Chapter 59: Time and Wind
Disclaimer:
We are up to Day 4 of the 5-day update schedule! Day 3 was action packed and we saw something crazy happen to our MC. A bit of a shorter one here, but let's see how this chapter plays out! Hope you guys enjoy!
"What… is hap-pening?" David finally woke up. He heard all of the commotion that was happening and as soon as he opened his eyes, all he saw was a blurry, changed Lucas.
"This noise! Why is everyone… shouting?" Hamon yawned. He scratched the back of his head and rubbed his eyes.
"Lucas?!" They both shouted in unison as what they saw became much clearer to them.
The Time mage disappeared and reappeared almost instantaneously where Rhya was, knocking him back with a slash of his Dual Blades.
"So f-fast!" Mimosa realised. Her eyes couldn't keep up with Lucas's speed since one moment he was right next to her, and then the next he was where the enemy was, knocking him down.
Rhya fell to the floor but it looked like he was only scratched. He looked at Lucas who was above him and was in awe. "My, what a change in appearance", he said.
Lucas was different since he was impaled with the Dual Blades. Due to the maximum exertion of Time mana along with his activated Dual Blades, his body had changed.
On his face was a small, blue marking that looked like a line, crossing from one glowing blue eye to the other. A single fang protruded out of the right side of his mouth and a small, blue horn stuck out from the right side of his head.
Lucas had attacked Rhya just now with his Dual Blades but they weren't in the palm of his hands anymore. Instead, the sharp edge of his right blade had melded and joined in with his right arm. The handle was gone but the blade itself had extended outwards giving his right arm a large spike. The left blade had been stabbed into the middle of his back, but now it was completely gone as if it never existed.
The only thing different on the rest of his body was that his right arm had turned completely blue with symbols and letterings tattooed across the middle of his arm to his palm.
"The Hybrid is finally awake and it's his time half", Rhya commented. He clapped his hands together and then teleported to be level with him.
"What's the matter? Are you up for a round with me?" Lucas smiled. His eyes widened and he stretched his arms as if he was ready to go for more.
"Oh, you best believe so!" Rhya replied, getting ready.
The two phased in and out of each other's views and clashed against each other. As Lucas swung his right arm forwards, Rhya dodged and brought out his own, albeit copied, weapon.
"Copy Nature-Force Creation Magic: Sword of the Elements!" Rhya stuck his arm out and the familiar weapon formed in his hand. "I didn't really get to use this with the Druid, but maybe you can entertain me properly?"
Rhya swung the blade in its base form and tried to get Lucas but he used his Time Magic to speed up and get away from him. The Golden Dawn mage was flying away as if he had wings with how quick he was going. The two were clashing in the air whilst the others were on the ground watching the fight happen.
Lucas was being chased but after making distance between the two, turned around and went on the offensive. He span at a high speed, deflecting the strike and then unleashed a new spell of his.
"Time Magic Chrono Wing!" The left blade that had disappeared started pointing out from the middle part of his back and extending towards the right. He increased his speed and used his new spell to spin and slash at Rhya from his body.
However, as he hit Rhya, instead of going through with the cut, he faltered and fell towards the floor. The partial blade on his back disappeared again and Lucas was now on the ground.
"Phew. Looks like whatever happened to you is incomplete but this only helps me out!" Rhya shouted, floating back down to be face-to-face with Lucas. He reeled his sword back and summoned the Fire setting to attack the changed mage.
The sword hit Lucas in the shoulder, cutting deep and forcing him to the floor. He screamed as the burning sensation filled his body but then to counter it, he grabbed the sharp sword with his right arm, pulling it out.
"Time Magic: Alter Decel!" Lucas summoned. He held out his right hand, after backing away from Rhya for a second, and put his magic in reverse. He tried to slow down his opponent by rotating his arm anti-clockwise and managed to do so for a very brief moment.
"You can't escape this time!" Lucas shouted and tensed his right arm for another strike. He managed to cut through Rhya's defences this time, drawing blood from another cut on his chest.
Rhya slid back with the impact and held his chest. "Ah, that does hurt… I really did unleash a beast", he chuckled. The mage then held out his other arm and summoned; "Copy Nature-Force Creation Magic: Sword of the Elements!"
Two of the same sword had been created and now Rhya was dual wielding. This new sword had a dark, red glow to it suggesting that this ones was through the help of Rhya's third eye.
He pointed both swords forwards and used different settings on them for maximum offensive potential.
