Chapter 26 – Guardians vs The Figure

Atlas and Amihan are busy helping the people of Vale. Atlas moved the earth to give people a wall of stone to feel safe. Amihan scout returns and says that the figure is missing they seem to lose him.

Atlas pride kicks in. He went out and looked for the assailant. After a few moments, he can hear the birds by the distance disturbed from their nest. There, he sees in the distance a small town of Usang Dalo is under attack by the figure. Atlas sees this town's citizen is less fortunate than the River Town as see all of their houses burning and their citizens fleeing as fast as possible – no guardians was there to stop this figure's rampage.

Atlas approached and the figure, rage, and justice fuming from within. The figure also detects him as sniffs the air and smiled. He pointed his finger and yelled "Dust!"

Atlas curled his fist and readies his stance. "Bring it!"

The two clash. Atlas fist flies in a frenzy hitting the figure square in the chest. The figure twists his spear and tries to deflect Atlas attack's but Atlas' fists are fast if not faster. Before the figure spear can connect with Atlas, fists came flying towards the shaft, redirect the tip of the blade back to the figure.

Atlas steps back to take a quick breather. There the figure's wound heals. The spear gave an orange glow just like what Gil told him early.

"Malaka! That is ambrosia!" Atlas knows this is a fight he won't last. The spear can heal the user and can be magically recalled like Leshin uses his. The figure's strength can be replenished in an instant and the bugs inside him are yet to awaken.

The figure punches Atlas but it didn't faze him a bit. Atlas returned the favor by punching the figure in his chest. The blow was so strong that the figure flew meters away from him and rolled thru the hills below them. Atlas waste no time and rushes in. He threw a flurry of punches and kept the figure rolling away from Usang Dalo and kept his body from regenerating.

Every punch Atlas made was enough to crush a house. It wasn't enough to kill him but enough to daze the figure. Atlas' mind goes blank. All he thinks is to keep punching till the figure is far away from the town. After rolling and rolling down the hill, Atlas made a powerful uppercut and send the figure flying to the sky and off into the distance. The blow was so powerful that when it connected with the figure, huge shockwaves shook the ground.

"YEAH! That's what I am talking about!" Atlas yells for his short victory.

Amihan flies above Atlas and yelled "Atlas! What was that?!"

"What?! I can't help it. I took the fight to him before he can reach us."

Amihan put her hands on her forehead in disappointment in his lack of foresight and understanding. "NO! Atlas. Look at where you send him flying to!"

Atlas looks over the direction where he sent the figure and sees four black towers.

"OH NO!" Atlas realizes the gravity of what he did. He wasted no time and runs toward the four towers.

Amihan flies low and started to yell at Atlas for his stupidity but no amount of scolding can undo what he did. Amihan just kept her cool and ask Atlas to run faster. Atlas nods and pushes his legs to the limits.

Tala was alerted to the loud crash of the figure falling to the forest near them.

"Leshin! Shamir! It's here!" Tala wasted no time and she puts her ice magic to use. The ice froze the figure in place. It slowed its movement but never its rage. Leshin lends a hand and puts up a good defense. Shamir summons her sand and created a huge wave of sand to push the figure away.

Tala bombards the figure from above, Leshin restricts its movement and Shamir pushes it back. The three were doing well until the figure's scarab started to scatter and tried to manage to attach on Leshin's arm and feeding his strength to the figure. The battle started to turn for the figure's favor as more of its strength being renewed.

Shamir summoned her sand and tried to make the insects and the figure lull to sleep but it does not affect their spear manage to wake them up immediately as soon as they feel sleepy. Tala also tried some elemental magic to cut the figure's body: from mutilating, lacerations, and decapitation but none are working. Leshin is too preoccupied with removing the bugs from his arm that he assists the other guardians from the fight.

But when Leshin finally removes the scarabs from his arm, the figure strength returned and even increased from feeding off his strength. It now withstands everything that Tala and Shamir threw at him. The figure grabs Tala from the air and threw her away. Shamir jumps and catches her with her sand cushioning the blow. Leshin summons larger vines and roots from the trees around the area to restrict and distract the figure as they try to figure a way to defeat this monster.

"Leshin, we should escape. Gil, Kulog, and Kidlat cannot defeat this guy and from the looks of it – we cannot too." Tala says as she uses her wand to conjure a lightning bolt.

