Tales of Revenants

Chapter 86 – Faithless Revenant

The princess who bravely faced her strongest adversary stands firm and resolute.

A flux of ethereal power courses through her veins. The overflowing magic she possesses is slowly deteriorating her mortal form.

No matter how powerful the shards can be, if the wielder doesn't have enough capacity to accept its perpetual power, then it's all for naught.

But Luciella denied her fate and pushed towards her limits. She actually pulled it off by resetting the worst-case scenario using the Shard of Time with a new path.

Now that she had the chance to correct her mistake, she used the Shard of Nature to confront the Dark Entity who will kill Empress Marielye if not taken care of.

"For what's it worth, I will definitely stop you right here and now." Luciella's fierce glare is a thing to be reckoned with.

Despite her full Magus Incarnation, she can still properly talk and move her body. It seems she already understood how to use the Shards of Creation at her own will.

The assassin just laughs at her hysterically not even batting an eye, and then he suddenly got serious when he seizes his dagger and said, "Impudence to the Demon Lord... you are dead."

He quickly disappeared in thin air, Luciella would never let her guard down while grasping her magic wand.

Enemies that cannot be seen or have concealed themselves are truly troubling to bring down. Luciella learned the way of Laken's fighting style when he sometimes closes his eye to predict his foe's movements.

It's a famous proverb from around the northern Exian stating that in order to see what's unseen, you must recognize what you cannot normally perceive by n***d eyes.

Luciella closed her eyes. She felt the beating of her heart, tremors of the ground, voice of the stagnant wind, and read the sound of nothingness.

The princess who needed protection is no longer weak. She finally understood the meaning behind Laken's words saying he's no longer he once was.

Because the thing he accepted to fight against the odds is his strongest self that carved a path towards his heroic deeds; not some hero who failed to do his job.

The assassin behind is ready to detach Luciella's limbs, he threw his daggers in a blind curve where both would hit her arms.

"Flames of fury; answer this call and burst at my will: Fireball" Luciella invoked a quick shot of her Fireball while she swerves backward to elude the assassin's weapons.

"Tsk," The assassin once again blended into the night. Little did his enemy know the moment he unveiled himself, it was his mistake to stick out his head like a tortoise.

"I can see you now! Forgiving nature; answer this call and spiral at my will: Veins of Yggdrasil!" Without even prior knowledge of ancient-nature magic, Luciella invoked a spiral of roots from the ground around the room.

Ancient-nature magic is a special kind of spellcraft that only elves can invoke. They are the only race who can use such magic because of their larger mana capacity.

Morgan's Physis Elfaros Arcanum; the strongest spell shield all across the world is chanted with the rune and glyphs from ancient-nature magic. It's directly imbued with the essence of the biggest tree in the Arcanos Kingdom which is the Ancient Flugel.

The assassin's right leg was caught up from the strangling roots all over the space. It's Luciella's chance to ensure his shadow destined to kill the empress right at that time won't happen.

She approached the assassin posthaste while the enemy's trying to cut off the thick roots all over his legs.

"Begone!" The assassin's last resort was to throw the dagger he's using to free himself.

But Luciella has seen right through it and just utilized defensive trunks below through overgrowing to shield herself from harm. The foe's daggers didn't even manage to pierce through the wooden logs.

"Sleep tight," Luciella said before she delivered a devastating punch on his guts imbued with the perpetual power of Shard of Nature. Her physical ability has increased tenfold so the assassin kind of got knocked out.

If her prediction is correct, the assassin's shadow should have vanished right now preventing Empress Marielye's and Frainan's cruel murder.

Luciella didn't waste time and ran towards the empress' chamber to check their condition.

She blasted open the door and witnessed that Frainan and the maidens are protecting Queen Nimrie and Empress Marielye.

Hope really didn't abandon them, Luciella knelt down as she couldn't believe she's able to change the cruelty of fate. Her tears couldn't stop and cried her heart out even if it's the last thing she'll do.

Empress Marielye crumpled the parchment and threw it together with the feathered pen and ink. She understood more than anyone what kind of experience she underwent.

Tears also began to roll on the empress' cheeks, she ran and went to Luciella and gave her the warmest embrace.

"I'm sorry Luciella... you changed it for me... I don't deserve to be an empress..." Marielye's voice is trembling.

