Felna

10 years ago, Ashenhale was not what it is. It once stood mighty as once of the many cities that had impregnable defenses through the use of their advanced technology. The city slowly became an attraction for visitors and soon had ranked as the top 3 most visited city. It all went well until one of their experiments went faulty. It was an experiment to test whether if it is possible to extract the mana essence completely and store it in a separate container but it proved impossible.

The container overflew with mana essence and as soon as they realize it, it was too late. The research center exploded and caused a big explosion that took hundreds of life. Then, as if it wasn't enough, a creature managed to absorb all those overflowing mana essence and became an unstoppable beast that to this day, none had managed to even scratch it. It was then named the 'boss of Ashenhale' and the city was left like that for years to come.

Until Hilgart Fey and his gang came. But it made no difference. They had to escape from the terrifying powerful beast with the loss of two lives and even though they did escape, all of them were scared; both physically and mentally.

---

Now years passed and few has yet again chose to challenge this beast; of course, unknown to the fact that this monster resides here, ready to jump on its prey at every corner.

A group of young teenagers had decided to re-trace the steps of Hilgart Fey in order to investigate behind his disappearance. They had stepped onto the territory of the monstrosity that ate lives and devoured its own kin. Just as they waltzed into this ruin, the beast appeared before them, its stomach already growling for its next lunch.

Only three managed to barely escape it, only at the same cost of many lives. Now they will have to escape this monster and reach whatever safety their legs will bring them. How will they escape from the deadly eyes of this monster?

---

"Gah..." The constant heavy breathes of a man echoes throughout the room. In his hands is a blade of black void, without any solid structures to its components. Standing in front of him is a long black haired woman who gave off an matured aura. Her glasses stared down upon the black haired boy and without any hesitation, she swung up her spear. "Just give up, Vince. There's no way you can defeat me." Her commanding voice would have shook any man's pride, but the boy stood firm in his weakened stance. "I wouldn't think so, Cecilia!"

In a split second, he disappeared. The girl stumbled. This was her already her fifth time having a duel with the boy, but it always ended up in the same situation. "This won't work on me for the fifth time, Vince!" She threw her spear at a direction where she felt he will be, but it only got stuck onto a wall without hitting anything. The spear exploded afterwards. She clicked her tongue and ran towards her spear, in an attempt to grab her spear.

It was then that Vince appeared right next to her. She turned and looked at him, surprised again by his appearance. He swung his black sword against the girl and although she barely managed to block it with a swirling fire shield, she was knocked back towards the end of the room. A red alarm sounded throughout the room and lit the room in red. Vince's black weapon slowly disintegrates but he kept his poker face. He walked towards the fallen girl and reached out his hands. "I won again, Cecilia."

---

Everything ended however. Vince snapped open his eyes and found himself staring at the same dark ceiling again. He seemed to have dozed off while waiting and there was already a commotion happening outside. He stood back up and brushed the dust off on his side. He crept his way to the nearby windows and was surprised by the sight of the same giant monster that had chased him to no end chasing another group. What's more, it seems as if the group was two young kids.

He immediately clicked his tongue. He thought he had managed to shake off the beast but if the monster were to come here, it would be able to smell his scent. He'd have to escape somehow. He felt sorry for the ones getting chased now. He quickly grabbed his back pack and dashed for the stairs, descending quickly. "I know. There isn't much time left." He mumbled to himself.

It was the morning of another day. Xexion was bustling; guards and automatons on patrol, ready for another mana-eater attack. At the Cyria Hallows orphanage stood a young man with messy short black hair, looking over some documents. He had forgotten to study the night before, taking care of his sister, the city-famous Lilina Laxuz, unlucky holder of a persistent cough. She'd had it for about a week already, coughing incessantly, but it was so bad just last night that she almost couldn't breathe; she ended up puking and losing her voice, but Heron somehow managed to set the girl to sleep, fondly rubbing her head. And because of that, he was falling a little behind in his studies, not that he regretted a thing.

"Where's your sister?" One of the children at the orphanage asked, looking up at the man, who noticed the boy and give him a gentle smile. "Should still be resting, I'm afraid."

Over the years, since the siblings were sent here, the orphanage has improved a little. Heron always took what little cash he could spare, and donated it to Farena, the then-young lady who owned it. Now, because of that, and of course, the cash people would give Lilina for fighting, would be used to make sure the children had clothing and food, and even a few luxuries. Just a few months ago, Lilina gave Farena a whistle to blow, in case mana-eaters ever made their way to the orphanage- it was tuned to Lilina's frequency, so she could use her mana to send herself sling-shotting across Xexion if need be, in order to come to the rescue. Farena was grateful and inwardly proud of the siblings, and how they adapted from what used to be a shell shocked brother and an murderer sister... she in all honesty felt a maternal sort of pride. She loved all her children, but the Laxus siblings were the cream of the crop- intelligent young man and energetic fighter girl.

Sure enough, with a little pop sound, a girl seemed to have suddenly appeared in the air in front of Heron; tiny smirk in place; and leapt onto her brother, tangling her arms around his neck in a tight glomp. Heron jumped at first; startled, but when he saw that it was his adorable little sister, he smiled warmly at her and rubbed her back. "How you feeling, sis?"

"Meh." Lily mimed rubbing her throat, and made a disgusted face, before sitting herself down on the ground where some children were playing with blocks. Her voice itself was a little hoarse and croaky, and before she continued, her body buckled down as she let out a few feeble coughs. She smiled reassuringly at the worried-looking Farena, and gave her the peace sign and a toothy grin. "Throat's a bit sore. Don't matter, though."

She then gave her brother a look, letting him know that she wanted to speak to him in private. So, with a little wave to Farena, who waved back and began tending one child who couldn't her bladder any longer, the two siblings sauntered just outside the door. Lilina then showed the letter shed received to Heron, with a bit of a shrug.

"We're both Guardians." She said quietly. "I'm the only one who can fight though, y'know?"

Heron looked at the short girl with a bit of a frown. "What about Xexion? The city needs you here. And the kids, they need you. Hell, sis, I need you."

She shook her head at him grimly. "This looks... I don't know how to put it... but, um. It's probably really important, and maybe it's how we'll fix everything once and for all."

"But we've never been apart before, sis."

Lily showed a slight hint of a smirk, lifting up the corner of her mouth inquisitively, nervously. "You gotta hurry up with developing better weapons for the people here, then, don'cha?"

The little sister then leaned in close to her brother's ear. "You know I love you too, right? I'd love to just stick around, but I feel like I need to go with the other Guardians. They might need me there if things end up bad."

---

How the hell was she going to get herself back to Xexion alive? The whole excursion was a disaster; no one was strong enough to really handle the damn monster. They had tried, of course, and Lilina had even shot her spear at it at bullet-speed, but to no avail. Hell, she wasn't even sure if it had made a dent or not in the thing. Seeing the spider chase after other Guardians, Lily clicked her tongue angrily and boosted herself down to shoot one of the injured into the air. In seamless motion, she shot herself up, and then, touching his brow gently, sent him to safety atop a building, just out of the fray.

