When Novis opened his eyes, he was welcomed with an unfamiliar scene. The sky above was dark purple. As he looked around at the ground there was no green gra.s.s or soft floor, instead just lifeless soil, no plants or life could be seen."Where am I?" Novis said.
"I"m sorry you got dragged into this, it"s all my fault."
When Novis turned around to see who was speaking to him, he noticed that Lucas was there by his side.
"Lucas?"
"Truthfully I don"t know where this place is, but when that spirit took over my body, each night when it went to sleep, I was placed here."
"A dream world?" Novis thought.
"I"m sorry I didn"t know this would happen," Lucas said. "I just touched that scythe and the next thing I know my body was taken over."
Lucas began to explain the events that led up to this day to Novis. About how he was looking for a new character and he sensed something call out to him. The spirit he had discovered wanted to take control over his body so the two of them fought but Lucas was overpowered.
Lucas was always able to see Mortem control his body and go around but he was never able to do a thing about it. Then when he discovered there were other spirits like Hastam, he started to gain hope.
"This isn"t your fault." Novis said, "Look I need to tell you something as well."
Novis in return spoke about his experience with Arthur, he explained everything to Lucas even the fact that it wasn"t him that had beaten him that day but his spirit. However, after hearing both stories they realised there was a clear difference between the two spirits.
While Arthur worked together with Novis to complete their goal, Mortem completely took over Lucas"s body.
"I"m surprised you managed to get so far with so little time, you must actually be pretty good at fighting then," Lucas said.
After hearing that his so-called rival was actually a spirit. Lucas was a little upset. The reason he had been training so hard and wanted to get stronger before was to face off against Novis. Lucas in a way was starting to grow bored of the game.
There was no one out there his age that seemed to be a match for him, of course, there were several pros out there that were better than him but they were older. If Lucas was to continue improving the way he was he would surely become a top pro.
That"s why when he discovered Novis, he started to feel excitement for the game once again.
"No I"m not that good, I improved so much thanks to my spirit Arthur and George as well I guess."
"Is your spirit here with you now?"
Novis then tried to speak to Arthur, he tried switching places or speaking in his mind, he called out to George as well but there was no reply. It was a strange feeling, for nearly a whole year Arthur had been with him and now he was suddenly gone. It felt like a part of him was lost.
"No," Novis replied. "From the looks of things and what you told me earlier, this seems to be similar to the dream world me and Arthur train in, only different."
Novis then closed his eyes and started to imagine the weapons he used into his hands. While in Arthur"s mind this was how he was able to use weapons.
Then when he looked down, the two chain blades were in his hands.
"looks like it worked."
Novis was unsure if it would work, after all this wasn"t his mind or his body.
"That"s a strange looking weapon?" Lucas said.
Novis started to laugh, he felt strange as if a pro player was inspecting him and judging him.
"I can actually use a few weapons but this one is my favourite."
While Lucas was trapped inside of Morten, he never witnessed the way Novis had actually fought. The only image he had in his mind of Novis was when Arthur was the one fighting. Mortem had never bothered to watch any of the matches, so he never saw any of Novis"s games.
Lucas then did the same as Novis and started to imagine a weapon, suddenly a large purple battle scythe was held in his hand which looked almost identical to the one Mortem was using in the outside world.
"You use a scythe now?" Novis asked.
"Every night I"ve been facing her, seeing what she does and trying to learn her skills. In the end, it wasn"t enough just watching. To learn the weapon she was using, I had to try to learn to use it myself. It took a while but I finally got the hang of it."
"Is she strong?" Novis asked.
"Incredibly strong, for some reason, she seems stronger in here than out there."
If what Arthur said was correct, then the reason for that would be because of Lucas"s body. While the spirits controlled their bodies, they were only limited to the power of the body itself. But in the dream world, there was no such limit.
Arthur could perform sword energy at the same level as he could in his own world and the same with George.
"Can you use sword energy?" Novis asked.
"What"s that?" Lucas replied.
Judging by Lucas"s answer, he had no clue what Novis was talking about, but thinking back to the match he had seen. Arthur said that the level of sword energy that had been performed in the game was that at Level 3. Which meant Lucas should have been able to perform sword energy at a similar level.
But before Novis could even explain, Lightning started to strike from the dark clouds above.
"What"s going on?" Novis asked.
"It"s her." Lucas replied, "She"s coming."
Just then a powerful lightning strike hit the ground and appeared a female dressed in black armour. She looked identical to one of the warriors in the game and in her hand she also wielded the same scythe as Novis.
"You!" Mortem pointed at Novis," How dare you come into my world, because of you those spirits are waiting for me outside. I have no choice but to hide in here, I know, I"ll just have to use you as a hostage."
Mortem wasted no time and rushed forward at the two.
"Novis I"m the one that got you in this mess, so I will get us out of it."
Lucas then charged forward with the scythe held in his hand, and as Novis looked at him he could see a faint purple aura start to surround his scythe.
"He does know how to use sword energy, maybe because he learnt it himself he just didn"t know what it was called?" Novis thought.
In return Mortem too covered her blade in the purple aura only it was a lot thicker and stronger than Lucas"s. But Lucas wasn"t an idiot and he knew this, he could never win in a battle of strength, he needed to win using his own skill.
Mortem swung out her scythe from the side but Lucas managed to block it with the pole end of his weapon. Then Mortem tied to pull the blade towards herself, hoping the scythe end would slice him in half.
But Lucas was ready, at the right time he used his legs and with the pole propped into the ground, to flip himself over the scythe. As soon as his feet were planted on the floor, he charged forward and swung at Mortem again.
"150 times, we"ve fought a 150 times and today is the day I"m going to win."
Lucas was fast and swift with his attacks, using each end of his weapon in various different ways. Sometimes he would choke up on the weapon to make it easier to control but when he wanted more power he would step back and hold onto the end of it.
Novis watching Lucas was amazed, and just wondered how desperately he must have fought while in the dream world this whole time.
Right now, Mortem was on the defensive and she was starting to get annoyed.
The sword energy covering her sword weakened, and now instead, it also coved her entire body faintly. This time she ignored Lucas"s attack and allowed it to hit her on the shoulder and into the armour.
But the attack simply bounced off. "I have to admit you are skilful, I never thought you would become this good so fast, but you are still weak."
She then charged in without worry of receiving any injuries and swung her scythe form above. Lucas went to stab her with the scythe but as she charged forward and it hit her stomach, the scythe simply bent and shattered.
"She never did this before," Lucas said, "Why each time I think I"m closer to being free, she seems to get stronger."
Then, before the blade could be swung down, two chains came out from the side and wrapped around the scythe. As the attack came downward Novis pulled as hard as he could causing the attack to stray missing Lucas and going into the ground.
"We can beat her together!" Novis Shouted.