Spirit Crystal Projection

The hotel's roof quivered violently, sending shivers down Elissa's spine. A knot of revulsion gnawed at her insides. From the lower floors, an enormous metal beam burst forth, propelled by an invisible hand. Her eyes remained fixed on the spectacle as it cleaved through more than half of the rooftop during its ascent.

Perched upon its surface, a man appeared, his hand lightly grazing the colossal beam, ascending with it. "So that's their leader, he looks completely human. He must have reached Enlightenment " Elissa mused, her thoughts churning amidst the chaos. She sidestepped with agility as the ground crumbled beneath her feet.

"I don't know what you seek in these ruins, but your death is all you'll find," the man declared with a voice that rumbled through the night sky.

Elissa responded with a sly smirk. "I came searching for you," she retorted, her whip coiled and brimming with her Reflexive Will.

Hovering in mid-air, the dark-haired man extended his right hand, using his index and pinky finger to direct a subtle command. In response, the metal beam formed into nine metal spheres, with one forming a platform beneath him.

The other eight metallic spheres shot toward Elissa, who greeted them with a frenzied lash of her whip. Without the need of a spell, her Reflexive Will imbued her strikes with astonishing power, forcing the spheres to shoot back with explosive power.

The spheres, resembling onrushing cannonballs, closed in on her with alarming speed. In the span of a heartbeat, she deftly parried all eight, holding them at bay.

Yet, the relentless spheres soon forced Elissa into a defensive deadlock. Her face grew serious as she snapped her whip eight times every second that passed.

Realizing the standstill Elissa was forced into, the green-skinned woman crouched low, channeling her Tense Will and launched herself towards Elissa from the flank.

Below the deadly battle taking place on the roof. Al had entered the third floor, the hotel trembled beneath his feet. With each step, the building trembled before it began shaking.

Half of the third floor gave way, and a massive metal beam was wrenched from its foundation. It levitated and turned upwards piercing through the floor and began its ascent.

Al's heart raced as he realized the danger Elissa was in. He sprinted through the unstable floor, his thoughts focused solely on her, but the place was eerily empty.

As the chaos around him began to settle, Al's keen ears caught the sound of whimpering emanating from a closed room.

Without hesitation, he drew his longsword and sliced through the door, rushing inside. There, he found Sergi, huddled in a corner, clutching a bible with tears streaming down his face.

"What are you doing? The building is going to soon become rubble! You must leave, Sergi!" Al's tone was commanding; there was no time to waste.

"I saw him with my own eyes. The devil is out there," Sergi stammered, his voice quivering with fear. Al's brow furrowed at the frightened man.

"Your mother witnessed the same horrors, yet she chose to fight. She's outside right now with the rest of your people. It's up to you now to protect them."

Sergi absorbed Al's impassioned words and, in a whisper, muttered, "She's still alive..." Al responded swiftly, "Yes, now hurry and go. The second floor is about to be engulfed in flames, and time is running out."

Sergi, who had ceased trembling, rose to his feet and gave Al a hug before fleeing the room. Al followed him out and continued his ascent to the fourth floor.

Throughout it all, Al maintained his composure and focused on his breathing, slowly cultivating more Stubborn Will each moment he could.

Elissa moved in perfect synchrony with the chaotic dance of battle. The green-skinned Acolyte had caught her attention the moment she crouched.

In a whisper, she invoked External-Touch, a spell of her Reflexive Will. It allowed Elissa to step out of her current position leaving a transient external copy.

Her Reflexive clone diminished with every passing moment. Her Reflexive clone deftly deflected the relentless metal spheres. Meanwhile Elissa herself closed the distance with the incoming Acolyte.

It wasn't about raw speed; it was about timing. With lightning reflexes, Elissa lashed her own whip, coiling it around the Acolyte.

Channeling all her strength, she swung the Acolyte like a projectile, hurtling her toward her leader. In the blink of an eye, a metal sphere broke through her body.

The Dark Acolyte exploded into a gruesome gore of body part and blood before turning into a gray mist Elissa whip absorbed. Almost simultaneously, Elissa's clone was struck by a metal sphere, vanishing in an instant.

The Dark Acolyte, unfazed by the death of his subordinate, pivoted his focus toward the original Elissa, who was rapidly closing the gap.

