97 A.S. — Seeker Revival
An island miles from Janoah — Likeya
"Hereth itth is, I told you we found itth," Marick said, thick Germanian accent pushing past the foliage to reveal massive ancient ruins.
"Ahhh!" Silva said. "Wow. The stories does this no justice. The Great Temples of Joah."
A seeker researcher and Elric's oldest friend, she stared at the architecture.
"Even the architecture is several generations before us. How'd you guys find this again?"
Luke answered quickly.
"Well, of course Master Elric requested a search of everything Jonathan Joah after defeating Chun in the Silent Wars, in the Battle of Guan Lo. So whenever we weren't saving lives, expanding the Association's influence, and recruiting new Seekers, some of us were scavenging the world for every single temple, relic, scroll, text, painting, fabric — anything that would lead to Jonathan Joah and his secrets. Isn't that right, Master?"
He looked to Elric, who was rubbing his beard with interest, his eyes scanning every inch of the temple pillars and statues of Joah that stuck out five hundred to six hundred feet above the jungle canopy.
Two statues towered largest of all — one of Joah, one of a mysterious woman — their hands wrapped two fingers around each other, forming a natural bridge, a great waterfall thundering on the other side.
"I've catalogued a lot of things across my hundred years of life," Elric said, "and I'd have to say this is some of the most beautiful architecture that I've ever seen."
He took a deep breath.
"Not to spoil your fun and sightseeing, Master," said a young Rajistani monk named Matel, "but I would love to see what's inside."
An older Tsarian named Nichitolas said, in a heavy accent, "I agree. And ve still don't vnow vhat dangers are out vere."
Another researcher, a young Janoahian named Seth, said, "Dangers?!"
A veteran Africanus laughed, deep-voiced.
"I don't mind a lil' danger. Isn't that right, Master?"
Elric laughed with him.
"Really, Yonas? Ancient horrors, demons, creatures of the night, ghouls, Wiccans, and two gods so far. Yada yada yada. Let's go explore some ruins."
That got everyone hyped.
Silva was the only one reserved, already cutting through the foliage ahead with an aura blade.
Catching up with her, Seth said, "Thank you so much, Ms. Silva, for having me. I worked most of my life to get here — especially hearing the exploits of Master Elric before he was a Master. And you!"
Silva looked at him blank-faced.
"What about me, child?"
Seth recoiled a little.
"I apologize. I don't mean no disrespect, ma'am. I just grew up hearing and researching the people I look up to — from you starting off captured in the Chu court to establishing one of the greatest institutions in Margerina, the Seeker's Association. And now, with you and Elric especially living a hundred years, you guys still look like you're in your early forties."
Silva laughed a little.
"I guess you know a little, child. Even if your information is off, I'll take the compliment."
Seth responded happily.
"That's exactly why I made it this far. I want to know the secrets to long life — even though I don't think I'm good enough to achieve something that great."
Elric had snuck up front, stroking his beard.
"Well, if you're a Seeker, anything is possible. Especially if you put your heart, mind, and soul into it — then you'll achieve something greater than yourself."
That made Seth even happier, hearing it from the great Master Elric himself.
"Thank you, Master. That means a lot coming from you," he said, voice cracking high.
Marick laughed.
"Ahhh, you madeth him blush, Master."
That got everyone laughing, even Silva, as Elric used basic Wind Muti to clear a path straight to the temple steps with the swipe of his finger, impressing Seth.
"That was great! What's the technique called, Master, if you don't mind me asking?"
Elric stumbled for a split second.
"Wind Muti: Gust From Th— Theeeee, Eart— no, From The West. Yea, yea, from the west. Wind Muti: Gust From The West."
Seth got excited again.
"What a beautiful name and technique — only the great Master Elric can achieve these things."
Silva's smirk turned into a smile.
"Gust of the West. How original."
She laughed to herself.
Elric smiled at her.
"You like that, didn't you."
"Sure. Whatever, Soryu."
Both smiled and laughed together before Luke stopped everyone.
"We're here."
They stared up massive steps leading to the temple — steps too big for mortals, stone too gigantic to lift even with Muti itself.
Luke slapped the floor.
"Earth Muti: Stone Pillar."
The floor beneath all of them rose over the massive walls.
Seth looked amazed, thinking to himself.
I don't expect nothing less from Master Elric's first five students.
Luke "The Elemental Bender" Reinhard — the first disciple of Master Elric, and the greatest Elemental Muti user of his time. The strongest person in Janoah, only behind Master Elric himself.
Then the second disciple, Matel "The Bronze Buddha" Mahat — the greatest spiritual Muti user in the world of his time, the strongest person in Rajistan.
Then another monster: Marick "The Crimson Knight" Blackwell, the third disciple, the best martial Muti user of his time, the greatest Germanian Muti user and strongest of his time.
Next, Nichitolas "Skyfall" Vetroev — one of the greatest spatial users ever, the strongest person in the Tsarian Republic, which would later be known as the Tsar Empire.
And the last student, Yonas "The God Of Night" Moo — out of all the disciples, everyone thinks he's the closest to rivaling Elric in raw power and techniques. One of the greatest fighters and heroes hailing from Africanus. Nobody knows how many Spokes he can channel; only he jokes, has the strongest bead-weaving techniques, speaks loud and boastful — but he's the strongest person in Africanus, and maybe the world, if it wasn't for Master Elric.
And when all of them come together, people start calling them The Five Protégés. This is so cool. I'm here right now. I think I'm about to throw up.
The technique carried them to the top of the stairs, to a large black obsidian door.
Silva, amazed by the architecture, stopped at the massive door, reading the lost languages inscribed across it.
"The lost language of the Giants," she said to herself. "Ymir."
"So this is the Door of Enceladus," Elric said, rubbing his beard. "The Door of Giants."
Seth, freaking out at the find, wrote furiously in his notes.
"Sooo… how do we get in?"
Silva activated her Migeika Copy Eye to copy the Muti techniques used by whoever had carved this marvel.
Her eye wove through every corner, every crack, every shape, learning as though she'd stood there when it was built.
Then she started reading, piecing the lost language together, her voice almost trance-like.
"To the wise — speak the tongues of Ymir — and you shall enter."
"The tongues of Ymir?" Elric said, rubbing his beard.
"What you thinking, Master?" Luke asked.
Elric answered calmly.
"I think it has to do with the old Vinlan legends. I came across the Language of the Serpent — a dead tongue that grants the person immense power just by speaking."
Nichitolas said, "Sounds vamiliar. Like votries told to Tsarian children to keep them in the house after dark. They say the Voliath vill get you if you leave late, and will devour you vith its voice — something more ancient than Baba Yaga."