The princess who knew innocence accepted her embrace with a firm resolute. Luciella wiped her tears and said, "I did it for myself. It's the choice I wished for. Now, please Empress Marielye, tell me what you saw as the Eye of the Beholder."

"My visions are cut off when I discovered the Demon Lord attacked the mansion together with his four Dark Entities, and I should have died. Now you completely changed the past, present, and future so I don't know what will happen next." Marielye stated what she discerns.

"That's all I need to know." Luciella dispensed some ancient seeds on everyone present in the room. It's a defensive spell that if anyone who is injured or wounded while they hold the seed, they'll be healed no matter how imminent they are to death.

The Shard of Nature taught her the secrets of communing with nature itself, and she doesn't want them to be assassinated like before.

"Luciella, I believe in you." Empress Marielye said to her. She nodded with a bright smile.

Before she left the room, Luciella confronted the queen of Archreverie and she told, "You don't have to cry anymore, I shall clinch this messed situation in no time."

Queen Nimrie beholds her grace. It's just Luciella shall replace her dreadful experience from before. She understands the sorrow of losing someone important to oneself is equivalent to the end of the world.

"Never leave this place no matter what. Our party shall take care of it as we agreed before." Luciella declared and left the room. The innocent lady they had seen on her as a first impression was replaced by the image of a brave princess who's about to go wild.

The image she visualizes was imprinted on her head that the next thing that will happen was the doom of all her comrades.

Each second and minute is vital so Luciella didn't idle in a corner and came straight through the room where she witnessed Laken's death.

She forcefully kicked the door and then, she's glad that she took the risk. The Demon Lord armored in red has just arrived together with his three Dark Entities. The fourth Dark Entity is the assassin she defeated.

"I am the Faithless Revenant or I am now... Demon Lord Balakiel!" The darkness he contains is not something Luciella imagined. It's so thick and enormous that she's gritting her teeth.

She couldn't believe such extreme depravity could be accumulated by a single person. The darkness of the Dark Entity they fought in Eagleborn fail in comparison to the adversary they are facing right at the moment.

"Balakiel?! You're still alive?" Xenon was shocked.

"You are here Luciella! Get back here with us," Eirisse's Metamorphosis is activated since it's nighttime already.

"I'm sorry, I can't act like your older sister today. If I ever activated my Metamorphosis, it would be dangerous," Alisa's worried since she can only use magic while her original body is unconscious.

While looking at her condition, Alisa also notices Luciella's dress changed and her magical affinity has increased to a hundredfold.

But the thing Luciella wished for was granted because Laken is standing beside Thalfeur and Tetra as the front vanguard. She changed the future that leads to nothingness.

"Such cliché Balakiel... where is the rest?" Laken provokes him while he takes the stance of a swordsman ready to lay waste on the battlefield.

"Laken... you denied the power that is bestowed upon us, you have no right to even mention our existence!" Balakiel retorted. His voice reverberated around the mansion.

If Luciella recalls, she remembers Eirisse said something when they were at her sanctuary that Revenants are previously heroes who succumb to eternal night.

She also learned that there are a total of twelve Revenants, five of them committed suicide, while Laken, Eirisse, Alisa, Xenon, Thalfeur, and the other two are still alive. It seems the enemy they are facing is amongst the five that totally accepted the corruption.

The darkness Demon Lord Balakiel accumulated is something to be afraid of. Luciella imagined she couldn't accept it if her comrades are corrupted by such depravity.

Fate nor time couldn't stop the princess who fought for her friends. She slowly walks towards the vanguard, Laken tried to stop her but he saw she's currently in her Magus Incarnation.

But most of all, he witnessed that her emerald eyes are those of someone who's going to turn the tables around.

Balakiel halted his three Dark Entities when Luciella walks forward. He's aware of what she's capable of.

"Such bravery young princess... I'll give you props being able to stand at my demonic domain." Balakiel instills fear upon those who are afraid.

"Well thank you... but your ephemeral oppression shall be obstructed by me!" Luciella exclaimed a formal provocation.

It was the time Laken recognize what suddenly happened to her. He knows Luciella didn't change, she just realized a concept that made her stronger than before.

With the power of the Shards of Creation at hand, Luciella's ready to overcome the first Demon Lord they met.

The intense battle of Luciella, her comrades, and the side of the Faithless Revenant who eats away the faith of his victim shall ignite another encounter. A confrontation that shall decide the fate of the world is about to unfold.