Chapter 43 - Girl

A pair of pitch black eyes crossed sight with the Moon Eye'd creature cutting through the air into the dark. 

He could feel the ire from the Earthen Spirits bearing down on him, as the little spirit got back to them.

Those Nightmares that had tried to chase it's tired little form, had been met with a violent but swift end.

It flew in front of Argo, who put is hand out.

Resting on it, Argo spoke as he turned his head to take stock of the battlefield, "...Well done." 

His bones shivered. His jaw tightened slightly alongside narrowing eyes.

The battle in the center had grown to a place where he could not tell if it was winning or losing for Awick.

Each clash, created a shockwave that knocked his senses for a loop for a moment. If not for their position being decently far, then it would have been near impossible to even withstand the ambient pressure.

The mages in the center, that were left alive, had to be either unconscious, or suffering enough to be completely useless.

He cast a look at the oncoming Nightmarish Horde. 

It would arrive soon.

It had been less than fifteen minutes since they had broken away from the center with Constance.

He shot a look the other way, where Lunston was meant to be coming from, and felt a terrifying force growing more and more powerful.

He would be in sight soon enough.

At last, he settled his sight on the figure stood unwaveringly in the midst of the storms of magic that made boulders fly, and cast the whole of the cavern into disarray.

Murphy.

He had not buckled an inch, since the fight began.

Spider gave them the information, which told Argo all he needed to know, to make a plan moving forward.

He turned his head.

Constance had been watching him, while recovering her magic as best she could.

She never believed in the idea that one could talk with their eyes in full conversations, exchanging plans or anything of the sort.

It was ridiculous.

But she had been getting bits and pieces as time had passed, and she had opened her mind to it.

And now, as they exchanged looks, she quietly turned her head, scanning the surroundings. 

Argo couldn't be certain that Spider had operatives here, but… he couldn't know there wasn't.

He took the little spirit, and gave it over to the girl, to hold on to, just in case as insurance.

The number of variables was dropping quickly. But that also meant the curtains were about to rise on the finale.

"Moray…" Constance drew to her feet, "...Do you think we'll make it out?" 

Argo made no moves for his sword, as Constance got closer to him, looking exceedingly desperate. 

Moray… He knew something was wrong, for her to use that name, instead of his own.

Someone was around.

He saw what her pathetically flickering eyes were flickering to, the spots they were moving around, and duly noted them.

When she got a little closer, he slightly frowned, purposefully turning his back to the side with the majority of the spots she had glanced at.

"You're asking that when it's your fault we're here?" Argo's frown deepened, his gaze was forward, but his whole focus was solely on listen at his back, "Find comfort with your Goddess. There is none for you with me." 

Lucian's brows furrowed.

Weren't they fine before?

What was going on?

One of the stone hands shifted slightly.

Lucian turned his head.

He thought for a moment, before parting his lips, "Sir, I think-"

His pupils shrank.

His heart felt like a mirror that had a rock throw threw it. 

His eyes went hollow, as he passed out.

The barrier had been broken.

In the same instant, six shadows rushed Argo from all directions!

Constance's pathetic gaze turned sharp as a daggers end before her breath could end, the first one tried to pass by her.

Her sword wasn't drawn, so she chose to strike with a close hammer fist, the shadow made a strange noise, and then slammed into the stone floor! 

The body was mid bounce, when the five other shadows reached Argo racing just over the floor, some were close enough to the ground, that they looked like they were flying, while others took the high ground and dove at him.

He couldn't avoid them all, but knowing they were coming, he could avoid being killed instantly.

They weren't using knives, or swords, but daggers and fists.

There was an aura, but it was vague and plain, easily lost.

Yet, he tracked them through it. The storm of magical weaves, made anything that wasn't magical, stand out like a sore thumb.

His body twisted out of the way of the lethal strikes, but could only endure the cuts, slashes, and the one shadow whose palm reached his shoulder and sent him barreling off his feet, losing all the power in his right arm!

