As the cosmic beast revealed itself, the sturdy young-looking person abruptly lowered his weapon. Max thought the young lad was going to withdraw but he felt an unsettling feeling pulsating from him. The person raised one of his arm as he muttered, "Arfulus", several magic circles formed throughout the bracer on his right arm.
"Rith'Sah!" He shouted. Metallic components began materializing throughout his body, dressing him in a suit of armor with two halo rings floating beside him. His sword reconstructed into a spear. Slamming the butt of the spear, he casted a spell, "Restia Autem Hesepha," which immediately caught Max's attention.
Runic symbols started to appear throughout his body as he finished chanting the spell. Max knew the situation is getting bad to worse in a matter of second. The Undying Will of Hesepha, one of the oldest ancient magic existed in Zeocleotis prior to Ixailn's migration. Known to be the most powerful enhancement spell before 'Avalon's Rage'…
"His power… is abnormal and that mechanical suit too," said Athena.
"I'll tell you more if we survive…" Max responded, uncertain if they could get return to Nexus.
Ah… I remember now. Ewart Schmilt. Leader of the Guardian division, sought to become the greatest Guardian in Zeocleotis. We used to be in the same academy, Wartsworl, one of the only few academies that took in gifted people. In the middle of my training, I was taken in by Saint Ris'Wort, Institute of Ancient and Forbidden Codex. Since then, we never met each again again…
Ewart, whose power had achieved near-omnipotent due to the enhancement spell, aimed his spear at Max as the rings aligned along the tip. As Ewart jabbed forward with his spear through the rings, he darted in a flash of lightning causing the ground beneath him to burst apart.
Everything became slower in Max's perception as a line of luminous destructive force coming directly at him. Knowing that his mana is still recovering, there's nothing much he could but to take the impact. The tip of the spear slowly emerged as it approaches him, engulfed with a monstrous amount of destructive energy.
Just before Max thought that he was about to be struck by it, Dlekarah took the hit with its enormous wing and neutralized the energy on the spear. A pillar of blue light pierced through the sky, followed with a loud shockwave pulsated to all direction.
Max was shocked. Why did the cosmic beast try to protect him? He wondered.
Ewart distanced himself away after the clash. "Move aside!" The two rings beside him each formed a purplish energy ball.
"Tell me young lad, what do you know about this person?" said the cosmic creature as it lowered its wing after taking the earth-shattering impact.
"He, who tampered the properties of other realms and dimensions, set the cosmic balance on the verge of destruction and caused genetic alteration on several species across the universe. All of his actions defy the law established by the Order. Do you still think he's innocent?" Ewart yelled with a glowering look.
"I know nothing about this person. But, if anyone who will be affected the most by the shift of cosmic balance is us, the Cosmic Dragons. Over the past few centuries, there hasn't been any instability other than minor adjustment that benefitted the universe. The balance is bound to be refined in order to maintain the universe from succumbing itself. Do you not understand such simple procedure?" Dlekarah responded.
Max remained silent, listening to their conversation.
"None other than the 'Apostle' could do that. Otherwise, it's violating the —" Just before Ewart could finish his sentence, Dlekarah cuts him off with a shocking statement.
"The last and only Apostle that you speak of has met his demise centuries ago, consumed by his own greediness."
"Impossible…"
"Abusing his authority to alter the things that are unnecessary, is he performing his duty? No. The only one who is fixing the errs of the universe is this fellow human over here. Majority of humans regardless of races cannot be trusted aside from the Ixailns. You people drove them to the edge of extinction even though there are still a few who lives among us in a small group. Your hunger for power and dominance over the minorities makes me sick. How many lives you had taken with that weapon of yours? How many people pleaded for mercy and you mercilessly slaughter them?"
Ewart felt anger growing inside of him. Without a second thought, he charged at Max again but was blocked by Dlekarah. Large shockwave caused the dust to scatter around the atmosphere, shrouding them with little vision available. Ewart tried to pull back his spear but realized it wouldn't budge. As the dust clears off, Dlekarah who had taken a half-humanoid form stood in front of Max as he holds the blade of Ewart's spear with his claws, said in a menacing tone. "If you dare to try that again, I will rip that armor of yours from your body."
Max was surprised. The enhancement spell that could rival against all odds and Dlekarah simply neutralize the energy from the blow with one hand. He thought.
Dlekarah released the blade, aligned his palm at Ewart's abdomen from distance as he jerked forward. Strong wave of wind rushed at Ewart, sending him out of the hideout through the entrance.
"I'm glad that Hesepha Altura Licthwiess had moved on to afterlife. If not, she would have to witness such disappointment for the rest of her life that someone did not fully mastered her most incredible spell," sighed Dlekarah.
Ewart recovered to his feet, readied to launch another attack. "I warned you…"
Knocking the butt of his spear at the ground, a magic circle appeared above them, covering the gap of the hideout.
"Shit! This is bad…" Max recognized the pattern of the magic circle, Infinite Barrage.
"Begone…." Uttered Ewart as countless of energy bullet showering from the magic circle rapidly on every area within the circle. The spell lasted for a few second before disappearing, dust scattered around everywhere as Ewart thought he had killed Max. In a blink of an eye, Dlekarah charged out of the entrance as he held Ewart's neck out of surprise and pinned him to the ground.