"Fire and Air!" He shouted. One sword turned into flames whilst the other got rid of its sharp edge, replacing it with air that helped the fire to spread.
Lucas tried to escape but the Air function was too quick for him and surrounded him in an unescapable sphere with flames circling him. Soon after, the flames all started to close into the Golden Dawn mage.
Meanwhile, as the battle continued on, the three Druids were on the side. Only two of them had woken up and were watching what was happening in awe. Cathbad was the most interest especially since he was interested in Lucas from the start.
"I… knew he had Time Magic. I am sure you two did two since we could sense it quite easily but this… is something we never thought we would ever see", Cathbad spoke, trying to get up.
"He also has Light Magic and if you think about it, those two abilities can either work really well together or cancel each other out", Valmoira added. She stood up properly since her injuries weren't as bad as the other two.
"But in the human's case, we cannot even feel even a hint of his Light Magic anymore. It is as if his Time Magic has taken over", Cathbad added.
The two continued watching. Not because they trusted or wanted Lucas to fight but because they themselves couldn't. However, there was a lingering thought in both of their heads as they looked on.
"He reminds me of… Valchronos".
The air and the flames came together to increase each other's effectiveness. The spherical attack was closing in and when it got too close to the mage, someone else reappeared to join in on the fight.
"Don't forget about me!" Yuno popped up with Bell on his shoulder.
"That's right! We're here too to defeat you!" The spirit shouted.
Yuno pointed at Rhya and summoned his spell. "Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!" Wind started forming from the ground up and spiralled all the way around Rhya. Due to the distraction, Rhya's attack subsided but still managed to damage Lucas who was trapped moments prior.
"Lucas! I don't know what happened to you but you still know who the enemy is. Work with me and we can take him out!" Yuno walked up to the agitated Lucas who simply ignored him.
With a growl and a sniff, Lucas jetted off towards the mage that represented Disloyalty.
"How rude!" Bell shouted, pouting, and puffing her chest.
"Rude? I guess but I don't think it's that. He just didn't seem to hear me", Yuno replied. With a shake of his head, he followed suit.
As Lucas charged, more blue sparks started jotting out of his body. His eyes looked like they were electric now and the blue parts of his body started glowing brighter. He met Rhya again and he pointed his finger towards him.
"This ends… now!" With a flick of his wrist, he shouted; "Time Magic: Heaven's Time!" The space between him and past Rhya turned grey, trapping him inside. He looked up and clicked his fingers which activated the secondary effect of the spell, sending a beam of blue magic down and hitting the enemy point blank.
Rhya shouted in pain as time turned back to normal, dropping down.
Lucas went up to him and mocked the mage. "You unlocked your third eye which was supposed to give you a boost, yet you can't do much with it", he tilted his head and smiled. "Pathetic".
Rhya shook his head and was getting up from the floor. "… The only reason you're not dead right now is because someone told me to take it easy…", he said, quietly.
"What was that?!" Lucas shouted, walking forwards, bending down to speak to the enemy. He stretched his right arm out and was going to stab the enemy when a bit of wind interrupted him.
"Lucas, stop!" Yuno shouted as his wind pulled him back.
"What are you doing?!" Lucas loudly grumbled. He was using his strength to fight against Yuno's wind but the Wind mage was using more and more of his magic to prevent him from doing so.
"Didn't you talk to us about your ideals and such?! You don't want to kill people and you don't want to see others dead! Yes, he's an enemy but you don't want to become like him!" Yuno tried to talk some sense into his friend and fellow squad member.
"L-Leave… me alone!" Lucas shouted. He summoned the blue sphere around him that he had previously and used it to shake Yuno's wind away from him.
From the back where the other Golden Dawn members were, they were confused and shocked at what they were seeing. Mimosa kept shaking her head to check if she was in a dream or some form of nightmare but when she opened her eyes again, the scenario was the exact same.
"Guys, we need to do something", Alecdora said. He was silent this whole time but he was awake ever since Mimosa had healed him. He stood up and spoke to the other mages as well as his captain.
"You don't even like him. Are we sure we can trust you with wanting to help him for the right reasons?" Hamon added, crossing his arms.
"It's not about whether I like him or not. The guy has proven me wrong on multiple occasions so I think I owe him that much. Besides, he clearly has Time Magic and I knew it from when he told us back at the base. I just didn't want to admit it to myself". Alecdora turned and walked to William who was also standing up.
"Wow, he seems to have matured. Now, only if he could be like that with Yuno…", David awkwardly smiled.
