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Chapter 33: Intrusion & The Exzas Beasts "Sweet......" I swam in the stream near our house at night. I stopped to float on my back for a while and gaze at the moon. Trying not to remember my dead daughter, I paddled too fast and rammed into a rock. I spluttered and massaged my head, feeling a big bump there. I sighed and got up, walking towards the house. When I reached me and Ivan's bedroom, Ivan wasn't on the bed. Nowadays, he went to practice on the archery range every night. I went outside and sure enough, I heard a bowstring twanging. Suddenly, I heard something snapping and he mumbled something about flimsy bowstrings. I walked upstairs and into bed, pulling the blanket over me. I needed to get stronger so I could protect myself instead of him protecting me all the time. The Siren said, "You'll need a tutor for that. Also, how's your diet going?" I sat up and ran into the bathroom for the measuring tape. I pulled it around my waist and checked it. It had slimmed by another 5 centimetres. I heaved a sigh of relief and went back to bed. The next day...... *Clang!* I woke up to the sound of swords clashing and sat up, running to the balcony. Fielda was dueling Keichii yet again. "You're getting better!" she said, panting. Keichii replied, "You're the same too!" and started fighting again, also panting. I went down to make breakfast and found Ivan and Roy staring out the window at the two duelists. As I bustled around the kitchen, Ivan said, "Try not to get your finger burnt again." I blushed and then got my finger burnt yet again. Roy remarked, "Tenth time." and went back to watching the duel. I quietly washed the burn mark and went back to making breakfast. The Siren said, "At least you've learnt not to ask me for help with these stupid matters." I went red and put breakfast on the table and went to workout in the house's new gym. Fielda complained about the cost when I wanted to have it built, but I settled it easily by paying the costs out of my own pocket. Ivan also helped and when we were done, there was a gym with a complete set of equipment. I went on the treadmill first. Keichii joined me after a shower, panting after his duel with Fielda. Suddenly, I heard someone knocking on the door. When Roy went to answer it, there was a clashing sound, then another, then another. There was a shout of "Help!" and then there was more clashing sounds. "What the...... Who the heck are you!?" I heard Fielda yell as there was more clashing sounds. Ivan ran into the gym and pulled me off the treadmill to the archery range. "What's going on?" I asked, scared. He replied, "Someone burst into the house and started attacking us. You'd better stay back and let me handle it." and hid me behind a target. I peeked out and saw Ivan stringing his bow and nocking an arrow to the string. A stranger wearing black clothes and a black cape appeared afterwards and charged towards him. Ivan let out a battle cry and launched his arrow. The intruder deflected it easily with a sword and jumped at Ivan. He rolled out of the way and fired another arrow at the latter. He deflected it easily again and slashed at Ivan. He rolled out of the way just in time only to get slashed in the arm. The intruder had jumped to his side with lightning-quick speed! "Too slow!" I heard him say and he slashed Ivan again. Blood splattered onto the target as Ivan narrowly managed to block it with his new Red Viper that I had bought for him a few days ago at the market. The intruder smiled and kicked Ivan in the stomach with his right leg, sending him flying across the range limply. I could tell that the intruder was a professional just by his moves. Ivan got up, coughing blood as the intruder rushed at him again. He raised his sword, poised to strike until I stepped out from behind the target, shouting and unsheathing my sword. He turned towards me and charged, his sword pointed straight at me. I blocked it and kicked him in the groin. However, it didn't work out well. He grabbed my foot as it went up and threw me high into the air. Then, he walked underneath me and pointed his sword upwards. I started spinning my sword around in mid-air, tracing magical symbols on it and yelling, "Split! Wind Strike!". My sword split into half and became a double-bladed sword. I spun it around in the air and wind started to gather around me. I used the wind to attack the intruder, forcing him to jump aside and let me land safely. Suddenly, a sword pierced through my leg. I sank to the ground clutching my wound as the intruder withdrew his sword and prepared to deal the final strike, gripping his sword with both hands and pointing the tip towards my chest. I closed my eyes and thought, "At least I'll get to see my daughter......" but the pain never came. Instead, there was a small explosion and I was blown away. Ivan was standing and looking at the intruder with a look that I had never seen before. His eyes were completely black and emotionless. I could also see a strange mark burning black on his arm. He put his bow on the ground and shouted, "Archaeion! Come to me!". A black and white coloured bow with a engraving of a dragon head with red eyes materialized in his hand. The eyes started to glow blue and the limbs turned into blades while the string melded into Ivan's arm. He knelt to the ground, his hand grasping the bow, or rather, two-bladed dagger. "Dark Assaulter." I heard him mutter and he took off at a speed so fast I couldn't see him. The intruder smiled and took off at a speed matching Ivan's. The two clashed, sword and dagger flashing so fast there were sparks flying everywhere. I heard shouts ringing through the air as the grass was uprooted and blown away by their fighting. I stuck my sword into the ground to avoid being blown away and watched their fight in awe. Suddenly, the two broke off from each other and landed on the grass. The intruder was panting but Ivan wasn't even blinking. His dagger became a bow again and he shouted, "Infernal Strafe! Final Attack!". Four fiery arrows flew out of nowhere towards the intruder, followed by an arrow shining gold. The intruder deflected the first four arrows only to get knocked back by an explosion from the shining arrow. Ivan smiled and shouted, "Firestorm!" and unleashed a flurry of fiery arrows. The intruder said, "Bladestorm!" and created a protective barrier by the whirling of his sword. The fire was repelled back towards Ivan but he blocked it with a shout of, "Barrier Shield!" and twirling his bow around. Suddenly, the intruder got behind him and stabbed Ivan in the heart. I screamed. However, Ivan didn't even flinch as the surprised