Chapter 23: Kings duel

You’d think fighting a three vs one would be easy, Onyx was holding his own against mother, I relied on my spear, unable to draw onto the light despite mothers assistance. Mother, Cass and Onyx were practically going toe-to-toe in battle, with each clash their strength seemed to only increase, Onyx was more rash, his hits started slow but were heavier, except he steadily sped up, while Mother was quick, but was able to convey almost the same level of strength, despite that Onyx was handling the two better than when it had been me and Cass, Although it looked like the two are on equal footing Onyx was overpowering the both of them with each hit, a small sector of the pillar disappears, it may have seemed like a small portion but it was all Onyx needed to completely overpower Mother and Cass, Onyx lets out a burst of energy, forcing the both of them to back up, the spikes of energy pierce mothers side and leaves a gash near Cass’ left eye, it may have seemed little but a direct hit from the abyss kings power can be corrupting like a virus, she can no longer hold her own because of that hit due to her power not being fully recovered while Cass seemed to have nullified the effect using the veridiant, it seemed power from an old god trumps over Onyx’s abyssal energy, speaking of he seemed to be enjoying his bout with Cass, who had begun to infuse void energy into his swings, causing the air around the sword to distort a little. The veridiant seemed to cover more of Cass’s body than normal, meaning he ramped up his manifestation level by a lot which was good but Winters words resurface, if he loses control I’d have to deal with not just an abyssal king, but an old god. I need to do more than just stand around and watch, especially now that the risk of Cass losing it was more apparent, I manage to muster some energy which was all I needed to charge at Onyx, I unconsciously use the dark power striking Onyx hard as the power surges, I can only feel the dark grasp, this time it wasn’t gonna try and let it consume me, I had a firm grasp over it. Onyx was clutching the side I had struck, I can hear, laughter? He was laughing? "Spawn of the light are normally immune to the influence of the darkness, but you? You openly embrace it as if it’s yours, you have been chosen by both the darkness and light…” Onyx trails off, his voice echoing through the realm, he starts laughing again, " no… It appears that your connection to this “light” doesn’t even exist! You, the son of the great Queen of light,” he says waving his towards mother, “ abandoned by that very same power!” Onyx taunts. Everyone with an affinity becomes immune to the dark powers regardless of type, it was told to everyone by Winter and the king, and yet I wield it. It was frustrating, why I have an affinity to darkness, its not fair, I should’ve inherited the energy of light from my mother as she had from hers, why was I the only one to wield this cursed power? I prepare to make my move against Onyx until I feel somethings gaze. The sudden swell in emotion forces the darkness to amplify, before I can reengage Onyx I feel the same presence that had been watching me from the palace halls, I frantically look around hoping to see who it is in this vast space, and yet I only see Mother and Onyx, both seem confused as to what I'm doing. Like last time the gaze disappears and in its place, was power, although the amount of power I had received was around the same as when I fought the emissary, the power wasn’t as loud. Instead it freely flows through my entire being. Onyx had absorbed half of the pillar, meaning he had half the king's power. My significant boost in power gave me the edge needed to push back against Onyx, the spear was able to cut through his skin platings more easily than before. He seemed desperate as he tries backing to the pillar hoping to absorb the rest, upon grabbing his arm I can feel a flow of energy being redirected, one that was flowing toward me instead. Onyx had grabbed the pillar, but instead of bestowing the power on him, it was going to me. Onyx pushes me back as the pillar disappears completely, my interference forced its absorption rate to increase, whether all the power went into me or Onyx I wasn’t sure. Or I was, Floating above my head not too far up, was a black partially see-through crown, its shape was fluid-like as it flowed in place while maintaining its crown shape. All of a sudden my surroundings began to melt into something new, the mist surrounding the area and everyone around me began moving slowly as if time was slowed. "Power manifests into what best represents the wielder, Onyx had a sword, for you it was a crown, representing a king. Perhaps you will function as a better vessel,” The first king I assume, says. He looked similar to Onyx, except his plating was dark green, similar to that stone that made up the pedestals and the ascenders structures. He had appeared in the sudden change in environment, we were standing in a brighter version of the ascended plane, the gray sky now brighter, in the distance, a large tree stood out, its branches covering the vast sky with its dark red leaves, “We are in your soulscape, similar to that of the realm this place can only be achieved via tremendous power, which you have come into possession of when you siphoned the rest of my power from Onyx,” the first king explains, “everything that is happening now is slower than the outside world, now let go and let me bring forth my rebirth,” the first king says as chains emerge from the now water floor, they merge onto my arms as they begin to pull me down, fighting back wasn’t an option it seemed, the chains drained my strength, on top of that, my mindscape began to lose color, like it was being drained, fractures formed on the edges and slowly closed in, the large tree withering along with the rest of the realm as the leaves fall and crumple into dust midair. In place of the broken realm it was being overlapped by red, the grey sky slowly turning, until it didn’t. They stopped, I had been forced to my knees when the chains pulling me down and fracturing had stopped. The gaze returned. Standing in between me and the First king was the stranger from the treasure kingdom, when in the vault, and outside the hideout. Their height was the same and