136 It Has Begun (1/2)

With his body wrapped in crystalline flames Desmond charged towards Ferrise. As Desmond approached Ferrise Desmond swung his right hand sending a tidal wave of flames towards him. The soul fire engulfed everything in its path and threatened to do the same to Ferrise. Ferrise didn't know what those strange flames that started to surround him were, but he could feel how dangerous it was to be hit by them.

[Negative impact]

To avoid being hit by the soul fire Ferrise cast a spell that creates a sphere of dark energy of which expands continuously for about 30-50 meters. The spell Ferrise cast is a weakened version of a higher grade spell with the same name that can completely atomize a person when hit with it especially those who have a weakness to the darkness element. While Ferrise's spell is incapable of doing such a thing it can push things back with a great amount of force and force negative energy into a person's body.

Desmond and Maverick were both in range of Ferrise's spell. Desmond was able to withstand the attack by firing a stream of soul fire towards it. The spell still managed pushed him back a few meters and forced Desmond to dig two long trenches in the sand with his feet. But Desmond was still standing after it and completely unaffected by the spell's negative energy because of the soul fires purification ability.

Maverick on the other hand was also pushed back. He resisted a majority of the damage by using 4 orbs that floated around him that could generate a strong sonic wave. The sonic waves shielded him from the physical damage but did nothing about the negative energy that seeped through. That energy deteriorated some of Maverick's cells causing his skin to swell in different places and pop like cherries filled with blood. The pain was hard to endure but it wasn't enough to make Maverick stop pursuing Ferrise.

Ferrise knew that he was in an impossibly difficult situation to win. Both his partners were defeated by a mysterious old man making it impossible to defeat Maverick as of right now leaving escape as his only option.

Without making some kind of sacrifice it would be impossible for Ferrise to escape alive. So he changed tactics to see if he could get the strange old man to switch targets.

”Hay old man me and you have no animosity between each other nor was it me who tried to shoot you in the beginning. It was him he tried to shoot you, so you should be angry at him, not me. I can even forget about what you did to Gerald and Linda burying any transgressions between us right here and now”.

Ferrise furiously pointed at Maverick as he tried to persuade Desmond to attack Maverick instead. Maverick became even more on guard than usual. He didn't know anything significant about Desmond and worst of all he didn't know what kind of decision Desmond would decide to make. All he knew for certain was that he was able to beat two people at the same time that even he would have difficulty beating in a short amount of time. Which meant that Desmond would be a difficult opponent to face in his opinion. Desmond pondered over Ferrise's words for a moment before he spoke.

”I may be old but my vision hasn't failed me. You're clearly at the end of your rope and while I do not like what that brat did to me I am not dumb enough to pass up such an opportunity to make an easy profit. So, with that being said do you want to put aside our difference for the time being and work together with me young man. If you agree then we can split what's on him 50-50”.

Desmond had given the matter serious thought. He witnessed part of the battle between Ferrise and Maverick and knew that he could be neither of there opponents in a fair fight especially against Maverick. Desmond may be stronger than before but he knew for certain that he could not outpace a gun. Not only that but Desmond could even see all of the modifications that Maverick had hidden inside of his body. Warning him ahead of time about the added risk when fighting someone like Maverick. Desmond may have been angry about what Maverick did but he was not dumb enough to start a fight that he knew he could not win.

Maverick had a devious smile on his face while Ferrise was stunned. Maverick never expected to gain such a powerful ally so easily while Ferrise didn't think he would actually have to face off against two powerful foes.

”I'm willing to partner up, so long as you don't slow me down, old man”.

”You cheeky brat is that any way to speak to a senior when he's lending you a hand. Learn to be a bit more respectful it can go a long way”.

As Desmond and Maverick happily joined forces Ferrise was absolutely furious. He had faced off against Maverick before and every time he did Ferrise always felt as though the universe had it out for him.

'Every time, every god damn time we fight seemingly random things all lined up into place as if placed there for Maverick to take hold of. If that's true then is that fate was I always fated to lose against you Maverick?'.

Ferrise unwilling to accept such a cut and dry notion felt something snap in his head. All the strain Ferrise faced added in the expansion of his sea of consciousness. He broke into a new realm and he felt amazing. Amongst the three of them, Desmond unquestionably has the strongest soul but Ferrise now had the strongest mind.

