Though it lacked eyes, it was staring right at him; hollow and devoid of anything remotely ‘human’, though it continued emitting those words like a lure.

“Help me..please, please..anybody.”

It was perplexing to him; though he knew its words were shallow recreations of what it had heard, the fact it was repeating them was an odd behavior that he hadn’t yet experienced from a foe.

Soon, its calls shifted, rising in pitch as the holes on its body expanded, “..Help..me—!!!”

The air was amplified through the tunnels carved through its flesh, producing sound waves that shattered the windows, vibrating the entire shop as if an earthquake had gripped it.

“Ghhh..!” He clutched his own ears.

The mimicked words dissolved into nothing that bore a resemblance to human speech, completely shifting into an overpowering screech that vibrated and broke up the glass into powder, assaulting his ears and body alike.

“Argh..!”

It was difficult for his body to withstand the force, even while staying behind the counter; his fingertips quivered greatly, aching in pain as the force of sound vibrated in the marrow of his bones. This made it an arduous task to grip his staff, and even more difficult to concentrate on weaving magecraft.

Get..it..! He told himself.

Just as he managed to wrap his pale fingers around his catalyst, it granted him the necessary focus to unleash a dome of air around himself, invoking the element in order to counteract the soundwaves.

Blood trailed down from one of his nostrils as he forced himself to his feet, aiming the concentration of wind across the shop without any reservations now as his life was on the line. It swept through the building; the floorboards were carved up before the blast managed to knock the hole-filled creature back._.

Fortunately, this stopped the assault of the soundwaves, granting him a moment to catch his breath as his entire body ached in pain now.

“..Grgh..”

That was rough. I can’t let it do that again, he thought, I’ll have to test my theory out–now!

He moved swiftly, raising his staff and launching another burst of wind towards the sound-using entity, not with the idea it’d harm it, but to keep it off balance as he left the shop.

Just as he launched it onto the street, he stationed himself on the building’s porch, manifesting a swirl of flames in front of his staff.

While summoning the sphere of fire, he coughed out from the smoky air that filled his lungs, still feeling the aftereffects of the sound waves. Still, he poured his concentration into weaving the spell.

..I don’t need to be fancy about it, he thought, against a foe like this..total eradication is the way to go!

There was no special, intricate spell weaved, only a cone of flames amplified by wind in order to generate a destructive onslaught that propelled towards the creature.

“Help..!!!”

The mimicry sirened out like the cry of a banshee from the creature before distorting into high-pitched sound waves that clashed directly against the cone of flames.

“Damn it–!”

It was a counter that came unexpectedly quick as the sound waves managed to sway the flames, tunneling through them and dispersing them wildly. The wild inferno was blown back directly towards its caster, causing Emilio to quickly summon a dome of stone around himself.

Damn it–those sound waves are more annoying than I thought! He realized.

Though the barrier of pale stone managed to withstand the flames without fail, it was the abrasive assault of sound that challenged its integrity. Cracks began to form along the stalwart walls as it rumbled violently.

“Ghh..” He winced, holding his head.

Even suppressed within the personal dome, the sound still shook him up as blood dripped down his nose.

It’s going to break the dome. Once that happens, I’m going to be hit full-force with this sound, he thought, I can’t counter, either..that’ll require putting the barrier down. What do I do, then?

While sediment rained down from above with the ground vibrating against the soles of his boots, he pondered his next move while cracks lengthened and spread along the dome.

That’s it..! He realized.

As he knelt down, he pressed one of his palms against the ground, breathing in and out to steady himself.

I can still manipulate rock from here. The vibrations will guide me straight to it! He thought.

Closing his eyes, he focused solely on the element of rock; it was difficult to fully connect with it, but he began to be able to sense the vibrations along the ground outside of his dome. As he locked onto the sensation, guiding down the trail of soundwaves, he found it.

Got you..! He thought.

Honing in on the hole-bearing entity, he pressed his palm against the ground, manifesting his chosen magecraft as the ground rumbled intensely and parted.

