Chapter 357 - Fake Blessing
It was madness. The ground was cracked in all places, the trees were uprooted, crows and all the matter of black birds flew above the group of Adventurers. They were encircling the humans, watching as a concentration of aura that called them was felt from a single person.
Irus stood on top of a pile of dead bodies. In his hand was the head of Sariel while below him were the Adventurers that tried to stop him.
He imprisoned the Kings in their thrones. A chain made of pure darkness were tied tightly on their bodies. Irus knew the Kings were capable of high level magic. Along with the chain, he placed cylindrical forcefields arouns them, ensuring their immovability.
"I didn't mean for all of this to happen," Irus said. "When you could see the Abyss, you'll also be swallowed by darkness too. You'll feel the rage and the anger consume you. I was suppressing the other Sins' darkness so we could talk to them."
"But you killed our men!" the Purple King yelled. "You killed all of them, and turned them into monsters!"
"That's what the Abyss does," Irus said. "That cloud that's approaching you, that's the Abyssal Nebula. It corrupts anything in its wake and I was trying to stop it. You didn't let me give a chance to defend myself. Now you pay the price."
Irus walked in front of the platform. He deactivated the forcefields, and walked in front of all of them. "I consumed the Abyssal Nebula, but I guess we can share them, right?"
Irus went to the first king on the right, the Grass King. He placed his hand on the Grass King's chest and looked at him in the eyes. "I thought we could live a better life together."
A tear fell from Irus's eyes. With it, the birds started to disperse and the shaking of the ground stopped. The ominous aura coming from Irus slowly vanished as he retracted his hand and stepped away.
"No, I can't do it." Irus turned around, facing away from the sins, and looked for the Twilight Wings. "I want to live a life peacefully with the other Sins. I thought I could live that life with you, but I was a fool. I actually thought we could live in harmony."
"We thought so too," the Grass King said. "Now!"
The Crimson King groaned and blasted the chain off of him. He ran up to Irus and pushed Irus along with himself off the platform.
"What are you doing?!" Irus yelled. "Get off!"
Adventurers gathered around them. Irus thought he had got all of them, but there were still some that were hiding. Sariel had much more in his plan than Irus thought.
"As the Kings of this world, we deem you unworthy to become an ally. We have already sealed your fellow Sins, so it's useless to look for them," the Crimson King declared. "You shall be sealed along with the others and you will rot in that seal."
"I will come back," Irus yelled. "I will come back!"
The light from the altar glowed and Irus felt his body getting weaker. Before he could be completely sealed, he unleashed all the dark cloud his body had been keeping.
The dark cloud gushed out from him and flooded all the five kingdoms. The sealing ritual for him was finished, but the world was completely covered with darkness. It stayed like that for eons, until the Second Twilight War commenced.
And in that Twilight War, Elliot was standing in front of Lance. The latter was on the ground, his swords were lost from his grip, and he didn't want to confess but he was scared.
He was about to die.
"My mama," Irus gave Lance a smile. "She said not all humans are the same."
Elliot raised his sword, facing Lance and ready to swing. The sword lit up with the black and red light and an ominous aura coming out from it.
"Goodbye," Irus grinned and let Elliot swing his sword. The boy slashed his weapon while Lance could only close his eyes and anticipate his death.
The sword stopped right before it hit Lance. Elliot's skin lost its gray color, turning back into the light brown skin he normally had.
The shadow in his eyes vanish along with the red glowing color, showing his tired brown ones. His hands lost the grip on his sword, making it fall to the ground with a loud clanking sound.
All eyes were on him, everyone anticipating in fear what would happen next. With a smile, Elliot fell to the ground with a thud.
Lance watched as his friend laid on the earth with his body facing the ground. The fear of Elliot's death made him crawl to his side, checking Elliot's status.
"Elliot?" Lance called out. He leaned down to Elliot's level, listening to his heartbeat. When it was there, Lance fell back and stared at Elliot's unconscious body in utter shock. "H-He's alive!"
"Of course, he's alive," Irus spoke, laughing and rolling his eyes. "You dumb Terrans really underestimate my powers. And if you're asking why I'm doing this, thank that foolish boy. He made me see the goodness in humans, something I haven't seen since the Grass King. That stupid boy rushed to my side and was the first to get corrupted. Dumb f*cker."
"They don't know that you were with Elliot," Madam Locraine whispered to the head, making Irus form an O with his mouth and nod.
"Wait," Irus looked at Madam Locraine and gasped. "Mama!"
"Mama?!" everyone else chorused.
"I happen to find a locket that contained her memories," Madam Locraine replied. "Along with it was her mana."
"Right," Irus cleared his throat. "Also, I provided Elliot with the ability to revive himself. But somehow, my powers had been blocked, and his resurrection was delayed."
Lance nodded and looked at the unconscious Elliot who was peacefully sleeping in his arms. "I saw him die a couple of times. Was that you too?"
"Yes, and no," Irus grinned. "Let's just leave it like that."
Connor ran to them, panting while he placed his hands on his knees. "What in the hell happened here?"
"There's no more fighting," Madam Locraine announced. "Right, Irus?"
"Of course, mama," Irus grinned. He puffed his cheekd and grunted. He made the part of him that was attached to Elliot's sword break, freeing him from the bind.
The shadow tail of his head morphed into a body, making the man glow and now acquire a body of his own. "This is so much better than that head form."
"So, everything is done?" Connor's face was contorted in confusion. Among all the members of their party, Connor was the most laid back. He looked like he wasn't afraid of what's happening around them.
"Everything is done," Irus repeated. "The other Sins, they too were unfortunately deeply corrupted by the Abyssal Nebula. We couldn't save them, as well as the Kings."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Lance frowned. "And thank you for helping us."
"I didn't do it to help you," Irus said, suddenly becoming serious. "I did it because it was the right thing."
"Right," Lance nodded, face smearing with a red blush in embarrassment.
"Now, I have to tell you about the Twilight Bless," Irus suddenly chuckled and laughed out loud.. "Some of them are fake."