Chapter 11: Magician's Light, Part 2

Howards horns started to glow bright white as he walked over to the female body laying on the ground. Above him, he saw a large horned beast towering above him, looking down with flames in its eyes.

Leaning down, it opened its mouth and scooped out hundreds of treasures, beginning to chew them as it stared deeper and deeper into Howards soul.

"Una? Is that you?" Howard leaned down and picked up the female's body, looking into her eyes and skin that had turned whiter than snow. "What-what happened? Why aren't you waking up."

"R-run," The girls eyes suddenly opened, filling up with tears as the large creature's head swooped down in their direction. "It's-it's too late. I-I was too careless."

"Careless? You're fine," Howard grinned and saw another girl's body face down at the edge of his vision. He couldn't believe it. All he did was follow orders, and now his two friends had gotten swallowed into the darkness. "You're going to be fine."

"He's watching. The magician. Please-please leave Howard. Tell them I'm sorry."

"What magician?" Howard tossed Una on his shoulders and wiped the tears off his eyes. "I'm going to get Harley and leave. Then we can have a fun bus trip back! We can even all sleep together!"

Bang!

A large beam of endless white light shot in Howards direction and ripped the ground in font of him to shreds. The large, massive beast towering above him shook its head, pausing before diving back to eat more treasure.

"Is-is it trying to warn me?" Howard wiped off his tears and jumped over to the other side. "Sorry big guy. Nothing you say can stop me from saving my friends."

Howard landed by Harley's body and picked her onto his shoulders, wiping off his tears before he noticed a large glowing white light in the distance. A second later, that light swallowed him whole, causing him to feel his body lifting into the air like a feather in the wind!

Boom!

Hundreds of meters away, Howard rolled in the wind before a man in a black suit appeared a few inches from him. The man seemed to be chanting endless words, laughing while Howard rose from the ground.

"Ha, what is a little one like you doing trying to steal my two prey?" The black caped man muttered under his breath. "So brave! I let you leave for the bus only for you to return to my grasp!"

"You-you hurt them?" Howard forced himself to stand while wiping the blood from his mouth. "You-you're the one who did it?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I? I'll hurt you too," The man went back to muttering as two large white wings grew behind his back. "It's a shame I ran out of energy fighting those two girls. However, I have just enough left to hurt you too."

"I think you'll be happy dead," Howard's teeth grew inches out of his mouth, ripping through his jaw causing him to form a strange smile. "Don't run away, okay. I promise to make it hurt."

"Confident?" The man laughed and flapped his wings. "You've never fought a magician before, have you? Do you have any idea how terrifying we are?"

Howard ignored the man in the cape, and stepped off his back foot, causing a strange white light to swirl around his body. Stepping forward, Howard instantly appeared in front of the magician, grasping two swords in a crossed grip across his body.

"What are you?" The magician stepped back and dodged a slash, watching his hair fall before a large doorway opened in front of him. A massive beam of light shot out of it, swallowing Howard whole before his body bounced against the floor.

Standing up, Howard laughed while his arm cracked back into place. At the same time, the white light around his body grew brighter and brighter, making him feel invincible under its spell.

'Is this another element," Howard stepped back and felt himself accelerate until he reached within inches of the magician. Slashing forward, he saw the magician blur, turning into a shadow that disappeared from his every movement. However, a second later, Howard seemed to notice a pattern, and slashed into the ground, causing a cloud of blood to burst into the air.

Boom!

Howard spun three times in the air before slashign into the magician's wrist.

Boom!

A large flame shot out of Howards sword and swallowed the man whole, sending him shooting into the distance. Bleeding from his wrist, the man stood up, finding Howard standing above him holding a sword against his throat.

"He leant me power," Howard said with a smile, pointing at the large horned beast eating treasure after treasure meters away. He waved to the large, placid creature before thrsuting down into the man's chest. "He said he doesn't like people like you. Have fun dying."

"No wait! PLEASE! I-I didn't mean to"

"Men who don't treasure girls deserve to die. I've done it lots of times. You'll be fine," Howard smiled and stabbed hundreds of times into the magician's chest, causing blood to burst out in various directions. The aura of lifelessness began to surround him, causing the man to disappear into the darkness.

Ten minutes later, after making sure the magician died, Howard felt his horns slowly receding back into his head. His horns receded back into his face while the world in front of him blurred.

"I-I probably can't do that too often," Howard dropped onto his knees and then watched the world in front of him flicker into the darkness. He could feel himself fainting, disappearing back into the world of dreams.

###

Howard felt himself disappearing into a darkness.

Everywhere for miles on end, all he saw was black, endless doom. Holding his heart, he screamed, bursting open his eyes only to find a beautiful girl laying next to him.

"Una! Una is that you!" Howard leaned down and touched the pearl skin of his best friend. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"She's okay. I'm not," Harley cracked her knuckles and stared up at the horned beast locking eyes with her. She'd never seen such a large Authoritarian in her life, yet this one refused to leave their side. It felt like a parent watching over its child, but while evoking so much fear her legs trembled. "I think you made a friend, Howard. You mind telling it you're alright. I think if it wanted to, it could kill us in an instant."

"Hmmm?" Howard turned upward and saw the one horned lizard from its dream. It had to be thousands of feet tall, yet its eyes gave off a placid feeling reminiscent of a calm day. Its eyes locked with his own before passively turning away and walking into the distance.

"It just wanted to know I was fine," Howard pushed himself up, and walked over to Harley. "What happened? All I remember is seeing a magician, and then everything went blank."

"I don't know. I woke up in this lawn chair and that creature was staring at me. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"I-I fought the magician. He was really weak after fighting you, so I chopped him in half. Here, I found this on his body," Howard tossed over a medallion to Harley, jumping up to his feet the next second.

Landing on the ground, he stretched before walking over to Harley with his hands behind his head. "Do-do you know what that is?"

"You really killed an Aresoul? That should be impossible… Ugh, I don't even care anymore. Just come here and give me a massage. In the morning, I won't be drunk any longer," Harley dropped a large glass bottle on the floor and gently pulled back her shirt. "Come on. I'm sore! Get out all the kinks and then tell me how far you've gone with Monica."

"Hey, how do you know about that," Howard blushed and gently placed his arms on her shoulder. "Well, there was one night recently where we almost… You sure you want to hear?"