Chapter 20: Counter

We were back in orbit of NEST thanks to granny's magic, to think she could teleport something of this size meant even at such an old age her strength hasn’t dwindled. This time I would get my chance to strike down Onyx, the strike teamed was composed of a much smaller group than the one five years ago but it was basically the same team with it being Winter, Cass, Clover. Based on the intel I had given to the others when I established a foothold on the ship, Winter deduced the four of them would be more than enough to handle whatever was hiding on board, and Onyx was to be dealt with swiftly. It seemed Onyx had drawn all the remaining abyssal soldiers back onto Star, leaving his ship empty with nobody to fend us off, we were able to pass through to the Ventho ship and from their we were able to relocate the gate. The area around it was empty, stepping near the gate triggered it, this time around I was able to pass through onto the other side and fortunately the others were able to pass through as well, as long as I stood in between the space of the two gates, it allowed entry to anyone. The full scale of this castle was something I couldn’t fathom, on the other side of the gate was another courtyard leading to the main part of the castle, waiting ahead were corrupted champions guarding the way in, those Onyx consider his most worthy and powerful. It was just the two of them guarding, one of them being the Ventho leader who tried to find Onyx but got turned, and the once dead champ now turned abyss soldier. We need to beat them to move forward, the gate they were guarding lead deeper into the castle, a simple shot of energy won't be enough. I focus, drawing on my energy to take shape, before I can conjure anything Clover gestures me to stop, “ you should hold off from using your affinity until Onyx,” Clover relays, well this shouldn’t last very long anyway, Cass and I decided to focus on the Ventho commander while Winter and Clover focused the champ. The fight went well for the first half, I was managing somehow without my affinity while Cass was obviously holding out well, although this thing was tougher than it looked. In an attempt to end the battle Cass blasted the abyssal commander using his void energy, this time it was condensed into a laser. Only for it to get absorbed into a mouth that sprouted on its chest, creepy and bad as it was able to redirect the energy in the form of a breath laser thing not sure I was kinda busy not dying. We were forced to come up with a new approach to this as any energy directed at it would just get absorbed and used against us, it seemed Winter and Clover didn’t have this kinda problem as Clover was her ice affinity while Winter relied on his own broadsword. If this thing absorbed energy would it be able to absorb darkness? From what I learned darkness energy can bypass other affinities, I would have to take the gamble and ignore Clovers suggestion. “ Cass I need you to hold that things attention while I try something, not sure if it’ll work but its worth a shot,” with this new plan in mind we set off, Cass is able to immediately grab the abyssals focus as he contests it in strength doing his best to parry any attack that comes his way while I draw on the dark power again, “ heads up!” Cass shouts a little late as the abyssal commander was right on me slashing its large blade into me launching me backward, fortunately Cass was able to catch me, I was also able to prevent the sword from slicing into me using the power I had conjured which meant I had to regather energy to pull off my plan. This time we both charge the abyssal commander this time and much like the last attempt Cass would stick to using his greatsword while I finally gathered enough darkness to form one attack, before I can say anything Cass was able to discern my next move and back away, allowing me ground myself, holding my right arm steady and aimed at the abyssal commander and mimicking what Cass was doing, launched a concentrated blast of darkness, its attempt to eat the blast ended with it piercing through its upper right chest effectively confirming my theory and killing it. Winter and Clover had already killed their opponent, it seemed they were able to coordinate an attack, using Clovers ice to prevent its movement for Winter to finish it. Cass and Clover walk ahead arguing about who took down their respective enemy first while Winter held me back to seemingly speak to me about something important in private, making sure the others are far enough he turns back to me, “ Normally people have decent control over their affinity, enough of that it lets them fight to their best, while Cass has near perfect mastery, better than most, you could say it even rivals that of the second queen with her light affinity, but near perfect isn’t perfect in his case” Winter states, “ Vacthius, an old god that existed back during the reign of the first queen is the source of Cass’ power and every time he uses the veridiant he puts himself at risk of losing his mind and body to this, thing. Using more than 70% puts him at risk of losing, which is why Akira had struck him with the power of another old god,” Winter says with a hint of disgust when he mentioned this, old god. So Cass was gaining power from some god somewhere, “ what do you want me to do about it, kill him?” Winter sighs, as if the answer should’ve been obvious, “ near his hand on the veridiant there should be a gem, if Cass were to lose himself you have 30 seconds at best, in which you are to rip that gem out, it’ll forcefully remove the veridiant from his arm but also sever his connection to this god for good,” Winter explains, that seemed rather unfortunate, “ why don't we just kill this god? If Cass has mastery over this power he can just make it his,” Winter sighs again, “ Vacthius is already dead, he was killed long ago during the purge of the old, I’ll tell you about that later but the point is, before Vacthius died he was able to preserve his soul and affinity for years waiting for the perfect host to emerge,” Winter says looking ahead toward where Cass and Clover were talking, “ Cass was able to fight its influence for years, if not for your mother Vacthius would have taken over, but if the time does arrive I need you to free him,” Winter requests, I nod my head in silence and he head back to the others, “ we were just discussing how to handle Onyx when we get there, Cass would act as the decoy while the rest of us can take him down,” Winter says jokingly with a slight smile, Cass would continue on with this joke. We had reached an another open area only this one was indoors, at the end was another gate, sitting cross legged in front of it was an abyssal soldier who looked more like a human solider, only this guy was carrying a lengthy katana instead. Its cold crimson eyes stare in wait as if anticipating one of us to strike first, but for some reason its gaze felt familiar, and it seemed it had run out of patience as it stands using its blade like a cane to get up, and if Clover hadn’t reacted we, or just me, would’ve died, the swordsman swung his blade as it produced a slash projectile which was fortunately intercepted by Clovers ice wall, “ It may be one guy but be on guard, something feels different with him,” Cass mentions, he was right about that, it was clad in simple armor, a chest piece, a simple helmet with strange abyssal cracks running along its edges, and a streak going across at the eye level which some how allowed it to see and allowed its opponents to see its eyes, and a cloak not too long that it interferes with its swings. I had switched to the spear incase my sword breaks trying to block one of those swings, it was similar to the emissary in terms of power, but despite it being a four on one it felt like he was fighting two, two on ones at the same time. Being able to repel any attack coming its way in time to intercept the next opponent until Clover and Cass struck simultaneously using their affinity, it used its sword to block the azure great sword and caught Clovers attack with its hand. Clover attempted to restrict its movement by freezing the ground while Cass launched a barrage of void encased blasts, and then it used its own affinity. In that split second the swordsman’s hand engulfed in flame as its struck the ground burning the ice Clover had set and still being able to deflect the blasts of void energy, Winter charges in engaging it in close combat, “ you two go ahead after Onyx, we’ll stay back and handle this guy!” Winter yells trying to focus on the fight, it seemed Cass was willing to go through with this plan, we both ignore the swordsman and head for the door, it had already caught on to this when it lunges at me attempting to strike me down before I can reach the door, its blade comes down and makes contact with the endless emperors gauntlet, whatever it was made out of was strong enough to parry an attack from Onyx’s champion, the sword strike knocked the both of us away from the other allowing Clover to throw up a small ice wall, “ hurry up and go!” Clover yells, she was able to catch him off guard and froze him mid swing allowing Cass to escape, while those two handle that abyssal we must beat Onyx, and thus we moved forward.