Ah here we are, the penultimate chapter of arc 2. I won't say much so you guys can just get straight into the Dong Xin throwdown.
The wolf slowly crept up to Mala, who still lay unconscious in the snow. The wind picked up again for a moment, rustling the silver, thick fur of the wolf as well as a few strands of Mala's hair. It bent it's neck down, sniffing and inspecting Mala's body before giving her side a gentle nudge with it's nose. When Mala made no response to the wolf's nudge, the wolf instead drove it's snout under her shoulder, pushing her over onto her back. Still, there was no response. The wolf moved it's face closer to hers, carefully sniffing once more. Finally, the wolf licked Mala's neck before progressing to her cheek. Mala squeaked in response and began stirring, causing the wolf to back away. As she came to, Mala slowly pushed herself off the ground and into a seating position with one hand while she rubbed her aching head with the other.
"Uhhh, what happened?" she groaned. When the pain in her head finally faded, she immediately recalled being shot down by several ice birds. She stood up and dusted the snow off her clothes before looking ahead to the ice pillar in the distance. "I hope the others made it all right." Suddenly, Mala sensed a nearby demonic aura. It was weak, incredibly weak, but she could still feel it there. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but the presence felt… familiar somehow. She heard footsteps behind her and sharply turned around. She gasped in surprise when she saw a large wolf standing over her on some elevated ice. But this wolf wasn't like any ordinary wolf. It's fur wasn't completely white; if Mala squinted her eyes and looked carefully, she could just make out a hint of blue in the wolf's fur. But that wasn't the strangest part. On it's left ear was a teal ear band, around it's neck was a thick purple necklace with a cyan colored gemstone, but most notably were the bright red eyes that just stared at her. "That necklace… it looks like the one I had…" Mala whispered to herself. Her eyes moved back up to meet the wolf's and they stood there, eyes locked with one another for what felt like an eternity. There was just something about this wolf and Mala couldn't tear her gaze away from it.
Hesitantly, she took a step forward towards the wolf and meekly whispered, "Mom?" The wolf did nothing; all it did was blink at her once. It was barely an answer to Mala's question, but somehow, Mala could tell that the wolf was saying "yes" to her. "I-I don't understand. I saw you die! H-how are you here?"
The wolf said nothing and simply turned around to leave. "Wait!" Mala called after it. Just as she took another step, something flew out towards her. She extended her arm and caught the object in her hand before realizing it was the hammer she was carrying earlier. "The hammer!" she realized, turning towards the ice pillar, "Without this, Tim can't perform the banishment spell." Just as she turned back around, the wolf was suddenly gone as if it was swiftly whisked away by a gust of wind. "Mom?" Mala called out, frantically scanning the terrain around her for any sign of the wolf. "MOM!" she called out again. She squinted her eyes when she noticed something moving in the distance. It was getting bigger, which meant it was coming towards her. "Pearl!" she exclaimed, happily taking the crystal rabbit in her arms once she recognized her. Mala looked all around her again for any sign of that white wolf, but there was nothing. Her gaze lingered at the central ice pillar where her friends would no doubt be. "Let's go," she simply said, summoning her crystal wings and taking off towards the ice structure.
Once she was far enough away, the wolf stepped out once more, eyes locked on Mala. The wolf raised it's head up high, letting out a loud howl that echoed through the tundra before turning to leave, phasing right through the ice dome like it was nothing.
"Dong Xin's gotta be at the top!" Mavis whispered as the four of them silently crept through the icy halls of the Ice Demon Sorcerer's lair.
"What makes you say that?" Remy asked.
"Tch, bad guys are always at the top of their towers. It's where they enact the final part of the schemes and, if there's time available, give a backstory monologue."
"Yeah well, Dong Xin doesn't exactly sound like the monologuing type," Tim commented.
"Ugh, more stairs," Mavis groaned. "One of these days, I'd appreciate it if bad guys installed elevators or at the very least escalators in their lairs!"
"Maybe they do it on purpose. You know, tire out intruders," Drago suggested.
"Hm… I never thought of it that way," Mavis pondered.
"So what's the plan when we do get up there?" Remy asked.
"Easy, rescue Linos, stop Dong Xin and save the world!" Mavis answered.
