Sadly, Eldrian couldn't find it. Nor what he had kept contained within it.
The prison he had made for the magic contract with Zaphreal, and the contract itself, were nowhere to be found.
"Does that mean I somehow annulled it?" Eldrian pondered. As far as he knew, that shouldn't be possible. While he wasn't a master on the topic of magical contracts, he knew they were truly, truly, tricky to cancel after being sworn into.
The best Eldrian had been able to do, back when he had been forced into it, was keeping it separate from what he considered the core of his soul. Whether that would have done anything, he couldn't say. But it had allowed him to sleep with more ease.
And, honestly, he was no longer wary of the contract. He had actually been relying on it, to an extent. Hoping that it would keep Zaphreal true to his word—all the while questioning a magical contract's effectiveness on Earth.
"I don't trust him without it..." Eldrian mumbled. Honestly, he hadn't trusted him with it either. Much like how locking it had made him sleep easier. The contract had done the same.
'When I called on Tranquility, I guess it consumed the lich's lifeforce and the contract with it.' This was the only conclusion Eldrian could come to. Which also explained why he had lost so little, if any, XP from slowing the devils.
Though there was still backlash. The backlash had not come at the expense of his soul. Sure, everything was currently frozen and the excess lifeforce from the XP he had gained was going crazy. But there was no actual damage.
Once he calmed the raging energies, he simply needed to heat his soul. And since everything was fake anyway, the plants wouldn't even be hurt. A sad reminder of what he had lost along with Two.
—
Ceph watched from the back lines as the others fought. As frustrating as it was, he simply wasn't strong enough to stand at the front with the others. And with Nerenth handling communications, this was the best place for him.
And while it was frustrating to feel so useless, Ceph's mere presence was helping the others fight. Him being there, waiting, meant he could jump in should anything unexpected happen. Buying them the time to react properly.
Sure, this didn't mean the ones fighting didn't need to expect the unexpected. But they could lessen the amount of energy they needed to spend on it while fighting for their lives.
It made the battle go from nerve-wracking to nerve-stressing. It certainly wasn't pleasant, but it would no longer consume them. At least, not as quickly as before.
And, of course, Ceph wouldn't be satisfied simply waiting. When he could, he helped.
Buffing his allies with some simple spells would actually be detrimental. While it sounded like a good idea, it might clash with the current enhancement magics they were using.
Instead, Ceph focused on the enemy. Controlling the roots of the trees to tangle their legs, to stab at their undersides. Controlling the leaves above to make areas darker, or to bring some more light to the battle. And to rain the occasional attack from above.
Sure, these amounted to little more than harassment at most times. The enemy numbers were either too high for those he killed to matter, or the enemy was too strong for his method to find any success.
Yet, it drained the enemy's morale.
Ceph's meddling had the exact opposite effect on them. His mere presence, there at the back, made the enemy always conscious of him. Always needing to be wary of their footing, of a sudden attack from the trees, and even of a magic spell slung when their attention slipped.
And, most of all, since Ceph kept his meddling to such indirect methods, the enemy couldn't confirm how strong he was. Only that he was an Alicorn—and a special one at that. The son of the lord and lady of the forest.
This ate at their minds, and as time passed, that proved to be enough. Those equal in power slipped up, those who relied on numbers hesitated. And the defenders of the forest pounced.
When the dust settled, Ceph couldn't celebrate. Battles were aplenty everywhere in the forest. He moved on as soon as things moved in their favor. Leaving the mixed defenders to finish the cleanup alone.
'The Lykos were most impressive.' Ceph thought as he moved. Lykos were wolf-type monsters—but because of the unique environment of the forest, they had adapted to a life of peace. Yet, that didn't diminish their ability to work as a pack.
Their pack also wasn't limited to just wolves. And the Alpha of the pack, an old gray wolf, gave everyone a nice permanent buff which didn't clash with any of their enhancement magics.
Sure, the buff wasn't all that powerful. It helped everyone recover their energy faster, be this stamina or mana. About a 10% in recovery.
That 10%, however, meant the world as the fights were dragging on. And the Lykos Alpha was also able to communicate with the unicorn leading the defense through telepathy.
Sadly, it was the only one who had managed this feat, but it allowed much better cooperation between the different species fighting for their home. It was not just a one sided conversation, after all. Nor did it require interpretation. It could even skip words and go right to the crux of the matter.
"Ceph, head to the mountains. The demons are focusing their attack there around the Tromii. I have tried to bring as much light to surroundings as possible, but having you focus on that would help greatly."
"Roger!" Making a U-turn, Ceph increased his speed.
While waiting for Nerenth to contact him, he had been cruising just slightly above the trees. Making sure none of their enemies managed to slip past the barrier and Nerenth.
Even if she could link with all the plants in the forest, her focus wasn't infinite. The more eyes, the better.
—
Arriving at the spot, Ceph summoned a gale of wind, blasting the leaves from the trees' branches. He asked them for forgiveness as he landed, summoning a ball of light as bright as he could. And to prevent any shadows from the trees themselves, he summoned another. Then another, and another.
Soon, the Night Terrors had nowhere to hide. And with the night still an hour or two away, they were forced into the open in their weakened state. Unable to infiltrate as deep as they had wished.
This group at least. They could only pray that this was the only group who had gotten past the barrier.
And them entering the light didn't make them easy targets. As soon as they were forced into the open, the demons who had been waiting nearby rushed in. Blasting the barrier with all their might, cracks quickly forming throughout as a massive hole opened up for a few seconds. A horde rushing through while it remained
ραпdα n?νa| сom 'Dang, they really can get past the barrier through shadows.' Ceph thought.
He had hoped the barrier would prevent this. Somehow, their ability to meld with shadows—no, they were made of shadows themselves. 'I guess that is why. The barrier might not be able to tell the difference. But their mana should—'
Ceph's thoughts stopped there as the demons charged. While many demons looked alike, most in this mob was unique. Generally, demons were not divided into species and races like devils, humans, and monsters (outside of some unique species like the Night Terrors).
They were corrupted beings from any and all groups of life. Ones who had dared to reach for something beyond their grasp, and refused to let it go when the cost came.
Very few had reproductive abilities, and hence the small amount of actual demon races that existed. In fact, most of these 'races' were artificial creations rather than naturally born demons.
For the mob rushing into the forest, the best similarities were by the source of their corruption rather than some type of race.
Some appeared like monsters, some like devils, some like normal humans. Yet, each of them had an utterly revolting type of mana flowing around them. Like a miasma, it clung to them. And it ate at all the pure mana near it.
They were all true demons. A sign of just how serious this attack was. Each of these demons would match an Ancient beast at their weakest.
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