Chapter Eleven: I have returned

“Me” the response came from the other end of the message stone before the sigil went dark.

“Shit!” Bell cursed and threw the stone against the ground before diving out the way just before a giant fist connected with the place she had been kneeling on a moment before.

In one clean motion, Bell rolled along the ground and pulled free the hand axe that hung on her belt while simultaneously drawing the dagger that was attached at her lower back.

She turned to face her attacker.

Standing at around nine feet tall, a huge humanoid beast lifted it's giant hand from the spot it had attacked and began lumbering towards her.

Whatever this creature was, it was something that she and the other members of Black Tusk had never seen before.

It seemed to be made of pieces of debris. Large bunches of stone, cobbles and wood were at the end of each arm and leg, while it's torso was also made out of random bits and pieces that had been scattered around the courtyard outside the tower. All these pieces were connected by some kind of dark smoke that coiled and writhed relentlessly as the abomination moved forward.

When herself, Ursula and Leigh had approached the Tower's entrance they had felt something. A dark aura that seemed to draw in the light, emanating from the Tower's peak.

They couldn't believe the power that had come from that aura. So malevolent that it threatened to engulf them should they remain a moment longer.

It was then that the creatures began to appear.

The smoke had come from the tower's zenith and swooped down, attaching itself to the large piles of rock that lay scattered at the bottom. Within seconds the monsters had gained form and began to pursue them relentlessly, their numbers forcing Black Tusk to retreat back the way they came.

While the creatures didn't seem to be capable of using magic, that didn't seem to matter because their strength was on a level that the mercenaries hadn't seen before. A single punch caused shock waves to ripple across the earth and each one of their strides shook buildings as they ran past them.

If that wasn't enough it seemed like they were pretty much impervious to all their attacks.

Every attack they threw at them, whether it be magical or physical in nature, they seemed to brush off without much damage, ignoring them as if they were mere annoyances.

Ursula actually managed to bring one down when she shifted into her wolf form but it merely regenerated a moment later, making every one of the women's hearts grow cold.

They couldn't survive this.

Bell ran forwards, a yell escaping from her lips as she drew in mana. Fire coursed across her weapons, hot enough to melt steel, as she met the smoke creature in combat. It swung one massive fist towards her but she easily dodged it's attack and swiped both weapons across it's torso, leaving deep furrows in it's makeshift flesh. The creature didn't even react, instead it reversed the course of it's fist and brought it round too fast for Bell to react in time.

She felt bone break as it made contact with her right side and sent her flying across the wide street and into the wall of a building, cracking the panel of hard stone. Bell could do nothing but gasp and hold her side, the pain preventing her from drawing in more mana, as the beast approached at a leisurely pace, it's face made of sanguine mist as it screamed in victory.

Bell was saved by a wall of fur.

Ursula ran forward, her jaws hanging open as a fierce snarl escaped her lips.

Ursula was perhaps the quietest member of their band, but also the most ferocious. While she was not particularly skilled in using magic, she more than made up for it in her brutality as a wolf kind.

She stood at the same size as the smoke creature and was almost a full five metres long. Her dark brown fur glistening with her own blood as multiple scrapes covered her tough hide.

She dashed forward and clamped her large jaws around the torso of the monster and began to shake it violently, even as the creature struggled and aimed it's two large fists towards her eyes.

This gave Bell a moment to come to her senses and jump to her feet, even as Ursula released her hold and sent the being flying through the air and through the roof of one of the buildings built along the tower district street.

“Bell, are you ok!?” came a soft voice from behind her.

Bell sighed in relief as she noticed Leigh rush towards her and immediately press her hands against the side of her chest. Leigh's hands began to glow as she poured healing magic into Bell.

While she realised this was dangerous, considering that her ribs were broken, Leigh was confident that it would at least let Bell breath normally again. She would do a full inspection of her teammate upon getting out of this place.

If they got out of here.

“We should try to run again, Bell, we won't last much longer.” A rough voice came from the wolf's muzzle as she continued to face the remaining opponents.

Ursula counted twelve of the smoke monsters in all, much more than she would have liked there to be. She wasn't even confident in taking down one of the creatures. Already, the one she had thrown through the air like a rag doll was walking out of the building it had been thrown into with not a single scratch.

Bell examined the odds stacked against them and agreed. But there was no way out. Even now she could see some more of the monster's coming from the opposite direction, back towards the noble district, the only exit they had open to them.

They were cut off.

Bell laughed.

She had been expecting there to be no resistance on this job. The mission was simple, get to the tower before the group from Callai and make sure nobody took Xolumbrandir, The Rebel King's sword.

But now she had a feeling that there was more to it than that. Whatever these creatures were, she was sure that the sword was the source of them. If that was the case, then why send them to begin with? If the blade had that much protection it would have better just to leave well enough alone.

