Two Sides of The Same Coin

After another long walk through the tunnel, Natalie successfully led Leo and the group to the edge of the exit. They are now about to exit The Holy Trinity Cult’s base.

“My back!”- Leo complained.

“Gee, what a surprise! When isn’t your back ever in pain?”- Sophia sarcastically asked.

“His back isn’t what we should be worried about right now. It’s great that we actually managed to sneak out of the capital.”- Amber said.

“Wow, no one cares about me. Is this how people treat their leader?”- Leo jokingly asked.

“Don’t worry, I do!”- Claudius said with a smile.

“At least one person here ACTUALLY cares about me! Thanks Claudius.”- Leo said while giving Claudius a thumbs up.

“Guys, no time to be joking around. We might be out of danger for now, but stay on your guard.”- Natalie said.

Everyone agreed, nodding their heads. As they reached the dimly lit tunnel exit hidden under a rock. Claudius pushes it to the side, creating an opening. The moment the group walked up the steps, they were greeted with the illuminating night sky. The group looked around carefully, checking their surroundings for dangers. It is strangely quiet for this time of the night, as no guards can be seen patrolling on the roads. Before they could even get a chance to discuss what they planned to do next, the bell chimes, signaling midnight. Loud, distant shouting filled the air, echoing through the field all the way to where Leo’s party was standing. The party members all looked at one another, each knowing that the battle had started.

“Yes! It seems like it has begun, the battle They won’t be pursuing us any further.”- Leo said with confidence.

“We should start heading West from here. I assume it would be the best place to be hiding while waiting for this whole thing to calm down.”- Natalie suggested.

“Yeah, I agree.”- Amber said.

“I think I might need to take another crap.”- Claudius said.

“You idiot… Do that after we are out of here…”- Sophia said, she is struggling to stay standing up.

“What’s wrong?”- Natalie became concerned, walking over to check up on Sophia.

“Nothing… It’s just… the headaches…”- Sophia grabbed her head in pain.

Leo and Amber swiftly rushed over to Sophia, checking in on her. It seemed like the same problem during their time in the Darkened Abyss all over again. Certainly, Amber didn’t know about it, she is just showing her concerns for her friend.

“Abyss corruption again? But why? We aren’t in the Abyss right now.”- Leo thought, looking at Sophia.

Her headache seems to be getting worse, Sophia is clutching at her head even tighter than before.

“THE NECKLACE! THAT HAS TO BE IT!”- Leo shouted.

Natalie looks over in confusion, she then realizes what Leo meant. Without a moment of hesitation, she pulls the necklace off of Sophia. A small sound signifying the release of the dark energy can be heard.

“Why didn’t I realize this before? Every Holy Trinity Cult’s necklace is infused with dark energy. I was so used to it that it completely went by me head.”- Natalie said.

“How are you feeling?”- Amber asks.

“I can still...feel it…”- Sophia said, still in pain.

She struggles to reach into her pockets, pulling out the rocks given to her by the guards at Abania. The blackened rock rolled off her hands, falling onto the ground.

“Oh no.”- Leo said, making a realization.

Back before they entered the city, Sophia was given some purifying rocks to fend off the Abyss’s corruption. What Leo had overlooked was how long they stayed in the Abyss. Sophia was already showing signs of the Abyss’s corruption from her headaches back then. Luckily for them, they managed to leave before anything worse could happen. The purifying rocks, however, had all been used up, leaving Sophia vulnerable. The dark energy from the necklace given by Crozan had seemed to push her over the edge.

“That bastard! He knew something was up! He was deliberately messing with us!”- Natalie said in frustration.

Suddenly, the night sky glowed red, turning Leo's attention towards the giant flame pillars in the sky in the distance.

“What the hell is that?!?!”- Leo asks.

Seconds later, a yellow glow illuminates the sky. An object in the shape of what looked like a shield appeared right below the flame pillars, blocking the attack. Before Leo could say anything, a small shockwave emitted from Sophia, sending everyone falling a few feet away.

“CAN I GET SOME TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON?!?”- Leo shouts in pain, looking over at Sophia.

Her hair had turned from the usual blonde to that of a light gray, her skin darkened to a tanned color. She looked similar to Sophia, but at the same time, very different. The corruption has been completed. Sophia has turned into a dark elf.

“Are you kidding me?”- Natalie said.

“Oh ho? What do we have here?”- Dark elf Sophia said, looking around.

“We got two cuties and two disgusting creatures here.”- She said, smiling.

“Did she just seriously call me a disgusting creature?!?”- Leo said.

“WATCH OUT!!! BARRIER!”- Amber suddenly casted.

“Wha…”- Leo couldn’t even react in time.

A giant boulder flew up from the ground, almost hitting Leo. He was only saved due to the Barrier that Amber summoned.

“Are you kidding me?! She was actually trying to kill me! Even worse is that she just casted a spell without any incantation. This chick is bad news.”- Leo thought to himself as he hurried to stand back up.

The boulder bounced off the barrier, hitting Claudius in the face. Dark Elf Sophia laughed at the idiocy that just occurred, preparing to cast the next spell.

“Great Waterfall!”- Amber casted.

A downpour of water appeared in the air, rushing down towards Dark Elf Sophia. She immediately creates a dome out of dark energy, shielding herself from the waterfall.

“Claudius, you ok?”- Leo asked, rushing over to him.

“Yeah, just fine. I think I gained a new ability. I can see stars now.”- Claudius replies.

