─────!
A massive blast shook the air. Most of the hundreds of wraiths rushing from the front were shredded apart by the blood-red surge pouring out from the three Altemias. Seeing the path suddenly cleared, the wraiths possessing Count Jinmu went silent. A glance back showed Jeanne fighting Jinmu, but the difference in stats was too large. She was being pushed back. Realizing he needed to move quickly, Yuda stepped onto the magic circle. The moment he entered the circle filled with unknown runes, wraiths rose from the floor and seized his ankles.
-Where do you think you are going?
-Do not go. Can you not see we are sacrificing ourselves to summon our lord into this land?
Though they had no physical form, their grip felt heavy enough to drag him down. But because they had no true bodies, he could still move if he used pure strength. Yuda wrapped Mana around his leg and slammed his foot down. With a boom, the burst of Mana distorted their forms and knocked them away.
‘Persistent things.’
But watching the same number surge back toward him made his brow tense. From the floor and from all sides, they whispered curses and reached for him. His bastard sword and Altemia sliced through the air, cutting them down, but their sheer numbers slowly pushed him back.
One wraith had slipped behind him and rested a cold hand on his shoulder. One became two, then three, weighing down on his back. Yuda activated Release with the Altemia in his left hand, grinding a cluster of wraiths into nothing. But the one on his shoulder still clung tightly. Its whispered curses had no effect due to his player nature, but the annoyance was real.
‘This really is pearls before swine.’
Each Fragment held overwhelming power, but their true strength depended entirely on the user. And they were not designed for situations like this.
The 24th Fragment only charmed, enticed, and subjugated minds, while the 10th Fragment’s power worked only on beings with blood. And compared to those who wielded Fragments and carved myths, Yuda wasn’t even a Spirit Sword Bearer.
But that was just an excuse. Owning two Fragments yet being held down like this was pathetic. At this rate, he might never be acknowledged by those Fragments with self-awareness.
Every artifact has an owner.
And some artifacts chose their master themselves.
Fail to be acknowledged, and you cannot be the owner.
A simple truth.
Ever since obtaining the Fragments, Yuda wasn’t sure whether he was special or if all owners were like this, but he always instinctively knew how to use them.
‘If there’s no blood to use, then I’ll use my own.’
Yes, bleeding consumed health rapidly, but killing wraiths easily restored it. Yuda frowned and staggered forward.
-Be crushed into the earth.
-How dare you obstruct our great purpose!
-Die and offer your blood and soul to us.
In that brief moment of thought, the number pressing down on him multiplied. One or two became dozens. Even if each wraith was weak, together they were suffocating. They climbed over his bent back, piling and pushing him down.
Yuda was about to slice open his own wrist when one particular whisper caught his attention. Offer blood and soul? And at that moment, he looked down at the magic circle. A thick, blood-like liquid flowed through the engraved channels of the circle. Yuda’s lips curled up.
“You’ve got to be kidding. It really was pearls before swine.”
The solution was right here the whole time, and he had been fighting the hard way.
With a bitter smile, he released the power of 〈Domination〉.
According to his will and gesture, the Fragment’s power activated, and the blood flowing like a river suddenly rose into the air.
-Huh?
-Wha…?
The silent geyser of blood hardened into spikes that impaled the wraiths around him. Once skewered, they could only be devoured. Altemia began absorbing their life force without hesitation. One writhing wraith suddenly cried out in shock.
-Oh, ohh! His presence… he descends upon this land!
-This is a noble sacrifice for him!
-Offer what remains of us and summon him forth!
‘It’s lighter now.’
Yuda straightened his back as the weight vanished.
Above him, impaled wraiths hung like offerings before dissolving into nothing. Even the hiding wraiths rushed out to impale themselves, fearless and fanatical.
"No different from cultists. Your ritual failed, but if that belief comforts you, vanish with it."
The absorbed life force replenished all the stamina he had lost.
Boom!
Something flew in with explosive force. He instinctively tried to dodge, but stopped when he realized it was Jeanne. Catching someone armored from head to toe with a shield and lance was terrifying. Yuda intertwined the blood streams into a net to soften her impact, then caught her afterward.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yes, I am fine."
