Chapter 80: The Golden Man

Silence.

It was almost deafening, the way it wandered the area. It was quiet, with only the flowing acids pouring down, with Solomon seeing the result, in fear of what has happened. He couldn't know what exactly happened, only assume that the worst has came. That the beast has timed itself so as to grab the child and pin him down to be melted along with its inner fluids. The Biblical sorcerer believed it to be all over, that the child was no more. Silence was all he could spare. He'd try to give a solemn prayer, but not before noticing something that quickly caught his eyes.

A Light.

A Green light. Solomon couldn't see it, due to the acids blocking his vision, but he could tell that something was off. He could tell that somehow, in some way, the child has survived this absolute onslaught. "HARVARD!? ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Solomon would yell, hoping to catch a response from the boy to see if he was alive.

"So.....it tried to take me down with it, eh....?" The boy responded, with the faint glow being more and more brighter, recognizable in its shape, allowing Solomon to see it better. A Sigil. The very sigil that allows him to summon a monster. The Cost? The Very acids that tried to erase the boy's presence, with Harvard holding a sinister expression whilst the stomach acids were being absorbed within the sigil, like it was average water being drank after a hot, summer day. "Like heck.....I'll let you get away with that...." The boy mumbled, card in tow to summon forth one of his legendary beasts, a chant being recited as the Sigil glowed brighter and brighter, almost to a blinding degree.

"Vir. oriatur virtus tua...."

"Avaritia.. Peccata tua voluntas fluant...."

"Nunc enim hoc est ultimum sacrificium tibi...."

"Cedit nunc hominis malitia, tanta avaritia mundum inficit....."

"Aurum obductis, ab omnibus desiderium..."

"Videant ipsam essentiam avaritiae...!!"

"ARAWAREU!!!"

The light glowed brighter and brighter, and what replaced it with its emerald green, became now a golden yellow. The Monster's arm reached out upwards, embroidered with jewels, with the second it touches the liquid, it turned it instantly into gold, spreading its influence through the entire stomach lining, sprouting and stabbing jewels into its body. Moreover, it reached upwards from the esophagus, stabbing and slicing throughout its travels. It was almost instant in its procedure, as the Monster's full appearance was made once it parted the acids as if it was the Red Sea. The beast being entirely made of gold, with a pincer-like face and a skeletal-like structure. It hid this with gem-covered garments, head to toe in a shining, golden armor. Accessories in the form of rings and necklaces were seen as well, with the child grabbing ahold of its shoulder plates to get up from the damage caused

"Aurei hominis!!!"

"Epitome Avaritiae!!!"

"Dominus Divitiarum!!!"

"ELDORADO!!"

The man-like monster roared in fury at his name being called, having the now golden fluid swerve away and let it fall upon the side, now precisely aimed to let the gold become that of spikes skewering and slicing apart the internal body, guttural roars from the very beast, the entire stomach shaking and bleeding due to the damages it sustained, with the blood forcibly changed to gold so as to cause more harm across its intestines. Solomon couldn't help but feel somewhat terrified at this encounter, being the first few to see the child take advantage of merely one of the many beasts supposedly within his selected arsenal. Luckily, the child does calm himself down when such damages were done, allowing him to look back at the Biblical sorcerer with a smile. "Done! The Big Bad's been beaten! We can go back now!" The boy said, as if he merely ignored the attacks he's done.

"You know....I'm starting to get why you switch up between monsters every now and then..." Solomon would answer.

"Oh? And here I thought Mr. Strategy over here was holding some good points. What's the reason?"

"Well..." Solomon would be stumbling on his words, trying to figure out a reason as the two began their ascent out of the beast's mouth, with Harvard wanting to bring the Tower as a preservation to Salvandi, as well as hoping to store some of the books when he has the chance. "....The more I thought about it, the more I realized that your deck is...weird."

"Weird how?" Harvard would ask, having the Gold act as a conveyor belt, manipulating the muscles to be wheels and tethers to drag the tower horizontally, with any remaining fibers inside it to keep it all contained.

"From what I say, it looks like it works best when doing combinations of spells on the fly. Sure you learn a spell correctly, but its one out of many. One can't simply just use it over and over again and expect a result, right?"

"Well, that and it costs more and more energy the more you use the same spell, yeah."

"Exactly my point. Your supposed artifact is mainly useful when in conjunction with multiple other spells. Same goes with your monsters. It's like playing a game of chess or checkers, where you'd have to plan multiple moves ahead of time for the best result. When you look at it like that....It DOES kinda make sense as to why you don't stick with the same strongest monster."

Harvard merely gave a smug as he hears Solomon's insight, wrapping his arm over his shoulders, providing a fist bump. "NOW.....you're starting to get what it means to be a Hero." He gave a small laugh as Solomon would reciprocate by doing said fist bump, the two scaling up from the esophagus, with Eldorado trailing behind, and the tower excavated. Exiting its mouth, the two boys would see the result of their damage, with the face of the beast having its eyes rolled back, having an expression of pure pain. They most likely overdid it, but Harvard was fine with the result. "Alright! Now, to meet with our other friends! What you think they're doing out there anyway?" He would ask.

"If I have to guess, probably doing the same war crimes we were doing." Solomon would answer.

"WAR CRIMES!? Hey! Hold on a second there! A Hero can't do that!"

"Harvard, I'm gonna be honest.....You REALLY suck at playing Hero."

And so the two bickered to each other, only instead of disdain, it was more friendly. It was rather teasing the other instead of a full-fledge argument. The sentient shadow oversaw this and couldn't help but be happy at this encounter.