It was an unsettling sentiment.
The mere thought that this entire time, the Desolate Child hadn’t truly considered them an enemy or been fighting back simply didn’t make any logical sense. But, on the other hand… there had never been any killing intent. Never been any true effort.
It felt like the creature was just carrying out a regular everyday task. That killing the two of them wasn’t an act of aggression but just something that had to be done.
Meanwhile, the Fallen King and Sylphie had both gone all out to try and end the Desolate Child of Loss, yet their efforts appeared to have been in vain. The creature had risen once more, and the two of them quickly exchanged telepathic messages. They shared the same opinion of what their next best step would be, as both shot toward the sky to make distance from the creature.
Below, the creature’s severed body parts, including the head, all turned to gray dust as this dust flowed toward the Desolate Child of Loss and reformed its body. Its voice echoed yet again, the King feeling his flying speed slowing down from the mounting pressure of the desolation domain.
”You… try stop I… from helping… that… makes you enemy.”
The Fallen King didn’t even bother responding as he tried to fly faster, the Sylphian Hawk already well ahead of him due to her far higher speed.
”Enemies… must not exist.”
A sense of danger washed over the Fallen King as he quickly spun around in mid-air and saw the Desolate Child of Loss hold out its newly reformed arm to one side as the desolation gathered and was made solid. A long, simple gray stick with a sharpening tip that barely qualified as a spear was formed, but the Unique Lifeform knew that appearances were very deceiving.
Raising its other hand toward the King, he wasn’t sure what to expect, as he should be too far away for anything to reach him...Oh, how wrong he was.
In an instant, the golden glow on his body faded as everything around him and even his own body turned entirely black and white. The desolation gathered at an unprecedented speed, and the Fallen King stopped making progress as the telekinetic magic he used to move himself was utterly suppressed.
All concepts in his immediate surroundings had been made desolate. Below, the creature raised its spear as it launched upwards, faster than ever before, as now it was no longer simply sauntering around. Raising his ivory claws, the Fallen King released his energy and released a Golden Claw, dispersing the field of pure desolation that had kept him confined as he also tried to counter the charging Desolate Child of Loss.
A second Golden Claw impacted the tip of the spear, launching golden sparks everywhere as the Fallen King managed to launch himself upwards from the impact, a hole now formed in his ivory claw that rapidly began to turn gray.
Raising his hand again, he didn’t hesitate as the entire claw burned golden once more, and a third and even more powerful claw attack swept downward, creating some more space. The power of the skill had not only served as an attack but also pushed out the energy of desolation in the claw, and the King was glad his natural weapons were incredibly durable in the first place… however, minor cracks had formed all over it now, and he knew blocking a second hit directly like that wasn’t an option.
Sylphie also realized the King was in trouble and tried to help as she shot down condensed wind bullets, making the Desolate Child of Loss do another first. Two, in fact. It not only dodged some of the bullets but raised a hand as dense desolation blocked another few, all while it kept flying toward the Unique Lifeform, who was blasting himself upward with as much speed as he possibly could.
However, the Desolate Child of Loss was too fast and soon caught up to the Fallen King, who was forced to defend himself against the spear as best he could. The only lucky thing was that despite the creature now actually fighting, it still wasn’t very good at it. It only used simple stabs and had little variance to its attack pattern… but with how powerful it was and with how weakened everything else around it was, this was incredibly dangerous in its own right.
Still, it gave the King what little leeway he needed to continue retreat with Sylphie’s assistance. Not entirely unscathed, though. The desolation was naturally still seeping into him from all sides, and the attacks that struck him only made matters worse as time was rapidly running out.
After deflecting the spear yet another time while avoiding the sharpened tip, the Fallen King was forced to consume a Soul Marble – the unique item he could summon to temporarily boost his soul and even serve as a pseudo-rejuvenation potion – allowing him to launch a nasty golden blast go grant him some more distance, even if it put a strain on his soul.
He was running out of cards, and he knew it. Sylphie tried what she could, as cutting blades of wind forced the Desolate Child of Loss back a few times, but the creature hadn’t lost its tendency to simply endure attacks despite actually fighting now. The difference was that it now only took blows strategically, even if its strategy was still rudimentary at best.
