Hello people, and welcome back to Goblin Slayer: The Team Year 2. All that build-up finally paid off didn't it? The Demon Lord's returned, his pet's awake, and the Goblin Overlord is still at large...let's see how they deal with this diarrhea stain of a mess.
Review Response: Wait...the King knew why Sword Maiden fears goblins and still didn't do anything? Wow, Cambion's rage against the system was even more justified than I thought.
Speaking of GS being like Rankorr whom I'm surprised that you know about since I only know about Rankorr by chance, Cambion might be a Red Lantern candidate by that logic alone; I'm pretty sure I made Cambion's wrath pretty clear.
They don't call him the Goblin Overlord for nothing, and attractive/repulsive force control is absolutely nothing to laugh at, but at least the group stands a chance against him without his Abyssal Hide.
If Fighter can deal with the Cambion by herself, after getting the shit kicked out of her in the process, what do they have to worry about in regards to the Demon Lord, and his pet for that matter? Though that may or may not spoil things... Although, Cambion accidentally triggering his return might be the biggest "Ya dun phuck tup" moment in GS history.
I also asked myself about Cambion's Lantern Corps, and...I first thought of Green because of how much willpower he's displayed, and how much he got done compared to the other antagonists, and especially his goals...but now that you mention the self-control bit, he might very well be qualified for a Red Ring instead. Great...Fighter is Violet Lantern material, and Cambion is Red, so their slugfest last chapter was pretty much Love vs Wrath. Speaking of which, Fighter really outdid herself didn't she?
As for GS himself...I always compared his wrath to a blizzard when it comes to goblins; unlike Ranger who has less chill than the surface of the sun, GS just gets it over with when it comes to handling goblins. Although for the record, I said Ranger is White Lantern material, and I meant it; he covers all seven emotions in so many ways I don't have time to explain them all. Just for reference, Elder Revenant is SHOCKINGLY, and I mean SHOCKINGLY qualified to be a Black Lantern.
For those of you who are sick of me talking about the Lantern Corps, I do apologize for it, but there's a damn good reason it's my favorite fictional concept, without any competition for that matter, and that reason is because it's a great way to judge a character, or even a real-life person.
And for the record: Warrior and Wizard should be Blue and Green Lanterns respectively from where I'm standing...
Under the still-cloudy sky, just after dusk, Abbot was watching the united army, as well as the elementals made by the summoner siblings swarm into the citadel, massacring goblins by the hundreds, and taking minor losses themselves in the process. Even though losses were expected, and everyone who was here came prepared to risk everything to end the goblin menace for good...Abbot's heart still went out to the hundreds if not thousands of troops who already fell. Each of them had families and friends to return home to, and they'd have to carry on knowing the dead would likely not return. Who knows? Maybe the Supreme God deemed Priestess worthy of a Restoration miracle strong enough to revive this many people, but he seriously doubted that was on the table.
However, for every thousand troops they lost, hundreds of millions of goblins were dead; the superior weaponry, tactics, and especially the information about the goblins themselves provided by GS, Ranger, and their respective teams made all the difference in the world, not to mention the cooperation between the various races coming together, covering each others' weaknesses and amplifying their strengths. The number of initiates trained by Ranger, and the new recruits of the Supreme that served Priestess were just unfair; thousands of the goblins fell victim to Holy Smite, and Immolation by themselves, with several more thousands falling to their fellow troops being given superior weapons thanks to the miracle of Smith, and empowerments. Unfortunately, the initiates weren't able to use the more powerful miracles like Pestilence, Implosion, or even Protection, and especially not Restoration or Army of One, but those miracles weren't needed thanks to the initiates' numbers, and especially cooperation.
The summoner siblings continued to summoned hordes of elementals, to tip the odds even more in the army's favor than they were; GS didn't fight fair, Ranger didn't fight fair, their teams didn't fight fair, the goblins certainly didn't fight fair, and the army wasn't going to fight fair. Abbot then turned his head away from the citadel ruined gates to see the summoner siblings hard at work with their elemental creating with Inspector keeping an eye on him as well. When the summoner siblings were done summoning, they each sat back on a rock...and Inspector embraced Summoner from behind as he leaned back into her.
"I almost wish Assassin and Werewolf were here." Summoner said.
"Really now?" Female Summoner asked.
"Come on, goblins running and screaming in fear with their friends' blood drenching them? They would fit right in." Summoner said.
"Figures." Female Summoner said.
"Well, it does make sense given what they're like; Assassin once said she finds them entertaining." Summoner said.
"She thinks goblins are entertaining?" Inspector asked in disbelief.
"She and Werewolf have never been the most stable pieces of work. Werewolf even said he finds goblins to be a good snack. Although truth-be-told...I myself would rather eat the rotten carcass of a skunk and down it with spoiled milk." Summoner said seriously.
"O.k. that's enough brother, this situation is disgusting enough as it is." Female Summoner said seriously.
"Well, that's how disgusting goblins are, so don't look at me." Summoner said.
