Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Itorin barely ducked in time to witness the stone around him shatter and vanish before his very eyes. Several elves who were not so lucky seemed to have parts of their body disintegrate, leaving behind smoking lumps of flesh where the beam of light did not touch.

The roof of the cave vanished and opened to the beautiful blue sky above. Itorin could feel the immense amount of mana in the attack. For a moment, his vision was replaced with the image of the gorgeous Lady of the Mountain.

"What's happening?"

"Gods above, help! Help! Mikai is… Where did his torso go? Where…?"

Everywhere he looked, people were dead or dying. Those deeper underground where the beam had not reached were quickly approaching them. Though many of them were slaves, no one made a move to attack. Just as Itorin and his guards were, so too were the newcomers shocked at what they saw.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Just beyond the cave, Itorin saw a white sphere that radiated destructive power. No matter what he tried, he found himself incapable of averting his eyes. The sphere represented the perfect idea of death. When the sphere finally released its stored power, no one would be able to escape. Even the earth itself would find that it was no stronger than wet paper.

Suddenly, the sphere shrank in size and then rapidly expanded. An intense amount of heat followed by a wave of force blasted them. A moment before their world became only white, Itorin watched the town crumble. He felt the surface of his skin boil and melt away.

"I knew he had potential." Itorin whispered, just before he vanished. "It's beautiful!"

*****

Lucius felt a rush of excitement as he looked down at the town of Seteste below as well as the orb he created. He decided for the greatest impact, it was better to condense the power of his spell into a focused and explosive blast. Normally, [Overcharge] was a beam of energy, however this would have been highly inefficient for destroying the city and arena.

Once he had poured every ounce of his Magic and Arts mana into the spell that he could without killing himself, Lucius fell to one knee. His breath turned ragged and rough. The injury from earlier had not yet healed. Because of that, he could no longer hold himself up completely. Without the bonus strength from his mana, he was completely weakened.

Kalliope and Tenia both stared at the orb he created in Seteste. Though he only barely had enough mana in his own body to keep himself alive, the mana in the orb from [Overcharge] still belonged to him until the spell entered its final stage.

With a confident grin, he snapped his fingers together, releasing the spell. As the force and destruction bore down on them, he could hear Tenia begin to move in front of them. The bright white light prevented him from seeing her for the moment, but he could hear her begin to swing her peculiar spear.

A moment later, the heat began to lessen and the wind created by the blast came to a sudden stop. Lucius also felt the bright light lessen ever so slightly. He carefully opened his eyes so as not to accidentally blind himself. What he saw almost made his jaw drop.

Lady Tenia stood in front of the four of them as a vanguard against the destruction. The mysterious green head of her spear glowed with a semi-divine light. Though Lucius knew nothing of divinity, he could only guess based on the pure, green light emanating from Tenia's weapon.

The mana in the air that came into contact with the weapon seemed to vanish into nothingness. Along with it, so did the heat and force disappear. Somehow Lady Tenia was holding back the force of Lucius's strongest attack with a simple spear.

No matter how many different ways Lucius tried to look at the elf, he could not sense the movement of any mana in her body. Whatever she was doing did not require mana to perform. This suddenly made him feel extremely inadequate.

Knowing that she could block such destructive force by force alone wounded Lucius's pride by a small margin. Then he remembered that she was the strongest mortal known to civilized races and lessened some of the expectations for himself.

After nearly two full minutes, the spell finally dissipated. Once the light fully faded, Lucius and Kalliope looked toward Seteste. Where a small city once stood, there was a large crater that formed a perfect circle. The bottom of the crater was nearly a hundred feet deep into the ground.

Along the side of the crater, Lucius could see a few broken hallways and a portion of the battle arena they fought in underground.

A quick glance told them that no one inside the remaining tunnels was alive. If they were, they would be dead soon. Kalliope gulped slightly and came to her feet somewhat shakily. She quickly checked on Ethi's condition and saw that her breathing had stabilized. The mixed elf was still partially feverish, but with stable breaths, she was clearly out of danger.

Lucius watched as Kalliope slowly approached him. Her face had a somewhat complicated expression. He knew she was not afraid of him for what happened because she knew that this was the true force that [Overcharge] was capable of. Instead, something else seemed to be on her mind.

Lucius nodded and struggled to his feet. Kalliope rushed over to him in a panic, "What are you doing?! You're too weak to…"

Just as she reached him, he fell into her arms in a slump. Lucius slowly began to chuckle and could hear Kalliope scoff at him. Before she could say more, he slowly pulled himself up until his chin weakly rested on her shoulder.

"I finally found you." He whispered with a voice that was slightly cracked. "I am so sorry it took me so long."

After what felt like an eternity of silence, though in reality it was only a few seconds, Kalliope placed a gentle hand on his back. He felt her fingers dig slightly into his skin.

"You're an idiot… but thank you. I knew you would come for me."

Lady Tenia coughed awkwardly as if hating to break up their reunion. The look on her face had settled into one of curiosity. "How did you do that? What spell was that?"

"[Overcharge]. It is an ability I unlocked thanks to my Thunder Magic and Channeling abilities."

Tenia shook her head in denial. She quickly explained that she also possessed Thunder Magic and that she had no such capability. The news stunned Lucius because he had assumed that the ability was from his Thunder Magic. If he did not forcibly use Channeling to push Arts into it, the spell simply used all of his Magic mana to create an overwhelming lightning-based spell.

The woman quickly affirmed that she had been alive for a little over two thousand years and not once had she gained such an ability.

Lucius attempted to ask Grimm and Luz what the deal was. It had been a little since he had a full-on conversation with them and hoped that they would have an answer, however they only provided him silence.

After waiting for Lucius to contemplate on the situation quietly for a few minutes, Lady Tenia coughed once again. She advised them it was a good idea to get moving because Lucius had a job to complete for Princess Letheya. She also reminded them that Ethi would need a real place to recuperate instead of on the side of a road.

Lucius attempted to stand, but stumbled the moment Kalliope released him. He could try to drink another mana recovery potion, however after having already drank one, a second would not do much.

With both Ethi and Snow out of commission, he would be a liability as well until he recovered. Thankfully he would recover his mana within twenty-four hours, but they did not have that kind of time.

As Lucius started to figure out a solution with Kalliope, Tenia approached and placed her hand over Lucius's heart. Crackles of electricity arced around her body before slowly moving towards him. Kalliope immediately reacted on instinct, worried that she was trying to harm Lucius.

"Do not worry. It is a rare technique. By using Channeling, I can share a small amount of mana with someone who shares any form of compatibility with me. Lucius and I both possess Thunder Magic." She explained, "This should give you enough of a boost to walk on your own."

Lucius felt a strange tingling sensation wash over his body. It felt as though his strength was slowly returning to him like it would have with a mana potion. However, unlike a mana potion, this process felt almost instant from the moment Tenia started.

He looked at the woman in awe as he had never heard of such a technique to share your mana with someone else like that. Though it made sense that she knew a thing or two with her advanced knowledge.

"Thank you." Lucius said.

"Simply a favor repaid, though at this point I would say you owe me a favor now." Tenia cut him off with a smirk.