Some time ago...
Himvel slumped against the wall, destroying statues all around him. "Hopeless. It's hopeless." He stared at his hand, which was starting to turn a sickly red. "I don't have much time left. Soon I will change."
"I don't understand?" On a stool in front of the slumped elf, a Licht-Fulk in a dirty brown cloak sat. "You mean, you're going to die?"
"That's right, High. I'm going to die." Himvel slumped his head back and sighed. "I've been here too long. My body is starting to change and shift. Bit by bit. Old age hasn't helped. Soon, I'll become a demon."
High shook his head. "No! That can't happen. We still need you! You're Himvel the hero!"
"Yeah." Himvel snorted. "Some hero I am, huh? You know, it was me who trapped you and your sister down in the Underworld. I told the royal family it was to limit resources, and yet that isn't the truth. There could have been more I was able to do, but I didn't. I'm the furthest thing away from being a hero. I made you and the others suffer, and I'm going to keep doing it."
High slumped in his chair and balled his hand into a fist. "I don't get it. Why did you even bring me here?"
"Because you're the first one who managed to get out." Himvel hummed. He stood up and walked to High. "Bolem was posing as me, yet you fooled him. You made him think you'd work for him and then escaped from here. Like a trapped animal, you broke out and got away. Sadly, it isn't salvation that you'll get, though."
"What-" High suddenly gasped as Himvel's hand shot out and wrapped around his throat.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I need to live. I have to be there to see it!" Himvel's eyes were wide as he stared down at High. "Please understand! I'm Himvel the hero! High, please help me! Help me fend off the sickness! Let me have your flesh!"
***
Present day...
The ground shattered into a hail of debris as Himvel slammed his foot down. His strike narrowly missed Davi, who stepped back just in time.
"Himvel, stop-"
The old elf let out a loud laugh and gave a devilish grin as he appeared in front of Davi and slammed his fist into the raven-haired man's guard. Davi barely blocked it, his armor twisting around his form, keeping him mostly safe, but the force of the blow still rattled his bones, and he was lifted off the ground and sent flying back.
Several of the statues were destroyed as Davi smashed through them and hit the wall of the cave. His teeth gritted, and he rolled away as Himvel grabbed the statue of Han Yuan and threw it at him. Before it could smash into the wall, Davi opened his vault, the shadowy hands shooting out, and they carefully wrapped around the false Han Yuan and the other historical figures, dragging them into the abyss, where they'd be safe.
"You shouldn't break these things," Davi called out. "They mean a lot to you, and you must have put a lot of work into carving them, so why destroy them?"
Himvel flickered and appeared behind Davi once again and grabbed the Knight by the back of his armor. "Don't worry about what I'm going to do to them. Be concerned with your own safety!" He lifted Davi off the ground and slammed him into the wall as hard as he could. The entire cavern shook, and Davi let out a gasp as pain flared through his body.
Before he could recover, Himvel slammed a punch straight into his helmet, which shook his skull and caused his thoughts to roar out in agony. The blows kept coming again and again, denting the helm and cracking it, until eventually, Himvel stabbed his fingers into the ridges and pulled, tearing it off. He then grabbed Davi by the face and smashed him into the floor, cracking the ground.
"Fight back!" The red flesh around Himvel's hand spread out, and jagged black claws jutted forward. "Fight back, fight back, fight back, fight me!"
"No." Davi gripped the hand that began to wrap around his throat, and his eyes stared into Himvel's purple ones. "I refuse."
"You think you can survive this situation by not fighting me?"
"I don't want to hurt you."
Himvel picked Davi up for a third time and threw him across the room, sending him crashing through tables and shelves, knocking all the things on them over.
"Why won't you fight back?"
"I don't want to kill you." Davi shook his head. "You're the last elf. I don't want to be the one who wipes out an entire race. Also, because you're connected to the royal family of elves, right? That means you're like Storymaker and me. I bet if I traced my bloodline far enough back, you'd appear on it."
Himvel paused and chuckled. "Well, in a way, you're not wrong. I was a little shocked when I first felt your mana enter this place. I thought perhaps it was Titania."
"You know my mom?"
"I've only met her twice. Once was when she was first born, and the second time was when the corruption got to her. Her mana was so eerily similar to Du'Lac that I thought perhaps she and you were him, but I see now that it is nothing more than the twisted remains of that bastard. All the more reason you should die."
