The giant shadowy male turned his body to try and catch Liam once more. Right as he went to pick his leg up to turn, Artem, Blair, and Roman landed their strike. They struck as hard as they could at the same time right above his ankle.
The force and momentum from Blair’s axe, hardened with the rock-like scales, and Artem’s shield was enough to make his leg push back a little farther than he had wanted.
Roman’s attack wasn’t as forceful as the other two but it did have a different effect as the static he had sparking on his hands ran up his leg and tightened his muscles.
The giant felt the Charlie horse feeling tense and grip the muscles on his leg. Due to his foot going back farther and the muscles tightening, he was unable to control it and dropped to a knee.
The trio who had struck swiftly moved and got out of the way before he turn his ire towards them. However, as he turned his eyes on them, Liam had reappeared in front of his sight and slashed several times, bringing his attention back to him.
He puffed out in a cloud of black smoke once more before getting caught in the grip of the giant’s massive right hand and reappeared right on the back of his neck.
Since he had some footing, Liam started hacking and slashing his ten daggers all across the nap of the giant’s neck.
Before the giant could try and reach for him, several brightly colored orbs formed all around him from the ground in front.
These orbs formed in front of a mixture of Inyis’, and Aranis’ groups. They readied their spells and after chanting, they released a slew of fire balls, Jet streams of water, and rock spikes right at him.
The giant brought both of his arms up to block his face from getting struck. Grunts and weird noises that made him sound like he was under water escaped his lips as he felt each attack hit him from the front and the pain coming from the swift and piercing pain from Liam’s daggers.
As the onslaught was going on, black liquid that had oozed out from every open wound Liam had created started to float away from the giant’s body to the right side of him, out of his sight.
Once when the elemental attacks had ceased, the giant let out a gurgled roar and went to swing with his right hand, his fist entering the pool of acidic blood Avery had accumulated.
The giant flinched as it felt his hand enter the small pool of blood. It wasn’t enough to cover his hand entirely, but it was enough to damage the back of his hand to the knuckles. Steam rolled off the singed area as it sizzled.
The giant glared in Avery’s direction before gripping what was left of his weapon, the handle. He brought his arm back and was getting ready to throw it until Aranis shouted, “Like hell I’d let you do that.”
He positioned himself into a stance as he reached both arms out and looked like he was moving his hands in a way like he was forming something in the air.
All the blood Avery couldn’t grasp and group up, Aranis was able to gather it instantly. He then shaped it into a long line, almost like a katana, right above the giant’s right shoulder.
Before he dropped it, he activate his most powerful spell he had recently received and chanted the words, “Corrupted Dismemberment!”
The acidic blood-looking katana then swung down in a clean motion right through the giant’s shoulder, slicing the right arm off with no effort.
The giant let out a gurgled howl as he gripped the area that was cut off with his free hand.
Liam, who was still on the giant’s back, stopped what he was doing and jumped down towards the fallen limb. The top of the arm that was sliced let out a hiss as the acidic blood that had sliced into it started to seep across the flesh. The back of the hand where Avery had struck was doing the same, except at a much slower pace. However, that hand was still gripping the melted handle.
Liam appeared by the end of the handle were the head had melted away. Any signs of the acidic blood that fully melted down the weapon earlier was gone. He then put all of daggers away and went to grab the handle. It was futile at first, but then Liam summoned three more hands of Shadow and Lunar. It was barely enough for him to move the handle and the arm around, but he didn’t need to move it for long.
He positioned each hand along the handle and gripped it as hard as he could from his end. He then turned his body to the left with as much strength as he could muster. At first it didn’t budge, but after a second had passed the entire arm and handle that wasn’t completely melted away started to slide.
Everyone who could see Liam stared at him with disbelief. They just couldn’t understand what he was thinking of doing and watched as he started to pick up speed as he spun around while trying to hold on to the handle. After picking up enough speed, Liam then heaved the impromptu weapon up at an angle so when he released it, the entire thing flew right at the giant’s forehead, knocking up to his feet and taking a few steps back.
Not missing a beat, Ariyana suddenly shouted, “Botanic Field!”
