The entire room shook as Alvin and the soul-trapping Conductor returned. Bits of wall and clusters of golden coins rained down around the room as they slammed into the ground near the ring of Guardian statues.
They were grappling each other and chanting spells as fast as they could. When one tried to cast a spell, the other worded a counterspell just as quickly. Thus, they were forced to fight barehanded, which further increased the difficulty of the battle since their power was equally matched.
Alvin brought up a knee that impacted the soul trapper so hard that blood rained from his mouth. He returned a blow in kind that caused Alvin to do the same. Alvin wasn’t about to quit though and he roared as he picked up the soul trapper and slammed him on the ground.
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
“THUD”
Alvin had slammed his body down three times but on the fourth, the soul trapper had brought his elbow into the back of Alvin’s neck. The two toppled to the ground and Alvin lay unconscious. The soul trapper laughed in triumph. It had taken almost everything he had but he had won this match. He staggered to his feet and went to deliver the final blow, but a glimmer from the corner of his eye stopped him.
He turned to look and saw that Cypher was at the peak of the central pillar, reaching for the item at the top. The soul trapper’s eyes widened in fury and disbelief and he tried to rush at Cypher, only to find that his Zight was almost completely gone. The soul trapper scowled at Cypher and ran over anyways. He might not be able to blitz over there, but he could still stop the boy from reaching that item.
Meanwhile, Cypher was doing his best to keep his balance and reached for the item that had been glittering at the top of this pillar. From what he could see, it was a thick, buckle-like plate. It was a little under a meter in length, had a slight curve to it, and shone with a host of colors.
The colors were radiated by six diamond-shaped, gem-like stones. The metal it was made of was exquisite as well, and it shimmered with a faint iridescence. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. On one side was a stylized sword that ran the length of the plate, while on the other side was a matching shield that hid the tip of the sword. Both were beautifully designed and featured intricate details.
However, in the middle, wedged between them, sat an “X” shaped piece that seemed to be able to rotate. Cypher laid his hands on the item and pulled it from its resting place. As he did he heard the soul trapper scream, “NOOO!” followed by him slamming into the pillar so hard it began to topple over.
Cypher struggled to maintain his balance and his grip on the plate but soon fell anyway. He tucked himself into a tight ball in order to protect his vital parts. The fall wouldn’t kill him, but the pillar was heavy, and falling debris could do serious damage if they landed on his neck or exposed torso.
However, in doing so, he had pressed the plate against his waist. As he fell, his Zight dropped to near zero and an iridescent belt wrapped itself around him in an instant, holding the plate in place. A chime went off and the “X” shaped central piece began to glow.
Cypher slammed into the ground and felt his body shudder as another chime went off from the plate. As Cypher writhed on the ground, the soul trapper moved closer and grunted in frustration, “You fucking idiot! Look what you’ve done!”
He reached down and grabbed Cypher by the plate resting around his waist, easily picking him up with no difficulty. He tried to shake Cypher free of the belt but it wouldn’t budge and only let out another chime. Cypher wasn’t about to just let this happen though, and he reared back and kicked as hard as he could.
The soul trapper’s face held firm but his nose crumbled under the pressure of Cypher’s boot. He might have been two ranks higher, but Cypher was still a rank one Conductor himself, and the nose was only made of cartilage and not bone.
The Order member dropped him and clutched at his face in agony, while Cypher rolled away and ran off. About that time Alvin was waking up, and he took one glance around the room before he spotted his prey.
They had been fighting hard, but Alvin still had a quarter of his Zight left. He knew that the soul trapper was almost out and he readied himself to finish this fight once and for all. He dashed over, using nearly the last of his Zight, and tackled the Order member. The two began to scuffle against each other, and Alvin was again kicked away.
Melodi and Alex were still battling. But Melodi had just finished firing her flame-laced arrow, and as it made contact with the shredded shoulder socket of the puppetmaster, his entire body burst into flames. He screamed in agony and rolled around on the ground, his puppets falling apart into piles of dust.
Alex and the shield-bearer turned to look, and upon seeing his comrade burning, the shield-bearer threw aside his equipment and dashed back. He reached into his robes and pulled out a black oval-shaped object.
Alex tried to close the distance between them, but before he could, the shield-bearer slammed the black oval into his chest.
A burst of purple light filled the room and everyone lost their sight for a moment. The shield-bearer roared as all of the violet light was reabsorbed into him, and a veined chrysalis formed around him and pulsed in time with his heartbeat. The soul trapper took notice of this and dropped a smoke bomb, “Until next time Alvin!” he shouted and as the smoke cleared he vanished completely.
Cypher stood up and looked towards the disturbance. He saw that the chrysalis was falling apart. Underneath stood some kind of half-man, half-bear creature. Cypher had seen something like this before. The creature had rotting flesh and bits of its bones could be seen.
The smell of decay filled the area, and as the last of the chrysalis fell to the ground and evaporated, the creature let out a cry of insanity. It was a horrible, screeching sound that blended the voice of a man and a beast.
Spark ran over to Cypher with Melodi on his back. She hopped down and the three of them moved closer to Alex. Alvin had already moved in front of Alex and was brandishing his Chainblade as the others arrived.
“This is unheard of…” stammered Alvin, and the four of them could only look on in horror. The beast took a haphazard step towards them, its eyes glowing with feral light as its maw hung open. Clearly visible fumes rose from its body and it roared at them again, its tongue falling from its mouth to splatter against the ground.
Whatever this thing was, its power was immense.
