Will of a Prince

Jacob turned around hearing Maria drop. He wasted no time in grabbing her spear from her hands and thrusting it towards the words nearby. He felt a great impact from his strike and watched the words slowly disappear, signaling he had successfully killed whatever had just injured her.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

Maria held on to her face and stood back up slowly.

"I don’t know what happened to me. It felt like my entire body had been completely frozen right when I was about to kill that damn monster."

Jacob’s heart dropped.

’Is she already considered stronger than an Elder Beast?! Was it because of how powerful the last few creatures she has killed were? How does her power work?’

To Jacob, it didn’t matter right now how her power worked. All that mattered was that protecting her from anything that may injure her further.

"Just stay close by to me. I’m going to borrow this spear of yours."

"You can throw it if you want. It never seems to disappear from my possession."

Jacob nodded and hurdled the spear at the first Corpse Walker that he saw. An explosion rang through the hollow body as it hit its mark. Jacob had thrown the spear so hard, it managed to shoot outside the body. Maria handed him the spear he had just thrown. Jacob looked at it in amazement.

’I really need to get her to tell me how she got this thing. I bet Enki made this for her without telling anyone.’

Only a few creatures remained, which Jacob quickly disposed of with easy work. Jacob never took the time to process how truly strong he had become. He used to think Infant beasts were the scariest thing he could possibly face and now he was killing elder beasts with very little effort. However, he was still unsure how he would fair against a beast deity. The deities of different monster classes seemed to be unique in their own right when it came to strength and intelligence.

After making sure they were in the clear, Jacob felt around Maria’s face.

"I can’t see you. Are your wounds okay?"

"I think the bleeding stopped, but it still stings a lot."

Suddenly, Maria gasped and went slightly limp in Jacob’s arms.

"What? What is it?"

"Jacob, get me to Lidia as fast as you can."

"That’s the plan. Get on my back."

Jacob didn’t even bother asking any questions. This was one of the only times he had heard Maria’s voice sound so panicked, so he knew that whatever was wrong was serious. As they ran over the uneven surface of flesh, Jacob tried talking with her to make sure she wasn’t going to die before they found Lidia.

"Why did you sound so panicked? What is happening?"

Maria hesitated before giving her response.

"I’m not really sure, but it feels like the claws were laced with something. I can feel it swirling through my blood and infecting my body."

"How can Lidia help with that? She isn’t a doctor."

"Because I’m afraid that this is corruption spreading through my body. And if my whole body becomes corrupted, then I may have something similar happen to me that happened to you."

Jacob’s heart dropped into his stomach.

"You mean transform?"

"Exactly. If there’s one thing we can be grateful about, it’s that my strength enhancement isn’t with me anymore, so if it does happen, maybe it won’t be too bad."

"I’m not letting it happen. I won’t let you transform. We’ll find Lidia."

They both soared through the dark expanse screaming out for Lidia’s name and following the bright flashes of light that would appear every now and then. After a short while of travel, they finally caught up to the rest of the group. As they approached, Jacob noticed something strange about everyone. There was a faint white aura around their bodies, their rose mark on their necks were glowing brightly and Lidia had a royal crown on the top of her head.

"Lidia! Maria needs help! She’s getting infected!"

Lidia looked in the direction of where Jacob’s voice came and ran over. She grabbed Maria off his back and laid her on the ground. The light illuminating off her body shone over the small area around them.

"What happened to her?"

However, Jacob was too distracted by Maria’s face to say anything. The scars from the claw marks on her face were oozing with dark liquid, her face was inflamed from her body trying to stave off the unknown substance entering her bloodstream, and she was paler than the snow they had travelled miles through to get here.

"Jacob! Snap out of it!"

"She was attacked by one of the Corpse Walkers! One of them caught her by surprise and slashed her face. We ran to you as soon as we finished every other one off."

"Corpse Walker? How do you know the name of these things?"