Davi nodded, seemingly uncaring of Himvel's harsh words. "If you met my mom when she was a baby, does that mean you're her father? Are you my grandpa?"
"Ha! No. Don't be stupid." Himvel sneered. "There were many royal elves. They're not all connected in the way you think. Their status is akin to those with Golden Cores from the Gallenth region. Just as those beings were born with a core that evolved on its own, royal elves are elves who were blessed with superior genes. Non-royal elves could have royal elf children, and royal elves could have non-royal elf kids. Many elves engaged in the mixing of bloodlines with humans, especially after the war with Sylas truly began, and today those humans who possess the purple eyes and Golden Cores are proof of that union. Many of these elves who did this were non-royal in nature, which is why your mother's birth was one I took an interest in. Your mother's mother was a royal elf, and while she might not have been the first royal elf to have a child with a human, she was the first to have a child with 'that' particular one. That union created your mother, someone who would eventually go on to become a Saint. Tell me, do you know who your grandfather is?"
"I do." Davi nodded. "His name was Anno Hawker. He was dead before I was born, but my father spoke highly of him."
"I meant on your mother's side."
"Oh. Nope. Sorry."
"I figure." Himvel cracked his neck and rotated his arms back and forth. "I guess it doesn't matter since you are soon to die."
"Why do you want me dead so badly, and why didn't you reveal yourself until now?" Davi shook his head. "I don't get it. Why are we even doing this? I already found a solution to the core."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! We'll beat that horse guy, go and get the Saint, trap the demon in my vault, and then she can kill it before it escapes!"
"And what about the Licht-Fulk?"
"They'll be safe from the radiation. The demon won't get out of my vault. We can even do it in the Underworld for an extra layer of safety. When the barrier comes undone, your people will be free."
"And do you really think your kingdom will be fine with that?" Himvel asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Myth already said-"
"Is Myth in charge of the kingdom?" Davi went silent. Himvel clicked his tongue. "You're not a bad person, Davi Hawker. That's why you can't see the king, can you? I wonder, would the king allow the race of elves to return? What of the Emperor in Mordheim? Or what of the rulers of Rossum and Gallenth? The elves are long gone, but through the Licht-Fulk, they have a chance to come back. It is true that, should the Licht-Fulk be let out, the king might be willing to work with them for a while, to learn the secrets of relics and how they function, but I doubt he would do this for very long. The moment an elf was born, he would wipe them away."
"How do you know that?" Davi shook his head. "You're just assuming."
"And you're assuming he'll keep them safe?" Himvel stated in a blunt tone. "Do you know the king well enough to ensure that fact? Is he perhaps a good friend of yours, or maybe you think you're strong enough to where you could force him to obey your will? Even if the king was willing, what of the other nations? Surely if they heard this place had elves, they would send assassins to take them out."
"But why?"
"Because it is their nature." Himvel closed his eyes. "Haru did not kill the elves. She did not kill the dragons. She did not kill the giants." His eyes opened again, filled with a profound sorrow. "The light forged was a being who was created from an act of love. Love was all she knew, and love was all she could give. Out of love, she killed Sylas, out of love, she killed the Ebony Knight, and out of love, she sealed the demons, her very own twisted offspring, away. But humanity didn't love Haru. And so, out of love for us, Haru left and went beyond this universe and all universes. Haru went to the Almighty. Before that happened, the demons were created, birthed by her blood, spilled from an act of unholy love. Their power was so great that they began to corrupt several elves and turn them into demons, and their mere existence was able to create a wormhole to an infinite sea of chaos in which death had no meaning. The dead woke up, and hell existed in the mortal world until Haru sealed them all away. Nearly every elf died or became a demon during this time, but they weren't all gone. The honor of killing them went to you, humans."
"After Haru left?" Davi asked weakly.
