Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 124: The Great Sage

Rav unleashed the full fury of his cloudy magic, and the scene shifted - the storm crackling overhead formed into a pillar of raging, tempestuous clouds that surged directly into molten crater of Lavoshe.

The sheer force of the funnel that drilled into the mountain was enough for Oberyn to almost fall from the sky on his wings. More and more energy from the turbulent skies rushed into the mountain.

To the people on the ground below, they must have thought the world itself were ending.

All the while, Rav continued to grip Ezra’s shoulder as mana flowed freely between them.

Below, the lava hissed and sizzled. The mountain moaned in protest. But slowly, agonizingly, the flood of molten rock began to cool. Harden. The light dimmed, and steam rose in thick curtains from every crack and slope.

The eruption slowed.

The mountain stilled.

And after several minutes of trepidation and fear, Oberyn and Ezra felt a level of tentative calm wash over them. There was no more lava, and the clouds began to dissipate. All that remained was the steam that gushed from Lavoshe as the mountain stilled and the rumbling subsided.

"Rav!" Ezra shouted excitedly, turning to his friend. "Rav, you really did it! You just stopped an entire volcano all by your-"

His smile faded in an instant when he looked back at the Sage. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Pale, mouth agape, eyes cloudy. He had overexerted himself far beyond his limits, and with almost no warm-up.

And then, the impossible happened.

The Great Sage of the Clouds, Ravager Hale of the Ferin -

Collapsed.

Ezra lunged, catching him by the arms, but as Rav lost consciousness, so too did his control over the cloud suspending he and Ezra in midair falter.

The cloud beneath them dissipated, and they fell - Ezra and Rav both, tumbling through the sky.

"No - no, no, no!" Ezra shrieked as his stomach sank. The feeling of falling. The horror as the ground beneath him came into view. Nothing to stop him. Nothing to save him.

’I’m going to die.’

They plummeted. The wind tore at Ezra’s face. He reached for Rav with all his strength, screaming into the storm.

"Rav! Wake up!"

’We’re both going to die.’

Above them, Oberyn dove.

His crimson wings flared wide as he shot downward. He sliced through the fog, his eyes locking on Ezra and Rav falling below.

"Please!" Ezra screamed, unsure if Oberyn could even hear him over the sound of the rushing wind. Tears streamed from his eyes - not just from wind, but from panic. "Catch him, Oby!"

Oberyn reached out with both hands.

Ezra’s fall slowed as Oberyn caught him around the torso, hauling him upward in one smooth, powerful motion. But Oberyn began to fall from Ezra’s weight, not strong enough to hold them both in the air, and certainly not strong enough to add Rav to the mix.

"NO!"

Rav’s body dropped fast - spinning, tumbling, unconscious.

"Oby, leave me! Get Rav! Please!" Ezra cried, reaching down for the Sage as he fell so fast he was almost out of sight.

"The world doesn’t need me, but it needs Rav!"

Oberyn held Ezra tight as they rapidly descended - it took every ounce of strength from Oberyn and his weakened wings just to keep the two of them afloat.

"How dare you say that!" Oberyn snapped back, clutching onto Ezra with both arms. "I need you!"

Ezra gasped. Rav continued to fall. There was nothing - nobody to catch his fall.

He slammed his eyes shut. It was too horrible to watch.

"RAV!"

Oberyn and Ezra took a hard landing on the ground below, somewhere near Tienna Point. On the darkened, dead ground, they looked around for any sign of Rav, but couldn’t see him. Not far in the distance, the mountain continued to emit steam.

"RAV!" Ezra shouted again, running away from Oberyn’s embrace and stumbling into the open field. "WHERE ARE YOU, DAMNIT!?"

"Ezra," Oberyn said quickly.

"WHAT!?" he snapped, turning to Oberyn. His eyes were red and puffy, his breathing uneven.

But as he looked to Oberyn’s direction, his anger quickly subsided into something more visceral - fear.

A great hole had formed in the base of Lavoshe, and from it, creatures formed of blackness and terror itself began to emerge. At first only a few, but quickly dozens became hundreds, until a thousand Encephalim began to charge across the field.

And, as luck would have it, they were obsessively focused on one thing in particular, much like the Heenas were - Ezra.

"Oh shit."

Ezra manifested a spear from his inventory in a hurry, but he didn’t know what good it would do against such overwhelming odds.

And Oberyn wasn’t in the headspace for such a battle either. He was still reeling from the realization that his aunt had betrayed him. He clutched at his wings.

Gluttony. That’s what he surrendered to. He gave up a part of himself, thinking it would cure the famine. And it seemed all he managed to accomplish was reviving a monster.

His bare torso began to shimmer and crack with orange light as his explosive magic welled up within him.

"Do you have any mana left, Ezra?" he asked as the horde rapidly approached. The Encephalim monsters at the front of the horde were reminiscent of the Heenas - but bigger, faster, and bearing mighty tusks like boar.

"Yeah," he said quickly. Even with all that Rav accomplished, he didn’t need to drain Ezra dry. He still had plenty for Oberyn to use.

"Good. I might not be as cool as Rav was, but I think I can take a shot at something amazing, too. Ezra - let’s find out why I’m called the Magician of Explosions."

The horde drew nearer and nearer. Oberyn’s eyes lit up with dramatic orange light. Sigils of unstable mana appeared all across the ground in eccentric shapes, forming a circle of power around them.

Oberyn clapped his hands together, inhaling as deeply as he could. Between him and Lavoshe was all empty field - not counting the thousand monsters that barreled toward them with feverish hunger. He had a clear field of vision. Not an obstacle in sight.

In other words, the perfect stage for him to unleash the full potential of his magic.