ability allowed him to deduce and reproduce the other abilities that he was familiar with.
He held command over Pure-Gold Justicar for years and obviously already witnessed all her abilities. He channeled them now as means to directly purify the desires that powered the Cursed Devil.
Of course its effects were very limited. It was the Cursed Devil after all.
But it bought a few precious seconds.
Fang and Gastac also moved, but their low rank made them very ineffective in the fight.
Also their Aspects were more on the utility side. So instead of fighting…
They deployed tools.
Of course tools cannot carry Will, so usually they were laughably ineffective against beings of higher ranks.
Not this time.
During the past six months while they were under siege, Fang and Gastac constructed together a subtle runic array that managed to latch onto one of the Blatherer's tendrils. They figured out a way to slowly siphon and contain the residual Will of Blatherer from the tendril.
After a long time of tempering, manipulating and purifying said Will, they contained them within small cylinders.
They made grenades using an abstract concept as "Will" and now they turned it against its original wielder.
Leave it to the people connected to Weaver to find the most bizarre way to fight against those stronger than them.
Still, it only slowed the roots only for another seconds. Laito was almost done casting.
Almost.
It was in that moment they all felt…
The presence.
The Cathedral shook as a huge hole was punched through the reinforced walls.
Through the hole walked a man.
Lord Godar Lux, wielder of Divine Aspect. Transcendent Titan and holder of three Divine lineages. The Beast King has arrived at the Incandescent Keep.
He looked directly at Laito with raging eyes.
"What have thou done?" Godar spat angrily while gnashing his teeth.
In an instant, he kicked the ground below him. He moved so fast that it looked like he had teleported.
He appeared directly above Laito bringing down his heel on top of the boy's head in a single mighty stomp.
The heel connected to the ground. The earthshaking stomp shattered the floor and caused great tremor. If the Incandescent Keep wasn't an ancient reinforced citadel it would have collapsed here and there.
And Laito…-
Laito wasn't there anymore.
Beast King was so fast that he looked like he was teleporting.
Laito actually teleported.
Well…- not him exactly.
But Master Marigold did.
The flamboyant Knight acted with ridiculous speed, snatching away Laito and teleporting him away with his ability.
But there was slight problem with that:
The place where Laito ended up was…- right above the golden Divine Flames of the Grand Altar.
And yet, Laito was so engrossed in casting that he barely registered anything that happened around within the last minute since he began casting.
Just the moment he was about to get disintegrated by the heat in the obliterating fire…-
Laito's Spell was complete.
The air around Laito shimmered as his body became semi-transparent.
He has fallen into the golden flames.
And felt no pain from burns at all.
Moreover: there was no burns.
[Mark of Invulnerability]
Protecting spell that allowed the target of the spell to ignore ALL damage that befall on the said target. When powered by Mana it did not matter whether it was a mundane damage or even if it was Unholy one doing it.
No damage.
It wasn't absolute though.
While he was now impervious to harm, it lasted only for a short while and couldn't be casted twice on the same target within short period of time. On top of that, the Mark of Invulnerability could be cleansed off. If the enemy had purifying or negating abilities the mark could be "washed away".
But right now the only beings that could do something similar were: Font of Wisdom, but he was Laito's allay.
And Lady Tirabeth Lux Pure-Gold Justicar, the Beast King's daughter…- but she was dead. Killed by her own father after Blatherer of Desires and her minions ra**d her for the sake of activating her Flaw and then turned into a deformed monstrocity.
So without any interruption Laito found himself at the bottom of the Flame filled stone goblet. He thrusted the Gatekeeper's Key into the small keyhole at his feet.
He braced himself…-
-...and turned the Key.
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–
[The Depths of the Forsaken Land]
Laito blinked.
At least he thought so, because suddenly he found himself surrounded by complete darkness. And silence.
His enhanced vision adapted very fast to almost complete lack of light in the place he suddenly appeard.
The only source of light there…- was Laito.
His veins still glowing blue…- although he now noticed that the glow is slightly more intense then it was the moment he absorbed the crystal.
At first he felt invigorated, now his heart was beating faster and faster, as if he was on a sugar rush.
Unfortunately he had no time to ponder as he remembered the warning that ROB gave him.
Laito assessed his surroundings…- at least what he could see in the meager blueish light his own body casted.
The first thing that came to his mind:
'The dwarven city of Dwarrowdelf in the mines of Moria.' He thought of similar scenery he saw during his first life in the Lord of the Rings movie. He saw that movie MANY times.
The surrounding darkness, grand pillars, vast underground halls. Everything checked out.
–
–
–
Quickly incoming dark infernal flames of doom also checked out.
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[3,5 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
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