"After Haru left," Himvel confirmed. "When she was gone, humanity turned on the other races. The elves fell, the giants fell, and the dragons fell. Every species was brought to the end and either snuffed out or reduced to such a point that they might as well no longer exist. We elves were especially hit hard. Many of us were sealed and turned into weapons by Sylas, the rest were turned into demons, and the final few were wiped out by humans. I very well might be the last of my kind, and I have Haru to thank for that. She saved my life by placing me in this dungeon and telling me to wait. Sadly, protection or not, the radiation began to eat away at me." Himvel gave a weak smirk. "Look at me. I am in the same state as the princess. You wish to save everyone, yet what can you do for us? It is already too late, and the others know it. They'll kill me and the princess, and in rage, the queen will try to strike back unless she is also dead. This already makes the balance of diplomacy very challenging, especially as some Licht-Fulk are on the verge of becoming elf-like. In a few years, a Licht-Fulk with a golden core will be born. A few more years, and a new elf will exist. A few more? Perhaps a new Sylas will be born. And so, it's obvious when you think about it, right? The kingdom, no kingdom, would ever risk letting a new Sylas be birthed. Especially not in your land, which is filled to the brim with elven towers that humanity cannot use but which an elf could. The king allowing elves to exist in his land would be suicidal."
Davi's shoulders slumped. "So, you're saying that no matter what, it is hopeless?"
Himvel shrugged. "Your first plan wasn't bad. If the world all thought the way you did, then it's possible it could work. Bringing in a Saint and letting her kill the demon, since only a Saint can, was certainly clever, but it only solves a single piece of the problem. I want the Licht-Fulk to live on so that new elves can come about. That was why I dragged you down to the Underworld and allowed Rage to do as he pleased up top. I expected you'd eventually find a way out, but I didn't expect you to get Bolem on your side. I'm impressed by that fact. That said, I already made counters in case you did that. I gave Storymaker to someone who can use it and ordered she activate her power once she is able to."
"You gave Storymaker to someone?" Davi asked, surprised. "Who?"
"The one with blood magic."
"Olivia?"
"Yes. She'll be able to connect to it, and it's basically a time bomb waiting to go off. Once she attempts to use the sword's power, Storymaker will activate on her own. Elven weapons have minds of their own after all but require being bonded with a host. With Storymaker's power, she'll 'influence' events. She's a very, very powerful elf, and her magic is second only to Sylas'. This is to ensure that things play out the way I want, since she controls fate, and while there are limits, she can set the stage, so to speak."
Davi winced, suddenly getting bad memories of Adam's. "Yeah, that was a bit smart, but you made a mistake."
"Oh?"
"Olivia won't use Storymaker."
"Of course she will. It is a powerful weapon that she can bond with. Humans are greedy in nature. She'll gladly wield it."
This time, it was Davi who smirked. "Now, who's assuming they know how someone will react? Trust me, Olivia won't use that sword."
Himvel growled softly. "Well, no matter, for I have another reason for dragging you here. I told you all of this because you're the one who will save the elves."
Davi's smile faded. "What?"
"I am turning into a demon. The same is true for the princess. You must kill us. Kill me." Himvel announced. "You will kill the last elf, and it is because you will do that that I know for a fact you will save the Licht-Fulk. You're not like humans, are you? And of course you wouldn't be, for you are not fully human. You're a slave to fate, meant to fulfill the role placed in front of you. Long, long ago, Haru left the demon here and said that a person would come. I don't believe that person is you, but I think I can make you fill that role, thanks to how you were created. You're a tool, one that fits every assignment. I'm going to kill you. Then I'll mend you back together and bring you back. I'll do this again and again until you're finally ready to listen. I'll drag you back down to the Underworld and will leave you there, and this time you won't escape. The guild up top is going to lose, rest assured, especially as I'll go help Rage. You do not know the depths of his power and how outclassed everyone is. Once we kill the captains, I plan to unseal the demon myself. By that point, you and Underworld will be safe and sealed away. The demon will kill Rage and put an end to him and can do as it pleases in the real world. With nothing else to do, you'll have no choice but to save the Licht-Fulk, for they are all that will be left, and the Underworld will be your home and your fate."
"No." Davi shook his head. "I'm not letting that outcome happen."
"You must." Himvel spat out. "Either I'll turn you into the person I need you to be, or you'll kill me and become the one Haru spoke of. Which will it be?"
"Neither," Davi stated coldly. "I don't know Haru. I never met her, and to be honest, I don't really care what she wanted for me. I don't care what anyone else wanted for me. Again and again, you all keep giving me these options as if I have to pick one of them, but screw you all! I'm me! That means I'm going to do what I want the way I want! I'm going to save the Licht-Fulk! I'm going to get the Saint to kill the demon! And I'm not going to kill the last elf! I'll fight the king if I have to, or I'll change this story with my own blood. Fate, destiny, and whatever else can seriously kiss my ass."
