SYSTEM ASCENSION

Flashback

The walk home was extremely quiet. The moon was out, one shining brighter than ever.

Zeal and Elias walked side by side without a word spoken.

Ned had offered to drop them off at home, but Zeal declined.

"Walking is an exercise." He said.

Now, they have been walking for miles in the empty streets of the night.

At some point, Elias’s eye twitched. He turned his gaze.

"Did you forget that we don’t stay in sound city?"

Zeal burst into barely contained laughter, putting his hand on Elias’s shoulder.

"I was waiting for you to complain."

Elias frowned, and shook him off, watching as the older man laughed harder until his eyes watered.

"Why are we walking?"

He wiped his tears, and tucked his hands into his pockets. He glanced up, the mood dying down as soon as it came.

"Back then when you were kidnapped,"

Elias’ irritation vanished at the words. His eyes flashed with curiosity on why Zeal suddenly brought it up.

"You came in unconscious and half dead. That’s why your sealing stone has no memory of the direction to that lab. When you escape, you did not use the exit either."

Elias stopped moving entirely.

Zeal stopped also.

"I have found the lab."

"..."

Elias’ expression remained the same. At some point into the stare, Zeal thought he wasn’t sound enough.

"I said I have found the lab."

Elias tore his eyes into the empty street.

"I...heard."

Zeal smiled. He watched Elias for a moment, before shrugging.

"How about we go wreck it?"

Elias’s ear perked.

"Wreck it? Tonight?"

Zeal walked a few steps ahead. He swung his head in thought, and finally turned.

"Rowen is attending a meeting with the leading family tomorrow. They will be occupied when we sneak in...so how about tomorrow?"

___

"My... ability..."

Elias stared at Zeal like he had gone nuts.

"Are you insane?! Why would you give me your ability? Are you trying to live as a cripple?!"

"Elias, the moment I lost my vital core, my life was basically over."

"No." Elias answered instantly.

His eyes darted around the battlefield, refusing to settle properly on Zeal’s condition.

"If we get it back, then regeneration will start working again."

Zeal stayed quiet.

Elias nodded to himself immediately after saying it.

"Yes...that’s it. You can take your ability back."

He shifted suddenly, trying to stand.

"I’ll go kill that bastard and bring it back."

Zeal’s hand tightened around his wrist.

"Run away..."

Elias stopped.

"...let go of me."

"You need to leave..."

"I said let go!"

From the rock, the trio that had been watching finally moved. The leader who had taken the core charged towards Elias, ready to end him.

One thing he didn’t anticipate was Elias reacting subconsciously. He held Zeal, eye shaking.

"Why...are you acting like you’re going to die?"

His eyes flared in an instant, glowing ring lights. The air around him dropped ten degrees. Dust stopped mid-air.

Wind tore outward from his body in a burst that sent pebbles and chunks of broken concrete skidding across the field.

The barrier above him shook. He turned his attention to the approaching attacker, and his voice howled.

"Don’t bother me!"

A great wind carried his voice around the clearing, and suddenly, a summon circle materialized in the dirt, black lines carving themselves into the ground without a hand touching it.

The symbols were foreign and looked ancient . It glowed dark.

Someone stepped through. Looked human, but wasn’t.

Seven feet tall, wrapped in tattered black veils. Bandages tied around its body up to his face, leaving only silver eyes that didn’t blink. Long, silver hair spilled past its shoulders.

In his hands, a massive dark sword, that has a gaping mouth at the edge.

The summoned turned his gaze only an inch, and glanced slightly at Elias, then turned his eyes back to the attacker, and then swung the massive sword effortlessly.

The attacker narrowed his eyes.

"That is Haliad." He said it, not because he wasn’t sure, but because the situation was absurd. "The hound of the dark."

"Why is he in the mortal realm?" One of them muttered as his steps faltered.

Before he could move, the Hound’s eye snapped sideways, freezing him on the spot.

It was clear to them. Nothing is beyond Haliad’s scrutiny.

They took off in different directions.

"We have to return!" The leader ordered. "We can’t —"

Haliad took a wide stance, and swung the sword.

The massive sword aura carved through the two attackers underneath like they were made of paper.

The leader managed to bring his own weapon up in time and blocked. The impact drove him to one knee, bone in his arm cracking loud. Blood ran down his sleeve, but he was alive.

"I can’t take on Haliad."

He rolled back, scrambled to his feet, and ran.

"Did they catch up to our plan? Is that why they sent the hound of the night?"

He glanced back.

The Hound stood still, sword tip buried in the earth, those unblinking eyes locked on him.

"He’s not coming after me. Then, he was sent to protect Omeo’s ones."

’That’s enough for me to escape and report back.’

He bursted through the edge of the barrier.

"Out," he muttered. "I’m out. They can’t—"

"Blood art. Crimson pool!"

The voice was small.

A shadow dropped from the branch above him. Hood over her head, and hands stained red with blood.

"Are you the one calling us?" Tiana grinned.

"Another one?" His eyes widened. He tried to raise his weapon, but he was too slow.

The ground beneath his feet turned wet. Red lines spread outward like veins, swallowing his ankles, his knees, his chest. Blood rose from the earth itself, pulling him down.

He choked.

"Aaarrrggghhh!"

His body glowed, and he encountered the blood art with an explosion.

She was pushed back by just two steps. Then, she raised her hand again.

"Blood art—"

"Maniac!" He spat, dashing back into the barrier.

She blinked once, and raised her head.

"I should tear down this barrier."

INSIDE THE BARRIER

It was quiet. Extremely quiet.

The summon circle was gone, and so was the monstrous presence of the hound of the night. Elias’ eyes didn’t register that there was any summoning to begin with.

His eyes remained on the body that had gone still in his grip.

On the body that has gone cold.

It was still unreal.

His mind denied it over and over again, but it didn’t work this time.

And when reality came crashing, his eyes turned misty.

His breathing completely lost rhythm.

Every inhale stopped midway like his lungs had forgotten how to function, and every exhale came out broken. He lowered his head slowly against Zeal’s shoulder while his fingers clenched harder, trembling violently.

"No..."

The word escaped weakly.

His chest tightened again.

Elias drove his fist into his own chest trying to force his heart to continue beating properly.

"Breathe..."

Another strike followed immediately after, harder than before.

"Breathe..."

His voice was beginning to shake uncontrollably now.

Hot tears blurred his vision despite how fiercely he tried to suppress them, and he clenched his jaw hard enough to hurt while pressing his forehead against Zeal’s shoulder like a child trying to wake someone from sleep.

"You said..." His voice fractured apart midway. "You said we’d wreck the lab today..."

"What the hell man...wake up."

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