Botanic Field was a Virgo Zodiac Ability that spread seeds through out a certain area. After the seeds plant into the ground they grow into powerful living attack plants and attack any and all enemies around them. The amount of plants that sprout and grow as well how powerful they are depends on the user’s MP plus Plant Focus Point Level. Outside assistance can be added.
Ariyana sent twenty glowing seed-like orbs out towards the front of the Giant. As soon as they touched the ground, they melted through the stone. Shortly after that cracks started to form right where the seeds landed and stems, vines, and trunks started to grow.
Several flowers grew to four feet tall and bloomed showing off the colorful pedals. Some bloomed with rows of purplish blue pedals with a yellow center while the rest bloomed six long white pedals with an aqua blue hue in the middle with five long aqua blue stems with a black bulb at the tips.
Several vines grew out and extended twenty feet with spikes throughout the vines. The trunks grew up and up right before they touched the roof. The branches that grew out, grew with forest green leaves and pine cones dangling from the branches.
“Allow me to help with these beautiful babies,” Inyis called out as she channeled as much mana as she could and sent it towards the plant life that Ariyana summoned.
As her mana washed over the area Ariyana sent her ability at, the plant life soaked it in. The vines with thorns started to thicken, grow longer, and wrap around each other. These vines whipped out and crashed into the giant, raking the thorn across his body.
The flowers grew taller and wider. They started to glow around the center before shooting out several powerful beams of green energy right into the chest of the tall man.
The pine cones on the trees multiplied and grew in size before each branch bent backwards far enough and released at different times, allowing a barrage of giant pine cones to fly off of them and right into the broken and bleeding man.
The giant took each strike, beam, and pine cone collision as best as he could. With each hit though, he took a step back, slowly being pushed back towards the massive portal.
After the attack for each plant had either stopped coming or was out of reach, the giant let his left hand down and glared at each person who had dared attacked it.
He then did something that made everyone grow wide eyed and panic. His open wounds started to close as the bleeding from them stopped. The wound from the dismembered arm started to ripple as a new arm slowly started to grow back.
All the work they put into damaging him was becoming moot as he healed himself back up.
Some of the members from the groups dropped to their knees as they watched this. Despair started to fill their bodies as they began to believe all the hard work they put into this was for nothing.
However, before anyone could fall any further into that pit. One person, who currently didn’t care what was going on, rushed as fast as he could, right for the healing giant. His several floating hands of Shadow and Lunar trailing behind him.
Everyone watched him. Confused as to why he didn’t succumb to the despair they were feeling. Confused as to how and why he kept going. Even though some didn’t know the madness that was plaguing his mind, making him unable to feel the way they were, there were a small few who knew. They knew he didn’t care and would continue to fight even if it killed him in the end.
They watched as he got close enough to the giant and then crouched down as far as he could before launching himself up into the air.
His body sail up and came to a slight stop, stopping him within eye height of the giant.
The giant snarled at the chaotic man who was not only grinning madly, but also laughing like he heard a very funny joke that only he had heard.
The giant was about to slap the crazed man away, but before he could, Liam slammed his hands together.
Then suddenly all the Shadow Hands and Lunar Hands, he created throughout the fight, flew right towards one spot. Right in front of the giant’s face.
The explosion the two forces created as they collided was so big and powerful it sent Liam flying backwards like a bullet that was fired from a gun.
No one was able to see how fast he flew, they only felt the sudden shockwave that was created by the explosion and the loud thud behind them.
However, their eyes weren’t on where Liam had landed. Instead, they desperately kept their eyes on the giant, who was falling backwards from taking the powerful explosion and shockwave from point blank range.
Their breaths held as they willed the giant to not stop falling backwards. Their bodies stiffened as he put a foot back to try and stop his momentum. However, it wasn’t enough as he flailed both his good arm and his rapidly healing arm in a circle like motion, still stumbling backwards.
“Come on,” a few said in almost a whisper as they continued to watch hoping their words wouldn’t jinx the outcome.
The giant took another step back, but still kept going.
“Come on,” a few others repeated.
Another step, then a small hop. Arms still circling around.
“Come on!” Aranis, Inyis, and Jude roared.
