Tales of Astora: Legacy

Chapter 40: Merkabah, the Trumpeter

Chapter 40: Merkabah, the Trumpeter

"First the audience!"

Merkabah clapped his hands twice. All of the sudden, the lifeless corpses of celestials started to twitch as one after another stood up and turned toward Alastor. Yet their movements were slow and very mechanical, somewhat clumsy. Their feet did not touch the ground; they actually floated slightly above it.

"Die!" Alastor materialized the ultimate soul weapon Excalibur and swung it and cut through the bodies of these risens. If these were undeads, the sword would obliterate their souls and destroyed whatever magic that was controlling them. However even when they have fallen, these celestials would rise again.

"Secondly the ensemble: <Chorus of Celestia>"

A bright light blinded Alastor. When he opened his eyes, there were four Merkabah sitting behind the celestial crowd, each with a different musical instrument.

"<Beacon of Celestia>" Alastor's body illuminated as light magical missiles fell upon the mass. In an instant all the celestials were burned to crisp by the heat of these sunlight beams. Now nothing but the ashes remained. Yet not a single one has touched the ensemble. Some kind of barrier was surrounding them, accompanying by the sound of a hand bell.

"The bell calls upon the protection from the wicked <Campana of Aegis>" One of the five Merkabah was rattling a smell bell in his hand. It seemed that bell was the cause behind the barrier as it emitted a vibration in the air that surrounded the five.

"<Melody for the Departed>" This time, a flute player.

The remains of the dead celestials began to reform their bodies. In a few seconds every single one of them was already back on their feet.

"<Fortissimo>" The third Merkabah using a harp played a score, making all his minions turned berserk jumped after one another at Alastor.

"<Corona>" Alastor cast a ring of fire around him. While it could handle these undeads easily as everything touching it would turn to ash, they would just come back again. But light magic didn't work against it. Not even soul magic could. It was as if these were just bodies being controlled. But how?

Using his Mana sense, Alastor could see the flow of mana inside all things in his vision. These celestials did not have any mana inside them. However small cords of mana could be seen attaching to different parts of their bodies. And the other one of all these cords were linked to the fourth one who did not hold anything.

No wonder why their movements were so clumsy. They were literally marionettes controlled by Merkabah through these strings. That also explained why Excalibur did not work against them. It was not the corpse that should be hit but the strings.

Jumping back, Alastor entered the sword drawing stance and launched a soul shockwave that cut through every single mana cord in one hit. Free of Merkabah's control, all the celestials fell down and slowly turned into light particles before completely disappear.

Without letting him a chance to retaliate, the boy chained with a second attack, this time aiming at the four remaining Merkabah. The most problematic would be the bell as it seemed to be able to deflect magical attacks. However what would it hold against magic combined with physical?

"Time to end this game! <Black Hole>"

This spell, however, had some modification from the previous version. First of all, the hole now appeared on his chest, constantly emitting a vacuum force that would absorb everything inside it. Even if the object in question was larger than the hole itself as the black twist would twist and crush it before finally consuming it. Secondly, to make sure that some targets who managed to resist the sucking force would not be able to escape, from inside the hole, black tendrils shot out and pierced through the barrier, capturing them before finally pulling them back into the hole. However one managed to dodge it, the original.