Stick War: Inamorta and beyond

Chapter 17: The Journey Continues

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Kim has fallen unconscious and have drifted into his dream. He is afloat on water in his dream, staring into the clear blue sky. Thoughts such as: 'Where am I? How did I get here? Why am I here?' All he knew is that he do not want to move. He wanted to stay in that spot for the rest for his life, peaceful and free of disruptions. He turned his head and saw a silhouette of a man walking away. He looked familiar to Kim.

"Is that... Father?" Kim mumbled to himself.

After a closer look, he realised it is his father and rose up and ran towards him.

"Father! Father! Don't go! Don't leave me!" He screamed his lungs out while running towards him.

Despite all his effort, his father was just walking futher and further away from him, till he was out of his sight.

"Father..." Kim mumbled and fell to his knees.

He started to sob to his father. He respected his father, he was the one that gave him hope. And then, a shine of light shone onto him. He looked up and saw a silhouette of a woman this time, reaching out to him and embracing him in her arms, as if comforting him. And then, he woke up from his dream.

30th January 1074, 2.00pm

Kim slowly opened his eyes and realised that he is inside his tent. He tried to get up but was stopped when a searing pain struck his back. He grunted in pain and laid back down onto his sleeping bag.

'So I was rescued by my team.' He wondered.

He checked his wounds and realised that a bandage was wrapped around his waist and around his right shoulder. He tried to get up again and the pain came back but he endured the pain and stood up. He walked out of the tent and saw his team around a campfire, eating lunch.

"Hey! Kim's up!" Mark exclaimed with a chunk of meat in his mouth.

Everyone immediately looked at his direction and was relieved.

"Kim! You can't move yet dimwit!" Grace yelled and rushed to his side to support him.

"Leader!" Elizabeth exclaimed with eyes gleaming at him.

And of course the ice cold Ace, just ignores Kim and continued to eat his lunch.

"What's for lunch?" Kim asked and his stomach growled.

Everyone laughed, even Ace. Kim's face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Shut up! Answer my question!" Kim shouted.

"Rabbit stew. Come on let's eat." Grace answered and wiped a tear.

Kim sat down with recon team and enjoyed a nice warm bowl of rabbit stew, just like old times.

"How's your wounds?" Elizabeth asked.

"They're fine, probably." Kim answered and took a bite of the stew.

"Hey, this is nice." Kim complimented.

"Thanks." Elizabeth said with a blush.

"Anyway, what's the situation." Kim asked with a serious tone.

"Eoking Town is back to peace, but the Chaos Soldiers slaughtered all of the civilians and soldiers inside. It is a ghost town now." Mark answered with a sad tone.

Grace clenched her bowl of soup when Mark reminded her about the dead Archidons.

"Elizabeth, how's Lucifer?" Kim asked.

"Oh yeah! Explain! How did you get a Magikill summoning spell?!" Ace yelled.

Kim sighed.

"I got that spell from my father a long time ago, I do not know why or how he got that." Kim explained.

"Then why Elizabeth is able to summon him instead of me?" Ace asked again.

"A large amount of mana is needed to summon the Destroyer Of Worlds. You probably do boy have enough mana in your body, just like mine." Kim further explained.

"What's mana?" Mark asked.

Ace rolled his eyes.

"Don't you go to school or read books?" Ace insulted.

"Nope, I can't read." Mark answered.

Everyone stood in an awkward silence.

"Okay... Then let me explain. Mana is the source of magic for the Magikill. Without mana, they can't cast their spells. Mana is stored in your body. Everyone has mana but it is about how much you have. The way of recovering mana is only known to the Magikill." Ace explained.

"Yes correct Ace." Kim said.

"The person who Elizabeth summoned is Lucifer, The Destroyer Of Worlds and also the son of Satan. He is famous throughout Inamorta. There are legends of him burning cities in an instant, summoning the dead and devouring the entire ocean." Kim further explained.

"What?! Isn't he overpowered?!" Mark exclaimed.

"Yes, but he has one fatal flaw." Kim said.

"And what's that?" Grace asked.

"Let me show you. Elizabeth, have you seen Lucifer ever since he disappeared?" Kim asked.

"No, I assumed that he went back on his own." Elizabeth answered.

"Try summoning him now." Kim said.

"Okay." Elizabeth said and went to draw a magic circle.

"Oh, wait Elizabeth. There's no need to draw a circle, once you summoned a being once, the circle is unnecessary. And you do not need to output as much mana." Kim stopped her.

"Okay, let me start. All hail the holy spirits, help me in this age of desperate times. Serve me with pride and loyalty. Come to me and join me in this world, I hereby summon thee, the destruction of worlds!" Elizabeth chanted but nothing happened.

"Huh? Where is he?" Ace asked.

"That's right. Lucifer's weakness is that he cannot be summoned during the day. He can only be summoned at night or places that sunlight does not reach." Kim explained.

"What? The overpowered being is afraid of the sun?!" Ace laughed.

"Yes, because the sun is considered holy in the old days. Since Lucifer is an unholy being, he cannot be exposed in sunlight." Kim explained.

"I see." Elizabeth said and nodded.

"Wait, you say only a person with a large amount of mana can summon him right?" Ace asked.

"Yes." Kim explained.

"Then what happens if both Elizabeth and I lack mana?" Ace asked.

"Oh that... I was gambling on the chance of at least one of you having large amounts of mana." Kim mumbled.

"You reckless fool! Luckily Elizabeth has enough mana, who knows what will happen!" Grace yelled.

"I'm sorry, that's the best plan I have at the time okay?!" Kim apologised.

"Gah, at least all's well that end's well right?" Mark laughed and everyone followed.

The day lasted peacefully. They joked and played around till night. They slept soundly till it's morning.

31st January 1074, 11.23am

"Alright, everybody got everything?" Kim asked.

"Yes!" Mark exclaimed.

"Affirmative." Elizabeth replied.

"Positive." Grace said.

"Yeah." Ace snorted.

"Alright. Next stop, Aoks city!" Kim exclaimed.

Recon team once again journeyed to fulfill their mission, get to Aoks City and do diplomacy.