Read Crucis :: Chapter 11: Escape Part 3

Dark foreboding clouds loomed over the capital, the daylight had turned to nighttime as the sun was shut out from the sky. The deluge of rain and thunder had intensified and the sound of rain hitting the streets had raised the tension in the air.

The shadows of the Abyss slowly descended onto the city of Anima.

The manifestation of the Calamities in the plaza brought panic to the Seditio members. One by one, masses of shadows started to appear within the plaza grounds.

A curious bystander saw a black orb manifest near him.

"W-what the hell is this?!"

He stretched out his hand to touch the orb, in a blink of an eye, the man felt a dull pain. His right hand had been cut off from his arm.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The man's severed hand fell to the cobbled ground and the puddles were dyed in blood. Observers who saw the gruesome sight panicked and started to run away and hide from the orbs.

"Run! Run! They will- Aaacccccckkk!"

Another onlooker fell to the ground as he lost both of his legs. Something had swiftly chopped them off and the man cried in pain.

Another Calamity manifested nearby. It had cornered a poor lady.

"No! No! Spare me, please-"

*Splat!*

A blackened poleaxe pierced through the wretch's heart. The woman limped and her body looked like a piece of meat being skewered.

Docere and his men were startled by the unexpected interference of Fate. They did not anticipate that the surviving monarchs of the Palace would dare summon the Calamities into their city.

Seeing the ominous situation unfold, the Seditio officers scrambled towards the weakened Docere. They needed to ensure the safety of their leader. With their armors and weapons ready, they took a defensive position towards the approaching Calamities.

"Brother, we must retreat and let the Enlightened One know of this!" One of Docere's aides, a Healer approached and cast a recovery spell on him. "We can't deal with this many Calamities, we must-"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Docere clicked his tongue and glared at the aide. "We just need to-"

Docere wasn't able to finish his order as his attention was taken by a small orb of shadows manifesting a few paces to his front. It emitted black smoke and gradually a figure of a small child started to form around it.

"Fuck…!" Docere swiftly cast a high-level illumination spell and pierced the black orb. A terrifying scream echoed as the orb shattered with the intense light.

"Damn… that… was a close call… Ughh."

Docere's mana pool greatly declined after the use of his last spell. To prevent Calamities to fully manifest, a high-level illumination spell must be quickly injected into a Calamity's core while they take form.

"Protect yourselves men! We must not falter here!" Docere ordered his men to defend against the descending Calamities. "Mages, do not use low or mid magic! If you see a Calamity's core, Quickly shatter it with a high-power light spell!" Docere's stern order echoed throughout the plaza.

"They will hunt down anyone who uses Mana, so be quick and be discreet! Brothers, defend the mages and the sorcerers!" Docere then directed his guards to parry or guard any incoming attacks from the Calamities.

"Shit, I can't believe those two still had the energy to summon a fucking ton of those monsters!"

If it wasn't for the healer earlier, Docere wouldn't be able to stand up. He quickly took out a small potion of recovery from his pocket and drank it to alleviate his mana exhaustion.

Docere was aware that Moirais was capable of invoking Divine Punishment by manipulating the Threads or the Bonds of Fate by will.

He had learned of it when The Church approached Seditio with valuable information in exchange for an alliance. According to the Fae, the Calamities would only descend to the mortal world if there was an imbalance of Mana caused by severed Bonds and Threads.

Six years ago, the Church of Arbor and the Palace of Anima waged war against each other due to a territorial conflict. When the war reached a stalemate, and the casualties of the civilians peaked, the Palace proposed a cease-fire in exchange for peace.

The Church accepted the offer and committed to the use of a Covenant Bond in return.

It was the Bond of Non-Aggression, both parties acknowledged and swore to adhere to the Bond from thereon.

However, last night during the siege of the Palace, the Church decided to void their Non-Aggression Bond. In exchange, they have sacrificed the saplings of the Tree of Truths. It was a small price to pay on their end just to ensure the downfall of the Palace, it was the perfect plan.

Once the Bond was severed, a Calamity was invoked and the Palace fell into chaos, it brought genocide to the Moirais as their forces and kin were annihilated. Only the monarchs and a fortunate few who escaped survived the onslaught of the Calamity.

"We need to kill those damn Moirais first!!" Docere then pointed at the two weakened monarchs who were bound at the platform. "Those fuckers are invoking the Calamities!" Docere's eyes were fuming with rage.

"Kill them and the Calamities will go away! T-they are the s-source of this shit! Ughh." Docere winced as the excruciating pain from his old wounds resurfaced and he struggled to compose himself once more.

Upon hearing their leader's instructions, the aides and the Church's mages then turned their attention towards Lucis and Florestella. They readied their weapons and approached the restrained couple when suddenly, Florestella activated a barrier around them.

"You… All of you…!" Florestella's eyes shimmered with a golden light, she had cast a high-level protection barrier on her and Lucis.

"This… will be your graves...!" She then prevented the advance of Docere, his subordinates, and a few Calamities by surrounding the platform area with a sealing barrier.

"You fucking bitch!"

Docere struck and punched the barrier in frustration, he tried to teleport outside of it but his mana wouldn't invoke. His spell was nullified and then absorbed by the barrier.

He paused and realized that he and his men were like rats trapped in a cage as they were stuck inside with fully manifested Calamities, Docere's face paled and his body trembled in horror.

