DiMENSIONS [IDOLiSH7]

17: Exhaustion

-Majabah-

The townspeople were mostly evacuated when the volcano was erupting more and more violently, thanks to Mitsuki and Lazu's teamwork. The dragon (disguised as a cat) used ice power to mark the ground for the townspeople to know which direction they were supposed to be going.

Riku cast a barrier around himself while approaching the angry volcano. He wished he could cast one to cover the whole town, but he would need to save his magic strength to cast another spell to stop the volcano.

The lava heat was downright scary. The bits that were exploding out of the volcano's mouth started to splash on houses, melting parts of them down. They were hitting and penetrating Riku's barrier too, so the lord had to keep recasting it.

"So this is how Gaku felt when he was fighting my fire." Riku felt as if he was being roasted alive. He would have to act quickly before his health condition flared up or his magic ran out.

The townspeople were taken to another mountain top. They could see Riku as a small figure from there. People's faces were full of horror. What could a normal human do to stop nature's wrath?

Gaku gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "My lord, you can't..." The butler knew when his lord said he was going to be alright was a blatant lie. Still, he went ahead and carried out his duty, knowing it was what Riku wished for.

Mitsuki was too terrified to say anything to help Gaku and Lazu feel better. They could only watch, hope, and pray.

The volcano cared for no one. Its anger could not be quelled by a speech from the lord of Majabah. Instead, it rebelled. The sound of the explosion could be heard a hundred kilometres away, and the lava came bursting out of the volcano's mouth.

To the people on the mountain top, it looked like Riku was about to be swallowed whole by the huge wave of hot lava. Everyone screamed, thinking that that boy was going to die for sure and that their homes were going to be completely destroyed.

"You will not stop me that easily!" Riku let out his most intimidating battle cry. The lord opened his arms wide and cast one of the most powerful magic: void.

The purple void of darkness appeared in front of Riku, swallowing the hot lava as if it were enjoying a feast. Then, the lord strengthened his power and extended the void to cover the whole volcano.

It took mere seconds for the void to eat the whole mountain up.

Everyone could not believe what they saw. A person just stopped the volcano from destroying the whole town. Among those people, Lazu's eyes widened. Flashes of vision came to him, making him freeze.

"I... I am..."

As soon as the void disappeared, "Nanase-sama!!!" Gaku cast time magic on himself and rushed down the mountain to his lord's side. The lord was on one knee, breathing heavily through an open mouth.

Gaku bent down and let Riku put his arm over his shoulder. "*Huff huff* is everyone safe?" asked the tired lord.

"Look in front of you, Nanase-sama."

The townspeople were standing a good distance away from Riku, staring at him.

"Ah," Riku smiled, even though it burned to breathe. Almost all of his body weight was on Gaku. "That's a relief." He looked up and smiled at his townspeople before his body felt too light to keep standing.

"...! Nanase-sama! Nanase-sama!" Gaku supported and lifted his lord's body up in bridal style before it hit the hard ground. One certain individual ran forward to them.