The chimera kept gnawing at his skin and lopping off his arms. Every time it neared his head, he avoided it, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the opportunity presented itself.
'It's like some child who just got a new toy... When it gets bored, that should give me the opportunity to strike,' Julian thought, his eyes blurry from the pain.
Aliyah's part in all of this was to wait for his signal, though, in the corner of his eyes, he saw her head peek from the staircase, staring at him in horror. She had disagreed strongly when he first told her about his plan since it seemed like such a reckless idea.
But like earlier, he assured her with a half-smile that he was alright.
Even though he really wasn't.
However, amidst the destruction of his body, he realized something strange. Each time his arm was cut off or he suffered a wound, the miasma would heal it back and make that area stronger. Piercing through his arm now took a lot more effort for the chimera, and so it switched to another arm.
Julian estimated that he could keep doing this for another ten minutes before all the miasma in this room and in the staircase would be gone.
It was a similar environment to the snowy camp. It was miasma paradise, but it wasn't infinite.
The pain and torture continued, and eventually, the chimera switched to his legs and torso. After regeneration, they grew much sturdier, but by then, the ground was littered with arms, bodies, and more. It was a gruesome sight, and he was inwardly praising Aliyah for not vomiting her guts out at the sight.
But right as he had those thoughts, the attacks stopped coming. Meeting the chimera's gaze, he realized it was picking its nose, appearing bored.
A relieved smile appeared on Julian's face as he took one step to the side, then another. Eventually, he arrived right behind the chimera, which didn't even acknowledge his existence anymore.
But now, this was the crucial part.
Its skin was too tough to tear through, so killing was off the table. The only way he could think of to defeat it was to seal it away back into the coffin.
And that was actually possible with Aliyah's help and his ring, which, even after having his arms lopped off, remained on his finger.
They just had to do everything fast. Really, really fast, with zero mistakes.
By now, Julian's ring had fully recharged the Spiritual Essence. Since the ring let him control the limited Spiritual Essence however he pleased, that meant he could create a Grade 1 charm.
Julian closed his eyes and brought his hands together in a praying gesture. Then, he focused on the Spiritual Essence inside the ring.
He imagined a piece of parchment made from Spiritual Essence itself. It was the basic way to make a Spiritual Charm without the help of special ink.
Recalling every single step, Julian weaved the charm as though he were drawing a painting, and in the end, when he felt the last of his Spiritual Essence vanish, he opened his eyes.
In his right hand rested a straightened piece of parchment glowing a bright blue color. When he looked closer, he saw the charm's description.
[Charm of Binding]Grade: 1Type: Spiritual Seal / SuppressionActivation: Requires direct contact with the target or its shadow.Description: A charm made by compressing Spiritual Essence and blood into a single seal. When activated, it stops an evil spirit's body from moving for up to five seconds. The effect is greatly reduced against Awakened-ranked spirits and higher.
'With this, I should be able to stop its movement for a second, or slightly less.' Julian exhaled a sharp breath and then extended his arm to the left, performing a peace sign.
The moment he did, Aliyah, who was still at the staircase, suddenly unleashed a barrage of sharp ice shards.
The chimera reacted in time, lowering its body as if to kick off.
But before it could do that, Julian leapt upward and onto the shoulders of the chimera. Then, he plopped the Charm of Binding directly onto the chimera's forehead, momentarily stopping it from moving.
The ice shards morphed from sharp to plain as they wrapped around the body of the chimera like a suit of armor. Then came another push, sending the frozen chimera tumbling directly into a coffin.
Even though the coffin appeared small, the inside was far larger. And so, when it landed inside the coffin, all Julian and Aliyah had to do was bring its feet inside and then slam the coffin shut.
[The Charm of Binding has ended.]
As that pop-up appeared before him, the coffin rumbled. However, Aliyah had come prepared.
She covered the entire coffin in ice and then reinforced the seal which had previously been in place. In turn, that renewed the seal, and within just a few seconds, the banging of the coffin stopped.
Silence ensued as the powerful miasma began getting absorbed back into the coffin. The leftovers, on the other hand, flew over to Julian's body and settled in.
The two stared at the coffin for several minutes, and once it seemed like the chimera had stopped resisting, Julian plopped down to his knees, his hand trembling and his breathing irregular.
His eyes shook, and everything he had experienced in the last few minutes finally caught up to him.
He ignored the pain, but it was there. It hurt a lot. Having his body ripped apart over and over again for that amount of time nearly made him lose his mind. In fact, maybe he did lose his mind since he was willing to go through that torture in the first place.
But as he lay in a pool of his own blood, Julian tried to get over it.
Flashes of his past appeared in his mind: the figures of his parents, the evil spirits that had followed him since the day he was born, and—
"Hey..." Aliyah crouched down beside him. "I know now's not really the time... but when were you going to tell me you're an evil spirit?"