"Too slow!"
BOOM!
The moment Niel looked behind himself, Sylvester was already standing there. His hand turned into a bright white claw made of light as it hit him right in the face. It was strong—stronger than Niel had expected from a Grand Wizard.
Thud!
Wooosh!
Niel's body was thrown away like a ragdoll, tumbling on the destroyed ground, hitting the rocks, and his clothes chipping away. Blood splattered from his visage as half of his face's flesh remained stuck in Sylvester's claw.
"Hmm… ninety kilos. You are too confident in your abilities," Sylvester repeated what Niel had said to him. "But I thank you for revealing your abilities to me. Being able to turn into light must be a marvelous power."
"Ugh…" Niel grunted and struggled to rise from the ground. Half of his face bled profusely; the sight was hideous as his facial muscles were visible and his eyeball bare.
However, when Niel looked at Sylvester and his unharmed body, he halted, confused because he remembered hitting Sylvester on the shoulder and the nose. Yet there were no signs of an injury.
"Confused?" Sylvester spoke with a smile. "Don't be. You are about to witness the true power of light."
Poof!
Sylvester vanished yet again, spreading panic through Niel's heart. He didn't dare look around and decided to continue moving ceaselessly all around at an incredible speed, enough to vaporize the air itself and leave behind a trail of mist. However, soon that mist also vanished as he reached an incredible speed at which the world appeared slow to him.
"Too slow!"
Yet, to Niel's utter horror, he sensed Sylvester's voice erupt out of nowhere, and him appearing before him, merely an arm's length away. It was impossible to stop instantly at such great speed.
Boom!
Sylvester's fist simply extended, aimed at Niel's stomach. He didn't even have to do anything, and Niel crumpled onto his fist, impaling himself badly, crushing his own ribs, and destroying his intestines.
Thud!
"Argh!" Niel coughed out some blood and fell down.
Sylvester backed away and created some distance between them. 'Ugh… My arm… all my bones are crushed…'
But he didn't show any weakness and taunted Niel even further. "You spoke about the speed of light; of course, I know its speed. But do you know the impact force of that punch just now? It was two hundred and seventy million newtons! And I didn't even have to do anything—thanks for landing on my punch."
Niel gnashed his teeth, clueless about this "Newton" Sylvester was talking about. All he could think about were questions. How was Sylvester keeping up with him at the speed of light? How could he endure a strike at such speed?
"Pfooo!" Niel spat more blood. His grey eyes remained as sharp as before, but now desperation flickered within them. "Too naive to know when to surrender. Still believe fate will have you usher? Forget those dreams, for only misery awaits. The same wretched destiny as all the other foolish ones dictate our fates."
Sylvester shrugged, not having a clue what Niel was even talking about. "Are you going to fight or continue whimpering like a donkey?"
"Uncivilized," Niel cursed and raised his right palm toward the sky. "I know your arm is hurt, and it shall not heal as long as I exist. My light is the sole truth this world must know. And the likes of you must only know how to keep your head low."
Bzzz…!
Light in the surroundings began to distort somehow as if the sky was folding toward Niel's raised hand. The darkness seemed to slowly shroud the surroundings, defying logic.
"Yield, and I shall allow you to live as a slave of the faith." Niel voiced while his body surprisingly started to ascend higher into the sky.
'Ah, finally, the rage is here. But how is he bending the light? The sun's light should be limitless.' Sylvester looked around himself and then noticed the rune made of light in the sky. 'Could this be some sort of an area limiter? Am I trapped? It's light, it can't be destroyed unless the source is dealt with. But this is also an opportunity.'
Sylvester looked around, and his gaze fell on the men Niel had brought. So Sylvester wasted no time and vanished from his spot, leaving behind a light clone of himself to momentarily fool everyone.
In a moment, he erupted out of the very ground in front of Sir Maximum. "I remembered your arms were ripped apart—How did you get them back?"
"You—"
"Yes, me." Sylvester grabbed Maximus' neck and once again vanished, reappearing back in his place. He further created Light Tiles for himself to gain altitude and stand face-to-face with Niel in the sky. "Should I kill him?"
Niel scoffed. "He's a slave to the faith—his life has no worth."
Sylvester sighed and held Maximus' throat tighter. "I pity you, but in the world I am trying to create, I can't afford enemies scheming against me—especially ones as strong as you. I can feel the burning rage within your heart. You want vengeance. You wish to kill me."
"N-No… Your Hol—"
Sylvester sighed. "I detest those who switch sides so easily. You were never loyal to anyone in your entire life—mercy on you is heresy to me."
Snap!
Without mercy, Sylvester snapped Sir Maximus' neck with ease. The man couldn't even fight back as his oath of enslavement kept him from physically harming any Clergyman—and when the oath was taken, Sylvester was an official Clergyman.
"You're no better than those desert savages." Niel sneered from a distance.
