Level Up Legacy

Thousands of souls cried as they descended from the cosmos to answer the calls of their queen, Morana. Then, they formed a spiral of souls as they dropped to the ground while the giant struck toward their queen.

“You won’t make it in time!” shouted Cassius as he raised his severed arms and brought the giant downward. The hurricane of souls was still descending, but Suyin seemed unaffected. Instead, she tore off another petal.

“Soul Prison,” whispered Suyin before she blew into the petal, and it dissolved to fly through the air. After a second, Cassius found himself unable to move again, as if time had been frozen.

The giant was frozen too, and the slow descending army of souls marched forward leisurely. It surrounded their queen and Arthur like a hurricane, with them in the vortex. All souls cried for her, and some reached to touch her.

“Save me.”

“Just another day of yore.”

“Come back, my beloved.”

The souls cried as they surrounded her. “Everyone wants to live again,” muttered Suyin as she closed her eyes. The cries of the souls, their regrets, and their misery raged through her soul. The voices were in the thousands, and she could hear them all.

This is the reason that Morana said she wouldn’t be able to handle it. These painful emotions would kill her before any knife could, and she was right. The only reason she was still standing was that a part of Morana had awakened inside her too.

“Hark not, or thy soul shall be eaten too,” said Morana in her mind with a voice that surpassed the rest. “Thou hast one attack to dispatch the calamity, or both shall die.”

“Can the Soul Reaper die?” asked Suyin while raising her sword toward the sky. The souls began to gather and form a giant knight whose face could not be seen.

“In this form, I can,” answered Morana. “The Eternal Ruler is difficult to kill, but he cherishes himself. However, his pride is not honor. It is vanity. Thus, he shall run when things are dire.”

Suyin watched the soul knight raise its sword while the giant stopped moving. The two were of equal stature, making the knight seem like a reassuring help. However, one was spiritual, and the other was physical.

After another second, the giant started moving again, and so did Cassius. This time, he realized that this was one of Morana’s abilities, which should have affected his soul. It seemed he was enraged and roared as the giant raised both fists to slam them at the soul knight.

In response, the blue-armored giant raised its sword, exploding with countless souls every second. Finally, the two fists met the sword, and the two through each other before the giant started crumbling.

“It seems a spiritual attack of this magnitude would disturb my control over the world,” said Cassius with a frown before he turned toward Suyin. The latter met his eyes, and she showed no obedience to the higher being. “I should have killed you before you became more than just an ant,” said Cassius before he dove toward his arms.

Suyin watched the calamity land on the ground, causing a ripple across the soil as if it was water. Then, his arms were carried toward him by air to reattach them.

“If this is a spiritual energy hindering me from using my arms, then I merely need to overcome it!” figured Cassius as he unleashed his spiritual energy, which burned like a white flame in the setting sun.

“He figured it out, but even if he manages to reattach the arms, the Soul Severance Blade is more than just spiritual energy. It is the divider of souls,” muttered Suyin, retrieving the knowledge from Morana.

“The next attack is thy last,” said Morana, warning her. Suyin stared at the remaining petal on her heart and then toward Cassius, who reattached his arms.

“It works!” shouted Cassius with a grin as he moved his arms again, but his control over them was sloppy. However, it seems he was using commands over his arms to move them, too, instead of using them like before.

“What does this accomplish, Sin of Pride?” said Suyin before raising her sword toward the sky. “Two arms are not going to protect you when death visits. So come back, my souls.”

The souls forming the knight screamed before they scattered and headed toward Suyin. A blue stream slammed to the winged woman, surrounding her body. Cassius looked at his crumbling giant and then at the woman.

“A Spiritual Armor?” muttered Cassius with a frown.

The souls condensed around their queen until they materialized blue armor for her. As the stream of souls connected heaven and earth, Suyin was still staring at Cassius, and he stared back.

“Some of these souls are the ones you killed today, Eternal Ruler. They demand revenge, and I shall grant it to them. These innocent souls couldn’t do anything against you while alive, but it’s a different story when they are dead. Because I, Morana, am here.”

“Even if you gather a million ants, you are still nothing but an ants queen!” shouted Cassius as he raised his arms toward the sky. “Let the stars rain!”

Tens of meteors descended from the sky, rushing toward the valley. Suyin raised her eyes toward it, and she frowned. Seeing the countless meteors heading toward the valley, Suyin realized she couldn’t block this attack.

“The calamity is the one preventing the meteors from turning to ashes, so disable his powers, and they shall turn to embers,” advised Morana in Suyin’s mind as the armor kept forming around her.

However, the closest meteor was already on its way toward her. It was as big as the valley and as bright as the sun. Suyin would need to fend it off before she attacks Cassius again.

“Taste the same fate as Arthur Silvera!” said Cassius with a laugh, and it made her realize the reason behind the boulders falling on the city. This was not the first meteor that the calamity brought. “Die, Queen Morana!”

Suyin stared with a frown at the rising calamity, which floated beside his descending meteor. As for the first meteor, she needed to push it toward the lake for minimal damage.

“How did Arthur stop such an attack?” asked Suyin. Even with Morana’s command over souls, she could not achieve such a feat with her current strength. Nevertheless, Arthur managed to destroy such a meteor before pushing the calamity into a corner.

“Everyone hath their strength,” said Morana. “This armor can withstand this attack but cannot overturn it. Arthur Silvera will die if left here to receive it.”

Suyin snapped out of her daze and turned toward Arthur, unconscious on the ground. Her wings flapped before she bolted toward him, hugging him tightly and then carrying him away.

She needed to carry him out of this valley before it got destroyed. Otherwise, all of this would have been meaningless if harm befell him. The meteor descended above her as she carried him across the valley and closer to the lake.

Suyin turned back and saw that she wouldn’t be able to flee in time, so she did the next best thing. But fortunately, her armor had already finished conjuring, and she landed on the ground. Since she couldn’t flee, she would have to protect him with her body.

Her wings started folding to protect the two as Suyin lay on top of him. Her body covered his, although it was too small to block the attack. However, her wings should do the rest.

Her face was close to his as the two were glued beneath her wings. The scent of his body reminded her of the time the two slept together.

Then, the meteor crashed into her back. Everything in the valley caved in, scattering under the enormous weight of the giant rock. As for the flames, they burned everything in their paths. Her back arched as Suyin pushed against the ground, trying to hold off the impact lest it reached Arthur.

The first thing to get destroyed was her wings. Since the two were created of spiritual energy, they offered minimal protection. Instead, the heat scorched them, making a giant hole that allowed the flames and rubble to enter.

Suyin screamed as the flames burned her skin and the armor glowed to protect her. However, in the end, this was far from being her forte.

…

After an unknown amount of time, the flames started to die down. Suyin opened her eyes weakly, but she could see nothing. The two were buried beneath the meteor that had flattened the valley.

Her body couldn’t move, but her mind was alert. First, she stared at the man before her, whose warm breath made her relieved. Then, she stared to see if he had been wounded.

The two of them were buried under the meteor because her wings acted as a bunker against the impact. However, the flames were a different topic, as they managed to burn their skin.

“Come out, Morana!” roared a voice from the outside.