Symbiotic Ascension : A Progression Fantasy Adventure

Even with all the goodwill in the world, Liara had to admit it to herself. Decimius was not looking good. Orcs were known for their incredible resilience, toughness, and martial prowess. They could heal from grievous wounds at astonishing speed.

But what Decimius suffered from was worse than 'grievous'. He was practically maimed. The Orc was stumbling all over the arena, struggling to keep himself up. He needed care, and he needed it as quickly as possible.

"Take my hand," she said. The Orc looked at her funny before shaking his head with a prideful look. Liara ignored him and grabbed his arm before soaring through the hole she'd previously made in the ceiling. Whitey shrieked when he saw her and flew low to pick her up. Decimius was thrown on the griffin's back like a vulgar bag of potatoes, while Liara checked their surroundings. Flames had engulfed the Orc island, the barracks destroyed, and countless Orc corpses lay between the buildings.

She feared Decimius would be disgusted, or at least displeased by the massacre, but he simply stared down at the ones who betrayed him with cold, uncaring eyes. Lucian suddenly flashed in right beside them, narrowly dodging Decimius' punch and blocking Liara's sword with a spell.

"You found the Orc? Great! Let's get out of here before Bird-Mask returns."

Decimius froze at the mention of the masked human. A furious, prideful golden Aura flared up out of his body, burning with a Saint's strength. Liara and Lucian both flinched at the pressure the Orc exuded. His wounds healed at a ridiculous pace, and he grabbed Lucian's coat, pulling him towards himself violently.

"Bird, where? WHERE?" Decimius bellowed, furious.

Liara tried to calm him. "Decimius, he's a Newborn Ruler, we can't fight him, we're too weak!"

Decimius glared at her. "I not coward," he declared. "I fight. Or I dead. Volo id!"

"Yeah, that's exactly what we had planned when rescuing you, Decimius," grimaced Lucian. He scowled when he saw a large detachment of Orcs coming their way, until he noticed Milena in their midst, carried by four of them on some sort of lounging chair."

"Seriously?" He blurted out in disbelief. Milena looked down at the Orcs and shrugged.

"Do not ask me why, but that's the most efficient manner to keep them under my control. Mind magic is a little special, and..." She pulled a fan out of nowhere and sighed. "I don't dislike it entirely, to be completely honest."

Liara shook her head. 'This isn't the time to mess around. Any longer, and we'll be forced to fight that Newborn Ruler again!'

As if to reply to her thoughts, a giant of sand suddenly surged half a kilometer away, tall enough to reach the clouds. Entirely black, it was advancing one step at a time, each step making the dunes shake.

"So that was your plan? Diverting my attention and rescuing... What? A washed-up Orc who's almost dead?" Bird-mask's voice boomed throughout the desert, making their eardrums ring. "What a waste of time. Next time, at least bring someone powerful enough to entertain me."

The giant raised his hand and, with a tsunami of sand, surged, taller than even the giant itself. Decimius' eyes shone with determination as he pressed his hands together and shaped his golden Aura into a shining glaive. Lucian whistled, a bead of sweat trickling down his neck.

"That might be a little much," he said with a nervous laugh. "But it should be doable. It should be. Right?"

Milena looked at the tsunami with a lost expression, until an idea suddenly came to her. Her face brightened, and she turned to Liara. "Go and fight him! I'll take care of the tsunami and support you from behind!"

Liara wanted to sneer in disbelief, but she restrained herself; it wouldn't be courteous of her, and she still had an image to maintain, after all. But still. 'I'm not Glenn, I can't fight a Newborn Ruler!'

Yet, as she stared at the slow, yet incredibly powerful tsunami, she couldn't help but feel that something could be done. She shook herself awake and exhaled heavily.

"Decimius, Lucian, grab on," she ordered. The two complied silently, spells and Aura drawn out. Whitey shook his feathers, a defiant glint to his ravenous eyes. "Let's go Whitey!"

