“Jake, Damascus, you should come through now,” Laurence said before turning round and looking at the people who had been fighting. A smile lit his face as he looked on at the three faces of his long missed friends.
“Law... You’re alive? You’re alive! By the lady’s eye!” Jim cried out and fell down, relief expressed from every pore on his body. Without a word spoken both Louisa and Winoa ran towards Laurence and tackled him to the ground. Louisa was crying while Wiona seemed angry. As they both calmed down Winoa sat back up and hit Laurence in the arm. “You idiot. You absolute idiot. We were so damn worried about you, Law, especially Cleo. She was driven half to madness by you. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I just wanted to make sure my friends were safe is all. I wanted to make sure Cleo was safe”. Laurence smiled and sat up, looking over at the molten egg in the middle of the room. “Is that her?”
“Yeah, she went too far and something happened to her. I think she might be ascending right now. What happened to you? Did you become a Heaven ranker? You seem stronger”.
“I don’t know. I think I became a Saint again”.
“What?” Louisa said, finally breaking free from the hug she had given Laurence. “Isn’t that impossible?”
“Apparently not”. Laurence summoned his Book and stared open mouthed at the cover. After a moment he finally said, “Yeah, definitely possible”. On the cover of his Book was no longer just his hammer, but now there was a second symbol printed in the same golden bronze of equal size to the first. Within the simple square was a sword that gave the entire book a domineering air. Nothing else about the outside cover had changed, but Laurence could not help but feel that there was something else going on within his book, so he began to flick through the pages. He reached what he classically thought of as the end of the Book and turned the page, only to find a new section called Classics of War. He read through with increasing speed as he realised that everything that he knew about combat from his time climbing up the tower and within the Empty Throne school was distilled into its purest form here. As he reached the end he found a second section called The Uses of Aura. This was all new to him, but he flicked through it quickly. When he had more time he knew that he would be able to go through it at more leisure, but now he had someone to protect. Finally, after only a few seconds he ended up on the last part of the book. He looked at the front page and smiled, while Tony had sent him on a wrong path so long ago Alistair had never lead him wrong. The Empty Throne Martial Art was in the middle of the page, and following that there were pages of information about each one of his skills down to how much energy was used when he did anything. It was in depth in a way that he could not fully grasp but heartily appreciated as with each piece of new information about his skills he would be able to master them in far greater depth.
Closing the book before he became too engrossed, Laurence stood up and walked over to the egg housing the body of Cleo. He placed his palm upon it and sighed before turning around and facing the still petrified Lupe. Between each rank there was a sense of suppression that could only be broken by another of that rank, and as Laurence was something akin to a Heaven ranked individual he had the same effect upon the Lupe Saints. There was something unreachable about him for them, something that made them unwilling to face him.
Laurence waited, feeling the heat of the egg against his back, watching every move by those creatures that would attempt to suppress him if they were given the chance. He stayed perfectly still, like a lion ready to pounce at a moment’s notice, waiting for those telltale sounds of eggshells cracking. He could feel the life force of the woman he loved becoming stronger and stronger within that egg, but she was still not quite there, she was still missing some impetus to propel her from Sainthood into something so much more.
Laurence spread his aura around once more, letting it wrap the egg and Cleo’s slumbering form within. Unlike with the Lupe, his aura wrapped around the young woman like a protective, all encompassing blanket. In his mind’s eye Laurence watched Cleo relax and felt her growth progress quicker and quicker. Her body became tougher, but without blemish. Her bones became harder and more dense without becoming heavier, her organs became more lively and even her bloodstream shifted from carrying oxygen in blood and instead seemed to become pure fire carrying elemental energy through her being. Laurence could tell that it would give her a supplemental power source that would help her mana last far longer than she would ever have before.
Finally, after what felt like aeons the egg began to crack and split apart. An embryonic fluid started to leak out and from within a young woman with hair like fire stepped into the room. Her lightning blue eyes breaking into tears as she saw the one armed young man who had guarded her while she grew. She grabbed hold of him, barreling him over once again even as the flames around her body formed into a simple red and yellow dress.
“You’re back,” Cleo whispered into Laurence’s ear. “I can’t believe you’re finally back with me”.
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