The sound waves stopped completely, allowing him to now dissipate his dome barrier as he saw the result of his spell.

“..Good..” He mumbled, wiping the blood from his nose.

Four thick, sturdy walls had closed in around the creature, entrapping it and managing to hold off the sound waves long enough for him to prepare his next attack.

I have to win–now, he surmised.

What was chosen was a high-level fire spell; an Ethereal-class magecraft. Embers began to form in the air around the abandoned street, swaying in the wind before gathering in a spot directly above the four walls.

The walls continued to be assaulted by the full-force of the destructive sound, causing them to crack and falter while the magecraft was formed.

All of the embers coalesced into the shape of a bright-orange, five-pointed star, looking down above the stone box.historical

?[0)??? Just then, it shattered, and as it did, he unleashed the true nature of the ethereal-class spell:

“Piety of The Fire King.”

Blood trickled down from his nostril as he summoned the magecraft into existence, weaving the fiery winds into one location before the star illuminated into a fantastical heat, shining down on the creature with a pillar of flames.

It’s as I thought..higher-end spells like this are a menace on this body, he realized.

The aftermath of the condensed pillar of flames left a perfect circle of charred stone in the middle of the street, and nothing to be seen left of the creature besides a strand of blackened flesh that soon carried off into ash.

After finishing it off, he sat down on the wooden steps of the abandoned shop to gather his breath and rest his aching body for a moment. As he looked up, he found the crimson eclipse to still be persistent.

..So, that creature wasn’t the one responsible for this? I figured as much, he thought, if it was my normal body, I’d have been able to handle that one in a second. But..this body isn’t meant for combat.

As the adrenaline in his body cooled off, he was finally able to properly take in the scenery of Larundog; the old-fashioned buildings had personality to them: flowers sat in the front of some shops, lazily written signs, and little decorations.

For as empty as it seemed to be, there weren’t many bodies visible besides a few–which was something he was grateful for.

Vandread, where are you..? He thought.

Keeping his hood on, he stood up as he continued down the dreadful streets of the eclipse-trapped city, walking down the narrow paths that were neighbored by old, assaulted shops. It was undoubtedly eerie; subtle howls laced the air, and sometimes he swore whispers fell on his ears. Even footsteps were thought to be heard, but when he checked over his shoulder, there was nothing there.

“–” Emilio kept his guard up.

Just as he was about to turn a corner, seeing the fountain-bearing clearing of the city up ahead, though it seemed to be painted in crimson more than any other section he’d seen, his entire body was suddenly yanked to the side.

“Wha–”

As he called out, his mouth was covered, being pulled into the dark alleyway. All of his instincts fired up as he prepared to unleash a propulsion of deadly wind; the air vibrated around him, whistling with a rising intensity before–

“Hey, I’m a friend! A friend!” A masculine voice told him in a sharp whisper.

He was let go as he found himself standing in front of a young man with spiky, silver hair and a black headband, though his emerald eyes stood out the most. By the look of his outfit, with a vest of black-leather armor and a sword at his hip, the man definitely wasn’t a civilian.

“Sorry about that—there’s something down that way that you definitely don’t want to stumble into, so I snatched you,” the youthful man told him.

Emilio furrowed his eyebrows, “..So you did that? I was about to blast you.”

“It was a split-second decision, gimme a break!” Ah—anywho, I’m Joel, an adventurer of Larundog. I haven’t seen you around before, so I assume you’re an adventurer sent from the Foundation?” The young man introduced himself with a worn smile.

He didn’t know exactly how to answer, but since he had the appearance of his nineteen-year-old previous self, he decided it would be fine to twist some truths.

“Yeah, something like that..” He wryly answered, “I’m, err..Ethan.”

While he was trying to make up a false name, the name he seldom wanted to remember slipped out naturally.

Joel extended his hand, which was covered by a black glove, “Let’s work together then, Ethan!..God knows we’ll need all the help we can get in this hell.”

For better or worse, ‘Emilio’ was for the time being under a name identity, though it was hardly new, but only something brought back: ‘Ethan.’