A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing
Chapter 716 - 716 - Putting his life on the line

Having put her armour away to reduce her weight, Naeku sailed through the air at extreme speed. Her expression was grim, knowing the stakes. By the time she reached the throne, she'd lost much of her speed and easily twirled in mid-air to crash feet-first against the throne's backrest.

In the same motion, and with no lack of elegance, Naeku twisted again to fall ass-first onto the throne's seat.

"Eira?! Is that it?!" she roared into her surroundings, glancing around frantically. "Can you save Elora now?!"

The slightly transparent Eira appeared next to her, but looked worried. "I— It should be…" she muttered helplessly. "I don't understand why you haven't been acknowledged as the inheritor yet."

"That's because she still needs my permission," a stern, male voice suddenly answered, shocking both women. Instantly after, the legion of monsters blinked out of existence, and the expanded space between the throne and the last lectern shrunk back to its natural state.

Then, just in front of the throne, a man appeared. He was slightly transparent, being an obvious projection, and surprisingly looked a little similar to Enkai, even wearing the same kind of traditional Maasai clothing.

Not waiting for the two women's shock to end, the man cocked an eyebrow as he glanced at Eira. "Who are you? How have you taken over the sigil construct in charge of this place?"

***

Meanwhile, back at the statue on top of the tower, Erik appeared and stumbled back a little. "Fuck…" he cursed softly, anxiously. He didn't even look around, and focused his gaze on the statue in front of him.

Yet, he wasn't alone, as no one had left the platform in the last two hours.

"Erik!"

"Master!"

Several voices intermingled as Runa, Emily, and Astrid rushed to his side. "Are you alright? What happened?" they asked, almost as one. "Is Elora safe?" they all continued, all of them sounding worried, despite some of their spotty pasts with the fairy's ruthless and controlling nature.

"I don't know yet," he answered softly, his gaze unwavering from the statue. "It's up to Naeku now."

The three women frowned, but didn't ask any more questions for now. Meanwhile, behind them, the others on the platform kept quiet as well. They could read the tension.

Suddenly, a rattled Eira showed up in front of them again. "Eira!" Erik immediately barked, stepping forward. "Did it work? Is Elora safe?"

A little uncomfortable, Eira poked her fingers together and pouted. "Well… Yes and no, Master. There's some… complications, and we need your help."

Erik frowned, but didn't hesitate. "Alright, what are we waiting for? Take me back!"

Eira nodded quickly, and in a flash of light, they left the others behind once again. Runa, Emily, and Astrid looked distraught that there wasn't any clarity yet, and that they once again couldn't help, but they didn't want to disturb Erik by asking questions through their bond, either.

***

Now back in the same dark room, Erik immediately clocked the newly appeared man… and felt a rising combination of anger and relief. Not because this man bared a striking resemblance to Enkai, but because above this transparent man's hand was a small, floating cage of energy… with a weakened and miserable-looking Elora inside.

He felt relieved at noticing the fairy had lost none of her spunk, as she glared daggers at the man holding her. At the same time, he wanted to smash this man's face in to make him release Elora, but his omnisense told him this man had no physical form, and through Eira's expression he knew that this man was currently controlling Elora's fate.

Elora, currently leaning weakly against the cage's bars, glanced at Erik when he appeared and smirked feebly. "Took you long enough…" she muttered jokingly, filled with relief and love. "Not enough idiot strength to get me sooner?"

"Shut up and preserve your strength," he growled at her anxiously. "I'll have you out of there soon."

"Oooh, so confident and commanding," she cooed softly, her voice trembling with a weak giggle.

As they had this small moment of reunion, Eira and Naeku watched the stranger cautiously, and the stranger watched Erik curiously.

Erik turned to him, his fingers twitching with the desire to take violent action. "Let her go," he snarled.

A small grin spread across the man's lips as he cocked an eyebrow. "Or what?"

With the knowledge that attacking this man's form would be pointless, Erik instead engaged the Elorium core in his soul. Instantly, the man's eyes widened, as Erik had correctly assumed this place had enough sensor sigils for the man to notice.

"That's a lot of power you're containing in your soul there," he commented, both eyebrows high. "Quite a dangerous prospect, you know? Are you sure that's a good idea? What even is it?"

"It's a fusion of aetherium and runic power, and you're right: it is dangerous," Erik freely admitted, his tone threatening. "I can create a lot more than this, but I'll probably explode quite violently. Admittedly, I don't know how much damage I'll do to his facility, but,"—he spat violently—"I'm sure you wouldn't want Audumla to lose her precious harbinger, would you?"

The man appeared both shocked and fascinated by the revelation of a fusion between aetherium and runic power, but Erik's declaration of being the harbinger didn't seem to surprise him.

"I already told him about you being Mistress's harbinger, Master," Eira whispered through their bond. "He confirmed it by scanning for the spatial affinity seed within you, and it's the only reason he agreed to temporarily halt what was happening to Elora."

Erik nodded but had no time to respond.

"How in the world did you fuse them?!" he exclaimed with the excitement of a researcher. "Lady Audumla and Lord Ymir made so many attempts, but…"

Suddenly, he cocked his head and frowned as his gaze went a little glassy for a moment. "Hmm… I only awakened after my supposed inheritor sat on the throne, reviewing the footage of the battle… you actually used both Arcanist spells and Runebound skills…"

He focused back on Erik, his eyes shining. "Fascinating!"

He glanced at the weak, but fierce, caged fairy and blinked. "Is it because of her? But how?! We tried so many things to give someone the abilities of both Runebound and Arcanist, but we always failed because runes and glyphs were too different. When fairies were still our allies, they tried making bonds, but it only gave Runebound an aetherium storage they couldn't use!"

He looked back at Erik intensely. "Why are you different?!"

Erik smirked as he increased the power output of his Elorium a little. "Wouldn't you like to know…? Would be a shame if I died, huh?"

The man instantly turned sombre and glowered at him. "You would kill yourself? Just like that?"

Erik scoffed. It wouldn't be the first time he'd threatened to do so, as he'd done the same back in London when he first met Katya. Unfortunately, although he'd already grown to a level where he could go toe to toe with Katya, he wasn't yet strong enough to overcome all opponents with brute force—certainly not those near Audumla's level.

"The only way to get ahead and protect your loved ones in this world is if you're willing to put your life on the line…" he growled, full of conviction as the power in his soul surged. "I'm willing to do what's necessary… are you willing to lose what I represent?"