Sylvester then began walking toward Niel, aiming to end the battle before losing function in another arm. "The things we do for peace..."
Sylvester grasped his spear once again, activating the elder runes on it and turning it into a blazing white spear as if it was entirely made of light. Then the wings on his back expanded wide, granting him resistance against the air.
He continued to climb higher into the air, well above Neil and his strange light-folding magic. Sylvester had no idea what the magic was, but he knew it was dangerous and had to be stopped before it could be completed.
'Piercing Hell should do the job.' he decided on the final move.
After gaining a reasonable altitude, he dived down, freefalling. The spear of light, covered with elder magic and light, remained extended. The tail of the spear formed multiple fire runes, which gave him incredible thrust.
Woosh!
Sylvester's entire body got covered in flames, and he looked like a shooting star falling from the sky.
However, before Sylvester could reach Niel, the sky abruptly turned dark. Pitch-black darkness spread all around, and Sylvester had no idea where he was headed anymore. Only his spear provided illumination, but its reach was limited.
"My magic is more ancient than yours—bard!"
Sylvester heard Niel's echoing voice. 'Where is he? The voice is coming from all directions.'
"I never intended to use this magic, but you forced my hand. There can only be one Pope, and you—bard—are not needed."
Ting!
'Ground?' Sylvester felt the tip of his spear touch something, and his fall stopped. Then he realized that gravity seemed to have shifted, and his feet automatically touched something. He easily stood up on it.
"Let there be light—under my might—facing my sight!"
Woosh!
The moment Niel's voice sounded once more, the surroundings abruptly returned to light. However, the light didn't dispel the darkness entirely, and rather an ominous, disgusting aura seemed to surround everything.
Sylvester adjusted his gaze and surveyed his area as the light became enough to see. "What the… What is this place?"
It wasn't the land Sylvester knew, but a strange unknown reality. The ground appeared gooey dark red with red mist over it. A few large, dark, crude pillars littered the field as far as he could see, and he stood over one of them. In the distance, there were clouds that rained yellow thunder every now and then.
"Look above, and prepare to face judgment. If you have sinned, pay the price with your blood." Niel spoke again.
With all his senses on high alert, Sylvester gazed upward, and his heart almost skipped a few beats. It was otherworldly, almost like a hellish reality. A giant eye lingered in the night sky, bigger than the clouds, as if suspended in the rift of space. Its huge red iris looked as deep as the ocean, while the black pupil seemed like a black hole.
[A/N: See the strange reality]
Sylvester felt clueless since he could feel this wasn't an advanced illusion. This was a power he had never heard of before. Was he even in his world anymore?
"What are you?" Sylvester questioned.
"Truth—All I seek is truth." Neil's muffled voice reverberated from all directions. "Speak, what are your origins? Who is your father? Whose tainted elven blood do you carry?"
'Hmm?' Sylvester sensed something was amiss. 'Why isn't he directly trying to kill me? Why does he want a confession from me… is there a possibility he can show what's happening here to those outside?'
Sylvester looked at the colossal eye. 'This entire reality has an abundance of Solarium—just a little less than the Holy Land.'
"Speak, or suffer!"
Sylvester chose to see what would happen. "No, I am merely a human—blessed by the Lord, our supreme God, since I was a month old. Ask those of the Deserte Village where I was born."
"LIES!"
Crack!
The pillar Sylvester stood on instantly splintered, and the gravity in the vicinity increased. He managed to leap to another pillar just in the nick of time, but the increased gravity slightly hindered his movement.
Shhh…!
Glancing back, he saw the broken pieces of pillar melting in the gooey red substance, vaporizing into nothingness.
"I shall ask again—confess your tainted blood." Niel's voice spoke again.
But Sylvester paid no heed. 'Chonky isn't here, or he'd have found me. The pillars here are limited, so I believe the game is to crack each one and increase the gravity to throw me into this substance until I confess.'
"I'm human. That's it."
Crack!
Sylvester's theory was correct. The gravity increased again. But he was able to jump onto another pillar. 'At the rate the gravity is increasing, I have twenty more jumps left.'
Despite being in such a strange place, he surprisingly felt no sense of fear for his life. Otherwise, he could easily smell death. 'What magic is this? How do I escape?'
"You killed Romel Riveria and started the conflict between Riveria and Gracia—did you not?"
'So they know everything.' Sylvester almost cursed but didn't reply immediately, buying himself time to think. 'The base of magic is Solarium… that means Solarium is what's keeping this place stable—unless this is an entirely new reality. In that case…'
Sylvester remembered Elaine's words, the elven wife of Healer Hedrix, echoing in his mind.
'...What is nature around us? What is this entire planet? It's a giant Solarium Crystal.'
Sylvester smirked and lied through his teeth, "My answer is no."
Crack!
____________________
Thank you for reading. GT votes are much appreciated.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om