Argo's coughed blood as he hit a boulder flat! 

His head pounded violently and he could hardly think.

He hadn't sensed any aura, and thought they would be easier combatants to go against, but that palm strike had strength equal to Rodrick's titanic power! 

Argo was seeing triple.

The swords were still in his hands, but, they were loose, and his body was still reeling when they pounced on him again.

"...ly mother, seer of the past, guardian of our future, lend me the strength to face our foes," Constance's voice was the only thing that wasn't spinning, entering his mind like a clear stream destroying the blockages within, "Ghm, Bwtmr." 

Holy power surged within his body.

A scripture?

She knew and could cast a scripture, that was a Mid-Rank Holy power? 

His shock didn't last.

They were upon him like wolves upon wounded prey. 

His right arm, still weak, cut swiftly in a horizontal line dragged along by his turning hip, essentially whipping his injured arm with the sword gripped in hand.

His left arm was rendered useless by his hips turn, which allowed his right arm swing to carry immense power.

None of the shadows could have reacted in time, or known, that his left arm that looked destroyed, could still move.

Aura surged from the blade, to reinforce both body and mind.

The area became clear. 

Their faces were still obstructed. 

Choosing between having their bowels falling out of their stomachs, and retreating the answer should have been obvious.

But, Argo had miscalculated again.

His lack of experience against this type of fighter, had caught him square in the chest, in the form of a fist.

He had cut open that shadows bowels, but it kept advancing despite death knocking, and threw a haymaker square against his chest, and with his back against a boulder, either the fist would win, or he would.

There was no space to lessen the force by being thrown back.

Argo's eyes popped slightly, blood exploded from his mouth and eyes! 

With his left arm, he pierced the shadow through the heart. 

His mouth was dry, despite the stickiness of the blood within.

His lungs weren't moving properly.

He could feel that vile aura, so intensely now.

...Death...

...How many people had it killed?

It was winding it's way through his body.

Invading his intestines, and shutting down his organs.

The damage of the fist was high, but the aura it transferred was stronger, causing a violent power struggle to break out over every inch of his body.

His jaw tightened and then went loose.

He couldn't breath through his nose.

He had lost control over his own lungs.

His heart was still beating, and his instincts were forcing some reaction, but death was closing fast.

He looked past the man with a weak gaze, to see if Constance was coming, which was when he realized, he could not hear anything.

Constance was fighting against someone, who had an abundance of this vile aura, he couldn't hear a single one of the strikes.

His mind shifted and slipped, stumbling about in the swamp of pain and fog.

The girl… where was the girl?

Lucian was down. She couldn't survive the shockwaves of the faraway clashes... where...

The tensions of his aura and the vile one fighting, kept both their bodies up, like a string ready to snap at a moments notice.

His eyes turned down at last.

She was there.

Her dagger was covered in blood.

Her big round eyes dripping with tears looking up at him.

Had she finished off those shadows he had disemboweled while they were down? 

What a quick child...

...He wanted to spoil her more.

To pick her up.

To fix her hair, and see her grow into a fine young lady.

Those emotions violated his mind, from a place he didn't know existed. Yet, as he felt the vile aura creeping through his body, flowing through his veins, he could only think a single thing.

It was a shame.

He turned back to his opponent.

It wouldn't be long now.

It was invading his heart now.

But… he had already gathered his aura there.

Between his heart and his brain, his Aura was split in two, fighting back violently.

It was his body, and no one else's.

He knew it best. And he knew if he continued this way, he would be dead sooner rather than later.

There was too much to be done, to simply give in now.

But he knew the source of this vile aura, was too strong.

It was only a matter of time, before it infected his heart or his brain, and shut him down permanently.

The girl was stabbing the shadows leg, tearing at it, pushing, trying to get him off of Argo, but, it was no use.

As Argo stared at the shadows faceless head, he saw a reflection of himself.

He was battered.

His hair spilled over his face.

