Elegy: Lost Shadow

Anemone used her fingers to wipe the sweat that washed down to her jaw. She was hyperventilating as she stared at the beast. Her eyelids were twitching as she could barely keep her eyes open. She looked at the ground only to notice all the aura that was surrounding the area.

   With both Remnant Chaos and Fragmented Scrutiny, my vision was not this clear. I can see that, this whole area bounded by aura is a condensed field. All that aura is for an art and if I am being honest, I don't want to know what it can do. That much magic is enough to destroy this whole area. Our deaths will  be guaranteed. I  just have to generate an opening for Walter to end this before it comes to that.

     Meanwhile;

Kano struggled on the ground as he felt the blue stripe dig deeper into his skull. He could hardly breathe as he felt the other coil tightly against his ribs. It then moved deeper into his chest before wrapping itself around his heart. His heart began releasing a black fog as his heartbeat began to slow down.

   Thud..thud.....thud..thud...thud....thud. His blood flow slowed down as a response. His body sunk deeper into the water as he gazed at the fog. He was barely conscious.

    In his mind, a memory continued playing.

He was the one who hit me with that pipe, he thought before saying, "What do you want? If you want a fight, we already know that you can't beat me. I just want to go home."

    "Please….just hear me out. Please come with me," the boy said, his distress eerily audible in his voice. He stood in anticipation hoping for a favorable response.

   "I don't have time for your petty games," Kano replied before he turned around and began walking away. As he was walking, he heard the sound of footsteps drawing near. Quickly.

  He turned around swinging with a back fist. "I don't have time for this." As he had turned around, he witnessed a sight which he honestly never expected. The boy was on his knees crying as he bowed, his face touching the sandy ground.

   "What are you doing?"

"Please….I need you to help me. So please come with me."

"Help you?...help you…why would I ever want to do that? Honestly, how I am feeling right now, I can choose to blame it on you and it still wouldn't be enough.

    Right now, I feel worse than before I met any of you. Because of you, I met the people I thought were my friends. Because of you, I made a lot more only to find out that only two of them felt the same way. Because of the same people that I met because of you, I hurt them and I am sure they hate me for it.

   I would bash your head into the ground if I had energy to waste but unfortunately I don't. Don't waste your time bowing, I won't help you." He then continued walking away.

   "So you want to hit me, right? You want to bash my head into the ground, right? I will let you do it. I won't even bother resisting. As long as you help me, I will let you do anything you want to me."

    As he was walking away, he suddenly heard a voice. "So you will just leave him be. I can tell that you can feel his sorrow. Give in to yourself." His once-blue eyes became consumed by a black fog. They were completely dyed to black. Who are you?

   He turned around as he aimed two fingers at him. "Water art: Discordant Torrent; Water bullet." Water condensed at the tips of his fingers as it gained an ogive shape. It was made of spiraling waves rotating in opposite directions. He then shot it at him.

   The boy stood still, he did not attempt to dodge and just let the bullet hit him. It pierced through his shoulder, inserting itself into him.

   Why didn't he dodge that? I made the bullet slower than usual. It's barely enough to pierce regular magic release aura.

 "Do you get it now? He is just desperate. You can hear him mourn, and I know for a fact that you love it. So does anyone with your nature."

   What are you talking about?

"Just go with him and you will understand all that you desire."

    The boy was screaming as blood was pouring from his wound. The water stopped the bleeding before he said, "Fine, I will go with you. Try anything stupid and I will punch your jaw off." They took off walking.

  As they walked;

What's happening here? I am just walking, why do I feel like am being satisfied? It's as if I was hungry, a hunger even I never knew about. I feel good. The aura in his eyes darkened before it dissipated.

    It has been a while since we started walking, when will we get there…I have to go home to do my training.

    "How much longer do we keep walking?"

"We have arrived."

    There's quite a distance getting here. Why would someone waste their time going that far away just to pick a fight?

"Beyond that point lies your answer. My hope is that your soul won't reject it."

    What do you mean by that?

"You can come in now. Please try to be quiet…there are people sleeping."

     He walked through the door, guard raised as he was expecting anything to happen. A strong sense of suspicion lingered in his mind. Something wasn't right. His guts were turning and he found that feeling quite unpleasant.

