Chapter 24: Breaking the Ritual
The ritual chamber at the heart of the Abyssal Sect glowed with a strange red hue. Black smoke filled the air like fog, and, like a cyclone, it spun around the altar where Soso was tied. The runes etched into the stone floor glowed and pulsed with luminescence, dancing to the undercurrent of the low, dark chants that the heads of the sect were chanting.
Echo narrowed his eyes and breathed heavily, each breath a new source of strength and confidence. He could feel the surge of Overdrive teeming through his body, and every nerve and muscle told him what to do. He was going to do everything in his power to save Soso.
"This ends here and now," he swore to himself. "I'm going to destroy their ritual and get her back."
Before him stood the ritual apparatus, a grotesque amalgamation of dark magical and physical deformation.
A complex arrangement of glowing chains and crystals and stones engraved with runes made up the apparatus.
Echo recognized that they were using Soso's life force. Dark jets of flame licked at the edges of the altar, sending huge shadows dancing on the walls around the room.
At the altar were several of the heads of the Abyssal Sect standing but waiting to defend their creation.
Echo narrowed his focus to the battlefield before him. He knew that he could not just fight. He had to be able to think as well.
There were broken pillars in all directions, and chains hung loose from the ceiling.
Lieutenants weakened from the previous day's battle clustered along their human shields.
Half-a-dozen guards of a much higher status were positioned throughout the area.
The energy from the cleansing ceremony writhed and pulsated in a constant pattern… though there was a brief lapse in energy every several seconds.
This meant now was the best time to attack.
With a grip on his daggers, Echo breathed, "Got you."
In the blink of an eye, Echo had burst into motion.
Overdrive reached peak performance, and he faded in and out of sight.
He bounded off the top of one of the broken columns, twisting himself in mid-air and slicing the breaking runes on one of the energy bindings; a shower of sparks erupted from both the binding chain, as well as, the dark energy that emitted the red light.
An enforcer lunged at Echo; Echo ducked, rolled back and thrust his elbow outward forcing the enforcer to release their weapon and crash into the column beside him.
Alan Black hat instantly countered with several lieutenants rushing toward him, drawing their black flames from their weapons.
Moving in the fluid pattern of water; twisting, dodging, and flipping; every elbow strike was as quick and clean as Echo's movement.
As the fight continued, Echo stayed as close as possible to the ceremony; cutting runes and breaking the bindings in an effort to move toward the centre of the ritual.
The remaining bindings writhed like living vines in an attempt to keep up with Echo as he moved closer to the centre of the altar.
When he leaped forward to make his final attack, the remaining bindings will wrap around Echo and attempt to crush him.
Echo spun around in the air while wielding two daggers, both of which cut down two of his opponents.
He landed in a crouching position on top of the altar and cut through the core rune at its center with his weapon.
The altar began to shake violently, and the very energy beneath it was starting to lose its power, causing dark sparks of light to shoot up through out the surface of the altar.
"Almost done... just a little bit longer," Echo said calmly to himself.
Soso, although still crippled and weak from losing so much magical energy, used the strength that she had left to look through Echo's eyes and read the runic magic patterns with a speed greater than any mage was capable of.
With her remaining strength she whispered softly to him, "Echo; the left side of the crystal, when you see it pulse three times, that is when you strike it," she said.
Echo listened attentively for the correct sign to jump as he anticipated the crystal to flash three times, and on the third pulse he flew high into the air and threw his dagger directly into the core of the crystal.
As soon as the dagger made contact with the crystal, the crystal shattered into thousands of small pieces, all of which emitted a glowing red light, which flew harmlessly across the entire chamber.
At the moment of the crystals destruction, the rhythm of the ritual was broken.
The glowing red light of the ritual diminished;
the chanting of the enforcers turned to screams, as the energy became unstable;
the entire chamber shook, as the altar began to crack;
the flames from the area around the altar ceased to exist, as the runes of the ritual began to de-synchronize;
the chiefs of the sects were shouting incantations, trying to restore energy to the ritual; However, it was already too late; Echo had already destroyed the critical points where the energy was flowing.