Everyone looked at him, a little worried, until Elric broke the silence, stepping toward the door.
"Don't worry about it, everyone. I got it."
I definitely don't got it, he thought. But I wonder if…
He put his palms against the massive doors.
"Everyone, back up!"
Everyone backed up.
Then, all of a sudden, the air started speeding up — first a little, then most of the jungle, an amount of aura beginning to build in Elric.
"Wow," Seth said. "So this is the power of a Sage."
Elric's golden, radiant aura kept generating.
Then everything stopped.
The jungle stopped moving. The air stopped. The environment stopped shaking.
Seth peeked out from behind a large pillar.
"Is that it?"
Then everything started getting pulled inward toward Elric — the jungle, the ground, the air and wind, gravity — like the whole world bent to him in that one moment.
All that power channeled into his hands, making them look golden-hot.
Then, in blinding speed, he removed his palms from the door and touched it again, releasing everything into it in a massive, controlled explosion — blowing up only the door, but sending a shockwave across the front.
Silva pulled Seth out of the way.
Luke threw up a massive stone wall to absorb the impact.
Debris flew everywhere, but Luke used Wind Muti to redirect the incoming smoke and projectiles with ease.
"Next time a warning would be good!" he yelled.
Elric smiled, laughing.
"I knew you had it."
Damn, he thought. I guessed I used too much power. That's one of my weakest techniques.
He rubbed his head and beard.
Silva walked toward him through the smoke.
"As long as we're in, that's all that matters."
She looked at him, half mad and half laughing.
"A little more restraint next time."
"Sorry," Elric said, laughing, stroking his beard.
Everyone else, besides Luke, gave him praise as the pieces of the destroyed door crumbled behind them, and they advanced into the temple.
The temple was vast and colossal, making everyone feel small.
Pillars and columns stretched for hundreds of feet.
Statues of unknown people held up the ceiling like gods holding up the universe.
Silva was shocked at what she saw.
"They mapped the whole known—"
She pointed.
"There goes Margerina. But they used to call it Mardred. Andddd… our heart-shaped moon, May — they called it Luv."
They walked under the massive mural stretching across the ceiling like another world.
"So the name for our heliocentric system is called Susanoo Eyes," she said, "and our star system—"
Seth started shaking.
"—oh my god, we have a star system. Our star system is called Susanoo. That's beautiful."
Seth started having a panic attack from the shock of the knowledge.
Matel came up behind him, put a hand on his back, and used Spirit Muti to calm him.
"Still your mind, my friend."
Seth calmed.
"Thank you," he said, and everyone kept walking, deeper still, until they reached the throne room.
At its center sat a massive circular table, on which sat a strange display — a blue glowing gem, oddly human-sized against everything else colossal.
The relic shocked both Elric and Silva.
They knew it by name, saying together, in sync:
"The Jewels of Kusanagi."
They looked at each other.
"I was looking for this since I was young," Elric said, "way before Seeker anything."
"Why is this so important?" Seth asked.
Silva answered.
"The Jewels of Kusanagi bring back loved ones. Me and him — we're going to use it to bring back his people, and my parents, from the Silent Wars."
Elric walked toward it.
Right before he grabbed it, Silva said to herself, This is too easy. I feel like there should have been warnings or traps. Why is that jewel here, out of all places?
Then, out loud:
"Don't do it!"
But the trap was already sprung.
Spirit chains shot through his arms, legs, hands, chest, stomach, neck — wrapping him and dragging him to the ground, locking him in place as he bled from every chained wound, coughing blood.
Seth and Silva ran toward him.
A voice stopped them.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
They turned.
Luke stood there.
Silva yelled, "What's the meaning of this?!"
"Nothing personal," Luke said calmly. "But this man has to be stopped."
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. Everyone knows Master Elric's achievements — and what he has done for the world — but ignores every evil thing he does, 'cause he's Master Elric!"
Marick continued.
"You've takenth these Black Clan scum under your Association's protection without realizing what itth does for someone liketh me. And what most of these devils haveth done to all our countries and kingdoms in the past. The Eye Wars were before all ourth times and broke kingdoms and nations under fear and violence. Did you ever think that people were just gonna forget?"
He was yelling at Elric, who was bleeding out, his white robe run red, breathing heavy.
Yonas continued.
"It's not — nothing personal. It's about time we go back to the times of kingdoms with their own rule, with no Association interfering in Africanus, or any other nation, like it should be."
Nichitolas shook his head, arms crossed, agreeing.
"Everyone veeds to control their own destinies — even if it's bad, or will end up not good. Every nation needs to do its own vhings. That's why ve came up with something new to keep order."
"The Pillar System," Luke said. "Each nation having their own strongest person, and their own guild, to keep the peace."
Silva cut him off.
"So replace a whole foundation that's been working so far, to change it to another system you don't even know is gonna work? Sure. That'll go smooth. Genius."
Marick answered.
"What wouldth a slave knowth of anything? You beenth a follower your wholeth life — a snake who weaves through courts and spews your made-up beliefs about what's beyond the Abyssal Line. I don't believeth you went beyond, and your aging slow is just someth secret Martial Muti mastery that you or Master Elric keeps to yourselves. Their isn't no fruits or food to extendth life. Their's no Dark Continent. There's nothing at all — just madeth up to keep nations from exploring and expanding! This isn't Master Elric's world — this is Margerina! Ve vven have the backing of ourth nations to put an endth to the Elric Era, and beginning the Transitional Era — of the strongest, and ruled by the strongest, the people believeth in. And, as a Pillar now, I will protect my country and its values fromth one man's ambitions."
All five closed in on Elric.
Seth and Silva stood in front of him, preparing to defend.
"You young boys better back off," Silva said. "You're only getting one warning from me before I start getting serious."
Matel responded.
"You're surrounded, Great One. Doesn't matter what you do — you'll never defeat all of us. So you should back away and let us do what we came to do. We promise not to hurt you or Seth if you just move."
Seth looked at Silva, waiting to see what she'd do.
She dropped into her fighting stance.
"Over my dead body!"
Then, to Seth:
"Go hide somewhere. I'll handle them on my own."
"Are you serious? What are you gonna do against those five?"
"I have a few tricks up my sleeve," she said, smirking.
"No! I'm gonna help."
She looked at him, worried, for a couple of seconds.
"Fine. Just help Elric out of those chain bindings."
He nodded, and she got ready to fight.
Silva activated her Migeika Copy Eye, her left eye turning emerald.