"I agree. We should move out while we can. My magic is ineffective too as no amount of sleeping magic can put these to sleep." Shamir summons her sand and prepares to surround Jasmine.

"No, give her more time. Once she opens her eyes, we run and regroup." Leshin reassures the two.

"DUST!" The figure manages to strip every root and vines. It brandishes its spear and prepares to make another attack but it smelled something. Like a dog and it started to smell everything. He crawled to the ground and sniffed. It drove him mad and started to attack everything in his area. He began to sniff his clothes and he stabs himself without remorse. The self-inflicted wound eventually healed but it didn't stop the figure from stabbing when he smells something on himself.

Seeing this the three then stopped and wonder what is this figure doing. Then Tala looked at Shamir and her sand. "He said dust… in a way sand is like dust in manly ways. . . Hey! Shamir, do you this guy?" Shamir shakes her head. She is confused as them though she agrees that Tala's theory isn't farfetched and she retorts that she traveled far and wide but none of them wanted her head or did something wrong to warrant an immortal monster after her.

After he eliminates the smell from itself the figure sniffs the air and looked in their direction. It smiled and began to run towards them.

"Shamir remove the sand protecting Jasmine! NOW!"Leshin deduces if this figure smells Shamir's sand then it should follow where it goes and right now there is a lot of sand around the pond Jasmine. Shamir tries to remove but the figure was too fast for them. It launches itself and threw the three in the air.

They stumble and rollover near the pond. The figure proceeds to the pond. It smells the air and sees Jasmine. The figure deduces that the huge amount of sand around Jasmine is its target. But before it can reach her the sand made a protective dome around Jasmine. It then proceeds to beat it with its fist with a huge smile on its face. "Dust is here! Dust!" it yells.

The sand dome began to break from the repeated attack. Shamir was the first one to get up. She uses her sand and summons it beneath her. She slides across the field and races to Jasmine before the figure can destroy the dome. With her speed, she manages to get behind the figure. She summoned more sand from her pocket and conjure it to get behind the figure. She concentrates her magic as purple and gold glitter emanates around her. This caught the attention of the figure and turn around. She made the two sand structures slam and trap the figure between them. Shamir held her hands in the air and she proceeds to make a squeezing motion. The glitter intensifies and a soft murmur can be heard within the sand yelling "DUST! I found you DUST!"

Shamir yelled "Who are you?! Why do you want me dead?!" She demanded the figure to answer as she proceeds to tighten the pressure on her hand and the sand also follows her motion. The figure can be heard laughing as it rejoices as it exclaims its mission is about to end.

The figure's spear launches from the sand almost hitting Shamir. She breaks her form and dodges the attack but in turn, the figure manages to escape from the sand prison. It quickly grabs her and slammed her across to the sand prison she made. The force was powerful enough to collapse the sand and Shamir was thrown in the direction of Jasmine.

Shamir maneuvers herself and grabs Jasmine. Before falling she launches Jasmine up in the air. Tala grabs Jasmine saving her from the fall. Shamir and Leshin hold off the figure and Tala flies off to remove Jasmine from the fray.

At this moment Jasmine has awoken.

Atlas and Amihan see the battle from the distance. Amihan points out she can see Tala flying with Jasmine. Soon as she says it a spear penetrates Tala's shoulders. Atlas and Amihan catch the two.

Seeing the blood on his hand and the gaping hole on Tala's shoulders made Atlas question his place as a guardian. His action almost brought Tala to her death. He almost let the Chronicler die and with it the hope of this world. His consciousness started and his emotion floods him with regret but he shakes it off. He knows there is nothing that can be done at this point. Tala is placed on the ground and lifts his head. He will do what he is best at doing. She shrugs off the guilt and walked on.

"Hey, vlákas! I didn't say you can run away!" The figure hears Atlas and roars in his direction. Its attention is fixated on Atlas.

"Adelfí, let's take this bastard on!" Atlas address Shamir then charges forward. The figure smirks and shows Atlas that its wounds heal from Shamir and Leshin's attacks.

"Come, Adelfós. Let's show what Tymarians can do!" Shamir rides her sand as it flies behind the figure.

