It didn't take long for Atticus to realize he was fighting a losing battle.
'I'm not letting it take control of .'
He would rather slit his own throat than allow so unknown existence to claim his body. The thought of what would happen to his people if that occurred was sothing he refused to entertain.
"A…att…ti…cus… c…ll…ee…"
The broken voice suddenly reached him, causing him to pause.
'Who…?'
He twisted away from a converging assault and glanced around. His gaze soon locked onto the strange woman still standing at the cavern's entrance. Her white eyes now glowed with a white light, her hair lifting and drifting behind her. Still… her lips werent moving.. "C…c…a…e…e."
He could barely made sense of the words.
'How is she doing this?'
With Solvath's barrier in place, any attempt to reach inside should have been impossible, even sound itself. But he pushed the question aside and focused on the only thing that mattered. Why…
He studied her for a mont. Glowing eyes. Floating hair. There was only one thing she could be manipulating.
'The molecules.'
Atticus spread out his awareness and reached out to the elental molecules throughout the cavern, only to pause as he sensed the molecules closest to the woman trembling faintly.
Solvath's energy was acting on every molecule present, suppressing them and preventing them from responding to the woman's commands.
'I have to get closer.'
He transford the flow of battle deliberately toward the entrance, blocking one strike and eventually taking a shallow graze from another. By the ti he crossed within fifteen ters of her position, a crushing pressure had settled over his body and mind.
Breathing heavily, Atticus stared grimly at the sickly purple light spreading from his lower torso, creeping steadily toward the rest of his body.
'This better be sothing good.'
Silently swearing that if this turned out to be one of her corrections he would haunt her for all eternity, he reached out each molecule with what little ntal strength he had left and pushed back against Solvath's energy pressing down on them.
He felt relieved when the molecules finally responded, vibrating at incredible speed. A panicked voice echoed almost instantly.
"Atticus! Call upon now!"
'I feel tired…'
Atticus felt a wave of exhaustion crash into him. He blinked rapidly, the ground beneath his feet suddenly looking far too inviting. His movents abruptly slowed and several blades grazed him as he failed to move in ti. The pressure bearing down on his body and mind intensified, and purple veins spread across his skin and climbing toward his head until his eyes began to light with a dull violet hue.
By then, the Marquis had stopped attacking, each of them staring at him with identical, wide, unsettling grins.
Above, the ancient eyes swelled in size and intensity, their purple light washing over the cavern in shimring waves.
Atticus struggled to keep his eyes open, an unexplainable weakness seeping into his limbs.
"Atticus!"
He blinked and slowly turned his unfocused gaze on the woman, who now stared at him with narrowed eyes.
"It's… it's you," he muttered, words dragging. "The woman who refuses to give straight answers… making life so difficult… annoying…"
"Is this the extent of your resolve?"
Atticus paused, blinking again as though trying to bring her into focus.
Her expression was cold.
"I've watched you for years, sprouting how you would do anything to gain power and protect your loved ones," she said evenly. "Yet this is the extent of your resolve?"
Images of his family flashed through his mind, and Atticus felt his sluggish movents freeze as she continued.
"You know nothing of what they currently face. Think, do you truly believe they can survive the onslaught of the enemies you've made? Giving up here will doom them. Is that what you intend to do? If so, you might as well slit your own throat now."
Atticus curled his fist until his nails bit into his palm, blood dripping freely. The fatigue vanished in an instant. His body stopped swaying, and he stood still as a burning anger flared to life within him.
"No."
A cold smile was on the woman's lips as clarity returned to his eyes.
"Then call upon . We're bound. We're one. No barrier can separate us."
A piercing screech tore through the cavern, and Atticus slowly turned as the massive ancient eye emitted a blinding light and vibrated violently.
The grins on the Marquis' faces vanished, replaced by cold, lifeless expressions as the purple energy around them erupted. Without warning, they shot forward, weapons descending from every direction.
Atticus slowly uncurled his fists.
He wasn't angry at the strange woman, nor at the Marquis, nor even at Solvath.
He was angry at himself, for ever allowing the thought of giving up to cross his mind.
He didn't care if he was facing the entire world, or a freaking primordial star. In the end, every enemy answered to only one thing.
His blade.
"Co."
"As you wish."
The woman's presence vanished from behind him, and the next mont a crushing weight slamd into him as another presence entered his mind.
The pressure on his thoughts disappeared. The exhaustion vanished. Even the constant, stabbing pain that ca with commanding the elents was gone.
Atticus blinked, the world suddenly lighting up before his eyes in a way he had never experienced.
A surreal sense of dominance surged through his body as he raised his arm, the Marquis closing in.
"Kill them."
The Marquis halted midair. For a brief mont, they strained against an unseen force, trembling as they fought to reach him in vain. He watched calmly as their forms began to contort and swell. Piercing screams tore from them, then, in rapid succession, they imploded, bursting apart in multiple manipulated explosions, each one contained and crushed inward by an invisible force.
Atticus lowered his gaze as a sleek black mass began to flow across his body, spreading and encasing him from the neck down. A blazing red shroud flared to life and engulfed his head, plunging his vision into a crimson world.
'The exo suit…'
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