"Don't underestimate her," Luke said. "She's not called the Emerald Serpent of the Green Flame for nothing. She knows over two thousand techniques across every Muti Spoke. Be careful — she can copy any technique she sees once, but she must be able to use the Muti affinity of the user."
"Oh," Silva said. "You young boys really prepared. But what good is that gonna do to the wealth of techniques I command?"
That made Seth smile.
Ohhhhh! She's so cool. This is why she's a legend, he thought, trying to find a way to free Elric.
Marick launched at Silva, knowing she had to see a technique to copy it.
He rushed her with blinding speed, conjuring bloody-red aura daggers, swinging wildly with speed and precision the moment he arrived in her face.
But he didn't know that, right before he'd charged, Silva had activated Foresight — an original technique she'd made, combining several stolen ones, built to fight Elric one day.
"I was saving this to fight you," she said, glancing at Elric. "But today… shit. It's now or never."
"Foresight."
The technique showed her what the opponent would do, up to ten seconds in the future — though Silva could push it to one minute.
Everything reset to the moment Marick first launched, and she dodged effortlessly, conjuring her own bloody-red aura daggers, blocking his — hers more refined — leaving him stunned for a second.
"Damn," Yonas said. "This is why she's a legend, being able to read your opponent before they know what they're gonna do."
"I never seen that technique before," Matel said, a little shocked. "This must be the power of the Migeika Copy Eye. The user becomes a library of copied and stolen arts."
Silva launched her own flurry of dagger swings, clashing with Marick in sparks, holding the advantage, knowing every move he'd make, making him pay with small slices across his body, speeding up with every miss.
"Come on, Mr. Best Martial Artist in the World," she said. "Show me what a legendary Master Elric protégé can do."
For a split second, time seemed to stop for Marick.
This is why you're the best, he thought. Even from a young boy I was inspired to fight like Master Elric, and stories written by the great slave Silva of Chu. But as I grewth, that's when I knewth — stories are stories. I trained to the height of the mortal body, to reachth past the stars, and somehow I foundth myself nowhere close. Got respect from my people to the world. And now, with this Muti I've worked for, I deemth myself ready to battle ten suns. Sorry, Silva. Sorry, Master. With everything you both taughth me — I didn't come here to lose!
Marick's aura roared, pushing Silva away.
"Soul Bloom: Conflagration!"
His aura echoed through the whole temple, pushing Soul Bloom into Still Flow, turning his aura crimson red, wrapping around him, forming his famous Crimson Germanian Knight's armor draped in a red cloak.
"Soul Manifestation… Crimson Knight," he said, deeper-voiced under the armor, radiating heat.
"There goes Germania's greatest — the Crimson Knight!" Yonas said. "This is my first time seeing someone's Soul Manifestation make a suit of armor. This is incredible! What a day to be alive!"
"Shit," Silva said. "This is getting serious."
Her eye scanned him for weaknesses, but Marick was already there, one powerful, raw-aura-charged right hand smashing into her ribs, sending her flying into the foot of one of the giant statues, exploding into debris on impact.
"Ms. Silva!" Seth yelled.
Marick turned toward him.
Seth, still working the chains loose, noticed something barely carved into the floor.
"Runes?!" he said, stunned. Whoever had put them there was a genius. "I thought they were always fake, but these are the real deal. The only one out of the five I can think to do something this accurate is the God of Night. Yonas himself!"
Seth charged his aura into his right hand, conjuring a hammer.
"Martial Muti: Toolkit!"
I have to do this, he thought. Here — at least breaking one would be enough for Master Elric. It's now or never!
He aimed to slam the hammer into the rune — but stopped mid-swing when Marick caught his wrist.
"What do you think you're doing, kid?" Marick said, tightening his grip, starting to crush his arm.
Seth screamed.
Then something dark shot out of the smoke and rushed Marick, knocking him back, at the same time grabbing Seth free of his hand.
Seth looked up.
"Silva!"
"Don't think I'd ever get defeated by a hit that weak," she said, "from a young boy's ambition."
Seth grinned despite his almost-broken arm.
Silva handed him a white fruit and told him to eat it.
He did — strength returned immediately.
Marick walked out of the smoke, red cloak flapping in the wind.
"Don't, little boy. This old lady has two thousand techniques to choose from, and I'm just getting started."
Silva smiled, moving into a swordsman's stance.
"Nowth I see how I got hit without noticing your presence," Marick said. "You're wearing Oda's Great Gusoku, and wielding the legendary Kage no Ken (黒い竜), forged in the highest volcano in Chun, from Black Jade, Great Obsidian, and Black Dragmascus Iron — a month of Oda Musashi pouring his aura and soul into the blade before the Kage no Ken was born."
"Looks like you have brains after all," Silva said. "I had to use something to match your raw speed and power. And I needed you to hit me, to gauge your strength and decide the perfect armor for combat."
She smiled.
"Like I said earlier, you little boys — you can have him over my dead body."
Marick smiled.
"I was hoping it wasn't gonnath be easy to killth you."
He pulled a scroll, marked it with blood, poured aura into it.
A flaming greatsword appeared.
"Come forth, my flameth blade. The Crimson Blade of Sutr. Show me your fameth once more."
Both launched at each other, blurs, the clash sending shockwaves through the temple — red and black, flame and shadow, streaking around the chamber, only the after-effects visible.
Everyone had to push aura into their eyes just to keep up, activating Kyōmei-shi.
They smashed through walls, columns, the giant statue's face, into its stone feet, causing another explosion, splitting apart, skidding to their sides.
"I told you not to underestimate that woman," Luke said to Marick. "Nobody here barely knows anything about Silva besides what's known to the world, and what we've seen so far."
"Just testing my preyth," Marick said. "A little teaser beforeth the main meal."
He advanced again.
Silva told Seth to hurry, and he powered his hammer higher.
"Now — this time for sure!"
Marick launched, trying to stop him, but Silva was ready, gripping her sheathed blade.
"Migeika Copy Art: Dark Slash!"
She unsheathed Kage no Ken with blinding, void-like speed, sending a phantom-shadow slash at Marick.
He pulled his blade up.
"Martial Muti: Crimson Red!"
Swinging down, sending a wind slice that ignited the oxygen in the air, generating more flame the closer it got.
Both attacks rushed each other — a dark slash versus a flaming slice — flying through the chamber, one silent as the void, one roaring like a twenty-ton furnace.
They collided in a massive explosion, shaking the room, debris flying.
"Equal power," Nichitolas said.
But something black cut through the flames at blinding speed, shocking Marick.