Blood stained his features, and his eyes looked like a fishes to some extent.

He couldn't help but chuckle a little internally.

He wasn't ready to enter the slow crawl towards death.

That was a date, that he was more than willing to put off.

If he was going to die anyway, then, why not do something insane? 

What was left of his senses, retreated into his body. 

With that hyper focus, he saw which side had more vile aura piling up, his heart, which was under the fiercest attack, and he gave it up.

Moving it all to his brain, he began a battle with the weaker front.

His heart stopped beating, a second later.

Thirty seconds, he imagined, was how much time he had left before death could get it's first win on him.

He didn't like to gamble.

The vile aura seemed paralyzed for a moment, at the sudden loss of counter pressure, that made it stumble, did even the owner of that vile aura, not expect such an insane move?

When they themselves were utilizing suicide tactics, it had failed to see something like this coming? 

The arrogance to believe that it was the only one who carried that type of insanity… Argo smiled.

He retook his organs and arteries by storm, surrounding the entrance point of the vile aura, the shadows fist that was still connected to him, and shutting it down.

With that area locked away, he looked back inwards.

Ten seconds.

He rushed his heart. 

He could breath, but his blood wouldn't pump.

He felt immediately bloated everywhere.

The vile aura battled viciously, destroying an equal amount to every bit that was destroyed.

With the shadows fist locked off, there was no more connection, and the girl, who had been stabbing it, managed to make it fall backwards.

The vile aura had no more direction.

Five seconds.

The vile aura in his heart, weakened and grew sporadic, trying to explode his heart from the inside in a self destruction.

Three seconds.

It gathered in a dense ball, at the very center. It's tendrils held onto the valves inside his heart, keeping them completely shut.

Two seconds.

The ball expanded all at once, trying to expand the heart, and tear it open.

One second.

His aura didn't bother stopping it, but instead reinforced the flesh of the heart, embedding itself within every cell. At the brink of death, he could feel every part of himself, all of his external senses were completely lost.

His whole soul, was gathered with a single point of focus....

...zero.

His body fell, like a string with the tension cut.

It was not the most graceful thing in the world, but, as he looked at the ceiling not knowing it had worked, he saw the girls face over him.

She had always been there, when he awoke, and always came, when he called.

He could breath.

When was the last time someone had cried for him?

His heart was beating in his chest, restarted by the inside blasting out and the outside blasting in, creating a force to begin it again.

Once they were back, he swore in his heart, to spoil her rotten.

His ears were ringing, and slowly coming back into focus.

She would be the most rotten, lazy, rude young lady in all of Karlan.

He could feel the girls hands on his head, and her boney little thighs under it.

No one would try to take her away, no one could try to hurt her.

Her big round eyes… were more human than any he had seen.

She would be happy with everything she could want.

He raised his hand, to touch her face.

She would never know struggle again.

"...There you are…" 

The little girl was crying.

He wiped the tears from her cheek, with his thumb.

The little girl, had stopped hiding behind those eyes.

He had to think of a name for her now. He smiled, as his body went limp.

His focus drew inwards. There were changes he didn't completely understand happening. But he knew he had survived.

His heart, was not simply beating blood. His condition was growing better by the second.

Violet aura, began massing in his body at an incredible pace.

His hearing was growing more and more powerful.

His sight was clearing up, and sharpening at the same pace.

His whole body, was undergoing a metamorphosis.

He had encountered this, once before.

His breath was black like coal, and his skin shed like ash from used up firewood.

His heart pumped both blood and aura through his body.

It felt like a castle balanced on the head of a pin.

Both reckless and careful all at once, his heart pumped both, but felt like the slightest havoc, would destroy the balance, and kill him.

If only he could tame it completely… he blinked and returned back to his senses.

Staring at the ceiling, he saw something staring back at him, stood on vines, the seemed to run under the pearl stone.

He had reached the Pseudo-Mid-Rank.

Yet he didn't feel any joy at all.