God of Nothing

"Pitfall!" Rayse shouted, and immediately, the ground beneath the emissary gave way. It reacted near instantly, stretching its massive limbs in all directions and launching itself into the air. The trio responded in sync, attacking in unison as soon as he emerged from the ground.

"Scale burst!" "Aura blade!" "Scorching Ray!"

The attacks all hit one after the next, peppering the demon in grievous wounds. It fell to the ground mangled and deformed, somehow even more grotesque than when they started.

"Careful, guys. This is Deceit's lackey, we better–" Rayse's warning was cut short, and in the next instant he found himself pinned into a nearby tree, his breath taken away by the impact. Something invisible kept him in place,shield and all, crushing him between it and the tree that kept him upright.

The culprit soon revealed itself, as the massive demon they had just defeated seemingly faded into existence. Rayse turned to where the demon had fallen,but all he saw was smoke. Rayse searched for his companions, but they were similarly obscured by a myriad of mismatched limbs and the quickly enveloping darkness. A purple glow continued to dance across his skin, confirming that his spells had not been disrupted despite the sneak attack. He felt around for the scales he had shot before, finding them in the ground nearby.

"Scale burst." He uttered again, Shooting out all the scales remaining on his shield. The limbs that held him retracted immediately, followed by an angry scream. Rayse was delighted: It seems he had hit the demon's true body. He moved in pursuit, running in the direction that the limbs had retreated to. He had to slow down after a while, though, doubly sure that he had crossed the expected distance twice over.

The darkness still surrounded him, messing with his senses. He had to find his companions to stand against this threat, or else they'll just be picked off one by one.

"–Burst!" He heard a muffled shout, and the darkness retreated at once. A second sun erupted in the middle of the forest, its size and heat undoubtedly real. Surprisingly, it was only about a dozen paces to his left. He turned to see Lacey's fierce gaze below it.

"Look up front, Ray!" She warned, but He was ready. He had braced himself,  sticking his shield to the ground facing where he felt his scales were.

"Siege mode!"

Dung!

The shield opened up just as the emissary struck it, creating a dull thud. Rayse held his ground, wincing at the force that numbed his shield arm. Can't take much more of those.

A few more limbs stretched towards him, avoiding him completely. They surged towards Lacey, who was struggling to maintain the miniature sun she had conjured up.

"Dark wind! Scale shot!"

Rayse conjured a dark gale, slowing the tendrils of flesh that shot towards Lacey's direction. He peppered the main body with the fallen scales, surprising it with attacks from unexpected angles. The creature roared, but tried to power through Rayse's spells. He saw the desperation in the creature, enduring the pain in order to reach her, but it was too late. A shower of ethereal blades rained down on the tendrils of flesh, severing them before they reached Lacey. A shadow overhead announced Brandon's return, landing beside Rayse looking no worse for wear.

"Sorry I'm late. The bastard sent me flying." He said as he dropped down like one of those gods in the theater, come to fix the characters' conflict and end the show. He looked forward, sneering at the demon that was writhing in pain, and held his sword overhead.

"That's the real one, right?" He asked, Rayse answering with a nod.

"Return." He commanded, as the scales embedded in the creature returned to his shield, making new cuts as they pleased. The creature tried to slink away now, dragging itself in an attempt to escape. Its blood sizzled as it tainted the floor, before evaporating just like the smoke the demon had commanded.

"Shall we?" He asked, almost casually holding a hand towards the retreating demon.

"Dark Shock." A glowing black lightning bolt escaped his fingertips, skating in the air effortlessly as it struck the demon, keeping him in place. The spell left it stunned, unable to flee from what came after. Lacey's sun shone against the massive translucent blade that Brandon had been conjuring. The combination created beautiful prisms of light, causing the demon's massive maws to open up in despair.

"Earth Splitter!" 

"Kiiiiiiiiik!"

The demon's screams were terrible as it was severed in half, the horrible noise abruptly cutting off once Brandon's blade had cleanly sliced through. Everything was still for a while, until they saw the 'corpse' twitch.

The mound of flesh on the ground wriggled, Something breaking its skin from within. Whatever it was broke out and leapt, and Rayse recognized it instantly. It looked similar to Deceit, a humanoid puppet with wood like skin and featureless face. Its most defining features were a pair of horns, growing out of the sides of its head and curving where its ears would have been. It stumbled out of the demon it imitated, and sprinted like mad. It ran on all fours like a quadruped, quickly gaining speed.

"That's the main body! Kill it!" Rayse was once again gathering mana on his fingertips for a second shot, but he was a step late. A massive ball of fire traveled above him, quickly overtaking the demon and burning it into a crisp. The fire burned on the spot for a while, eventually leaving a blackened shape on the now molten ground. Rayse patted his hair down. He was sure it was singed when Lacey's sunburst  flew overhead. He conjured a breeze to cool down the surroundings, instantly refreshing after the fight.

"Nice!" She huffed, completely satisfied with the results.

"Whaddya mean 'nice'!?" Brandon exclaimed. He ran to the demon's remains and peeked at it, scratching his head in irritation. 

"You used too much fire, you spell brained oaf! What will we do if the heart gets damaged!?"

Rayse sent a breeze his way in an attempt to cool him down. This was an important win for them, after all, not only for their growth, but to prove to themselves that they had grown. Rayse walked closer to Brandon, looking down at the being they had just hunted.