they’re wearing the same type of clothing I saw back at the run down cafe before I had passed out, which meant I wasn’t seeing things. Aside from our brief encounter, it feels like I’ve known the stranger longer, I assume she was a child, wearing a maroon poncho with a hood over her head, only one of her eyes were visible, the other masked out by the shadow of the hood, it was a deep crimson in color, it reminded him of the champion and Astar. Her hair flowed freely on either side, her smile was the only other noticeable feature, and she was smiling at me. She Turned to the king while upholding the same smile she holds up her hand, the first king takes a step back, like he was afraid, "No you are not supposed to exist, not yet! DO NOT GET IN MY WAY!” the King booms throwing his hand at the kid, I can feel the chains that held me were no more, the realm around me begins reverting back to what it was, the red color shifting back to the light grey and the tree healed, when I look back the king was no more. The kid turns to face me, holding out her hand, I flinched, assuming she was gonna vaporize me next, I hear a giggle, I open my eyes to see her hand outstretched to help me up, not to obliterate. I wasn’t entirely sure, but the gaze was the one I’ve been feeling this entire time, from back then in the palace halls, and when the dark power took hold. She had been watching me, waiting for the right moment to step in. I can’t help but smile, taking her hand. When the first king said things would be slower outside he meant it, I’m sent back into reality, straight to Onyx’s fist coming at me with full force, striking me in the chest, Onyx had seen my crown and became enraged, I assume he was it’s hard to read his face. I however barely felt the attack thanks to my newfound power, I did however feel the abyssal energy pricking away at my body, after regaining my footing I struck back at Onyx, I needed the battle to end soon, the effects of the first Kings power were unknown to me and I decided to leave it unknown. Onyx was able to catch me off guard and lodged his blade into my right shoulder, pain bolts from the point of contact throughout my body as he drags the blade upward, for some reason it felt cold, like he had struck me with ice. It should’ve killed me, a good chunk of my right side was about to fall off if it hadn’t been for the king's power, I push Onyx back as the wound began to mend, around the mended wound small lines of abyssal energy draw its way outward onto my body, even though they just showed they had crawled all they way up onto my neck, the cold feeling coming from the abyssal magic infusing into my flesh as it stitched itself back together. It left a scar where the sword struck, but now it was my turn, by forcing all the power to take shape, the crown began to waver out, I managed to pour the energy into the spear, I was wielding three powers, dark affinity, the abyssal kings power, and something else, its faint but I can feel it. And like last time I can feel the coldness of the abyssal power just from holding the handle, it was bearable. I thrust the spear at Onyx, just barely piercing his armor as he’s blown back by the impact, it seems I couldn’t draw on the abyssal power fully then, but this time I would channeling all the power into the spear. Onyx upon seeing the charged spear decided to go all in too, instead of a weapon he poured all his energy into a ball, hoping to replicate a laser but on a scale 100 times bigger, and deadlier. This standoff worked in my favor, in one leap I lunged toward Onyx, instead of trying to force my way through the blast I handle the spear in one hand as I have my arm with the chain around it to be in front of me, and as I guessed it began to absorb the blast. Everything depended on this one part going right. I had gambled my life on something I accidentally had done once. The energy I absorbed was being poured into the Spear, making it glow as its strength increased, The blast had dyed down and Onyx was left in utter shock and anger, "NO! I WON’T LET IT END HERE, I WILL UPHOLD MY KINGS FINAL REQUEST, I WILL FIND THE ANOMALY AND MAKE IT MINE, YOU WILL FALL HERE, NOT ME!” a desperate Onyx yells, I swing the spear forward, grabbing it with both hands, raising it high as Onyx swings his own sword upward, it would have made contact if not for Cass, he was able to read both our moves and was able to cleave the blade and Onyx’s arm off, I was able to bringing down on Onyx as the spearhead connects to his shoulder, cleaving the fallen King in half, the spear remain embedded into the sand where Onyx had crumbled. I let the power of the king disappear, the strange lines seemed to have disappeared as well, this must’ve been the kids doing. "I am not sure how you did it, but you have grown in your power,” Mother says, I had forgotten she was here. "I would’ve stepped in but it seemed you two had it under control,” Mother says smiling, Ah that's right, I could’ve used the king's power to rip open an exit. The ensuing battle flattened the surrounding area, except for one small dune, almost like something was keeping it from breaking down. " You can come out now the battle ended,” Cass shouts confusing both Mother and I, “ I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t been hit that one time. When we were fighting Onyx back on his Battleship it seems a scout was watching, and followed me into the ascended plane,” Cass says. Clad in simple armor, wearing glasses and holding a notebook in which he seemed to have documented this whole thing in, he wielded an affinity, " You must be one of Anthonys,” He flinches back, “ I should have enough energy to open a way back, we should go,” Mother intervenes. I hadn’t noticed, unintentionally I was raising my arm to grab my spear, as if a dark impulse had overridden my commands… I was beginning to see the consequences of this dark power. Nah, as long as I remain me this power has no hold on what I do, Mother opens a way back to the Battleship, “ welp, that has been one, long fight, I say we did pretty good as a team, we should also head back before Winter and Clover rip the castle apart trying to figure out where we went,” Cass says chuckling, it took awhile but it was over, this had ended the long war between the Abyssal faction and the Kingdom of Light.