"YAAAAAHHHHH!" *DAKKA DAKKA! BOOM!* - the Hall of Water shook violently as it was being bombarded violently. The pillars that held the aesthetically arched ceiling were being chopping down, small debris flew in all directions. The walls were being punctured and smitten, big deep holes scattered here and there. The one who was in charge of this chaos was frightening: the fierce pointy white wolf mask, glowing yellow eyes and the spiky long blue hair of the wearer that resembled a bluish urchin. His body was covered in a tight, futuristic armor that was all white and decorated with luxurious ornaments which defined the high status of the wearer. Lastly a bulky, rectangular ( and white) cannon on his hands that was consecutively firing salvos after salvos of missiles that littered the air causing the mayhem that we had seen.
_ Stop it, Chung! I said STOP! - a redhead boy named Elsword struggled to loose the iron grip on the handle of the cannon which Chung Seiker was using to hash the hall into a heap of miscellaneous rubble. But it was in vain, as Chung was so heavy and holding the ground so firm in a bracing position.
But a swift shadow dashed stealthily there and with a swing, a dark haired man tried to grab Chung and help Elsword wrestled the cannon out of Chung's hands. This time they were able to make Chung to lose his siege stance and steadily stood straight up. A stray cannonball hit the ceiling above them. Medium-sized debris began to fall upon them and they could only cover their heads in despair.
_ Spatial Distortion~
A big, rotund energy ball materialized above Chung, Elsword and the dark-skinned man ( Raven), which swallowed whole big falling debris. The debris which was falling through the energy ball vanished completely.
Chung gasped heavily, he thumped the marble floor so hard the cannon sank to the floor surface and standing there on its own. He knelt down on exhaustion until a purple-haired girl, whose hair was braided into long twintails, came to his aid.
_ Sis Aisha, don't mind me. - said Chung.
Aisha was about to reply but was interrupted by a mocking man's voice:
_ Bah, what's with all the rage, kid? We were about to be seriously injured and I'm now all dirty and sweaty thanks to you... - said him grudgingly.
_ Add, this isn't the time to be worried about your hygiene! The problem is that the demon Earl Ran now on the loose and we have to rendezvous with Penesio and the Knights! - said approaching Elesis, who was also the older sister of Elsword.
Rena, Eve and Ara just following the order of Elesis without a comment.
Now the Elgang had done rescuing the Water Priestess, they gathered and headed to the exit. When Ara was about to step out of the entrance, she was suddenly blocked by the unmasked Chung, now in his less terrifying form but his real face was not less forgiving.
_ Not so fast, miss Ara! - said the angry Chung.
Everyone but Add stopped ( he went straight to the camp to take a bath). It could not be said that Ara was surprised by Chung's attitude. In fact she had been bracing herself and looking forward to this moment.
_ Please pardon me Chung, but would you let your brother being slain before of your eyes without doing anything?
_ Ran is a monster! He led the demons to ravage my hometown and sunk my country under the water, they slain my people, they stole our El Stone, they ruined our sacred places and countless other facilities! The people we vowed to protect, many are now homeless and starving, and reeling from the brutality that we have suffered! - said Chung while gnashing his teeth.
Tears began to fall from his big, round eyes. His face was bright red in indignation and sorrow. Rena put a hand on his shoulder in sympathy. A solemn atmosphere shrouded each member of the Elgang.
Ara felt grief-stricken under Chung's accusations, but gathered all of her courage to speak up:
_ On behalf of my family and my brother, I'm deeply sorry you for what Aren had done for Hamel, you and... and your father. His wrongdoing can never be completely forgotten and I don't even have the capacity to seek your fo... forgiveness. You can punish him but please let him live, he is the only family that I have now. We are the only descendants of the Haan clan, and if Aren d... die, no one will bear the family name 'Haan' ever after!
_ But did he looked like he was feeling sorry for his and his ally's atrocities? His army slain hundreds of Velder knights and soldiers, and possessed many others, Penesio had to put an end to their lives so their souls can finally resting in p...peace... *UGGGH* - Elesis covered her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting.
_ I... he..., he was possessed, you know that don't you? It was not completely his fault... - Ara spoke in panic.
Raven suddenly stepped up before Ara and began to speak:
_ Please calm down Elesis, she ( Ara) was right, do you know what is possession? That means he couldn't control himself and be controlled by someone, doing things against his will and not even knowing what had he done... tch.