Ferrise always needed a strong mind to effectively control all the crows that he summoned. An ability of which he had been strengthen using the Keystone on his forehead. The Keystone that Ferrise had though small still amplifies mental energy by 20% and was exactly what Maverick was after. That additional 20% could allow Maverick to control more machines than he already can. If Desmond knew what the key stone was and its effect he would be after it as well because it could have become one of the main ingredients in creating a suitable support item.

Ferrise unwilling to be Maverick stepping stone lashed out yet mostly focused on escaping.

[Corrupt fissure]

Ferrise's hand began to glow once it did he chopped downward towards Desmond that action distorted the air and sent a wave of energy shaped like a crescent moon barreling towards Desmond. Desmond felt the hairs all over his body stand on end because of that attack. Frightened by it Desmond took out an advanced magic scroll and activated it.

[Ice wall]

A cold gust of wind that made everyone feel as though they were standing in a frozen tundra gushed everywhere. Within in a second a massive ice wall erected itself in front of Desmond. Ferrise's spell clashed with the ice wall sending large chunks of it flying away. Though the ice wall was sturdy it started to heavily crack and give way to Ferrise's attack. When Desmond saw that he had already crouched to the ground to cast a spell of his own.

[Stone wall]

Desmond managed to cast the spell twice effectively erecting 2 stone walls behind the ice wall before all the layers of defense that Desmond set crumbled under the might of Ferrise's spell. Desmond's defenses gave Desmond the time to avoid the spell in time but he was still shocked by how strong that one spell was. Even after it destroyed the walls it still corroded the ground for about an additional 5 meters.

After Ferrise chopped down at Desmond he cast another spell called [dark lance] and launched it towards Maverick. Maverick did not have the confidence to tank such an attack so he blitzed out of the way as fast as his boots could take him. Though Maverick was fast the [dark lance] was faster. The tip of the lance crackled like lighting as it penetrated Maverick's left thy and shot straight through. Once it shot through Maverick's thy it exploded behind him abruptly with a thunderous clap. Responding to the danger Maverick's sonic orbs created a shield that blocked most the expansion and shrapnel from hitting him

[Dark prison]

Though Ferrise received a boost in power he was in no condition to the fight people as strong as Desmond and Maverick simultaneously. So he cast a spell that plunged the area within 100 meters into complete darkness. The spell cut off sight, smell, and sound.

Ferrise knew that the spell was completely useless on Maverick because of all the different pieces up technology he uses but the spell wasn't for him anyway. He just wanted to create an opening to slip past Desmond. Yet, sadly the spell was just as useless on Desmond as it was on Maverick. Even if the spell could completely cut off Desmond's senses his soul was simply too strong to be fooled by such a spell.

As Ferrise approached Desmond he blocked Ferrise's path by creating a wall of soul fire between them and firing a barrage of flames towards him. Ferrise weaved through Desmond's attack and was surprised by how accurate they all were. As Desmond blocked his advance Maverick attacked from behind.

Maverik sent out a swarm of drones while his for Sonic orb stayed close by to guard him. The drones gave Ferrise a hard time, but not as much as Desmond's soul fire. Ferrise couldn't risk being hit once from those flames. He noticed how strange they were and worst of all how they started to change the environments around them. Everything that his soul fire touched started to become translucent even Desmond's own body partly started to turn. Ferrise didn't know what that meant for him if he was hit by it but he didn't want to find out.

As threatening as Desmond soul fire was it turned out to work better against Desmond then for him. Desmond lacked control over his soul fire. He can move it just as easily as moving one of his own limbs, but that didn't stop the soul fire from turning everything it touched ethereal. That ability did not come from nothing it took Desmond's spiritual energy to shift the state of matter. Desmond's lack of control was starting to overtax his soul and dulled his senses. If Desmond continued to overuse his soul fire it would force him to pass out.

