Cerberus lunged right past me. I
did my best to dodge and roll out of his way. He was so gigantic, I was unsure
how to approach this battle. Leviathan seemed huge, but I also felt a lot
better. I needed to find a way to beat this giant furry dog without taxing
myself too much. I sped to the other side of the room to watch him. He tapped
one foot to the round and crouched, getting ready to attack me again. I
prepared a Light Barrage symbol, firing it as he approached me. My action had
little impact, however, as Cerberus was able to teleport, then land right
behind me. With a mighty strike of his paw, I was sent hurtling across the
room. He missed my vital organs, barely, but I still had to deal with the pain
of being clawed by him.
I dropped to the ground, reeling from
the pain. My body was racked with agony. His claws went deep and my clothes
began to turn scarlet. Lying on my side, I placed a hand to my wounds,
activating my healing spell. The sensation was so soothing, I nearly curled on
the floor, comforted by my magic. Yet, the giant dog speeding towards me was
enough motivation to get up.
I quickly summoned the Arcana
sigil. In a split second, I heard it speak to me just as it did when I fought
Tsu. Intuitively, I yelled, “Reflective Wall!” and Cerberus went crashing into
a large sheet of light. He was then immediately thrown to the other side of the
room. While I had a second, I looked down and noticed more stationary symbols.
Since fighting Tsu, I’d apparently grown as the Dominus. With a smile, I
summoned the Arcana to help me.
“Insolent!” Cerberus recovered. His
middle head reared back, then let loose his own blast of energy. It seemed to
disappear mid-blast. Suddenly, I looked up to find a flurry of lights hurtling
toward me. I threw up my arms, casting a dome shield around myself, letting go
of the book in the process. Each of the blasts hit, making ripples of light
against my magical defense. Withdrawing my arms, I found the Arcana floating in
front of me, the bar spinning around it.
“You mean I didn’t have to hold
onto you?” I asked it. I even expected the Arcana to respond to me before
coming back to reality. As I noticed Cerberus rising, I sent a Consecration
blast at him. He took the brunt of the blast, remaining stunned in the
distance. “How about a weapon?” the book was positioned so it didn’t cover my
view. The bar highlighted a spell. “Blessed staff: Kilik!” I spoke, reaching
into a sigil and pulling out a long staff, blue and crystalline. It was taller
than my body, but strong and firm. I took it into both of my hands, then
brought it behind me, running to Cerberus to attack.
My first assault landed on its left
head as I jumped in the air to attack it. Each head groaned in unison, then
shook. Cerberus took a small leap back, then swiped at me again. I narrowly
dodged the attack, then leapt forward to attack another head with a side swipe
of Kilik. We continued this back and forth for a few minutes, me attacking one
head or another with Cerberus trying his best to counter. As I attacked one,
another reached forward and grabbed the staff in its teeth. With a crunch, the
staff disappeared in a small burst of energy. I froze, my eyes wide. No one had
made any of my weapons disappear so far. Cerberus took advantage of my shock to
land an attack. I put up a shield at the last moment, but that didn’t stop him
from sending me flying yet again.
Cerberus was proving to be quite
the match. He stomped his feet, sending shockwaves to me. While I did my best
to guard against them, he leapt into the air, attempting to land on top of me.
I jumped back, dodging his frontal attack, but he spun his body around, kicking
me across the room. I managed to land on my feet, preventing significant
damage. Slamming my fist into the ground, I summoned the Arcana sigil to me.
Just as in my battle with Leviathan, I used the long Arcana shield. Cerberus,
however, was able to shatter it wrapping his heads around the shield and
attempting to lunge his heads at me. The heat from his breath was scalding,
leaving me grateful that I didn’t made contact with his teeth.
“Arcana, I need something else,” I
pleaded. As the bar began to flip the pages, Cerberus knocked me into the air.
He pounded the ground again, hindering my ability to read the Arcana. My body
lifted off the ground, prompting him to swat me toward the ceiling with a crushing
paw. His claws missed me, but the pain from the blunt attack still left me
reeling.
The next moment felt like an
extended pocket of time. I continued to sail upward as Cerberus leapt after me,
each of his mouths glowing with a different colored energy. I extended a hand
in a futile attempt to stop him and noticed two sigils opening portals on the
ground. Within an instant, two chains shot up after Cerberus, shackling his
hind legs and bringing him back down. With this new opportunity, I shot a Consecration
blast at him from the air, hurting him as he laid on the floor, bound by my
newly summoned chains.