intruder pulled his sword out of him. The wound healed itself as Ivan elbowed him in the groin and swung his bow back at the intruder, shouting, "Power Knockback!". He was knocked back a few metres, although unhurt due to his armour. He got up again and charged at Ivan, apparently thinking of taking off his head now. Ivan nocked a strange-looking arrow to his bow and started to concentrate his energy into it. The intruder continued his advance, undaunted as Ivan continued charging. Suddenly, he shouted, "HYPERION BLAST!!!" and let the arrow fly. It glowed gold and black as it flew towards the intruder. His eyes widened in horror and he ducked the shot. It cut a bit of his hair off and left a dent in his armour, purely by the air pressure. He gasped but continued fighting, still determined to kill Ivan. He nocked six arrows to his bow and let them go one at a time, shouting, "Stellar Combo Shots! Alpha Shot, Beta Shot, Delta Shot, Gamma Shot, Omega Shot, ZETA SHOT!" Each of the arrows flew outwards in exactly the same angle and trajectory. The arrows appeared to meld in mid-air and become one big gold coloured arrow that streamed trails of ice, fire, thunder, poison, light and dark. The intruder focused all his energy on his sword and held it against the force of the arrow. The arrow hit his sword and kept going, pushing him back almost a kilometre before disappearing. His sword was scorched from the force of the shot, but it held. He cursed and retrieved a scroll from his pocket, tearing it apart and jumping in a rift. It disappeared as soon as he went through. Ivan's eyes suddenly blanked out and the Archaeion disappeared as he collapsed to the ground. I quickly ran to him and checked his pulse. He was breathing very weakly. I carried him onto our bed and ran to check on the others. They were merely knocked out by the intruder and were alive. Reassured, I went back up to check Ivan. I sat down beside him and waited for him to move. He didn't even twitch a muscle after 4 hours. Fielda had woken up and was anxiously waiting for Ivan to return to us as well. Even after the next day, his eyes remained blank and he hadn't even moved a millimetre. I checked his pulse again and he was still breathing weakly. I wondered what had happened to him as I sat beside him all day. A week later...... Ivan still hadn't moved yet. We had called every doctor in the area and they were baffled. Even Grendel The Really Old was puzzled when we called him. He hadn't seen anything like this in his entire life. The only person who wasn't puzzled was Athena Pierce. She said she'd come here immediatly to see Ivan and hung up. She was knocking on the door the next minute and I opened it, greeting her anxiously. She walked up the stairs and into our bedroom. She rolled back his sleeve and pointed at a mark. "Ivan exhausted all his energy trying to control the Demon Dragon. He did a pretty good job of it too. See this mark? It only appears when a person has complete control over a Exzas Beast. Exzas Beasts are the upscale version of Inner Beasts, usually acquired via certain procedures. For example, Ivan's Dark Dragon transformed into the Demon Dragon when he swallowed the Demon Stone." she said. I asked, "Ivan exhausted all his energy? Does that mean......" Athena replied, "He's barely alive. Controlling an Exzas Beast isn't a very easy thing to do. So far I've only seen people who have reached the fourth job fully control an Exzas Beast. Ivan is the youngest to have ever controlled one of them. There's only one way to revive him, and it's extremely dangerous. You must defeat the monster known as Zakum and bring back it's heart. At your current level of training there is only a 0.001% chance of you succeeding. Zakum is one of the strongest monsters in the world and the path to it has many dangers. Few have faced it and come out alive." I shivered as Athena explained. "I can say that Ivan is as good as dead now, unless you can defeat Zakum. To do that, you must also be able to control your Exzas Beast, the Leviathan." she added. I gasped, "How do you know I have an Inner Beast?" She said, "Grendel has been watching your progress and he has kindly informed me of it. Best of luck to you. You will need it." and left the house. I stared after her and looked at Ivan. "How in the world am I to control my Exzas Beast if that happened to Ivan when he controlled his!?" I thought furiously and started to cry on Ivan. The Siren comforted me, "Your Exzas Beast is the one which you almost fully transformed into back at the warehouse. It's slightly weaker than the Demon Dragon, and even it can't take down Zakum easily." All she did was make me cry harder. "Do you want to save him or not!?" she shouted at me. I wiped away my tears and said, "Yes. But how!?". The Siren replied, "Your last transformation at the warehouse has awakened the Leviathan and it is ready to test you. You'd better get away from the house if you don't want it to get leveled." I ran out of the house onto a separate empty and isolated plateau. "I'll break the power seal once you're ready. You will have to defeat the Leviathan by yourself, without my help. One thing, once you try for this test of inner strength, you can never turn back. Should you fail, your mind will be destroyed and your mindless body will start wreaking havoc on the whole world. Should you pass, you will be granted full control over the Leviathan and you will be able to save Ivan." I gasped, "The Leviathan is a monster! How am I going to beat it!?". The Siren sighed and replied, "That is up to yourself. Are you ready?" I took a deep breath and said, "Yes. I'm ready." I felt something shatter inside me and my body transformed. My legs melded together and became an extremely long green scaly tail, my armour broke into pieces as my body sprouted 3 pairs of extra arms and became green and scaly. My arms became green and scaly and my hands became claws. My hair also grew longer and changed colour to green. Spikes grew out of my back and grew all the way down to my tail. When my transformation was done, my body grew larger and my scales thickened. I quickly coiled up on the plateau to avoid being seen by anyone looked upwards and the Leviathan said, "Cloak.". My entire body seemed to become invisible and I heaved a sigh of relief. "This question will decide your future. You may either live with this body for all eternity and be spared or go into my mind and take my test. Which will you select?" the Leviathan spoke. I gulped and replied, "I choose to take the test.". The Leviathan said, "Very well. Prepare yourself!" and I blacked out. |
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