"Come forth...Cerberus"
The words echoed throughout the abyss.
For a moment, nothing happened.
A green circle erupted around the fluorescent white flower.
The fluorescent white flower slowly sank deep into the abyss.
Three large heads quickly emerged from where the flower sank.
Three enormous skull-like muzzles pushed through the abyss, their eyes burning with the same sickly green light as Ulric's own.
Tattered flesh clung to their enormous body in patches, barely holding together around exposed bone.
The giant head in the middle let out a powerful roar.
The roar echoed through the abyss, forcing Kraft to cover his ears.
The other two heads snarled before it lunged at him.
Seeing the large beast lunging at him, Kraft swiftly dodged out of the way.
The beast's jaws slammed shut where he had stood.
The impact sent waves of darkness rippling outward, distorting the space around them.
This isn't real... it's all in my head.
I don't know what happened, but I'm sure this space I'm in doesn't affect me physically.
Kraft quickly adjusted.
He rushed towards the beast.
He closed the distance in a sprint and drove his fist into the nearest skull-like muzzle.
The beast's head recoiled back, a bit stunned at the power behind the fist.
Krafdt quickly followed up his punch with a sweeping kick aimed at the jaw of the closest head.
His foot connected, snapping one head to the side, but the other two snapped forward immediately, forcing him to duck and roll away as their teeth clashed shut inches above him.
He sprang back to his feet, breathing hard.
It reacts… but it doesn't hurt.
The beast stopped a bit of distance away from him.
Its three heads stared at him before all heads opened their jaws and struck down at the abyss.
The abyss around them violently shook, as the three heads all individually pulled a giant blade, clenching it between their canines.
A dark green flame-like energy erupted from the three blades.
The beast quickly disappeared from where it stood.
Kraft looked up.
The beast was rushing down, spinning like a bayblade down at him.
The last thing he saw was the dark green energy from the blades before his vision went dark.
A gasp escaped Krafts mouth as he awoke.
He lay'd on his back, staring upward, waiting for the darkness of the abyss to swallow the world again.
For three sets of glowing eyes to appear in the void above him.
But nothing happened.
Kraft quickly checked over his body.
Checking for any type of bruises or wounds.
He found nothing.
"So I was right...It wasn't real"
Kraft shakily stood, glancing at the crater where the village once stood.
He turned away and began to walk.
Days passed in silence.
He avoided villages and any sort of things that would slow him down.
He had only one destination.
Äußerst
He had to reach Serie and tell her what he saw.
By the time the white towers of Äußerst came into view on the horizon, winter had begun to creep into the air.
A thin layer of frost clung to the roadside grass, glittering faintly in the morning light.
Winter was coming.
By the time he reached the upper levels of Serie's tower, his legs felt like they had lost all its strength.
Serie stood near the far window, hands clasped behind her back as she gazed out over the city below.
She didn't turn around when he entered.
She knew he was here from the moment he entered the tower.
"...You're back," she siad. "How'd it go?"
Kraft quickly dropped to the comfortable couch that was calling his name ever since he entered the room.
"Not good."
Serie turned to him at those words.
"What happened?"
The memory of the black green sphere of death hanging above the village before erasing it from the face of the earth flashed into his mind.
"Well, I can confirm the rumours are true, " he said. "We can also confirm that this mage is the cause of villages vanishing."
"I saw it with my own eyes...he wiped out an entire village with one spell."
"Like it never existed in the first place."
Serie's expression did not change, but her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Describe the spell."
Kraft recounted what he had seen.
The sphere, the screams of humans, how the sphere passed through wood and stone like mist.
Erasing everything when it was done.
Silence filled the room for a while.
Neither of them saying anything as Serie studied Kraft for a bit.
"...You smell of death." she said.
Kraft's smile faltered. "…What?"
She stepped closer, eyes glowing faintly as she activated a detection spell.
Invisible currents of mana brushed against his body, circling him like unseen fingers.
Then she froze.
For the first time since he had entered the room, Serie's composure cracked.
The silence that followed felt heavier than anything they've encountered before.
Kraft stared at her, his expression blank.
Then, small cracks started to spread across the right side of his face.
His right eye slowly turned pitch black before glowing a dark green.
A smile spread across his face as a calm voice not belonging to him came out of his mouth.
"…You figured it out faster than I expected."
.....
End of Chapter 14