"S-shit, men!! Defense positions! T-the enemies are upon us!!" Panic was felt from his cracking voice.

Docere and his subordinates quickly formed a phalanx, he saw three Calamities that were slowly closing in on them.

<IiIi SmMeEeLL GgooOddD FffOooDddD!> The first Calamity raised its poleaxe as if to celebrate a feast. Then quickly impaled one of the sorcerers who was caught off guard at the front.

The second Calamity approached Docere's men slowly, and swiftly swung its poleaxe with a wide swipe. <H-hHunGGgrRYy… MmmuUsStT EeAaTTtt!>

It had cut down through several men, blood splattered everywhere and there were limbs, arms, and other human body parts that scattered like confetti.

< YyyoUu LLoOKk TtAassTttTyyY!! EeAatTTt mMmoOOrrReeE!!> The third pointed its poleaxe towards Docere as if to taunt him that he will be the dessert later.

The ominous voices of the Calamities terrified the officers, some of them trembled and collapsed on the ground with ruptured eardrums, others coughed and vomited blood due to the Calamity's accursed voices, while Docere and his senior aides struggled to block their incoming attacks due to their dwindling numbers.

"Shit! This can't be happening!" Docere saw his men die one by one at the hands of the Calamities.

The barrier that surrounded them was stained red due to the massive amount of blood that splattered whenever a victim gets disemboweled, decapitated, or impaled by the calamities.

Docere saw the brutality of it. Multiple bodies were skewered on the Calamity’s poleaxes, some of the men lost their limbs and arms and were bleeding to death on the ground, while others died a painful death while being butchered up like meat being sold in the market.

"I-I d-don't… w-want… t-to die! Help me-"

*Slash*

One of Docere's men, the one healed him earlier, had his head cut off. The poor man's head rolled on the ground like glass marble being tossed by a child.

Docere froze up in terror as he realized he was the only living soul left inside the barrier. The three Calamities flanked him on all sides and moved to close in on him.

<MmEaAtTT… FfFrReEssHh MmMeeATt…>

The only means of escape for Docere was death.

***

"Lucis, my love… I'm sorry, this is all I can do." Florestella glanced apologetically at Lucis who was equally as exhausted as her. Florestella's golden irises reverted to their emerald hue as she slowly dispelled the barriers she had cast.

"Stella, it's alright… That would be enough." Lucis gave Florestella a feeble smile. His eyes too had reverted after forcefully cutting off all of the Bonds that were intertwined with them.

"Our son… I fear for him. What if… he loses his way, or be taken?"

"He will be safe, Stella… The strongest shield shall protect him from hereon."

The couple had fully exhausted their mana and their Divinity when they severed all of their Bonds. Their bodies were slowly disintegrating. Their final sacrifice caused their Threads of Fate to lose their luster. Fate was calling them to return.

"My love...It's time to rest." Teardrops fell from Florestella's eyes.

"If Fate allows… My love, I wish to be with you at the End..." Florestella gazed at Lucis one last time with an endearing smile, and her body disappeared.

"I too... would wish for the same... My star." Lucis wept, he knew Fate wouldn't be kind to their souls due to their transgressions. He mourned in silence as his body vanished.

The plaza fell silent, the sound of the rain and thunder reverberated through the ravaged grounds. The Calamities had retreated to the shadows after detecting the absence of Divinity in the area.

The rain had turned the plaza into a lake of blood. Dead bodies and body parts were strewn everywhere and the smell of blood was thick. There were cries of dying men and women echoing faintly, but the sound of the rain had muffled their wails.

*Splish*

*Splash*

*Splish*

*Splash*

A man in a red cloak slowly made his way through the plaza, his heavy footsteps resounded as he made his way towards the central platform.

"Wow, so those things don't hold back at all when hungry." A grin formed on his face, he was rather pleased with the sight of blood and littered human bodies along the streets.

The man continued onwards to the platform where he found Docere's mutilated body, it looked like the Calamities had fun with Docere too as his body was littered with stab wounds. He quickly inspected it and counter-checked his vitals.

"Goddamnit! They fucking cut his threads too?!? Shit, this too much…" the man scratched his head in frustration.

"Sorry bro, looks like I won't be able to restore you this time…" The man held his hands together as if to pray for Docere's eternal rest. After praying for a brief moment, he then investigated the stakes where Lucis and Florestella were previously bound to.

"Even their bodies and threads are gone too… Screw this! Looks like Fate also enjoys trolling people. Wow! What a retard." The man clicked his tongue and groaned as he wasn't able to salvage anything from the plaza.

"I guess it's time to catch up to those two. Judging by their speed earlier, They should be somewhere in the Eastern district by now." The man cast a teleportation spell and disappeared from the Plaza grounds.

*Splish*

*Splash*

*Splish*

*Splash*

[[Run away Omri, as fast… as you can… Protect Athos…]]

Lucis’ words resonated in Omri’s head. He had been running non-stop ever since they hurriedly left the plaza. They almost got caught at one point, thankfully Omri’s intuition and Lucis’ request, had helped them avoid the massacre that befell the people who went to see a Great Judgement.

Still, Omri felt a hint of guilt, as he took away Athos. It gave him a rough idea of how his paternal parents must have felt when they had to send Omri away to the Cura family for him to survive.

“Omri… please… please let me go.”

Athos’ voice trembled as he mourned the loss of his parents.