Keeper of Totality [Time-Travel LitRPG]

"Are you suicidal?" Scytale hissed. It may have not been the most subtle way of saying it, but it was what everyone had been thinking as they saw Lucille kneel before the Wight in a position of subservience.

She completely ignored her bond. In fact, when Scytale tried to ask her through their bond, her thoughts didn't fluctuate. It was as if she was forcing herself to not recognise anyone else. As such, the minimum information he could obtain was obscure and didn't help him understand her actions.

One thing was clear though. Lucy was surrounded by death mana, and her health seemed to be getting worse by the second. Now, not only was the death mana eating away at her from inside, but it was also eating away at her from the outside too.

"...Arfen?"

Everyone went still when the Wight's mental voice echoed through their minds. The blank, empty eyes of its host bored into Lucille, who bowed her head lower.

"Yes, Master Mystic Channeler Relevo. Your loyal servant has been desperately waiting for your appearance..." She looked up, trembling. "You arrived when I needed it most. Please, let me help you vanquish these intruders! I was... too weak to do it alone."

The chaotic minds inside the Archwizard fought internally. The Wight's eyes flashed as the Mystic Channeler's ego pressured the other minds and took back control.

"Sef'ran eg weakness el' beyond you," it snarled, its garbled words becoming recognisable in few instances.

Lucille bowed deferentially to it, clearly understanding its words. "That is so. Yet I still request to make up for my errors."

The Wight made a strange, jerky motion as it tried to take one more step towards the remaining wizards. "It... Myst ezran Fael'nafř... must... die..."

"I'm ashamed to admit I have yet to develop such a... firm attitude as you towards life." Lucille stood up and walked towards the Wight. Black, bitter power coiled around her. "However, these are bound to only be the first to arrive, Master Revelo. Let me interrogate them."

Understanding dawned for Scytale. She was trying to bargain for their lives and keep the Wight occupied as its egos struggled to come to a decision.

At least... that was what he thought she was doing. Until she ran up to Larena, catching the woman off guard, and thrusted Apophis between the mercenary's ribs. Larena only stared as the dagger blade slipped between her ribs, causing warm, hot blood to flow down her abdomen. She raised her eyes to stare at Lucille, who expressionlessly yanked the blade out with a spray of blood, struck Larena's temples with the pommel of the demonic weapon, and spun on her heels as the raven-haired woman behind her collapsed onto the cold ground.

Garthe's eyes widened and his body tensed to run over to his sister, but Lucille whirled around and held Ouroboros's lengthened tip just before his neck when he was about to reach her.

"Don't move, otherwise your sister's life is forfeit," Lucille stated emotionlessly. Then she tilted her head as she saw his eyes dart to the woman on the ground, and Lucy smiled widely. "I don't make idle threats, Barbosas."

In her other hand, Apophis had grown, and the violent snake-sword had begun to circle the unconscious woman. "Knock yourself out, or I'll do it first after killing your beloved older sister. Choose wisely."

Garthe gritted his teeth, looking for any sign of deceit or subtle hints in Lucy's expression, but she only had a light smile on her face, as if she was mildly enjoying this.

"I'll trust you, but... this is a lot to ask of me from someone I barely know," he growled darkly, hands struggling to relax from a tensed fist. Eventually one hand relaxed and he swung it down onto his own neck, knocking himself out. The man fell to the ground and Lucille calmly stepped away, her snake-swords slinking back into their dagger forms.

A united blast of fire and ice magic slammed into her from the opposite side of the room, but fizzled out just as soon as a second bombardment of six different elemental arrows shot at her. Lucy ignored the ones that missed her and shattered the magic with a wave of her hand.

"Ah, betrayal from my elven mage. I should've expected this," Lucy announced sweetly. "Considering how long you spent following him around like an abandoned puppy... I thought things might be different this time, but I guess not. And Marellen..." She cocked her head at the navy-haired mage who was staring at her, dumbfounded, as he held his staff out in the same position when he cast his spell. "How ironic. My influence saved you from your fated death, yet here you are attempting to kill me. I should stick to only employing those who have no choice other than to trust me, it seems."

She stretched out two pale, sickly hands and black bolts of death mana shot out, too quick for the mages to avoid.

