Chapter 6: Decimo
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Kroom!

The collapse around Ciel and Xia resounded like thunder. Above them, the roof crunched down in a mist of dust. Loose brick and crumbling mortar flew, clattering toward their two assailants and their flying mounts.

The masked man didn't move toward the rubble. He knew better than to underestimate the target haunting the No. 1 spot on his organization's hit list.

Right on cue, an iridescent torch plowed from the heap of wood and clay. The counterattack would have blown a hole in his torso if not for the wall of rotating Aura throwing it off course.

Force and heat warped. A shambling host of the hamlet’s security forces arrived at the scene and fled in whistling winds once they witnessed the combatants. Various pitches of screams rocked the settlement. Every soul with movable legs panickedly vacated the battlefield.

With flaking of wood and snapped material, Ciel entered the fight with Xia following from behind. His Ether rifle trained upon the enemy. What he saw didn't settle his turbulent mind.

Opposing him was the masked man with Balor's familiar eyes emboldened on his robe. Not an ounce of surprise leaked; Ciel fully expected to meet him again. What sent a chill down his spine was the girl next to him.

Nuan Yulong swayed with an unreceptive haze in her pupils. Her mouth opened but released no sound. A squirmy creature, crossed between squid and an inky plant scented in lime, writhed with rubbery tentacles around her chest.

Xia watched the invasive crawlies and shuddered. But it didn't take long for fear to transform into fascination, for the masked man muffled out a title from his robe past.

"Lord of Union," he spoke in reverence and fear. "At long last you have entered the promised war."

"Where is Balor?" Ciel dismissed the last string of sentences without a thought. "He is not the type to leave me to a minion."

The masked man chuckled, "The text of the Great One spoke of your attitude. Eons past, and the Lord who declared war on all his siblings still remains."

"Lord?" Xia looked at her compatriot with more questions.

"It is a family name," Ciel brushed the query aside, but his opponent couldn't wait to share secrets.

"As in the family of entities created by the Void to rule this world," the masked man heralded the truth with fanatical glint. "Like Lord Balor, you hold the Authority to act as an Administrator to Acceltra, and participate in the War of the Lords."

Ciel's expression clenched at the historical inaccuracy; he attempted to clarify his stance, "Correction: I proposed that we wait and see what Acceltra needs. It is your boss and that idiot Yume who pushed for a glorious battle royale."

Xia's mouth hung agape. "So he has been telling the truth?" Another realization dawned. "Holy—" she stumbled, her brain bamboozled "—are you telling me I've been getting therapy from a god?"

As for Nuan, she stood like a scarecrow rustling in the wind, a sleepwalker dreaming of an assault.

"We are not gods," Ciel protested to every soul present and raised his gun. "Firstly, we can die. Secondly—"

"You possess the ability to elevate your wives beyond the limitations of mortals, yet you call yourself a mere human," the fanatic dropped another explosive truth.

Xia reacted to the eruption of facts with a wide-open mouth. She pointed between Ciel and the masked man, desiring clarification from the heavens.

In response, an annoyed Ciel waved his lab coat, throwing a canister. It sailed through the air and exploded into a swarm of metallic wasps.

With that single action, the uneasy truce broke. Nuan rushed toward Xia. Meanwhile, Ciel took aim at the fanatic who escaped from the wasps on his flying steed.

"What an honor!" the robed maniac laughed to the wind, evading another shot of Ciel's Ether rifle. "I, Decimo of the Blackwing, shall take the head of the Lord of Union before a single Celestial Bride rises!"

"Celestial what?" Xia shivered at the term, but a flying kick from Nuan folded her like paper. The Crown Princess shot across the ground, shafting through a broken tavern behind her.

Seeing only a cloud of dust where her opponent landed, Nuan dreamily rotated to kill Ciel. 

"Your bride candidate is gone," Decimo declared, gazing down upon the earthbound god. "What can you--"

Not a word slipped before Decimo and his ride fell to the earth with a bone-breaking smash. Countless silvery wasp golems surrounded him. Each drone hovered with fibrous wings and carried a complicated inscription in its chest. Meanwhile, without warning, Nuan froze before dropping like a log thanks to the good-old spider golem.

Decimo couldn't rise from the ground. The winged mount lay beside him, its bones creaking from the pressing force. Sprawled in the dirt, his teeth clattered as he screamed against the weight.

"How is this possible?" he struggled to lift his hands. "This isn't a part of your Authority!"

Ciel stood over his defeated foes and mocked their limited imagination, "Do you believe I have been twiddling my thumbs for eons? Balor should have written how much I hate my Authority. He should have warned you to expect me to be grinding in the Void."

Decimo chuckled as the wasps' Ether compression nailed him to the ground. "As expected of the Great One's greatest enemy," his eyes gleamed with perverse admiration. "You truly are a dangerous foe, O' Union Lord. I apologize for underestimating you, but you shouldn't think this is over."

