2198 Face the Darkness (Part 4)

"This form is strong because it's linked to my few happy childhood memories. That burst of light was out of the strong emotions that the good news gave me." The man replied.

"Those wandering souls have nothing left, that's why they are so weak. Remember who and what you are fighting for!"

Locrias had no lungs, yet he took a deep breath.

He remembered about the day he had been admitted to the Crystal Griffon Academy and then to the Queen's Corps. About the day he had met his wife and about the day she had proposed to her.

He thought about the day his daughter was born. Of the first time she had said the words "dada". Then, he dreamed of being there for her on the day of her wedding and walking her to the altar.

His whole body burst with new energy as the uniform of the Queen's Corps shapeshifted into an exact replica of the childish portrait that she had drawn for his birthday back when she was five years old.

A new wave of enemies approached, yet it took Locrias a single swing of his spiky sword to blast them into nothingness.

"You heard the man. Fight with who you are. Strike at them with everything that made your lives worth living!"

One after the other, the three remaining Demons started to burn bright as well. Five lonely stars tasked with keeping Mogar's darkness at bay.

In the real world, their effort paid off, relieving Lith from most of the side effects of Possession. He had no idea why none of the souls that he could feel entering his body were messing with him, yet he had no time to waste with idle thoughts.

Jormun kept turtling up, generating more limbs to resist the onslaught until the rampant Chaos inside of Lith consumed him completely.

The Abomination was slowly turning into an Eldritch, its horns growing and new sets of wings popping on his back. Lith gritted his teeth and let a third soul fuse with him. A new set of arms appeared floating in mid-air, coordinating with the other three.

The soul belonged to a female doctor who had studied physiology no less than Jirni.

Her attacks were all aimed at clusters of nerves and organs. She struck at Jormun with her index and medium finger, exploiting the energy body to extend them when he stepped back and releasing a Chaos arrow if he blocked.

Dodging was rarely an option since Jormun had to deal with six other Adamant-coated arms and War. Soon he found his back against a wall and the doctor's fingers found their way to his left eye.

They pierced their way almost to his brain, releasing jolts of Chaos and lightning in their path.

"Protect the King!" Hystar said while disengaging from Solus at the cost of being blasted once again.

The safety protocols of the Golden Griffon activated, forcing the Headmaster and the Forgotten to completely ignore their respective opponents.

'What do we do?' Vladion used the respite to drink a vial filled with blood and restore a part of his strength.

'We must help Lith!' Solus was running on fumes, but she refused to give up.

'Indeed we have.' Kalla nodded. 'Start looking at the core, quick!'

'I can't abandon him!' Solus said in outrage.

'And what can you do, exactly?' Kalla showed her an accurate yet merciless analysis of the Eyes of Solus' condition.

Her core was dry and her body was on the verge of crumbling. If not for the Sage Staff, the Hands, and the constant supply of world energy she had hijacked from the mana geyser, Solus' body would have already shattered, and with her the tower.

'I'll take care of him, don't worry.' Vladion kept pointing his monocle at Hystar, to keep scanning the core while fighting.

He bolted forward like a bullet, just to stop abruptly a step later.

"Red Mother have mercy!" A sea of floating black arms was surrounding Lith, each fighting on their own with a mastery that the Firstborn Vampire had rarely witnessed.

The Forgotten were battling against their own souls who mirrored every one of their movements, countering every spell and attack before they even started.

"Set us free!" Mouths opened on their palms, yelling at the Headmaster with voices that he well remembered despite the passing of centuries.

The sea of arms focused on both Hystar and Jormun, ravaging their bodies with Chaos.

Yet while the Headmaster would come back a second later at the expense of the power core, the Emerald Dragon's life dwindled. Blood gushed out of many opened wounds and Chaos poisoned his mana, smothering the emerald aura of life.

War found an opening in his guard, slipping past Dragonclaw and piercing through Jormun's heart until the hilt of the blade clanged against his Kingslayer armor.

"You fought well, big brother, but you should have walked away." The Void said, his voice cold and merciless. "There's a saying from where I come from. No matter how fast light travels. Wherever it goes, darkness is already there, waiting.

"Remember it in your next life."

"I forgive you, brother." Jormun's eyes were filled with brotherly love like Lith hadn't seen since Carl's death. His voice was clear despite the blood gurgling from his mouth. "Please, take care of my son."

The Headmaster was right there while the Mad Queen was still in Belius yet they both screamed at the top of their lungs at the same time.

"No, no, no!" Thrud abandoned the battlefield, uncaring for the Kingdom's troops led by Highmaster Vastor that were swarming the city.

With the walls cracked, the Divine Beasts weakened, and the Mad Queen exhausted, King Meron had ordered the troops to focus on recapturing the city.

"My Queen, what's-" Iata attempted to say, but the tears in Thrud's eyes and the frenzied madness cut her short.

"I don't give a fuck about Belius! My husband needs me." She inputted the dimensional coordinates for the Golden Griffon, ordering her Generals to follow her.

Meanwhile, at the lost academy, Hystar was doing all he could, focusing the Unwavering Loyalty array on Jormun to keep him alive.

Vladion had taken out the Forgotten and this time they stayed dead. With the power core of the academy weakened, the Headmaster couldn't waste a single iota of energy for them.

'We are almost done, Scourge, turn back into a human.' Kalla said, opening a mind link to show him the Eyes' counter at 99%

'Please, Lith, Void, whoever you are, come back to me.' Solus said amid tears seeing the black pillar on the verge of completion.

'For you, anything.' The Void left Lith, going back inside of him to close the gate that allowed the passage of the souls and reconnect himself to the rest of the life forces.

This time, Lith hadn't almost fallen because the Void had struggled to break free but because Lith had taken him away. Without the Void, there was no balance and the other two life forces were bound to die.

Lith drove out the souls of the Forgotten he had been sharing his body with, but it wasn't enough. The spirits who had attacked his life force were still there, threatening his existence.