    As soon as he stepped into the living room, he could smell discarded flesh. He could recognize that foul anywhere since he had been working as a hunter under Mr. Vito's guidance.

    When he looked by a chair, he saw a man laying there. He had patchy hair, cheeks sunken as his bones protruded. His skin was sallow, his lips dried and cracked. It was as though he was knocking at death's door, the only thing left was to be granted entry. From his appearance alone, it was entirely possible that he had already done the crossing not so long ago.

    When he looked at the man, he could feel his insides turn. His eyes darkened as he grasped for air.

   The boy said, "This is why I needed you here. I wanted you to help me. He isn't well, or he hasn't been for about two months now. I don't know what kind of disease he has, but apparently, it's expensive to treat. We took him to the clinic a while back and they would not so much as have a look at him without money.

    I thought it would be okay but now even my siblings have fallen sick. I am begging you, please help him. Your magic is strong, much stronger than mine is. I realized that when I hit you with all my strength with that pipe and you never fell at all. You were okay."

     Kano coughed before he replied, "I am sorry but I can't help you. My magic isn't for healing. As he is, if my magic touched him, he would die."

    "I see,…"

Kano clenched his chest as his throat begun hurting. What is this? Why am I feeling this way? What's wrong with me?

 "Nothing is, You are perfectly fine." He sat on the ground before he muttered, "Who even is he?"

   "His my Dad."

"Your Dad?" he whispered as he felt a strong headache. His whole body became coated in a black fog like aura as he begun crying. All he could hear was the sound of drizzle accompanying all that pain.

    "What is wrong ?!!" The boy exclaimed as he watched Kano fall to the ground barely conscious. His eyes were slowly closing when he saw blue flaming feathers falling throughout the room.

    The boy shouting, "WHO ARE YOU!!!!" was the last thing he heard.

…...

   Anemone directed her four remaining blades to scatter across the battlefield when she sensed a large disturbance engulf the battlefield. A completely empty presence. "Did his magic just spike again? That doesn't make any sense at all. His spiritual vibrations had weakened, plus, his body is messed up right now. It can barely support itself. How on earth is he giving off that much magic when he is unconscious?"

   I mean right now, I am currently in his condensed field. Two condensed fields are intersecting in this area. There is his, and the bystier's.

   A condensed field: It is a field bound in one's aura. One of the most basic, yet taxing techniques. It exists in the Delta series of power and is used as a means of gaining control over an area. The technique is formed when inactive aura is scattered over the battlefield. This aura can interact with both active and inactive aura in the air without triggering any reaction.

    This property allows for more than one condensed field to exist in a particular area. The inactive aura, though scattered throughout an area, can quickly be changed to it's active form and then used to formulate an art by the mage who cast it. It is the reason why certain arts seem to spawn from thin air even though projectile magic is a direct extension of a mage's aura.

It exists in the Delta series as it primarily focuses on change and control.

    "Miss! Hurry it up!" Walter shouted as his hand was trembling. This much charge is not meant to be condensed for this long. It will keep pushing back while trying to escape.

    Walter is calling, I need to calm down. He is waiting on me to make an opening. She took a deep breath before exhaling. Focus my prime visualization into my eyes, see all the magic, direct all my blades and intersect at the right moment.

    The blades sped up as they flew all around the battlefield. She begun running before seeing a volley of flame arrows heading her way. She accelerated before blitzing past them and jumping over the stream of red aura that was being released by the ground.

    Hardly had she gotten close to it when it raised it paw and swung, aiming to swat her away. She jumped before using it's paw as a stepping stone to propel herself into the sky. All four blades gathered around her arm as they revolved around it. She began pushing forward as she released a gust of wind to propel herself towards it. She held out her hand when she saw it release a massive arrow from it's tail. The blades scattered as she released a gust of wind propelling herself downward and narrowly dodging the arrow.

    I don't have magic to waste. I will only be able to do one distortion and that will be all for me. She landed hard on the ground as she felt a slight pain in her leg. I can't stop now. When she looked ahead, she saw a paw descending. She jumped out of the way before it struck the ground and scattered a lot of dust.

   Blood spattered against her face when she thought, It overused its magic. If anyone of those overly strengthened blows manages to hit me, I will die for sure. Sorry Walter, but you will have to find another way of seeing, I am going to grow the dust cloud. She released a gust of wind scattering more dust as she ran through it. Covering her tracks in the large dust cloud.