Detecting the hint of conflict, Ciel braced himself, and it was a good thing he did.

With a flicker of Aura, Nuan Yulong ripped herself out of the inventor's paralytic countermeasures. The golem automatically armed itself and blew up, but a projected screen of Aura blunted the explosion. The field twisted into a spinning whirlwind, dismissing the force to nowhere. From the swirl, Nuan emerged in throes but unscratched. Spiral patterns Ciel found familiar were etched upon the sands.

"Well, so it is a defensive technique," he recalled the crime scene from last night and aimed his rifle. "Then she should be able to--"

Nuan kicked up with her leg shimmering with friction-laced Aura that stretched forth like a blade.

Ciel disengaged on instinct. He watched Nuan's AURA BLADE draw a smooth gorge on the dirt-paved street and part the house at the other end in two.

The possessed Dragon Scion waved her hand, slicing apart the drones occupying Decimo with an invisible blade. Released from the force pinning him down, he hollered with gusto.

"You are mighty, Lord Ciel, hence I needed extra help dealing with you," the worshiper of Balor began advertising Nuan Yulong like a prized product. "Behold the Massacre Princess, one of the most talented masters of Aura in this empire's history, under the thrall of Balor's Grip."

Ciel attempted to pull out a tranquilizer, but Nuan rushed at him faster. Her palms stretched out like a blade. The sword of Aura clashed against the shield of Ether. Ciel heard a crack in the protection and felt his heart drop from a cliff.

WHITE MAGIC RANK III: BIND

White Mana snaked into a ring in its caster's hand; a circle of disruptive energy. With a mighty throw, it flew into the sky like a discus, curving and snapping upon Nuan as she took off after Ciel.

The Massacre Princess tumbled across the earth. She landed on her knee, attempting to stand only for another white ring to clash upon her.

"Oh," Decimo muttered. "I almost forgot about her."

WHITE MAGIC RANK IV: SMITE

Incandescent light funneled and compressed. With the sound of burning flesh and air, it plowed through the wreckage of building material and forced Decimo into a full evasion maneuver. Nothing but a smoldering circular path remained from the carnage unleashed by the maiden returning to battle.

Xia, ebbing with healing spells, watched the devastation. "Can anyone explain anything to me?" she demanded.

Ciel pointed his weapon at Decimo and shouted, giving the best summary he could manage, "He worships one of my relatives, a real creep, and took over Nuan Yulong in an attempt to kill me." He poured in more gasses. "You are likely the second on his shopping list."

"Fine," she declared but still glared at that damn liar. "But you owe me an explanation later, especially about the 'wives' part."

A snapping resounded as a massive spiral of Aura freed Nuan. The possessed maiden rushed at Xia with a flying kick. Although that blow was diverted by Xia, a jab with an elbow rocked her world, and a roundhouse kick flipped her into a house opposite their destroyed inn.

Meanwhile, Ciel successfully pulled out his gun, aiming at the parasite on Nuan's chest. His aim was simple: removing the Balor's Grip parasitizing her should eliminate her from the fight and turn this match more even. However, Ciel's moves had distracted him from the interfering third party.

Decimo tackled him with a full-body Aura-enhanced blow.

His Ether shield shattering, Ciel crashed through the street, winded with a broken rib. The entire world spun and screeched in sweet agony.

Seeing him sprawled in the dirt, Decimo deduced one more weakness of the Unity Lord.

"I see you've had eons to polish the other Lord's ancient techniques, but the recent discoveries on Acceltra like Mana and Aura are alien to you, aren't they?" he chuckled wildly. "You're nothing but a caveman who has reached the peak of your technological tree only to be stuck in this world of magic; a gimmick with gadgets and nothing more!"

In response, Ciel threw out a grenade that got cut out midair by Nuan. Ciel's eyes gazed wide-open as the girl rushed at him with AURA BLADE blazing. But once again, Nuan Yulong was stopped by Xia, empowered by her strengthening spell.

The Crown Princess tackled Nuan off her path and went over to Ciel, lifting him by the shoulder.

WHITE MAGIC RANK I: HEAL

Ciel's huffing ceased. Crawling of ant-like Mana crept across his broken bones, mending them. The weakness he felt slowly melted away.

"We're getting stomped," Xia grimaced, watching her opponent return without a single dent. "Do you have anything to get us out of here?"

Ciel nodded, reaching into his lab coat only for the entire world to turn yellow, the sky to turn black, and soured mist to fill the air. He felt his head spin like he'd been shoved into a drunken weathervane which never stopped whirling.

In that ring of inebriety, the voice of Decimo echoed.

"Welcome to Lord Balor's gift to me, the World of Liquor," he spoke. "Be proud; this is an attack that even Nuan Yulong herself can’t overcome."

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