She steadied herself and stood. Her shield was dented and cracked; she had taken serious damage.
"You held up well. This is enough."
"Enough… for what?"
Jeanne asked in confusion, but Yuda didn’t answer and looked toward Jinmu approaching. He couldn’t see the man’s face through the helmet, but Jinmu’s aura was clearly twisted.
"What have you done?"
Hundreds of voices echoed at once. They were filled with fury.
"You’ll see. I haven’t done anything yet. But…
I’m about to." Yuda’s gaze shifted to the three magic circles within the large ring. The three spheres floating in the air were the offerings for summoning Bel-Terza. And unfortunately for the wraiths, the flowing blood reached those as well.
“How dare you!”
With enraged screams, violet Mana surged over the spheres, forming a powerful barrier. A memory from the game surfaced, making Yuda smirk.
Normally, breaking one sphere triggers the next phase. Their defenses and health increase each time, and even more when only one remains. Back then, the player had to dodge Jinmu’s attacks while destroying them.
But not this time. The blood flowing across the ground formed hundreds of spikes, struck the barrier, shattered it instantly, and pierced the sphere. Altemia devoured its life force with a greed unlike anything it had shown before. Overflowing vitality surged into Yuda’s body, and Altemia’s blade shone an even deeper crimson.
“Our plan to bring him forth!”
Count Jinmu charged with his lance, and Jeanne scrambled to rise and intercept. But Yuda rushed ahead and met the charge himself. Mana wrapped around his bastard sword, shaping it into a lance.
"You dare challenge me in spear combat?"
The Blue Lance Knight’s spirit roared through Jinmu’s body. Yuda knew he couldn’t win a clash like this. The moment the two lances crossed, all sensation vanished from his right arm.
"Yuda!"
Jeanne screamed as a spray of blood and the severed arm flew upward. She took one step to run toward him, then froze.
Serves him right, he thought to say—
But Jinmu froze mid-sentence, the mockery dying in his throat. The blood spraying from the torn shoulder writhed like heat haze. The severed arm dissolved into blood and vanished.
‘An illusion?’
The Blue Lance Knight’s wraith questioned it, while the others within him screamed in disbelief. But that was the only explanation he could grasp. He had clearly felt the sensation of tearing the arm off. Yet his arm had regenerated perfectly. Even the sleeve was intact.
“Exactly. It was the obvious outcome.”
As Yuda spoke, the red dagger in his left hand unleashed a whirl of blade-like Mana that shattered Jinmu’s shield and ripped apart his armor. Barely restoring his armor through Mana, Jinmu was sent rolling across the floor. He pressed a hand against the floor and tried to rise—
Crack!
Right then, the blood-red sphere whose life force had been drained cracked and shattered.
The ritual had failed.
It was doomed from the start. Jinmu, halfway up, choked and dropped his head. A gush of blood spilled from beneath his helmet. The Mana-forged armor covering him writhed, lost its form, and vanished. Count Jinmu’s exhausted, pale face emerged as he coughed blood.
"Excel…lent."
It was a single voice now, not hundreds. The same voice he had heard when they first met.
-This is impossible!
-Our long-prepared ritual has failed! It cannot be! It must not be!
-Jinmu, kill him! With a little more time, we could have brought him forth!
Black shapes emerged around him, pointing at Yuda and cursing.
But despite their urging, Jinmu did not rise. Instead, he let himself fall and spoke to them.
“It is better this way. Why rage so loudly?”
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
***Author’s Note***
I didn’t fall this hard even when Diablo 3 first came out.
Lost Ark is basically over for me now, so I need to get back to writing.
Starting tomorrow, updates will return to the usual 12–1 AM schedule ㅠ
Q. User “Nanneoburi” commented: “Yuda doesn’t seem to realize he came too early and messed up the storyline lol. Originally Kain comes months later for this event. He didn’t notice something so obvious.”
A.That was the comment, and wow, sharp observation! Impressive ㄷㄷ..
Q. “The scene where Yuda attacks Jinmu feels unnatural. From Jeanne’s perspective she’s wary of a suspicious man, then Yuda suddenly picks a fight.”
A> Hmm, I will revise it to make it feel more natural.
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