"Don't worry 'bout the others." She muttered to herself, zipping around the spider to send a large chunk of cement at the spider. "Idiot Lily... just focus on getting back to Heron alive..." She just barely dodged a blast of webbing from her opponent, before shooting herself, spear pointed menacingly forwards, directly at it, before shooting herself back to a safe distance after her strike. It was injured, sure, but was it really helping?

Lily reached and grabbed at two bombs from under her skirt- many of them gifts from her brother before the trip, and with a strained snarl, sent them at the spider, finally distracting it and having it's attention turned towards her. Just as well, since with her speed, it'd be hard-pressed to even catch up with her at all. She still wasn't sure why she didn't just escape to Xexion once things were going badly, but there was nothing to be done about that.

She heard the loud explosions of the bombs crash against the spider, and as the smoke cleared, the speedy girl wondered if she had done enough damage yet.

“Wake up, Candon. It’s time to go… ha, sleeping in are you, well then I’ll just leave without you then.”
Candon smiled at the sound of Juliet’s voice. Today was the day they were to leave on their trip. Candon had been saving for this since they were wed and the day has finally come.
As he opened his eyes he was met with her face only centimetres from his, making him jump, with which she laughed, making him begin to laugh too. They laughed together within the light of the morn. Together. It seemed so fleeting, as if these moments will soon be for naught. But those are dark thoughts, not for happy times such as these; he would put them aside, for Juliet.
“Is something the matter Candon, you seem elsewhere?” oh she noticed, she was always so insightful.

“No… no, nothing to worry yourself over. Come on, you wanted to leave didn’t you, well then we best be off.” She hoped to hide the pained on his face, and succeeded to some extent, or at least he had hoped so, he wasn’t exactly the master deceiver.

“Wait, why not stay only a bit longer. This will be the last time we see our homestead for a while, and I want our last memory of it to be a happy one.”
That smile, her smile. Ah Candon could remember it so fondly… remember that’s not right. Know… I know I that smile so well, not remember.

“Ah so now who is the one not wanting to leave in a hurry. Oh but you know I can’t refuse you. I am fortunate you are never my enemy, for you could kill me with the simple flutter of the eyes.” He smiled, his was going to be a good day he could feel it in his bones. “Come then my love, we shall walk the town, together.”

“Of course Candon, that sounds lovely.” The joy in her eyes was overwhelming, a love which he hasn’t felt in a long time flooded his system, followed by a feeling of intense longing, but why? This was all so confusing, he was here with Juliet, and nothing could be better. His love for her was greater then anything else in his life, and he would never lose, so why this longing? He must figure this out, but perhaps later for now his wife and his town awaits.

He arose from his bed, dressed himself, and prepared to leave. His confusion was pushed to the side of his mind, as he gazed upon his beautiful wife. This world seemed to be not as treacherous, all his worries almost ceased to exist, and as he took her hand, he decided at that moment that he would do anything to protect this precious harmony within his life. At that moment he opened his door, and as he did oblivion awaited him. The world around him burned; the people screamed with agony and the cries of children surrounded him. He looked back in desperation. Juliet, his love, was nothing more then a corpse he aloof by his grip on her hand. Shock grasped his very being, and with that a blinding flash of light engulfed him


Candon awoke with a gasp, his mind grasping at straws of desperation, looming on the precipice of chaos. He sat there in dead silence, trying to steady himself, but to no avail.
“Juliet!” he screamed, his eyes filling with tears. His mind wanted to tear itself to pieces, but he must not let it. He is far to close to his destination and he needed to control himself if he was ever to help the guardians. But, why Juliet, why must you leave…no…No! This was his mind, he was in control. He stood up, and forced himself to move, his mind would torture him, but he could maintain control if he could keep active and occupied. The previous few days he had travelled to the outskirts these ruins; he had received a letter, a sign of hope for him, from this cycle of self-destruction. The guardians had once been a home for him, and if it weren’t for them he never would have survived on his own. He owes the remaining guardians the help he can provide, and perhaps he can do some good for once in his life. He began to break into a light jog, concentrating on the pace of his movement. He hopes to reach the intended destination within the city by today, but considering his nightmare and emotional instability that might not be possible, but then he heard a noise, an unearthly noise. He rushed to the location of this sound, taking up a vantage point on a nearby hill. And what he saw shocked him. A giant spider, silhouetted against the blank cityscape with terrifying ferocity, but if that was not disturbing enough, there was a group of people down on the ground with the spider fighting it off. “Oh no, this is not good. Are these the guardians I am to meet.” If these were them then he would need to help them, but if he charged in he would likely lose himself to any number of other selves within himself.
“ If I cannot help them directly then I will help from here” he pulled out his javelin from its sling and begin to channel his power into it, he channelled his conscious being into his mana and with a spin of the spear forms began to appear, forms of shadows and darkness. Over the space of a minute these forms began to take structure, becoming exact copies of himself, except blank, emotionless. These three copies could help with the fight. Even if they couldn’t use mana in the way he could, they could at a minimum provide a distraction for the guardians to seize. He sat down in a covered area, these formations would require all his concentration to hold, so he prepared for the long haul and sent the copies down the hill straight towards the spider.

It had only been a matter of minutes before the odds had been devastatingly placed against them, resulting in not only the loss of quite a few comrades but also in the death of Eleina Fey, the very leader of the mission that some of the Guardians of Felna had joined her to complete. The giant black spider had crashed through one of the buildings and attacked them without warning. During this endeavor Liv had done what she always did when facing a risky challenge; she'd vanished. She didn't see it as abandoning her teammates, as far she knew the majority if not all of them had been wiped out. Knowing nothing of what the beast of a mana-eater was capable, Live had to get to safety so she could analyze what they were up against.

She'd taken refuge in one of the ruins, kneeling with her back against the crumbling stone wall just beside the doorway, though having no way to close it since there was no door on the broken hinges. Not that that would do any good keeping the monster out anyway. She'd been listening to the massive black spider make it's way through the streets of the abandoned town for the past few minutes now. After waiting for a few more seconds she took in a slow, steady breath to calm her heartbeat. Then, after letting out that breath she quietly stood. There was absolutely no way she could destroy the mana-eater on her own, nor was she quite sure if it would so easily be defeated even if some of the other guardians had managed to escape. Either way, if she remained in this building for much longer the beast would eventually find her.

She began to make her way up to the roof of the six story building, luckily the stairs were all mostly intact so she didn't have to do a lot of climbing. When she reached the rooftop she at first could not spot the spider, but there was no doubt that it was nearby. The rumbling and dusty sky wasn't just there because it felt like it and sure enough, before long the mana-eater raged down the street below, crashing through anything in it's path.