"Impossible, ho—"
The dark slash hit his crimson armor, screeching and squealing, light flashing different colors as it tried to break through, deflecting off but chipping his chest plate, sending him flying into a wall as the slash slammed into the roof in a second explosion.
Debris rained on impact.
"Physical flames can never beat shadow," Silva said. "Don't they teach you that at the academy, young boy?"
Nichitolas appeared out of thin air behind Seth, right as his hammer came down.
"Oh no you don't, vriend!"
But Silva, reacting with Foresight, sent her shadow to bind him.
"Migeika Copy Art: Kageshibari!"
Her shadow stretched — but he folded two points in space together, blinking through, reappearing elsewhere, sending a spatial slice at Seth's hand and cutting it off at the strike, sending Seth screaming as blood sprayed.
Silva rushed him, but Marick stopped her, both blades clashing.
"What are you gonnath do nowth?" he said. "Your vriend needs your helpth, but you're distracted with me."
"Migeika Copy Art: Blink Space," Silva said, disappearing, reappearing in the sky behind Nichitolas as he approached the bleeding boy.
"Migeika Copy Art: Dead Moon Hunter," bringing down Kage no Ken, cutting through Nichitolas — but it didn't affect him.
"Koshin!" he said.
"If he hadn't used Koshin," Matel said, "Nichitolas' head would've been on the floor from that splendid technique."
"That's what happens when you get hunted by the Emerald Serpent herself," Luke said, laughing.
Silva grabbed Seth's severed hand, restraining him as he screamed, sedating him with Spirit Muti at the temple.
"Calm yourself, young one."
Seth calmed, falling asleep, as Silva reattached his hand.
"Secret technique. Blood Arts: Recoagulation."
All the blood returned to his body, reattaching nerves, muscles, skin, until the hand looked new again.
Seth woke slowly.
"What happened?"
"Looking good, young one," Silva said — right as Nichitolas appeared behind her.
"Vour wide open!"
"Ms. Silva! Behind you!" Seth yelled.
Too slow, Silva realized.
Shit. I let my guard down.
Two seconds before the strike, Seth thought, No — not this again. First I got grabbed, then getting my hand cut off, getting in the way — now Ms. Silva is about to get killed. Not this time. Not this time. NOT THIS TIME!
He remembered Elric's words.
If you're a Seeker, anything is possible. Heart. Mind. Soul.
Seth's aura roared to life.
Something grabbed Nichitolas' wrist.
Silva jumped away with Seth, turning to see a blue humanoid, starry-skinned, a reflective face like the galaxy of Margerina itself, holding Nichitolas' wrist, staring him down.
Wow. This young one manifested his Eidolon and saved me, Silva thought. Not bad.
Seth looked confused at what had just happened.
"Holy shit," Yonas said. "The kid summoned a fucking Eidolon."
Nichitolas blinked out of the grip, ending up elsewhere.
"Interesting."
"Looks like the kid has something after all," Luke said.
The Eidolon returned to Seth's side.
"This is my soul," Seth said.
"What's its name?" Silva asked.
"Name? Wasn't really planning on having an Eidolon ever. But if I did have a name — it would be… Weird Science Writer."
Silva laughed.
"Sounds great. Fits you."
She got serious.
"Now remember — it's only as strong as the person's soul. So your will must be like it was earlier — that feeling that made you summon it."
Seth nodded.
"I understand. Think I'm the best, and the Eidolon will fight better."
"Sure. And make sure not to die. Eidolons are taxing on the mind — the longer it's out, the bigger the technique, the more it costs the person. Even killing them."
That stunned Seth, but he still nodded in agreement.
"I'm the attacker," Silva said. "You're my support. If anything gets behind me, I need you to handle it. You got it?"
Seth grinned.
"Hell yeah!"
Marick and Nichitolas launched at Silva.
"Migeika Copy Art: Mephistopheles' Great Staff," she said, summoning a golden-jade staff etched with great past heroes, channeling her aura into it. "Let's do it," she said, flipping and rotating it fast in her hands.
Both attacked from different sides and angles — Marick's blinding speed overwhelming, Nichitolas blinking in and out of space, sending spatial slices from different locations — but Silva kept up, using her eye to see ten seconds ahead.
"Migeika Copy Art: Muscle Gum," she said, pushing her muscles, nerves, cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and basal ganglia to their absolute limits, matching Marick's speed.
Both kept attacking simultaneously — all you could see were blurs, sparks, explosions.
Marick cut the air, igniting it into flames, fireballs, explosive fire.
Nichitolas spammed spatial slices and started using void strikes — strikes that came from nowhere, without him having to leave his location, striking from anywhere.
But Silva saw it all, pushing Foresight to twenty seconds, blood dripping from her eye now, breathing heavy — the first sign of the cost.
"Lookth like your tired, old lady," Marick said, smiling beneath his armor.
"This old lady is just getting warmed up," Silva said. "How many no-good fools like you do you think I've had to put down like good dogs?"
She hit her battle stance.
"Spatial Muti: Expanse."
A room of gravity formed around her, ten tons of force, cracking the floor, pushing her to her knees.
Marick, seeing the opening, launched past her straight at Seth.
Oh shit, Seth thought. Okay — harden myself in this moment. I am the strongest here, right now. Go, Weird Science Writer!
His Eidolon launched at Marick, who lifted the Crimson Blade of Sutr and brought it down with blinding speed as it approached, causing a massive explosion, even toppling an already-damaged statue into the wreckage.
When the smoke cleared, Luke pushed it away with Wind Muti, revealing Weird Science Writer had caught the blade — shocking Marick.
How? Sutr is a legendary sword. How'd a little boy's Eidolon with no training catch something that powerful? Your telling me this kid's soul is that strong?
"I knew you could stop it, Weird Science Writer," Seth said, smiling.
As Marick struggled to bring the sword down with both hands, the Eidolon held it with one and balled its other fist, powering it with pure aura, turning it blinding white, a burning star, furnace-hot.
Marick tried to let go and jump back, but the fist was already launched — the impact sent him flying out the way they'd come, slamming through jungle trees, a path of them knocked flat.
"Hell yeah," Seth said, proud, but Nichitolas said, "Your too cocky, kid," putting him in a fifty-pound gravity field.
His Eidolon disappeared and reappeared over him, taking the force easily — before Nichitolas, pissed, snapped his fingers, teleporting them elsewhere.
"Woah, where the hell am I? Where's Writer? What the hell just happened?"
He realized he was falling — from the sky, way above the area, heading toward the waterfall's waters at killing speed, the two grand statues' crossing fingers coming into view.
Shit! I have to manifest my Eidolon now, or hit the water below and DIE!