"Do you think that weak spell of yours is going to work on me!?" Dlekarah snarled, white aura started to drawn out of Ewart's suit. "So, this is artificial spirit? Disgusting. Seems like your enhancement spell didn't last as long as you think."
The cosmic dragon ripped the mask off his face as they made eye contact, its dreadful eyes stared into his soul. The rings beside Ewart lost its functionality where the lights on it dimmed off.
"You seem frightened… After taking so many innocent lives, do you think you will be forgiven!? People deserve a second chance but you deserve nothing. It's been awhile since I consume aura, yours will definitely entice my appetite," said Dlekarah.
Ewart struggled to break free from his grasp but to no avail, he was no match against the dragon's strength. "Stop!" Athena called out just before it makes a move.
Max emerged from the entrance along with Athena in her human form. The hideout is out of shape, Max's house is destroyed and the presence of spiritual entities are no longer around. "He does not deserve to live," Dlekarah remarked. "I have sowed to protect you even if it means to kill those that tries to harm you."
"Then what makes us better than a killer?" said Athena.
Dlekarah still held Ewart by the neck as he replies. "I am just following order."
"Whose order is that?"
"Reswil Arvailon, your father."
"My father… Mother told me he was killed a few months before I was born…" Athena suddenly dazed off, slowly realizing the memories of her past are slowly coming back to her.
"Reswil was killed in Blisswilr Forest where no one knows about his death other than a few people who are relative to him. They tried to talk to the authorities about his death but no one seems to know who Reswilr was…," Max muttered.
"Do you know who killed him?" said Dlekarah, glaring into Ewart's scared eyes. "This person and his fellow Guardian comrades!"
Athena looked shocked. Max walked towards Ewart as he knelt down with the gemstone in his hand, holding it slightly above Ewart.
"What are you do—" Just before Dlekarah finish its sentence, Max told him to just observe what he is trying to do. The gemstone reacted as he had expected, glowing in sky blue color but he expected more. He channeled some of his mana into the gemstone and it reacted slightly vigorously, the color blinks every few moments from sky blue to a little darker contrast. Max didn't stop as he continued a little longer until he realized something strange displaying on the gemstone — a small dark purple portion in the center.
"Is that demon—"
Before they could react, bright luminous light emitted from Ewart, blinding everyone around him. As soon as they regain their vision, he was no longer there, as silent as the wind he escaped Dlekarah's grasp. "He's gone…" said Max. He was certain that he saw demonic aura picked up by the gemstone.
"How did I not realize his demonic aura… That's quite… incomprehensible."
"Back there, when we were caught in his Infinite Barrage," Athena looked at Max as she wonders what had happened during that chaotic moment.
"I wasn't sure, but I'd managed to trigger the gemstone and casted a barrier before it hit us," Max retorted, staring at the gemstone in his hand. "Let's head back. Weirder things will start emerging one after another if we continue to stay…. Speaking of which, I felt kinda' refreshing after the gemstone triggered."
"Is that Axartos gemstone…?" Dlekarah asked when he glanced at it. Max gave a light nod which lead to Dlekarah warns him about the danger it may bring.
"Be careful about the dangers that it may bring in the future. That gemstone is a dangerous artifact no matter how you crafted it. It can be used to enchant or fuse with any weapon to gain its effect. Reswil Arvailon once had one in his possession but he destroyed it after learning it is nothing but an artifact of mass destruction. How powerful it is? I have no answer to that since the power of each gemstone differ itself. That is all I could tell you," he said before returning into its monstrous form. "I'll take my leave then. Do me a favor and protect Athena, I believe that she will be in good hands with you."
Max and Athena watched him took off into the sky briefly before they returned only to be greeted by Hadley on the roof of one of the buildings in the heart of Milestone Town near the museum. It was just about time the cloak hits twelve in the midnight and Athena had returned to Max. "Seems like you guys got into a rough fight. It's been awhile since I seen you in your human self, is it that serious?"
Max shrugged. "Nah. Anyway, I got what I wanted," he said while showing the gemstone to Hadley.
"That's one dangerous artifact you got there…"
"So, you knew about it?" Max asked, accepting the fact that Hadley is one of the few most mysterious people he'd ever met.
"Never seen one but I know about their existence and the abilities of each of them carried. Yours is truly remarkable — tremendous power and outstanding ability. I hope you could utilize it in a good way," Hadley retorted.
"Thanks for appraising my artifact, I guess? What do you think it could do other than its basic usage?" Max asked out of curiosity.
"That, my friend, you have to find it out yourself. I could only tell you it is one of the best quality that you could harvest out there," Hadley replied. "Shall we begin?" he added as Max triggers the gemstone.
Author's note
Finally! I was procrasinating quite a lot after I tried to get back on track with the story. There will be quite a lot of changes to the sequel(lore-wise) after finishing this. TBH, I nearly gone off-track with this chapter because I was so immerse with the development of the lore for Zeocleotis and its other different realms where its concept is based on the nine worlds in Norse Mythology. Though it won't be as many as 9 realms but there are already a few hinted/mentioned in earlier chapters. Anyway, that's all I have to say.