She'd have liked to claim her attack defeated Neptune, or at least harmed the being that claimed itself God, enough to the point where it could be finished off.
Sadly, that wasn't the case.
Neptune had certainly gotten hurt after an entire train rammed into him, and he had been smashed through several walls of stone, but his power was so great that even the damage he sustained wasn't that bad. He didn't have a healing factor, but when a being gained enough mana, they didn't need one. Destroyed muscles and limbs wouldn't be an issue for them, as they could bridge gaps through their body out of energy, allowing nerves and blood to flow without issue.
Neptune's body glowed and lit up, and his lower half began to change. One of his legs had snapped and broken, and another one was crooked. It made standing upright a bit awkward, so the sea god simply fixed the issue by using a quick Vow.
Since he had four legs and a horse's body, his speed and stamina had increased far more when compared to a normal person. The lungs of a horse allowed him to reach full speed and remain in that state for a long period of time. As part of the Vow, he gave these boons up.
His back legs fused forward with his front legs, and his lower body caved in on itself, shrinking. The horse half left him, fading into a normal waist with only two legs, both of which were fully healed. This caused his height to shrink to that of a normal person, and his speed would be cut, but the damage to his body was mostly mended. At the very least, he now had no broken or bruised legs.
Neptune took a moment to stomp one of his new feet down. His legs were now a lot closer to what they had been when he had been Rage. They were slimy, covered in scales and goo, and curved like those of a horse but also far more muscular, and they had human feet at the ends of them, his toes flexing and gripping the air as he tested them.
"It will be a bit of pain fixing this," Neptune grunted. "If I undo the Vow, my previous legs will return, but the damage will as well, so I'll have to find a good healer to truly mend all the damage. What a pain. Why couldn't Adam gift me a healing trait as he did with Bloom and Tik?"
While he muttered to himself, Laerton launched her attack. She was in far worse shape than Neptune, her body littered with a few wounds, and almost all her ribs were broken. The pain was horrible, but she fought through it and flickered forward, swinging her katana out.
Neptune parried her blow, deflecting it with ease. He then stabbed out with his trident, tearing a section of the train out when she dodged.
Neptune went to swing again, but then stopped when the train roared to life once more and began to blast forward. He wasn't in front of it, and magical or not, it was still a train, so making a curve was next to impossible. The vehicle just drove forward, kicking up snow and ice. Laerton leaped onto it, using her mana to speed it up.
This train was her magical item. It wasn't Knight Gear, but it was a powerful creation that the elves made. It was ancient, and most of its functions had rotted away with time, but it was still able to chug along and fly. Since it was bonded to her, she could control it remotely as long as she had the mana for it.
The train curved and began to lift into the air, flying off the ground. She put some distance between her and Neptune and began to fire a series of spells toward him, creating birds out of thread.
The stuffed animals never reached Neptune as he easily dodged them and stepped into the air, launching himself toward the train. He landed on the top of it and used mana to stick to it as Laerton aimed it directly up, causing it to slope.
Laerton allowed herself to slide down and fell toward Neptune. She shoved as much mana into her blade as she could, threading wrapping around it, and she slashed out with everything she had. Neptune tried to block the strike with his trident, but his eyes widened when Laerton's katana tore through his weapon, splitting it in half. Her katana kept going as she aimed for Neptune's head, but he ducked, avoiding her strike, which narrowly missed him.
Neptune dropped the bottom half of his weapon and then, before Laerton could react, he stabbed out with the tip of his trident, ramming it into the captain's stomach. Laerton gasped and spat up blood. She stared down at the weapon in her gut and then, without warning, she shut her mana off.
Neptune's eyes widened when the flying train, which had risen up to the clouds, suddenly stopped. It halted in the air and then dropped. He allowed his mana to ungrip from the train's surface and then attempted to stand on air, but Laerton reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to choke him out. His focus was halted, and he fell with her, the two of them dropping out of the sky.