“I'm sorry, but it seems we are not getting out of here, ladies” Bell said quietly, her gaze on the ground “I let you down.”

Immediately there was a grunt of disapproval from Ursula who turned and stared at her commander with one large eye.

“I did not come here against my will. I came to fight and be with my friends. If this is our time, then I will accept it and go into the land of the Gods gladly.” Ursula said as she smiled at Bell, an odd thing to see on a wolf.

“Me too. I'm with Ursula, I came to have some fun and make some money. I knew the risks and if I have to die, at least I can die with those I trust most in this world” said Leigh with a fierce grin, her sword held tightly in her hand.

“At least Ada got away in one piece, glad she wasn't here for this.” Ursula concluded and turned once again to face the encroaching horde.

Bell nodded and stood to her feet, gripping her axe and dagger firmly in her hands as she set her face in a expression of grim determination.

She allowed herself a moment to think of the man's voice at the other end of the message stone, but quickly pushed it from her mind. No one was fast enough to get here from, she presumed, the merchants district, where Ada was sent to scout and look for the thief who stole the mask.

Perhaps the man was that thief. Perhaps he could have helped them. Bell at least hoped that he could protect Ada. She was the youngest and everyone cared for her deeply. It was the right thing, for her to survive while they perished.

“Well, my friends, one last time. WHO ARE WE!?” Bell roared as she moved up next to Ursula and Leigh stood beside her.

“BLACK TUSK!” The women cried unison as they steadily walked forwards, prepared to meet their fate.

That's when everything changed.

Suddenly, the air around them exploded in a hurricane as the mercenaries desperately tried to shield themselves from the torrent of wind.

Bell closed her eyes and could only silently yell as the air around them drowned out her voice, unable to even move for fear of being blown away.

She felt the ground beneath her quiver and the temperature of the air increase to the point that she felt her flesh sear under the intense heat.

Then she felt it. A beacon, a sun in the shadow. An aura so massive that it completely dwarfed the dark and ominous presence they had felt when they approached the tower.

And it was standing right in front of them.

With effort, the women finally managed to open their eyes and look upon the strange sight that stood before them.

A man was standing with his back facing them, his gaze firmly fixed ahead on the smoke monsters who, for some reason, had stopped moving and even took a step backwards as if something was stopping them. To Bell it almost seemed like... recognition.

At the man's feet was a familiar figure, who seemed to be dry heaving onto the ground, her entire body shaking as she tried to get to her feet.

“Ada!” cried the members of Black Tusk as they made their way towards the girl.

At the sound of her name, Ada raised her head and faced her companions, a weary but joyous smile appearing on her face at seeing the familiar sight of her friends.

“Hey guys! I'm back... brought some help” Ada said as she fell into Leigh's arms, who immediately began to heal the worn out girl.

Ursula gave Ada a quick once over and assured herself that she was fine. Then she swung her muzzle round and fixed her gaze onto the man that had come with her.

Although she could only see the back of his head, she could see the broad shoulders, pale skin and resolute manner in which he held himself. His aura was bigger than all four of theirs combined, larger even. She didn't fail to notice the mask that was in the crook of his arm.

“So, you're the thief.” She growled as she took a step back. Wolves could sense these things, she recognised that she was no threat to this man. But that didn't stop her from preparing herself for a fight.

The man glanced over his shoulder and the three women were surprised at how young he looked. He looked to be human although there was something... different about him. If they were to guess his age he could be as young as Ada, if not younger. However, after staring into his pale green eyes he looked older... much older.

He had a smile on his face as gazed at them.

“Calm yourself, she-wolf, I have no intention of hurting you or your pack.” The man said calmly, his eyes never leaving Ursula's.

The wolf froze for a second under the intensity of that gaze before she gave a deep nod of acknowledgement. While such an act had little impact in the society of other races, for a wolf to bow their head is to accept that the person they are facing is their superior. Such an act did not go unnoticed by the man, who gave her a small smile.

The young man then walked up to the fallen Ada and placed the mask in her lap.

“Would you look after the mask for me Ada, I have to deal with this.” He said lightly, a grin on his face.

The pale faced Ada rolled her eyes and nodded before gesturing him to get moving already.

The man got to his feet and began to walk at a steady pace towards the group of shadowy creatures who, this entire time, had not moved an inch.

“Hey! What about the one's behind...” Bell began, but when she looked behind her, she couldn't believe what she saw.

There were no more monsters, merely twisted piles of rock and rubble.

Gods, this guy has destroyed every one of them in the blink of an eye, she thought, dumbfounded.

She turned to watch the man go and shivered. Who exactly is this guy?