As I landed, recovering my footing,
I pulled the Arcana to me. “Is that spell in here?” No pages flipped in the
book and the bar didn’t attempt to search. Based on this evidence, I may have
created a new spell in that moment.
Cerberus began to move as the
chains disappeared. “Like a true Dominus,” his voice had an air of reverence
and anger, a unique mix. He prepared another attack with each of his heads. His
left head shot a green beam of energy at me which seemed to erode everything it
came into contact with. As I jumped away from it, his right head fired a blue
beam of pure force right into my path. His second beam almost made contact. I
didn’t notice until a red beam came barreling toward me that he had attempted
to trap me in his attacks.
“Arcana! Something now!” I yelled,
the book flashing before me. I found the spell it attempted to show me before.
“Tools of heroic balance: Sophitia!” Two
portals opened behind me and I shot my arms back, whipping them forward to show
a shining sword with a sapphire blue shield which enabled me to block the
attack. I felt the intense heat, but it never reached my body. These new
weapons sent signals throughout my body, leading me to make a new move.
Dashing, I made my way to Cerberus.
I slashed at him with the sword, eliciting pain, and blocked any attacks he
sent my way. As I attacked him, I noticed my body was nimble, my reflexes
sharp. Sophitia, in sword and shield, allowed me to more effectively maneuver
around Cerberus’ attacks.
“Those weapons…” his heads spoke as
we continued to fight. “I remember this heroine. She was a match for me, too,”
he slammed a paw down in the direction I dodged. I followed by jumping on his
paw, then up to his heads, slashing along the way. Another attack nearly
landed, but I was quickly pushed away by his hind legs as he twisted around.
Cerberus made quick use of time by
forming the energy in each of his mouths again. He brought his heads back then
thrust them violently forward. The beams came together to make a white flash of
light. I hunkered down and braced myself against the attack. Sophitia did her
best to protect me, but I could feel Cerberus’ beam pushing me back. Still
grasping the sword, I opened my palm underneath the shield, erecting another
magic barrier. The light and energy from the attack waved over the shield.
Cerberus growled in the distance.
When his attack faded, I was
resolved to end this battle. I rushed him again, slashing at each of his legs.
Against my reflexes, he was unable to fully protect himself or attack me. With
a mighty leap, I landed on his back, slashing each of his heads. Then, I
flipped away from him, hitting him with a Light Barrage attack to keep him
distracted.
“Chains!” I yelled, and seven
distinct sigils opened. Closer inspection revealed that they were different
than other sigils I used. They bore my name and title, “Trenton, Dominus de
Arcanum,” and were dark in the center. The chains were sent through the sigils,
attaching to Cerberus’ heads and legs. I decided to use the Consecration
attack, but with a different component. “Hallowed Light!” I shouted and
Cerberus became shrouded by a pillar of light. His booming roar echoed through
the room. Within the pillar, a small but powerful core of light shot through
his body. I held out my hand, then closed it, intensifying my attacks. As they
faded, I summoned the Rift spell. Instead of one portal, two appeared, one
above and below Cerberus. He struggled against the chains as the portals slowly
came together. Soon, he was out of sight as each one met, effectively
transporting him elsewhere.
I took a moment to stand, looking
at the lobby and realizing I had dealt with another threat. Cerberus was gone
and I had learned new abilities to make that happen. With a light laugh, I
shook my head. Suddenly, the Arcana sigil appeared beneath me. The outer set of
symbols all began to glow gold. Now, only the symbols within this ring were
rotating. Defeating Cerberus had lead to me further enhancing my powers. I
couldn’t wait to tell Ren.
Considering Cerberus had attacked
me at the beginning of my day, I still had to do some work. I made my way to
the elevators. While waiting, I felt an odd presence concentrating on me. I
turned around to see Mr. Pheles standing at the railing of one of the higher
floors. His expression was unclear, but there was no doubt that he had watched
what occurred between me and Cerberus. While I hoped he saw how powerful I
became, I had a strange doubt. I couldn’t fully place it, but whatever feeling
I got from him made me wonder just what I was accomplishing by beating these
monsters.
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