“So you are not fine!”- Leo said.

“We don’t have much time before my attack ends. What’s the plan?”- Amber asked.

“For now, just restrain her.”- Natalie replied, preparing her staff.

Suddenly, the ground under Amber rumbles, a small hole opens up right next to where she is standing. Before she can even react, Dark Elf Sophia pops out from the hole, knocking Amber’s staff off her hands. Walls rise from the ground, creating a room which trapped Amber inside. Without her staff, Amber couldn’t use any spells to get out.

“Stay there and be nice, my little kitten. I wouldn’t want to hurt you two. Give me just a moment and I’ll get rid of these pests.”- Dark Elf Sophia said, giving an evil grin.

“Hear our prayers and punish the wrongdoers, o god. Holy Smite!”- Natalie and Leo casted simultaneously.

A bright beam of light emits from the sky, smiting Dark Elf Sophia.

“AGHHHHHH!!!”- She screams in pain as the Divine magic seems to be taking effect on her.

The light dissipates, with smoke coming out of the ground where Dark Elf Sophia was struck. Even though she was struck with 2 holy smites, she seemed to still be hanging on.

“I can’t believe they have two Divine magic users in the same group. What’s going on here?”- She thought to herself.

Suddenly, a fireball appeared behind Natalie, flying towards her direction. She quickly dodged it, only for the ground to rumble again. This time a giant wall slowly rises up from the ground, blocking the road and keeping Leo and Claudius on the other side. Natalie is now stuck on this side with Dark Elf Sophia. She stalls for time by casting Great Typhoon, using the strong wind to prevent Dark Elf Sophia from getting close. A black orb formed above Dark Elf Sophia, as she is trying to fight against the wind.

“I don’t want to do this, but you're showing too much resistance.”- She said.

The orb glowed purple, shooting a beam directly at Natalie. She had no choice but to cast Barrier, blocking the beam. The ground behind Natalie shakes. A circular pillar rises up at an angle towards Natalie. It was too sudden for her to react, Natalie was hit by the wall, it slammed her into the barrier she had created. She collapsed onto the ground, still conscious.

“YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN CAST MAGIC WITHOUT A CATALYST! FIREBALL!”- Amber shouts from inside the walls.

A massive fireball, the size of the whole room burst through the stone wall, heaving towards Dark Elf Sophia’s direction. It swerved and curved down to the ground, blowing up before it got to Dark Elf Sophia.

“I’m so lucky! How did that miss?”- She thought.

Amber collapsed in exhaustion as casting spells without using a staff takes significantly more energy, especially when she maximized the size of the fire ball. Dark Elf Sophia smiled. She has taken down the two tough opponents whom she doesn’t want to hurt. “BOOM!” The loud sound can be heard from the giant wall that she made. Claudius had Kool-Aid-Man slammed through it. He charged directly at Dark Elf Sophia. As she shoots boulders at him, Leo counters by casting Barrier to block those attacks, allowing Claudius to get closer. Dark Elf Sophia tries to stop the slam attack, Claudius unexpectedly stops running. He instead quickly casted Dark Restraint, chaining Dark Elf Sophia down.

“I need to cast a 4th tier spell! Buy me some time”- Amber said, looking at Leo.

He immediately rushed over to her staff, grabbing it and throwing it over to her.

“Hear our prayers and punish the wrongdoers, o god. Holy Smite!”- Leo casts, sending a beam of light down the restrained Dark Elf Sophia.

The smite seems to actually work better this time, as Dark Elf Sophia seemed like she had finally taken some damage. As the smite ended, Dark Elf Sophia quieted down, her head tilted downwards. Another dark shockwave suddenly blasted from her body, sending Claudius and Leo to the ground. She broke out of the chain, laughing like a maniac. She looks around in realization that Amber is nowhere to be seen, frantically searches for her.

“...what’s yours is yours, REVERSE CHANNELING.”- Amber completes her spell cast, hidden behind the wall that Dark Elf Sophia had made.

Amber is standing on a magic circle that she has drawn, casting the 4th tier spell. A cloth tied to her right hand glowed bright blue, extending itself quickly and latching onto Dark Elf Sophia’s arm. She felt a rush of energy pulling her mana out of her body, along with her corruption. She collapsed onto her knees, trying to cut the glowing cloth, but it wouldn’t break. As she felt her consciousness fading away, she tried one last desperation spell. Even though she can’t see where Amber is standing, she can estimate using the bind, casting Ionus. A tiny wall formed right where Amber is standing, pushing her up. Since the wall formed right in the middle of the magic circle, it breaks the spell.

“Are you kidding me?”- Amber said.

Dark Elf Sophia had managed to interrupt the channeling, but headaches started occurring once again. She can feel Sophia's consciousness trying to come back, both fighting over the control of the body. She struggled and the walls slowly disappeared, all collapsing since the spell was being undone. Leo's party struggled to stand up, they headed over to Sophia in a hurry.

“You can do it! Fight Sophia!”- Leo encourages.

“Come back to us!”- Natalie said.

“Come on Amber. Why don’t you encourage her?”- Leo said, turning over to look at her.

Amber is not looking at Sophia, she is currently looking back behind them with a completely shocked expression.

“WHAT NOW?!?”- Leo shouted, turning around.

Behind them stood a mysterious black armor, standing menacingly still. It’s eye glowed red, holding a sword.

“That’s...That’s...That’s… A demon lord’s apostle…”- Amber said, completely shaking in fear.