"Regardless, their front door was broken through; it's only a matter of time before they fall-" Abbot shuts up once the top of the tower breaks and he sees something get launched out of the hole.
"What's that?" Inspector asked.
Elder Revenant fell several miles through the area after the Goblin Overlord launched him out of the tower, and when he finally landed, the ground shattered underneath him, and he skipped and rolled along the ground, continuing to tear up the ground in the process. Elder Revenant himself had bones broken and dislocated, his flesh tore to shreds, and his congealed blood soaking the ground as he regenerated from the damage. When he finally stopped rolling, he slowly stood up, looked at the distance he flew, and stood up like nothing happened to him. Afterall, as a revenant, deadly injures meant nothing to him.
He then recalled how much trouble his scythes had ripping through the Goblin Overlord's Abyssal Hide; he may have sliced through it, but using his maximum fast and power was required to rip through it. He debated going back to finish what he started with the Goblin Overlord, but his task there was done; the souls were his primary concern no matter what He then noticed his undead monsters falling apart as they got inside the citadel, sometimes while preparing to cause more damage, which meant their reanimation spell wore off. Even though he used a great deal of power reanimating them, it was quite an accomplishment keeping them up for hours on end.
The undead goblins however were still standing since it didn't take much power to reanimate them, and they were reanimated much more recently. Elder Revenant did however need to summon the Death God the moment he could. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a temple in the distance that had yet to be taken care of, and he ran towards it to see what he could do there, ignoring the chaotic battle at the citadel's gates.
Inside the citadel's gates, dozens of champions charged to give the gates reinforcements...and then Hero jumped out and unleashed a wave or energy that sliced them all in half. Hero then landed dramatically, and noticed hundreds of goblins approaching at a full charge. Just as she was on the brink of unleashing another wave of energy, Sage unleashed a Mana Bolt that vaporized them as it flew through the air over their heads, and then exploded when it got deep enough into their ranks. The two then rushed onward, and eventually found Sword Saint fighting no less than a dozen paladins by herself.
She danced circles around them without missing a single beat as the paladins attacked her from all sides, for all the good it did them. Sword Saint blocked and deflected their stabs and slashes without trouble, and even got them to hit each other and knock each other off-balance. Eventually, she drove her blade through one's face, then severed another pair's arms at the elbows, severed another one's head, ducked under another one's mace, and watched another paladin's head get smashed in. Sword Saint then rewarded the paladin's cooperation with a stab through the chin, and into it's brain. She then looked at the paladins who lost their arms, and she didn't kill, one paladin charged at her, and she jumped away before it could blow itself up...and take the other paladins with it.
Hero and Sage went to see if Sword Saint was alright, and she was, even though she was on the edge of the blast. Her armor was hit by quite a bit of fragmentation, but none of it injured her. Next thing they knew...they saw a figure zoom past them towards a temple in the distance. The ladies then looked at each other, and they rushed to see what was going on.
When they got there, Elder Revenant was there, looking the place over: it was yet another temple of the God of Wisdom. An alter to the God of Wisdom was in the middle of a dug-out pit, with a wooden palisade surrounding the entire area, and a wood and stone fort overlooking the area. Multiple high priests were on the area chanting and gurgling as magical power poured out of them, and into the alter itself.
Their attention shifts from the alter to Elder Revenant himself as they unleash streams of energy at him, so quickly, even he has a hard time avoiding them. He then gets a chance to pass by the high priests, and swings his scythe at them, but they all either dodge or heal from the damage done to them, even if their chests were ripped open. The high priests then summoned magic spears and fought him up close...and the fight was more even than it should be.
Sword Saint in particular noted that Elder Revenant's speed wasn't up to snuff with what he displayed before; he has no reason to hold back at all, yet he's moving just fast enough to hold off the dozen high priests he was fighting. Granted they could regenerate like he could, but Elder Revenant should be completely destroying them without trouble. Was he weakening, or did they do something to him?
Her thoughts were interrupted when Elder Revenant had their spears jammed into his body from all sides. His thighs and calves were pierced with the same spears, he had multiple spears piercing his chest and abdomen, and his arms were also pierced. The entire point was to anchor him to the ground, which the high priests proved when the spears drained power out of the Elder Revenant, and the power flowed into the alter. Some goblins then removed the spears and started to hack Elder Revenant apart. To the ladies' horror...the undead man was powerless to fight back despite how impossibly strong he was earlier.
Sword Saint was the first on the scene as she severed the heads of every goblins in sight, including the high priests without trouble, or pause. She then pulled the spears out of Elder Revenant as Hero and Sage looked at the alter.
"Just as I thought, this alter is tied to the Goblin Overlord, or at least his citadel. We have to get rid of it." Sage said.
"Move aside." Hero said, and Sage side-stepped as Hero shattered the alter like glass with one blow. Elder Revenant then sat up with Sword Saint helping him out.
"Are you alright?" Sage asked.
"I must...summon the...Death God." Elder Revenant breathed out.
"Too bad all the goblins here are dead." Sword Saint said.
