The Wordless Mage
Chapter 49: The Cost of Weakness

Chapter 49: The Cost of Weakness

The black surrounding Rowan couldn’t be contained any longer, shooting out in all directions to fill the empty space.

Save any discussions of volume, the power alone that could be felt from any individual particle of aether was enough to force bile to rise in Liora’s throat, her hands reaching in front of her to cover her mouth.

It was ominous, possessing within it the uncontrolled malice that had overcome Rowan. It was unbecoming, Liora thought, but deserving of the creature in front of them.

"My, you are quite the specimen, to have such power reside within you. I knew it was right, messing with you and compelling us both to our mutual doom!"

The provocation was clearly an attempt to offset Rowan’s still movement, and it worked, his foot bouncing off non-existent floor to send him jetting toward the demon.

In Liora’s own view, one moment, Rowan had been there, and the next, gone. His flight wasn’t even a streak, instead the teleportation of a being beyond her comprehension.

But it wore his face, covered itself with his hair, and adorned his clothing. The only thing marking the person in front of her as Rowan was its appearance, its mannerisms and aura foreign to him just minutes before.

"I’ll fucking kill you, I’ll fucking kill you, I’ll fucking kill you!"

Each curse was followed by a loud bang from his fist impacting into the demon’s own, the void shaking with each clash.

Although there wasn’t air to displace, the stray jets of aether was more than enough to knock her off her balance.

"Insane," she thought with half-closed eyes, "they’re moving at speeds I can’t even process."

"Ya’ know, fighting both the pope and you here all at once is growing a bit too difficult," the demon said through staggered breath, backing itself off from Rowan’s rampage, "I think I might just leave you two here and return to the real world, else I risk dying from the pope’s mad magic."

Subsequent to its warning, the demon’s black lit up with a vibrant white, motes of its body lifting into the void above.

It was disappearing, and fast.

"No, we’re not done until I revel in your blood!"

Rowan’s fingers curled in front of him, grasping the invisible thread tying the demon’s spirit to the real world.

Like the flickering of a damaged video-game character, its form bounced between black and white as small parts of its broken body returned to it.

Its eyes closed for a moment, the shock too much for it to handle.

"What did you just do..." it asked, although the question wasn’t acknowledged in the slightest.

Rowan sprinted for it, spinning on his left foot to pivot into a roundhouse kick.

His shin crackled against the demon’s left side, thundering applause from his aether sounding the devastating blow.

The demon’s arms and legs straightened from the intense velocity pulling it, the wings from its back limp from the shift in momentum.

"I’ll make you suffer!"

Rowan’s bellow was not without companion, his legs kicking at space to propel him forward.

He was blistering, reaching the demon with not even half the time it took for its momentum to carry it the same distance.

With a boom, his fist cracked into the demon’s ribcage--if it had one--changing its vector in an instant to send it hurtling to the great emptiness below.

After Rowan’d followed the thing, Liora was left to herself, both of them too far to observe.

"Damn, of all times to have no arcana." She bit in the only way she could to take her mind off her agitation, fixed providing some form of aid.

"You. You will suffice."

A voice pounded in her head, hammering against it to incur unimaginable pain.

She held her temple, grunting from the pain akin to an unending migraine. Because of this she closed her eyes, a great blunder.

Her mouth opened from the unexpected amount of pressure wrapping around her torso. Its black extended well past where its origin was visible, although she knew in an instant just what it was.

Pattering away at it with fists, the back of her mind lingered on the thought at turning incorporeal, the transparency of her spirit increasing the more she released the tension in her limbs.

But to no avail.

She didn’t pass through the hand nor loosen its grip, instead getting her movements restricted even more by its tightening.

Fwip!

She hurtled through the air, her hair waving behind her.

This continued for a few seconds, eventually revealing the scene that had caused the demon to grab onto her in the first place.

There were holes imprinted all throughout the demon’s body, the skin surrounding it trying but failing to reach out to the opposite end.

Rowan’s fist continued to hammer away at it, leaving behind additional holes with each impact.

The demon’s face grew weary, limbs weak from the destruction of its form. It was clear that with just a little more time, Rowan would’ve fully destroyed the beast, leaving us free of its torment.

But only if.

Aether rushed past Liora’s face, Rowan’s fist just inches away from slamming into her.

She’d been pulled into the space between the demon and Rowan, her eyes squeezed with strain but unable to do anything about the predicament.

"You... won’t punch poor old Liora out of existence would you? I don’t know how you’re doing it--interacting with the soul the way you do, but it’s of no consequence if I hold hostage the one person you care about in this world. Move a muscle, and I’ll kill her on the spot."

Liora’s head creaked ever so slightly to turn to the demon’s words. Perhaps it was underlying emotion that Rowan wouldn’t reveal to her personally, but she knew now was not the time to ponder such questions.

The black retreated into Rowan’s skin, his pupils dilating from the undoing of stress in his bones.

His face fell, limbs following as well. Soon, he’d been the same person he usually was.

"Liora... guh--"

Shlick!

Black stabbed into his chest, reaching forward to exit through his back.

The sharp end of the demon’s finger cleanly cut through Rowan, raising him up like a kebab.

"Fool. To withdraw victory for a lingering feeling, utterly pathetic. All the potential in the world, and you’re still just a human."