Chapter 207 - The Scourge Begins

"...It looks like we're too late."

Coughing from the unique, repugnant stench that filled the passageway through the mountain, Sora covered both his nose and mouth as he looked upon the trampled sight resting within the bowels of the rocky path. 

Bodies found themselves strewn about the passage, mauled and torn apart beyond identification--flies hovering their form in their opportunistic nature. 

"Yeah. I know she's usually pretty vague, but Beatrice really sent us in here blind...That or…"

"Or?"

Swatting a fly away from his ivory armor, Sora pushed Sirius for the answer he was keeping closely tucked behind his lips. Each step the man in heavy armor took, it sounded as if the stone beneath his heel was being reduced to sediment, taking care to avoid the puddles of crimson and flung flesh. 

"Or, Beatrice has grown dull in her senses…"

"Hmm, what makes you say that?"

Without a twitch of any of their eyelids as they spoke, beings obscured by the shadows revealed themselves, snarling as their purple, lifeless eyes locked onto their flesh. 

"This."

Coiling his gloved fist in his trademark, purple lightning, Sirius snapped his fingers; a bolt of the erratic energy snapping itself onto one of the husk's heads as it caved into the immense force, exploding instantaneously. 

"This?"

Raising an eyebrow, Sora conjured his halberd into his grip, spinning it a few times as he watched the husk crawl across the stone wall rapidly with saliva trickling down its gluttonous jaws. As he stomped his boot into the ground below, the force kicked his vermilion hair up momentarily as he swung his weapon to the side, parting the creature's head from its shoulders. 

"Yes; it wasn't nearly this bad when she briefed us on our mission. She can be conniving and downright cold in her tactics, but she wouldn't purposefully lead us into a less than good situation."

"I don't know, she sounded pretty dire to me when she explained it. You might be overthinking things, Sirius."

By this point, Sirius' frivolity had left his face; that fair expression of his became riddled with guilt and anxiety as he realized the compromised state of the desolate region. As more of the straggler, thin husks scoured the walls in a ravenous thirst for his blood and flesh, Sora watched as his comrade handled them with a single swipe of his hand, the majestic lightning cutting through their rotten forms. 

It's always a spectacle to see, but damn does it make me angry how good he is. Most people just write him off as talented, naturally gifted with a knack for magic--but that's wrong. Well, it's half-right. 

He worked harder than any of us; he sank his everything into the theory of magic and the practice of it. But, what he achieved isn't something just born from hard work. That's what Sirius is. He's the ultimate culmination of talent and hard work, Sora thought. 

Distracted by the array of bright lights emanating from Sirius' magic, by the time Sora snapped back into focus, all of the husks residing within the tunnel were wiped out by the black-haired Outlander. The movements used by Sirius were so quick, yet efficient--words were not hard leaving from his lips, but lightning still left from him nonetheless. 

Halted not by speech, the formless element was unbound, its speed dismantling the hungering corpses without a hitch. 

"Wait!...No fair! I zoned out for a second!"

"You snooze, you lose."

Sirius shrugged at the armored man's complaint, brushing the dust off of his exuberant uniform with a sly smile. Even if he indulged in Sora's natural playfulness, the worry and intent in his azure irises didn't waver in the slightest, keepest his eyes forward on the path ahead. 

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Letting out a groan through his teeth, Sora had to stop himself from punching away the stone threshold holding the entrance to the mountain-side path open.As they reached the otherside of the graveyard of a tunnel, the outside world awaiting was occupied with the dreadful fog they attempted to escape. 

"I'm starting to think this isn't something we can just sweep under the rug and pretend doesn't exist anymore. Clearly, something is trying to impede us, or even kill."

Already allowing sparks of purple, erratic mana to travel the surface of his clothing, Sirius stepped forward with his eyes scanning the scenery ahead, obscured by the thick, blinding white that hogged their vision. 

"I don't think it's just the fog we have to worry about right now...You feel it, right?"

"I hear it."

Sirius responded quietly to Sora, raising both of his hands as a current of vibrant, magenta electricity ran between each palm. 

Leaves cracked and crumbled, twigs snapped--all under the quick, impatient footsteps belonging to the creatures, growling and groaning within the veil of the fog. From the little that could be seen, a trail dyed in blood and black powder sat ahead of them, while everything else was surrounded by stiff, gloomy trees. 

Again, they're approaching from within the trees--a lot of them from the sound of it, Sirius thought. 

"I'll cover you."

Sirius took a few steps back as he kept his eyes peeled, placing himself behind his tall, bulky comrade who protected himself in even bulkier armor. Hearing this, Sora couldn't help but laugh boisterously as he manifested into his gauntlet the hilt belonging to his beloved greatsword, an unorthodox blade that looked as if it could only be wielded by a giant or a madman. 

"Ha-ha-ha! That's unlike you, leaving all the fun to me!"

"Well, I'm simply looking at things logically. You do best when you're given an open field to enact your dance of steel with."

"That's damn right."

