House of Amarin

By now, chaos was spreading all over the Realm as seemingly all the eight elements went berserk everywhere. Those who were below the Realm of Three Ri found it hard to cast any spells or make them backfire. Their grasp on magic and mana became feeble, and many times than not, the spells went berserk the moment they manifested in reality. People who were close to their tribulation suddenly found themselves unable to hold it back, going through it forcefully as if a pair of invisible hands were pushing them forward, no matter if they felt they were ready or not. It was no longer any choice they had a say in.

Under the now-closed crack in the sky, a battle was raging, one that was not seen in eons. Cosmic energy was flooding in while red lightning was bombarding the body of Lumamon... without much apparent success. He simply absorbed it, and after one round of refinement, he literally vomited it out, aiming to hit Lia, Erias, and Swimmy with it. The trio were dodging, weaving in the air, firing their own spells, but they were blasted apart by the lightning coming from and surrounding Lumamon's body.

"We can't get close!" Erias groaned, glancing at Swimmy, wary of the demon but couldn't say no to his assist as it was clear he could manipulate the raw energies way better than he could.

"He is using the Realm Keys to shield himself with the laws of Meriath! If this keeps up, the Cosmos will get really angry and start sending in energy to destroy us all!"

"Is it some kind of... sentient thing?!" Lia groaned, finding it hard to take it all in, feeling desperate.

"You can look at it like that! But... it is more like a reaction to an event! It is hard to explain, but balance is the main rule out there! We broke that rule, and if we are not strong enough to stand up to it... we will be punished!"

"That's bullshit!" Lia cried, summoning a shield of blue flames, freezing an incoming lightning bolt that broke apart just before it could impale her body.

"Tell me about it! I am not even from this Realm; I am not keen on dying here!" Swimmy argued back, being pressured just the same, maybe even more than them.

"Reinforcement is coming!" Erias chimed in, and before the two, he had already noticed the incoming aura of his brother. From a distance, an angry, draconic roar echoed loudly, and before long, Arcus arrived, attacking Lumamon with all his might.

"Took you long enough!" The dragon laughed while Erias landed on his back, and the two quickly fused their strength, bathing Lumamon in black fire.

"It wasn't easy getting in!" Erias grinned and watched as the black flames were even more potent than back in the old days. He couldn't help but glance towards the energy still flooding in, overwhelming Meriath. "We have to kill the bastard before we all get fucked over!"

"Everyone is coming along!" Arcus shouted, dodging a lightning strike heading towards him, rolling away, noticing Lia, who was flying under Lumamon, trying to freeze his legs, but he shrugged it off like nothing. "I knew you would get her! There will be some people who will love this little surprise!"

"Leave the reunion for after we killed this bastard!"

Arcus didn't need to be reminded twice, and not long after, the rest of the dragons arrived, joining the assault. Looking at them, Lia felt that they would be able to win; they just... had to hurry. Looking at the sky, it was essential to do so quick enough because those cracks were nothing like she had ever seen before... it was like wounds on Meriath itself.

"Maybe..." Glancing at the ring on her finger, she had the urge to try and use it to not influence the Realm Gate but the other rings on Lumamon's fingers. As long as he was using them to become a conduit of Meriath, he was damaging it with every second passing by. In essence, Lumamon's body and Meriath became the same thing right now. And... Everything had its breaking point... even the world they were living in.

A loud cacophony of warhorns was what jolted her back to reality, watching as hundreds of warships were coming from the east while far away, a sea of black dots was approaching from the south, being the army led by her brothers.

"Ahaha!" With a laugh, she couldn't help but fly up and focus her mind, calling upon the same energies that the Sect Master was commanding directly.

To her surprise, the Cosmic energy responded immediately, following her will even more readily than Lumamon's. It was something that didn't go unnoticed by him, but there was nothing to do against it. The violet clouds obeyed, turning blue and erupting into flames, coming down as judgment from the heavens, blasting against Lumamon's energy field of lightning.

