The Last Primal

Aiden was watching Roas with apt attention all the time. Although it would have been preferable if they would be able to bypass this horrible warding and get inside the building without alerting anyone, if the cost would be the life of his first servant, he would much rather just destroy the whole thing straight on.

So, he was watching him, ready to pull him away by force if the situation would call for it. He saw Roas struggling, his hands were already in the poise ready to shoot out and grab the broad dark green shoulders of the robust orc servant any second. 

'Why is there such a gruesome spell on the door anyway? How do the other envoys get inside? There has to be an easier, more convenient way to get inside…' He was inwardly lamenting. It was incredibly inconvenient if every leader, envoy, or guard that would be stationed inside had to go through such horrible torture just to get inside the building. No, that would be incredibly improbable. There had to be a way where they could get inside without any of this hassle.

As he was thinking, suddenly he felt a change in the air around them, suddenly it turned colder, with a strange, gust of air seemingly gushing around them, surrounding them in an invisible barrier, separating them from the rest of the world.

Aiden could feel a vague presence looking at them from somewhere far away… He couldn't actually pinpoint the source, he could only feel it very faintly. Even locating the general direction where this new, powerful presence came from proved to be too much of a challenge.

The presence itself seemed to only glance at them for a brief moment before it lost its interest and pull away. With it, the air returned to its calm, normal state. The sudden cold eased up as well.

Alerted by this ominous turn of events, Aiden immediately reached for his still struggling servant and touched his back with one hand while he reached for his shoulder with the other.

However, as soon as his palm touched Roas's sweat covered, glistening barren back, a new notification popped up suddenly, blocking a sizeable portion of his view.

[Would you like to empower your minion: Roas (Lvl 10)? 

Note: You will need to maintain close contact with the selected minion in order to keep up Empowering. Once you disconnect, the transfer will be canceled.]

'Empower?' Aiden was stunned for a moment when he saw the details of the new note. Below the text, there were two buttons blinking, one for 'Yes' and to simply dismiss the text. Although most likely if he would simply remove his hand would be the same as simply selecting the 'No' option.

Taking another fast look at Roas, Aiden quickly made the decision to go forward with the transfer, whatever type of energy he would transfer to his first minion. Roas was clearly struggling, barely holding on. Only by the sheer amount of his willpower was what kept him still standing, he was obviously at the very last strands of his stamina.

Focusing on the blinking 'Yes' button below the note, Aiden instantly felt as his own reserve of Soul Power deep inside the very depth of his soul began to stir. The previously calm mystical sea of his deep energy reserves suddenly began to boil, and in the next instant, he could feel a new flow of energy traverse towards the hand that was touching Roas' back.

The flow was higher in volume than what he would usually move in normal circumstances when activating his [Mystic Martial Arts] but not by too much. It was still a considerable amount, but regardless, Aiden was willing to sacrifice any amount if it would mean to help out his struggling servant.

As the energy arrived at its destination, to the palm of his connecting hand, a golden glow suddenly lit up covering his hand in a bright radiating layer of light. A moment later Aiden felt as his energy left him, entering the body of his servant, and began to do its job in restoring his depleted mana reserves.

Roas was way too focused on the task at hand. The invisible battle between the dark energy that tried to invade him required his complete and unfettered attention. If he would falter, or just let on for just a single moment, would spell certain doom for him. 

He squeezed every last drop of his mana as he pushed against the unsurmountable tide of dark energy that continued to push against him. His entire body covered in sweat, his struggle was clearly visible to anyone that would look at him. Still, even if he would have to sacrifice his life force, he would do so willingly if it would mean that he could destroy this barrier and let his savior, the young master inside. 

It would be worth it. At least with that, there would be at least a marginal amount of meaning to his pointless existence. There would a single victory against the tide of darkness, the demons that ruined not just his life, but his entire tribe as well.

With such determination in mind, he did not hesitate as he felt his pool of mana dry out during this continuous struggle. He was ready to start channeling his very soul, his life force to keep pushing against the warding and get the chance to destroy it when he suddenly felt a new, previously unfamiliar warmth enter his body from his back. 

Not even a moment later he felt the comfortable warmth rapidly spread inside his body, refilling his empty reserves, and refreshing his body and soul, removing the tiredness entirely.

Although he couldn't turn back and look at the source, he was almost certain this was the doing of his young master. He was sure that his young master couldn't watch any longer, and just as he promised he decided to help out. 

His previously frowning, grotesque expression suddenly returned to a much calmer, focused state. With his master behind him, his devotion and confidence in himself and in his master reached newfound heights. With a smirk curving the edges of his lips, he suddenly increased the intensity of his channeled energy. The thin, dark coating of energy surrounding his hands turned much denser. He could feel as he slowly, but surely overcame the previously invincible tide of darkness and began to push it back inch by inch.

Without any feedback, Aiden wasn't sure if what he was doing was helpful or not, but he decided not to pull back, and continue for as long as he could. He wasn't using the same type of energy this 'mana' that Roas called upon when casting his spells, and he wasn't certain if there were any type of conversion available. 

Still, at the very least, he could see as his tensed muscles suddenly calmed down and saw as his expression returned to a much healthier almost smiling state. This was enough for him that if nothing else, helped to remove some of the physical tension Roas was experiencing. 

Although his Soul Power was slowly depleting, he still had almost 70% of his reserves remaining at his disposal, and if the situation allowed it, he could just take a short rest to restore some of it. While the girls would be probably worried if he wouldn't get back by dawn, they knew that the mission would probably take some time to complete. 

A change returned his senses to reality. Abruptly, he could feel a change, a source of energy fading coming from the direction of the door. With a wide grin on his face, Aiden shifted his attention and focused on the humongous dark door ahead. Focusing his [Dark Sense] he felt that the previously strong magic was now much weaker, almost at the cusp of vanishing from existence. 

This removed all the worry he previously had and focused his all on keeping up the transfer and making sure that his devoted servant, Roas had all the power at his disposal he needed to overcome this hurdle.

Roas could also feel that victory was now at his grasp. Just a bit more, and he would finally push through! He would not fail in his task and cause great shame to his young master.

Feeling as his reserves were continuously restored by the unfamiliar warmth coming from his back, he increased the intensity of his channel once more. 

Both Roas and Aiden was watching as the previously invincible warding began to slowly show signs of cracking. Not letting any chance for it to rest and regain even a single strand of his power, Roas kept up his magic. 

They both watched as the cracks continued to spread on the demonic rune that due to its constant activation turned into a visible state. As the spiderweb cracks soon covered the entirety of the eerie floating rune, both master and servant watched as it finally gave in against the constant pressure and exploded, vanishing into nothingness, removing its restrictive powers from the surface of the ebony door, no longer blocking entry.

With his task completed, Roas could finally rest. Canceling his spell, he plopped down to the ground, with an audible thud, letting out a large sigh of relief.

"[Orc] Young Master… *huff* I… comple-" 

However, before he could even finish his sentence, suddenly they both felt a crunching, churning noise coming from above them...