They both stumbled to their knees, pained looks on their faces as they gripped their chests. Roa gave Lucille a frigid glare, while Marellen began to sweat heavily, his gaze unfocused.

The snow elf raised her voice. "You-"

"Yes, yes, me. Shut up. I don't want to hear you speak any longer, filthy elf." Lucille snapped her fingers and Roa's eyes rolled up into her head, as did Marellen's.

Finally, she turned to face her bond.

Scytale slowly got into a combative stance. "I don't know what you're playing at Lucy... but I know everyone is not going to be happy with you after this."

She tilted her head but didn't answer as she walked closer with a cheery smile on her lips. Apophis and Ouroboros were held out on either side of her, their snake emblems hissing with malicious glee.

"Alright, you're smarter than me, so you must've expected this." Scytale straightened up and his body glowed as he entered his Amphiptere form. "If you wake up tomorrow with broken bones, don't-"

He yelped as silver-white chains shot out at him, and then his serpentine body was entrapped in arcane bonds controlled by Lucy. The seal prevented him from activating his mana to enlarge his form, freezing him in his small form just after transforming and he could grow any larger.

Lucille yanked on one end of the chain, and Scytale was dragged across the ground to be left beside the other unconscious party members.

He stared at her, shocked. "Wait... hold on, spells are cheating! You had your blades out!"

She ignored him, growing his fury. "Oi! You damned bond, let me out! My wings don't even have room to move!"

Lucille kneeled in front of the silent Wight. "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to prove myself. I request time to interrogate these filthy alien infiltrators, after which, please..." She looked up at him with ecstatic eyes and a twisted grin. "Rip their souls from their lifeless bodies to take their strength for yourself, so we may renew the glory of our past!"

"Time... yes- no- but-" The Wight's internal argument seemed to grow stronger. The death mana emitted by the Archwizard's puppeted figure entered a frenzy. Thousands of whispers descended on the room, some screeching and wailing, then there was silence. In a thick, strangely translated accent, the Wight – or the Mystic Channeler Revelo's ego – consented. "In the time it takes for the spark of life to wither."

Then it turned to the other, conscious but pale wizards. One marble-white hand stretched forth and then squeezed its fist. The wizards clutched their throats as they gasped for breath, then collapsed as the lack of oxygen shut their minds down.

"Do not bother me as you complete this task," the Wight hissed. "I must begin restoring the Institute to its former appearance."

...

The dark-haired woman who had restrained them all with chains fashioned from the strange arcane skill she demonstrated, hauled their bodies over to a glass wall. Scytale let loose all sorts of threats to reveal her secrets to everyone there, but she showed no response. Her calm smile didn't change. She swiftly undid the mechanical lock placed on the outside of a nearby door, and shoved everyone in the soundproof room.

Garthe groaned and blearily opened his eyes, while Trisroa glared at her and Marellen fumbled around, looking for his missing glasses.

"Now..." Her expression darkened as she opened her mouth, one hand fingering the handle of Apophis in a silent threat, "To discuss the origins of you intruders-"

Her body stiffened as something made a clang behind her, and Lucy stumbled, disorientated. Before she could recover her bearings, she was kicked down and her hands put in firm metal handcuffs that seemed to be absorbing the light around them.

"Phew." A brown-haired man straightened up behind her to wipe the cold sweat off his brow, a heavy-duty large wrench held in the other hand. "Didn't expect to succeed at that, quite honestly."

Scytale blinked. "Uh...Sedric? Why are you here?"

The crafter shrugged. "Garthe unlocked the door ages ago. He just told me it was probably safer for me to stay in here for the meantime, which I agree with." Sedric crossed his arms and frowned at Lucy. "What's her problem? She's gone psycho. Normally she wouldn't just take a blow like that."

"Yeah, well, normally she wouldn't be a pseudo-undead, but here we are. Her muscles should've completely locked up in a pre-death rigor mortis by this point, so it's honestly just one of her self-made miracles that she's able to do this much." Scytale pointed his tail at his neck. "Think you can do anything about this?"