Turns out she hadn't been the only one to survive it's first attack. The girl known as Lilina Laxus looked to be the first to fling herself into the fray and attack it. Lily wasn't really much younger than herself, both of them being the same age and only month apart, but to be honest Liv had mistaken her for a 12 year old when they first met. Liv watched quietly as the smaller girl threw a few more attacks at the large mana-eater, though they didn't seem to be having any effect. Liv had fought plenty of mana-eaters, but she'd never faced anything this large or powerful before. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd even make it out alive if she tried to attack it herself, even with the help of Lily.

She was slightly surprised when Lilina deliberately used herself as bait to draw the spider further away, the beast crawling at high speed down the cluttered street after her. Liv saw this as a precious opportunity and took off in the same direction, leaping from roof top to roof top as she ran. If there was any time to attack it would be now while the spider was still unaware of her presence and focused on the smaller girl. Maybe she wouldn't be capable of defeating or maybe even injuring such a powerful monster, but this was what her duty was as a guardian and there was no turning back now.

The spider had finally stopped, buried in the smoke from the bombs that Lily had thrown. "Now!", she whispered quickly to herself, leaping from the roof of the building and removing her mana weapon from it's holder. A flash of blue lightly sparked out and formed into a blade that she raised high with both her hands. Aiming for the top of the spiders head, she fell quickly. However as she was nearly ready to bring down the point of her Ruya onto the beast, the smoke swooshed and a thick leg swung it's way towards Liv, hitting her in the side and flinging her a little ways before she landed in the rubble about 40 feet in front of the spider. She had rolled a few times at first, but then managed to fall into a kneel and she slid the rest of the way.

However now she was in a dangerous spot, definitely not the location she had intended to escape to after striking her opponent. She knew there was a chance that her attack would fail though, so she wasn't set aback by this situation in the slightest. Perhaps she had enough time until the smoke cleared from the spiders eyes to get to higher ground. If not, well then she would just have to come up with something or simply accept her fate. She slowly stood up with her sword softly clutched in her right hand, ignoring the pain in her knees and preparing herself to either fight, flee, or die trying.

The beast did not falter from any of the attacks that had approached it. It only grew hungrier and hungrier by the second and watching the little flies buzz around was really annoying. It started getting more and more desperate. It wanted to eat. It wanted to satisfy its immense hunger. It had waited for 3 years after feeding itself on the two lost human souls. Today, it ate more than the last time, and it wants nothing but to eat more and more.

There was something weird though. A few more suicidal humans seems to have decided to charge at it, but when it ate the humans, they did not bled. A recent attack by a electric fly had then surprised it, but it did not matter. It only had to swing its huge and hairy legs before hitting its prey and sending it fly a few miles away. It finally cornered another prey. This time, it shall feast upon the tiny body of the human.

---

At the same time, Vince had already descended his stairs. There was completely no sight of the beast but it left nothing but destruction behind. Some of the buildings had already reached its limit and crumbled when the beast chased the few teenagers, and gigantic holes were on the ground, evidently showing that even its step could be a threat to the small humans. He looked everywhere before grabbing a map from the side of his backpack. An old paper with black boxes and a huge title saying 'Ashenhale' on the top. A red cross was marked on the southeast of the map, on the edge of the city limits.

He nodded to himself before putting map the back. He turned left and started running, hoping that he wouldn't run into the mana-eater. But, just as he was running, he could hear more stomping and what sounded like attacks as he ran towards his destination. He had a feeling that the mana-eater was somewhere near him, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere in front of him. He turned right into an alleyway and a chill was sent down his spine. He didn't felt right but he moved forward anyways.

And there it was, standing in front of the black-haired boy, its back facing him. To his left, he saw a girl with long black hair in a weakened stance, holding a weapon that could be assumed to be a essence concentrator. "Crap, that kid's in danger!" Is what he thought to himself. But, something stopped his track of thoughts.

"Yes, I know, I have to run before it's too late!"
"It's not that I-"
"No! Remember, there's that thing waiting in the basement! We'll at least need a bait or two in order to get pass it!"
"What?! You could do it yourself?! Don't be absurd! I don't want to bet it on your powers, that's too dangerous! You know how destructive your powers are! If you unleash it inside there, who knows exactly what will happen!"
"So, it's been decided, eh?"

What had happened was a conversation between him and the Mana of Void. It had been living in him for as long as Vince could remember, and now they're like one entity. Arguments happen now and then, but they always found a way out of it. Now is one of the time. Without hesitation, Vince charged forward and ran underneath the beast. In a mere second, he had already reached in front of the girl. Sure enough, he could see that she was surprised. But Vince paid no mind and turned around to the charging monster. He raised out his left hand and readied himself in the standard martial art stance.

The monster continued to charge at the duo, but Vince stood firmly. Slowly, a black and ominous aura engulfs around his right clenched fist. As the seconds pass by, the aura grows more and more bigger, until the monster came. He threw his fist onto the beast and a suddenly clash of an unknown entity with the monster happened. A huge gust of wind blows toward to the side. The monster was stopped abruptly in its path, yet it was still very stubborn. It gave all its might into pushing Vince, and he clearly couldn't hold out much longer.

"You there! Run before its too late!" He shouted at the girl behind him. Any more longer and they will be both squashed into huge chunks of meat. He hoped that she would listen to him.

Who was this person? Suddenly out of nowhere, only a second after Liv had regained her stance and readied herself for her next course of action, some boy had boldly leaped from between the buildings, ran under the spider, and now stood in front of her. Her fist conclusion was that this was another guardian who'd survived the spiders first attack, but then again she couldn't recall seeing this person in the group from earlier. When he showed clear signs of housing a mana, she grew slightly suspicious, however her suspicions would have to wait to be studied later. At the moment the smoke bombs that had been thrown by Lily had cleared up and the spider now had a clear view of the both of them.

It begun to charge and Liv raised her weapon a few inches and prepared to charge as well, that was until until the strange boy had stepped up and released a strong surge of power from his fist, stopping the mana-eater in it's tracks. Her hair and clothes ruffled as the wind from his, say, shield blew out the sides. Whether this person was someone who had been on the mission with them or not didn't matter to her now. With another person fighting, they might stand a chance.

"You there! Run before its too late!"

Livs eyes widened just slightly, but they once again returned to their mostly stoic appearance after she realized what was about to happen. Of course there was no way he could hold it off for much longer. "How annoying", she thought to herself, feeling kind of angry with him. She could run off and save herself, yeah, but if he tried to step away he wouldn't nearly have enough time to escape the spider before it would ram into him. She resisted the urge to point her gun at him and mutter something like 'idiot', or 'shut up', and instead leaned forward.