Himvel laughed. "And you think just because you say all of that, it becomes true? That you can escape your fate? You were made to be a slave to destiny. You don't even know what you really are, do you? You're a mask, Davi. One meant to be worn by the role that will consume you. Let me prove it to you. Let me show you what being a slave to fate really means." Himvel placed his hand over his chest, and something began to phase out of his skin. A light filled the dark cave, and the glow got brighter as Himvel pulled out an old, worn-down rapier, which he pointed at Davi. "Elves have a weapon that represents their very soul. This is mine. From this point on, my soul will be what molds you and breaks you."
"Row Shadow Vault." Davi drew one of his claymores and swung it just in time to block a thrust as Himvel flickered in front of him. He defended another strike and then another as the elf began to stab out over and over again.
"You must fight back!" Himvel roared. "I was serious. I'll kill you and then stitch your body back. As long as the brain is fine, I should be able to save your life!" He let out a cackle and began to speed up, the ground ripping apart due to how fast his jabs were coming.
Davi's eyes burned, and he struggled to keep up. Himvel was far faster and stronger than him by leaps and bounds. It was like fighting Lucita again, but on steroids. At one point, his claymore shattered, and he hastily drew a second one, but in no time at all, Himvel shattered that one as well, his rapier igniting the air itself.
Davi felt his armor crack and shatter as the blade pierced past it and impaled his flesh. He blocked another strike, his fourth claymore shattering, and he drew his fifth. Himvel danced around that one and rammed his sword toward Davi's heart, but the blade shockingly missed. Without warning, a bright white aura formed around Davi's blue aura, and he rapidly sped up and was able to actually land a blow, punching Himvel in the gut.
The elf barely seemed to register the attack and backhanded Davi, sending him flying back. Davi groaned and rubbed at his busted lip, his suit quickly filling with blood. Thanks to his second aura, he was a lot more durable, but it wasn't enough.
His body now had a second core, which was making the white aura, and that core was made through the Vow he forged that required the sealing of his two traits. The core itself was separated from his normal one and was made of pure chaotic mana, brought on from pain. It was able to reach a level of power similar to his main core, and so when he had both auras activated at once, it was basically akin to him having twice his normal power. He was effectively fighting at two hundred percent rather than one hundred.
The issue with this was that two versions of him weren't able to beat a Captain. After all, he was still a Squire. A strong Squire, but still nowhere near the level needed to fight Captains or Captain-level threats, which Himvel was. At most, he was starting to reach the level of a middle-class Arcane Knight with both of his auras on, but the positions of Title Knight, Vice Captain, and Captain were far out of his reach.
Himvel was definitely at the level of a Captain. The elf was old and strong, and since he fought Laerton for a month straight, he was very familiar with how strong a Captain's blows felt, and Himvel's were around that range.
So, what did he need to do to rapidly gain power and increase his strength in order to beat a Captain? Was such a thing even possible?
No.
Even if he made several more Vows and somehow got a third or fourth core to form, that wouldn't be enough. Not even close. What could he do?
Himvel used a mana step and appeared directly next to Davi. He stabbed down with his weapon, and Davi was unable to fully deflect it. The rapier cut into the Knight's shoulder, spilling his blood.
How could he close the gap? He didn't need to fully kill Himvel, just show him another way, but how could he do that?
Davi tried to swing, but Himvel shattered his sword and punched him in the chest hard enough to shatter an entire section of his armor. Davi felt his bones vibrate and his heart nearly stopped, both his auras flickering.
He needed to think of something. He was going to die. Worse than that, the others would die as well. Sieg, Olivia, Ken- …Ken. Ken, Ken, Ken.
Himvel slammed his elbow into Davi's head and nearly cracked his skull open. As Davi dropped to his knees, Himvel rammed his knee up directly into his jaw and then smashed the handle of his weapon into his guts. The sound of Davi's ribs shattering filled the room, and Davi was hurled across the room and slammed into the wall again. The cavern shook, and Himvel gave another cruel laugh and was about to charge forward again, but stopped suddenly.
Davi was on the ground, smashed into the wall, creating a smaller crater. He wasn't moving, but he also wasn't unconscious. He stared ahead as if deep in thought, focusing on something, and his aura was responding and changing.