"I may be able to resolve that." The snow elf mage with them approached and placed a hand on the arcane ring. It shattered with little resistance. "Lucille's spell control is non-existent now. Yet somehow, the Grand Spell is still perpetuating."

"Thanks." Scytale turned to his human form and got to his feet. Then he went over to Larena, who was still unconscious. "Snake limbs aren't good for medical emergencies."

Garthe stumbled to his feet and dragged them to approach Scytale, still looking disorientated from the concussion. "H-How-" He coughed and tried again. "How is she?"

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"Her skin colour is healthier-looking than I expected for someone with a deep stab wound but I-" Scytale paused after lifting up her torn shirt to inspect the wound. Then he fell silent.

"...Scytale, what is it?" Roa frowned. "Do not worry us unduly."

That seemed to bring Scytale's attention back and he coughed lightly. "Larena seems to have good regeneration abilities, because there is no visible wound. Dying from blood loss is off the table. However, she probably still has internal injuries so let me just..."

He placed a hand over her ribcage and it lit up with a golden glow. The humanoid winged snake took his hand back and quickly pulled her shirt back down to cover the injury site, then dusted his palms. "Yep, looking good. Lucy avoided all vital spots when she... uh... did... that."

At mention of the strange-acting member of their group, they turned back to look at the dark-haired woman, who was slumped against a wall, her hands still tied. Her gaze was dull and unfocused, but she was clearly still breathing.

Garthe glared at her. "What is her problem?"

"That implies she was not entirely mind controlled when she injured Larena, which I am not pleased with the implications of," Roa announced frostily.

"I-I think we should be more worried about what the Wight is doing," Marellen weakly spoke up after finding his partly-shattered glasses.

They glanced nervously at the possessed Archwizard, but the Wight seemed to be frozen in place.

"I wouldn't bother caring about *that* right now," a dry voice spoke up. "It's too caught up in pretending to be the former Master Mystic Channeler of this place."

Everyone turned to stare at Lucy, who was white as a sheet, a thin trail of blood dripping from her mouth. She abruptly entered a coughing fit and doubled over, or tried to with her hands cuffed behind her.

She wearily looked up at Sedric as she leant forward, wiggling her hands for him to see. "I know I'm not exactly in a position to request this... but could I have these removed? The mana-draining effect will bring me even closer to undeath than I am right now."

Lucy sighed as the others gazed warily at her. "It's... it's fine now. I've done away with that makeshift personality that didn't recognize anyone. I'm back to normal. You have my full permission to attack me if I act out now."

Sedric nervously came closer and quickly undid the shackles, before racing back over to the other side of the room. Lucille slowly stood up and rubbed the red chaffing marks on her wrists.

"Firstly..." She hesitated. "Um... sorry. For that, and for the fact that I can't explain anything right now. We have bigger problems... namely the fact that we need to expel that Wight-" Lucy gestured to the figure in the centre of the circular room on the other side of the glass wall. "...from the Archwizard's body within the next five minutes. And survive."

She turned back to them all. "To do so, I'll need to cast a curse on everyone so that when the Wight's about to be expelled... you all fall into a coma. Right then and there."

They stared at her.

"It's a soul power thing," she added, hoping that would be enough to explain it.

It was not. Larena, who had finally woken up, studied her silently as Garthe angrily gestured at his sister. "You expect us to trust you after that stunt you just pulled?!"

Lucille pulled out her pocket watch and grimaced. "4 minutes and 30 seconds." She looked up. "Pay close attention to my next words. We're running out of time." She took a deep breath, and-

"It-a-lesser-known-fact-that-soul-power-is-more-influential-on-conscious,-thinking minds-so-entering-a-coma-will-suppress-the-soul-fluctuations-of-your-minds-and-raise-the-soul's-natural-unconscious-defences-which-will-lighten-the-load-on-me-when-protecting-your-minds-from-its-thousands-of-egos. Additionally-the-life-essence-fluctuations-of-a-living-body-are-reduced-when-sleeping-so-it-will-help-you-avoid-notice-for-the-first-few-seconds-of-its-true-form-being-revealed-"

She looked at her pocket watch. "4 minutes and 15 seconds remaining. Everyone, please let me cast the curse. It may be the only way for everyone to come out of this ordeal in one peace."