* * *

After giving my mask to Ada I began to make my way towards the monsters, leaving the members of Black Tusk behind me as I approached the constructs.

They were beings created by Xolumbrandir. It used some of it's aura to animate objects and turn them into weapons that could be used against others. They could only truly be stopped by overloading them with pure mana. While this is a difficult thing to do, to hurt creatures such as these it is necessary.

Xolumbrandir's ability to separate slivers from it's own aura was incredible. I had spent a long time after obtaining the sword trying to understand how it works, how it functions. Imagine, the potency of using such a magic to create an army out of nothing but bits of debris. The power it would grant someone would be immeasurable.

However, no matter the combination of magic I could never understand how the sword did it and it wasn't like it was going to tell me. It fucking hated me, more than anything else in this world. But I was also the only thing in this world it feared, for I could master it, while all others who had attempted the feat before me had failed.

This was just a warm up round, but it was already starting to get scared.

I knew this because the constructs that stood before me weren't moving and the smoke that linked their solid limbs together was no longer as active as it had been when I first arrived. It felt my aura, it knew who I was.

Suddenly, as if waking from a dream, the smoke began to pulsate and exude pure and bitter fury. The constructs dashed towards me, trying desperately to crack my skull and pummel me into the ground.

I gave them my best blood thirsty grin as I dashed towards them, activating aspect of air to further increase my speed.

It took me less than a second to reach the first smoke covered construct and I quickly attacked it, punching it in it's rock like chest. It gave out a frustrated scream as it's chest exploded and tried desperately to grasp at me with it's hands. I destroyed them as well, relying not on my magic but my overwhelming physical strength.

It was over in moments and the smoke began to retreat, crawling across the ground.

I didn't let it.

I imbued my hand with aspect of earth and quickly grabbed the smoke in a vice-like grip. It began to scream terribly as I held it, trying desperately to break free.

I began to pour raw mana into the smoke and it began to shake and expand as I poured more and more into it's body. It wasn't long before the sliver of life essence reached it's capacity and exploded in my hand, knocking three of the eleven remaining constructs from their feet.

The rest of the monsters were trying so desperately to get to me that they kept tripping over themselves. Another faulty part of Xolumbrandir's ability. While it is indeed powerful, over great distances it loses complete control and can only give simple commands after the constructs had gotten far enough away from it's location.

I moved from construct to construct methodically. Ripping and tearing at their bodies with my hands and dispatching the smoke with focused raw mana, they never stood a chance.

They grabbed me and punched me but to no avail, I had activated both aspect of air and aspect of earth. They may as well have been punching thin air for all the good it was doing them.

I thought about this with a smile on my face as I flipped over one of the flailing constructs and landed behind it, placing my palm on it's back and releasing a storm of lightning that caused the smoke to scream as it's make shift body was eviscerated. The sliver soon followed.

It wasn't long before I reached the last of the abominations in front of me. This one had not attacked with the others and seemed to be waiting for something and I had an dea of what.

As the last of the aura essence's died in my hands I turned and looked at the beast that had not moved. It just stared at me, as if something within that black void of a face was looking out.

Xolumbrandir.

I quickly turned to make sure Black Tusk were far enough away from the fighting. There eyes were almost unfocused as they stared at what I had just done. It must have been strange to watch one person destroy beasts that, but a few minutes before, had very nearly come close to killing them, even with their full strength.

I gave them a nod which they either didn't see or ignored before I turned and faced the last construct.

I stood directly in front of it, a smile on my face as I stared back into the smoke that made up it's head.

“I'm back!” I said, my smile becoming brighter as laughter left my lips.

The constructs reaction was immediate and it desperately began to pummel me, it's hands moving at blinding speed as it's stone fists made rumbling impacts of my body.

I laughed.

It had begun to kick me now, using the full motion of it's body it tried with all it could to make me hurt, to annihilate me completely.

But still I laughed.

It was ripping up chunks of the cobbled streets, it's immense strength allowing it to do so, as it brought these pieces raining down on me, only to find I was unharmed by the earth shattering impacts.

My laughter only grew louder.

Finally, in a last ditch effort it pulled back it's fist and began to get thinner as the essence that made up it's body made the right 'arm' grow much larger and thicker. With a strength that could shatter mountains it brought this fist forward with a dreadful purpose.

It stopped cold as I raised my hand and caught it before impact.

“I have returned, sword. I am coming for you” I whispered, my voice cold and dark as I stared into what was left of the essence that made up the arm.

With terrific force I shattered the stone fist and grabbed hold of the essence before it could flee. It screamed and it cried, trying to escape, desperate to get away from me. I began to force mana into it's almost intangible body.

In but a moment, it was over and I stood victorious, the road beneath me destroyed and the constructs created by Xolumbrandir no more.

“I will be there soon.”