The giant took another step back and looked like he was recomposing himself, until his foot went down, right on top a rounded shattered bone, slipping on it like a banana peel and falling completely backwards right through the portal.
“Yes!” Everyone in Aranis’, Inyis’, and Jude’s group yelled.
They were all starting to celebrate loudly that they didn’t see one person start to sprint for the portal.
Aranis’, Inyis’, and Jude’s eyes suddenly saw Liam rushing forward and tried to reach out for him, but missed as he juked and spun out of their reach.
The members of each team noticed what was going on and tried to help stop him as well, but he was too fast for them.
Liam let out more laughs as he made his way through the obstacle course of people that appeared before him.
“Liam stop!” Jude roared, trying to send some of his power out to balance the instability coursing through him, but he was just out of reach. His hand dropped as he watched his crazed rival pass the last person standing in his way.
Jude stared as Liam was just a few feet away from the portal and looked like he was going to reach it until a loud boom exploded behind.
He went to turn his head to see what happened until blurs of some sort of objects suddenly flew over his and the other members’ heads at a fast pace. He watched as the speed of these objects sped pass everyone at a much faster pace than Liam and landed right on top of him when he was inches away from the portal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liam stirred as he felt pain wrack his body. Several times he tried to open his eyes ever since he came to this place, but each attempt ended in failure as a pressure forced him to keep his eyes close.
Liam didn’t know what happened, where he was, nor how much time had passed. His memories from before arriving here were muddled. Each time he tried to remember, a new voice would make itself known and distract him.
He could tell he wasn’t grounded as his body floated. He felt cold as his body was surrounded by some substance. However, he wasn’t sure if he was under water because he didn’t feel wet.
The only thing he knew was it was loud here.
The whispers that assaulted him earlier were much louder here. They continued to grow louder as his body started to ache all over, causing him to curl up.
The whispers caused his body to grow sore and achy as they spoke to him. The whispers weren’t the only thing that assaulted. Screams of anger sent ripples through his body making it ache and sore with each shout. The angry voices screamed at him for being weak.
There were some mocking voices telling him how pathetic he was for not being able to handle the power he was given. Cries echoed within him sending chills as they filled him with sadness. Sadness for killing those he swore to protect.
He felt all of these different emotion in full force as they took turns assaulting his mind and body over and over again.
It had felt like an eternity ever since he entered this hollowed space.
After so much time had passed he started to feel something new. Tiredness. This new feeling started to fill him as a group of whispers tickled the edge of his mind. They whispered words telling him it was okay to sleep. That they would take care of things now and he didn’t have to worry about anything anymore.
He was tempted to do just that. His mind and body was slowly succumbing to it after taking so much abuse from the other voices.
Maybe it is best that I just disappear. Liam thought to himself as the whispers of sleep started to grip his mind and body. Without me someone else can…
Before he could finish that thought process he felt a sudden shake ripple all around him.
New words echoed around him shortly after a new feeling washed over him. Albeit, he couldn’t hear the words. They sounded muffled and far away.
He tried to ignore them. Feeling like they were just there to try and break him down even more.
He didn’t want that. He was tired. So very tired and just wanted to rest. He started to close his mind and allow the sleepiness that was calling for him to take hold.
Another ripple waved around him. This time it was powerful enough to shake his mind away from the grip of sleep.
The muffled words were louder now. He wasn’t sure what they were saying, but he thought he heard his name being called.
Liam went to open his mouth to protest for them to just let him sleep, but no words came out.
This shocked him. Shocked him enough to wrench his eyes open.
His sight was flooded with a bright light which made him wince, but he refused to close them. Afraid he wouldn’t be able to open them back up again.
He waited for his sight to adjust. It only took a couple of seconds. Once when it did, his body tensed at the sight he saw.
He wasn’t able to see his surroundings, but that wasn’t what his sight was locked on. Instead, it was the shadowy cloaked individual from earlier.
It was floating right in front of him, staring at him with a disapproving glare.
Liam wasn’t sure what was going on, but if he was staring at this creature then it probably wasn’t good.
Screams, cries, and whispers started to pick up and try to attack his mind again, with the force of a hurricane.
Ripples waved over them as the other voices, he wasn’t sure about, tried to drown them out. They were still unclear to him what they were saying.
