Chapter 9: The True King
"My king, we've never seen anything like this before. Our magical barrier did not seem to affect the thing inside at all. It seemed to have melted the barrier with some sort of liquid. Right now, it's holed up inside the Weapons Quarters. What should we do?"
"I shall go deal with the matter myself. An unknown creature breaking through the barrier so easily could not be tamed so simply; I do not want others to get hurt. Kiren, stay close to me."
The king looks at Derek. "Boy, about earlier... Sorry for doing that to you. It's rare to see my little girl come home with a man, and I get overprotective sometimes. Oh, how she has grown." The king looks at Kiren with loving eyes.
"Young man, I suggest you stick by me too. I could not face my daughter if anything were to happen to her friend."
The king began to cast a shining dome around the three of them.
[Sire, this seems to be a high tier Paragon ability: Golden Barricade.]
*Ability Preview*
[Golden Barricade: Omni-directional fortification that drains energy with duration.]
As the king walked in the center of the barricade, the dome followed him. A very powerful ability indeed; it was a 360-degree shield that did not need to be controlled or maintained.
This was the first time Derek encountered such a powerful and noticeable class ability. Kiren's archery skill with her Shadowdancer hardly seemed like a class at all, more so an extremely accurate bowman. Given that she was Tier 1 Shadowdancer Regent and just reached the ability to choose a class, it wasn't surprising that her abilities weren't amazing and only seemed the enhance her archery abilities.
"Follow me."
The ruckus could be heard two hallways down on the second floor of the castle. Swords and armor could be heard clanging on the floor as a wolf-like creature was blurring around the room.
The group of three ran up to the weapon quarters and blasted the door open.
"Ah, one of those shape shifting demons Ifryt... it's been a millenia since I've fought these creatures."
The king raised his hand and the center of his palm started to warp and suck something around them. Was it devouring... time?
[Shadow Dancer Ability: Time Rob. The user can steal the time within area, causing it to slow down or even freeze completely.]
It seems that the king was able to utilize two class abilities. Complete opposites at that! A Shadowdancer specialized in deception and assassination, while a Paragon specialized in protection and retribution. A skill class such as Paragon made sense for a King, but perhaps a Shadowdancer also suited the nimble and quick body of the elf? One of the kingdom, and one for the race it would seem.
* Dual Class Specialization Identified. Phenomena - Sins and Virtues Discovered. New questlines discovered.*
Quest: Breakthrough Ensign Unlocked!
Phenomena Quest: Seven Deadly Sins Unlocked!
Phenomena Quest: Seven Heavenly Virtues Unlocked!
This was new, Derek thought. He understood what breaking through his rank as Ensign meant. He would rank up to Regent. Derek wasn't too sure about the other two quests though. He would have to learn more about them later.
Everything around the room began to slow down. Swords and shields could be seen descending as slowly as feathers. Wood scraps and mannequins instantly stopped midair. The Ifryt that was once a blur also began to slow down, but it was still moving too quick.
Suddenly, the Ifryt turned towards the group of three, and a vicious sharp pitched howl emitted from its mouth.
"KKKKKKIIIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!!!!"
The golden barrier that the King, Derek, and Kiren were in instantly shattered into pieces.
"How--" The king couldn't believe his eyes. Rarely anybody knew the only weakness that his Golden Barricade has. It was a shield as dense as metal, but because of its transparency and its ability to move with the king, it was extremely thin fragile. One of the ways the shield could be broken was with a high pitched scream. The way his shield worked was the dome's defense energy would converge onto a spot on the dome where it is hit, negating all attacks. But the scream's high pitch affected the whole barrier. instantly crumbling into thousands of pieces.
The king temporarily let down his guard and stopped his [Time Rob] channeling. As a result, the Ifryt began to pick up speed, and this time it was rushing towards them with its jaw open. It's mouth got bigger and more grotesque and in a few short moments, was the size of the creature's body, hosting thousands of jagged blade teeth whirling together like gears.
