The giant creature had the head of a fish but the body of a snake, or an eel, to be more precise. Two giant flames burned in its hollow sockets, looking at Rae as she approached it with wariness.
Like a meteor descending from the cosmos, she slammed into the monster's skull with her fist covered in a gauntlet. Pain shot through her arm from the impact, but the monster showed no signs of weakness.
"Break!" She roared inwardly as her mana gathered around her fist and exploded. As if struck by a mana blast, the monster swayed as a giant crack appeared in its skull.
'Damn it,' Rae bit her lips as her wings carried her away. Even though its skull was broken through, the monster wasn't harmed otherwise.
Her body started descending as her mana reserve approached being depleted. At that moment, she saw a golden light shoot across the sky.
'I knew he was hiding his strength.' Rae thought as she saw Alexie flex his arms. The sleeves disintegrated under the effects of the power surrounding his arm. 'However, even that amount of power can't kill this monster.' Rae felt helpless.
Yet, Alexie seemed unfazed by her failure, as if he had expected it. His face was terrifyingly scary as cracks began appearing on his skin.
'It's as if... he's breaking apart.' A normal person would see this as scary, but for Rae, this was a beautiful spectacle. 'We seek power to not break, but to wield a power that can break you apart, such an irony.' Her heart skipped a beat.
He tore through the distance between himself and the monster in an instant. His body arched backward as he punched toward the monster's body.
At first, she thought that she was imagining it. Yet, her ears were unmistaken. The moment his fist touched the monster's body, there was a resounding boom. The muted world was unmuted for the briefest second.
It was then that the monsters gave a pitiful scream that sounds like a bottomless growl. Its body was torn apart by Alexie's punch and the man, who looked like an omnipotent god, tore through the monster's body until he appeared from the other side.
'He did it,' Rae held her breath as she looked at him soar through the sky before doing a flip and stopping mid-air. 'But he isn't close to being done.'
At that moment, Alexie's mouth arched until a grin was painted on his face. She knew that grin, it was of power and excitement. Like a golden sun, Alexie flew until he was above the monster. Then arrived his descent.
At first, he was freefalling. His body began to accelerate until he became nothing but a golden blur. The monster was still breaking apart after its body was torn through. It opened its mouth toward the sky as energy gathered in it.
This energy wasn't something that Rae has ever witnessed before; it was nausea-inducing. As if it seeped the life out of everything around it without being destructive. The energy gathered into a giant black sphere before being spewed toward Alexie.
Rae focused her eyes on him and was able to make out his expression. He was still grinning. He spread his arms as if he was welcoming the deadly energy before clapping. That single clap broke space apart as it left her ears ringing like a thunderclap.
A thin line of light formed from the point his hands met. The line elongated until it looked like he was holding a giant needle. The line then descended upon the energy sphere, splitting it apart easily before continuing toward the monster.
Like a fruit that was cut by a knife, it was effortless and smooth. The line cut apart the monster's body in halves to reveal a figure inside of it. Rae's pupils constricted when she saw that what lied inside the monster was a human.
It seems as if Alexie shared her shook, judging by his expression. However, Rae also saw terror in his eyes. She couldn't understand why did he fear anything while wielding such powers nor did she understand his next actions.
He waved his arm and all the power surrounding his body disappeared. He flew away from the person inside the monsters and landed on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Rae landed next to him and asked, the world regaining its sound. "Do you think an enemy stops being an enemy if they're human?" She was genuinely frustrated.
Alexie didn't answer any of her questions and silently gazed at the figure. For the first time since she had met him, he seemed lost and confused. His eyes carried unimaginable sadness within them.
"What happened to you?" He looked at the figure and asked. "Who did this to you, Ori?"
***
The same tired appearance, the same lifeless eyes. Yet this time, Ori, his former club member and someone who taught him about runes, was nothing that Arthur could recognize. He wasn't inflicted with the Enders powers, but with something that Arthur couldn't recognize.
The Enders' Energy was there, but it seemed to be controlling Ori rather than Ori controlling them. Even with the question thrown at him, Ori didn't respond. He looked like a lifeless puppet that mechanically moved toward him.
"Can you hear me?" Arthur tried but Ori didn't answer. Rae was silently standing beside him, as confused as he was.
'How did this happen?' He asked himself. Ori was never the type of person that would fall for the Enders' promises, he was a good person.
With his heightened senses, Arthur could sense that Ori wasn't a fallen being, but was being controlled by the powers of the Ender.
"Do you know him?" Rae asked. Arthur wanted to deny it since it would link him to his old persona, but the ship has sailed.
"Not personally."
"Either way, he seems to be preparing to attack." Rae turned to Ori, who was walking toward them with the Enders' energy covering his left side. "Do you want me to kill him?"
"Don't dare." Arthur glared at her with killing intent. "Stay out of this." He ordered and Rae looked at him silently before nodding.
He tried to calm himself down and think of a solution. After a few moments, he realized he only had one option. He could only try to save Ori from whoever was controlling him.
Ori walked toward him with the Energy running amok. Arthur started walking toward him and Ori raised his hand and slashed with the corroding energy at him.
Raising his hand, Arthur grabbed Ori's hand easily. His golden mana exploded at the same time and the two energies clashed against one another.
Each one of them tried to eat the other, vying for dominance. In the end, the power of nothingness could never displace the power of existence. Ori's body was surrounded by Arthur's golden mana as a pained expression appeared on his face.
"Agh!" Ori screamed and grabbed his head in agony. "Make it stop!" He pleaded and Arthur felt hurt to see him this way. He infused more mana into his body to get rid of the connection completely.
Ori's screams became louder until he fainted. Arthur's mana receded as he felt the connection disappear. However, Ori showed no signs of waking up.
"Try hurting him," Rae suggested and Arthur tried to wake him up by pinching him, but there was no reaction. "He's a vegetable now." Rae shrugged.
"Carry him with your scarf, gently." Arthur laid him down and stood up.
"Don't order me around."
"You're my follower now, are you not?" Arthur looked at her calmly. Her face was defeated, but he didn't see a lot of opposition. She bit her lower lip and spread her scarf under Ori. The scarf then levitated and carried him.
"What are we going to do now?" Rae asked. "The sound is back, so we should be able to find the others if we look around enough."
"I think we would be too late." Arthur looked around the wasteland. "Isn't it odd that no one has surfaced until now? They should be able to."
"Do you think that something happened to them?" Rae shrugged. "I think assuming that just because we haven't seen them yet is a long shot."
The moment she said that, a high-frequency sound rang through the wasteland. A giant black pillar shot through the sky as dark clouds formed around it.
"Yup, definitely nothing happening." Arthur exhaled. He looked at Ori silently. "We need to bring him along. If a monster appears, I'll take care of it. Protect him, please."
"Alright." Rae didn't protest and agreed readily. Arthur smiled and didn't say anything.
His body was still heavy from his earlier use of his art of creation. Even though that Arts were unique ways to handle mana, giving awakeners another set of uses, they could strain the body if they were unbefitting.
They started traveling toward the black pillar of light as Arthur tried to understand how his friend ended up in this state.