Realizing if she created another reflexive clone of herself, he would be left open to an attack from the real her. Momentarily halting his metal spheres, He shifted his strategy.

He ascended into the air through his levitating metal platform. His metal spheres came together, melding together into a colossal, chained net that shot towards her.

Elissa lashed out her whip, the impact shattering a section of the net into fragments. But the net proved resilient, as it encircled her, she uttered a spell. The net warped and constricted around her, ensnaring her in its metallic embrace.

Elissa found herself unable to move. The man reacted swiftly jumping off the floating platform, landing on a section of the ceiling that had miraculously escaped collapse.

His floating metal platform morphed into a spear, its tip directed towards Elissa. As he was about to throw the spear spiraling toward her, a smaller shard of sharp metal struck the Enlightened Dark Acolyte's shoulder. The sudden impact disrupted his aim, causing the spear to miss its mark and stab the ground nearby.

The man whirled around to discover a weary Al. His longsword aimed at him, though the blade's tip was embedded int the Dark Acolytes shoulder. Al had channeled the limited Stubborn Will he had gathered to activate his unique longsword launching the tip of the blade at the man.

The Dark Acolyte, infuriated, yanked the sword tip from his shoulder and began to laugh, his amusement unsettling. "You wanted to save your friend?" he taunted. With a snap of his fingers, he sent the metal tip hurtling back at Al, who deftly countered with a slash from his scimitar.

"I could have finished her off at any time. I just wanted to have some fun," the Acolyte remarked, arrogance oozing from his voice. He extended his middle and index fingers upward, and the metal net encasing Elissa transformed, sprouting metal spikes that pierced her entire body. The attack drew no blood, her body instead vanished into thin air.

A perplexed "Huh!?" escaped the man's lips just before a thunderous clap echoed through the night. His head exploded into fragments, scattering them in all directions, a gruesome end to his physical body.

Elissa had somehow appeared behind the man, her agility and uncanny ability to evade death never ceasing to impress Al. As the lifeless body of the Enlightened Dark Acolyte crumpled, a sinister spirit resembling the man emerged from his form.

Elissa, anticipating this turn of events, produced a paper talisman and flung it toward the escaping spirit. With a whispered incantation, the talisman seized the spirit, dragging it to the floor next to Al. Stripped of its ability to float, it lay there, immobilized.

Elissa approached the captured spirit, placing a clear quartz crystal on its head. "Go and fetch me a pot from one of the rooms and something to start a fire with," she instructed Al. He complied without hesitation.

With a shard of broken stone, Elissa etched a Hexagram around the spirit. The spirit gazed at the night sky as it spoke, "I have been with this bloodline of humans for generations. I saved them during the cataclysm that befell the world decades ago. Now, because of you, they've been decimated and left to wander the desert."

Elissa scoffed at his words. "Because of me, they are free. They don't know any better; they're ignorant sheep," she retorted, her gaze unwavering.

"What do you know about freedom? You're a slave to cultivation. This world is like some fruit, and the one with the biggest appetite gets to its core," the spirit retorted. 

Elissa looked the spirit with a soft smile as she said. "I'm a slave to my Will, and you're a slave to your appetite. We make quite the pair. Now Sergi and his people will decide whom they will choose to serve in the future."

The spirit vibrated as its form gradually dissolved into the clear crystal, tainting it with a milky green hue. "They will die without me," it lamented.

Elissa paid no heed to its words as she meticulously drew symbols in the corners of the hexagram. Al returned to the roof with a pot of dry wood and matches, his eyes remained on the stairway he had come from. "Whatever you're planning, it needs to be fast. The fourth floor is already engulfed in flames," he informed Elissa as he handed over the items. 

She accepted them, placing the pot atop a few rocks alongside the green, milky crystal that now held the spirit. Lighting a match, she ignited the dry wood, repeating the process until the flames began to catch.

Elissa gestured for Al to step outside the hexagram formation, positioning herself at the center. She commenced a chant, causing the pot to vibrate. The fire mirrored the vibration, and a gentle wind started swirling around the hexagram. The crystal resonated with her chanting, projecting an array of strange, colorful lights into the depths of the pot. Moments later, images and sounds emanated from the fire, revealing the spirit's history.