"And seeing as Drago is our ace in the hole, he'll need to focus on Dong Xin," Tim added.
"Got it," Drago said.
"I can back you up," Remy said.
"Which means you and I are on rescue duty. And then we Linos is saved and Mala arrives with the hammer, big bang boom: world saved!" Mavis said to Tim.
"The odds of Mala actually arriving in time-" Tim started.
"She'll be here!" Mavis assured them. The four of them stopped when they reached a large door of ice at the top of the stairs. "This looks like a top floor kinda door. Hot shot, would you kindly?" Mavis asked, gesturing Drago towards the door.
"With pleasure," he replied, cracking his knuckles before forming a giant fireball in his hands. He raised the ball above his head, the heat coming off it already melting the icy hallway, before throwing it straight at the door. The door burst open as the fireball tore through it mercilessly, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke. Once they made it inside, they could see Dong Xin facing the back wall doing something with a glowing shard of ice and Linos encased completely in ice on the far side of the room.
"Linos!" Mavis cried upon seeing him unconscious in the ice.
"Ah, so you survived. I expected as much," Dong Xin said, turning to greet his intruders.
"You knew we'd survive?" Remy shouted.
"I do not underestimate my opponents, unlike that foolish crow," he said, reaching for his staff. "You will not be able to defeat me. Eternal winter shall soon blanket this world! There is nothing you can do."
"We'll see about that. You three get to Linos!" Drago ordered. Drago ran up to Dong Xin and let out a stream of fire from his mouth, but Dong Xin spun his staff in his hands, deflecting the fire blast. However, Dong Xin could feel the heat from the flames affect him and jumped to the side, examining his singed fingers and staff.
"I always wanted to best Shen Du in combat. But I suppose you will have to do for now," Dong Xin commented.
"I am nothing like my father!"
"We shall see…"
"Linos! How do we get him out?" Mavis asked as the three of them crowded around Linos' icy prison.
Remy pulled out his sword and stabbed it into the ice, but instead, the sword snapped in two and the ice remained unscathed. "Well, that didn't work," said Remy as Mavis fixed his sword with the Jellyfish Coin.
"Try this one," Mavis said, handing him the Bear Coin. With the Coin in hand, he placed the handle of his sword just over it and struck the ice again. This time, he managed to pierce the ice, but barely.
"Ugh, it's no use! It'll take forever to get Linos free at this rate!" Remy barked.
"Drago! We need you over here!" Mavis shouted.
"I'm a little busy at the moment!" Drago shouted back. Dong Xin took advantage at his opponent's momentary distraction and struck Drago with his staff, sending him flying into the wall.
"That's not good," Mavis commented, as Drago slide down the wall and landed roughly on the floor, unconscious.
"I'm open to suggestions here guys!" Tim shouted nervously as Dong Xin slowly marched over to them.
"Ok ok ok, think think. This isn't unlike when we fought Sen Qiang. Just three humans against one demon," Remy said.
"Yeah but I don't think Dong Xin is as obsessed with his looks as Sen was," Tim added.
"Good point… Any ideas?" he asked as the three simultaneously backed up as Dong Xin continued approaching them.
"…Go for the eyes?" Mavis suggested meekly. Tim and Remy looked at her with blank expressions before exchanging looks with each other.
"It's not… terrible," Tim shrugged.
"It's worth a shot. See if you can distract him!" Remy ordered as he dashed around Dong Xin's right side. The Ice Demon caught sight of this and blasted a beam of ice towards Remy. He was just fast enough to avoid the beam, which created a trail of icy spikes behind him, before ducking behind an ice column. He covered his head with his arms as Dong Xin continued to fire, the ice slowly creeping around the pillar towards him, before it finally stopped. He carefully peeked out from behind the pillar and when he saw that Dong Xin had turned his attention back onto Mavis and Tim, Remy moved up. Dong Xin was nearly twice Remy's height, but Remy was able to climb his back easily by grasping Dong Xin's cape. When Dong Xin noticed this, he reached over his shoulder to try and grab Remy, who threw out one of his blood vials causing his blood to cover the Ice Demon's hand. Dong Xin reeled in pain as the demon hunter blood burned him. Remy quickly grabbed onto the horn of Dong Xin's helmet and placed his feet against the demon's shoulders to keep his balance before drawing his sword and driving it straight into Dong Xin's left eye.