"WEIRD SCIENCE WRITER!" he yelled.
Back at the temple, Nichitolas said to Silva, "If it vasn't for your vesky aura shielding your body, ten tons of force would kill the average person. I'll add another twenty tons."
He turned the pressure to thirty, destroying the ancient floor further, crushing her — but her aura pushed out a mini force field, distorting the space between them.
Silva tried to rise.
Nichitolas added another ten, forty total, pushing her back to her hands and knees.
"I know vour trying to use your Migeika Eye on me," he said, "but I von't let you. I'll crush you before you van look up."
He raised his hands to finish it.
"Sorry vhings had to end this vay. But I promise I vill keep your flame alive, and keep the vorld safe. Spatial Muti: The Big Crun—"
A dull pain in his hand stopped him.
He looked up, then down — his hand was gone, the stump bleeding profusely.
He yelled in pain.
"Did anyone catch that?" Yonas asked.
"No, I didn't even see it happen," Luke said.
"There! In the smoke!" Matel said.
A silhouette approached, an exhausted, old man's voice speaking.
"I guess I made it, in this state."
Elric walked out of the smoke, shocking everyone.
"How?!" Luke said.
"He's our Master Elric for a reason," Yonas said. "But look at his body. Looks like Matel's Soul Chains took most of his life force while he was bound. He's not forty-looking anymore, like earlier."
"I estimate a hundred forty-five years," Matel said.
Elric could barely stand, but still smiled and laughed, stroking his white beard, grown longer, coughing.
Silva sped to him, letting him rest against her as he caught his breath.
Nichitolas snapped his fingers, teleporting his severed arm back into his hand, and Luke restored it.
"Water Art: Water Replantation."
The water restitched the hand back on like it had never left.
"Good as new," Luke said. "Now don't lose it."
"Vanks," Nichitolas said. "Won't happen again. He caught me off guard."
"We can't afford mistakes now," Yonas said, smooth but serious. "We're in the endgame."
Nichitolas tested his wrist, then snapped his fingers, teleporting Marick nearby.
"HAAA! Waitth, how'd I getth in here?"
"Worry about that later," Yonas said. "We have bigger Masters to fry."
Marick noticed Elric was still alive.
Barely.
All five Protégés lined up beside each other — Marick, Nichitolas, Luke, Yonas, Matel — facing Silva and Elric.
"Let me heal you," Silva said.
"I'm fine," Elric said, nonchalant. "I actually feel great."
"Well, you do look your age," Silva said, and they both laughed.
The five looked at them like they couldn't believe it — laughing in the face of annihilation.
"Just laughter from a dying generation," Luke said, as they all started walking toward Silva and Elric.
"Go find the kid," Elric said. "I'll handle things from here."
Silva looked at him for a second before running off to find Seth.
⸻
Elric walked toward his five protégés as they walked to him, meeting in the middle of the corridor beneath the universe murals.
"Out of all the foes I've ever faced," Elric said, "I never thought I'd be fighting my own protégés. Especially you, Luke. You were my first student, and real friend."
"Yeah," Luke said. "Til you turned world conqueror. Started moving through nations with complete immunity, scaring nations' leaders — everyone was so scared, til I told them I would get rid of this tyrant, and change my nation for the better after you're gone. It was a great ride. But this is our era now. The Era of Pillars."
Yonas continued smoothly.
"We all trained for years, in secret, together, while training under you — mastering Soul Blooms, Ryōiki, Eidolon, different Spokes of Muti, Aural Convergence — gaining knowledge the rest of the world wishes they could obtain, just for this moment. Unlike everyone else, Master… I want — no, I need — to see if I'm the strongest in the world after you!"
"Haha, Yonas, stop," Matel said. "I only seek enlightenment and knowledge, not — to us — and only tapping into his mind and soul can I achieve that."
Elric looked at the floor.
"Honestly. Doing so much at once, I never really realized anyone's feelings on politics, economics, or diplomatic views. I always moved, and everyone followed — never really giving me a reason to ask, 'cause I'm always doing something. Battle to battle, country to country, monster to monster, shaking hands with kings and queens while establishing entire new nations from poor clans, families, and cultures. I only ever wanted peace, like I've told you guys many times."
He looked at Marick.
"No wars. No illegal Muti use. People get treated fair, no matter the clan."
His eyes returned to Luke.
"I only cared about the world's sake, not the one person — which I guess I should've — 'cause now we're here. The Pillar System is a great idea. If you'd come to me earlier, I could've incorporated it, and let all of you lead the way you wanted. I never thought of what I did, or do, as control. Just letting the people lead, with fair laws. That's it."
"If?" Yonas said quickly.
"Yes, if."
Elric's voice deepened.
"If my students had come to me earlier with these thoughts and ideas, we could've worked it all out."
He got serious.
"But think of how many people all of you have deceived, hurt, killed, threatened, corrupted, coerced to get close to me. And how many more lives and nations would've crashed with my death. Or — you all knew, but did it anyway. Just like knowing Joah's Temple would be of great interest to me. Knowing the Soul Chains would hurt me. Even ancient runes to trap me. And knowing about the Kusanagi Jewels, with only three people knowing that — and I'll have to deal with that person later."
He stepped forward.
"But for now, I'm gonna teach all of you young fools a lesson — for trying to kill me, my oldest friend Silva, that young boy, and every life you've all taken to get to me. Prepare yourselves, as I teach you… the Ways of the Intercepting Palm."
He put his dominant hand and foot forward, his aura wrapping his silhouette in gold.
Marick, Nichitolas, Luke, Yonas, and Matel surrounded him.
Marick saw the massive crack in his own armor from Weird Science Writer's punch.
Damnth that kid and his Eidolon.
He poured aura into it, repairing it like nothing happened.
"Spirit Bloom: Branu," Matel said, his aura erupting, skin turning bronze, eyes going yellow-gold, blue sigils drawing across his body as he crossed his legs into meditation. "Still Flow."
He began radiating bronze aura.
"Soul Manifestation: Bronze Buddha."
Bronze aura wrapped him, hair flowing in windless air, aura illuminating the whole room.
"Soul Bloom: Verun," Nichitolas said, his blue-grey aura blasting out.
"Still Flow."
The room warped, his aura settling into gravity itself.
"Soul Manifestation: Skyfall," he said, conjuring a giant battle axe.
"Gromobog," Luke explained. "One side bends space and time. The other conjures destructive grey lightning."
Nichitolas's aura became armor that looked forged from a fallen star, shining with the reflection of space.