It was tense in the room. Scytale groaned and was the first to walk forward. He held out his arm. "Do it quickly. I know I'm going to hate this."

Lucille pulled a glove off and nicked it on the edge of Ouroboros's blade. She swiped the blood across her bond's forearm, and black runic lines spooled across his skin. He shuddered and hastily retracted his arm. "Dark-element curse on a light-element beast... I feel violated."

Sedric grimaced but walked forward to offer his arm. "Yeah... I think... I don't have a chance of surviving if I don't listen to you."

"Good, because I don't want to see anyone here die on my behalf," Lucy murmured.

She let his arm go and turned to Marellen, who curiously inspected the curse engraved on him. "Curse?"

"Originally a failed attempt at a dream illusion spell that I couldn't succeed at due to one of my own flaws," Lucille replied offhandedly as she repeated the same thing on the begrudgingly held-out arm of Roa. "One runic frame added, and I created a coma-inducing curse."

Garthe, after being elbowed by his sister, who was still silent, scowled as he walked up to Lucy and thrust his arm in front of her. Lucille just nodded and accepted his attitude towards her. She silently copied the curse onto him. Then it was Larena's turn.

She walked up to Lucy, but Lucille didn't instantly start to draw the curse on her.

"Larena... how old were you when you were adopted?" Lucy asked solemnly.

For the first time in Lucy's presence, a brief flash of fear swept across the mercenary's face, then understanding. Larena nodded and answered after drawing a deep breath. "I was... ten."

"...I see." Lucy didn't say anything else and turned towards the glass wall, looking at the motionless Wight. Its chaotic spiritual energy was slowly quietening, as if the calm before the storm. She looked at Sedric. "As soon as we leave the room, go over to Raegan. I gave you a double dose of the curse which can be transferred to him so he won't be affected by the Wight's soul attack either."

"What? But how do I transfer it?"

"Just do what I did." Lucy walked away from him and focused on the figure outside the window. "3 minutes. We need to force it out by destroying its host's body, because... we don't have any other option. Folks, this is it."

She gripped both Apophis and Ouroboros in her hands, then slid them out of their sheaths. "Give it everything you've got. We still haven't given the Light Tower a piece of our mind for what they tried to do."

...

"Dual Storm!" an elven voice shouted out. The swirling cacophony of fire and ice shot from the end of Trisroa's ash-coloured staff, aimed at the frozen Wight.

A vicious mental roar escaped the mind of the amalgamation of egos before them, furious at the interruption and the attack dared launched at them.

Before it could retaliate against Roa, a double attack of spear and sword landed behind the Wight. It snarled and swung an arm at Garthe and Roa, but they dashed back to give the huge winged serpent that had appeared in the domed room to cast a bolt of pure light at the dark being.

The Wight raised its staff and casually formed a wall of bitter darkness from the death pooled around its feet, perfectly blocking Scytale's light element spell and even absorbing the energy to swell to greater heights.

Lucille took advantage of its distracted state to send out Ouroboros and Apophis at the same time, coiling around the Archwizard's body to restrain it. The Wight noticed and let out a headache inducing mental screech, distorting the air around it to force Apophis and Ouroboros back, but the snake-swords quickly tightened inward again.

"Hexical Elemental Explosion!" Marellen yelled. The spinning orb of tightly-condensed and expertly controlled elements slowly approached the Wight.

It regarded the orb with mild confusion but shot several death mana arrows at the orb in an effort to destroy it. Unfortunately for it, unbalanced mana made its situation worse. The orb unexpectedly burst and blasted the Wight dead-on in a gleam of pure white light, making it dazed. It stumbled back, mildly disorientated.

"It's working! Where's your arrogance now, 'Master'?!" Garthe yelled with vicious glee, thrusting his spear near the Wight in hopes of a good hit.

Lucille's brow furrowed. "No, that's not it..."

All of a sudden, the Wight screeched, all impression of intelligence gone. Its shadowy death mana rose high above its head and crashed down around it, sending out waves of lethal power. Marellen and Roa managed to barely protect themselves with shields, and Lucy used Ouroboros's to shield her and Scytale, but the two mercenaries were caught directly by the wave.