"Hold it there.", she said dully before pushing off with her left food and begun to dash forward, sword in both hands and ready to be swung. It was clear to her now. The monsters weakness was obviously it's legs. Without them it wouldn't be able to move and it would be helpless. She of course could not remove all of them, but she new Lily was above watching and she'd spotted another one of their guardians not far off behind the spider. She could yell to them and explain what her plan was, but this mana-eater was intelligent and could not be underestimated in such a way.

All she could do was hope that the other two would catch on as she curved around the right side and aimed for the front leg. There was the loud crackling noise of electricity as she pushed more of her power into the blade of her sword, the light flickering and lines of lightening thickening and shocking the ground around her. With a swift swing she sliced the blade through the middle of the spiders front leg. Maybe it's body was made of almost impenetrable armor, but it's legs didn't seem to be so lucky.

Not knowing whether or not the stranger could keep the spider still fro much longer, she called out Lily's name, though her name was all she called out and she knew she couldn't yell loud enough for the white-haired boy to hear her.

"The legs!", she wanted to shout, but instead kept quiet and instead leaped to the side to avoid the swing of the second leg that reached for her, but moved too slowly. "Aim for it's legs!"

Within the smoke, Lilina saw another girl lunge forward from above to strike the spider- she recognized the taller, yet same aged girl to be that Liv Firelight, the electricity girl, and nodded slightly. Any help was welcome; Lily really doubted that this monster would be an easy fight, and any chance of getting out unscathed was probably only a fool's hope at this point. She didn't hear anything after seeing Liv's attack, so she knew the spider was still alive. Mentally preparing herself for the dizzy feeling of shooting herself, she flung into the air, and brandishing the front half of her spear, the second half sort of dangling behind her, Lilina knew she had to continue the offensive as best as she could.

She sensed it before it happened, a long hairy appendage from the beast reached out and swatted the electricity as if she was nothing more than a bothersome fly. Lilina cursed mentally; seems like the only way to be safe was to have almost impossible speed, no one else could really dodge split second blows so easily except her. Why was this mana-eater so strong, Lilina wondered as she slammed her spear into the hard surface of its skin, trying to dig it in, and then flinging herself back to a safe range before the monster could counterattack her. The others shes fought over the years in Xexion weren't this strong, and to be honest, the somewhat proud girl was feeling discouraged. Was she, perhaps, not as strong as she thought she was?

She shook her head vehemently, unleashing more spurts of closing in with vicious stabs, and well-timed retreats. She was strong, otherwise she wouldn't have been such an asset to the defense of Xexion, the casualties stay at an absolute minimum by slingshotting any of the injured citizens out, and with a combination of speed and spear, helping to slay the mana-eaters as they came. But a beast such as this, Lily struggled to think of anything back at Xexion that could handle it, except maybe the Mana of Iron.

Eventually though, the beast would drive and corner live in an alley way, making for no easy escape routes, with Lily making an angry curse as she pondered Liv's stupidity. The spider, with its menacingly clicking mandibles, descended upon Liv, and Lily wondered briefly if she should even bother to help. More allies the better, she supposed, although it didn't particularly matter to her if Liv died or not. The spider looked as if it was set in killing the electric girl, anyways, but still, Lily used quick speed bursts to try and catch up. Just in case Liv could be useful later on. Before she made her plan to attack, though, a strange man came first, somehow, and attacked the spider, saving Liv's life. Now that that was settled, Lily continued her barrage of stabs and strikes.

But nothing seemed to be working, and the spider charged again, at the trio and Lily noticed a look of annoyance on the girl, Liv.

"You there! Run before its too late!" The stranger shouted back at her, and Lilina rolled her eyes inwardly, before smiling sweetly at him, with somewhat of an innocent flutter.

Liv herself dashed forward with the sword in a double-handed grip, seemingly noticing something. At the same time, Lily saw how thin and trail the legs were, and how getting rid of them would be crippling. If her instinct was correct, she and Liv came to the same conclusion at the same time. With a smirk and a cute nod, Lilina twirled her spear to aim forward, and shot herself like a bullet at one of the back legs, digging the sharp blade in as far as she could; with intense momentum, it seemed as if only invincible armor could withstand her attack.

She zoomed to a safe distance before using another speed burst to strike again at the same leg. There was no way it could easily take a hit like that, and Lily sent herself back a little, directly behind Liv as she saw another leg swoop out, this time faster than before. Liv didn't have enough time to dodge it, Lily thought, and quickly used her Mana to send Liv flying backwards, farther into the alley.

"Be more careful, okay?" Lily looked back at the fallen electricity girl, as she dealt with, presumably, the dizziness most people got when being used as a bullet. "I don't" - dodging another blow with her speed - "you to get hit again!"

Lily then unleashed another torrent of bombs, at blinding speed, and chunks of the buildings crumbled and fell around the blast radius. Moving quickly, Lily sent herself behind each chunk, and catapulted each huge cement block towards the spider, hoping the weight and speed would crush at least half of the legs before she was done.

Even from his vantage point could see the ensuing fight was demoralizingly one-sided, this beast was far to strong to be an ordinary mana-eater, too strong, too fast, it was too coordinated. His forms now had finally closed the distance between him and the beast. He now was able to directly connect himself with the forms. He closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind to the best of his ability, and as he did he opened his mind to the sensory data of the forms. Three bodies data within the mind of one. Now he was very thankful he kept his distance because this would not be possible with that beast too close. As his mind became synchronised, he could now see the people he was fighting, two females, one male, the other guardians if any were left were too hard to recognize, considering the large mass of plating and hair so close to them. The beast itself now, as he could see clearly, was being held in place by the male one among them, a swirling vortex of energy was holding the spider in place. However the strain on his face was undeniable, the power required to hold back such strength must have been exponential. Whilst this was occurring he could see the other two attacking, and not suicidally either, they knew the extent of their abilities in comparison to this terrible monster, they were smart and cunning. He smiled, just as he remembered them, the chivalrous, steadfast defenders of Felna; it was hard to believe he was once a part of them, how time has changed him. But these were not thoughts for the battlefield. He refocused himself, tried to decipher a strategy to take down the spider, however it seemed one of the females had already taken the liberty

“The legs! Aim for the legs!”

Of course, the logic was there, no legs means no movement, which makes it much easier to deal with. And considering the rest of the beast the joints seemed the most viable target for their assault, so as the beast was distracted with them and the warp he found his time to strike. He charged two of his forms straight at one leg, which was supporting its other raised striking legs, and as they ran changed the shadows that formed there arms into lengthened blades. They both jumped the exposed joint, digging the blades just enough to make sure that it remain open, and with the last sprinted directly at the middle of the joint itself moving all excess energy within its body to one focal at the end of it’s fist. It began to glow a dark black and as he gained enough momentum he jumped and with contact a large black explosion was generated. All three of the forms were tossed away by the explosion, all of them managing to recover just in time to avoid a new onslaught from its free leg.
‘Hopefully that put it off balance enough for the others to make their strikes against it” he though to himself, as he prepared for another assault on the legs.