The cloaked figure shook his head as he said in a clear and disapproving tone, “You can’t hear them can you?”
Liam went to answer, knowing he couldn’t speak, but still tried. He was shocked when he said, “Hear who?”
He brought a hand to his throat, taken aback that he was able to speak again.
“They are calling for you to come back,” the voice said not answering him. “Are you going to ignore them? Or will you answer their call?”
“Who is calling for me?” Liam questioned, still unsure of what was going on. “Wha…”
“Are you so far gone that you can’t recognize the voices of your own teammates?” the figure asked with a scoff.
“My own teammates?” Liam asked with a confused look.
The voices rippled around him once more, still muffled and unclear.
The Cries, screams, and whispers raised in volume, trying to drown out the unwanted voices calling out.
“Ah that’s probably why you can’t hear them. Here, let me help you,” the cloaked individual stated as he waved a hand out, silencing the hateful screams, the wailing cries, and the enticing whispers.
Once when the cacophony of negative words and emotions died down, Liam was able to hear the muffled and unclear words in a clear and loud volume.
“Liam!” a female and male shouted.
“Come back to us!” another female cried out.
“Wake up man!” a male grunted.
“You need to deactivate your ability!” another male called out with desperation.
“Who…what…what is going on?” Liam asked, confusion still in effect as his mind started to whirl. “Ability? Come back? Wake up? What is happen…”
Before he could finish his words a final voice caught his attention. This one was a female. Her voice held some desperation in it, but her words held a threat that jump started his memories. “If you don’t wake your ass up and come back to us, I will, in your own words, egotiscally beat you the fuck up until you do. Do you hear me?”
“Avery?” Liam whispered.
A flood of memories suddenly exploded within his mind as he said her name. The events of him arriving in this world, the fights he fought on the second to sixth floor. The people he met and befriended as well as the ones who acted like enemies.
So much ran through his mind he had to grab the sides of his head, feeling like it was going to explode.
Emotions, experiences, everything. It all came to him at once.
The cloaked figure smiled as he stared at the man in front of him. He watched as he too felt the pain the man felt as some of it ran through him as well, helping him handle it.
After the events of what led to what happened when he lost control of his mind finally finished, Liam brought his head up to look at the shadowy figure. A tear rolled down his cheek as he looked at the individual.
The cloaked figure knew what he wanted to say, but cut him off as he said, “They are waiting for you. You better not disappoint and get your ass back out there. Now is not the time to rest. You can do that when your dead…or when I...”
“What?” Liam asked as the shadowy figure’s words died out. His vision started to brighten as the dark world all around him started to be replaced with the room where everyone else was at.
Screams and cries punched through his ears making him realize he was back in control. He was rooted in place right before the portal.
Ariyana was hugging him from his right side, tears rolling down her face. Mercer on his left hugging him tightly as well.
Roman and Blair were behind him gripping the top of his shoulders on both sides pulling back as much as they could.
Artem was right in front of him with his hands on Liam’s shoulders pushing him back. He was fighting back tears with a face so red he couldn’t tell if he was angry or was using all of his strength.
However, his eyes were on the one person who was holding his face to stare directly into hers, Avery.
Liam was about to say something, but was stopped as Avery suddenly recognized there was something different with him.
“Liam, you need to deactivate your Zodiac ability right now!” Avery shouted as her face grew a mix of emotions. Happy, sad, and…irritation?
“Huh?” Liam said, his voice so hoarse he almost coughed.
Avery slapped him to get him to pay attention.
“Ow,” Liam said as he frowned at her.
“Don’t talk back just do as I say now! Deactivate it!” Avery ordered.
“Deactivate…Gemini…Ability…Class Fusion,” Liam forced out from his lips.
He felt a pressure he didn’t realize was pushing down on him suddenly dissipate. As soon as it disappeared, so did all the strength he had in his muscles.
Pain beyond anything he had even felt suddenly crashed through his body before he blacked out.
The last two things he saw before all the pain caused him to lose consciousness was the golden hued portal winking out of existence and notification that blinked into view.
“Congratulations! You have successfully pushed back the Shadow of….”