Hunted. Strange way to look at it, he felt.

But it was true: Up until today, each fight felt like they were just surviving. It was a bitter struggle every time. Now though, it was different. This was a difficult fight, make no mistake about it, but none of them were in serious danger. They linked their abilities seamlessly and defeated a high ranking member of the enemy army. Rayse felt like he could still fight, too. He cheerily put his arm over Brandon's shoulder, shutting him up for the time being.

"Relax, Bran. You continue to fight like this, and we'll be drowning in mana hearts soon. You too, Lace. That giant fireball was some nice thinking."

She walked up to the pair, all smiles, and jumped on their back. Brandon couldn't take it anymore and broke into a smile of his own. They grinned at each other like fools, and who could blame them? For the first time since gaining magehood, Rayse finally felt that they had truly begun to fight back.

__________________________________

There was a commotion in the camp when Aleph returned. Iona's men were gathered around his disciples, congratulating them about something. He nodded to Brig and Iona, excusing himself before trying to figure out what was going on.

"Master!" Rayse grinned as he got near. He ran towards Aleph with enthusiasm, making him even more curious.

"Come, we have something to show you."

Rayse led him to the center of the group, where Lacey and Brandon were in the middle of retelling their encounter with one of Deceit's lieutenants. The remains of the beast in question was right there on the ground, scorched and battered and very clearly dead.

"Uhhh, sorry, mister. We floated it all the way here, you see. Couldn't harvest it immediately on account of Lacey throwing a meteor at it…"

Aleph waved his hand dismissively.

"The three of you took this one down by yourselves? Good work."

He knelt down next to the corpse, looking for an angle to start harvesting materials from it. The most valuable parts, such as the horns and mana heart, were well preserved. It was a testament to the strength of the beast, and by extension, his disciples' ability to defeat such a foe. His mind went back to when he was captured by Agony, when his lieutenants had gone to pursue Carrack and his elite. A half dozen demons of similar strength as this one had been able to wipe out half of the squad and injure the rest. 

Aleph nodded in satisfaction before getting to work. In mere moments, all the useful parts of the creature were extracted, and all the while he was able to discern what fate had befallen it. He found deep puncture wounds and lacerations all over its body, all horribly cauterized by intense heat. A side glance at his disciples showed that they did all these with relative ease.

"Oooh." A round of awed voices were heard once he extracted the mana heart: a jagged crystal from within the depths of the creature. He sensed immense power within, a good deal more powerful than an emissary's heart.

"... And it's attributeless." He added his own voice to the mix. This was a very valuable crystal. The horns were a mix of mind and shadow mana, but he could do far more with this if he had the mind to.

He handed it to Rayse, who gleefully brought it to his friends. Yes, Aleph thought, this is the best way to use it. His disciples had displayed greater skill than their capacity had allowed. Rather than creating more weapons for them, growing their personal strength should be the priority. Besides, a whole bounty of materials would be coming his way shortly.

Speaking of which…

He looked around and sought Iona once again. She sat away from the group, writing a letter of sorts. 

He stood and made his way to her to talk strategy, as the demon's presence on this camp confirmed a lot of things for them.

"Two days," She uttered as he came near.

"Two days until Lord Vaynard's army can arrive here. Can we survive?"

Aleph sat down by her side, taking a peek at what she was writing.

"We should be able to. How difficult it would be depends on the town's willingness to cooperate."

"We're not abandoning them, of course. They're a bunch of stubborn old men, but they're as much a victim in this as we are. Besides, I'd feel much better about confronting an army with walls around me."

Aleph agreed. The time of bickering with them is done. With the advent of the demon army,  they either need to cooperate or be destroyed. Still, he's glad Iona would be the one to try and talk to them.

They sat in silence for a bit after that, the only sound coming from the scratching of Iona's pen. Eventually, she took out a device, a small metallic tube where she placed the letter. She launched it into the air and casted a spell.

"Arcane Courier."

The tube spun in mid air before flying to the east.

"I told Carrack to hurry up, basically. Made him send an advance force. I don't care how strong you and those children have gotten, we are not gonna last a day against an army that size, especially with heralds' subordinates running around."

 She saw Aleph looking up in the sky curiously and added,

"Never seen an arcane courier before? It's one of Jodi's works. They come in pairs, and I had Carrack carry the other half. So long as the other party remembers to place their anchor in a high enough place, the tube would usually get to it alright. I have a tube for Jodi, too. Wanna send one?"

Aleph thought for abit before shaking his head. He showed her his brooch and answered,

"No thank you, I have my own means of communicating with her… but maybe I could borrow it after we deal with the enemy? Sending her materials could prove helpful… All I need to do is to tell her to put it out for the night, correct?"

He paused for a bit, sending Jodi a short mental transmission. 

Expect a package soon. I will borrow Iona's Arcane Courier.

"I told her to be ready for it."

"...Wait, that thing's instant?"

"It transmits my thoughts near instantly, yes. Didn't my disciples tell you? It's how I sent them word of the invasion."

"...Teach me."

"That would have to wait until after the fight, lady Iona."

"Them again… Wish they'd just leave, man. There's so much I wanna research…"

Aleph patted her shoulder for support. She's right, of course. Life's too precious to be waging war. But alas, however unwelcome they are, the enemy had already arrived at their doorstep. Aleph just hoped they were enough to drive them out.