Chapter 110 - Fissure
"What the hell is this…" Ivy's voice came from beside him. Arthur, inappropriate to the question, wondered if others have never seen an Ender before. Although he would not describe Alfred's current appearance to be like an Ender, as he was a mix of his human appearance with the ominous features of the Ender, making his appearance even more frightening.
His eyes were bloodshot and irises as bleak and black as they can be, if not more. His skin held cracks as if a clay mold that was several years old, starting to chip away before it would fall completely. His hair had turned a darker shade of blonde, sticky and slimy to his face as the tar substance covered it.
Luckily, the guards were able to obstruct him, striking him with mana and their abilities. It managed to push the Ender, or Alfred, back at the expense of being devoured like they never existed.
As Arthur saw this, he was struck with a conclusion that was too terrifying for him to accept. Until now, the Enders were dangerous creatures that a Legacy Quest appeared when he learned of their existence. Were their capabilities only limited to disappearing and eroding things?
As he saw how the fires were extinguished, the ice disappeared, the earth spears disintegrating, and mana falling into the darkness, he realized it was not all they could do. Even if they were pushed back, they weren't harmed by magic. They were immune to it.
The grandmaster took out something from his inner pockets. A closer inspection revealed that it was a runic card. However, even without being activated, Arthur could feel it was a high tier rune by its capacity of affecting the world.
"Retreat!" The grandmaster's voice came like thunder and the guards, who had some of their limbs were already eroded by the Ender, retreated far away.
The card was activated and a pentagon of crimson fire surrounded the Ender before lines of fire started appearing between its vertices until they surrounded the Ender from all directions. It started to get small as the fire turned the fire was almost white.
"AAAAGGHH!" The Ender screeched and the darkness exploded, extinguishing the fire as well. Before any of the present people could do anything, the runic lines were broken and the Ender started to flee toward the fourth layer.
Arthur felt despair and also confusion. If he rushed forward to stop the Ender, he felt death would be imminent. However, there was also the fact that his runes can harm the Ender, as he has seen on several occasions.
"Ivy!" He shouted as he saw the Ender make a run for it while everyone rushed after him. He knew that his runes were the source of creation, so he had a chance of damaging the Ender himself. However, he needed speed. He was too slow to catch up.
"What?" Ivy snapped from her daze at the sudden events. She looked at Arthur with confusion.
"Can you bolt me toward the prince?"
"Are you crazy?" Ivy took a moment to understand his words. "I've already told you; you can't do these things and expect to come out unscratched! Why are you being this impulsive? Do you wish to play the hero?"
'Fuck being a hero, I would lose my legacy at this rate!' Arthur wanted to shout in her face but he restrained himself. "I have a plan, I swear! I have a way that can stop him!"
He didn't lie, of course. He might be no match to the Ender, but he could try to stop it using his runes. After all, Tyrin's Ender was helpless against his runes. It should be the same for this one, no matter how more powerful it was, it should still be affected by his runes.
Ivy seemed to hear the pleading in his voice, and she frowned and kept her silence. Arthur called out to her again and she gritted her teeth.
"Alright! Alright! Just, please, don't kill yourself." Ivy looked at him with a complex gaze that Arthur couldn't decipher, but he nodded anyway.
He stood in front of Ivy and he felt the mana behind him. He activated his protection rune and it enveloped his body. Their plan was simple. Ivy's ability was that she could manipulate the characteristics of her attacks at the expense of mana.
'No damage, propel, and accelerate the target forward.'
Arthur was launched like a living missile. He felt the strike connect, but there was no pain. He would never have trusted someone this much if not for the circumstances. Furthermore, if Ivy wanted to harm him, she would have already done so.
The air pressure came unexpectedly but it was deflected by the protection rune. His dagger was already in his hand while his whole body burned with fire. The fire tune was at the tip of the dagger as the fire conjured into a single point.
For others, Arthur was a giant spear of fire at this point. The crowd dodged from his way as he sped toward the fleeing Ender, who was still running despite the attacks raining down on him. Arthur's body kept accelerating under the urges of Ivy's mana.
He now had a choice of either pouring all of his mana to his Fire rune or use some of it for the legacy rune. His thinking reached unprecedented speed as time seemed to flow slower. In the end, he decided that the Ender was weak against runes, and so he would use all of his mana on his Fire rune.
A tornado of fire was created around him as all of it started concentrating at the tip of his dagger. The scenery turned into a blur as Arthur saw the back of Alfred's back approaching.
'Please, let this be enough.'
As if sensing his approach, the Ender turned around and looked at Arthur. He stopped fleeing and waved both of his hands upward. Darkness poured out and it enveloped the world. The tip of the blazing dagger glowed orange as the fire gathered in one point, creating a tiny sun.
The two sides collided, and Arthur's figure was devoured by the darkness. The crowd who was seeing these events held their breath unknowingly. The world came to a standstill as the prince kept his hands up to control the sphere of darkness that enveloped Arthur.
***
A few moments passed that felt like ages for Ivy, who's stomach twisted in regret as she imagined the fate that awaited her junior. Her mind, as if the inappropriateness of the occasion was the condition for it, showed her scenes from the past. It was just like then that she trusted the words of her junior before he died. Would it be the same now?
A groan broke the silence. A hoarse, like rusted gears, groan leaked from the prince's mouth. The sphere of darkness started to crack as a golden light appeared from within. Arthur, his eyes glowing as bright as the fire surrounding him, carried on with a weakened momentum a ferocious expression.
As if an arrow was launched after the bow's string was pulled to its limit, Arthur's descent on the prince was of astonishing speed as the dagger dug into the prince's right chest.
"No!" Prince Kal roared as he was held back by the guard from going forward himself. It seems he has yet to realize that his nephew has betrayed their kingdom.
***
As Arthur had predicted, his runes were more effective against the Enders than artificial ones or mana. The Ender shrieked after being pierced for the first time since his appearance. Strength left Arthur's body as the mana pushing him forward disappeared.
However, unlike what he had hoped, the Ender wasn't dead. The black matter seeped into the wound and stopped the bleeding. The prince's left arm turned into a dark claw like the one the woman attacked him with.
Before the claw could rip through Arthur's throat, it was blocked by Ivy's gauntlets. However, the claw was able to dig through the armor and Arthur could hear Ivy groan in pain as her arm trembled.
"Retreat!" She shouted and Arthur used what little strength he had left to flee. Ivy was able to untangle herself from the Ender and the two sides stopped their attacks.
Breathing heavily, the prince stood there looking at them with his bloodshot eyes. His mouth moved as incomprehensible words came out from it. All sounds, even the sound of gears shifting, ceased to be in the third layer. The prince bled from his face's orifices dark as energy surrounded him.
Everyone was too afraid to approach him, instinctive fear of the unknown. The prince clapped his hand toward the gate of the fourth layer as a fissure was created. The scene sent chills in the spine of whoever saw it, as this fissure was something that only happened when a merge occurred.
The prince's body then disappeared into the fissure, and the place started rumbling as the gears shifted and runes glowed in the Iron Dome.