Pesky flies. It wished that the annoying flies would just stay down and let it eat them. Why stay so stubborn and fight for their lives? They're gonna die anyway, so why resist? It couldn't comprehend. The oncoming attacks slowly became more than a tiny flies attempting to tickle it. Why were the flies getting so annoying? How were they attacking? It finally realized that a black fly were stopping it in its tracks. It became more angry. It pushed with all its might, but no matter how much it tries, the fly just wouldn't give up.

However, something seemed wrong. The fly smelled more... like itself. As if they were two of a same kind. Just the thought of it made it more hungry. It couldn't wait to devour the black fly. It ignored all of the incoming attacks, and had its eyes on the black fly.

---

"Stupid spider, just give up already!" He shouted. Seconds passed as the girl behind him started attacking. He wanted to curse at the girls attacking. The monster wouldn't fall just because its leg broke. It had animal instincts. The more it wants to eat, the more it tries its very best just to hunt down its prey and now, the monster were clearly beyond that. The fact that it didn't gave up to Vince's stopping force meant that it became desperate.

Cold sweat broke furiously around his head. He realized that he couldn't hold on any longer. With the two girls in front of the mana-eater, there was no way that he could let up now. He closed his eyes while still holding his firm position. He felt a presence close to him and started talking to it.

"So, you've finally decided to come to me. How long did that take? You sure are reliant on my powers, Vince." Spoke the presence. It had the same voice as Vince, if not for the deeper voice pitch it has.
"Let's not talk about this. I need to borrow your powers."
"Heh, you sure are quick to the point. Well, not that it matters to me. I have been with you since that time, so I have no means of refusing what you ask. Just remember to not succumb to my powers. It's lonely in here."
"...Of course. Well, see you later then."

The dark aura in his fist slowly disintegrates. It was pushing Vince more now. Any minute now, it will break through his defense and crush the three, turning them into flat pancakes. But, just before it completely goes away, a miracle or sort happened. He opened his eyes abruptly. His whole iris now turned black and what seemed to be a lost just now became a victory for Vince. Now, surrounding his right arm is the same dark aura he emitted, however this time, it was more ominous.

Vince took a step forward, his breathing slowed down. The monster was pushed aback like it was nothing and soon, Vince had been holding the beast in place with his left palm. He pulled back his right hand, the fists engulfed in void. He took a moment to breath before launching his enormous counterattack. He punched the vortex that stood between them and it broke. The punch went through and sent the beast flying a miles behind. The grip on his right arm became more strong but the dark aura disappeared. Vince finally lost his stance and knelt down, trying to catch his breath. "Is it.... over now...?" Was what he thought. He figured that the mana-eater would be afraid and escape, but it never did.

Instead it rolled over and regained back its stance in an elegant flip. The eight eyes it has had became green. The eyes seemed as if it was swirling beautifully, like the Aurora. But, this beautiful eyes had to be distracted by the one most scariest thing to happen now; the legs that broke off earlier reattached itself back to its limb by a green essence. It slowly became bigger and bigger, until it was bigger than the wide street itself. It screeched and echoed throughout the ruins, causing some crows to fly off.

Vince was afraid. For the first in the longest time, he had seen something similar to back then. "Artificial... mana..." He mumbled. His legs were shaking heavily. More sweat broke out and chill ran down his spine. But, a voice brought him back to reality. He quickly slapped himself and told himself to calm down, before turning around to the girls. "It's transforming into a bigger form. For now, it still has to get used to the change and we can take this chance to escape. Down the hill behind it, where another member of the Guardian is, lies an opened manhole that leads us down the sewage. If we took that route, it wouldn't be able to follow us." He informed the two. He handed over a map to the girl that calls herself Liv. "Take this map and go. It's the map of the sewer and if you follow it, you might be able to get out. I know why you girls are here, but you'll have to ask that later. For now, run." He bawled his hands into a fist. "And don't even think about trying to help. You were lucky that you didn't get injured when you decided to help earlier, but not this time. You two will have to run. Get the boy down the hill too. He doesn't seem to know our plan." He ran and took a different route than the other two. He needed to distract the spider for their escape and if everything goes well, they would had reached the basement he himself wanted to go.

"I'll repeat again. Don't, follow me. It's for your own good."

---

So far Liv had only managed the removal of one leg, the first one she'd cut down, and barely swerved out of the way of the other two that moved to knock her out of the way. She noticed that Lily had quickly caught on, if not discovering the same idea Liv had, and was now attacking the legs on the opposite side while the stranger mostly held the mana-eater in place. The other guardian had also noticed what they were planning and ripped through one of the back legs using the strange cloning ability that his mana probably gave him. With this there may actually be a chance that they'd weaken the beast, but Liv couldn't help but feel a small sense of dread, not an emotion she felt often. If something this simple could defeat this monster, why hadn't any guardians ever thought of it before? Why hadn't Hilgart done so when he disappeared three years before?

In the midst of her pondering she felt the bottom of her boot slide on something, likely a sheet of metal, and she lost her footing for only a second. In that moment another leg slid to the side and she braced herself for impact, knowing that in her current state of stumbling she wouldn't be able to step out of it's path in time, nor did she have a proper stance to swing her blade. Just before the leg reached her she felt a rough pulling force on her body and she took in a surprised breath. At one moment she'd been at the spiders mercy and now she was sitting in an alley with Lily in front of her. She felt a little dizzy and sat still for a moment to straighten out her slight discombobulation.

"Be more careful, okay?"

Liv blinked dully at the girl as she spoke her next sentence, practically disappearing for one word and then speedily returning to fish what she was saying. Liv just nodded once and stood up, pushing electricity back into her mana weapon and forming a calmer blade than before as Lily returned to the battle She was about ready to leave the alley and move back on the street to return to the fight herself, but in that instant the spider had unexpectedly been flown backwards. How far it had gone Liv couldn't be sure, she was only curious about who had done it. The stranger perhaps?

She quickly made her way back out onto the street and stopped in the middle where the mana-eater had just been standing and peered down the street at the beast. It went quite a ways, but it seemed that even with a few of it's legs missing it easily manage to turn itself right-side-up. It's eight eyes that were once a glistening black shimmered with green light and Liv widened her eyes at what she witnessed next. The legs of the spider reattached themselves with the same green light, like emerald thread piercing and pulling the appendages back together. The feeling she had earlier made sense now.

"It's transforming into a bigger form. For now, it still has to get used to the change and we can take this chance to escape."

Liv narrowed her eyes slightly and turned to the side to somewhat face the stranger who'd saved her earlier. As he spoke about the manhole that they could use and an escape route she let her Ruya return to it's original form as just a handle and she'd started walking up to him.

"Take this map and go. It's the map of the sewer and if you follow it, you might be able to get out. I know why you girls are here, but you'll have to ask that later. For now, run. And don't even think about trying to help. You were lucky that you didn't get injured when you decided to help earlier, but not this time. You two will have to run. Get the boy down the hill too. He doesn't seem to know our plan."