"Something is not right with you!" He sneered, faltering for a moment, thanks to the barrage of different elements coming from the dragon's mouth.

While he was glancing at her, he wasn't the only one. Lucian, standing on the bridge of the foremost warship, burst into a peal of laughter the moment he saw and felt those flames in the distance. It told him everything he needed to know, and now he was even more impatient to arrive and join the battle.

He wasn't the only one. The army marching from the south was filled with the Misfits, and they also noticed the unique sign, knowing perfectly what it meant. Yet, amongst all of them, the one who knew it first was Rinzen. She left the western borders at once when the ring disappeared from her pocket, a sign she had been looking forward to for a long time. It was she who arrived there first, just after the dragons.

"Lia!" With a shout, she almost crashed into her, surprising Lia as it was in the middle of a battle for life and death.

"Mhmhmfh!" As to what Lia's response was, it was hard to tell... her words were muffled by Rinzen's breasts as she pulled her between them, not wanting to let go, remembering how it felt when she saw her die, holding her frozen head in her arms.

"Hm?"

"I can't breathe!" Lia moaned, finally pulling away from her firm grip. "And we are in the middle of a battle! But... good to see you too!" She giggled, hugging back before they finally separated.

"Is that...?" Riznen asked, looking at the figure of Lumamon, who now surrounded himself with Cosmic energies, looking like a 90-meter-tall giant, trying to forcefully control the powers of the Realm and swat away the dragons and Swimmy.

"Kill him, and all the Undead will be gone!"

"Plans? How do we hurt him?" She gulped, watching the unnatural scenery unfolding before their eyes.

"Nothing yet, but I'm thinking! For now, we need to attack him with everything we have!"

"Can do!"

It wasn't only Rinzen who joined the battle, but soon, the booming roars of canons arrived as the warships joined the fight, along with Lakhmu and Rangi, throwing themselves at the figure of the giant Undead. Just in a moment, the battlefield, if possible, turned even more chaotic than before. The air was heavy with the eight elements and all the disturbances that the countless spells were leaving behind them, not to mention the constant flashes of lightning.

While Lia was also part of it, she was trying to get close to Lumamon's hand. She let her mind be guided by the feelings from the Realm Key, trying to establish any kind of connection with the ones in his possession. Soon, she managed to slowly tune out the explosions, the battle cries, and the racket of war, focusing on the droning, humming noise emanating from deep within Lumamon's avatar.

Lia suddenly felt as if not just her consciousness but her body resonated with the flooding energy of the Cosmos as if they were on the same wavelength. Even more, she started hearing the voice of Lumamon in her head.

"Bastards! Fools! Wretched traitors! Always failing me, causing me to lose my chance of reaching greatness! The best would be if nobody existed, merely me! Want me to die?! Then let's die together! I won't lose! I can't lose!"

Hearing it wasn't the only thing, but she could feel he was aiming to tear apart Meriath itself. It was what Somia once said to her on the bank of the Lake of Azurat. They kept everything secret because the Soulbound Sect Master was unstable... if he felt he was losing, he would make sure all was destroyed. They were not wrong; he was doing just that... stretching Meriath to its limits, already in the process of tearing up its sky.

"No... You won't! This is our world; just go and die alone, you sore loser!"

Focusing all her willpower, she imagined herself as a little thief, slipping off the rings from his fingers, but it proved more challenging than expected. The three rings resonated with hers, but Lumamon's will was in control over them. It felt like Lia was fighting against an immovable object, and they didn't want to budge or obey her.

"Good thinking... let me help."

"Mom?!" She flinched, hearing her mother's strange voice, but she couldn't see her anywhere. Yet... She felt two new powers join her side, and now it was three against three, finally having some effect...

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Far away, Reyra was standing below the violet, raging sky, and two rings were shining on her fingers, focusing her blue eyes on the battle kilometers away from her.