The giant shadowy male turned his body to try and catch Liam once more. Right as he went to pick his leg up to turn, Artem, Blair, and Roman landed their strike. They struck as hard as they could at the same time right above his ankle.
The force and momentum from Blair’s axe, hardened with the rock-like scales, and Artem’s shield was enough to make his leg push back a little farther than he had wanted.
Roman’s attack wasn’t as forceful as the other two but it did have a different effect as the static he had sparking on his hands ran up his leg and tightened his muscles.
The giant felt the Charlie horse feeling tense and grip the muscles on his leg. Due to his foot going back farther and the muscles tightening, he was unable to control it and dropped to a knee.
The trio who had struck swiftly moved and got out of the way before he turn his ire towards them. However, as he turned his eyes on them, Liam had reappeared in front of his sight and slashed several times, bringing his attention back to him.
He puffed out in a cloud of black smoke once more before getting caught in the grip of the giant’s massive right hand and reappeared right on the back of his neck.
Since he had some footing, Liam started hacking and slashing his ten daggers all across the nap of the giant’s neck.
Before the giant could try and reach for him, several brightly colored orbs formed all around him from the ground in front.
These orbs formed in front of a mixture of Inyis’, and Aranis’ groups. They readied their spells and after chanting, they released a slew of fire balls, Jet streams of water, and rock spikes right at him.
The giant brought both of his arms up to block his face from getting struck. Grunts and weird noises that made him sound like he was under water escaped his lips as he felt each attack hit him from the front and the pain coming from the swift and piercing pain from Liam’s daggers.
As the onslaught was going on, black liquid that had oozed out from every open wound Liam had created started to float away from the giant’s body to the right side of him, out of his sight.
Once when the elemental attacks had ceased, the giant let out a gurgled roar and went to swing with his right hand, his fist entering the pool of acidic blood Avery had accumulated.
The giant flinched as it felt his hand enter the small pool of blood. It wasn’t enough to cover his hand entirely, but it was enough to damage the back of his hand to the knuckles. Steam rolled off the singed area as it sizzled.
The giant glared in Avery’s direction before gripping what was left of his weapon, the handle. He brought his arm back and was getting ready to throw it until Aranis shouted, “Like hell I’d let you do that.”
He positioned himself into a stance as he reached both arms out and looked like he was moving his hands in a way like he was forming something in the air.
All the blood Avery couldn’t grasp and group up, Aranis was able to gather it instantly. He then shaped it into a long line, almost like a katana, right above the giant’s right shoulder.
Before he dropped it, he activate his most powerful spell he had recently received and chanted the words, “Corrupted Dismemberment!”
The acidic blood-looking katana then swung down in a clean motion right through the giant’s shoulder, slicing the right arm off with no effort.
The giant let out a gurgled howl as he gripped the area that was cut off with his free hand.
Liam, who was still on the giant’s back, stopped what he was doing and jumped down towards the fallen limb. The top of the arm that was sliced let out a hiss as the acidic blood that had sliced into it started to seep across the flesh. The back of the hand where Avery had struck was doing the same, except at a much slower pace. However, that hand was still gripping the melted handle.
Liam appeared by the end of the handle were the head had melted away. Any signs of the acidic blood that fully melted down the weapon earlier was gone. He then put all of daggers away and went to grab the handle. It was futile at first, but then Liam summoned three more hands of Shadow and Lunar. It was barely enough for him to move the handle and the arm around, but he didn’t need to move it for long.
He positioned each hand along the handle and gripped it as hard as he could from his end. He then turned his body to the left with as much strength as he could muster. At first it didn’t budge, but after a second had passed the entire arm and handle that wasn’t completely melted away started to slide.
Everyone who could see Liam stared at him with disbelief. They just couldn’t understand what he was thinking of doing and watched as he started to pick up speed as he spun around while trying to hold on to the handle. After picking up enough speed, Liam then heaved the impromptu weapon up at an angle so when he released it, the entire thing flew right at the giant’s forehead, knocking up to his feet and taking a few steps back.
Not missing a beat, Ariyana suddenly shouted, “Botanic Field!”
