Dawn- An age of Darkness

"There's more to this, isn't there?" My lips slipped before I realized. 

This feeling was just too incredible. 

The earl chuckled. "Well, when I said two, I only planned to give you this thing. Turns out that large gemstone you see was a god stone and a legendary smith roughly five thousand years ago forged it and the gauntlet together. All the other stones you see are also god stones. There have been three wielders of this gauntlet and all three died after putting it on for more than a day. So, do be careful." He giggled. "Well, you'll figure something out I guess."

I kind of grimaced at the whole thing and no, I didn't want to put this on anymore. 

"Just put it on already!" Alisa gave me a slap on my butt. 

That actually kind of stung and at the same time it didn't!

Did Alisa have a butt fetish or something??

I was wearing my ring but I wanted to wear this gauntlet without it and see how this worked: I didn't want this precious ring to get scratched after all. So I just gave it to Ve. Why? Because I trusted her most in this room. 

Also, it was just a show of trust- so I could gauge her reaction and the reactions around me. 

I asked her to pull the ring out and put the gauntlet on me though. Because no matter how I thought about it, I couldn't wear the thing on my own whether I liked it or not. 

Ve lifted up the gauntlet with one hand- promptly switched to both her hands and I could see her veins. Was it really that heavy? It really didn't seem that heavy to me though.

Anyway, she helped me put on the gauntlet. 

The feeling of I was wearing something quickly faded. "I can move my arm like normal. Doesn't seem to be too heavy and it's actually making me feel like I can take a punch or two even without armor. Kind of similar to what I felt when I used Dick's shield. I also feel slightly stronger and more agile." Plus it almost felt like I was wearing a thin glove rather than a thick and heavy gauntlet. 

"Let's see then-" Ve proceeded to punch me in the stomach without any warning.

"OUCh! That hurt you know." Not enough to make me lie down on the ground and roll around though. 

"Good. I punched with enough strength to make a hole in you but seems like your defense has at least tripled. Or it could be more than that."

Ve, scary. 

I gulped and tried to get the gauntlet off. 

"Why don't you try to use the stones?" Alisa said. 

"I should use them all at once?"

I used two because I only had two. But there were literally five here, not counting the large one. Frankly, I didn't want to touch that, at least not yet. 

"Yeah, if anything happens we'll stop you." Alisa gave me a big wide grin. 

Well, I did have two demigods with me. I didn't like those looks on their faces though.

The earl kind of grimaced. Yeah, I felt the same way.

There were five colored stones: from the right; red, green, aqua, purple, and black.

  I tried to focus and only two of the stones glowed. The red one and the aqua one. I felt a familiar flow of mana in me. "One is Xerphas's while the other is Anverosa's." I never used Xerphas's mana but I could tell it was his, after all, I wore an armor made from his scales for over a month. And I still remember that burning feeling.

"Hmm." Alisa came close and inspected the stones. "The green is Elfanse's: she's the half-elf's mother. The purple is maybe Dwaxine's? I'm not sure about the black one though."

"That's Ashirnae's," Ve said, eyes closed. 

I sighed. I didn't want to hear that name. "How come I can't use them?" I didn't want to use Ashirnae's though.

And how the hell did people remember these names! 'Someone enlighten me already!'

"In most cases, you don't need permission from the gods but- in some cases you do. And that some case is you. Apostles of one god can't use the stones of another without their explicit permission. You were already Trerortra's apostle but then you met Damsel and he gave you permission. And then you met Xerphas and then Anverosa. Only Xephas made you his apostle but Anverosa gave you her permission. Meaning if you wish to use them you'll need the respective god's permission."

Sounded like a drag. And it wasn't like being an apostle made me anything special or something! "And we can't happen to just go to them and ask either, right?"

Wait, being Trerortra's apostle allowed me to be able to use holy magic. Did it mean I could use the same magic as Xerphas too? Hmmm…

Alisa gave me an awkward smile. "Well…" I didn't need any more explanations. "Anyway, why don't you try the middle one?"

Right, the big middle one was Trerortra's so- I did not want to try it. The reason? It was literally the size of a baseball. I was confident in my sanity but- wasn't it a bit too big? 

The look on Alisa's face suggested she'd slap my butt again if I didn't just get moving. 

  So, I tried to use that, albeit with a sigh. 

For a second, I felt a very familiar mana flow in me and it almost felt like my own. It was slightly different but since I was so familiar with it, it flowed well. My body glowed in white and some pale particles flew around. White particles. It was almost like my body was sparkling. The mana was almost infinite and I felt more and more powerful by the second.

"How about you try to imbue yourself? And also try to use the rest of the stones you can?"

These guys were really going crazy with the demands. 

The earl was kind of going pale. Meanwhile, I saw a lot of soldiers poking their heads in to see what was going in. 

I tried and for once, I felt really, really warm. Not only did my arm grow back as a transparent one but for once I actually felt like I could perhaps even grow it back for real- I felt that much strength within me. 

I still didn't know how though.

My body glowed in a rainbow like color but none of the layers meshed. And yet, I felt so full of life that I thought I could even fly if I wanted to. "Your arm… regrow it." I heard the spirit's voice in my mind. But Biteria was still standing outside.

The name of a spell and how to use it flashed in my mind. I wasn't sure if these were Boriosa's memory or something the spirit gave me. 

But- there was one thing I had to make sure. 'Looks like my magic is amplified by at least a few hundred times.' 

"REGROW!" I didn't know if it'd work or not or how it'd work but I just willed it and pictured my arm growing. I guess watching those videos in biology class finally came in handy.

My arm glowed in bright white, but a layer of darkness was also visible: apparently, it wasn't just holy. That darkness was the spirit's or perhaps my curse?

I could literally see bones forming and then muscles and then- skin?

It didn't hurt. I did feel dizzy though.

I had an arm!  I couldn't move it much, but I had an arm! I didn't think it'd succeed. But- here I was. 

Tears threatened to break free and it almost felt like I'd just achieved the impossible. My body felt very sluggish though. I could drop at any moment. 

Before I noticed, Ve, Alisa, and the Earl were actually bowing before me. 

"What happened?" 

"It's just-" Ve tried but stopped. 

"Though we hate Trerortra- you- you possess the mana of the supreme god and our predecessors, hence our blood compels us to bow before you. Only a true god can resist that power. Meaning-" Alisa looked up and winked. "You've finally surpassed us demigods." She smiled and gave my hand a stare. 

Which was good and all but I was literally feeling faint. Maybe just because I could, I shouldn't have regrown an arm so quickly. The light started to flicker and before I knew it, I fell on the ground, nose first. Ve took out the gauntlet. 

I didn't pass out. 

My head did throb a lot though. And I had just a tinsy bit of nose bleed.

Alisa inspected my hand, poking here and there like a kid. "A grand success. Well done my disciple!" She was too damn proud. And since when did I become her disciple?

I didn't have the energy to criticize her though. 

Meanwhile, the Earl got up and ran around grabbing all the gold he could. Well, he looked happy.

Almost made me chuckle but I couldn't move. 

Ve sighed and picked me up like a princess. This was probably the second time I was experiencing this. 

I wanted to complain but didn't. "Thanks, you guys."

Both of them smiled and while Ve brought me out, the soldiers got in and dragged the earl out. The poor guy. 

All in all, I was happy for once. 

But it only made me more afraid.. 'I guess I really should say goodbye.'

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