Chapter: 87 Day 25 - Oh, Brothers.

"Okay, I think I'm good to go." I said, rising from my crossed-legged Flow Meditation. It occurred to me I rarely had the opportunity to use its resource regenerative properties, and more siren than not using it at home to periodically analyze myself. It wasn't much given I was only afforded a brief 12 minutes, due to the rather unfortunate news Korbin got out of Zeldrich regarding Phanthu.

"He's at the temple ruins, where Vashi cursed our father to become that monster." Zeldrich growled raspily.

"Why the hell would he be up there now? It was nothing but sandstorms up there." I asked, dusting off the backside of my robes.

"We didn't assist in the slaughter of every living being remaining on our planet for fun. It was per the request…of Vashi." Zeldrich reluctantly admitted, averting his eyes from ours.

"What?! You're fucking joking me right now!" Korbin exclaimed, laughing wide eyed while pushing his hands through his hair. I scowled at Zeldrich, not finding any humor in this irony.

"You're telling me, after ALL the shit you four talked about your fathers for bowing down to a god, you two did the EXACT same shit?!" I yelled, getting in Zeldrich's pale, bony face. He snarled, eyeing me up and down gripping tight on his jagged curved daggers.

"How dare you, you insignificant fucking fruad. My fathers failed to uphold their end of the bargain by betraying Vashi. We have only done what he requested of us mere weeks after he killed our fathers and destroyed our bloody home. What have you lost, 'Chosen Of Galenthelo-'" my fist cracked into his jaw, interrupting his endless blabbering.

"Didn't lose a tooth or fight today, can you say the same?" I shot back, stepping away to avoid not killing this fanatical freak off of principle.

"Alright smart ass, if you got that out of your system, tell us why he's there." Korbin demanded.

"It's where we perform the ritual to summon Vashi's avatar. It's the only way we can update him on our progress. No doubt Lord Vashi will return once he's heard we've succeeded, granting us his strength and freeing us from this wretched wasteland." Zeldrich replied, glowing at the mention of leaving Xernilia which, honestly I couldn't blame him for. It's the means to the end that spat in the face of morality itself.

"Then take us to him, and help us kill him." Korbin commanded. Zeldrich's head recoiled at the request.

"Why would I help you kill my brother?" He hissed back. Immediately, his eyes fluttered as his hand grasped at his skull.

"Because that's part of the deal. You still haven't read that yet? Can you read?" Korbin asked, flashing a toothy grin with his last question. Zeldrich growled, grasping at his head.

"…Fine! Fine, it makes no sense for neither of us to leave with our savior. That, that would be our failure." Zeldrich said, staring into space. Korbin snapped his fingers twice in his face.

"How morbidly touching, now lead the fucking way." Korbin sternly demanded. Zeldrich sighed before leaping up through one of the Gibslandris tunnels at the roof of the destroyed Khotunn cavern. Korbin ascended up the side of the wall, climbing across the roof and into the tunnel. I shook my head, realizing how difficult movement was for people who didn't have insane agility and a grappling hook.

The edge of my hooks prongs locked into the wall before reeling in, lifting my body through the tunnel as I kicked off the wall.

"Cheater." Korbin said as I leapt from wall to wall up the tunnel. Zeldrich stood waiting just outside the tunnel as I emerged to the surface, my feet slightly sinking into the sands with a thump as I landed. Korbin leaped from the tunnel right behind me, his hands glowing a bright orange for a brief second afterwards.

"If you two are quite finished fucking about down there, the Alter isn't far." Zeldrich hissed with crossed arms.

"Tom, you got the best shot at keeping up with Zeldrich. Go with him, and at the very least disrupt Phanthu's ritual until I catch up." Korbin said.

"I do? Huh, that must be because I don't actively neglect my agility stat like you." I replied sarcastically through a toothy smirk.

"Go, I'll beat your ass for that one later." Korbin shot back sternly. Nodding, I turned to Zeldrich who took off in a puff of black clouds.

What the fuck is this guys agility?

Thousands of tiny, tiny sand pebbles bit at the skin on my face sprinting after Zeldrich's dark figure. There was no doubt in my mind he was faster than me just based on how he fights. My goal was simply to keep close enough behind without making him stop to wait for me. Of course, after about a mile of sprinting through the soft, dark desert dunes, Zeldrich slowed his insane speed to a walk. As I caught up, the whistling winds weren't enough to mute his heavy breathing.

"I take it endurance isn't your strong suit?" I asked, jogging backwards in front of him.