She stopped and took the map with her left hand after returning the handle to her mana weapon to it's rightful place. However she wasn't entirely pleased with the way he was talking.

"I'll repeat again. Don't, follow me. It's for your own good."

At that moment she tossed the map towards Lily's direction and pulled her gun from it's holster, pointing it at the stranger with a calm yet obviously annoyed gaze. "First off," she started, "I'd rather you not speak to us like we're children. We're fully aware of the risks and danger that we face with every action that we make. We are not strangers to defeat. You're not the leader of us and you're not a guardian either, so don't expect us to follow your orders."

She then lowered her gun and glanced in the direction that he'd told them to go before moving her eyes back onto him. "But it's clear we can't fight this mana-eater head on, and we have no way to put a strategy together right now, so retreating while we can is our best option."

Right, this was Liv in the midst of a battlefield. She wasn't spacey or sleepy like she usually was when she had time to be carefree, and she couldn't allow anything that would usually draw her attention away to distract her. She'd follow his plan for now, and whether or not he was going to get himself killed going off on his own wasn't Liv's concern.

"Lily, can you grab the other guardian? We need to hurry." She looked over at the stranger one more time and then slid her gun back into it's holster before turning and making a quick retreat down the broken street towards the manhole that would be waiting for them to drop into. She couldn't be sure where it would lead them, but right now it seemed to be their only means of survival. Destroying the mana-eater would have to come later.

Even with the strange dark explosion from the side, from another of the guardians, presumably late for the party, the electricity from Liv, and her own concrete chunks smashing into it, it didn't do much. Sure, Lily she weakened the back legs of the gigantic beast, but it still persisted in staying up. She took a backward glance at Liv, not exactly worried, but wanting to confirm the status of her ally. Liv seemed like she was doing okay, if not a little tired from the exertion. Lilina shrugged a little, hopping in place to loosen the muscles in her body when she heard a second explosion to her own; another guardian on a hill at a distance was helping now too, and the speedster decided to take advantage of the opportunity to bring herself next to a spider leg; hairy and plated, and hooking her spear around it at the bi-section, shot herself out, and returned back to the alley with another burst; the leg going flying off, unseen, sheared off by the speed and the spear. The speedster felt a little pride inside, and saw that another leg had been dealt with by Liv.

The spider was then sent flying, and Lily took an alarmed look at the stranger, but quickly controlling her face into a look of impasse, staying neutral, but brightly said, "Nice! You're pretty strong, huh?" And prepared her spear for a quick counterattack when she saw something... weird. So she decided to wait and see what was happening before foolishly charging in.

Although it had flipped over, the mana-eater braced itself and returned right side up, negating a lot of their effort. Black yes shone and then gleamed into a bright emerald green color; indicating that some sort of change was about to happen. Lily took a sharp cursory glance, trying to figure out a strategy on how to deal with it, feeling exhilarated and excited in this fight that was tougher than ever. More green stuff oozed out, the same color as the eyes; reconnecting the legs that had been removed, even a long tendril of it went out like a tentacle, to bring back the leg she had blasted off of the beast. It also started to grow; more and more menacing, before letting out a massive screech, making Lilina recoil in surprise, but she managed to compose herself again, moving slightly behind Liv and the stranger.

Liv looked like she expected this; Lily looked more like she wanted to give it her all and get consumed by the fight. The stranger started to tell them carefully that the spider was going to transform and that this was their opportunity to escape; something that pissed off Lily greatly. Sure, the stranger might be tough, but it didn't mean the two girls were weak at all! Heck, if anything, he was being too stuck up and self-important. It'd easy to manipulate later on, if she was accurate in her analysis, but she'd have to observe him more to be certain. He tossed a map at Liv, who quickly handed it to Lily. She took it and opened it up, gladly accepting the knowledge of the layout of these sewers, and moved her finger along the path the stranger told them; just in case. She had to return to Cyria Hallows, after all, and her big brother.

"For now, run. And don't even think about trying to help." He still looked like he was looking down on the girls, and Lily scowled inwardly, wanting to shove her spear through him right then- and he wouldn't be able to react fast enough. No one ever reacted fast enough. "You were lucky that you didn't get injured when you decided to help earlier, but not this time. You two will have to run. Get the boy down the hill too. He doesn't seem to know our plan."

"First off," The electricity started her tirade. "I'd rather you not speak to us like we're children. We're fully aware of the risks and danger that we face with every action that we make. We are not strangers to defeat. You're not the leader of us and you're not a guardian either, so don't expect us to follow your orders."

Liv, with aware eyes, said something out strategies and stuff, but Lily was still looking at the stranger appraisingly. Sure, the stranger could try and fight on his own, but he'd die for sure. To that end, Lily didn't even remotely care about his life; she'd be fine with killing him herself if he kept looking down on them. He'd be useful as bait though, if it came down to that. But on the other hand, this was an amazing target; defeating it would mean she'd gotten stronger as a whole, wouldn't it? Unfortunately it seemed the stranger might end up retreating with them, though, if he went by Liv's plan.

"Lily, can you grab the other guardian?" Liv then started making her way down the street, and Lily nodded with a smile. "Sure thing! Keep safe until then, Liv; you're a friend, right?" She made a little giggle at her before speeding over to the other guardian, the shadow boy, and put her hand on his arm with a smirk.

"Prepare yourself- you're 'bout to get dizzy." Before sending him though, she looked at him and figured she might as well say it. "Thanks, by the way, for the help." She then used her Mana of Speed to send him into the air, catching up quickly, before sending him safely next to the electricity girl, and joined up herself, landing with grace and flourish. Just in case the boy stumbled because of the dizziness, Lily held a thin arm out to steady him with an almost apologetic frown, before gesturing the map at her companions.

"Let's take this route, the first left, and then straight before another left and then a right." Lily said, pointing it out. "It should take us up a good distance away- not far enough away that we can't keep an eye on the mana-eater, either. We can plan something in a building there, right?"

She smiled cutely at them, before opening the manhole and dropping down, almost recoiling at the disgusting and horrid smell.

This battle, as it seemed, was still not in their favour. As the two other kept up their relentless assault on the beast they had managed to cause some damage, slowing it down at a bare minimum, but as he saw the strain on the males face, he knew that this might end up turning on them. But that was no reason to stop their attack, and they certainly did not. The three of them managed to sever a limb, or maybe two, hard to tell from his positions, but there was enough hope that he pushed on, attacking with everything he had. But as they fought on he sore the strain on the males face grow more intensive. And as the spider began to became more aggressive in its strikes he knew that he was near his limit, but then he changed, a power surged within the male the likes of which he hasn’t experience in a long time, and within seconds the spider itself was on its back, and considering its partially weakened state, they seemed to now have the upper hand, but once again this beast surprised him. The appendages, the eyes, an emerald green glow begin to pierce the veil of black with made up its body. That, however, was not the most intriguing and ultimately dreadful part. The body itself was rebuilding itself, shining strings knitting its wounds back to its original form. This mana, the one with which now obviously possessed, seemed vaguely familiar to him, a once discovery of a time gone past. But one thing was for certain; Candon could now see why the other guardians had fallen. This beast was not all that it seemed to be. There was something puzzling and terrifying at the same time.

