Chapter 11: Monster hunting

Lan and Lila were waiting outside for Akira, they began walking through the village once he joined them. It reminded him of Helmic village, but slightly more open, with more people. They were passing by what seemed to be the market area, stalls selling all kinds of things were set up on the side, and people greeted Lan and Lila kindly, Lan smiled warmly at them, unlike the one he showed Akira a few minutes ago. This was surprising to him, he grew up under the reign of the Union, who constantly painted the Godless faction and the land they inhabit as inhuman and awful. Akira knew the Union wasn’t to be trusted, but this was something else. This reminded him of when Taro showed him around Helmic village, Lan and Taro were well-respected leaders, this made him wonder what the Union leader was like. They reach the village center, Lan walks ahead and greets who Akira can only assume is the chief, he is an older man, Lan greets him by bowing to him. Lila had gone off to play around the with local kids, she seemed to be in a better mood now, or she was, she spots him and immediately crouches down gathering the kids nearby, they all look back and stick their tongues out at him, mockingly, he couldn’t help but smile. Akira flinches when Lan bonks him on the head “ The monster took refuge in the cave nearby, lets go,” He grabs him by his collar and drags him behind him, Lila follows after them, clearly trying her hardest not to laugh at him. The cave wasn’t very far from the village, there was a path that led to it, it seemed like they mind out the entrance for something, “ The people use this cave to maintain the energy of Old Frandhenven,” Lan trails off when they reach the mouth of the cave, Akira could only guess why. “ You guys are also under threat of running outta energy?” He asked, looking up at Lan who was still holding him. Lan drags him up so that he's standing on his own again, “ What do you mean?” Lan seemed genuinely concerned now, “ New Frandhenven is running out of power as well, which is why I'm looking for the heart,” Akira had explained, Lan looked away, lost in thought. Cleo reappears on top of Lilas's head again, hopefully, she brings good news, “ You guys have at best 6 months until you run out,” says Cleo, the bringer of bad news. “ But when I reach the fragment I should be able to redirect the energy to both Frandhenvens, delaying the blackout,” she says reassuring them, without any further talk Lan walks into the cave, Lila and Akira follow suit. “ We normally have people monitoring things here but the Chief says that since the monster moved in nobody has been allowed in,” Lan interacts with one of the devices set up on the side before moving deeper in, They reach what seems to be the end, the tunnel opened up to a medium-sized chamber, sat in the center is the exact same crystal that Taro had shown him, it had the exact same fractures with blue energy pulsing through it, “ I assume you know what this is as well?” Lan asked, Akira was staring at the thing wide-eyed, mostly in confusion but also fear. “ In the desert, there was a village, that villages chief showed me something like this…he said it was maintaining the natural energies flowing through the ground,” Akira glanced over to Lan, hoping he would deny what he said, unfortunately, he nodded in agreement, Akira let out an exasperated sigh before continuing, “ He also told me that the energy from the fragment was leaking into the ground, which is also why that monster exists, the energy leaking from the heart is overloading the amount of energy the crystals normally maintain, eventually they shatter, and well, I’m not sure about here but the desert would collapse into an underground world,” Lan stared at the crystal, he seemed unsure about something. He let out a sigh before heading toward the other tunnel, “ For now we focus on the monster, once we get back we’ll let Lilial know about this…she’ll deal with it,” Lan continued on without looking back to see if the two were following. The tunnel leading to the monster's nest was short, but it led to a rather large cave. Sitting at the far wall was the beast, it was huge. It stood on its hind legs, keeping balance with its hands, it had two sets of arms, four total. Its reddish blue eyes locked onto us, letting out a rumbling roar. Lan stepped forward, accepting its challenge, he held his hand out, in the palm of his hand fire began gathering. Much like what Alice did with her index finger, only this one seemed more dense, once it got big enough he closed his fist around it, forcing the ball to shape into a spear. He shifted one leg back before lobbing the flame at the monster, it was able to move out of the way, getting away with only a burn. And thus the battle began, Lan broke into a sprint running opposite to the monster, it chased after. It was quick for its size, it managed to get right next to Lan, catching him off guard it was able to slam its fist into him, launching him back. Lan was able to slow his push, he had applied enough heat onto his hand that allowed him to latch onto the rocky floor. The onslaught continued, the monster had forced Lan completely onto defense, not giving him the chance to fight back and despite it all, he was smiling. He quickly recovers and dashes back into the fight, lightning crackles throughout his body as his speed increases, he was using the 6th Seraphims rune perfectly, and in perfect unison with his own. Lan launched a series of flame shots infused with electricity amplifying its speed, the hide on the monster was tough, the shots left burnt marks and stunned it whenever they hit. Lan switches to a more hands-on approach, using the runes he conjures elemental projections, duel daggers, one lightning one flame. He seemed to have an incredible grasp over his power, the blades were stable, Akira wondered how long he'd had either rune for; Lan dashed past the monster's fists, striking several wounds all over it. Akira was startled when Lan's expression changed all of a sudden, he had shifted back to a more serious tone, the lightning dagger dissipated as the flame one crackled, its size growing to that of a longsword, he rested it on his shoulder, dropping into a crouch placing his hand on the ground in front of him, electricity jolts from his left arm down to his feet, the ground beneath him breaking from the sheer pressure. Lan launches himself full strength, the sound of thunder booming echoes through the cavern, Akira and Lila cover their ears from the sudden explosion of sound. When they look back the monster has lost a good chunk of its body, carved out by Lans blade, he drags it along the floor walking to the thing's head before bringing it down on it, finishing it off. The flame longsword slowly dissipated as Lan seemed to be ok, Akira doubted that was his full strength just then, it kinda looked like he was messing around in the beginning, and once he had enough he brought up enough power to end it. The stars were visible when they resurfaced from the cave, the sky clear and still. The trio walked back to the village, Lan insisted they head back now, Lila made a fuss about it which was for naught as Lan was set on going home immediately. The drive back was quiet, Lila had fallen asleep, Akira intended to stare out the window the entire time. Lan carries Lila back in, Akira was sent to inform Lilial about the mission's success, and he tried. Akira wandered the halls aimlessly, unsure where he was. He had given up on trying to find Lilial and instead focused on finding a room to sleep in, he would take a quick peek into the rooms, checking to see what was there. He eventually finds a room, but by then he can hardly keep his eyes open, he drags himself and plops down on the bed, and sleep takes him.