William, however, seemed to be in a world of his own. He was fixated on Rhya and Lucas and his purple eyes kept shifting from one person to the other.
"Rhya… just do what you have to do! This has gone on long enough and I don't know how much longer I can take of seeing my own squad getting injured like this!" He thought to himself as he punched the wall next to him.
Mimosa was the last to speak, though. She was busy looking at Lucas but the only words that came out of her mouth were about what she witnessed.
"Lucas… what he is… what he's doing gives me the impression of 'Chaos'. It's too aggressive and we need to help!" Mimosa stood up and addressed the others.
Back on the battlefield, Lucas and Yuno were arguing. However, it was completely one-sided and Lucas didn't seem to want to listen. Instead of carrying on, Yuno took the lead and assured the Dual mage that he had this covered. Surprisingly, Lucas didn't react and just stood still, looking at the two and completely motionless.
"You know what? I've had just about enough of holding back. Don't kill them, don't go overboard!" Rhya clenched his fists. "Do I look like an idiot to you, Licht?!" He shouted. The mage tensed his arms and pointed at the incoming Yuno. "For the first time today, I'm not going to hold back!"
Yuno paid no heed to what he was saying. The Wind mage had a duty to fulfil and he was going to do that. He floated in the air with his wind and sent down a rain of Wind Blade Showers. "Join in, Bell!"
The small spirit came into view and followed the attack from behind. She breathed in heavily and with one blow, let the contained Spirit Magic out. "Sylph's Breath!"
The wind blades were exceeding their top speed and were about to hit Rhya. Though, just like Rhya said, he moved with such a speed that Yuno couldn't even see him.
"Spatial Magic: Myriad Black!" The enemy formed multiple, black portals around him and placed the other ones around Yuno so he couldn't escape them. The portals followed Yuno wherever he tried to dodge but it was too smart of Rhya and too late from Yuno.
Yuno's magic went through the dark portals and hit Yuno as hard and as fast as they could. His flight was interrupted and he fell down onto the floor. Rhya wasn't done with his attacks though since he was already where Yuno was.
"Copy Blazing Flame Magic: Magma Blitz!" a hazy, red steam filled the room for a few seconds before the floor brought out a small volcano. The opening in the floor erupted and the magma flew everywhere, trapping Yuno once again.
"I can use my wind to fly away from this, but what am I going to do once I get close? If I get up close, then he brings out one of his sword spells… hang on, I might be able to work with this!" The mage carefully got up since he had to be wary of the magma that was flowing out into the surface.
"Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blades Shower!" Again, multiple sharp wind blades were going for Rhya. One-by-one, however, he was easily dodging them.
"Using the same spell over and over again? Not something I'd expect from the Golden Dawn!" Rhya mocked. He jumped forwards and just as Yuno had speculated, brought out a sword.
"Copy Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Blunt Strike!" Cloaking his steel blade with darkness, the Third Eye got in close to try and knock Yuno out. He turned his sword backwards and was going to hit him unconscious.
"Now… I'll try this!" Yuno got in closer and while the last wind blades fell, he grabbed onto one of them and used them to counter Rhya's strike.
"A sword battle, hm? I like the creativity, Yuno!" Bell praised. She flew behind Rhya and got ready to attack.
Yuno used the singular created wind blade to go on the defensive but that was all he could do for now. He didn't have appropriate swordsman training and his magic was usually for long-range battles. This was a complete change but the battle had pushed him into this.
"This is new for me but I can do this!" He kicked back at Rhya which created a little difference between them. He then changed how he held the wind blade, pointing it towards Rhya as if he was going to stab him. "Bell!"
Bell used Sylph's Breath at full force, quickly sending Rhya towards Yuno without being able to defend properly. Yuno also sped up and his blade was about to sink into Rhya's stomach.
"Good one, but not good enough…", he disappeared in a flash of light. He reappeared behind Yuno, clutching his stomach as some of the blade did pierce him. However, he was already readying another attack as he saw the back of the Wind Magic user.
"Copy Mythical Beast Magic: Gorgon's Eye!" A purple snake-like woman appeared next to Rhya. She had the body of an average human but instead of legs, she had a serpent's tail rattling about. Her hair consisted of multiple snakes that joined together to fire a purple laser-like attack from their mouths, throwing Yuno across the rocky, hard floor and back to where the other Golden Dawn were.
He crashed into the wall behind them and struggled to get up. He looked at Rhya with shock and slammed his fists down into the ground. "All that… for nothing?!" He briefly lost the feeling in his legs and stumbled face-first onto the floor. Though, that wasn't going to stop him as he stared crawling back to the battlefield.