Botanic Field was a Virgo Zodiac Ability that spread seeds through out a certain area. After the seeds plant into the ground they grow into powerful living attack plants and attack any and all enemies around them. The amount of plants that sprout and grow as well how powerful they are depends on the user’s MP plus Plant Focus Point Level. Outside assistance can be added.
Ariyana sent twenty glowing seed-like orbs out towards the front of the Giant. As soon as they touched the ground, they melted through the stone. Shortly after that cracks started to form right where the seeds landed and stems, vines, and trunks started to grow.
Several flowers grew to four feet tall and bloomed showing off the colorful pedals. Some bloomed with rows of purplish blue pedals with a yellow center while the rest bloomed six long white pedals with an aqua blue hue in the middle with five long aqua blue stems with a black bulb at the tips.
Several vines grew out and extended twenty feet with spikes throughout the vines. The trunks grew up and up right before they touched the roof. The branches that grew out, grew with forest green leaves and pine cones dangling from the branches.
“Allow me to help with these beautiful babies,” Inyis called out as she channeled as much mana as she could and sent it towards the plant life that Ariyana summoned.
As her mana washed over the area Ariyana sent her ability at, the plant life soaked it in. The vines with thorns started to thicken, grow longer, and wrap around each other. These vines whipped out and crashed into the giant, raking the thorn across his body.
The flowers grew taller and wider. They started to glow around the center before shooting out several powerful beams of green energy right into the chest of the tall man.
The pine cones on the trees multiplied and grew in size before each branch bent backwards far enough and released at different times, allowing a barrage of giant pine cones to fly off of them and right into the broken and bleeding man.
The giant took each strike, beam, and pine cone collision as best as he could. With each hit though, he took a step back, slowly being pushed back towards the massive portal.
After the attack for each plant had either stopped coming or was out of reach, the giant let his left hand down and glared at each person who had dared attacked it.
He then did something that made everyone grow wide eyed and panic. His open wounds started to close as the bleeding from them stopped. The wound from the dismembered arm started to ripple as a new arm slowly started to grow back.
All the work they put into damaging him was becoming moot as he healed himself back up.
Some of the members from the groups dropped to their knees as they watched this. Despair started to fill their bodies as they began to believe all the hard work they put into this was for nothing.
However, before anyone could fall any further into that pit. One person, who currently didn’t care what was going on, rushed as fast as he could, right for the healing giant. His several floating hands of Shadow and Lunar trailing behind him.
Everyone watched him. Confused as to why he didn’t succumb to the despair they were feeling. Confused as to how and why he kept going. Even though some didn’t know the madness that was plaguing his mind, making him unable to feel the way they were, there were a small few who knew. They knew he didn’t care and would continue to fight even if it killed him in the end.
They watched as he got close enough to the giant and then crouched down as far as he could before launching himself up into the air.
His body sail up and came to a slight stop, stopping him within eye height of the giant.
The giant snarled at the chaotic man who was not only grinning madly, but also laughing like he heard a very funny joke that only he had heard.
The giant was about to slap the crazed man away, but before he could, Liam slammed his hands together.
Then suddenly all the Shadow Hands and Lunar Hands, he created throughout the fight, flew right towards one spot. Right in front of the giant’s face.
The explosion the two forces created as they collided was so big and powerful it sent Liam flying backwards like a bullet that was fired from a gun.
No one was able to see how fast he flew, they only felt the sudden shockwave that was created by the explosion and the loud thud behind them.
However, their eyes weren’t on where Liam had landed. Instead, they desperately kept their eyes on the giant, who was falling backwards from taking the powerful explosion and shockwave from point blank range.
Their breaths held as they willed the giant to not stop falling backwards. Their bodies stiffened as he put a foot back to try and stop his momentum. However, it wasn’t enough as he flailed both his good arm and his rapidly healing arm in a circle like motion, still stumbling backwards.
“Come on,” a few said in almost a whisper as they continued to watch hoping their words wouldn’t jinx the outcome.
The giant took another step back, but still kept going.
“Come on,” a few others repeated.
Another step, then a small hop. Arms still circling around.
“Come on!” Aranis, Inyis, and Jude roared.
