Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Kalliope watched in horror as a spear of pure dark energy bore down on Lucius. He had stepped in front of her and the speed at which the spell flew left her with no ability to intercept it or move him. She was doomed to suffer while watching his death in slow motion.

A shrill screech tore itself from her throat out of the fear of his loss. However, at what seemed to be the last moment, a single bolt of electricity dissipated the bolt of energy. Since the spell was at the Master Rank, she knew there was no way for Lucius to have blocked it so easily.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Even if he were able to, the amount of mana he would have expended would have left him drained. Instead of looking drained, Lucius looked proud and triumphant. Kalliope could sense no loss in mana emanating from him. The only change was that the pressure he exuded had ceased.

Meanwhile, the Master Ranker sent several more spells at them, as if concerned that his spells backfired somehow. Yet, none of them reached their target. Each [Dark Spear] was struck out of the air by a bolt of lightning. Slowly becoming more and more confused, the Master Ranker roared and lunged with his daggers each aimed for Lucius's throat.

Unfortunately for him, he never made it as yet another bolt of lightning struck his body. His hair was instantly vaporized and his skin rapidly bubbled and boiled mid-air before his smoking corpse fell to the ground at their feet. With their sensitive noses, both Lucius and Kalliope took a moment to adjust to the smell.

Kalliope looked at Lucius incredulously. She was unsure if he had somehow grown many times stronger in their time apart, but he looked at her and shook his head.

Kalliope jerked her head up with her ears twitching atop her head. She picked up on the sounds of the steady clacking of heeled shoes on the stone floor. Approaching them with a confident smile was a beautiful elf woman with long pink hair and beautiful golden eyes. Her hips swayed sensuously with every step and at her side was a beautifully ornate spear with a strangely green spearhead.

Everything about this woman radiated confidence and power. Kalliope's animal instincts made her want to shrink back in fear of the woman. Though she was clearly friendly, her body screamed at her.

"Lucius," the woman said with a voice more angelic than any she had heard before. "I see you found her."

"Yes, Lady Tenia." Lucius responded. "I have. This is Kalliope. Kalliope, this is Lady Tenia din Aedrider, the infamous Lady of the Mountain and the Strongest Empyrean."

Tenia smiled at her gently and quickly advised them to follow her through the cave to their escape. The route out was free and clear of any opposition. However, most of that was due to the fact that Tenia had either cleared it prior or electrocuted anyone before they were able to approach the group.

Kalliope took the opportunity to put herself under one of Lucius's arms and assist him with moving through the halls a little faster. Tenia seemed to find something amusing as she flashed them a teasing smile every handful of steps. Though Kalliope found it somewhat annoying, she was not about to say something of that sort to someone like Lady Tenia.

After a few minutes, they made it out of the cave where Snow and Ethi waited for them. Snow was starting to look as bad as Ethi. Her brow was saturated with sweat and her beautiful hair had become stringy and damp. The darkening of her eyes had continued to the point they were almost fully black.

Tenia gave the elf a pitiful look before delivering a swift strike to her neck and knocking her out. The woman then shot a bolt of lightning at the cave entrance, sealing it with rubble before she picked up Snow.

"I believe the sick one is your friend?" Tenia said. "Lucius can walk on his own, so go ahead and carry the sick one."

Kalliope did as she was instructed and picked Ethi up in a princess carry. Her breathing had become more faint and her pulse was weaker than before. Ethi would not last much longer at this rate, and Kalliope had no medicine to help her. Lucius understood her concern and did not know what to do to help.

Though they had not known each other for very long, Ethi and Kalliope had formed an important bond. They shared their pasts and their traumas with each other. Through shared suffering, they forged a friendship. There was no way that Kalliope could let her die of disease after all they had gone through.

"She will survive." Lady Tenia advised. "Don't worry, I have just the needed medications here. It is a simple fix with the right herbs."

"Can you really help her? Is it that simple?"

"I've seen a thing or two in my time on this continent. I know of Cell Rot when I see it. It is but a simple infection. Though her recovery may take time, she will survive."

Kalliope felt tears forming on her face, but instead of pausing to wipe them, she simply continued forward until they came to rest at a large hill away from the cave. Several guards and other people had left the main town of Seteste and had already begun trying to excavate the destroyed entrance.

No one attempted to look further up the hill to see the group of people responsible for this mess standing and watching. Alarm bells rang in the main town, and a large number of elves began to gather in the village. Kalliope assumed they were preparing to settle the outbreak of prisoners inside of the arena after they finished opening up the entrance.

Lady Tenia turned to Lucius and asked him a simple question. "What will you do now?"

The woman was already compounding a mixture of herbs and liquids that smelled atrocious to Kalliope's superior nose. Tena seemed unbothered by the stench and continued to mix the medicine together.

Lucius stepped forward with a smile on his face. He quickly took a drink of a strange-looking potion that Kalliope identified as a mana recovery potion. Once he had downed the entire bottle, any missing mana from his fight against the other prisoners had returned. Lucius was back at full strength and with a little extra mana to spare.

Lucius carefully eyed the cave and town just a little past it. He carefully brought his hands together in front of him while facing Seteste. Kalliope sensed the convergence of mana within the palms of the man's hands.

"Lucius, what are you…?"

"[Overcharge]"

The mana gathering in his hands condensed at an even faster rate. Electricity crackled around him and the ground shook. The lightning took on a swath of colors between red and blue. Sweat dripped from Lucius's face as the spell neared its completion.

Kalliope noticed that the activation was slower than in the tournament, which meant he was going completely all out for this task. Before she could utter another word, Lucius opened his palms before bringing them back together with an ear-splitting clap.

A beam of white light mixed with streaks of red and blue escaped his hands and shot straight toward the cave and the town of Seteste beyond. The sounds of the world around them were drowned out by this spell, sounding like a thousand brass instruments playing a single note with none of them sounding in tune.

The ground below the beam boiled and turned to glass. The elves in the path of the spell seemed to vaporize, not even leaving behind ashes. Rock and dust were thrown into the air as the spell bored into the earth destroying the cave that had been Kalliope's prison.

The spell continued beyond the cave and struck the center of the town of Seteste. For a moment, the spell stopped and Lucius fell to one knee while panting. However, the mana he used had not yet dissipated. Kalliope noticed that the spell had formed a ball of energy at the center of the town below.

For a moment, the entire world stood still as everyone who saw the strange, glowing orb of mana, seemed to stare at it in wonder. They all seemed to question where such a gorgeous object could have come from.

Seconds felt like hours as the silence remained. Some of the elves who dodged the beam had looked at the source, but they were too surprised by the orb in their hometown to make a move towards the attackers. On top of that, if the group they saw was capable of such destruction, what was it they were expected to do against such a force?

Kalliope watched as several townsfolk moved to investigate the orb of mana. No one dared to touch it due to the power that it radiated.

"Lucius, what…"

Before Kalliope could finish her sentence, Lucius snapped his fingers. At that moment, color and sound drained from the world. The orb erupted into a massive, bright light that swallowed everyone's vision. Kalliope felt the oncoming heat and wave of force bearing down on them, threatening to swallow them up in the blast as well.