"I…just need a…moment." Zeldrich said. Suddenly a bright green light illuminated him and the dark sands behind us. Spinning around, a spiraling vortex of green energy shot into the clouds, illuminating the stormy night sky.

"Catch your breath. But if Korbin beats you there, I will come for you." I said to him, shuffling into a dead-sprint towards the bottom of the vortex of green energy. After 8 minutes of pumping my legs as hard as I could, the shattered columns of cracked remains of the altar from Xernilia's introduction projection sat at the bottom of the dune. Standing in front of a long, stone altar stood Phanthu. Green energy streamed from his hands, glowing the same hue he had when summoning his wraith father on us.

Sand ravaged my face as I sped down the sand hill, charging a Lightning Bolt while angling around Phanthu's back side. As my boot clapped onto the altar's cracked stone floor foundation, Phanthu spun around whipping 10 massive green streams from his fingers at me. A tinge of pain tickled the pit of my gut firing my Lightning Bolt, aiming for Phanthu's chest. His long mana streams wrapped around the bolt, melting away as they pulled it to the ground. Phanthu glared at me with his white glowing eyes as I sprinted toward him.

"WHY must you pester me so?!" Phanthu yelled, raising his hands summoning a wall of translucent green energy in front of him. I ran around it, planting my foot hard to leap over several green streams slashing at my legs. My foot stomped off the stone floor, lunging forward for two consecutive slashes. Phanthu summoned two small shields of green energy in front of his hands, deflecting both strikes. His strings extended around a pillar, yanking himself away from my third slash attempt.

"Have you considered it might be because you involved me in a fucking genocide?!" I angrily asked, scowling as I fired my grapple hook into the same pillar, leaping as I willed it to reel. The muscles in my arm tensed under the whiplash of being pulled towards Phanthu as I spun with its Flow, blasting my heel into his chin around his green stringy guard. He reeled back as I lunged forward for Lightning Strike, spinning behind the pillar while my blade clanked off of it. His palm flashed around the other side, firing a torrent of green energy.

An icy burn bit at the back of my leg as I rolled away from Phanthu's attack as I fought to hide the pain in my face.

"You do realize I didn't force you to do a damn thing, right? Besides, I've done only what was necessary to preserve the history of humanity on Xernilia. What more can you ask of me?!" Phanthu angrily retorted, sliding around the pillar on his green platform and darting around the Altar. His green strings spun together, making two long tendrils extending from either hand. He clapped his palms together, causing the tendrils at his sides to extend and slam shut around me.

Piercingly cold air emitted from the gust of Phanthu's insanely long green tendrils colliding an inch from my face, bending straight back on instinct and falling to the floor. My hook latched onto a collapsed stone wall, pulling myself from his tendrils smashing into the ground. My heel dug into the stone, lifting me to my feet landing in stride.

"How can you even call yourself that after everything you've done?!" I angrily asked, recalling my grapple hook and sprinting towards Phanthu.

"Call myself what?!" He sharply shot back, whipping his tendril extensions at both my torso and legs. The lightning wriggling across my blades quickly switched to thin droplets of water activating Tidal Flurry. My teeth dug into my tongue fighting through the pain in my stomach as I cut through his tendrils. His body dashed away atop his green mana platform, dodging out of my path forcing me to jump out of Tidal Flurry early.

"A fucking 'person'?! You claim all of this was in the name of preserving Xernilia's humans and their culture, yet all you've done is bury it. There was nothing humane about what you did to those Khotunn. Even if you kill me, you failed." I said, feeling my knees beginning to buckle under the pain of creeping mana exhaustion. Phanthu's perpetual scowl softened, narrowing his eyes as they wandered across the floor for a second.

"I..you're wrong." He said, still unable to look me in the eye.

…wait.

Lightning exploded from the ends of my blades, clipping Phanthu's leg as he stumbled to evade having apparently zoned out. My foot slammed onto the stone to propel me forward, only to wobble and collapse under me feeling the backlash of using nearly the last of my mana remaining.

Mana: 10/271

Phanthu struggled to his feet, using the platform to walk for him as he hovered over.

"You…you're incessant fucking meddling has forced my hand in this." He sneered, placing a foot on my chest and pointing his green glowing palm at me. His brow suddenly relaxed as he looked down at me.

"But… know you do not die without honor. I thank you, Tom, for helping me save Xerni-" Phanthu's eyes flicked to the side as a bubble of translucent green energy manifested around us. A dark, cloudy mass bounced off the exterior of the bubble, ricocheting off then slamming back into it repeatedly.

