Cleansing of the Land

…

"NIIINAAA!" shouted Marco.

The boys rushed to her. Marco reached his pocket for any available potions to treat her wound. But just before he could tend to her injury, Nina shouted.

"DON'T GET ANY CLOSER!"

She grasped upon the grasses around her, stained by the blood squirting out of her eyes. She breathed heavily. She tried to get up despite the shock she received, but failed horribly. She then pressed her destroyed eyeball with her left hand and proceeded to cast magic while simultaneously holding off the pain that seething within her head.

"Res....to…re…~~~"

Lights illuminate her left hand that sparkled out like twinkling stars. Nina's breathing got much heavier. Both Marco and Scias heard her and realized that she was experiencing a devastating pain.

A few minutes later, Nina leaned back against the tree while having her left eye remain closed. Surprisingly, she successfully healed her destroyed organ.

"…Okay, you two… you may come close, now."

Marco and Scias then walked to her and asked quickly.

"Nina, are you okay?" Marco asked in anxiety.

"…I guess. I guess I'm fine," Nina replied as she let her breath out slowly.

"Why did you stop us?" Marco asked again. "I'm sorry." Nina stated deeply. "Did I make you two worry?"

"Hell yeah, you do. I thought you were a goner for a second there, you know?" Marco retorted in a worrying tone.

"I suppose you weren't wrong, though. I felt like I'm dying back there… A partial of my vision redden and ended up dark as if the world blackout-ed. It felt like my nerves were being drilled, my head felt burning, felt like torn to pieces." Nina explained in a regretted voice. "Gladly, my healing magic could regenerate my destroyed eye."

"…mm…" Scias voiced deeply. "Nina, please tell us what happened."

"Well… how I am supposed to tell ya… the tree denied my Mana Perception ability, I concluded," Nina explained. "Because of it, I cannot tell whether the tree was really the source of the curse or whatsoever."

"The tree denied? Well, it's more like as if the tree 'deflected' your ability, Nina…" Marco frowned. "That's the truth! It's crazy. Really, really crazy, I don't want to do it again."

"…I see," Scias stated. "Then, let's go back to the village—

"No, I've decided." Nina startled. "I will cast the 'Purify' magic right here. If we return empty-handed, we will never know when we will have the time to lift the curse again. That… dark wave is coming rapidly. It's freaking me out."

"…I apologize, Nina. I was a bit… not of myself, today." Scias stated his sorry.

"It's okay, Scias." Nina smiled slightly.

"But still, Nina… are you really, really fine with your condition right now? I mean, you were hurt just a moment ago. Please don't push yourself too far…"

"My, my, Marco, you're too anxious. Don't worry about me, I'm perfectly fine. Indeed, it is shocking and painful, but seriously, right now, I am perfectly fine," said Nina reassuring Marco.

"Are you really, REALLY certain?" Marco asked again for the last time. Nina turned her head to him. Her left eyelid slowly opened, revealing the regenerated eyeball of hers and stated confidently.

"I am certain. Marco, Scias… please help me cleanse this land off the curse."

…

..

.

Nina stood before the mighty tree. She stared at it as the flow of wind began to change slowly. Her long blond hair swiftly followed the wind in a fluid motion. Both of her eyes appeared confidently.

In her heart spoke out, "You were strangely hostile to me… I don't know what or why. Or… maybe you were just trying to defend yourself… or maybe was there something else? Were you really accursed or were you not?"

She grabbed her cane and swung it around her and lastly stabbed it to the branch in which she was standing on with all her might. As the cane towered, Nina spoke out her thoughts loudly, "Either way… I will still use you… as my magic medium!"

Nina clasped her hands and closed her eyes. She focused her mind and channeled around 95% of her mana energy to perform the magic, "Purify". Soon, an elaborate magic circle signifying the art of healing appeared beneath her shoes, centralized from the bottom of her cane in front of her.

Nina prayed to her heart's content. She wished for the curse to be lifted and dissolved until nothing remained from it. Her mana energy emitted green light like the wind element color and seemingly visible in an image of circuits running above her skin. The magic circle beneath her soon enlarged, widened, and grew more majestic than ever.

Marco and Scias were tasked to defend her while she performed the magic. But until this point, they saw no enemy monsters or demons coming their way. Marco slightly lowered his guard while Scias remained in great alert.

Nina's magic circle was enlarging greatly, causing subtle shockwaves around it. Seeing the mesmerizing effect like that, Marco commented, "Whoa-haa! Is that even a 'healing' magic?"

"Hush, Marco. Watch your surroundings!" Scias ordered.

Few seconds later, Nina opened her hands and gently grabbed the cane in front of her. Her eyes remain closed, however. She lifted her cane above her head, and finally pierced it to the giant tree branch with every last strength she got, thus the already large magic circle reacted and illuminated the sacred tree within seconds. Lastly, Nina finished chanting and thus casted her magic while opened her eyes simultaneously.

"Purify!"

The magic circle dispersed brilliantly, shimmered the forest in a wide area with endless flow of white light. It was as if the magic that imbued the forest was holy-based magic. Shockingly, traces of spiky vines lurking around the forest appeared visible to anyone's eyes.

"Whoa! The hell are these?!" Marco shouted in surprise as he noticed the threads of thorns tied around his body. He took a short glimpse to Nina, he was surprised. Nina was floating slightly in midair. Seeing the magic was still in process, Marco turned his view to the spiky vines, realizing it as a magical object.

