Faris, Ella, and the Seredums soon arrived at a clearing – an area of the forest completely devoid of any vegetation, trees, or plant growth. Erina stopped them at the edge.
"Wait," she said. "Be careful here." Looking around, she whispered, "This is a ritual site…"
At the centre of the clearing there was a dome-like barrier of faint Ki. It had a radius of roughly twenty-five metres.
Faris's gaze narrowed. "There you are…"
Inside the dome, Derek stood with the fused half of the Xoitique Diamond hovering in front of him. Celestial Ki was gushing out of the stone, illuminating the entire clearing.
The group advanced, taking each step as carefully as possible. They could now see Derek clearly – he was wearing a grey cloak distinguishing him from the wizards, and he did not have the hat on either.
Faris slowly scanned the area. 'Where's the trickster?'
Ella looked around. Wizards started to appear on the trees at the edges of the meadow.
"Why does it feel cold and sharp suddenly?" she asked.
"Celestial Ki," Erina explained. "You're sensing the effects of pure Celestial Ki."
The young Mystic was inexperienced. She lacked the skills to properly detect Celestial or Demonic Ki. But this close, it no longer mattered. The effects were hard to miss. Even a plebeian in this situation would have felt the effects of the Celestial Ki.
Once in range, the Seredum sisters unleashed a Ki blast aimed straight for the Ki dome. Much to their astonishment, it vanished just before it could hit.
Wide-eyed, they stared until two wizards leaped high and hurled large boulders at them. Jumping up in the air, Erina and Eila punched and destroyed them.
'Let's move things along,' Faris thought. "Hey, Seredums," he called. "Need a lift?"
A sudden Ki thrust pushed the sisters and Ella into a portal, carrying them into the Continuum of Sempiternity. Faris dragged them out of it.
"What the fuck?!" The senior Mystic stood dumbfounded. Wide-eyed, he stared at the Ki barrier still many metres away from them.
Erina looked at him. "Why didn't we get closer?"
"Master, what happened?" Ella asked.
"We should have bypassed it." Faris removed and threw away his cap. "The damned barrier is transcending dimensions."
"They must have a Mystic amongst their ranks," Erina commented. "No one but a Mystic could have altered your bearings inside the Continuum."
"Not as easy as it sounds… there are only two people who can put up a forcefield of this kind to block me out. One is on our side and no longer strong enough to do something like that. And the other guy is conveniently sitting at the Palace. And then there's the fucking trickster…"
Erina stared with a narrowed gaze. "Who?"
"Tch… let's just deal with this first."
He observed carefully. There were three spots of denser Ki on the barrier wall.
Ella chanted, "NAVAS-GOVAN-PETRICHOR," and unleashed a Ki wave. It bounced off the barrier like a person jumping off a trampoline. The Ki rushed back at them. The group had to move away to avoid getting hit.
"It's no use, kid," Faris said, looking at her. "We have to use a considerably greater amount and concentrate fire on the denser areas. The ones creating the shield are sitting there. Take them out and the whole thing comes down."
"Master Naji," Erina said pointing towards the barrier. "Look…"
Faris and Ella looked and saw the Alchemist move a step back. "It is TIME!" he screamed, grinning from ear to ear.
Hundreds of cloaked men and women began arriving all around. Unfazed by the presence of the Mystics or the Seredums, they kept their attention fixed on their leader. One after the other, they began kneeling down.
The huge amounts of Celestial Ki extracted from the Xoitique Diamond began rushing towards Derek. Then they saw…
"Is that…" Ella was confused.
Erina gulped. "Is that a body?"
"That bastard…" Faris whispered. His eyes were left wide open, lips parted, and heart pounding fast. "That's why he needed half. He was never gonna raise an army… just one…"
All the Celestial Ki began getting sucked into the body as it started to float. All the wizards went down in prostration.
"ARISAM-MERGEM-SPIXYL-XYRUM-TOLAR," Derek began screaming the enchantment.