Ferrise threw feathers from his arms to destroy Mavericks drones and sent waves out with dark energy to keep Desmond soul fire from touching him. As Ferrise defended he took out a grass doll and ate it. Ferrise didn't want to summon his crows at that time but he was left with no other choice. Rapid summoning crows for Ferris may seem easy but each crow is born from small sacks in his body and it takes a tiny bit of Ferrise's flesh each time he does summon one when he doesn't. Which is completely safe to do so long as he reabsorbs the crows afterward.

large dark wings made of hundreds of crowd sprouted on Ferrise's back. Once they did hundreds of crows swarmed Desmond and Maverick. Though they didn't want to both we're forced to engaged the crows before they could fight ferrise.

Ferrise used that opportunity to escape. Desmond wanted to immediately chase after Ferrise but he suddenly became nauseous and stumble to the ground because he felt like his bones suddenly became brittle. The crows stack the weakness curse on to Desmond one after the other slowing him down. Maverick wasn't affected by the curse because he had a counter for it but he was still slowed down a bit by the pestering crows.

Maverick took out an automatic rifle and a few drones that both rapidly unfolded from there compressed states and started to mow down the crows. Maverick wasn't worried about Ferrise flying away he knew Ferrise's abilities to well and planned for too long to easily let him escape. When flew a few meters off the ground a massive blue net entered Ferrise's vision.

Ferrise was familiar with the kind of nets Maverick typically used and knew how dangerous they all were. If Ferrise got caught in any of them he knew that he was as good as dead because each net was capable of vibrating at a high frequency and had enough tensile strength to support a small bridge. Ferrise's body would be chopped apart into meaty blocks in an instant once the net caught hold of him.

Confronted with such a dangerous situation Ferrise utilized his martial arts techniques and seemingly began dancing in the air. His entire body mimiced the actions of a butterfly that fluttered in the sky. His strange movements made him more nimble in the air allowing him to barreling dodge the net. As soon as Ferrise avoided the net and became relieved a rocket shot out by one of Maverick's turrets hidden nearby crossed Ferrise's path and exploded. The explosion forced Ferrise back to the ground.

After Ferrise crashed to the floor he was disoriented and heavily injured. His left arm and the left side of his face were both badly damaged from the explosion. Smoke rose up from his body as blood trickled out of his crushed left eye and down from his face. Though it was badly damaged Ferrise was still able to use his left arm he just had to fight through the pain to do so.

Ferrise exchanged a hate filled glare with his most hated enemy while Maverick had an in different look the entire time. Maverick long since plugged the hole in his left leg with a specially made bio gel that promoted rapid healing. The wound still hurt even after he injected himself with something to heal it but it was still manageable for him.

Soon after their quick stare down Maverick dove in full speed towards Ferrise. Ferrise may have been heavily injured and lacked both the stamina and magic to continue fighting effectively but he wouldn't let yhat keep him from punching Maverick in the face. Ferrise's wounds were to serious for Ferrise to dodge effectively forcing him to confront Maverick in that instance.

When Maverick near a strange crow flew out of Ferrise's mouth. The only difference it had from all of Ferrise's other crows was that it was oddly wet to an unnecessary degree. Most people would think that the crow was drenched in saliva but it wasn't it was ...

BOOM!!!

As soon as the crow was close enough to Maverick the crow exploaded in a gory fashion. Bits and chunks of what should have bern inside hundred of bird flew out of only one while a highly acidic dark mist filled the area around them. Ferrise was immune to the mist and laughed in joy as he watched Maverick being corroded by it.

The mist scalded Mavericks skin and stated to make puss filled warts sprout up on him. Maverick instantly decided to leave the effected area once he saw what was happen but in the end he couldn't. Numerous hands sprung out of the blood pool beneath Maverick and threatened to drag him down to a world unknown to him. Maverick wildly fired upon all the hands that where holding him down but the all kept reforming quicker then he could destroy them.

As Maverick was being taken away the flag of death sprung up on Ferrise's head. The loud sound of something travelling trough the air caught Ferrise's attention when he saw what it was it startled him because it was one of Maverick's specially designed nets. Not wanting to be truck by such a thing Ferrise maneuvered out of the way. Once he did he senced some kind of danger yet saw none in the immediate area. On instinct alone Ferrise wanted to dadge again but he was to slow. He had already moved to already exactly Desmond wanted him to be leaving him open to be struck by Desmond's soul threads.