"So… this is the curse…?"

"Marco, look!" Scias stated out loud. The two looked at the light that sourced from Nina emanating the threads overall. The light flowed in an insanely fast speed. The forest was possibly looked like an intense light show if looked from above.

The illuminated threads shortly cracked and finally shattered into nothingness. Marco's body was freed from the tangling magical threads of thorns and spikes. He was freed, so did everyone else.

The flowing light jetted into every section of the village. Kids, adults, houses, buildings, plantations, and everything, the spiky vines that were the curse's form were finally shattered, freeing everyone and anything from the curse.

But it didn't end there.

The flowing light empowered the village's plantation and recovered it back into the radiating beautiful green nature color. Everyone was so happy. The land also recovered back to normal. The scale of her purifications was so insane and unbelievably lethal to the magical bane, for it's not simply lifting the curse, but also reversing the effects from the curse itself.

Everyone was cheering happily. Aily and Pio cried joyfully upon seeing the magical effects. "…Sister… you really did it!"

Back in the forest, Nina fell to her knees after accomplished casting the mega magic. Marco and Scias quickly ran to her to make sure she was alright. Her body was incredibly weakened. Puffs of smoke came out of her skin. She breathed heavily, huffing as she ran out of energy. Silently, she spoke.

"…As I… thought… my theory was… right."

"Nina, are you okay…?" Marco asked softly. He touched her wrist and reflexively backed off. Her body was extremely scorching. "Oh my god," said Marco in concern. "Her body was scorching nuts, my skin felt like they're scalding. What am I supposed to do—"

"—Let me." Scias surprisingly stated. He stretched his palm onto her left shoulder which was smoldering in smoke as if it was a chimney. Shockingly, Scias withstood against the extreme heat and whispered to her ears.

Nina heard him and slightly nodded without Marco realizing. She simply smiled and whispered back, "I solicit you, Scias. Please."

She let her body collapsed on Scias' chest and fell asleep. Scias carried her gently despite the intense heat that scorched him. Somehow, he could withstand against it. Marco was amazed by Scias and disappointed in himself in the same time. He realized he couldn't do anything to rescue her.

"Yeesh, mate. I really wonder now how did you manage to hold that heat, man."

"W-Well… I'm a Fire Elementalist, don't you remember? I can withstand… high temperature." Scias explained short and quick.

"…Oh, yeah. Makes sense."

"Heh, I know you wanted to be useful to her." Scias stated in a funny voice. "You can grab her cane off the roots there."

Marco looked at the cane that stood still stuck within the tree roots. "Oh… hold on, wait, will that thing be hot as hell, too?"

"…Who knows?" Scias replied. Marco frowned and then anxiously attempted to touch Nina's cane.

"Slowly… slowly…" said Marco to himself. He imagined the cane will be superbly hot. He expected it to be scorching as hell. He laid his index finger in a slow movement onto the cane's surface.

"Make it quick, will ya?" Scias startled Marco, cancelling him from touching the cane.

"Hey! Don't shock me like that, Scias! I'm… err… trying!" Marco rapidly replied in loud voice. "H-Huh…" Scias scrunched his face up as he witnessed his pal's attitude. He giggled silently in the end.

Marco turned into the cane again and this time he went into full confidence. "Ahh! Screw it, I'm gonna burn my damn hands if necessary! I'll just find an ice cube later after this! Here I go, then, aaaaahhhhhh!"

Or actually, he was outright reckless. But even so, he wrapped his palm around the cane. Marco held himself as if preparing to hold the incoming pain. Shockingly, it didn't scorch him even a bit. The cane was in normal temperature.

"Eh? It's not burning? Hehehe, cool! Good thing you're not so… hm?"

Marco tried to pull the cane out of the tree root, but somehow it felt like it's stuck into it. "Dammit, you flippin' piece of… get off already!"

And again, he couldn't pull the cane out even with his maximum power. Lastly, he surrendered while thinking, "Man, just how powerful Nina is? The cane is literally stuck within."

Marco always saw Nina with her arms covered with her long-sleeved dress. He imagined what lies beyond that piece of cloth of hers. He imagined her arms will be far muscular than that of Scias'.

"…No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no, impossible. What the hell am I thinking?"

Ten minutes later, Scias tried to pull the cane, too.

And yes, he failed to pull it out. The two decided not to prolong their attempt for they worry they might broke Nina's cane and would eventually made her seething with anger.

The two returned into a small open field where Scias had put Nina to rest. As they arrived, Nina had woken up and was gravely expressed dead seriousness. Seeing her like that, Scias and Marco went into alerted mode.

Shortly, they saw shadows thickening on the ground as if there's an object covering the sunlight. Marco and Scias turned around followed by Nina.

"ERK?!"

Marco was extremely shocked, for what in front of them stood a massive shadowy creature with an also massive dark energy with purple streaks running down the form of abomination. The creature then let out a deafening moan.

Scias and Marco were shocked to see it. They didn't expect it to come this early. Nina was the most shocked one. "What are… you… exactly?!" she said in fear.

Shortly, the shadowy creature dispersed spectacularly, spreading all around the land as if it consumed the ground leaving only the three in circle. Seconds later, a bulge of shadows emerged and seemingly widen as if it opened a path. From within, four demonic creatures appeared before them.

Much to their surprise, the demons were also shocked.

What are they plotting here?