  It first, appeared as a mere green reptile with six legs almost a thousand years ago. He was small and did not know where he had come from so it followed its instincts. It would spend its day observing humans and when he saw an opportunity, he would feed off of their fear.  Eventually after tormenting a man for years, he was able to form a soul contract with the man, creating his first Hybrid. 

A few hundred years of losing and gaining Hybrids he grew into an upright monstrous reptile. For some time, he was a part of a group of Dark Acolytes who worked with nearby nations. Bloody Rituals were performed to garner the dark groups favor, militaries would ritually sacrifice their own to them and even worshiped them, in exchange the Dark Acolytes would protect them.

As the images continued to unfold, the spirit's history became increasingly clear. After years of its reptilian existence, it had evolved into a more humanoid form. It had taken up the name of Ragjiel.  By then a powerful general had become his most loyal devotee and had pledged himself to the Dark Acolyte. 

After a failed attempt at a coup the man was forced to leave his birthplace. Their bond was so profound that the general had entered a blood oath with Ragjiel. In this solemn agreement, the General asked the being it viewed as his guardian angel to safeguard his bloodline ensuring their protection and well-being.

Upon the general's death, Ragjiel had kept his skull as a token, and for five generations, it had dutifully upheld the oath. Over time, the general's descendants had fallen into a spiral of depravity, their minds unknowingly influenced by the insidious presence of Ragjiel. As generations passed and their patriarchs died, Ragjiel collected the patriachs femur bones.

As the images neared the present, the revelations became even clearer. 

Ragjiel had remained true to its word, guiding the people through turbulent times, most notably during the Rakh-ahtan invasion. It had shielded the bloodline and led them to safety, even at the cost of countless of Hybrids he had amassed. 

Eventually, they settled in the ruins they were today, where Sergi's mother had been born. Ragjiel continued to create more hybrids from the same bloodline he was sworn to protect. In time, he encountered younger Dark Acolytes: a green-skinned woman who had once been a frog with split eyes, and a peculiar fish living in the waters of an oasis. It had helped them transition into humanoid forms.

Everything seemed to be going according to his plan until a skeleton wearing robes appeared outside their city ruins.

To regular mortals, he presented as a strikingly handsome man, but those with an Awakened Will could see he was in fact a walking skeleton. By day, he expounded upon the teachings of the Bible, presenting himself as a theological scholar of great erudition. Yet, under the cover of night, he took Ragjiel under his tutelage teaching him methods of exerting a more potent influence over the people.

The skeletons voice was like grinding gravel, he imparted a crucial lesson: inner conflict kindled a more robust source of Will for Dark Acolytes to siphon. He also elucidated the path to human transcendence through the pursuit of enlightenment. 

With this newfound knowledge, Ragjiel's mysterious teacher departed. Shortly thereafter, a lone Rakh-ahtan warrior arrived, the warrior wanted to extinguish the small settelment of humans he had found in the ruins. However, Ragjiel, along with his two subordinate Dark Acolyte and a collection of his hybrids, successfully stalemated the lone warrior. 

Recognizing the futility of trying to slay such a powerful being, knowing it would inevitably return with reinforcements, Ragjiel pledged his allegiance to the Rakh-ahtan, under the condition of sparing the bloodline he had long ago sworn to protect.

A deal was struck, birthing a trading nexus within the commune. Every first night of the month, powerful Dark Acolytes from far and wide convened, accompanied by a solitary Rakh-ahtan warrior. The groups exchanged weapons, technology, ritual knowledge whatever they could. 

The Rakh-ahtan's desires were clear—they wanted the Dark Acolytes across the world to wage war against as many cultivators as possible. 

Under such conditions, once a month his people would be accidentally killed or eaten. With powerful figures constantly expressing their intent to consume his people, Ragjiel embarked on a ritual that promised to allow him to gain enlightenment. 

Unknowingly he had cultivated the right circumstances for the ritual his entire life. He still had the skull of the general who had made a blood oath with him hundreds of years ago.  The Ancestral Bloodline Ritual utilized a bloodline, the skull of an ancestor and the femur bones of the five patriarchs who had passed away. The ritual amplified his connection to the entire bloodline allowing him the capacity to tap into the collective Will of the people.

  That is around the time Al and Elissa had showed up.