"Raaaaahhhh!" Dong Xin roared in pain and hunched over as Remy jumped off his shoulder and rolled onto the ground. The three of them quickly ran over to Drago just as he was regaining consciousness and helped him up.
"Come on, let's get Linos out while we can!" Tim said urgently.
"Right. Stand back," Drago said as he unleashed a stream of fire onto Linos' ice prison, melting it in a matter of seconds. Just as Linos fell forward, Drago and Remy caught him and supported him on either side with his arms around their shoulders.
"Wh-what happened?" Linos mumbled weakly.
"Long story short: you got kidnapped and we're here to rescue you!" Mavis beamed as she hugged Linos tightly. But their happy reunion was short lived when Dong Xin pulled Remy's sword out of his eye and dropped it onto the ground.
"Enough!" Dong Xin bellowed angrily. He slammed the head of his staff onto the ground, generating an ice wave that instantly encased the five of them in ice with only their heads and hands exposed. "I've had enough of you children!" Just as Dong Xin raised his staff over his head, preparing to strike down at them a final time, one of the ice windows in front of him shattered and a small hammer flew right into his face, knocking him back and away from them. They all tried turning their heads to see what have saved them, but the ice prevented them from doing so. Instead, Mala jumped through the window and landed in front of them, ready to fight.
"Mala!" they all shouted happily.
"Ah, the crystal girl. I was wondering where you were," Dong Xin said, pushing himself off the floor. He raised his hands and materialized several ice spikes and send them flying towards her.
"Mala, look out!" Drago cried in worry.
However, Mala didn't move. Instead, she simply raised her hand and the ice spikes stopped in midair just before they reached her.
"What? How?" Dong Xin cried.
"Uh… what?" Mavis asked.
"I realized something on my way up here, Dong Xin. You miscalculated," Mala began speaking.
"I don't miscalculate," he assured her arrogantly.
"You're an Ice Demon and I'm a Crystal Demon and ice has a crystalline structure," she explained, causing Dong Xin to gasp in surprise. "Which means I can control it too!" Mala flicked her wrist and sent the ice spikes flying right back at Dong Xin, who shattered them with a spin of his staff. He slammed his fist into the ground, sending a row of ice spikes towards her, but Mala just sent it right back at him.
"Hm, not bad," he muttered. "But you are still a child, one who has only know the touch of ice for less than a day!" With incredible speed that she didn't know he had, Dong Xin dashed up to her and seized her body in his hands before slamming her against the wall. "Did you honestly think you'd be able to defeat me with a little trick like that?" From his hand, ice spread along the wall, encasing Mala's body - save for her head - in ice.
"Hey, get away from her!" Drago shouted, breathing a stream of fire at Dong Xin.
However, Dong Xin simply held out his hand against the fire, walking closer to Drago as he shielded himself from the Fire Demon's attack before grabbing Drago's mouth with his hand. "That's enough out of you," he muttered, freezing Drago's mouth as well as his hands. "It is almost time; everything is ready," he said, turning away from his captives back towards the glowing ice shard.
"D-Drago, d-do something!" Mavis stuttered, the cold starting to get to her, despite having some of Drago's Fire Demon Chi. But all Drago could do was let out a muffled growl.
"I-it's too c-cold!" Tim exclaimed.
While Dong Xin was busy making the final preparations for his global winter, Drago suddenly had an idea. He tried screaming through the ice to Mala and just managed to get his attention. Mala squinted her eyes at him, confused as to what he was trying to tell her. But when she saw his eyes suddenly flash bright yellow for a second, she nodded her head in understanding. Mala snapped her fingers, forming a large crystal shard in her unfrozen hand. With a single thought, one of her crystal crows materialized beside her and took the shard, carrying it high above the center of the room. Drago closed his eyes briefly before opening them again. This time, his eyes were glowing bright gold as two bright beams shot out from both his eyes and struck the crystal shard. Instantly, Drago's heat beams were redirected as several identical beams shot out from the crystal. Two struck Dong Xin right in his back while the rest struck the room all over, melting parts of the ice structure as well as the ice Dong Xin had frozen them in.