"Now, back onto the plan… Forget the Magic Stone for now, I really want to do this…!" Rhya said as his third eye flared up with a brighter, red colour.
Just as the words left his mouth, Lucas phased back into the fight. He clashed with his singular Dual Blade on his right arm and cut Rhya's cheek since he was so quick.
"I let him fight and he couldn't beat you. I'm the one for the job and no one else!" Lucas screamed as he kept the onslaught of attacks going. However, as he was doing this, his grimoire started to change once again.
The Druids were the first to notice this change. Valmoira pointed it out to Cathbad. "Hey, do you see what is happening?"
"His grimoire is reverting back. I noticed it was both yellow and blue but then turned into a single colour that represented his Time Magic. If it is reverting back, that means this transformation will come undone", Cathbad replied.
"It is not just that, though. It looks like Lucas is fighting it too. See, his movements have become more erratic", she pointed.
Rhya kept backing up and then retaliated with a Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash. The slash hurt Lucas a lot and it looked like Dark Magic did the most damage to Lucas up until this point. "Dark Magic? Of course, it would work on something like this".
Lucas stumbled back and fell to the floor. Rhya followed suit and pinned him down with the sharp edge of the darkened sword he was holding. Then, the Copy mage bent down and was about to touch the Dual mage's grimoire.
"Finally…", he said as he was about to touch it. "This was the plan to deal with you all along. Getting you to focus on your Time Magic so I could copy it. Have fun defending against someone who can influence time!"
Rhya fell to the floor away from Lucas a second after.
"What…?!" He said, looking at his hand. It looked like it was bruised as he touched the grimoire. "How is this possible?" He angrily said.
Mimosa's eyes widened. "There it is again! The same energy that I felt when Lucas tried to use his magic to get out of his situation earlier. Asta's Anti-Magic!"
"Why is Anti-Magic here?!" Rhya shouted. He went for the attack once again and kept slashing at the fallen Lucas with his copied Dark Magic.
"Lightless Slash, Black Blade, Blunt Strike, Wild Slash!" Rhya kept on attacking at full power with everything he had, severely hurting Lucas. He used every Dark Magic spell that he could in quick succession and the Dual mage had passed out.
"Rhya!" William shouted. He started walking towards the battlefield and his grimoire was open.
"He wasted my time!" Rhya screamed. He kicked Lucas all the way back and he landed right next to Yuno who had only slightly moved from where he also landed. The imprint of Lucas was so deep on the wall that when he fell, there was a deep hole left after him.
As Lucas fell, his transformation came completely undone. His blue marking dissipated into the air and the horn broke apart. His fang became smaller and reverted back into a tooth to become normal again. The Dual Blades also popped out and fell on the mage's back. Though, one thing that everyone put more notice on was that the wounds from being impaled had gone as if he was never hurt in those places.
Rhya slowly walked forwards and cracked his knuckles together. He brought out the Dark Magic weapon once again and it looked like he wanted to attack him even more.
"I'm not done yet…", Rhya said menacingly.
All of a sudden, William walked up and stood in front of Lucas and Yuno. He stretched his arms out and looked angered. "Try and get past me".
"Do you really want to go this route, Captain?" Rhya asked, with a smirk.
William was silent but he didn't budge.
"We're with the Captain on this one", David and Hamon said as they also walked up. The Dice mage stood on the left of the two rookie members, whereas Hamon stood on the right.
"On this one? We're with Master Vangeance on everything", Alecdora added. He stood slightly behind the masked captain and crossed his arms.
The last one to move was Mimosa. It wasn't because she didn't want to protect her squadmates but because she felt the overwhelming power from Rhya.
"No, I can do this! I did my best earlier and we got through our obstacles!" She slowly joined the others and stood on the other side of Alecdora, slightly behind Captain Vangeance.
"You are not getting through us!" Mimosa shouted.
The experienced, senior mages of the Golden Dawn were going to protect the rookie mages. They all brought out their grimoires and got ready for battle.
NOTES:
The partial/incomplete transformation is here! What did you guys think about the brief introduction to it? I'll let you theorise on what it all means.
The Anti-Magic thing has a good explanation to it and it's much more than the grimoires simply sticking together. Though, for that you'll have to read more….
More and more action every chapter for you guys! Usually, I struggle with writing action scenes from complete scratch but I'm having so much fun here that I can't stop!
William reacting as well as the rest of the Golden Dawn that are here. We are slowly coming to the end of this arc!