    Along the lines of the aura, flames begun forming surrounding the dust cloud. Her blades blitz throughout the battlefield drawing the bystier's attention towards them. They then flew up, forming a circular formation above the cloud. The bystier grand before it looked at the sky. When it did, it saw her descending with her hand held out. Descending directly for the center of the revolving blades.

      Looks like I succeeded, from here, it's straight into a clash of magic that I will win. "Prime Visualization: Rampaging Blades; Distortion."

    The flames at the tip of the lion's tail lengthened before it transformed into a red fog-like aura. The aura then solidified, forming a red transparent crystalline aura above it.

   Finally, I am going to tear it down.

Walter sighed as he planted his feet firmly into the trees branch. The sound of spark grew louder until scattered flashes of lightning could be seen all around him forming at different interval.

   The blades begun revolving much faster around her arm as she descended. She released a gale of wind at the center of her palm which clashed with the barrier. I was right, this is also spirit magic. She felt her hand being pushed back as the flames that were surrounding her and the bystier grew, raising as though they were a tower. "Now, Partial Inversion!" she exclaimed before the aura begun to crack. It then shattered before a massive gust of wind was generated. The wind disturbed the flames,  halting their growth only for an instant before Walter came blitzing through, closing the distance at remarkable speed.

    He then held out his hand with the white sphere on it before striking the bystier's head. A white lightning bolt seal appeared before he grabbed Anemone's hand and threw her on top of the bystier's back. The flames had completely covered the ground and the flames sounding the area had grown and formed a pillar of flames. There was no way out but up.

    I can't activate my art before we get out of here, Walter thought. No sooner had he looked up than he saw the top of the pillar get covered by flames, completely closing off their means of escape. There is no way…..this art….its the Eon Tower.

    The Eon Tower( Normal Variant): it exists in the first three series of power. The alpha, Beta and Gamma series. It is a tower of flames that form in a condensed field. The flames rise, covering a certain range before they descend and annihilate everything within said range.

     Anemone's blades reverted back to bracelet pieces before her golden eyes changed back to brown. She was on all fours, hyperventilating as everything she saw appeared grey. Walter kicked the bystier's head forcing it to stumble a bit. The flames then began descending.

    "Walter...…..Do it…."

"Understood,…." He replied. The silver glow in his eyes became more prominent as he grabbed Anemone in a cradle carry position.

     When he looked to his left, he saw a black and blue fog heading their way. It punctured through the wall of  flames, before from it, Kano emerged with the five hexagonal pieces on his estoc rotating at a high speed.

"Water art: Discordant Torrent; Gamma Cascade!" he muttered. The flames clashed against the water and aura that materialized in front of him.

    Taking advantage of the momentary opening that formed in the tower of flames when Kano flew through it, Walter jumped out with Anemone to safety. As soon as he exited the pillar, he muttered, "Lightning Art: Destruction Absolute."

      Anemone stared at Kano as she moved further and further away from him. He is like a blue star, She thought before she saw lightning descend. It struck the flames and pushed down against Kano's water and aura. He clenched his teeth as he gripped his blade tightly. The hexagonal pieces disappeared before not only the lightning but also the flames broke through the layer of water heading directly for him and the bystier. 

     He held up his blade before the lightning and flames pushed against it. This forced him against the bystier's head before pressing both him and the bystier against the ground. The lightning and flames then exploded as the lion roared and Kano screamed. Their voices echoing throughout the forest that dusk.

    Its eyes burst before another explosion went off. It sent a shockwave throughout the whole area.

"KANO!!!!" Anemone shouted before she added, "Why did we leave… he was still in there. Stop running, Walter, we need to go back."

    "I can't…he told me to do it. We need to take cover before anymore of the magic scatters."

"You are lying!" She added.

    "You know, you look a lot worn out….just hurry and pass out." He ran passed the wall of trees. The lightning and flames exploded once more before covering the whole battlefield and reaching the edges of the trees. From that explosion, Kano's body was sent flying and fell into the hot spring. As he was sinking, he saw blue and red flaming feathers as he thought, Calida. He then fell unconscious as he hit the base of the hot spring.