Faris opened another portal to the Continuum and jumped inside only to reappear outside the barrier just as before. All the while, the Alchemist continued, "SPIXOM-FOXITE-ALOFAM-XORAM-SPIXYL-XYRUM-TOLAR!"
"Anything?" Erina asked looking at Faris who shook his head sideways. The Seredums quickly began glowing bright green and rammed the barrier simultaneously. It did not budge. They fell back, bruised. Not bothered, they tried again, but to no avail. Hurt, they did not stop and kept trying again and again and again…
Derek continued inside. "DIXUM-TOXUM-TIFAR-SPIXYL-XYRUM-TOLAR!" After a slight pause he screamed, "ARISE, my master! All is as planned! ARISE MY LORD! ARISE!"
The Seredums kept ramming and eventually broke through and fell on the ground with bloody wrists and knuckles, and bruised shoulders and arms. But they were too late. The glowing body moved, stretched, and landed on the ground on all fours.
It breathed.
Slowly then, it stood bent ahead.
Derek too went down prostrating.
"No…" Faris whispered as he looked on in horror, his face going pale. His hands shook uncontrollably as a buried memory resurfaced – the night an entire attack squad of the Eye was wiped out by one man alone. Only Faris was spared because he had once fought under the assailant. "What have you done?"
Six feet tall, skin pale as a ghost, white long hair slowly darkening to brown, and pale eyeballs slowly taking shape – the dead stood alive. And Faris recognized exactly who it was. How could he not? He had worked with this man, he had worked under his leadership, and then he had spent years helping the Outsiders hunt him down. His heart thudded, pounding at his chest like a drumbeat.
In the blink of an eye, the glow on the body vanished.
And then he stretched.
The result: a huge explosion of Celestial Ki!
The Mystics, the Seredums, the Alchemist, and the wizards, all were pushed several metres back by the shockwave. The leakage of Ki, however, was so strong and unstoppable that it was felt as far as Athens and even near Irkutsk – reaching the Regal Palace.
Horrified by the sheer amount of the Celestial Ki she felt, Fiona rushed to find Hedish.
"Master!" she exclaimed. "Did you feel that?!"
He stood wide-eyed, panting. "Yes, Fiona. We're both Mystics. That was Celestial Ki, right?"
"I couldn't pinpoint it, but it came from somewhere in Eastern Europe."
"Renekom's in Europe as well."
"Contact him."
"How?"
Her head jerked back, eyes narrowing. "Use the Seeker's Scroll."
Hedish shook his head. "Renekom' entire pad is here with me for official communication."
"WHAT?!"
"I suggested it before he left. With the Seear in the field, I thought Palace correspondence should be routed through one place."
Both of them rushed inside and found Renekom's Seeker's Scroll papers lying on his table. They picked up the pad and found Faris's message.
"Oh my God…" Fiona had a hand covering her mouth. "We have to inform the others."
"I will contact Gina and the European outpost," Hedish said. "Can you contact anyone from Renekom's group?"
"Yes." She brought out her own Seeker's Scroll papers. "I have to prepare the City Guard as well. No telling what fallout reaches our shores."
Hurriedly, Fiona stormed out.
Five thousand miles away, in Death Valley in California, Gina and Marcus too had felt the Celestial Ki fallout.
"What the hell was that?" Marcus said, looking wide-eyed at his partner.
"It felt like a Ki blast," she replied, quietly. "But different…"
Neither of them had the knowledge and understanding to recognize a Celestial Ki signature. The only one in their group who could properly understand it was Hugo, but he was inside the Moving Bazaar and the leak could not enter there.
In Hoia-Baciu Forest, the wizards chanted in unison: "Hail the Basilisk! All hail the Basilisk!"
His hair had now darkened and skin was no longer so pale. His open eyes observed the surroundings. He took several deep breaths then stood tall.
Faris, Ella, and the Seredums looked on in horror. He had truly come back to life.
Before them stood none other than…
Ambris Ferrer!
"Hell is empty…" he said. His voice low and without emotion. "So I walked back to finish what we began…"