After sailing for what feels like weeks, You, Morden, Iris, and your crew arrive at still waters. “Could this be nimbus sea?” You ponder.
The freely blowing, warm and misty wind grazes your skin as the sky fills with light! Your quartermaster and crew delightfully chatter amongst themself as they get the uptake of the changing surroundings.
“The fish! There number of them has exploded!” Morden calls out with shock and bewilderment as he scans the surface of the water
“Hahahahaha!! This HAS to be nimbus! We’re coming for ya’ order!!!” Iris screams with such excitement and joy that you are almost startled, especially coming from HER
The moment couldn’t be better you imagined as you glance to the sides of your vessel and watch as the sea seemingly unfolds into an endless, yet beautiful pattern. Strangely enough though. you feel tired… Perhaps it could’ve been from manning the ship for days without sleep, or malnourishment? For now you decide to take a quick rest…
… … …
… …
…
Well, well… This is quite the problem
This is quite the heart-churning sight. Hundreds of rotting corpses, faces contorted with anger,
fear, and hatred are walking towards the gate. The other 2 other guardians watch in genuine fear and disgust. The army is armed with weapons, magic users, and has order. There is a conclusion to be found here, and I have already reached it. This was the doing of that boy.
Not too long ago, maybe just a month, I was patrolling the front gate when the young man appeared before me.
“Guest of Olphus?” Flint questioned, speaking softly to the two of us.
“No… Olphus left 3 days ago” Evandro muttered back
“What is your business here, young man?” I asked in a lighthearted manner, attempting to engage him. But he said nothing, just stared at me with eyes devoid of humanity. At the time, I couldn’t fathom his intentions. His hands looked frail, and his skin was as pale as the snow around us. Something about him felt deeply unnerving.
Attempting to sense his magical energy, but as soon as I attempted that, I was met with a rush of mutated and mutilated magic that flooded my senses, causing my head to pound. I’ve never seen anything like this… What is this??. I tried to dismiss the situation with a lighthearted remark, not wanting to alarm the other guardians.
“Ohoho! The silent type aren’t we?” I laugh, trying to dismiss the entire situation. The second I say that, almost in an insant, he is in of me. it takes a second for me to understand but it seems he wilds the mantle of the Lightning Curse. As i jump back to recover, I notice the boy’s face expressed shock, almost as if he didn’t expect me to react. His face then forms into a grin
The young boy suddenly turns his body into half-lightning half-explosion… Could this boy be another supercurse user? Before I could think on this further, explosive lightning POURS down on me and my fellow guardians. Thankfully, In the nick of time, I am able to summon my phoenix wings and managed to shield us from the ferocious attack. It has become clear that he intends to harm this village…
Suddenly the boy breaks into laughter, he starts rambling,
“YOU!!! I’ve been looking for someone with a power like yours… Your magic is phoenix, one of the few I’m missing.” A creepy grin grows across his face.
“I won’t miss a chance like this. I’ll kill you and take your magic energy and then I’ll absorb the energy of everyone else in this village. Who knows? Maybe there could be others like you, In any case I’ll just-”
Three Flaming Stars
Three massive spheres of phoenix and sun energy streak towards the boy. He barely manages to dodge the first 2, but is caught by the third one, the ensuing explosion sending him flying away and engulfing him in flames
So he really did want to destroy the village… He said he wanted to absorb my magic energy and has two curses, the latter only possible by having the willpower of a supercurse user, only seen by Arthur cursebeard. The boy however posses the ability to use magic as I saw in his magic energy though… How?.. After doing some deep thinking I’ve come to the conclusion this boy is definitely abnormal. This has to be the work of a technique, or at the very least an external curse
The other two guardians watching the exchange have their mouths agape, looking at me in shock.
“Please, run along now. This opponent might be the strongest I’ve faced yet…” The two guardians exchange glances and flee. Good. Who knows what may happen here.
“Now… Who exactly are you, young man? What do you want from us… I refuse to fight here as it poses a risk to my people. If you have any business, let’s take it elsewhere. I-”
“The name is Durza. Seeing as I’m about to take your power I’ll clue you in since you look so dumb trying to analyze my power. I possess the power to rip the magic energy from others away and take it for myself. Naturally, the same will happen YOU!” He yells. His body is already healed up. Above him, spears comprised of fire, water, shadow, ash, plasma, flash, and countless other magics materialize. Just how many has he attacked or possibly even killed just for this power?
“Hahaha… Just from that one attack I can tell your way stronger than any other i’ve taken from before. Once I take your magic I’ll move onto that old giant, and then I’ll claim the throne as a GOD”.
He prepares to fire his spears, as I brace myself for impact, when suddenly
?!
The boy runs past me and starts attacking the village wall, I fly in front of him and generate a compressed explosion in front of me, sending the boy flying back.
“What do you gain from attacking the village?!” I yell, I rush at the boy
PHOENIX IMPACT
As I activate the spell, Durza’s body is engulfed in phoenix flames. At first he attempts to Ignore the pain, but as I continue assaulting him with barrages and explosion of Solar & Phoenix magic he begins to let up.
“AGHHHHHHHHH!!!” Durza screams, his face now clouded by rage. “I was just going to take your magic and let you live out of respect at first, BUT NOW YOU’VE DONE IT!!!”
Explosion, Crystal, Shadow, and Lightning rain down on the village and myself. This time I see the attack and intercept most of them. I must get this boy away from the village or else he surely will attempt to kill everyone!
I keep on barraging him with compressed fire & solar magic as I tackle him, sending him flying hundreds of meters back. He attempts to counter-attack with many different forms of magic, but is unable to do much real damage. Our attacks continue to clash, lighting up the forest we are clashing in.
Saint Flame Blitz!
HYPER-REACTIVE ARMAGEDDON!!
Three Flaming Stars!
“Cry of the Phoenix!”
“JEWEL EVISCERATOR!!”
…
The battle feels like it has been raging for hours, but I continue to overpower him. The boy makes desperate moves and begins to show pure terror on his face. After exchanging one final barrage of magic, he finds himself cornered.
He is panting heavily and is looking for any method to escape desperately
Panting heavily and desperately searching for an escape route, he cries out, “How… are you so strong… YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE A CURSE!!! YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUCH POWER!!” His frustration is evident, as he knows he has lost. He begins to start tearing up and begging for me to not kill him
His body has become bruised, and he has numerous wounds that he can no longer heal due to the effects of my phoenix magic.
“Young man… Let me tell you this. Your number of curses, or amount of magic means nothing to someone who has a reason to fight. You kill and take from others for self gain, I train and fight every day to keep my people happy, and alive. I will not take your life but never come back here again. Despite the hundreds, you have most likely killed to gain such power… I simply cannot bring myself to kill. Now begone.”
And then the boy vanished, using flash magic to escape. After such a traumatic experience, I would that hope he learns his lesson and never returns. Now… How much damage has the gate sustained?
Crimson Note:
This is the second chapter of Memories of Arcane. This series actually will not be focusing on solely AO moments, but also moments throughout the AU. This one was Theos’ and Durza’s first encounter, before the battle leading up the to near-extinction of humanity
I hope you enjoy this one. I will begin working on my next volume of Synopsis of Curses soon!