Several things happened in quick succession.
First, the barrage of terrifying attacks lashing and whittling down at Elias’s Heavenly Restriction suddenly disappeared. The green glow that had been shredding the air simply vanished as if it had never existed, leaving a ringing silence in its wake.
And before Elias could even process the sudden cessation, the next thing happened near-instantly.
An orb of pure chaotic void spanning nearly a mile in size appeared out of nowhere and was suddenly upon Althea’s position, taking her, even in her manifested state, by surprise. The sheer pressure of the collapsing space pressed against her skin, threatening to crush her into a singular point of density.
But yet, within the next split instant, the void that was supposed to consu her before she could even think, froze in place, re centiters from her face. She could literally see the void’s edge right before her eyes like a perfectly spherical border. She even saw it singe and devour parts of her hair that fluttered in the wind.
Shaken, she took a hasty step back and put distance between herself and that void’s edge, her eyes quickly scanning her surroundings for the source of both the void, and the one who had stopped it.
She locked onto two figures imdiately. The first was a familiar, white-haired young man — young-looking enough that he could even be called a child.
"Casmir..." Althea whispered as her confusion morphed into a firm, cold expression.
The original space fragnt bearer was manifesting himself through his core bearer vessel, Egon Callahan. A deep-set frown, laced with hatred that could be felt even from this distance, colored his face. His eyes weren’t on Althea, but on the other figure instead.
Althea’s gaze also went to this person, who was also a familiar figure...
Deacon.
Or in this case, Priest, who was the holder of Deacon’s Transcendent Fragnt in this age. He was the only one not at all manifesting his original fragnt bearer. His blonde hair fluttered in the high winds and his glowing golden eyes were locked onto Althea. Slowly, they shifted focus to the glowing green sword in her hand, and an unreadable expression flickered in them before he sighed softly and looked back at Althea.
A wordless ssage was passed between them. And surprisingly, Althea — who, at this point, was still manifesting her original fragnt bearer — dashed towards him unhesitatingly and without any reluctance whatsoever.
Perhaps even more surprising, Casmir, through Egon Callahan, also did not look surprised at the developnt. He simply stared at Priest with that hate still in his eyes, unmoving.
He didn’t exchange any words at all. He didn’t raise a single finger after that first strike. All he did was watch as Althea jumped onto a floating artifact soul mass Priest had lowered to the ground at so point. He watched her as she floated over to Priest. And he watched as Priest softly chanted and made gestures with his hands before summoning what seed to be a soul mass.
It looked like an orb of so kind. And imdiately Priest finished his chants, that orb spread like an obsidian ink and enclosed both him and Althea before fading out of view entirely. Not even Casmir could sense them again.
For several seconds, he continued to stare at that spot in the air where they had just left, before finally turning abruptly and looking towards a particular point in the distant horizon. His eyes narrowed, cutting through the haze of dust and smog on the battlefield as he focused at that point.
If one squinted hard, they would see a pale grey dot-like figure there.
It was the Husk.
During Althea’s and Elias’s terrain-warping fight, it had retreated extrely far to a safe distance. Even though it wasn’t as smart as a human, it still had enough sense to recognize the danger of being close to a battle of such scale.
Casmir glanced at it for a solid few seconds. And for a beat, Elias, weathered, beaten, and panting from exertion, thought he was going to do sothing.
Already, with Elias’s in-depth experience as a high level Ossuarist for many years, he had connected the dots and co to the conclusion that Egon was the holder of the core fragnt of space. The sa space fragnt the Husk had seemingly been using.
Even more, he knew exactly just how brutal a eting between similar fragnt bearers usually was. It was an opportunity to devour the fragnt of the other person and beco more powerful. He expected to see a battle as Egon would try to claim what he viewed as his rightful property...
But contrary to Elias’s expectation, Egon simply looked thoughtful before turning his head and glancing at Elias briefly.
A scoff thick with scorn escaped the space fragnt bearer’s lips before he waved a hand and tore the very fabric of reality in front of him, stepping in without a word. The tear was a vertical line of absolute darkness that sealed itself shut the mont he crossed the threshold.
In a blink, he was gone. And all that reigned on the battlefield was an eerie silence. The only sounds left were the settling of dust and the distant, low crackle of fires burning in the Arcanist camps.
Elias finally staggered and swayed on his floating sword, all the weariness of his battle fully showing as the false front he’d put on ca apart. The might of his Heavenly Restriction had faded entirely, leaving him looking frail and small against the vast sky.
He descended to the ground in a controlled, but ungraceful spiral that was more a fall than it was a descent.
Imdiately his feet touched the ground, he swayed like a drunk man and fell, clutching his chest where he could feel the most pain emanating from his soul. The permanent loss of his soul density felt like a hollow ache in his marrow, a spiritual hunger that could not be satisfied.
"Curse you, Althea... Curse you and your order... I curse and damn you to all kinds of suffering!" he rasped through gritted teeth, choking out the words as his body spasd vigorously.
Yet that wasn’t the end of his suffering.
In his state of weakness, he felt the presence of another, and his head snapped up imdiately, his eyes wild and wary. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as a familiar, heavy pressure settled over the area.
It was Odette.
She stood a fair distance away, looking around cautiously at first, as if any of the terrifying figures from before could appear at any mont.
It was only when she was certain it was only them and no one else that she focused on Elias and finally smiled.
But before she could speak, Elias spoke first:
"...Like a fucking rat," he chuckled coldly. "You know I’ve always hated you from the first mont I laid eyes on you, Odette." He spat a glob of dark blood onto the ground and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"The feeling is mutual, Elias," she chuckled in response. "But also, a rat? Don’t you think that’s an? I’d say I’m simply cautious, that’s all."
Elias snorted. "You mistake cowardice for caution. The two can easily be mistaken for the other... That’s why you have remained in the sa spot for years," he laughed out loud, before suddenly devolving to a fit of coughs.
Odette looked on, her expression actually soured at first. It seed Elias’s words had hit a sore spot for her. But when she saw him begin to cough, her smile returned and she sighed.
"At the sa spot. Not progressing. What does that matter to you now anyway? You have no right to speak about such things..." her smile turned insidious. "Afterall, you’re weaker than now! Can you still be called a Preceptor-level powerhouse like this?!"
She cackled and strode forward. Each of her steps felt heavy, the gravity around her feet crushing the small pebbles into dust.
"You know what cos next, don’t you?" she grinned. "It is simply the way of the world."
Elias closed his eyes and sighed softly. "Aye. It is simply the way of the world..."
Suddenly, his eyes opened and a furious wave of soul energy burst out of his body like a burning inferno. The sudden eruption of power pushed back the dust and sent a shockwave that made Odette suck in a sharp breath and rear back imdiately, eyes wide.
"You crazy old man! You’re still burning your potential?!!" She raised her hands, a shield of gravity shimring into existence before her face as Elias burst into a manic fit of laughter, one that sent shivers down Odette’s spine as he stared straight at her.
"What is it?! Are you shy now?! Co at and let’s go out gloriously together!!" he roared with vigor, what was left of his robes flapping wildly with billowing energy.
"This is exactly why you never progress! I’m a dying man less powerful than you are and you still lack the conviction to take the risk!!" Elias guffawed. "Whatever happened to your ’deanor of an Ossuarist’ you keep preaching to everyone you et?!!"
Elias’s words made Odette shiver with rage. She shifted on her feet, her aura rising to et his. The two pressures clashed in the center, creating a small, localized windstorm that tore at the grass and scattered the earth around them.
"That’s it! Co at like the Preceptor that you are!!" Elias roared.
...But in the end, all Odette did was sigh and step back.
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