Mala used her foot to kick the hammer up so she could grab it before tossing it to Tim. "Tim!" Tim caught the hammer as he began reciting the banishment spell.
"Nooo!" Dong Xin bellowed, raising his staff. Mala quickly reacted and raised her arms before pulling them down, bringing the ceiling crashing down on Dong Xin. Just as Tim uttered the final word of the incantation, a large green gate with a swirling red vortex appeared behind Dong Xin, sucking in the ice debris. Feeling the gate's pull on him, Dong Xin dug his fingers into the floor while Mala anchored herself to the ground and held everyone else behind her. Noticing Dong Xin's staff moving closer to Dong Xin because of the gate's pull, Linos jumped forward, seizing the staff in his hands before Dong Xin could.
"Linos!" his friends cried. Mala held out her hand, creating a row of crystal spikes for Linos to climb back against the gate's pull to them.
He folded in his wings and turned around, starting to make his way back to them when something pulled him back. He looked behind him and saw Dong Xin's hand wrapped firmly around his ankle. With his free hand, he grabbed onto one of the crystal spikes before trying to shake Dong Xin's grip off his ankle. When that didn't work, he tried kicking the sorcerer's hand off with his foot, but his grip remained firm. Linos could already feel the cold from Dong Xin's hand spreading through his foot and up his leg, going numb in the process.
"I will not be defeated!" Dong Xin yelled defiantly.
Linos could feel his arm tiring and his grip around the crystals slipping. Suddenly, Linos, with an idea in mind, raised Dong Xin's staff with the bottom end pointed right at him. Shadows formed at the end, creating a sharp tip that Linos stabbed into Dong Xin's other eye. The Ice Demon roared in pain, releasing Linos' ankle and covering his bleeding eye. He slid closer towards the portal, but kept his fingers dug deep into the floor. "Game's over!" Linos yelled. Unbeknownst to him, just as Linos took in a deep breath, something at the center of the head of Dong Xin's staff began glowing brightly. When Linos let out his sonic scream, the force of it nearly pushed him back - something he had never experienced before. When the blast hit Dong Xin, the ice on parts of his armor shattered instantly and the force made him lose grip and fall into the portal, yelling in defeat as he disappeared into the vortex. Just as the gate closed, Linos' sonic scream struck the glowing ice shard Dong Xin had been tampering with, shattering it and the entirety of the ice wall behind it.
"Linos! I'm so glad you're ok!" Mavis cried, rushing over to him and hugging him tightly. "Wait, I didn't ask if you were ok. Are you ok?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, Mavis," he assured her.
"Oh! I was so worried about you!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly again.
"Ah! I-I can't… breathe!" he strained to say.
"Sorry! Maybe I should hold off on the Callahan bear hugs until you're better."
"Yeah…" he muttered as Drago and Mala helped him up. All of a sudden, the floor beneath them began to shake as the walls, ceiling and floor began cracking.
"What's going on?" Mavis cried.
"Dong Xin's been banished! That must mean that everything he made is being dispelled!" Mala reasoned. "We've gotta get out of here. Can you fly?" she asked Linos.
"I'm still pretty weak, but I can fly," he nodded. While Mala took Drago and Remy, Linos took Mavis and Tim and still held Dong Xin's staff - now void of floating ice around the head - in his hand. With haste, they flew out the window Mala came through earlier just as the ice structure collapsed behind them.
"Heads up!" Mavis shouted, pointing above them. The ice dome Dong Xin had made was shattering from top to bottom as pieces fell down. Mala and Linos flew side to side, trying their best to dodge the falling debris. When they finally flew out of the falling debris, they kept flying off into the distance. A white wolf with bright red eyes watched them fly off into the distance on the horizon before vanishing in a gust of wind.
Well, there is it. Hope you guys enjoyed it. It honestly took a few tries for me before I felt like I got this final confrontation right. And I hope you guys enjoyed it. Arc 2 will be wrapping up in the next chapter, but do not fret, for there is still arc 3...
Next: The Shadow Strikers discover what may be their next adventure while a terrible legion of darkness grows in the Netherworld.