At first, he had been covered in a blue, fiery aura. After his second aura activated, a wave of white lightning joined the second one. Now, something was changing. The two auras hadn't been connected, and instead, one was over the other, since they were both brought on by different cores and not harmonized, but that was no longer the case.
The auras swirled and started to merge. The blue aura was eating the white aura. Draining it and breaking it down. Himvel knew right away what this process was, and he was completely stunned.
Joint Cultivation was an art performed by two people who trusted each other. It came in many forms, such as the sexual connection of two bodies, which was the easiest, but it could also be performed by maintaining contact with someone who trusted you and who you trusted in turn.
During Joint Cultivation, both parties would swap their mana. They would form a connection with one another and trade back and forth, going faster and faster. This process required a good understanding of one another and, if done right, would cause the cores to swell and grow due to the outside mana that was being placed into them, which would be unfamiliar and clash with their own, thus leading to growth.
In a way, what Davi was doing right now was similar yet not quite the same. After all, Joint Cultivation required a mutual trading back and forth and could only be done by introducing mana that didn't belong to the core. The second core Davi had was made of pure chaotic mana, and so using that in Joint Cultivation wouldn't actually cause it to work. It could add on to the core's reserves, but that would just be a temporary increase and wouldn't cause the swelling, since all cores were used to chaotic mana.
So, while the process was similar to Joint Cultivation, what Davi was doing was different, and instead, a lot closer to another concept. He was feeding the chaotic core to his main core. This is what would happen when a person began to turn into a mutant. The monster core within them would slowly consume the main core and grow, until all that was left was a monster core, yet that too wasn't what Davi was fully doing as he was feeding the chaotic mana to his Shadow Core.
This confused Himvel greatly. After all, this shouldn't result in anything. The chaotic core was operating at one hundred percent. By feeding it to the Shadow Core, this would cause the Shadow Core to grow, but it wouldn't swell, as it was used to the chaotic mana. Because of this, the Shadow Core wouldn't actually increase in power permanently. The mana it was fed would boost it, but it wouldn't stick and would eventually fade away. In fact, it would fade away super quickly and be all but useless.
The power increase also wouldn't change at all. The Shadow Core would temporarily increase in power, but that power was power that had already been in Davi's body. The Shadow Core was now at two hundred percent power instead of one hundred, but a moment ago he had a Shadow Core that was at one hundred percent power and a Chaos Core that was also at one hundred percent power, so doing this ploy basically results in the same thing, yet even worse, as the chaotic mana would soon fall out of the Shadow Core, resulting in a massive drop in power.
It made absolutely no sense to do this.
Davi stood back up, now sporting only his blue aura, which was twice as big as it had been earlier. He stared down at his hands and smiled. "Cool. So, 'that' did work."
"What worked?" Himvel frowned. "All I see is an idiot who made a failed attempt to grow. Clever, doing a process akin to Joint Cultivation with yourself. However, that would only have worked if you had a second core."
"Yeah, I didn't grow in power, I'll admit, but something did happen. My Shadow Core is stronger."
"Power that will quickly fade, and that strength was better put in the other core." Himvel jumped forward and slashed out with his rapier.
"I don't think you understand." Davi's eyes lit up. "I was close. Just barely out of reach." He watched as the sword came at him, and his scar began to burn as a red line of string flowed from Himvel's blade and directly toward him, allowing him to side step it. "I can see it." Blue lines went from his claymore to Himvel's body. "I see the way to my happy ending!"
Davi swung the claymore, and Himvel narrowly blocked it, stunned as the force of Davi's strike was far greater than it should have been, and he was sent crashing back. This time it was Himvel who smashed into the wall, and he stared in shock.
"Those moves, the way your eyes followed it, you saw it? The lines of instinct? Don't tell me you had Danger Sense and it just now evolved? What the hell? And that strike." He winced. "It was like a Mana Strike. What the hell did you just do?" He demanded.
"Qi Lines are the best at using mana," Davi said softly. "Those with Qi Lines are naturally gifted at using mana better than any other core, and they rapidly learn mana-based techniques far faster since they usually lack a proper element and thus must focus on figuring out how to use mana to the best of their abilities."
"So what? You might have Qi Lines, but that's just one third of your core. It should be small and pathetic. You'd need it at least at sixty percent for it to matter."
"Yeah." Davi agreed. "So, I increased it to sixty percent."