The Lost Orb [PFS #1, The Bearer]

37 "Haunting Nightmare"

SASKIA'S POV

EVEN THE COLD gusts of wind from the mourning sky weren't enough to ease the tension surrounding us, like a toxic haze hanging in the air. Odd. Suffocating. I couldn't tell if the man facing us was causing it, with a strange dark mist pouring out beneath his black cloak, scattered.

"So you are still alive," umabante iyon papunta sa 'min, still wearing that wide grin. ". . . Tristan Arquezza."

His appearance became clearer as he drew closer to us. His glass-like mask, coated in pure black, shattered, and adorned with ornamented patterns into its surface has become evident. The long black boots peeked through the split in his long cloak, his hands, the only visible part from his sleeves, marked with hints of scars. His hair was unkempt, almost curly in strands.

Only one of his eyes was shown to us.

Glimmering in violet lights.

Naging mabigat ang pagbaba ni Tristan sa ground mula sa kabayo niya. Tuluyang naglaho ang spell circle sa tapat ng palad niya. In a single step, he drew out his sword from the shroud beside his waist.

Or could this overwhelming feeling not be from that mysterious man.

. . . But from Tristan?

Because it only became like this after he used his spell circles.

Umabante si Tristan papunta sa kaniya. The man before us suddenly flicked his fingers as a swarm of fallen souls materialized in front of us. They hastily used their threads towards us to seize our attention.

Damn. He's a controller.

Another Clade Vector?

Tristan, in contrast, got rid of the one in front of him. Bago pa man mabuo iyon sa harapan niya ay umandar na ang sandata nito sa leeg ng kalaban.

Walang alintana siyang lumapit sa kalaban na lalaki. The air guided his steps as he twisted his sword at his side, before promptly lifting it to cut through the incoming black thorns above him.

That man summoned these fallen souls to distract us, para hindi namin malapitan si Tristan!

I confronted the fallen soul behind me. I took my dagger to cut its thread aiming for my lower half, then I raised a knee so to use the force of it in striking its waist as I slit its neck with my dagger. As long as we target its vital point, it's done.

The other members of A-Class panted as they withdrew from attacking after those entities collapsed to the ground. They're more challenging to kill now since they wield an artistry.

"This weighing feeling is clearly his mana, overflowing," Allisa puffed, we suddenly looked at her. Nakatingin iyon ngayon sa direksyon nila Tristan. Until now ay sinasangga pa rin niya ang mga thorns na sinusummon ng kalaban, habang patuloy naman iyon sa pag-atras mula kay Tristan. "But for him who knows how to control a mana from leaking out of nowhere, that could only mean one thing."