The giant took another step back and looked like he was recomposing himself, until his foot went down, right on top a rounded shattered bone, slipping on it like a banana peel and falling completely backwards right through the portal.
“Yes!” Everyone in Aranis’, Inyis’, and Jude’s group yelled.
They were all starting to celebrate loudly that they didn’t see one person start to sprint for the portal.
Aranis’, Inyis’, and Jude’s eyes suddenly saw Liam rushing forward and tried to reach out for him, but missed as he juked and spun out of their reach.
The members of each team noticed what was going on and tried to help stop him as well, but he was too fast for them.
Liam let out more laughs as he made his way through the obstacle course of people that appeared before him.
“Liam stop!” Jude roared, trying to send some of his power out to balance the instability coursing through him, but he was just out of reach. His hand dropped as he watched his crazed rival pass the last person standing in his way.
Jude stared as Liam was just a few feet away from the portal and looked like he was going to reach it until a loud boom exploded behind.
He went to turn his head to see what happened until blurs of some sort of objects suddenly flew over his and the other members’ heads at a fast pace. He watched as the speed of these objects sped pass everyone at a much faster pace than Liam and landed right on top of him when he was inches away from the portal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liam stirred as he felt pain wrack his body. Several times he tried to open his eyes ever since he came to this place, but each attempt ended in failure as a pressure forced him to keep his eyes close.
Liam didn’t know what happened, where he was, nor how much time had passed. His memories from before arriving here were muddled. Each time he tried to remember, a new voice would make itself known and distract him.
He could tell he wasn’t grounded as his body floated. He felt cold as his body was surrounded by some substance. However, he wasn’t sure if he was under water because he didn’t feel wet.
The only thing he knew was it was loud here.
The whispers that assaulted him earlier were much louder here. They continued to grow louder as his body started to ache all over, causing him to curl up.
The whispers caused his body to grow sore and achy as they spoke to him. The whispers weren’t the only thing that assaulted. Screams of anger sent ripples through his body making it ache and sore with each shout. The angry voices screamed at him for being weak.
There were some mocking voices telling him how pathetic he was for not being able to handle the power he was given. Cries echoed within him sending chills as they filled him with sadness. Sadness for killing those he swore to protect.
He felt all of these different emotion in full force as they took turns assaulting his mind and body over and over again.
It had felt like an eternity ever since he entered this hollowed space.
After so much time had passed he started to feel something new. Tiredness. This new feeling started to fill him as a group of whispers tickled the edge of his mind. They whispered words telling him it was okay to sleep. That they would take care of things now and he didn’t have to worry about anything anymore.
He was tempted to do just that. His mind and body was slowly succumbing to it after taking so much abuse from the other voices.
Maybe it is best that I just disappear. Liam thought to himself as the whispers of sleep started to grip his mind and body. Without me someone else can…
Before he could finish that thought process he felt a sudden shake ripple all around him.
New words echoed around him shortly after a new feeling washed over him. Albeit, he couldn’t hear the words. They sounded muffled and far away.
He tried to ignore them. Feeling like they were just there to try and break him down even more.
He didn’t want that. He was tired. So very tired and just wanted to rest. He started to close his mind and allow the sleepiness that was calling for him to take hold.
Another ripple waved around him. This time it was powerful enough to shake his mind away from the grip of sleep.
The muffled words were louder now. He wasn’t sure what they were saying, but he thought he heard his name being called.
Liam went to open his mouth to protest for them to just let him sleep, but no words came out.
This shocked him. Shocked him enough to wrench his eyes open.
His sight was flooded with a bright light which made him wince, but he refused to close them. Afraid he wouldn’t be able to open them back up again.
He waited for his sight to adjust. It only took a couple of seconds. Once when it did, his body tensed at the sight he saw.
He wasn’t able to see his surroundings, but that wasn’t what his sight was locked on. Instead, it was the shadowy cloaked individual from earlier.
It was floating right in front of him, staring at him with a disapproving glare.
Liam wasn’t sure what was going on, but if he was staring at this creature then it probably wasn’t good.
Screams, cries, and whispers started to pick up and try to attack his mind again, with the force of a hurricane.
Ripples waved over them as the other voices, he wasn’t sure about, tried to drown them out. They were still unclear to him what they were saying.