"Soul Bloom: Darker," Yonas said, his aura erupting large but silent, as if space, sound, sight, smell, touch all disappeared around him — arms spread as though enjoying a worthy opponent. "Still Flow."
The sky went from day to night, back to day, then he cut his wrist, blood gushing, turning black.
"Soul Manifestation: Night God."
The blackness wrapped his body.
When it broke apart, he stood transformed — white hair, black armor, a crown blacker than a mortal's soul, black nails, black lipstick, black chains from different religions, black-red eyes like a furnace.
"So that's the Night God," Luke said. "No one ever lives to tell about it, and see why."
Yonas cracked his neck.
"Since I'm next, I guess — Soul Bloom!"
His aura exploded.
"Perunthor."
Blue-white aura rose, wind flying wildly, waters outside moving crazy, earth creaking and bending.
"Still Flow," Luke continued, his aura stabilizing over his silhouette.
"Soul Manifestation: Elemental Bending."
Part of him turned Earth. Part Wind. Part Fire. Part Water.
"Wow," Elric said, rubbing his beard. "All of this just for little old me. I feel appreciated!"
"Nothing less for the strongest in the world!" Luke said.
They all launched at once, Elric readying to counter everything.
Nichitolas teleported behind him, swinging his axe, bending space and gravity so hard it sent Elric flying into a large statue, stone exploding on impact.
Marick didn't wait for recovery, smashing into where he landed, causing another massive explosion.
Both fighters appeared from the smoke, Marick dragging him up the statue, debris flying, crashing into every limb.
Matel floated up, raising one palm.
"Spirit Muti: Palms of the Bronze Buddha."
He slammed his palm down, and a giant bronze Muti palm appeared and slammed down exactly where he gestured — but Elric, using the Ways of the Intercepting Palm, redirected Marick into it at the last second, taking the bronze palm head-on, both of them smashing into the floor.
Elric tried to dash away, but Nichitolas teleported him in front of Yonas.
"Elemental Spatial Muti: Dark Sun," Yonas said, hitting him with a shadow-furnace blast that sent him flying through a wall, through columns, before Nichitolas teleported him back to the middle, under the mural, midair, where Matel hit him with a barrage.
"Spirit Muti: One Hundred Type Bronze Palms," Matel said, sending palm after palm crashing into where Elric landed, so fast it looked like the floor was being crushed by an invisible jackhammer.
At first it was working — until, through the smoke, Nichitolas saw Elric slowly rising.
He's getting his powers back, he thought. Ve have to stop him soon. I don't vven know how he's standing right now, after taking so many powerful techniques head-on.
Elric kept trying to stand as massive Muti palms smashed into him, his golden aura gradually thickening, protecting him.
"Spatial Muti: Expanse," Nichitolas said, raising then dropping his hand, four hundred and fifty tons colliding down, pushing Elric into the floor, the ground turning to a cave from the combined pressure.
Luke pulled his hands together, gathering all the earth, stone, brick, rock, minerals in the temple and the area outside.
"Earth Art: Planetary Object… Theia!"
All the earth formed into a mini moon.
Yonas shrouded it in shadow.
Luke added light to reflect off it, using Wind Muti to generate its own orbit and gravitational pull.
He moved it over Nichitolas's Expanse and Matel's Bronze Palms, synchronizing all four Muti together.
"Theia's Bronze Expansive Night!"
A hundred thousand tons of force dug a massive crater, crushing Elric under a gravitational push.
When last have I been pushed like this? he thought. When last have I felt the rush of battle, or the feel for a fight? Winning for so long has made me weak and vulnerable — blinded to traps, friendships, rules, laws, people, my own mortality — without stopping to think, like when I was young, asking myself: can I obtain a strength to defeat gods?
His aura slowly began expanding, bending space between him and the combined technique.
He slowly rose from his stomach to his knees, continuing.
Look at me now — betrayed by the people I trusted the most, destroyed by the powers I taught them to use. Now I'm losing — who cares about Elric's dream of a safe world — just only malice, jealousy, and hate, because I've achieved something through training, battles, wars, experience, and now everyone wants it for free. No WORK! But free. I don't understand people. I thought I did. But I don't. Fuck this!
"THIS ISN'T THE POWER THAT I SOUGHT OUT OR ACHIEVED!"
His aura sang loudly, bright golden and radiant like the heavens, as he rose to his feet with ease, his aura shielding him from the combined technique.
He looked up at the Protégés from deep in the crater.
"Howth is he still standing after all those attacks — and a combined technique?" Marick said, shocked.
Elric laughed, sending a wave of ŌI at them, making them feel fear for the first time in the fight.
"Earth Muti: Sink Pit," Luke said, touching the floor, closing the crater with Elric in it, sealing the ground, making it look brand new.
"Not bad!" Elric said — from behind everyone.
The Protégés reacted, shocked at how he'd escaped.
"I am named Kamaitachi (窮鼬) in Chun for a reason!" he said.
Marick turned with blinding speed, fist catching fire, swinging right at him — Elric grabbed the flaming fist and stopped it, causing an explosion behind him, smiling, while Marick looked shocked.
Nichitolas snapped his fingers, teleporting everyone around Elric.
Nichitolas raised his axe, using the other side to conjure lightning, slamming it down toward Elric — who deflected it with his martial art style, sending it into Marick instead, crashing him into the wall.
Elric slammed his hands together, conjuring an aura disc spinning between them, then pulled his hands apart, the disc growing, launching right before Nichitolas could snap his fingers, slicing both hands off.
Nichitolas yelled in pain as Elric rushed Matel.
Matel tried to gesture a technique, but Elric spit aura saliva so fast, so dense, it ripped through the air at a thousand feet per second.
"Martial Muti: Spitshot."
It tore through three of Matel's fingers, making him unable to perform his palm technique, as Elric closed the gap and hit him with a flurry.
"Martial Muti: Intercepting Palms."
Matel was battered, unable to react to Elric's speed.
Luke tried to help, sending a twenty-foot heat wave, rushing Elric, who dissipated it with a powerful aura punch, while Yonas pulled Matel into his own shadow and brought him back near, at the same time using Elric's own shadow to bind him.
Elric's shadow wrapped around his body and limbs, trying to pull him to the floor, as Luke went from running to spitting a giant wave, surfing it toward Elric.
Elric used Muti Conversion on the shadow binding, turning shadow to light, using it as a whip, pulling himself to a statue before the wave hit.
"Water Muti: Water Arrows," Luke said, sending hundreds of arrows made of water — Elric spun his whip like a lasso, deflecting all of them, sending them flying in different directions, causing little explosions.
