"Taeru Stonebourne ascended to the seventh rank… the Golemlord." Immoriens said under his breath
"Looks like there is a little rat." A man's voice resounded in the room
Immoriens took the records and like a phantom vanished from the iron box.
"Run little Windbourne, you won't get far." The man said, turning to leave
Immoriens ran with his heart knocking out of his chest.
The more he ran, the more he felt something was wrong. As he left the tower, he saw a massive maze so tall that it spanned kilometres in the sky.
"What the hell—" he exclaimed confused, momentarily stopping in his tracks
Unleashing his essence, Immoriens called upon whirlwinds to break to the walls
"… not a damn scratch…" he mumbled
So his next option was to escape. Running through the sky with all his might, he evaded the guards below who were chasing a certain group.
"Shit the Delta agents are in this— I need to find them and then escape—-" Immoriens said to himself, using his essence now to try to find them, but mainly following the trail of battle
He was fast, so incredibly fast even without his phantom movements that he flew across the maze at breakneck speed. Within half an hour, he found them.
Or rather, found the guards fighting them.
"Slow down."
Immoriens' voice carried through and the wind resistance in the whole area increased a hundred fold, making every movement incredibly difficult
But they were experts— so in truth they could resist the effect and still be 2/3 as fast as they would usually be. The slowness however was only to buy Immoriens time to knock the guards out in mere moments with the back of his blade of whirlwind.
As the last guard fell, he did not stop to rest.
"No time to talk— let's get the hell out of here before someone strong shows up." Immoriens ordered as he released the slow zone
They nodded and moved along. Without the unrelenting pursuit of guards, they could move faster.
'Dammit why is my heart beating out of my chest. Don't tell me… is the person who disturbed the temple guards… Taeru?' Immoriens thought
As he did, his eyes widened in terror at the simple thought
"If four lords managed to take down an emperor… what can I, a simple wind expert, hope to do against just one…" Immoriens mumbled in fear
As they moved further down the maze, a fork in the road came.
Before he could follow the trail of battle to figure where to find the delta agents… now, they had a judgment call to make.
"Left or right?" He asked them
"… let's go right. It's toward the closest city where we can hide in!" Delta Eleven said
They ran toward the city and the maze ended within another two hundred metres. As they ran out of it at last, a large transport convoy was coming their way as it light the dark night
"Duck in the treeline—" Immoriens ordered
They went to their left into a large forest and looked at the transport convoy. Multiple large and luxurious vehicles were approaching all with the golem emblem, the symbol of the Stonebourne dukedom.
As they laid in wait, Immoriens and the others suppressed their presence to avoid being noticed. That said… the convoy stopped right when it was passing them.
The doors opened and overwhelming auras flooded into the world.
'At least fifty elites… and a few masters… what the f*ck—' Immoriens cursed inwardly
Then he got out.
A man in a beige double breasted noble court suit and a light brown cape with the emblem of the golem. He was tall, over two metres in height with a very muscular and developed muscular build. He was a man with brown skin and curly tan hair. His chestnut eyes seemed to pierce all before him. His face was sharp and flawless for his mature age. He seemed to be in his middle thirties.
Immoriens held his breath as he saw him step out. Although he could not see it clearly… he could feel it.
The ground under his feet, the stone around him and even the world itself was bowing down before him, prostrating itself before its Lord. As he looked at the masters and elites… he saw them kneel on one knee whilst looking into the ground.
"It seems the southern temple had guests." He said in a slow paced deep tone
The earth split as Immoriens and all delta agents found themselves pulled on a chunk of stone right before him.
Nobody could breathe. The sheer quantity and quality of essence was suffocating in a way that could not be described other than drowning under a mountain.
"Leaving already? And what's this?" He said as he reached his hand out to tear the records away from Immoriens who was like a statue kneeling on the ground
"A little spy? By your clothes, you must be. Which faction do you serve?" He asked in the same tone
After a brief glance, he looked at them
"Tsk tsk, you must belong to her majesty. Now I definitely cannot let you leave here alive." He said casually
Immoriens looked up at him.
'An abyss… I'm staring into an abyss…' he thought
Before he could even realise it, the earth began to consume him as ragged stones crept up his feet and petrified him. Without any ability to resist, he became a statue of ragged stones. And then with a snap of his fingers, the Golemlord shattered the statues, leaving nothing but bloody stones and mangled organs among them.
As Immoriens' life ended, so did his vision. He was now back at the fork in the maze, just about to turn right.
His body dropped to the ground screaming in agonizing pain as his brain reeled from the terror of his encounter and the sensation of death.
The Delta agents stopped dead in their tracks are they looked at the special agent with confused and surprised expressions.
"Immoriens what happened—" delta nine asked, rushing to get him back up
After a few brief moments, Immoriens caught his breath and forced himself up. The Golemlord would be arriving soon. He could feel the world change with every moment.