"I-I think we just made it angrier," Scytale said with a gulp.

Garthe managed to jump up and cling to a hanging light to avoid the worst of it, but Larena clearly was still impacted by her injury and nearly tripped when the flood of black mist swallowed her. The black patches afflicting Lucy appeared on her, but they quickly revealed they weren't the same as Lucy's. They disappeared, leaving Larena screaming in pain and clutching her arm as raw flesh revealed itself behind corroded skin.

Sensing weakness, the Wight turned to the mercenaries, but Lucille dashed forward and stabbed downward with the longsword forms of her swords. The Wight spun and defended against the physical attack by raising the Archwizard's staff with two bloodless hands, empty eyes glaring at Lucy.

She rolled out of the way when Trisroa shot a fire spell at the evil spirit, a circling bird form that breathed fire from above.

The darkness of the Wight's shadow absorbed the flames near-instantly, leaving it unharmed, but the shadows noticeably shrank.

Scytale hissed and lunged forward, giving Lucy brief respite long enough to check the time.

2 minutes left. The others are optimistic... but I don't see a way out of this.

But she'd never show her true feelings in such a disadvantageous situation. Letting go of her weapons, she struggled to control the death mana quickly replacing what remained of her own precious energy not devoted to achieving her Grand Spell's true purpose. She held her palms apart and formed an orb of pure, bitter, cold death energy – not a mere necromantic spell utilising dark mana. It swirled faster and faster, thrumming with unholy powers of the dead.

It shot off her palm and hit the Wight in the back, physically shoving him to the ground.

"I don't exactly know what I was expecting..." Lucille said to herself. "...but it was not that."

The Wight turned around to stare at her and she dived to the ground as deathly arrows peppered the polished marble floor she had just been moments ago. Serpentine images formed of the dark energy shot from its staff and Lucille had to duck behind one of the marble pillars bordering the room to cover herself.

"Hey! You can't use snakes when I'm here!" Scytale flared his wings and swung his tail out, punctuating the gap between each of his words with an overhead blow, striking the Wight's staff. "That's! Copywrite! Infringement!"

The Wight was not amused. It roared, sending out a massive shockwave of spiritual energy and death mana. Marellen and Roa had their casting interrupted, and were just a few milliseconds too late to set up defensive shields against the magic.

Lucille's eyes went wide when she saw the two of them fly backwards to slam into the hard walls of the room, knocked out.

Dammit, we needed them to take the pressure off the melee!

The Wight raised its staff and slammed it down, aiming to kill the mages while it had the chance, but Scytale reacted and shielded Marellen and Roa with his body, encased in his Colossus Armament. The bolts of death mana struck him, breaking through his scales to leave ugly welts on his skin. The force rolled him back and he bumped into several of the pillars supporting the roof.

Wait, no, that's bad. My spell has eroded-

Lucy stopped thinking and ran over to the wall, placing her palms on the marble floor. Some of her remaining mana was converted into brown earth mana, temporarily reinforcing the pillars to prevent that section of the roof caving in on them.

The Wight let out a scoff and slammed his staff down. The floor sheared in half, growing cracks snaking up to where she was kneeling. She gritted her teeth and jumped up as the floor below her opened wide to reveal a pit of solid mist. The best she could do was swing Apophis across the room to latch onto the overhead chandelier and pull her away from the forming chasm. But it left her unprotected in the open air, and the Wight was too cunning to ignore it.

It pointed the staff at her and thin spider-web like streams of death mana shot out, ready to tie her down. It was Garthe who interrupted it, swinging his spear from a distance and causing multiple vines to spring up from the ground to claw at the Wight's feet. They withered and died, making him click his tongue, but then Larena dashed forward and thrust her sword straight at its chest.

It sunk right to the hilt, making her expression elated at the possibility of a lethal blow. Then the raven-haired woman's face fell as she saw the horrifically distorted grin on the Archwizard's face. The Wight dropped its cloak, revealing the sword that had been absorbed into a bottomless abyss of darkness in the centre of its chest.

Larena gasped as the rest of her sword was sucked into its abyss, hands still gripping the pommel. She struggled futilely to pull herself free, but stiffened when the cold claws of the Wight slipped around her neck. She let out stifled sounds of anguish and pain, struggling for air. Black smoke drifted from Larena's neck, and the Wight finally let go to reveal the deathly brand left behind.