The Phoenix Flight train smashed into the ground. Shockingly, it was able to withstand the fall, only being slightly banged up and dented, but everything inside of it was thrown around and knocked over. Neptune's back screamed in pain as he was smashed down into the roof, caving part of it in. He groaned and gritted his teeth and tossed Laerton off of him.
She crashed into the snow and remained on her back, blood pouring out of her. Her eyes glazed up at the black sky above, seeing nothing.
She had managed to hurt the sea God, but the power of a captain wasn't enough, it seemed. Her mind went to Adam and then to the Lord of Threads. Just how strong were these otherworldly figures? They talked as if they weren't even from this planet. Could this be the destruction that was destined for her?
The curse of Phoenix Flight was one that most people didn't fully understand. Long, long ago, a demon had implanted that curse into them and ensured that they would be wiped out, then reformed and wiped out again in an endless cycle. People thought that the Phoenix Flight guild members were cursed with bad luck, and in a way that was correct, but there was more to it than that.
The curse actually served only one purpose. It would activate and kill every member of the guild. The captain, the vice captain, all the Knights, and the Squires. They'd all die.
Pure destruction. That was the fate that awaited her guild. She knew it would eventually come, and now, as she was lying in a pool of her own blood, she wondered if this was the moment. Could this be how the curse activated?
Were they destined to be killed by Neptune?
Neptune took a step toward her. She had crashed several meters away, and he was about to run her through but paused suddenly. The sea God's face twisted into a smile, and his gums began to bleed once more as he got excited.
"Oh? It's about time you showed up. Yes, you and I will finally have our fated battle. You know, after you managed to escape not just Bloom but Adam and the Lord of Threads, I got excited. Without a doubt, you're the issue. All seven are naive and fake, but you? You must remember pieces of what could have been. Right, Davi!"
Laerton's eyes widened, and she found herself looking up at someone who was now standing directly over her. Davi Hawker had arrived on the battlefield. Neptune stared at the raven-haired man, but Davi only had eyes for Laerton.
Laerton looked up at her student and winced. He was the last person she had wanted to arrive. She led Neptune away specifically to keep him from getting Sieg, Susie, and Davi, yet here Davi was, casually showing up.
"Davi. Listen, you need to-" Laerton was cut off when Davi casually kicked her in the side. "Ow! What the fuck!"
"Sorry, had to make sure you were still alive." Davi gave her a thumbs up, then glanced at Neptune. "Oh wow. Did horse guy always look so handsome? What happened to his snout?"
Neptune paused and took in Davi's words. "You're gazing upon a god. Show some respect."
"A God? Then what number am I thinking of?"
"I'm not doing this again." Neptune raised his broken trident into the air and cocked his head to the side. The snow lifted up and twisted, forming into the shape of large horses. "Die." The steeds charged forward and exploded in hails of icy blades, but none of them touched Davi, as the man casually picked Laerton up and used a mana step, vanishing away. "A mana step? Since when do you have that? That skill is learned only after you've unlocked your sword- Wait. Now that I think about it your mana feels different?" Neptune paused and frowned, his smile quickly fading.
Over by the train, the rest of the group had gathered. Davi reappeared, holding onto the captain, and gave a nod to Olem and Bolem. "You two think you can heal the captain?"
"We can try." Olem took the captain into his arms and placed her down. "We'll join the battle as soon as we can."
Laerton shook her head. "No. Davi, you can't fight that guy. If you fight him alone, you're dead-"
"Relax." Davi gave her another thumbs up. "I don't plan to fight him alone. I'm going to let High and Himvel do it."
"High and Himvel?"
Neptune twisted back to look at Davi and raised his weapon, about to fire again, but before he could, two bodies slammed down in front of him. "Hi Neptune!" Himvel smashed his elbow into Neptune's gut and sent the sea god flying back. "Bye, Neptune!"