As the fight continued, they got further and further up into the sky, the desolation dispersing all the clouds as the domain followed the Desolate Child of Loss, and what few beasts or monsters they met on the way that hadn’t known to escape died nearly instantly the moment desolation took hold. As they were flying fast, the domain at least still took time to form wherever they went, which allowed Sylphie to escape its influence occasionally, only diving back in to help the King.
With the creature chasing, the Unique Lifeform had no chance of also escaping the domain but simply had to endure it. However, he knew he would need to get out of it if he could, as that would allow him to travel far faster… and any shot at making it anywhere close to the upper layers of the sky required that to happen.
A massive waste, but there is no other choice.
The Fallen King did something he would very much have wanted to avoid, but unless he wanted to use his unique skill, this was the only other choice he saw. Spreading out his arms, more Soul Marbles appeared as the Unique Lifeform summoned nearly a thousand of them at once, each giving off a golden color that managed to resist the desolation.
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With a mental command, the Fallen King detonated several years’ worth of work, and, for a moment, a golden sheen dominated the desolation as the world was colored yellow and the Desolate Child of Loss was blasted downwards, as the King allowed the waves of gold to wash over him as he was pushed upwards. His soul was injured when he detonated that many, but the golden waves had a healing effect on him, effectively canceling out the damage he had just done to himself. The blast hadn’t done any real damage to the Desolate Child of Loss either, as the Soul Marbles weren’t designed to do that, but they had managed to create some space between the two.
Taking advantage of the opportunity created by his wasteful action, the Fallen King shot upwards and soon was finally free of desolation as he entered a world with more colors than monochrome or gold. Sylphie was ready there, and a powerful wind swept up the Fallen King and helped him fly even faster as the two of them sped toward the starry sky above.
Below, the Desolate Child of Loss finally broke through the golden waves of pure soul energy that had suppressed it and saw that the Fallen King and Sylphie had gotten out of its domain. The two of them were hoping this would make the creature give up its chase and just return to the Prima Vessel… but once again, they were not very lucky that day.
Without any real hesitation, the creature chased. With the Fallen King out of the domain, he was a lot faster, but the Desolate Child of Loss still slightly outpaced the two of them. Sylphie was fast enough to escape on her own, but the Fallen King simply wasn’t a speed-focused entity. Neither was the Desolate Child of Loss, but it had several levels on the King and its overpowered concept that allowed it to simply ignore everything, such as air resistance or any kind of resistance from the environment, including even parts of the space affinity.
All they could do for now was buy time and try to maintain distance. They also had to consider that desolation continued to linger within their bodies, and they had to stop at some point to address it before it had time to truly take hold. It was akin to an incredibly difficult-to-cleanse poison, and merely using vital energy while fighting was not enough to fully get rid of the concept. A good period of meditation to really cleanse oneself or a very skilled healer was needed… but right now, neither of those were options, and the more time passed, the more difficult all of this would be to heal.
Minutes passed as the Fallen King and Sylphie kept flying as fast as they could, Sylphie even trying to slow down their chaser a few times, but to no avail. It was slowly closing in, though they still had some time left to go before the domain reached them. When that happened, they would be in trouble, and the Fallen King could only begin to consider their options.
Looking at the bird trying to help him, the Fallen King didn’t take long to decide. If he had to, he-
“Ree,” Sylphie sent, interrupting the King’s thoughts with a single message of hope:
Help was right around the corner, and they only had to hold on for a little longer. As for the King’s prior thoughts of trying to fight and kill the Desolate Child of Loss today… he didn’t even see that as an option worth considering anymore.
At the edge of the atmosphere of the planet, a giant worm broke through as it descended at high speed, entirely ignoring whatever natural defenses a planet usually had, as they didn’t stand a chance at impeding the path of a Genesis Cosmic Worm.
Within its stomach, it carried a few people, including the three who had come to try and help the Fallen King and Sylphie.
To call Jake impatient was an understatement. Sandy also knew this and hurried as much as they possibly could, their mood not as jovial as usual. They were incredibly serious, and Jake also understood why.