Raven looked away, while saying:
_ I know that because I used to be controlled by the Nasod, to be their tool and harassing and pillaging good people settlements like the Ponggo's and even robbing the Ruben's El Stone...
That's right, Raven used to be roguish too, but it was against his will and he was merely a victim after all.
Upon hearing that, Elsword nodded in acknowledgment:
_ That's right, guys, we all have pardoned and accepted people that used to be ehhh... roguish, and helping them to fix their mistakes, like Raven here, and Add over there... Huh, Add, Add... Huh where is he? - looked like only Elsword didn't notice Add had gone ages ago.
Elesis spoke:
_ Brother, this makes no sense, isn't it a little too late for Ran to be pardoned? He has gone too far and showed no sign of stopping. His body even transformed to be like a demon ( for example his horns), that means Aren had given up his body and was reborn as a demon. While Raven's will was only suppressed by the Nasod, and according to the intelligence, Lord Helputt was possessed by the demon too, but the demon only managed to corrupt his Guardian Stone on his armor and control him via that, so if we can find him and get rid of that Stone we can still save him, but Ran's case is beyond salvation!
_ That's not true! We the Haan family and our clan are adepts in exorcism and we can get rid of the evil spirits possessing a human body... - Ara pushed Raven so she could stand face to face with Elesis while speaking, only to be interrupted:
_ Very convincing, miss Ara! Then what about the fox spirit that is possessing your body, can you get rid of it? A daughter of a exorcism family being possessed by an unholy spirit, isn't that humiliating? - Elesis began to sneer.
Ara blushed from top to toes, and to make things worse, Aisha joined Elesis by speaking:
_ That's right, I have been learning magic from my youth, so I know that it took as least a quarter of one shaman lifetime to practice, and another quarter to master exorcism. So most exorcists are old. Do you think you have learned enough to save Aren?
_ I... I... I... WOOOAHH!
Ara finally burst into tears under the intense pressure. It could not be helped, she simply could not hold back any further. She dropped down on her knees and weeping while covering her face. Tears dropped down like raining on the marbled floor...
Elsword pushed everyone away to confront Elesis:
_ Argh, sister! Aisha! How could you be so cruel to Ara? She doesn't deserve to be treated like this!
_ Elsword, behaves! I only want to talk some sense into her head. She needs to accept the truth rather than evading the true answer for our problem! Her brother must face justice and pays for what he had done! - Elesis headily reply.
_ But hey, no one said he won't have to pay for his sins, but it doesn't need to be in the form of blood! We can allow him to live, but seizing him and interrogate him to exploit more intelligence about the demon army's plans from him. And there should be a martial-court for cases like him. - Raven spoke up again.
_ The Court, right! So have you forgotten what happened to you when you was falsely accused and sentenced to prison by martial-court of Velder? Now you're saying you have faith in the court again, Captain Raven? - Elesis grandly reply.
Raven's face whitened to the point that he looked like he was already dead. But Elsword still hadn't given up yet:
_ So you worried Ran will be sentenced to death in his court? But I thought you wanted Ran's death?
Elesis facepalmed, and Raven shook his head and put his hand on Elsword's shoulder because of his pity on Elsword:
_ My boy, she meant the court was corrupted so there won't be a proper trial. Someone can influence the court's trial and Ran may be spared or released without punishment...
_ That's right, according to the intelligence, Vanessa told me that the demon who invaded Velder burst from INSIDE of the Velder's palace. Who knows there might be human traitors that helped the demons to establish the gateway to the demon world inside the palace? Or they can rescue Ran when he was in incarceration?
Eve finally said something:
_ Then we won't let the Velder court to judge him, but let him be judged by Hamel's court.
_ I don't know, if Velder troops seize him first, they will want to deliver him to Velder to judge him for killing Velder's soldiers.
They argued no more. Upon returning to the camp, Rena and Elsword helped Ara because she was still cringing and sobbing.
Since that day, a schism that divided the Elgang had arisen. One party that supported Chung and wanted to teach Ran a lesson, including the knight Elesis and magical girl Aisha, and another party including the ones who supported Ara and decided to give Ran another chance to atone for his sins, they were the ex-captain of Crow Mercenary knights who ( was forced) to go rogue and then turned to the bright side in time - Raven, and the hot-headed swordsman Elsword.
Ara and Chung themselves looked like they had lost their hearts and the will to fight. No matter how many times Rena had tried to cheer her up with Airelinna - Nymph, the moving music that used to soothe the souls of despaired soldiers who were wounded on the battlefield after facing the horrors of war, but still not enough to cheer Ara up one bit.