The figure recognized Atlas and fixes his attention on him. It knows that this guardian poses the greatest threat. He will need to deal with Atlas first then with Shamir. The figure summons the spear back and throws it at Atlas. Atlas grabbed the spear before reaching him but the force was strong at dragged Atlas with it.

The figure turns around and launches its bugs on Shamir. Shamir was caught off guard and manages to get her legs. Most of the bugs were got by her sand and proceed to kill it within her sand by crushing them. Shamir pulls back as it tries to remove the bugs.

Atlas stopped the spear. Before he can react the spear drags him back to the figure as it summons it back. The figure's skin opens up and proceeds to throw more bugs at Shamir by wailing his arms in her direction launching the bugs in the process. Shamir was put in a defensive as she furiously proceeds to remove the bugs. But the bugs she killed manage to return to life as they are connected to the spear. It proceeds to crawl to her and no matter how much sand she summons to remove them, they kept flying back.

Shamir yells for Atlas to take the figure on. Shamir will deal with the bugs and separate them from its master. She summons all of the sand she can and carry the bugs with her. They slide across the field far away from the figure.

Atlas lets the spear take him to the figure but before he reaches the figure, he releases his hold on the spear and spins on the figure's right side, and launches a powerful blow. The attack was so strong the figure's hood and other clothing were blown off.

"There you are áschimos. Show me that face so I can see the fear in your eyes before I send you flying." Atlas mockingly said.

And there the figure's face can be seen with its grotesque features. The figure has its face half-rotten and its eye almost white from decay. Its teeth crack and some of his flesh hanging from Atlas's attacks. The orange light kicks in and as the flesh places its self-back to the figure's face and its teeth reformed but the teeth are still rotting and the flesh is still dead.

"Oh, so got the spear while you're dead. I wonder how some bugs inside you manage to kick your life back. But no matter, I will send you back to Hades realm!"

The figure stopped and looked at Atlas with curiosity. "Hades? NO! I escape Hades and now dust will die!"

The figure launches himself at Atlas. This time the figure's strength seems to be getting stronger than what was earlier. Atlas knows he is in danger if this goes on. He must find a way to separate the figure from the spear.

Atlas uses his magic and summons rocks to form around the figure's feet and arms. Before the figure can react, Atlas punches the figure's arm so hard that it let go of its spear.

Atlas grabbed it and summons the earth to swallow it whole. The spear slowly sinks to the earth. "Now, if Gil is right the bugs should appear once he is enraged"

The figured tried to escape but the rocks that Atlas summons are harder than it looks. Enraged the figure's bugs let out and a whirlwind began.

Atlas anticipates this attack. From Atlas footing, the earth formed small rocks shape like nails. It launched forward the air and hits the bugs.

"Scarabs from Land of Origin, spear-like us guardians and Ambrosia, the fruit of the royal family from Tymar, and you seem to know Hades. Wanna explain yourself before the scarabs inside your decaying body all die?"

Atlas kept his attack while the figure desperately tries to escape. The scarabs tried to attack him but they all died from the spikes that Altas launches.

Then the figure stops struggling and the whirlwind subsides. It looked up to Atlas. He examined his face and smelled him. "I can't fail. Dust is here!" The figure started to glow orange again and the dead scarabs also spring back to life.

Atlas panics and wonders how it managed to heal itself. He looked at the ground where the spear was swallowed by the earth. There he saw a line of scarab manage to get in the earth. The scarabs manage to reach the spear, healed themselves, and lined themselves back to the figure.

The figure's strength grew and breaks free from the rocks. The scarabs returned to its body and its spear breaks free from the earth and returns to its master. Enraged gave a flurry of attacks with unrelenting force.

Caught off guard, Altas is on the defensive. He might dodge most of its attack but his large stature won't keep him safe from the figure large sweep attack. Soon, Atlas is filled with cuts all over his body. He collapses on his knees, exhausted and catching his breath.

Shamir slides in and grabs the figure from the foot and pulls him. The figure is dragged by the sand away from Atlas and to her. Shamir manages to kill the scarabs off her.

"I found your weakness áschimos, your scarabs won't regenerate if I killed it away from you," Shamir smirks and dragged the figure into the depths of the earth with her quicksand. "Good thing there is water here. Making a sand dome as your prison won't cut it so a quicksand should"

The figure tries to crawl its way out of the sand but his weight is too much for him to lift. Shamir uses more and more of her magic to hold the figure down and the sand made its way from its waist up to its neck.