The male, a new determination now in his gaze, spoke to the guardians, and from Candon’s forms positions he managed to pick up part of the message

“…Transforming…igger form…gets used to…. Take this chance to escape”

Escape. Escape at this point seemed like the best idea. Considering that even Hilgart and the other guardians could not kill this beast. But despite his speaking of escape, he stood strong, and continued to speak to the other two.


“…Down the hill…another guardian… opened manhole”

He now knew he needed to here this so as know his next course of action. He moved one of his forms closer to the three of them whilst keeping the other two’s sense planted firmly on the beast.

"Take this map and go. It's the map of the sewer and if you follow it, you might be able to get out. I know why you girls are here, but you'll have to ask that later. For now, run. And don't even think about trying to help. You were lucky that you didn't get injured when you decided to help earlier, but not this time. You two will have to run. Get the boy down the hill too. He doesn't seem to know our plan. I'll repeat again. Don't, follow me. It's for your own good."


Well at least they know of his involvement, which will definitely make things easier if he was to help them further, as for now he need to get himself to them, however he was still quite far from them and the running the distance was a sure-fire way to make sure he was no help to them. At that moment he dissipated his forms, any information he misses could be relayed to him, but he needed to get moving. And then, with a gust of sudden wind she appeared in front of him. He jumped back in almost shock. Such speed, this was surely the work of mana. And she spoke to him before he had time to react

“Prepare yourself- you're 'bout to get dizzy… thanks, by the way, for the help."
And then her power surrounded
“Wait I…” and he was in the air. It seemed as if time had stopped for that brief moment, the world around moving in slow motion, it was almost peaceful, though this peacefulness was fleeting. His body then shot off at an immense speed, yet remained upright, he could the area which he was going to land the instant before he did and as his feet hit the ground with a surprisingly gentle thud his mind then caught up with him, the world around him shook and his legs soon began to give way, allowing his body to fall, however an outreached armed kept him in place, it was in fact the arm of the guardian who had shot him hear.
“Well, that was… interesting” he mumbled to himself.
He steadied himself, proceeding then to examine his new surroundings. However his attention was now being drawn to the map that was now being presented to him and the other guardian, this being the map that the male had referred to her. It was a detailed outlay of the sewers in this area.

"Let's take this route, the first left, and then straight before another left and then a right. It should take us up a good distance away- not far enough away that we can't keep an eye on the mana-eater, either. We can plan something in a building there, right?"

As much as he didn’t like being such a close distance to a mana-eater this powerful, her plan seemed sound

“Alright then, lead the way guardian” he said, giving a nod. He watched as she smiled and began to move. So too did he begin to jog behind her and the other guardian. Maybe this would not end badly for them, perhaps working with these two he could survive this, and hopefully help them to survive too, however there was one issue which tugged on his mind. The stranger who left himself back at the spider, he was growing weaker, showing signs of energy depletion from using his mana, then suddenly he had greater power then he began with. There was something off about this; such sudden power must come with consequences.

Down the empty and dry sewers, rats scavenged for food here. Skeletons were seen here and there, and rats feeding on each other was but a common sight in here. However, the bad stench that this sewer used to give off was still here. The route were long compared to the ones drew in the map and every now and then there was crossroads that leads to other places. Even having a map made running in here difficult. One had to constantly consult the map and one wrong step could mean getting lost in a never-ending labyrinth.

The trio, however, managed to avoid all these problems and soon, they had reached a big and wide white room. Garbage bags could be seen in every corner and on the top of every wall was a hole, presumably drains. Once one stepped inside here, the smell quickly launched an attack on the nose. Some may not be able to handle this certain smell and might faint from it. But, what's more scarier was in the middle of the room.

Mountains of bones were stacked upon each other and in the middle laid a damaged throne. Sitting on top of it is a skeleton with a jeweled crown. Its empty eyes stared on the ground and the jaws opened. Moments after, however, something happened. The bones suddenly started emitting the same green energy that the previous mana-eater had poured out not long ago and flowed right into the sitting skeleton's eyes socket and mouth. The green ribbons started flowing right into the skeletal body and fills itself up inside it. Then, flesh started growing. First came the muscle tissues, then the nervous system, the spinal cord, the brain and finally, the skin itself.

On the creature's face remained the green aura floating around its eyes, leaking out like cold air. The same went with the mouth, but that only happened when it opens the mouth, almost like a dog. In its hands suddenly appeared the same green ribbon that formed an axe. It jumped abruptly at the visitors and caused a huge explosion.

---

At the same time, Vince had been running away from the mana-eater for a while now. Just like he predicted, the mana-eater had been running rampantly and charging at him mindlessly. Its only instinct, but what caused it is because he himself is also an artificial mana, albeit only partially. All of his attacks were negated literally, and there was nothing he could do to even scratch the monster. Though his goal wasn't to attack it, he still felt disappointed by this.

It had been a while, but Vince managed to find himself a spot to avoid detection for a while. He sat down against the wall, trying to catch his breath. "I know it was tough but... I didn't expect it... to be this strong..." His breathing was still irregular, but he knows he doesn't has enough time to recover. He quickly grabbed something from inside his backpack; a small metallic ball with a red button. "One should be enough to deal with that asshole. I need to get to the basement quickly before the others get wiped out." As if he was expecting it, the mana-eater suddenly came crashing into the building he escaped into. Its hairy legs stabbed right through the walls and its disgusting mouth screeched again.

Realizing that it was an one-shot chance, he quickly stood back up. He pushed the red button and threw it at the creature's mouth simultaneously, running afterwards he did that. A small beep happened afterwards and it exploded, throwing the mana-eater off the building and falling down to the ground again. The bomb was a custom made paralyzing bomb made for paralyzing big mana-eaters like the spider. It lasts for about an hour depending on the size and in Vince's case, it'll only last for about 10 minutes long. It was more than enough for him., however. He only needed about 5 minutes to escape back to the manhole before it wakes up.

He escaped afterwards. But like before, another catastrophe had descended. Just as he was about to reach the manhole in about a few hundred miles left, the spider had already been catching up behind him, running as if it had lost a limb or two. The staggering made it look as if it was being too desperate to chase something. Vince was shocked by this; he thought that it would last longer and he started questioning the time it had claimed to paralyze a mana-eater. It didn't matter, however. He was about to reach the manhole now. The spider was just as fast, however. Vince didn't want to jump right into the manhole as the jumping would require him to stop. He slid instead and entered the hole, barely escaping the mana-eater's mouth.