Next to the ancient elf, High gave a large grin. "Oh yeah! It's good to be back!" He whipped his gun out, the very same one he had shown off to Davi, and he fired several shots toward the flying sea God. Neptune managed to catch his footing, and his eyes went wide as the bullets actually broke past his skin. They weren't able to get very far; his muscles blocked the rest of the way into his body, but they did cause the sea God to bleed. "Yeah! How do you like my light bullets? This is my weapon of choice!"
"What will it be?" Himvel called out. "Death from bullets or death by the blade!" He flickered forward and stabbed out with his rapier as hard as he could, thrusting so fast that the frozen light twisted around his weapon. "Row Atomic Spear!"
Neptune hastily created a shield of ice in front of him, but as he did that, High pulled out a piece of chalk and drew a circle on the ground, creating a portal. He aimed his gun through it, and the portal opened up behind Neptune, allowing him to fire into the monster's back, which broke Neptune's concentration, shattering his shield, thus allowing Himvel's strike to carry through.
The rapier smashed into Neptune's shoulder, dislocating a joint and slamming the monster all the way back, sending the false god crashing into the wall that was around the city.
Off to the side, Mel and the Licht-Fulk Queen both watched the fight. "You know the way, right?" The queen asked. "Lead me to it now."
Mel gave a hesitant nod and glanced back at her brother. "Yeah. Alright, come on, Ms. Royalty." Mel grabbed the Queen's hand and began to lead her away from the battlefield and toward the opening in the wall Laerton's train had shattered open. The two were heading for something.
As that happened, Laerton felt her body begin to mend. Both Olem and Bolem were using various healing spells on her, draining their mana. She stared at High and Himvel in awe, watching as the two continued to battle Neptune, who came tearing out of the wall.
"How are they doing so well?"
"Himvel is as strong as a captain," Davi explained. "Or at least very close to that tier. He's weaker than Neptune, but luckily, you gave Neptune quite the beating. High is weaker than me, but he has that gun and is able to keep his distance since Himvel is putting on most of the pressure. Together, the two of them make quite the mean combo."
"I thought High and Himvel were the same being?" Laerton asked in confusion.
"They were." Davi nodded. "Himvel and High performed the rite of Marriage and did a fusion. I broke that fusion."
"What? How!"
Davi gave a shrug. "I just tried something."
"You're going to need to explain right now!"
Davi sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, okay, let me figure out how to explain it? It was a while ago."
That was a lie.
Things had been moving quickly, and so it seemed like a while ago, but in actuality, it hadn't even been one full hour.
***
About half an hour ago…
Himvel collapsed to his knees in the snow. His eyes were wide as he stared wildly at the destroyed village around him. His thoughts were racing wildly, and for the first time in a long time, his thoughts were so clear.
Before, when he thought it would be a mix of voices and every action was either his own or not his own, and he had to just figure it out. He'd come up with multiple plans because multiple ideas were created in his mind, which he shared with another person.
That was all gone, though. In his head, it was just him. His body was just his as well.
Himvel stared down at his hands in shock. They were pale, leaning on the yellow side. No red. He felt the side of his head, expecting horns, but found none. He reached into his mouth for fangs but again found none. Had he fully reverted back? No sign of turning into a demon was present on him as far as he could tell. His clothing had changed as well. He wore plain white robes.
What shocked him the most, however, was that sitting in the snow next to him was a very familiar Licht-Fulk. High stared back at Himvel in shock. He was also dressed in plain white robes and had no sign of turning into a demon present on his face.
It made no sense for him to be here. Himvel knew he had fully devoured High. High was a decently strong Licht-Fulk and was one who hadn't yet become an elf. Back in the day, Himvel had devoured him in order to try and slow down the corruption. The rite of Marriage hadn't fully worked, however, and didn't halt it even slightly, which was how he knew it wouldn't work with the princess.
High and he had become one being, just as the Ebony Knight did with his true love, and yet now the results were undone?
All because of Davi.
"What did you do?" Himvel demanded. He glared at Davi, then turned to High. "How are you here?"
High opened his mouth about to answer, but was tackled to the ground by Mel. "Mel?"