He smiled, slinging the whip at Luke to catch him, but Luke rode the wave smoothly, weaving every attack, while Elric used the whip to swing himself around, keeping pace with him.
Luke used Earth Muti to break the stone.
Elric leapt to another statue.
Luke used Earth Muti to make the massive statue grab him tightly, pinning him against the other hand.
"Hey," Elric said. "You want to join me? It's nice and cozy!"
The statue tightened its fist, trying to crush him.
"You're about to die and still have time for jokes?" Luke said, frustrated.
"Who decided my death?" Elric said, laughing. "YOU?"
He pushed the statue's hand open.
Luke put his hands together, conjuring lightning, then pulled apart, the lightning solidifying into short spears, launching them at Elric before he broke out of the statue's grip.
They impacted, exploding, causing the massive statue hand to fall.
I know nothing like this will kill you, Luke thought. But I have something special in store.
Elric jumped out of the falling debris, landing safely, converting his whip back to shadow.
The five regrouped, surrounding Elric with a smile on his face — Matel, Nichitolas, and Marick all hurt.
"I vouldn't be smiling vor too long," Nichitolas said.
"It took us years to pull this technique off," Luke said, "and we will be the first ever to do it! Years of friendship and compatibility have constructed something amazing!"
All five said, at once:
"Ryōiki!"
Five Ryōikis opened at once, reality warping to everyone's soul-law.
"Ryōiki Convergence?!" Elric said, shocked.
All five souls became one territorial consciousness.
The environment disappeared, becoming a giant half-submerged skyscraper city — endless, constant rain, under a cloudless moon night, wind gusting, buildings lit by torches and lamps like past visitors used to live there.
The gravitational pressure was ten times that of the real world.
Darkness darker than black.
In the windows, monsters of every type, captured from missions over the years, just for this moment — snarling, smiling, cheering, raging, baiting him.
Waters filled with titanic sea creatures from near the Abyssal Line.
An ancient army stood atop different buildings — swordsmen, bowmen, cavalry in ancient armor and helms, red eyes underneath, chanting for battle.
"Ryōiki Convergence: City of Cracosa," the five said in unison.
A fivefold Ryōiki, Elric thought, surprised, looking around. Not only that — to pull off a Ryōiki Convergence, synchronizing multiple souls into one — wow. This is incredible. So this is what you guys have been working toward. I'm glad I'm the one you used this on, because if it was anyone else, they wouldn't have survived.
Waves crashed against the buildings, black reef sharks jumping from the water.
"Welcome, Master, to the City of Cracosa," the five said, synchronized. "Your resting place — just like every other creature, monster, and king that's fallen victim to our blade. Rejoice — you're the first person to see our complete Ryōiki. Now face your death."
All the monsters, soldiers, and cavalry leapt from building to building, even from the one Elric stood on.
He tried to channel his aura and found he couldn't.
Shit. This must be one of the Ryōiki's laws. Heavy rain to slow and sap the body. Gravitational pressure to crush anything — at least six million tons. Space-time warped, so you can't perceive yourself or your enemies clearly. Hmm. I guess Kokoro-hō and Martial Muti it is.
He hit his Intercepting Palm stance as enemies came from all sides.
The bowmen fired at least a thousand aura-laced arrows.
Elric activated Kyōmei-shi, increasing his perception — timing, distance, aura-reading, truth.
He activated Koshin, hardening his skin like Dragmascus iron, one of the three hardest irons in Margerina.
The arrows closed in, everything slowing in his eyes, still moving in real time.
He weaved through several, snatched some out of the air, and sent them back — arrows skewering monsters through head, chest, legs, some taking multiple enemies at once.
More arrows loosed.
He snatched more, ripping through the bowmen's formation.
He disappeared with blinding speed, flurries of palms killing opponents with godlike strength, ripping off monster heads with bare hands, knocking some into the water for the black reef sharks to eat.
He weaved through the crowd with masterful precision — palms to throats, kicks that broke legs and skulls.
A Batling, eight feet tall, tried to carry him away, claws gripping his shoulder, but he grabbed its leg and ripped it off, flipped onto its back as it fell, leapt onto another, took control of where it flew, more giving chase.
Hundreds of arrows readied.
The army commander gave the order.
Hundreds of arrows loosed, killing most of the Batlings around him.
As they fell, Elric was nowhere to be seen — until the commander looked up and saw him coming down too fast to react.
He crashed into the building, an explosion sending everyone flying, killing the commander instantly.
He disappeared, reappeared in the air, slammed into another building, sending debris and soldiers flying.
One soldier tried to cut him with a flaming saber.
He disarmed him, used the saber to cut his neck, then speed-blitzed the nearby building, cutting down anyone in sight, smiling a wicked grin, sending most enemies fleeing.
An hour into the Ryōiki, most of the enemies were dead.
He was breathing heavy, still smiling, vision blurring, arms and legs shaking.
Matel appeared atop the tallest building, in a meditation pose.
"I see you're finally tired. You know you can't win."
Elric laughed, rubbing his beard.
"Blah blah blah. Are we fighting, or are you trying to bore me?"
That upset Matel, who activated his final form.
"Aural Convergence: Fat Buddha."
His skin went bronze-gold, glowing radiant, growing to a hundred feet, long earlobes, big-bellied, sitting atop the entire building, radiating godlike Muti.
"Spirit Muti: Heavenly Palm."
A monstrous fire-like bronze meteor palm, at least a mile across, came down straight at Elric.
He looked up in exhaustion, tried to lift his hands, his body — but the gravitational pressure had changed.
At least ten million tons of force sat on him now, the rain sapping his strength further.
As the Heavenly Palm descended, gaining speed, looking like blazing plasma, white sonic-boom rings shattering windows, Elric thought:
My soul burns the brightest! My mind is the highest! My techniques are the sharpest! My body is the hardest! IS THIS THE POWER I SOUGHT FOR SO LONG?!
He looked up at the meteor, smiling wildly.
"Bring it on! I'll take it head on!"
Right before it crashed, he activated ŌI, holding the meteor back with pure will — shocking Matel.
"No way," Matel said. "He's blocking my technique with his ŌI. I never seen that before. You're telling me Elric's ŌI is like an invisible wall?!"
Matel, angrier, conjured a second meteor — three miles long, faster than the first — smiling wider as he held both back with his will, the environment going haywire as the first tried to break through, then the second smashed into it, absorbing it, momentum growing — but Elric's will slowed it again.
Matel, mad now, gestured.
"Spirit Muti: One Hundred Heavenly Palms."
A hundred palm-shaped meteors, six miles long, all heading for Elric, who smiled more.
