Chapter 15 :: The Crystal's New Power
"Celsius, we seek a pact with you," Mithos requested."You? You are indeed very bold if you think you have the strength to challenge me. Come, Fenrir!" Celsius arrogantly replied. Her wolf leaped to her side, snarling at the travelers.
"Starsword magic, activate! Star Blaze!" Mithos' sword changed into a tongue of flame that burned brightly.
"Celsius is without a doubt one of the strongest elemental spirits. Do not underestimate her," Alice warned. Fenrir, the quicker of the two opponents, pounced at Kratos and pinned him to the ground. Alice and Mithos, meanwhile, both turned their attention to Celsius.
"Beast!" Celsius closed in on Alice and then let loose a blast of energy that took the form of a lion head. Alice was blown back, coincidentally hitting Fenrir off Kratos. Immediately afterwards, Celsius yelled, "Freeze Lancer!"
"Shadows... Solar Eclipse!" Alice countered. Celsius summoned a blue magic seal, out of which a hundred small lances of ice shot. Alice did the same, but produced a barrier spell that deflected the ice spears in all directions.
"Light Spear!" Kratos jumped while spinning and swinging his sword simultaneously into Fenrir. He finished his move with a downward thrust attack, which sent the wolf hurtling into the wall.
"Chaotic Abyss... Sword of Anubis," Alice calmly said. Dark energy engulfed her scythe as it took the form of a giant black sword. She effortlessly dashed across the floor to Fenrir and brought it down upon him. Ice exploded everywhere when it struck the wolf and shattered the ground.
"This time, Mithos, one on one," Celsius proposed.
"All right," Mithos said. The two had been exchanging blows, but neither had actually hit. Kratos took a step towards Celsius, but Alice restrained him with her hand.
"This is Mithos' fight," she said.
"Aaaaack!" cried Mithos. Celsius released a chilling burst of snow from her hand, blinding Mithos. Then, she came up and gave him and uppercut that sent him into the ceiling.
"Absolute!"
Mithos felt the air around him becoming colder than anything he had ever felt. Had it not been for the strength the Angel Crystal afforded him, Mithos would have frozen into a corpse as he was encased in a block of ice.
"That the best you can do?" Celsius taunted. Mithos knew that if he remained any longer in the ice, he would not last much longer. Instead of trying to break out himself, he focused all his might into his firebrand sword. "What's this?"
The Starsword's flame extended just enough to melt a hole in the ice, which allowed Mithos to move his hand and do a circular swing. The ice around him broke apart, and he made right for Celsius. Her last attack had triggered something in Mithos's crystal to activate, since his wings were glowing brighter than ever.
"Starsword, lend me your power. Light of Ra!"
"Immense light energy," Alice said.
"I never taught him that skill," Kratos said, totally stunned at the light streaming out of Mithos' sword.
"An overlimit skill? Very well, I can only pray that I survive this," Celsius said to herself.
"Here I come!" Mithos yelled, swinging his sword and releasing into Celsius a brilliant rainbow beam, nearly ten times more powerful than his Prism Sword.
"Unbelievable," Celsius gasped, struggling to get up.
"Mithos' Angel Crystal is reaching its maximum power. I can only imagine what will happen when he gains the power of the final spirit," Alice said.
"Speak... your vow..." Celsius said. Even though she was a spirit, she was in great pain after Mithos' Light of Ra attack.
"So that no more innocent people will ever have to be caught in the atrocities of conflict, please lend me your power," Mithos said.
"It's... yours... though I am not sure what use I will be to you," Celsius replied. Another gem fused into his sword, the sapphire from the ice spirit. Fenrir, only knocked cold by Alice's strike, returned to his master's side.
"What is it that concerns you so much, Alice?" Kratos asked.
"The true nature of the Angel Crystal. It seems to feed off of mana, increasing Mithos' powers, but I have never heard of it getting that powerful before. Eventually, it could grow so powerful that the crystal would take Mithos' physical existence. He would in essense become energy. I would attempt to siphon off some of it, but I am afraid that it would overwhelm me too," explained Alice. Thud! Mithos collapsed on the ice, trembling.
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You have overexerted yourself, Mithos.
"Erebus, what was that? I felt incredible power and suddenly, I could use that skill that defeated Celsius."
Erebus turned to Mithos and their dream realm turned into the glacial cavern they had fought Celsius in. Time seemed to be frozen, for Mithos was suspended in the air with the light aura coming out of his Starsword.
The Angel Crystal you possess is capable of unleashing huge amounts of energy when the host is in grave danger. However, it draws mana directly from you, therefore causing you to collapse after the fight.
Mithos... don't give up...your struggle to end this war is almost finished.
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Mithos awakened from his trance and saw that he was back inside the Zephyr as they were landing at the Arctic base. He had regained enough strength to make it to the cockpit.
"Mithos, you had us pretty concerned back there," Kratos said.
"We will be staying at the Arctic Base tonight. Darius needs to do some modifications to the Zephyr," Alice told them. She showed them down two levels from the hangar where their rooms were already set up. Unlike the other fortress, the beds were actually soft and comfortable. Once Kratos and Mithos were in their rooms, Alice headed back to meet with Darius.
"The elemental fusion reactor and dark matter cannon will be fitted by tomorrow," Darius reported. "I have a small request."
"What is it?"
"That you take me with you to Sirius. He may be a very proficient doctor, but he knows nothing about creating crests. He will require a dwarf if he is to cure your condition," Darius said.
"How did you know?"
"You were always one to hide your weaknesses. I knew something was up when you cut Kratos off and you were never one to just help out people. Robert Sirius is the only man who knows the cure to crystallization illness."