"Are you sure about this?" Appeared Swimmy, slowly slipping away from the battle after being blasted by a spell of Lumamon, flung far away from the rest. He looked worse for wear, battered and bleeding, but still in a somewhat excited mood. "If they win, they will get the keys!"

"Those are no longer important," Reyra answered but not in the usual tone of hers, even flinching, twitching her eyes from time to time.

"Master?" Swimmy asked, sounding worried as he looked at her.

"The original soul is still resisting. This damned catastrophe disrupted my transfer, and even though I took control, she is still proving to be a nuisance. But don't worry... after the crisis is averted, I will have time to deal with her."

"But..."

"Don't worry..." The Sect Master of the Golden Claw smiled, occupying Reyra's body, "They will look for this... Reyra... and when they find her, I will be in full control. I will have time to integrate into their ranks and take control of Meriath from within... For now, return home and heal up! Let me send off the last idiot of the Soulbound Sect... heh... in the end, Meriath still belongs to us..."

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"Bastards... bastards, all of you!"

Lia couldn't help but hear the maddening cries of the injured Lumamon echoing in her brain and soul. The dying Sect Master has lost all reason by now as he did nothing but take in the energies of the Cosmos without holding back, destroying himself and, in turn, Meriath. The Realm could not handle the excess energies and was getting annihilated. By now, not just the sky was cracking but the earth and seas, too. The extent of it was still something that nobody comprehended, but Lia knew they were running out of time.

Luckily... her mother, or at least, she could swear she heard her, came to help. With equal force, their will stopped Lumamon from fusing his will with the Realm. With its protection gone and Lumamon being unable to influence Meriath, the lightning strikes were back in full force, harming only him. They were followed by the rampaging spells of Erias and everybody present, finally showing their effects. It didn't take long, and his spell-body was ultimately blasted into pieces. From afar, it looked like thousands of tiny ants were bringing down a giant elephant, and it wasn't far from the truth.

When his avatar disintegrated, unable to hold the energies together, the actual body of Lumamon reappeared. It was filled with cracks, all in the shape of lightning bolts, glowing and consuming him... yet he was failing to acknowledge it, still going on about his right to rule and that he was ascending. He still mumbled about his sure plan to destroy everybody who wronged him while vomiting parts of his soul out.

"Pathetic..." Erias and Lia said at the same time, casting the same spells simultaneously.

From Erias's summoned magic circle, black and gold flames, perfectly mixed together, burst forth, surrounding Lumamon from the right. Happening in tandem was the blue fire from Lia's circle, doing the same from the left, latching onto the same body as the two Amarins buried the Sect Master under their fires.

"Oh shit!" Erias cried first, and it happened right after.

Lumamon, who gorged himself on energies he had no control over, simply exploded amidst his incoherent ramblings, unable to realize his miserable fate, not even in his last moments. It happened with such force that it threw the dragons away like paper dolls, causing almost all the warships to lose control and barrel toward the ground. It wasn't the power of the shockwave that caused it all but the fact that wherever it passed, it was as if magic was gone. Everybody present, be it the dragons, Erias, Lia, Lucian, or anyone else, for that brief moment felt as if they were nothing more than mortals. To their luck, even if their magic was suppressed, it wasn't really gone, evident from the fact many of them survived the crashlanding with only some broken bones.

"Ugh..." Lia sat up with a moan, feeling her left arm pointing in the wrong direction, watching the multiple warships trying to steer and maneuver to at least land on their bellies instead of colliding headlong into the ground. She could see her ancestor grasping the back of Arcus, catching land a few hundred meters away, narrowly dodging a group from the army and not squishing them under Arcus's heavy body. "At least... this time, I did not die... I hope nobody else will explode anytime soon..." She whispered to herself, realigning her arm and looking up at the sky, taking a deep breath.

Even though all around her, it looked like the end of the world had just come and passed by, panicked shouts and screams still filled the air because of the sudden loss of magic... She felt something else... or, more precisely... She didn't feel it anymore.

"The stench of Undead is gone..."