Stepping into the center of the claustrophobic field that sat just beyond the exit of the mountainside tunnel, the vermilion-haired ex-football player allowed his helmet to form itself around his head, listening to the many footsteps enclosing on their position. 

I hate to admit it, but it really is the right call. If I occupy the battlefield at his side, we're both going to be hampered by each other's presence. The reach of his blade and the destruction of my magic; it doesn't exactly fit well together, mainly in the fog like this--one wrong judgment by our eyes and someone will get nicked. Just this once, I'll spare you some of my spotlight, Sora, he thought. 

The moment the husks made themselves known to the eye, leaping out from the mirrors of mist as their disfigured jaws sat open, leaking pus, blood and other unholy substances--Sora was ready. 

"Prometheus: Link One."

Filling the grooves of his armor, an orange light ran along the metallic, mystical material before shifting into complete, radiant flames that ran across his body. It wasn't an incantation meant to scour the fields in flames, but one to spark the flame within himself; he could feel the surging heat run through his veins as his physicality ascended. 

A single press of his sole against the dirt crumbled what laid beneath his step, rearing his giant blade back before sending the slab of steel across the three gray-skinned bodies that bore their fangs at him. As always, they were a sore sight; being the corpses of humans reanimated, their flesh was scabbed and turned to a gray, lifeless complexion, veins glowing with a subtle purple visible underneath their thin, blistered hide. 

"Come on then!--I'm right here!"

Taunting the man-eating creatures of depraved magic, Sora sent his flame-enhanced greatsword through their midsections, sending back into the forests from which they came a shower of spoiled entrails. From the blindspot of the battle-fueled man, two more of the rotten entities sprinted forth from the cover of the fog, tumbling and nearly crawling on all-fours like wild beasts. 

"Not happening."

From the tips of each index finger, two lightning bolts crashed onto the husks before they could attempt to get the jump on Sirius' comrade. Blowing them apart with magic came at its own cost to his nose, sending the ungodly stench that hung about their forms through the air as their flesh was scattered across the field. 

"Thanks!"

Yelling from the vanguard, Sora was more than thrilled as more husks crashed onto their position, swinging his blade rapidly as the wind howled out under the sheer force generated, transforming the evergreen into a paradise of blood and innards. 

"...Just stay focused!"

Calling back to his companion, Sirius yelled out as he threw another thin strand of lightning at a trio of decrepit husks as they lurched towards the vermilion-haired man's blindspot once again, this time using the singular bolt to strike all three in a chain of lightning. 

Something isn't right about this, it's different from before, Sirius thought. 

"Be careful!...I have a bad feeling! The way they're approaching--it's different, it's smart!"

"Whatever!"

Hearing the uncaring response from the joyful man as he sent steel through the soft, rotten bodies of the repugnant creatures, Sirius felt his blood boil for a moment at the lack of seriousness from his partner.

"What?!--"

"You've got my back, right?! Then I trust you to handle it!"

Without turning back, Sora responded through a breath as he continued to guide the massive pillar of steel that was the blade between his hands through the fog-filled winds, scattering chunks of the husks as they continued to pour towards him. He almost felt like slapping himself for thinking Sora meant what he initially thought was an abrasive response, smiling as he let out a playful sigh to himself. 

"...That's right!"

Zapping a few more husks that came from behind Sora, the uniform-wearing otherworlder reduced them to charred, inanimate bodies. 

"...Gruah!"

As if an intangible hand pulled on his head, Sirius drew his head back as the growl came into earshot. 

From the tunnel?!...I thought we got every single one that was in there. Were there more on the other side that are just now coming through? He thought. 

Taking a deep breath, a simple solution came to mind as he guided his heart into a melodic beat, listening closely to it while the resonance of his life filled his eardrums. 

It's all around you. Flowing, breathing, existing. It's the origin of us all; the origin of creation itself--control it. Don't let it control you. Focus it, make it yours! He gritted his teeth. 

An unnatural mana surfaced from his pores, vibrating the air around him as the pebbles at his feet hovered gently in the air. 

It's been two years since I came to obtain my secondary affinity, and I still hardly have a grasp of it. The problem doesn't exactly lie in being able to manifest it--actually, the opposite. Too much pours out, it's unstable, I have to anchor it, Sirius thought. 

Letting a sharp, focused breath part through his teeth, he watched blankly as he could see from the dark bowels of the tunnel within the mountain the radiantly malicious eyes of the incoming horde of husks. Only one thought began to fill his mind as he tuned it directly on controlling this alternative magic, repeating it over and over until he cemented it into reality. 

"Weltall: Bisect."

Leaving his lips in a restrained whisper, he squeezed his gloves, the leather tightening as he watched the two walls of the tunnel instantaneously slam shut as a rift in the middle pulled both sides together. 

Even a "simple" spatial spell like that puts my brain into damn knots. That should take care of those pests; I cut off the space between both walls so it turned into one, singular space filled only with stone, he sighed. 

Successfully pulling this off, he let out a relieved, exasperated breath before turning his attention back to Sora--raising his hands to prepare for a fit of lightning, only to realize his companion had it covered.