The griffin shrieked and charged straight at the sand tsunami, emboldened by the words of his mistress.

"You stab sand, I fight bird," commanded Decimius.

Liara shook her head. "No. We fight the bird together. Trust Milena."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lucian asked, a little more worried, the closer they got to the tsunami? A few more instants, and they'd crashed straight into it. The wind that had risen was blowing dust in their faces, scratching the skin and irritating their eyes.

Liara nodded with more confidence than she felt. She didn't know what Milena had in mind, but she certainly hoped it would be enough.

"Suicidal, in addition to being stupid. Well, this was an interesting day. I regret what I said, you didn't bore me. Woohoo," deadpanned the giant. Whitey stopped in front of the tsunami, his bravery suddenly turning to worry. Right when the sand wave was about to befall them, strikes of dark green light shot past them, carving a large hole through the tsunami.

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"Milena strong!" Decimius shouted, impressed. Liara smiled, not having the heart to tell him it was the work of his enslaved kin. It was done under Milena's direction, sure, but the other Orcs were still the ones to power the ballistas that pierced through the tsunami. Lucian laughed heartily, his crown shining with warm twilight.

"Second round, Monkey!" he yelled. "This time, I will not let you dare harm me!"

The giant stared at the hole in the tsunami and sighed. "You could have just died and let me enjoy the rest of the day, but no. Hah, I guess I am too lenient. This is starting to tire me slightly."

The dunes rose into two black pillars, standing right beside the giant. The sand pillars leaned forward before eventually crashing in their direction.

"Dodge!" Lucian screamed as he hastily conjured an enormous domain of shadows that swallowed one of the pillars, leaving one for Liara to deal with. Lucian paled, clenching his chest and coughing lightly. Whitey shrieked and dove for the ground, increasing his speed to try and avoid the pillars narrowly.

Decimius grunted and pulled back his glaive. His golden Aura exploded, and he swung his weapon at the sand pillars.

"Honor Supra Fatum!" He roared. A pillar of golden Aurra crashed against the sand pillars, pushing them and destroying them halfway.

"What?" Bird-Mask's voice sounded taken aback. "How did you...? No matter. Playtime is over."

The giant drove his hands into the desert, grabbing huge loads of sand. Whatever he was preparing, LIara was sure it would be nothing good. They were close enough to attack.

"Take him down!" Liara screamed as she grabbed her spear, and the cross on her forehead shone with bright white light. Decimius roared bloodthirstily, jumping off Whitey's back and bringing down a house sized Aura glaive on the giant, cleaving through its chest. The black sand fell, turning into glass from the heat of the blow. Glass that shattered and fell in the desert with a crystalline crunch.

Lucian rose in the air, his red cloak fluttering behind him. His Mana exploded outward as he conjured his spell, a wave of darkness that encroached on the sand giant and consumed him little by little.

"Eclipse!"

"Ridiculous. Ridiculous, I said. Fuck off!" Bird-Mask roared from within the sand giant, ripping his hands out of the ground. Incredible heat was coming off them, and the sand he had grabbed had turned into dark glass. Obsidian.

The giant crushed the obsidian in his hands and threw it at them like some sort of giant buckshot. Countless shards of obsidian rushed past Liara, one clipping Whitey's wing. The griffin yelped and fell, unable to keep itself flying.

"Whitey!" Liara cried, but she couldn't help him. She turned her gaze to the sand giant, her teeth clenched. 'May the Ancestors be damned!' She threw her spear with all her strength, a ray of pure white light shooting out of her hand, a mix of Aura and magic.

"Baldur's Skýfa!"

The spear pierced through one side and went out the other, carving a large hole into the giant. Decimius instantly decided to use the opportunity and dove into the hole, cleaving with his absurdly large Aura glaive. The giant fell to its knees, crumbling.

"Gah, you think I'm going to be defeated by a bunch of losers? Dream on!" Bird-Mask roared, the sand giant suddenly imploding. Lucian, Decimius, and Liara were thrown back a short distance away, unharmed. Bird-Mask floated in the air, breathing loudly.

