The Oracle

Chapter 36: Sloth's Legacy

"I'll do anything," Darius breathes out and meets Isabella's gaze.

Isabella nods and grabs her spell book before she starts casting one of her spells after searching for it.

"Akari, I need you to do something for me," Darius addresses me and I nod.

"Anything," I say and watch as Darius holds out his hand with the runestone and places it in mine.

"I want you to take this. If there's a chance Evory could live, I want to be by her side," Darius says and I nod.

"Of course," I say. "I promise I'll keep it safe."

"You should go," Darius nods towards the jungle. "Make sure they stay safe."

"Will you three be safe though?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"I can summon a portal for us to go back to the infirmary. I used a spell to make a link to the infirmary in case of an emergency," Isabella says. "Go ahead. We'll be fine."

"Right," I nod, deciding we'll figure out how to sneak them back out of Aria later.

I race through the jungle after the others, knowing they're not far when I see green flames burning in the distance. My breath hitches in my throat when I reach a clearing in the jungle and I spot Sora rapidly swinging at Carmin with no mercy, who grits his teeth as he manages to counter each of Sora's strikes with a strike of his own, lightning crashing down nearby as it begins to downpour. Somehow, despite the rain, Sora's flames continue to burn brightly, shining like a beacon in the darkness as they sweep around the area.

"Stop this madness!" Reverence shouts from the sidelines, being restrained by Kaito and Clea.

"You'll get yourself hurt, Reverence!" Kaito shouts.

"I wish I could go after Carmin myself," Clea grumbles.

I watch silently as Raciel flies with inhuman speed and cuts between both Sora and Carmin, facing so that his greatsword is drawn to Carmin, his head tilted to the side and his red eyes calm yet deadly, glowing chains floating around him in the air as the silver chains around his greatsword glow bright teal with energy.

"Enough," Raciel says simply, his eyes burning into Carmin's figure.

"Enough being the mediator, Raciel!" Carmin shouts. "He's a child of Wrath, a murderer!"

"You're the murderer," Raciel corrects, "and I will not stand by and watch you murder more."

Darkness swarms around Raciel as he glows with teal energy, his eyes shining bright red as he swings at Carmin, effectively cutting through Carmin's defenses and winding him as he breaks three of his ribs. Raciel flies up into the sky and holds his greatsword over his head and darkness blots out the sun as a teal rune forms beneath his speed and spins, light and wind emanating from the rune as energy rises and swirls around him.

Raciel flies downwards with his sword raised back, his chains flying towards Carmin and wrapping around him to trap him there to keep him from escaping his blow.

"Stop!" Reverence shouts and struggles in Kaito's and Clea's hold.

My breath hitches and I race towards Carmin and Raciel as my eyes catch the barely visible wall of illusion forming like glass, masking Carmin's true location. I yell out as I propel myself to the side and slash my scythe through the illusion, the world in front of us shattering like glass as the truth is revealed. As I slide to a stop, gasps fill the air and I look up to see the real Carmin standing several feet away from Raciel in a position that shows he made a wide swing to the right as Raciel was flying down, effectively making a deep gash in Raciel's side. Raciel stumbles and grits his teeth as he moves one hand to his wound before he gently moves it away, staring at the deep scarlet blood on his palm that spreads over his fingertips.