A wall of burning palms descended, blocking out the moon, making it pitch black except for the burning wall.
As a hundred mountain-sized hands got closer, the air compressed, friction turning the sky into a white sheet of plasma.
Water combusted.
Monsters, ocean creatures, and soldiers burned up or boiled in the water.
Buildings flattened under the pressure wave.
Elric shrank his ŌI around himself to take the technique head-on.
The Heavenly Palms crashed with a flash of light so brilliant it would blind any mortal, a sound so monstrous it would shatter eardrums, the hundred palms striking in an interlocking barrage, peeling back the deep ocean like paper, revealing more of the massive submerged city while destroying it — super-craters hundreds of miles wide, dirt, water, earth, and smoke creating geysers of fire and black earth shooting up, like a forest of dark pillars.
Matel, from the highest building, looked around at the landscape — nothing but a honeycomb of hundred-foot-wide handprints stamped deep into the city's earth.
He leaned over, bowing, hands in prayer.
"No one could survive that. Not even you, Master, in that weak state. We accounted for everything you were going to do — just like those games we used to play, Kings & Bannermen, where you'd move pieces before anyone could react or think ahead. But this is Kingsmate. And I was one step ahead. Rest in peace, Master. Sleep well in Rajiva's arms."
As the smoke cleared, Matel saw Elric standing atop the same building — as if nothing had happened, unphased, without a single scratch.
"That was my strongest technique!" Matel said, shocked.
Nichitolas activated his Aural Convergence.
"Aural Convergence: Spaceman!"
Warping space, time, distance, trying to twist and warp Elric's body and mind — but his ŌI shielded him from spatial distortion, and even time-bending didn't work, while his Kyōmei-shi gave him a heightened perception of time.
Elric aimed his palm skyward, at Nichitolas, high in his aura-made spacesuit.
He turned his palm to a fist, pulling — Nichitolas whipped toward him like caught by an invisible force.
"Vhat the vell is happening?!" he said, rocketing through the atmosphere.
Right before impact, everything slowed.
Elric, face to face with him, said, "You did good, kid. I acknowledge you as the strongest in your country. But it's nighttime, kid."
He ripped Nichitolas's head off at lightspeed, the rest of his body smashing into a ruined building.
Marick tried to sneak-attack from behind.
Elric dodged without looking, spinning, holding Nichitolas's head, using it as a weapon, whacking him with it like a whip — flurries of quick attacks, Marick starting to dodge expertly — until Elric tossed him the head as a distraction.
Marick caught it, but Elric's hand was already through his armor, popping out the other side, Marick's heart in his palm.
Marick, bleeding from mouth and chest, said, "Nice moveth, Master. This is whyth you're the best everth."
"Thanks, kid," Elric said. "It was a great fight. One of the best."
He laid the body down as the Ryōiki began to collapse, Nichitolas and Marick dead.
Elric speed-blitzed Matel from a long distance.
Matel wrenched his arm back, powered his palm with bronze Muti, and launched it forward.
"Spirit Muti: Radiant Bronze Palm!"
Elric jumped from the nearest building, crushing off it, heading toward him.
"Martial Muti: Divine Palm."
Both techniques collided, creating a massive impact bending space and time, an inversion of colors, the universe pausing for a fraction of a second before a perfectly flat, expanding ring of kinetic shockwave cut buildings for miles.
Elric's technique won — his Divine Palm ripping through Matel's arm, though that didn't finish it.
"Good as new," Matel said, repairing it with Spirit Muti.
But Elric blitzed him again, using ten Divine Palms, ripping him in half from head to toes in half a second.
"Repair that, kid," Elric said.
Matel returned to his normal form — confirming this time he was truly dead.
The Ryōiki collapsed more, parts of reality starting to show.
"Aural Convergence: Night Deity," Yonas said, smoothly, as a thousand-foot vanta-black silhouette appeared beside the moon, slowly revealing itself.
"This is my true form," he said. "Gaining the power of a god."
He readied to attack.
"Come forth," Elric said. "Battle Maiden Sekkali, the War Queen."
His Eidolon appeared — pristine, intricately detailed armor carved with gods by upper deities, long jade-black hair reflecting the stars, eyes lit brilliant white, a goddess's posture, floor rejecting her landing under her godly aura.
"His Eidolon!" Yonas said. "Nobody has ever lived long enough to tell what it looked like."
He charged a giant, blinding star-beam of pure light, thermal, and darkness Muti — a miniature sun, firing faster than the speed of light.
Sekkali put her hands together, pulling them apart slowly, electricity flying, summoning a spear.
"Be my Holy Lance once again. Spear of Longinus."
She threw it, faster than Yonas's beam, ripping through it like cutting butter with a sword, tearing through his face, splitting his head apart completely, collapsing the Ryōiki and returning them to reality — in the temple, where they all stood, but this time only Luke remained standing before Elric, the other bodies died in different ways, spewed across the floor.
"Was this everything you wanted, Luke?"
Luke looked around at his friends' bodies, fists balling.
"No. But I'm still here, and there's no turning back now. Not after all this."
Elric shook his head.
"Alright. Let's change scenery."
He snapped his fingers, teleporting them onto the great Joah statue's fingers, where a stone bridge ran along the arms to the fingers connecting Joah and his wife's statues together.
Elric appeared beside Seth and Silva on Joah's fingers, as Luke landed across, on the wife's.
"Isn't that Nichitolas's teleporting technique?" Seth asked.
"Yeah," Elric said. "But I already knew the technique before Nichitolas was even born."
That made Seth laugh, and Silva smirk.
"Looks like you guys made it in one piece," Elric said.
"I saved this one from falling off the statue," Silva said, "with only his Eidolon barely saving him last minute."
Seth scratched his head.
"Sorry."
"I'll teleport you guys to the boat," Elric said. "And Silva — I need you to get yourself and the kid out of here safely."
Silva shook her head, but Elric snapped his fingers, teleporting them to the beach, where she used Wind Muti to glide them both onto the boat, getting away as soon as possible.
The storm started to howl, the sky going dark, as both Elric and Luke stared at each other on opposite fingers.
"You are my greatest student," Elric said, "and I thought — friend. But I'm going to show you no mercy. Like you're a monster. A creature of the night. A corrupt king. Or a disillusioned god. I'm going to give you the gratitude of a great death — case it be by my hands."
Luke hit his elemental fighting stance.
"You know — I've always hated you, old man. And you just reminded me why."
He raised his fists.
"Bring it."
Both initiated their fighting stances, readying for final combat, a strong storm brewing around them.