Derek and Kiren were both scared shitless. They couldn't comprehend what was going on. One moment, everything slowed down, followed a deafening howl, golden glass followed everywhere, and then finally a huge mouth gaping towards them.
The king reaches towards his hip and unveils a scroll with drawings all over it. Without a second to waste, he slits his hand with a knife and it onto the parchment.
"Summon - False Prince!"
*Ability Preview*
[High Tier Paragon Ability: Summon - False Prince creates a statue that provokes all enemies into attacking it at the cost of a percentage of the user's health. Considered a forbidden technique because can easily lead to death.]
A radiant statue shoots up from the ground directly in front of the king and its eyes glow red. In that instant, the Ifryt' previous gaze on the three turns towards the red eyes, as though a moth guiding towards a lamp. The creature's teeth immediately latch onto the head of the statue, clawing at its face. The king suddenly seems to falter and stumble but regains his balance.
"It took the bait. Right where I want it..." King Reikas begins chanting a spell and a bright light begins to come from the sky, even though they were in an enclosed room. As though rays of light cracked through thick dark clouds, glows began creeping towards cracks in the ceiling, flaring brighter and brighter until it was blind to the naked eye. Both Kiren and Derek closed their eyes right before a solemn voice could be heard.
"I now banish you from the holy grounds of Geros!" Derek's eyes were closed, but his vision still becomes pale white. It only seemed like a second, but when his eyes adjust to the surroundings, he could see that there was a circular hole in the ceiling and the ground, right where the beast and statue were previously before. Derek takes a better peer at the hole in the ceiling and his eyes widen. In the cloudy sky was a gap the size of the ceiling's hole directly above him.
"This was no ordinary beast. Few creatures have escaped my Time Rob, even though it's my secondary class ability." The king was talking with the guards and other ministers that rushed to the scene.
"A beast that pries away from even the King's grasp?" A worried look spreads amongst the guards.
The King had a look of concern on his tired and weary face. "Even I have never encountered such a beast in all my years of living." The old elf started to cough and drops of blood splattered on the floor.
"Father!" Kiren rushed over to her father. "Why do you always overexert yourself? You know what those abilities do to you..." Tears slowly started to flow from her eyes. At a young age, she snuck into the King's training chambers and would see that he was practicing his summoning abilities. He would always stubbornly use his False Prince, a near-invincible statue that negated all attacks. His attack sequence as a Shadowdancer Paragon involved luring enemies into a specific location to either backstab them or cast a long channeled spell with a near 100% success rate. Thus was the power of an elven King.
But with advantages become sacrifices. Over the next couple of years as King, he would overuse this ability, whether to protect his people from war or habitually. It began to take a toll on the King and was voted by the high positions and the people of Geros to be a forbidden spell that cannot be used.
"My darling, do not cry. It is my undoing that has led to this, your sadness pains me more than my own inflictions." King Strigan did not want to use this ability, but in the presence of his daughter, the person who he loved the most, he would not risk anything.
Derek was in shock. Was the beast that powerful?
* New creature identified. High Tier Demon: Ifryt. Lets out high pitched howls and dashes at extreme speeds. Bestiary updated. *
[Your run-in with the demon was not coincidental, Sire.]
"It seems like there are now even dark energies coming for the King. First small coups, then nearly a large scale revolt, and finally assassinations from outside the kingdom? This is too much to handle!" A scholar with thick glasses threw his papers in the air.
"Your Highness, our domestic affairs are at their most troubling. We do not need this sort of dark power in our kingdom. I suggest we hire more guards around the kingdom or modify or magical barrier and place more high tier Mystics on patrol."
While the authorities were discussing the best suit of action for this incident, Kiren hurried over to Derek with a look of concern. Both of them knew the real truth. The demon never went for the Elf King. The Ifryt's eyes were locked onto Derek's the whole time.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Zerediah
Zerediah Whose the real king now?
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