Meanwhile, Chung refused to fight anymore, he was so depressed that he told everyone he was so incompetent to protect his country, and he would retire and find a job, like fishing.
The stalemate kept existing and the Elgang was on the brink of disbandment. Until that day.
Intelligence reported that Helputt - the White Colossus of Hamel and father of Chung, was sighted near the Temple of Trial. The El Search Party was charged with uncovering the truth behind this, so the Elgang was sent in. Needless to say Chung was motivated again, and Ara temporarily putting aside her sorrows to follow the gang. The atmosphere above the Elgang was still moody, but upon facing not only hope but also danger, they couldn't keep distance between each others like the day before and together discussing the plan to breach the Temple.
That day, after having broken in, with the Water Priestess showing them the way. The demons were surprised, so the gang was able to fight all the way deep inside the Temple. This time Eve and Raven were in charge of spearheading, the plan was to capitalize on the high firepower of the the so-called Veteran Commander and Eve's enabled Code Nemesis to suppress and attracting the foe's firepower so the rest of party could have more times to close in and combating them.
_ Aisha, shield me! - Aisha began to cast Spatial Distortion to nullify the beam from the demon sniper unit which was about to hit Eve.
_ Aisha, ammunition! - Aisha teleported from nowhere belts of missiles upon Raven's shoulders and he immediately charged up his hand cannon ( which was integrated into his Nasod hand) and shot the closest mob.
_ A... - a voice which was immediately drowned by Aisha's mightiest yell " I am not your slave, stop ordering me!"
The voice began to reply in bloody anger:
_ Are you nuts, I wanted to tell Add to look out, incoming!
Whatever, no time to check who was the one that spoke last, a beam was about to tear Add into pieces...
*Thunk!* Chung rushed up and shielded Add with his Wonder Wall technique, which was famous for to be one of the most effective self-preservation technique a Guardian Stone wielder can cast. Add took the opportunity to utilize the dynamos to perform a counterattack using a huge beam that automatically tracked down and destroyed the one who tried to snipe him before. The gang kept marching...
After fighting through a long and heavily entrenched corridor, they bumped into a heavy wooden doors. Sasha the Water Priestess said:
_ Here is the innermost room of the Temple which we used to plan to breach into. The headquarter of the demon force should be here because this is the perfect position to...
Sasha suddenly stopped talking upon learning that the party's members were too exhausted to gasp her words. Some of them were injured, though the wounds were not too lethal. The Water Priestess then performed the healing spell so the wounded were patched up quickly and feeling much better. Suddenly the wooden doors opened up, revealing the White Colossus, now on all-black armor standing there and laughed maniacally.
_ GAHAHAHA HUMAANS? HOW DARE YOU CHALLENGE DEMONS?
The party was chilled before the Paladin behemoth figure and his edgy voice. To make things worse, there were about 20... no, as least 30 "doppelgangers" of the Elgang members ( minus Add) who were surrounded in thick darkness auras. They stood confidently in the formation behind Helputt.
Elsword suddenly felt hilarious upon learning the son of such a huge father was so tiny comparing to him. "Damn, this is not the right time to think about this crap. Concentrate, Elsword!" - Elsword told himself.
_ Father! DAD! - yelled Chung.
_ Chung, we will save your dad! - said Ara.
_ It's time! Everyone into the planned formation! Move move move! - Raven shouted.
Elsword, Ara, Elesis and Chung were in charge of engaging Helputt. Rena, Raven and Aisha were in charge of the doppelgangers ( they didn't expect to deal with such enemies at the first place). The last were Eve and Add who were selected to be the rearguards - to form a defense line to block the (assumed ) incoming demon reinforcements flooding to the room. Eve installed her Lunatic Scud battery to entrench the path to the room.
_ CHARGE! - Elesis shouted.
_ ATTACK! - Helputt ordered.
Immediately, Helputt slammed his cannon into the ground and shot a giant cannonball on Chung, but Elsword used Counter Attack to nullify it to save him. The Elsword siblings then tried to flank Helputt, but with merely a fast wide swing of Helputt they were knocked back. Chung began to siege-shooting at Helputt, forcing him to guard himself. Meanwhile Elsword used "Mortal Blow" and Helputt was slightly shaken as the floor under him was cracked. Suddenly Chung recognized Ara had sneaked behind Helputt and was beginning some sort of rituals.
_ Exorcism Stance, Shadoweave!
