CHAPTER 31: ALL STRINGS ATTACHED

Hizan the white prince slowly approached, his posture one of someone who commanded authority. He came to a stop just a few feet from the white plague which only looked at him, trying to decipher why he was not dropping dead like a fly.

The white plague growled at him, silver liquid drooping from its maw like saliva. It stretched out its body to enlarge its frame, but the young man before it did not seem intimidated. It sniffed at the air and snarled at him, almost going feral. "You reek of royal blood."

The white prince barely flinched, his glassy eyes simply stared at it. After a while of saying nothing, he shifted his body slightly and spoke. It was cold and calculating, "I was right to give you the white plague, do you know how long I’ve been holding on to that without ever tapping into its dormant power."

Emilia watched them from a distance, she could hear their conversation just barely. Nasha was nestled in her hands barely breathing, the rot was spreading across the first floor infecting everything that lived there. Including every person and plant, everyone tried to run and avoid it leaving the only one unaffected by this to be the white prince.

Hizan continued. "Hexacore chronicles only wake under certain circumstances." He paused for a second and then continued. "Of all the weapons I could have been given I was given the one that no one else wanted. The white plague is a weapon that only hungers for more, this led me to believe that I would never awaken it."

He stretched his arms as far as they could reach, his face growing even colder. "Since I have always been at the pinnacle of my power, I would never awaken the white plague. Only someone truly weak could manage such a feat, good thing I actually met such a lukewarm person."

At the tip of his fingers were the visible crackling of electricity, small at first but they grew larger. The air hissed where the bolts fed into the sky.

"The moment you touched the blade I felt it throbbing for the first time since I got it. It became clear that entrusting it to such a weakling as yourself would inevitably lead you to become the catalyst to awaken the blade."

The white plague flinched slightly but it was barely noticeable. It growled and stomped its foot on the ground, and in one quick burst of power it launched itself at him with inhumane speed. No human should have been able to react to something moving at such a high speed but the white prince did.

His body crumbled into a mass of light and bolts of electricity that shot into the air. At the same time the white plague was just landing where he had just been. All of this took only two seconds but both parties did not seem surprised or threatened by the other.

Hizan turned and stared at the black demon before him, "I’ll be taking my sword back now, you were a fool to believe I had simply given you a hexacore chronicles for free."

The demon roared enraged, bearing rows of sharp teeth at him. Saliva flew out of it as it lunged forward, this time twice as fast as it was before. "Shut up and fight me."

They both clashed like two titans. The white plague saw nothing but flashes— white, blinding arcs that tore the air apart. The world throbbed as it weaved through multiple blows and took others. It was being overwhelming with power and speed from the start.

Hizan took in deep breaths every time he became material, the air smelled faint and full of ash. Every breath scraped against his throat. His heartbeat beat too loud too frequent, every time he changed forms. He kept pushing and gaining the upper hand till everything changed. Then he stopped winning. The demon stopped taking his blows and started fighting back, its swings becoming more accurate as it adapted to everything he threw at it.

Then it stopped moving entirely and started skipping in time, each flicker bringing it closer to beheading the white prince, each step unraveling the reality of his fighting style.

It spoke in a sharp voice like venom seeping out. "Don bore me so soon, royal blood."

Hizan dissolved into lightning again, this time he barely had time to disappear before the demon sliced the air with its long claws. The next time he moved, he was too slow. The shadow was already there just as he was appearing already laying his attack. He saw a spinning kick heading for his face, he raised his hands to block it. Hundreds of silver ripped needles pierced through his arm, bone and flesh, the resulting impact sent him skidding through the patch of dead grass.

He let out a loud grunt, but managed to regain his composure as quickly as he could before the demon started charging at him. It tore through the ground and ran on all fours like a creature gone feral. However this time Hizan had more time to prepare, he stretched out his undamaged hand and balled his hand into fist with only his index and middle finger pointing outwards.

He aimed at the charging demon, there was a loud buzzing at the tip of his fingers and soon the crackling of electricity dancing in waves and growing in number. Hizan cocked his hand like setting a gun loose and watched a stream of white light launch forward.

The lightning grew and stretched in the air, crackling and buzzing. It took the shape of an arrowhead with no tail fin, the speed at which it covered in a second was remarkable. The white plague did not show any signs of wanting to avoid the lightning bolt, it struck it on the head causing it to crash to the ground with a huge thud.

Dust was sent flying in the air from the impact alone. The air hissed, burnt ozone stinging his nose as white arcs split the sky. Hizan took in a deep breath and held his already damaged hand. He’d spent years mastering restraint, but now even his calm cracked beneath the thrill of reclaiming what was his. "Nothing is free in the tower, not even life."

In that moment it became dire clear that Aerith was never meant to be the wielder of the blade but the string to pull it to life.