Garden Of The Abyss

"In the depths of darkness, this world was forged. With complete authority, this world's light only persists because of its darkness. It is your authority that makes so; listen and grant my will, and wither my foe to nothingness! Nyx: Anti-Life Rebirth!"

"Hear me, Daughter of Chaos, Mother of Dreams, Death, Fate...Day, Night, and Destruction. Inside and out, the aspect of the night holds true to my soul...in honor of you and your overwhelming power. With this, grant me reprieve from the dangers before me! Be sent into the never-ending night forevermore! Nyx: Ultima Darkness!"

"Father of the Three Skies, he who walks amongst the highest of heavens, hear me! Relay your divine authority into the form of destruction–unto my enemies, unto the enemies of the world your iridescence gleams down upon! Hyperion: In The Hands of Light!"

"Blessed thee with your greatest of miracles! I ask only of this power in the face of total evil, in the face of benevolence, and in conflict with darkness! Giveth Thee: Amplification!"

Following Felix's calling of the divine, he slammed the head of his warhammer down three times in succession like a war-drum sounding.

It was a mixture of magic, so potent, devastating, and awe-inspiring that it was almost impossible to perceive properly.

"Multiple great magic at once…? Are they trying to destroy this whole mountain?!" Memo called out, holding his arms out in front of him.

"I don't expect anything less to be capable of taking that monster down," Archard said as the harsh winds of the coalescing magic pelted against his armor.

Those too injured or exhausted to contribute, or rather, out of fear their contribution would tip the scale towards total destruction of the mountain top, watched the spectacle, praying for the defeat of the seemingly impervious orc.

"Aren't you going to help?" Akanni asked the cloak-wearing woman beside him, knelt against the ground as he held his bruised chest.

After the full-force hit he took from the orc god, his lungs were left bruised, as much as he wanted to join in the all-out attack–it wasn't an option with his breathing as rugged as it was.

Elena shook her head with a small laugh, "That isn't really my style."

In the midst of such a gathering of magic, it felt as if the air itself was being replaced by the abundant flow of mana; thinning and heating it as an array of mana particles flooded through the winds.

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Beyond just the combination of darkness and light, an array of colors flourished, humming as the powerful clash, yet synchronization of that magic shook the foundation of the mountain itself.

In the presence of the swirling, combining great magic, the azure clouds above spiraled, giving room for the radiant magecraft produced by Iris in the form of colossal gauntlets of light that entrapped the orc.

In the grasp of the "Hands of Light", you can't use any magic…! Iris thought.

Fluttering in the air, particles of darkness swarmed around the light-entrapped Orc God; by way of Calytrix's will, they blossomed into airborne, black-petaled flowers that bore a magenta center.

As they blossomed in full, surrounding the Orc God as plentiful as raindrops, the flowers of darkness emitted a multi-layered, complex array of seals that further entrapped the brute, working in tandem with the lightning seal and the light hands.

While faced with my "Anti-Life Flowers" one's proximity to death is closened, Calytrix thought.

Finally, walls of shadows came from all sides, coalescing at the Orc God's imprisoned position before it was ensnared in a colossal sphere of utter darkness.

All of their magecraft was amplified by the miracle of Felix, making it impossible for the orc to resist as the sphere of condensed darkness began to shrink, possessing a greater density and crushing force.

With each shrinking the sphere of crushing darkness took, a shock wave emitted, shattering the layer of frost that coated the mountain.

"Crush that bastard!" Samfrey yelled out.

"Get him!" Felix called out, gripping his hammer.

"Leave nothing left," Akanni said.

He yelled out, squeezing his bruised and bloodied fist as tightly as he could, "With pleasure…!"

In a sudden, violent condensing, the sphere crushed even the great magic of the other two that was held within it, unleashing a loud squelch as the one held within it was most certainly crushed.

With his great magic being amplified, and the hold on the orc being as tight as it was, the aftermath of the spell being released left only a cubified corpse that was clenched with such pressure it melded into coal.

"...And done," he quietly celebrated, letting out a breath of relief.

Calytrix flicked her hair behind her shoulder, "The grandeur of darkness prevails once again."

As she said this, the gothic lolita leaned against his right arm.

"Hey…!" Iris said, clinging to his other arm.

"Hmm~?" Calytrix grinned at her before moving away with a laugh.

After that encounter he chalked up to simply being playful teasing, the members regrouped, allowing Iris and Felix to tend to their wounds.

"Ngh…" Memo groaned quietly.

His nose had been shattered, leaving Archard to tend to it.

"You sure you know what you're doing, old man?" Memo asked.

"I've done this many times on the battlefield," Archard assured him, "have faith and stay still."

Without a moment of hesitation, Archard gripped the young man's bleeding, crooked nose before popping it back in its proper shape.

"Argh…! Shit…" Memo massaged his bruised nose, sliding his mask back up.

As Archard returned to his feet, turning away, he was stopped by quiet spoken words that sounded almost begrudged.

"…Thanks," Memo said, looking at him, "not just for the nose, but for earlier. I could've handled it, but…"

"I know," Archard responded, "don't think about it. It's natural for comrades to help each other."

"Right," Memo nodded to himself.

Witnessing the group work together like an actual unit, he watched with his hands on his hips.

He let out a sigh, "I guess I should just be happy everybody seems fine, right?"

Feeling a heated sensation in his pockets, he flipped the crimson strap hanging over his trousers, retrieving the crumpled-up paper from the depths of his pants.

Unrolling it, he looked at it as a mark of completion mystically etched itself onto the paper, marking the quest as–done.

"Looks like that really was the last lacyrie…" He sighed out.

Taking one last look at the battle-torn summit, with a castle that was half-coated in frost, he looked at the potential recruits of Gladiolus as they tended to one another, and spoke as if already comrades-in-arms.

Clearing his throat with a smile, he gathered the attention of each and every one of them.

"From this day forward–you're all members of Gladiolus!" He announced with a bright smile.

Though most of the smiles they held in return seemed as if they already felt those were the words that were inevitably going to leave his lips.

Hand-in-hand with Iris, he looked upwards towards the blue cloud-filled, dusk sky.

This is where my new journey begins in this fantastical world. There are still so many mysteries, so many things I don't know.

Still, I won't stop until the Argonauts are gone, and we can finally smile without a worry, he thought.