The skill hit Helputt's back, and suddenly he roared in agonizing like he was in great pain though his armor didn't chip one bit. He turned around and used his free arm to strangle Ara on the neck and pressed her to the floor.
_ No, dad! NO! - Chung screamed.
Facing one of his comrade was about to be killed, Chung went berserk. Again donning his wolf helmet, he switched his cannon to fully automatic mode and rapidly shot streams after streams of cannonballs at Helputt. But a doppelganger came from nowhere and chopped at Chung's left arm. Coughing in pain, with one of his hand disabled he couldn't use his cannon anymore! Ignoring the doppelganger who attacked him, Chung plunged at Helputt. He used all his strength to slam at Helputt's back. The White Colossus was flinched for several seconds, enough for Elesis to wrestle Ara out of his iron grip.
_ HELP US! - Elesis yelled when Chung was slashed and knocked down by the doppelgangers.
Rena went to secure Chung before he would be wounded any further. Raven shot his last 3 missiles at Helputt. One missile hit Helputt's right chest and left a chink on his armor. Some dark energy was released through the chink. One idea came to Raven! He shouted:
_ That's his corrupted Guardian Stone! We must destroy it!
That moment Raven carelessly left an opening, and one doppelganger chopped at his right shoulder. Trying to suppress his pain, Raven plowed his Nasod hand into that doppelganger and brought it to its knees. He couldn't use the sword anymore thanks to the wounded shoulder.
Upon hearing Raven's words, Elsword rushed to Helputt and slammed his sword at where the Guardian Stone was placed on Helputt's armor. The technique Elsword used was called Armor Break, which was excellent to break the armor, but at the expense of the durability of weapon he used! The right chest of the armor was cracked open, and the Guardian Stone can be seen leaking negative energy out of the crack. At the same time, Elsword's sword was chipped and buckled...
_ Out of ammunition, I can't hold them back anymore! - said Eve.
The Scud Battery ran out of ammo, and the demon reinforcements effectively flooding to the room. They stepped on their kin's mountain of corpses who was killed by the Eve's battery and their eyes glowing with the flame of revenge.
_ Rena, destroy the Guardian Stone for me! I fear my sword will penetrate through Chung's dad chest if I do that by myself! - said Elesis.
Rena spun herself and kicked at the Stone on Helputt's chest, using High Kick.
ARRRGGHH! - Helputt was brought to his knees. With the Guardian Stone's shattered, black smoke pumped out like hell on his right chest. Miraculously, the armor on Helputt was changing to white rapidly when his mind was freed from evil spirit's manipulation.
_ Ugh... where... am... I? What is... this? My son... MY BOY! What happened to you, Chung?
Sasha the Water Priestess rushed to briefly explaining the situation for Helputt. He then carried the wounded and unconscious Chung on his shoulder and shouted:
_ Follow me everyone, we're leaving the Temple!
As he said, Helputt stomped and crushed the remaining doppelgangers in seconds. At that time the Elgang members no one were not wounded in the fight, and Aisha was knocked unconscious by the enemy so Add and Eve had to carry Aisha. Elsword then carry Ara on his back ( his sword was useless), and the party with Helputt spearheading began to retreat out of the Temple.
Helputt just hit the demons on the way like a truck, while everyone was so desperate because of exhaustion and bleeding wounds. Eve and Add could still fight through ordering their drones and dynamos. But the party was forced to move slower and slower when they were exhausted and having to carry unconscious people like Ara and Aisha. The demons were about to catch them this time!
_ STOP! - Helputt suddenly shouted.
The White Colossus then handed Chung to the Elgang, Raven and Rena then carried him.
_ Sir Helputt please come with us!
_ Sorry kids, but leave this to me! Protect my son for me, will you? Go and learn the ways of the sword...
_ No we can't leave you here! We're here to rescue you!
_ I can look after myself, now get the hell out of here!
Helputt then jumped and plunged himself at the mass of demons. He hit the ground liked a falling meteor. The floor where he felt was smashed into rubble, and the demons who wasn't killed on intact was reeling by shock waves...
The Elgang escaped the Temple because Helputt had bought them enough time to retreat...
The El Search Party's reinforcement force was waiting for them at the entrance. The medics began to heal the wounded members. The Elgang requested to send the fighters to the Temple again to save Helputt. Rena, Elsword, Elesis, Add, Eve and Lowe, accompanied by a group of fighters were dispatched to relieve Helputt again. It was several minutes after they parting with Helputt, only God knew if he was still free or not...