Desperate, a large number of enforcers rushed in to attack Echo.
Echo had no time to think as he flipped over the charging sword and landed behind it. As the first attacker turned to see what happened, Echo disarmed him and struck him at the nape of his neck with the blunt end of his dagger.
A second attacker came at him from the front with two swords, and Echo vaulted off a crumbling column and delivered a precise kick to this man's jaw, knocking him unconscious as well.
A third attacker came from behind, attempting to grab Echo, but Echo spun under the man's attack, swept his legs out from under him and finished him off with a punch to the ribs.
Every move Echo made was calculated to save him a fraction of a second that he would need to complete the termination of the ritual.
He ran up the side of a fallen column, launched himself and, at maximum speed and power, brought his dagger down against the last rune node carved into the altar.
A deafening crack echoed throughout the chamber as the chains binding Soso broke all at once. The energy web disintegrated, exploding outward like shards of broken glass.
The entire room became a blinding white, the dark energy exploded outward and disappeared completely.
"Soso! I've got you," Echo yelled, running forward just as Soso collapsed. He caught her before she hit the ground. Although her body trembled, her voice was almost a whisper.
"I was sure you'd come for me, that you'd help me out of the mess I made of myself," she said when he reached her, pulling together with a rush of relief and strength; now that Overdrive's thrumming had subsided, but his focus remained highly honed as he looked over the room, making sure no one would be able to get near her again.
The remaining sect forces surrounding the room were frozen. Their leaders had been eliminated, and their ritual had been shattered. The light that illuminated the fortress for centuries had been extinguished. Survivors of the sect were rattled, and each remaining was lost in faith and fled, one at a time.
The fortified structure of the fortress echoed with the sound of retreat: boots pounding the rocks; spells softened to silence. The red hue that had colored the walls of the fortress was gone, and candles flickered as the only source of light.
Soso got to her feet with Echo's help. Her clothing was torn, and her hands shook from being chained up for so long. Echo stayed close to her side or in front of her, acting as a precaution against anyone or anything hiding in the shadows. The air felt less heavy than what it did prior to before entering the Abyssal Sect's fortress.
Soso tiredly smiled at him. "We are free - the ritual has been broken, so no one can hurt us."
Echo nodded his head slowly, assuring her that as long as he was alive there would always be protection for her.
She was leaning on him; her voice was steady but soft. "Your plan, your might, is what freed us," she whispered. "Not magic, or luck; only you."
He gave her a small smile. "We still have to get out of here; it's not really over yet. That being said, we did win this round. Together."
The chamber was quiet now…and dark. No more chanting, no more luminous light, no more fears.
As Echo moved into the much quieter hallway, he stopped to look into every corner.
There were bodies strewn across the stone floor (bodies of those that had fallen).
The only illumination left were the last few torches on the walls — casting long shadows upon the ruins of the dark temple.
The night air greeted Echo with a nice cool hug when they finally stepped outside. He looked over at Soso; while she looked completely wiped out, there was still something behind her eyes that radiated trust and maybe even something more.
Echo grasped her hand. "No more shackles, no more fear. We walk away together."
As they turned to leave, the remnants of the Abyssal Sect slowly faded into darkness. The ritual they had conducted to bring about the events of that night were behind them, and their leaders had been defeated.
As they stood side by side at last - two souls who had faced impossible odds and come out on top — Echo said softly, "Breaking the ritual — One blow at a time...One step closer to peace."
The destruction of the ritual, the liberation of Soso, and the rout of the sect's army concluded the conflict. No mage had done what Echo had done: with sheer will, skill, and unwavering determination to destroy an ancient evil through magical means, without actually performing any magic.
As darkness enveloped the fortress enclosing the congregation's remaining members, the world seemed a bit brighter.