"Brother?! What are you doing?!" Phanthu yelled, raising. It's hands to his green bubble as cracks began forming where Zeldrich was violently slamming into. There was no answer, only the constant rhythmic pounding of his body slamming into the shield. Finally, the green bubble shattered like fragmenting glass as Zeldrich flew at Phanthu, who barely slid away from his two slashing daggers. Zeldrich slid across the cracked stone floor to a stop, hunching over and grabbing his head.

"Must…help it…the PAIN!" He gutterally screeched, dashing at Phanthu again. I slowly scooted myself around a collapsed pillar, letting Zeldrich deal with Phanthu while I tried to gather myself.

Shit, I've blown through almost ALL of my options already.

Zeldrich's Wild grunts and the whooshing of Phanthu's strange green energy blasting across the altar ruins filled the air as I propped myself against the wall, tucking my legs under each other.

Fuck it, either I do this now or wait to die.

I focused my mind on ignoring the splitting pain digging into the pit of my stomach, aiming to enter Flow Meditation to recover enough mana to move comfortably.

"Must you ALWAYS serve as a thorn in my side?!"

"KILL, FULFILL, FREEDOM! KILL, fulfill, freed-"

Phanthu and Zeldrich screams at one another as they battled behind me slowly faded away as I retreated into my mind, swaying my body slowly to maintain a comfortable Flow. Serenity slowly overtook the sharp pain in my gut, as I focused on resting my body.

"HELP!"

"NO, PLEASE N-AAAH"

"MOMMY!!"

"TOM!!!"

My eyes shot open as the images of the Khotunn citizens being slaughtered by the dozens flashed through my mind. I checked my status, finding myself content with having 30 remaining mana and clambered to my feet.

"Fine, then you die like the rest of them!" Phanthu yelled, reminding me where I was. I stood up, just in time to watch as a massive flaming orb crashed into the floor between Phanthu and a primed Zeldrich.

Hopping over the collapsed pillar, an orange bubble descended around the altar ruins, followed by a sudden rush of vigor shooting through my body. Korbin leapt through the bubble wall, a stream of orange mana jetting from atop the polearm of his battle ax.

"DAMN IT!" Phanthu angrily yelled, hopping on his green mana platform and gliding out of the bubble. A series of orange fiery chains shot out from the dome wall, snagging onto his ankles and yanking him back inside. Korbin and I converged on him at around the same time, each of us with our weapons aimed for his prone body. A whirlwind of green smoke swirled under Phanthu, lifting him to his feet as he deflected both of my slashes while evading Korbin's pommel strike.

Thick, viscous green energy splashed from Phantbu's shields hovering in front of his hands moving from strike to strike. His hips twisted to glide away, only to suffer a slash across the gut from Zeldrich's blades as he dashed by in a puff of dark smoke. He leaned away from Korbin's downward slash, his head lunging down and blasting into Korbin's rising knee. His head bounced up, leaking blood from his nose as he groggily reeled back. Zeldrich made a second pass, cracking into Phanthu's temple with a spinning kick.

Phanthu spun around, stumbling towards us with his hands glowing a much dimmer green. Not seeing a reason to extend this any further, I dashed ahead, slicing both his wrists and stabbing him through the throat. The green green glimmering energy in his hands faded to black before dispersing into the air, as he dropped to his knees. His glowing white eyes fell back to blue, staring deep into mine with a mixture of hatred and fear. Then, just as his hands limply fell to the side, a smile grew across his face.

*ding*

"..brother…what have I-" Zeldrich rubbed his face, looking down at Phanthu's corpse.

*THUNK*

Korbin's axe cracked into the back of Zeldrich's skull, kicking him to the ground as he ripped it free and slashed into his neck. The moment his axe pierced into Zeldrich's spine, a blinding bright light completely overtook my vision. I looked at my hands, still covered in dust and a mixture of the blood of my foes and my own. Peering around, a distant familiarity for this place itched at the back of my mind.

…that's right! No-Face!

"Hey!! Where are you, you creepy faceless bastar-" my smile dropped as I turned around, finding an 8 foot green ghostly figure adorning a fitted set of smooth metal armor, with a wide flowing garment from his hips under his armor hovering behind me. A familiar well fitted cowl sat atop the translucent figure's head, though their face was completely covered by a mask with glowing white eyes.

"Uh…hello?" I said, waving slowly at the giant ghost. Its form reminded me heavily of the wraith only…thicker. Like I couldn't just walk through them, even though I could see the other side.

"Really? That's all you could come up with? H-grade or not, how the fuck did you kill me first?!"