Larena let out one last gasp and collapsed at the Wight's feet.

Garthe's eyes widened in outrage and he charged forward. "Larena! You b-"

His words stopped as his spear sunk into the Wight's neck... but there was no resistance. He blinked once and stared as the Archwizard's form was gone. A chilling cackling from behind made him whirl around to see the Wight reforming from the ocean of death mana flooding the floor.

"How-" Garthe blanched as his foot slipped, his body quickly dropping into the chasm formed from the Wight's destructive attacks in the eroded room. He gained a look of horror when the Wight approached him.

"No you don't," Lucille growled. She ran straight through the Wight's still-immaterial body and yanked Garthe out of the chasm, sending him sprawling across the floor.

"Thank...s..." His expression went blank... and then he collapsed.

Lucy stared at him, confused. She flinched when a death mana arrow shot past her ear, nicking it slightly... yet barely drawing blood from her struggling body. Scytale switched to his human form just so he could grab her and push her down, helping her dodge the rest of the bombardment.

"Lucille, watch where you're... go..." The same thing happened with Scytale. His eyes rolled up and he collapsed onto the hard floor.

What-

The absence of feeling in her hands finally made her look down and she saw her pitch black hands, the cloth of her gloves long since corroded and fallen apart.

...oh. Contact with me was poisonous for them.

She looked up, and gained a bitter smile.

This doesn't look good for me.

...does my Alter-Ego keep existing when I die?

She shook her head.

Look at me, thinking morbid thoughts about permanent death already. I must be resigned to my fate as an undead!

Lucille sucked in a deep breath and then held Apophis out, pointing at the Wight. She let out her breath. "Well then, Wight. It's just the two of us now." She smirked and got into a crouch, ready to make her last stand. "I'll make sure the effort to kill me makes this whole endeavour a permanent regret for you."

She took her first step but-

"Raegan, give it to Sedric to throw! Don't do it yourself!"

The voice in Lucy's head made her blink once. Annaliese? But she's not here to see the battle.

"Oi, Lucy!" The voice of her crafter made her turn her head, just in time to see the large object thrown her way. "Catch!"

The Wight, distracted by the presence of more conscious living beings it had ignored earlier, snarled, until it saw Lucille jump and catch the object. It froze still.

Lucy turned the object in her black hands and tilted her head when she saw the six-coloured gem in the front. "What relevance has this..." She felt eyes on her and looked up to see the Wight focusing on the object in her hands.

She blinked once. She lifted the Institute's passkey and moved it to her right. The Wight's head followed it. She moved it to her left. The Wight's head followed it still.

Lucille blinked again. Then a wicked grin appeared on her face. "Oh~~, so this is what you came to the Institute for, Master Channeler Revelo?"

She swung her arm back and threw it into the air. The Wight seemed panicked as it built a pillar of death mana, just so it could get to the object first.

Then it stiffened as Lucille jumped up and sheared through the passkey with her demonic weapon, splitting it clean in half. She deftly landed back down on the floor, watching for any more moves.

The Archwizard's body twitched. It twitched again. Then it howled.

A white crack appeared on the Archwizard's forehead and grey substance of some kind streamed from the figure, who collapsed onto the floor. The howling of powerful winds filled the room, millions of screaming cries of agony and pain escaping from the limited vessel of the human form. The sound woke some of the others like Marellen and Roa up, and Lucille narrowed her eyes at them.

I think it's time for them to have a little nap.

"Goodnight everyone," she announced cheerfully.

Dull thuds echoed behind her, telling her that Sedric and Raegan had fallen unconscious too. The only two things aware in that room right now were Lucy... and the amalgamation of tormented minds that formed the evil entity above her.

With a vicious, lopsided smile, Lucille kneeled down and prepared her mind. "It's you and me now, Wight. 1v1. Let's see if I can last ten seconds. Ten seconds against the minds of this entire plane, your mental power against my mental finesse."

She cracked her knuckles and cocked her head. "Bring it on, you damned abomination that even Lucius wouldn't call one of his!"