The figure summons the spear back to his side. With Atlas exhausted from the beating he received, the spear in the earth started to move and break its way out and back to its master's side. Shamir sees the spear flying back to the figure and realized spending magic on him is a waste. She flies across the field and back to Atlas. She helped him back up and opened a pouch revealing Ambrosia.

"Atlas, here! This is my last Ambrosia." Shamir asked Atlas to recover. Atlas eyes glitter but he placed it back in Shamir's hand.

"Shamir, go to Tala and Leshin. Tala was stabbed by the spear; she needs more than I do." Shamir didn't know about this but she nods in silence she understands that this is needed by Tala more than Atlas. Shamir apologizes that she didn't help that much against the fight against the figure but Atlas smiled and replied "On the contrary, I did figure out an idea how to deal with this. Killing the bugs away from him helped yeah?"

Shamir nods and wished Atlas the best as she speeds away to save Tala. "I'll be back, Atlas! Hold him off until Leshin, Tala, and I are back."

Atlas catches his breath and readies himself for the fight. With the spear able to heal the figure, it manages to renew its lost stamina and manage to crawl its way out of the quicksand.

Before the figure can launch more attacks. A large tornado picks him off the ground and into the air. Then another tornado pushes off the area and into the wilderness.

Amihan flies by and saves Atlas. "Really? Are you that dumb Atlas? Three guardians were defeated by this guy and you go solo?" Amihan's green armor turned to red signaling she is fuming with anger.

"I want my revenge Amihan. And if anything else, I take the fight to him before it reaches Vale and kills this bastard before it kills more innocent lives"

Roaring can be heard from the distance. Rumbling gets closer and closer. They can see the speed that this figure can do. Amihan prepares, large wind rotates around her, and Atlas placed his hand on the ground and charges his magic. "Amihan on my signal launches him again in the air. Shamir gave me an idea. Trapping him can be the best way to defeat him."

The figure reached them running at full speed with a spear pointed at Atlas. Atlas yells for them to attack. Amihan summons powerful wind and blows the figure in the air. Atlas grabbed the earth and grabs two huge masses of land on each hand; each is a size of a hill. Atlas leaps into the air and slams the figure right in the middle of it. Atlas then hardens the two landmasses with his magic and starts to close the cracks between them he attempts to seal the figure in it.

Amihan sees this and used her wind to push the two lands together. But the figure was putting up a fight no matter how hard the two of them trap the figure in it, it fights back pushing the two rocks.

Tala, revitalized and fully healed from her injury, points her wand on the figure. An icicle barrage attacks blast shoulder off the figure. The ice spreads and freezes on the wound preventing instant healing. "Hope you enjoy this!" she yells as she continues to blast the shoulder with ice.

Shamir uses her sand to enter the figure's body to prevent the scarab from escaping and potentially drinking their strength off. Leshin leaps in action and manages to grab the spear from the distracting figure.

The figure didn't realize but without the spear, his strength is waning. And in a few moments, his body starts to freeze. His scarabs try to escape but with every opening from his body, the sands get in and stopped them from escaping. The strength of the Atlas and Amihan's wind is starting to crush him. The moment he realized his spear is missing and tried to summon it back, Leshin already summon a lot of plants to stop it from escaping. Leshin holds on to the spear with all his might to ensure it won't return to its master.

Finally, the figure was crushed with the combined strength of the guardians. Atlas falls back to the ground while carrying the huge landmass on his back. He gently placed it on the ground and laughs. "FINALLY! WE did it!"

The other guardians celebrate with a huge roar. Leshin hugs Shamir and thanking her for saving Tala. Tala also hugs the two, her happiness shows a pink light shines brightly on her wings. Atlas shares a hearty laugh with Amihan as the two share how great their combo was.

Amihan flies back to the air and returns to fetch Jasmine. There Jasmine stands alone on the tower reading her book. Amihan approaches with a smile and tells Jasmine that they finally killed the figure. Jasmine turns her head and puts the White Chronicle away with a frown on her face.

"Amihan, while you are dealing with the figure. I manage to use the time to meditate and thru it, I realized one important detail."

Amihan looks back at her with a serious face. "Tell me, Chronicler. What is this news?"

"I haven't eaten yet." Jasmine's stomach growled.