The echo of the water disappeared all at once.
The cave fell into a silence that hurt the ears. The smell of blood and burnt flesh was unbearable. Hundreds of sea monsters lay scattered everywhere. Some split in half, others charred or crushed against the coral.
In the center of the islet, with his back to them, stood a man. He wore a dark cloak and a heavy black hood. He didn't move. He made no sound.
Darian felt the air leave his lungs. His chest weighed a ton, as if gravity itself was different in that cave.
Beside him, Varkas let out a low growl. The two-meter giant felt the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. He took half a step back. It wasn't a tactical decision. It was pure instinct. His animal side was screaming at him that whatever was standing in front of them was not something they should be fighting.
—You're late —said the figure. His voice was flat, without a single drop of emotion.
Aria didn't hesitate. Fear didn't stop her, it made her move. In a second, she drew her bow.
Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! Three arrows flew straight at the back and neck of the man in black.
He didn't even turn around. He barely moved a finger. A wall of cutting wind swept through the air and stopped the arrows cold, deflecting them until they buried themselves in the coral floor.
—Wind manipulator! —Aria shouted—. Take cover!
But the man in black turned slowly and raised his hand. No chants. No shouts. He simply snapped his fingers.
The ground beneath Varkas and Darian erupted in a column of red fire.
Varkas reacted in time. He pulled his heavy shield from his back and drove it into the coral floor, channeling his earth magic through the metal. A thick block of rock wrapped around the shield instantly, forming an unbreakable barrier. The flames slammed against the stone, heating it red-hot, but the wall held.
The enemy lowered his hand and stepped forward again. Out of nowhere, three thick lances of pure ice shot toward Aria.
She used her wind magic, launching a gust from her own hands toward the floor to propel herself into the air and dodge the lances, which buried themselves where she had been standing a second before, freezing the rock solid.
Darian got to his feet, drawing his sword. His breathing was ragged.
Wind. Fire. Ice. It was impossible. Any mage could barely master one or two elements in an entire lifetime. No one could use three.
The man in black looked at them from beneath the shadows of his hood. He raised both hands. In his right, a sphere of white light began to glow with an intensity that hurt the eyes. In his left, a mass of black shadows swirled, devouring the light around it.
—This... this doesn't make sense —Darian muttered, feeling a chill run down his spine—. Light and darkness. Five elements...
—I won't let them hurt my companions! —Varkas roared.
The beast-man drew his massive greatsword and charged forward. Every step shook the ground. He was going straight to cleave the mage in half with his full body weight and heavy steel.
The man in black didn't flinch. He hurled the sphere of white light.
The flash was absolute. The light slammed into Varkas's shield before he could bring his sword down. The force was brutal. The giant flew backward, crashing into a coral wall with a violent crack. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood, fighting to get back up on pure willpower alone.
—Varkas! —Darian shouted.
Rage replaced fear. Darian tightened his grip on his sword. If the enemy could use all those elements at once, attacking from a distance was useless. He had to close the gap.
He shut his eyes for one second. It was time to go all in.
He activated Physical Reinforcement and Perception of Flow at the same time.
The entire world ground to a halt. The sound of falling water and dust slowed to a crawl. The mana in his body dropped sharply, sending an intense cold through his stomach, while his muscles burned with pain from the overload of energy running two abilities at once.
Darian ran. He dodged left just as a blade of shadow cut through the air where his head had been. The darkness split a rock behind him.
The enemy moved his right hand. A burst of condensed wind formed like a wall in front of him.
Darian didn't stop. With time slowed down, he spotted the weakest point in the air barrier. He shifted all his weight onto his right leg, twisted his hip, and launched a crossing slash with his sword, pouring every ounce of his enhanced body into the strike.
The steel blade collided with the wind magic and the enemy's shadow-wrapped hand.
The impact was an explosion. But it wasn't just a clash of physical force.
An electric resonance detonated between them. It was a deep, undeniable hum. Darian felt a brutal jolt in his chest, right where the dark power of his own mystery pulsed. The two energies collided and vibrated on the same ancient, heavy frequency, as if they recognized each other.
The sound was like a thunderclap inside the cave. A shockwave shattered the coral floor beneath their feet into dozens of pieces.
The force of the impact sent Darian flying backward. He hit the ground rolling. He was completely spent. His lungs burned and he could barely move his fingers to hold his sword. He felt the full crushing weight of the power he had forced through his body. He was at his limit.
But the strike had done something.
The shockwave had hit the enemy too. The man in black stumbled back one step, and the force of the blast ripped the heavy hood from his head.
Time returned to its normal speed.
Darian looked up, breathing hard through his mouth.
The enemy's face was exposed under the light of the cave's bioluminescent fungi. His skin was pale, an unreal shade. And from his forehead rose two thin, dark horns.
His eyes found them. They were empty. No hate, no surprise, no fury. Just a terrifying calm.
Something clicked in Darian's mind.
The skin. The horns. He looked exactly like the man from his memory. Exactly like Sarion.
He wasn't human. He wasn't an exceptional mage.
He was a demon.
—Interesting —said the demon, glancing at his left hand, where Darian's blade had left a shallow cut leaking a drop of dark blood.
The cave ceiling began to crack. The shockwave had destabilized the rocks above. Stones the size of carriages started falling around them.
—The cave is coming down! —Aria shouted. She ran toward Darian and grabbed his arm, pulling him up—. Varkas, move! We're leaving!
Varkas got to his feet with a grunt of pain, grabbed Darian by the waist, and ran after Aria toward the exit tunnel.
Darian looked back as they fled. An enormous rock was about to crush the demon. But he didn't move. A faint magic circle glowed beneath his boots. In an instant, the air distorted and the figure vanished completely, leaving the massive stone to destroy empty ground.
The escape was a blur of dust, deafening noise and pure adrenaline. They ran through the tunnels until the sound of the collapse faded behind them, leaving them in the darkness of the upper sections of the dungeon, finally safe.
Miles away, on top of a cliff overlooking the open sea, the air distorted.
The demon appeared from nothing, with the same lethal calm as always. The coastal wind whipped at his black clothing. He was completely unharmed.
He reached into his tunic and pulled out a small dark metal artifact. He pressed it, and a red light glowed across its surface.
—Speak —demanded a deep voice from the device.
—The dungeon's grimoire is secured —the demon replied, watching the waves crash against the rocks beneath the orange light of the setting sun—. I've already absorbed it.
A brief silence from the other end.
—Then why are you contacting me so soon? —the voice asked.
—Because there was an interesting discovery. —The demon raised his left hand, remembering the vibration at the moment of impact—. During the fight, my magic collided with that of a human. There was a resonance. An unmistakable frequency.
The voice on the artifact shifted in tone, heavy with interest.
—Are you telling me that...?
—Yes —the demon interrupted, his empty eyes fixed on the sun sinking into the horizon—. The human is a carrier. He also possesses a grimoire.
A slow, deep laugh echoed from the dark metal.
—A human carrying our power? Perfect. Don't kill him yet. We can use this. Let him do the work of collecting the grimoires for us.
The demon put the artifact away. He stood in silence, watching the vastness of the ocean as the dying light of the sunset bathed his horns in blood red.