"You're back?" Mel's eyes became a bit teary-eyed. "You're really back? Right?"
High winced and weakly wrapped his arms around his sister. "I feel back."
Olem watched the sibling exchange and glanced at his brother. Bolem was focused fully on his father, Himvel, who was still stunned and shocked. Himvel also went to open his mouth and say something again, but the queen marched up to him and slapped him as hard as she could.
"Ow?"
"That's what you get for being a dick!"
"You're not exactly a bundle of sunshine either, you know." Himvel glared at the queen before he glanced back at Davi. "How did you undo the bond of Marriage? High and I were fused not only cellularly but spiritually as well. I don't understand. You also cured me of the demon blight? What are you?"
"I took a bit of a gamble," Davi admitted. "I got a vision of an elf doing that to his own people. He'd place his hand on them the same way I did to you and mess with their souls, turning them into weapons."
"Yes, King Sylas." Himvel nodded and shuddered as the image of his father came to mind. "That was the Rite of Sealment."
"Yeah, that thing. I basically targeted the boundary of your soul and used it more like scissors." Davi made a cutting motion with his hand. "I used a Vow to isolate and forbid the part of it that turns elves into weapons and focused fully on the part that touches the soul. With it I sliced into the pieces that connected you two and then targeted the section that was trying to turn you into a demon and cut them out."
"What?" Himvel's eyes went wide again. "What are you on about? You make it sound easy? How do you understand what a soul is?"
"My mom taught me a lot of stuff about those sorts of things," Davi hummed. "I guess her lessons paid off."
Himvel gave Davi a baffled look. Only someone with the blood of a royal elf could perform the Rite of Sealment. Using a Vow and then having enough understanding of a soul to perform surgery on it should have been impossible, yet this was the same man who created a new Core, messed with his own Core, and could freely enter and exit his one inner world and change it. Clearly, when it came to Enchanting and the manipulation of the soul, Davi was someone very skilled.
"Does this mean you can cure Magical Mutation?" Olem asked eagerly.
Davi shook his head and looked a bit sad. "No. I don't think that'll work. I can only do this trick on someone with an elf soul. Himvel counted, which was how I affected High. If I tried it on someone who isn't an elf, it would harmlessly brush past them. Even if I tried to tweak it with a vow, it wouldn't work."
Olem let out a sigh. "I guess it would be too good to be true, huh?"
"Sorry."
"You did nothing wrong."
The queen bit her lip. "Could you use it to save my daughter? Her soul would be like an elf's, right?"
"Maybe." Davi gave a hesitant nod. "I plan to try. I'll see if I can remove the radiation effect from her soul-"
"Why are you doing this?" Himvel cut Davi off and glared up at the scarred man. "Why are you offering all this help? What do you want? Do you hope to gain something? Is there some plan that none of us know about?"
"I told you, I just want to help people."
"Why?"
"Because I'm tired of failing." Davi's expression broke slightly, and he looked sad. Memories of his village flashed through his mind, and then of the Arcane Knights exam and his almost death at the hands of Bloom. Then memories of his time in the guild went by, such as the Spell Sword he fought and how she had taken her own life. After that, he thought of Rosco and Olivia's village and Lotus City, and then finally he thought of all the people who died in Daisy. "Sometimes it feels like I try as hard as I can, but I just end up failing. I'm not naive. I know that it's impossible to truly get some ending where everyone is happy and it all goes perfectly, but shouldn't I try? It's only an impossibility if I fully give up. Maybe, just maybe, if I try my hardest then…"
***
Present time…
Himvel blocked one of Neptune's swings, but the force of the attack dropped him to his knees, and the elf gasped. Neptune went to swing again, but before he could, a massive orb of white energy rammed into his head as Davi slammed into him!
Neptune's eyes widened, and he glared at Davi, seeing a fire in the man's eyes.
"If I try my hardest, then it might be possible to make a new outcome. I'll do everything I can to ensure that you die here and now, Rage!"