Spell 28 - The False Face

Ren rose from where he was crouched. As he did, another chunk of stone crumbled from the platform he was standing on and fell into the void below, but he didn't look down. His eyes stayed locked ahead.

There, past the path of stone platforms, a figure stood still, staring right at him.

Ren recognized the shape of that figure immediately. How could he not? It was Haruki.

Ren's breath intensified in his ears. He blinked a couple of times just as a last attempt at disproving what he was seeing. There was no way Haruki could be there.

But the figure in front of him maintained his position. He simply waited there, facing Ren with calm eyes and a calm posture, as if he already knew how everything would unfold.

Ren felt the rage building up inside of him even more. The wind started moving around him more powerfully, but then he realized it wasn't the wind at all, but his own power swirling around him in golden waves. A few small stones near his feet began to float and spin slowly as they gathered around his body. Then his eyes turned golden.

From her ledge above the platforms, Kagami took a step forward when she felt the flow of energy intensify. Her eyes had begun to glow as well, triggered without any intention on her part this time. She fixed them on Ren. This wasn't her power reaching out to Ren anymore. It was Ren reaching into something of his own. And the Pact was answering to that.

Suddenly, the figure standing on the other side of the corridor spoke, and when he did, it had the same voice as Haruki's.

"What would he say if he saw you like this?"

Then, as if he wanted to plunge the knife even deeper: "Haruki."

Ren's pupils narrowed, his breath got heavier, and all of a sudden, an avalanche of feelings came surging from deep within him. Everything was perfect. The tone of every word was exactly how Haruki would say it. The only problem was that Ren knew all too well that it couldn't be Haruki.

The floating stones around him started to vibrate.

"Don't you dare say his name!"

And as soon as the words left his mouth, the swirling energy revolving around his body snapped, releasing all at once everywhere.

The stone platforms cracked and exploded where they stood as the blast illuminated the corridor into something that might as well have resembled a sunrise.

That light reflected in Kagami's eyes, making them even brighter. The shockwave hit her ledge hard, causing it to shake beneath her paws, but that didn't seem to matter. She just kept watching Ren almost with a possessive air about her, like she was enjoying everything she was witnessing. 

When the light cleared, most of the platforms were gone, except for the one Ren stood on. All the others had been reduced to falling fragments.

And yet, the figure out front didn't move an inch. As the burst of energy reached him, he simply raised one hand and drew a line through the air. From that gesture, a transparent liquid barrier formed, deflecting the energy with little effort. The barrier rippled a little and then slid the wave past him without even touching him.

Ren was breathing hard from all the mental effort, but his focus was still there. He lifted both hands and moved his fingers in the air, just as he had learned to do a while back. Lines of light followed his gestures, and then golden shapes formed behind him, like suspended glyphs waiting for instruction from their creator.

Then, something stirred and echoed from deep within the void below. Shattered pieces of the broken platforms floated upward from there.

Ren opened his arms with his palms facing outward, and as he did, the gathered debris obeyed him. The stone fragments all aligned in front of him, forming a new path, like a stone bridge ahead. It was uneven and broken in places, but it was a clear path. No more jumping across scattered platforms.

Kagami hissed fiercely, and her eyes glowed with pride as she observed it all unfold from above. Ren was beginning to see and use the Pact to his advantage.

Below, Ren took one step forward onto the stone bridge he had created. Then another.

The figure stood still on the other side of the path, watching him intently.

But Ren didn't allow that to intimidate him. Instead, he moved faster and then faster once more until his steps turned into a full run.

The golden symbol that had formed behind him turned brighter once again. Then, it pulled onto Ren's left arm, reshaping around it into a glowing blade curved like a claw. It was elegant and beautiful, yet deadly.

The moment his feet touched the last floating stone, he leapt in a full attack pose.

"You are not my brother!"

The impact collided against something invisible, some barrier that had been there all along.

Still, Ren didn't stop. He kept striking the barrier as if with each blow he tried to break a lie that simply refused to fall apart. The clawed blade sparked a few times against the invisible barrier, lighting the edges of the walls.

The figure moved easily through it, deflecting each strike without effort and never countering, as if he was entertained by something. Until, at one point, he just seemed to grow bored with that exchange.

With a single gesture, he unleashed a burst of violet energy that went across the space between them so suddenly that it sent Ren towards the wall behind him in seconds.

Then, for a few moments, everything just seemed to spin. He only felt the solid stone against his back, spreading waves of pain through his ribs.

His blade vanished as soon as focus was lost, and so did the symbol that he had created as support. He turned his head toward where the figure now stood in silence.

"I'll be waiting for you, Ren."

Then the figure began to melt like clay, turning into a thick puddle on the stone floor.