The cloaked figure shook his head as he said in a clear and disapproving tone, “You can’t hear them can you?”
Liam went to answer, knowing he couldn’t speak, but still tried. He was shocked when he said, “Hear who?”
He brought a hand to his throat, taken aback that he was able to speak again.
“They are calling for you to come back,” the voice said not answering him. “Are you going to ignore them? Or will you answer their call?”
“Who is calling for me?” Liam questioned, still unsure of what was going on. “Wha…”
“Are you so far gone that you can’t recognize the voices of your own teammates?” the figure asked with a scoff.
“My own teammates?” Liam asked with a confused look.
The voices rippled around him once more, still muffled and unclear.
The Cries, screams, and whispers raised in volume, trying to drown out the unwanted voices calling out.
“Ah that’s probably why you can’t hear them. Here, let me help you,” the cloaked individual stated as he waved a hand out, silencing the hateful screams, the wailing cries, and the enticing whispers.
Once when the cacophony of negative words and emotions died down, Liam was able to hear the muffled and unclear words in a clear and loud volume.
“Liam!” a female and male shouted.
“Come back to us!” another female cried out.
“Wake up man!” a male grunted.
“You need to deactivate your ability!” another male called out with desperation.
“Who…what…what is going on?” Liam asked, confusion still in effect as his mind started to whirl. “Ability? Come back? Wake up? What is happen…”
Before he could finish his words a final voice caught his attention. This one was a female. Her voice held some desperation in it, but her words held a threat that jump started his memories. “If you don’t wake your ass up and come back to us, I will, in your own words, egotiscally beat you the fuck up until you do. Do you hear me?”
“Avery?” Liam whispered.
A flood of memories suddenly exploded within his mind as he said her name. The events of him arriving in this world, the fights he fought on the second to sixth floor. The people he met and befriended as well as the ones who acted like enemies.
So much ran through his mind he had to grab the sides of his head, feeling like it was going to explode.
Emotions, experiences, everything. It all came to him at once.
The cloaked figure smiled as he stared at the man in front of him. He watched as he too felt the pain the man felt as some of it ran through him as well, helping him handle it.
After the events of what led to what happened when he lost control of his mind finally finished, Liam brought his head up to look at the shadowy figure. A tear rolled down his cheek as he looked at the individual.
The cloaked figure knew what he wanted to say, but cut him off as he said, “They are waiting for you. You better not disappoint and get your ass back out there. Now is not the time to rest. You can do that when your dead…or when I...”
“What?” Liam asked as the shadowy figure’s words died out. His vision started to brighten as the dark world all around him started to be replaced with the room where everyone else was at.
Screams and cries punched through his ears making him realize he was back in control. He was rooted in place right before the portal.
Ariyana was hugging him from his right side, tears rolling down her face. Mercer on his left hugging him tightly as well.
Roman and Blair were behind him gripping the top of his shoulders on both sides pulling back as much as they could.
Artem was right in front of him with his hands on Liam’s shoulders pushing him back. He was fighting back tears with a face so red he couldn’t tell if he was angry or was using all of his strength.
However, his eyes were on the one person who was holding his face to stare directly into hers, Avery.
Liam was about to say something, but was stopped as Avery suddenly recognized there was something different with him.
“Liam, you need to deactivate your Zodiac ability right now!” Avery shouted as her face grew a mix of emotions. Happy, sad, and…irritation?
“Huh?” Liam said, his voice so hoarse he almost coughed.
Avery slapped him to get him to pay attention.
“Ow,” Liam said as he frowned at her.
“Don’t talk back just do as I say now! Deactivate it!” Avery ordered.
“Deactivate…Gemini…Ability…Class Fusion,” Liam forced out from his lips.
He felt a pressure he didn’t realize was pushing down on him suddenly dissipate. As soon as it disappeared, so did all the strength he had in his muscles.
Pain beyond anything he had even felt suddenly crashed through his body before he blacked out.
The last two things he saw before all the pain caused him to lose consciousness was the golden hued portal winking out of existence and notification that blinked into view.
“Congratulations! You have successfully pushed back the Shadow of….”