"L-left. We n-need to go left. Only d-death awaits us on the right…" he said between shakes as he got up
Not daring to protest, they turned and took the left turn but there was a silent worry among them.
After taking the left turn, they kept going, taking left and right turns, as the maze just kept going.
"We're too slow— let's fly up." Immoriens said as he enveloped everyone in essence and pulled them up with him.
'I don't want to be on the ground when he comes—' he thought
As his thoughts fully formed, he felt the maze shift. And then Immoriens was back in the fork of the road, screaming in agony after not going more than a few steps in the way to the left.
'Did the walls just close in instantly!? Shit he's going to be here before we can get out the maze—' he thought amidst the excruciating pain
"What the hell is wrong with you, Immoriens!?" Delta Seven asked
With a few grunts, he got up.
"We're going back to the temple…" Immoriens commanded
"What!?" They all shouted in unison
"… I can glimpse into the future when I'm about to die. We're dead in either path— so we can only go back and figure it out from there." Immoriens said calmly, starting to walk back to the temple
Before they could even process what he said, they had to move.
"What do you mean you can see the future— what elemental power is that—" Delta Ten asked
"Don't think too much. Just move—" he replied as he increased his pace
They ran back— but as they did, the ground rumbled
'I didn't feel the ground rumble in the pagoda tower when this maze went up but I can sure as hell feel it now that I'm outside. He's coming— and he's tearing down the walls in his way.' Immoriens thought
Thankfully the way back was easier to navigate than the way forward and within half an hour of running, they were back at the temple courtyard. Not far behind however… was the convoy.
A convoy which transported tens of elites, some masters and most importantly an elemental lord.
"When they get here, the wall should go down. When it does— we jump into the sea." Immoriens said
"What!?" Delta Nine exclaimed
"Unless you've got any better ideas?" Immoriens added
They were uncertain.
"Sir… who exactly is coming?" Delta Nine asked
"A convoy… of elites, masters… and an elemental lord. Taeru Stonebourne ascended from master— that's what was inside the box." Immoriens said quietly, almost whispering, with a grim expression on his face
The silence was deafening.
But it soon broke.
They had no time to waste.
"There's a chance… if we jump into the sea maybe we can fall off the cliff and cover enough ground and escape his reach." Immoriens said
As more walls receded and the maze walls went down completely, the convoy had arrived. Immoriens and his squad were on the opposite side of the courtyard and were already running toward the cliff. They were almost at the edge within seconds and would soon jump and get away. As they stepped off the cliff, Immoriens looked back to see a man's figure standing at the edge of the cliff, kicking his leg into it and extending it, creating a platform to catch the spies.
Immoriens and the Delta Agents landed on the platform but without hesitation, Immoriens called upon whirlwind and sent forth a spear of whirlwind that could pierce through mountains.
Alas, Taeru Stonebourne was not a mountain. He was a Lord.
Catching Immorien's spear of whirlwind, Taeru looked at the special agent.
"Quite a potent attack you've got here, little spy." He said in a laid back tone
Opposed to his tone, his essence slammed all agents pflat on the ground.
Taeru approached Immoriens and cast his gaze onto the young special agent.
"I believe this is yours." The Golemlord said as he took the spear of whirlwind and impaled Immoriens with his own construct
But Immoriens was no mediocre expert of the wind
'Oh man this better work—' Immoriens thought as he commanded the whirlwind converged at his influence to be absorbed into his reserves of essence
The spear dissolved from Taeru's hands and the potent whirlwind did not externally harm Immoriens.
"You absorbed whirlwind as an expert?" He asked, seemgly confused at what just happened
After not more than a second of reflection, he spoke again
"Such talent is exceptionally rare, what a shame it is that I have to kill you." Taeru said as he took the records from Immoriens
Whirls Immoriens had not been impaled, his own sea of essence was swirling with whirlwind. Because whirlwind was inherently superior, his essence had all but been consumed by the chaos and became a ticking time bomb— or rather a swirling time bomb.
'Ugh— this cliff better not be enhanced—' Immoriens groaned as he channelled all his essence into one massive whirlwind attack that would obliterate the cliff and plunge them into the sea
"Go on. I'll let you try your little plan." Taeru said with an indifferent expression at Immoriens' convergence of essence
Immoriens unleashed the greatest spear of whirlwind he had ever made— and could ever make given his present state— and let it obliterate the cliff
Amidst the shattering stone, they all fell downward into the cold sea.
"You'll plunge into the sea." Taeru said
Then the shattered stones took shape and became spinning spikes aimed at all the agents
"As corpses, that is." He said in a deathly cold tone as he unleashed the seventh rank constructs at such a speed that the sound barrier broke
As they fell toward the sea, Delta Seven was shot through the stomach. Delta Eight was shot through the lungs. Delta Nine was shot through the neck. Delta Ten was shot through the spine. Delta Eleven was shot through the head. And Special Agent Immoriens was shot through the heart.
Six splashes entered the waves and six corpses were washed into the sea.