"Hah, hah, hah... His mask trembled and suddenly slipped off. Hidden beneath it was a strange, barely human face. He had a break for nose and mouth, and his eyes were weirdly spaced out, just like a bird. They were tiny and yellow, just like eagle eyes. Bird-Mask's entire body shook as feathers grew out of his body, an inhuman cry of pain coming out of his beak.

"What sort of sorcery is this...?" Lucian blurted out, shocked. Before Bird-Mask could complete his transformation, countless dark-green projectiles fell upon him. Liara turned back, happy to see that the Orc island had survived the sand tsunami and that Milena's enslaved Orcs were still doing their job.

She couldn't see Milena herself, but she was certain that the Duchess was doing exactly what she should be doing.

"Moriere, avis! Mea voluntate!" Decimius shouted as he cleaved down with his glaive, sending a massive golden blade of Aura flying at Bird-Mask. Lucian followed his lead, casting his Final Twilight and creating a large beam of mixed gold and magenta that covered Bird-Mask entirely.

Liara stepped back, squinting and waiting readily. Lucian and Decimius's attacks faded away, letting them see what had happened to their opponents. Bird-Mask was coiled upon himself, featherless wings wrapped around his chest. Black feathers with a disgusting green glint grew back, covering him from head to toe. His hands had turned into claws, and his beak had gotten even longer, much more like a vulture instead of some mutation oddity.

The monster was silent, his yellow, predatory eyes studying them. Decimius roared and hacked at the creature, but it disappeared in a flash. Cold sweat drenched Liara's back as she slowly looked to her left, watching the human-shaped bird gnaw on a muscular arm. It ripped the flesh off the bones, mercilessly nourishing itself.

Decimius looked at his sword-wielding arm, finding it missing. His green skin paled, and he crashed into the dunes, refusing to let out a single sound of pain. Lucian got closer to Liara, his expression hardened and more serious.

"He's not playing anymore, Liara. Be careful-"

Lucian coughed, looking down at his stomach in disbelief. A talon had pierced through it, sharp claws crushing his guts. Liara cursed and cut with her sword, but Bird-Mask flashed away just like a mirage. Lucian held his stomach in incomprehension, stammering as blood flowed out.

"Th-this can't- I can't die here, I'm-" He couldn't keep his eyes off the guts pouring out of the hole in his stomach, his body failing him. Liara grabbed him and rapidly brought him to the ground. The Prince lay on the black sand, unable to understand what was happening.

"Liara, I-I'm not dying, am I?" he asked worriedly, blood trickling out of his lips. "Tell me I'm fine. I'm fine, right?"

Liara pressed down on his wounds, her face a mask of composure. "You're fine, Lucian. Everything is fine. Do you have any healing spells? An artifact your father gave you?"

The Prince listened confusedly before pointing at his breast pocket with a trembling, bloody finger. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't utter anything comprehensible. Liara quickly pulled a small golden locket from Lucian's breast pocket. She opened it, finding a small vial the size of her fingernail. She opened it and was about to pour it into Lucian's mouth when it suddenly disappeared from her hands.

The Black Heiress froze, her heart racing madly. She slowly looked up, a human-shaped bird staring back at her with mocking cruelty. It poured the elixir down its throat, shrieking viciously at its victory. Lucian grabbed Liara's arm, and he gasped. "I-I can't die, Liara. I can't die!" He repeated, panicked.

Liara slowly stood up, Lucian's hand falling back to his side weakly.

"I never got to court a girl..." the Prince muttered weakly, his eyes coming shut.

The Last Queen of the Black Heirs pointed her sword at the bird and exhaled heavily. The cross on her forehead shone with the most light it'd ever shone, bright like a lighthouse in the dark sea. Tears fell on her cheeks as she heard Lucian exhale his last breath.

"Yaa tayr el zift!" she cursed. "I will kill you!"

The bird shrieked, laughing.

God, did it love hunting.