He landed with a barrel roll and continued running. He didn't have the luxury to be looking at the mana-eater now. "Damn it, please be safe before I reach there!" He screamed inside his mind, praying hard.

Alright, whose bright idea was it to use the sewers instead of the usual route above ground? Oh right, it was his idea in the first place. Truth be told, it had sounded really good in theory. Use the system underneath as travel pathway, and act like a gopher, jumping in and out of manholes. His mana abilities wouldn't be wasted (which was important considering he was an extraction type) and he'd have the element of surprise on his side. Unfortunately, the blasted idiot had forgotten one thing: he had no idea about the layout of the sewer system. Unlike Vince who'd gotten a map of the area, Rick had winged it and went around with a compass and his gut. And he'd also forgotten about the fact caves and sewers always made him a bit queasy. Not just the smell, but the fact that he couldn't see the sky at all. Rick, though he didn't care to admit it, was bit claustrophobic. Kind of ironic, since out of all of them, Rick had the best chance of survival in case of a cave-in. That still didn't brush off the unease he felt.

So that's how he'd spent the past hour, going around in circles in Ashenhale's sewer system. For someone who had the mana of gravity, it seemed he couldn't quite grasp the gravity of the situation. He was singing to himself, the sounds he made inappropriate for the doom and gloom aura of his surroundings. It was a very welcome distraction though. The stink was horrifying, but considering the length of time he'd been underground, his nose had grown accustomed to it.

"Blast it, I give up. Where's the nearest exit?" Finally admitting defeat, the brown-haired sighed and flashed his light across the walls, trying to find a sign for some stairs. "You'd think they'd put neon arrows down here, pointing the way outside." Well of course they wouldn't, Rick, because no one's supposed to be down here in the first place. But as was typical Rick, he didn't think of that situation and instead kept complaining about the lack of directional signs.

"And this is how I meet my end~ With only rats and bones and pee as friends~" The man broke into a song, his footsteps sounding like gunshots against the silence. "In a dark cave -- holy crap what was that?" A silhouette moved quickly, the sounds of his footsteps echoing in the dark cavern. He wasn't sure what exactly that was, but if it was a mana-eater, it was his job to take it down, and fast. While the bigger threat was aboveground, having one of these things lurking around in the sewers (which so happen to be connected to other places) was not something to be taken lightly. He followed after the shadow, almost catching up. It was then that he saw the shape was human -- but Rick didn't let his guard down. Mana-eaters taking on humanoid features and shapes wasn't anything unusual. Plus what would another person be doing down... a guardian!

"Hey, wait --" The hallway suddenly ended and he almost pushed the other guy in. But the sight of a human forming from nothing but bone held Rick stiff... until he noticed a group nearby. He didn't doubt one bit whatever was forming wasn't good news for the people down there and he wasn't about to let it hurt them. Someone stop the altruistic idiot.

Unfortunately the idiot-stopper never came, and Rick jumped into the fray almost simultaneously as the skeleton formed its axe and made its leap. The good news is, Rick managed to grab a hold of an arm and throw him down with gravity. The bad news is, touching it was apparently a very big pet peeve and it exploded at the brunette.

Quite literally.

However the suddenly increase in the force of gravity had come unexpected, and the most damaging parts of the explosion was thrown right back at the bone throne. Since he hadn't turned off his powers yet when the thing exploded, most of the larger projectiles immediately fell back down to the ground, avoiding crushing the people around them. That didn't stop some of the other, smaller things from flying off in different directions. Namely, someone's femur hit Rick square on the head, and someone's rib cage decided to try dislodging his own. The splintered off sections from the bones that were directly hit by the explosion? They decided to make themselves right at home in Rick's thick skin.

Forty percent.

The robotic voice sounded loud in the aftermath of the explosion. Only one voice answered back to it, muffled and buried underneath bones.

"Aw shit, I forgot to charge."

Things just had to get worse. Really, Vince wasn't expecting another Guardian to actually come through the sewers but what can he say? Having another additional member just makes it easier for him to reach where he needs to go now. Though things doesn't seem bright and happy than it should after meeting someone. Well, not all things go bright and happy. He just has to suck up about it. Just as he arrived at the scene, it's as he expected it to be; for everything to turn to shit. Yes, shit. There's no other words to describe it.

"Spread out! Don't stay clustered in one formation. This thing specializes in dispatching groups of enemies." Vince gave command towards the others. This is his first time fighting, but buying those sack of information about this mana eater is gonna help him now. Or maybe not since that information was years ago. But nevertheless, Vince will have to test it to find out if he placed his doubts on the right side.

Right after the explosion and the sudden appearance of a new man, the bone stick itself back into its original form. It screeched heavily in an extremely high-pitched voice and jumped back onto the throne. This time, all the mountains of bone that piled itself up below the throne started flying in a circle all around the room. The mana eater suddenly started floating too and it arched its back, the axe dropping onto the ground. The green ribbons that connected the bones together overflowed from every hole the skeleton has.

The huge amount of bones all threw itself at the floating skeleton and in a small rotating ball of bones, gigantic hands and legs stretched out from the ball. Soon, the head popped out; a rather big skull with a small horn growing from the head. The ball tightened itself together and formed the torso and thighs, connecting the arms and legs together. It slowly came back down on the ground, and in an instant and a ugly scene, flesh grew from the skeleton. The muscles and nervous systems, the eyeballs and the internal organs all grew. Soon the monster was completed and formed a giant with two horns on its head.

Smokes came out from its nose and it roared, shaking the entire room. It then threw itself in an inhuman speed towards the confused group. Vince reacted quick enough and grabbed the boy and Liv then jumped to the side. He trusted that the young girl and the new man could escape on their own. "You two support us from the back. Don't let the monster get to you and stay alert." He told the two and ran into the rather one-sided fight.

The mana-eater's tremendous strength and speed was overwhelming. The young girl, who had been running around in a speed on par with the beast had been barely keeping up. The man was in a rather tight situation as he only could control the weight of everything he touches from how Vince looks at it. He could also sense that the man was running out of mana in his mana concentrator.

The fight was way too hard to fight. Unlike the spider up above ground, this one was in a rather smaller space for them to run around in. Vince exerted the most mana as he was fighting against the monster head on and stopping in its tracks every time it tries to charge at someone. But alas, it always manages to overpower Vince and cause him to jump away at critical moments. Everyone was gradually losing their mana and any longer they would have run out of mana to use and collapse. Even Vince himself is holding together rather weakly. They needed to finish off the monster in one shot if they wanted to make it out alive.

He turned to the group, where all of them were panting heavily. Vince gathered his breath and made his announcement. "This is getting us nowhere. I got a plan but I'll need everyone to work with me. You there, guy with Extraction type, come here for a sec. The others, try to distract the monster." He hoped that they would listen to him. This really isn't working out the way he wants it to.