He had banked on Sandy’s overpowered revival skill, allowing them to escape even if things got too hairy by hiding inside the worm’s stomach, but things weren’t that easy. The Lord Protector had warned his Chosen about certain dangerous things that Sandy had to avoid even with the skill, as they could leave wounds even a revival would not heal… and desolation was right toward the top of that list.
Jake knew that dragging Eron and William along was pretty much risking their lives, and in truth, he was surprised Eron had even volunteered. He was also incredibly wary of desolation, which was actually likely the main reason why he chose to participate. He was always keen on making up for his shortcomings, and to see a C-grade creature capable of using desolation was a great opportunity.
William wasn’t someone Jake cared as much about, but he still didn’t like the feeling of putting someone else’s life at risk in this fashion. Sure, he hated the thought of risking the karma mage fucking up the teleportation more than that, but now that he had proven he hadn’t tried to do that, and there were no clues he was going to try anything shady, Jake did feel a little bad. Only a tiny bit, though.
He did also give credit where credit was due, and the former psychopath metal mage had been quite helpful while teleporting, ensuring they had appeared right above the Prima Vessel and no more than a minute’s flight from the outer edge of the atmosphere.
Jake had naturally confirmed this immediately post-teleport as he could feel Sylphie beneath him. She was flying up toward them while they were flying toward Sylphie and the Fallen King. As time passed, they rapidly closed in on each other, and Jake stayed in constant contact as he got vague messages from Sylphie. The Union Oath did not allow full communication, just vague emotions and images being sent alongside location tracking… but what he felt from Sylphie was enough to put him on edge, and he had to hold himself back from rushing Sandy. He knew the worm was already going as fast as they could.
Every passing second was excruciating as Jake felt them getting closer and closer, but as they got really close, the cosmic worm had some bad news.
“I will tell you already now that I can’t swallow them if they are filled with too much desolation; the absorption process will be too difficult, and it’s too dangerous to have them in here if my guess of their current state is true. They don’t need to be entirely healed, but they need to not be leaking,” Sandy said, not happy about having to deliver this message.
“I will try to cleanse them quickly. Once sufficiently healed, bring us back immediately,” Eron said in a serious tone as he looked over at Jake. “I will naturally need some time.”
Jake nodded, and William also looked at the two of them. “I can help a little… but I doubt my karmic magic will even work, and my metal manipulation doesn’t seem like it would work well when dealing with desolation.”
“Barely anything deals well with desolation,” Jake sighed as he prepared himself, an arrow already fully constructed within his quiver and ready to go.
The Fallen King struggled as Sylphie kept the Desolate Child of Loss at bay for a moment, allowing the Unique Lifeform to get a bit more distance without being attacked. He could only get so far, though. A few minutes ago, he had once again been caught by the domain of desolation, and from there, it had become an even harder struggle than before. The creature had been overly aggressive, manipulating the desolation far more actively to try and kill the Fallen King.
To help, Sylphie had fought the powerful creature off a few times, taking injuries and being forced into the desolation. The King was thankful and embarrassed he needed the help, but he had no time to think such thoughts. All he could think about was to keep moving forward as quickly as possible… until finally he saw it.
From above, a mass of energy approached, and the monochrome was pushed away as a large arrow glowing with arcane light tore into the domain, headed straight for the Desolate Child of Loss. The creature was in the midst of attacking Sylphie, making it fail to respond properly as it got struck right in the chest and launched downward.
Sylphie quickly disengaged and flew toward the Fallen King as several more arrows arrived, flying into the domain and straight for a confused Desolate Child of Loss that was forced to defend itself, giving the Fallen King enough breathing room to once more escape the domain of desolation alongside Sylphie.
At least for a moment, before the creature quickly adapted and began chasing once more, swatting away several of the weakened arrows and even tanking a few to not slow down too much.
They continued to ascend, and soon, the Fallen King and Sylphie saw the hunter raining down arrows, the healer from the Dao Sect and metal mage at his side, standing in front of a large cosmic worm, ready to lend a hand and hopefully allow their successful escape.