Chapter 118 Altar Room (Part 3)

John was sitting on his knees just in front of the altar, tears rolling down his face "John...? Is that really you?" Leo asked as he knelt beside him.

He reached out to place a hand on John's shoulder "It's alright, I'm sure we'll be able to do fix you." Just as Leo's hand was about to touch John's shoulder , he slapped Leo's hand away.

"Don't... Just... Just go." John said. His voice conveyed his feelings of hopelessness.

"What are you talking about? John... We came here to get you back, to help you." Leo was confused by John's behavior but he tried to sound as considerate as possible.

"Help me...? It's your fault I'm like this! Her fault!" John shouted with anger and pain filling his voice as he pointed at Rene.

"What is he talking about? How could this be your fault?" Leo asked. "I don't know... His had cuts on his arms and...and... He was bleeding a lot so I healed him...but then there was this light and... I.. I just..." It was obvious Rene felt she was to blame for John's condition ad she struggled to finish her sentence because she started crying.

"It really is her fault." A voice said from the other end of the room. Everyone turned towards the voice, except for John. He was still in no state of mind to do anything more than speak a few words here and there.

"Trent? Why are you here? And who's that man!?" Leo jumped to his feet as he hastily asked his questions.

Trent was dragging a man being him by his hair. The man looked to be around his mid thirties.

"Did you know I was disowned and kicked out of my home. That my father discarded me in an instant. All because of you?" Trent asked with a calm expression on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked with a confused expression.

"I hate you more than you could possibly comprehend, but it's also thanks to you that I received this power..." Trent threw the man on the floor in front of him.

The man looked like he was barely conscious and just lay on the floor without moving. "You wanted to know why it's her fault, right? It's because she healed him halfway through the ritual. The blood is used as a sort of gate to the 'great ones' but it's also a barrier that allows a safe amount of energy to come through."

"She healed his arms before all the blood had left his body, meaning there wasn't enough for the barrier. The gate still opened but the energy was unstable, that's why he looks like that. To be honest it's a miracle he survived."

Trent finished his explanation and made sure he smiled at Renes dispaired expression when he told her it was her fault.

Trent bent down and placed his hand on the man's head "Its time for you all to die now any ways, so there's no point in continuing this conversation." In the next moment the man's body began to change.

As Leo, Cain and Rene watched in horror, the man turned into one of the creatures that had been chasing them. One of the larger ones without wings.

"Kill him. I'll handle him myself." Trent pointed at Cain first and then Leo. The creature ran forward and slammed its fist into Cains chest, sending him rolling along the ground.

"Cain!" Leo placed energy in his fist and pulled his arm back to punch the creature but before he could a stream of fire was shot between himself and the creature.

The fire only appeared for a few seconds, but it was enough to allow the creature to rush into a fight with Cain. The fire came from Trent and he was staring directly at Leo now.

"It's just us now. Let's see how well you hold up against my flames." He lifted his hand and a ball of fire shot out of it.

Leo side stepped the fire and it slammed into the ground behind him. The speed of the attack was slow enough that it wasn't difficult to dodge.

The fire hit the ground a few meters behind Leo and then it exploded. A large area in the shape of a dome was instantly covered in fire, with Leo being caught inside the edge of the flames.

The force of the explosion pushed his body away, but not before he received some burns on his back.

When looking up from the ground, Leo saw that Trent had already thrown another ball of fire at him and it was almost upon him.

[Leap]

Leo jumped as hard as he could to the side. His body looked like it was flying for a moment as he crossed a distance of 10 meters.

[Absorb]

He then used Absorb to replenish his used energy from his fight with Silas, as well as to slow him down so he could land easier.

The 'system skills', as Dreifus refers to them, are skills such as Leap or Dash. They don't require the use of Energy and use his Stamina instead, making them independent of Leo's ability. This makes them great for replenishing Energy, as Leo is able to use Leap and then Absorb immediately after.

[Energy - 58/60]

As Leo landed on the ground the ball of fire exploded and covered the area he had been in before using Leap.

[Wind Blade]

Leo lifted his hand and the Wind Blade flew towards Trent at a much faster speed than what his fire had been moving.

Trent fired a much smaller ball of fire at the Wind Blade. The two attacks collided and caused a small explosion in the air.

'Wind attacks? I didn't know he could do that... John told me that his ability had something to do with movement. Can he really affect anything that moves? His ability would be able to stop almost any attack and then replicate its effects immediately after... If he gets the chance to grow more powerful...this is my best chance to kill him! Before he gets that chance!' Trent resolved himself and started attacking more seriously.

Meanwhile, Cain and been punched across the room by the large creature and he had just gotten back on his feet.

He saw that Leo was blocked by a blast of fire and that he would be busy fighting Trent 'I guess I'm on my own then.'

Lifting his hammers he prepared to fight. The creature charged directly at Cain and lunged forward with its claws.

Cain lightened his body and dodged to the side with some space to spare, he then increased the weight of his hammer and slammed it down on the creatures head.

It's head was shoved into the ground and it's body rolled forwards over its own head. The creature stood up with black blood pouring out of its head "Rooooaaaawwww!" It let out a loud and deep roar at Cain.

Its hands became covered in a yellow energy and it slammed its fists into the ground. Spikes of earth erupted from the ground in a line heading directly for Cain.

He jumped to the side to avoid the spikes and landed a few meters to the side. He charged towards the creature and readied himself to attack with his hammer, but the creature created another line of spikes in his direction, forcing him to dodge again.

This time he jumped backwards as well as to the side, cresting more distance between them. Cain realized that the spikes aren't able to go very far from the creature so he thought that keeping his distance would force the creature come to him.

"Roooaaawwrr!!" The creature slammed its fists into the ground again and a pillar erupted right in front of it. The pillar was about the same size as the creature.

It the ripped a chunk of rock out of the pillar with its bare hands and threw it at Cain. He swing his hammer at the rock and caused it to shatter and crumble.

The creature continued throwing rocks as Cain tried to get closer after realizing that distance is not helpful to him.

'I can't do anything unless I'm right in front of this thing! I really need to figure out a way to attack from a distance.' Cain thought, frustrated with his lack of attack variety.

After dodging what appeared to be the last part of the pillar, a massive explosion happened a bit behind Cain.

The heat and intensity of the explosion was at least double that of the previous ones he had heard. Cain reconsidered his current opponent and realized he was actually glad to be fighting it rather than Trent.

'I might not be strong enough to fight against him, but I really hope you are. You beat the shit out of that asshole while I take care of this ugly thing!' Cain declared in his mind.