"That’s not important right now. Maria said she could feel herself transforming. Remember what happened when I transformed? That is now possibly happening to her, so please get rid of the corruption in her veins!"

Without wasting anymore time, Lidia placed her hands on Maria’s face and allowed a warm yellow light to leave her hands and wash away the dark liquid. Almost immediately, relief seemed to find its way to Maria’s face. However, something was horribly wrong. Even with Lidia’s power now taking its effect, there were dark black tendrils continuing to wrap themself around Maria’s body. Lidia ignored them and continued trying to push her power as much as she could.

"I-It’s fighting against me! I don’t think I have enough energy to win!"

Desperation grasped Lidia’s heart. Her eyes widened.

"Everyone, get back!"

Suddenly, Maria’s body turned completely black for a moment and hummed with an ominous melody. Lidia lifted her hands and darted backwards, pushing everyone as far away from Maria as possible. A large heartbeat could be heard in the darkness that now swallowed her body. Maria was transforming. Suddenly, an explosion rang through the corpse, allowing bits of rotten muscles to splatter over the group. Where Maria once stood, was now something completely unrecognizable. Jacob stared at it with his right eye, his legs shaking reading the words that appeared next to it.

Name: Nobody

[Nonexistent]: Nothing that should exist in this world can bring harm to this creature.

[Broken Shackles]: This creature does not carry the same powers as its original user.

[Shrouded]: This creature thrives in darkness.

[Can You Hear Me?]: Something is calling out from the depths of this creature’s soul.

"Lidia, we need you to charge up a powerful release power. Can you do that?"

"I need some time to charge it. I’ve been using it nonstop since we were dragged in here."

Jacob cursed under his breath.

"We can’t harm this thing. There’s not a lot of time to explain, but my eye can see its powers. We just have to keep dodging whatever attacks it throws at us until Lidia is ready!"

Slimo looked at Jacob with wide eyes.

"Can you at least see it? I’m looking in the darkness, and I can’t see anything at all!"

Jacob shook his head.

"It thrives in darkness. Just keep moving and don’t let it get you!"

"How are we supposed to protect Lidia if we can’t even hurt it?!"

Jacob tried to think of a response, but nothing was coming to mind.

"Just keep moving Lidia then!"

Everyone dashed by Lidia and stayed by her side, anxiously waiting for the creature to show itself. Surprisingly, they didn’t have to wait long. Maria’s transformation slowly reveled itself in their dim light around them. Jacob’s heart wrapped in fear seeing its complete form for the first time. Maria looked like a possessed demon spirit. Her face was somehow twisted, her features were in spots they shouldn’t have been, like an ear on her forehead or her nose on her chin. She had no lower body, but she was somehow floating as ethereal black rags covered her shoulders. The skin on her slender arms and face was grey and had multiple cracks on them.

Slimo was the first to respond to seeing her transformation. He jumped forward and threw a kick aimed at her jaw. However, his leg phased right through it. He fell back down and continued trying to attack her with no luck. Jacob tried throwing his own things, but nothing was hurting her at all.

"Can we really not attack it?! How the hell do we beat this thing?! Can Lidia even cleanse it?!"

"Maybe it can’t attack us."

Jacob regretting saying those words as soon as they left his mouth. It grabbed hold of Slimo’s leg and lifted him of the ground effortlessly. Slimo tried taking his sword off his back and cutting the hand that was holding him, thinking it was now phased into existence like Sarah’s old power. However, his sword phased right through it again. Slimo was thrown far away, swallowed whole by the darkness.

Lidia began to run away along with everyone by her side.

"We just need to keep it away from Lidia!"

However, it didn’t take long for the creature to catch up. It got in front of Lidia, let out a chilling scream and charged forward with its long hands. Just when it was about to reach her, something slammed against its cheek and sent it crashing into the ground. They all froze at the sight.

Standing above the creature with a curled fist was none other than Squabee.