"No matter...like the book told you...there are other ways." Elder Revenant said as he stood up and went to the side. Hero then turned around as they saw another wave of goblins approaching...and it was a big one.
"We've got company!" Hero said, and she and Sage immediately took to the walls to engage, them, but Sword Saint stayed behind to watch Elder Revenant summon the Death God. He did so by ripping his own belly open with a scythe, dipping his hands in the coagulated blood, and started painting a symbol on the ground, big enough for a person to stand in.
"O Death God, One who meets those great and minor at their ends, I your servant and companion call you forth to receive that which I have collected on your behalf." Elder Revenant said, and with that, a plume of black smoke appeared out of the symbol, to form the Death God himself...and Sword Saint violently shivered at the chill in the air, and started huffing in terror at the sight of the Death God. Elder Revenant's reaction couldn't have been more different; he actually got on his knees in respect to the deity, who hummed in response to seeing his most loyal follower, and was clearly pleased to see him.
"Supreme above..." Sword Saint whispered.
"Death God, I have collected tens of millions of souls, more than any of your servants before and since have collected. Now they await your guidance to the afterlife." Elder Revenant said as he sliced open his abdomen, and the Death God pulled them into his gourd. "Now, I ask your favor in return for this service. My power was waned heavily in this battle, I ask you to grant me all of the power you deem me worthy of. And...I wish my soul returned to me." Sword Saint recoiled hearing that, and Elder Revenant shared a glance, and even gave her a small smile as the Death God poured a soul into Elder Revenant's eyes...and he instantly started trembling violently and sucking in a breath.
With that, the Death God disappeared in a plume of smoke, which then enveloped Elder Revenant and was absorbed into his skin, turning it white as snow, and as the rain came down, Elder Revenant trembling even more at the sensation. He then yelled at the top of his lungs as his eyes opened to reveal their blackness, and the black smoke exploded out of him and hundreds of different streams of it whooshed to the battlefield in the distance.
The united army at the citadel actually began to get pushed back as the paladins and champions began to turn the tables in the goblins favor by mowing down retreating troops, and swatting them away in droves. The shamans and shooters on the balconies overhead didn't help either, but when all hope was lost, the black smoke appeared and began infesting the goblins, turning many into undead and making them attack their fellow goblins.
The united army simply watched the terrifying yet relieving event unfold, and retreated to let the goblins kill each other. Some of the troops fled in terror, while others simply figured that it was wiser to let whatever the black smoke was do it's thing. Whatever the case was, the champions and paladins made short work of any and all still-living goblins they encountered, most of whom had no experience with dealing with their undead comrades, and the ones who fought the undead earlier in the day were mostly dead, so the knowledge had little to no time to spread. Even if it had spread far and wide, it wouldn't have mattered; the champions lived up to their titles, as did the paladins, which the goblins learned the hard way as they were quickly, and utterly swept aside like dead leaves.
Meanwhile, the Goblin Overlord was knocking GS and his entire team around like they were ragdolls. Even without his armor, his force control was making their lives harder than it had a right to. H.E. Druid and Lizard Priest launched arrows and bombs at him, only for their projectiles to be stopped in mid-flight and chucked aside. GS and Cow Girl tried attacking the Goblin Overlord from different angles while he was distracted, only to get launched back by a wave of force. Priestess unleashed Holy Smite on him, but all it did was stun him, and get his attention, which made him collapse a pillar over her, which made her dive out of the way.
Even D.R.'s bullets were ineffective; the Goblin Overlord used his force control as armor to slow down the bullets and turned them from a lethal threat, to an annoyance. Wizard's brother's familiars were either swatted out of the air, or had their heads stomped in by the towering goblin leader, and his spells were effortlessly countered as well. Rhea Fighter, despite having the best luck by far, was also useless thanks to the Goblin Overlord's healing ability, and his force control negating the waves of energy she launched at him. In the end of a flurry of strikes she managed to land, the Goblin Overlord kicked her into a wall hard enough to crack it, make her spit up blood and hit the ground complete limp.
The whole team was aghast, but Wizard's brother completely forgot about the Goblin Overlord entirely to check on her...and it wasn't good. She was out cold, her breathing was labored, and to make matters worse, her spine was broken in several places. Priestess showed up and took out her canteen, but she was out of holy water. She then used her last miracle to try to heal her, but all she could do was mend her spine. Wizard's brother then snapped his head up to see the Goblin Overlord try to blow the trio away with another wave of force, but it was nothing more than a breeze.
"What?!" The Goblin Overlord exclaimed, and then looked out through the hole her made when he launched Elder Revenant out of his throne room. "Damn that filthy undead...! He crippled my priesthood. No matter, I crushed one of you, now the rest of you will follow." Wizard's brother immediately started shaking in fury.
"You're going to pay...!" He growled as his grip on his mace tightened.
"She's going to live. Remember what Ranger said about taking things personally." Priestess said seriously, and Wizard's brother relaxed.
"Fine..." He breathed out.
"You're going to regret letting this go-" The Goblin Overlord shut up once a bomb exploded next to his ear, and made him hold the side of his head.
"Oh shut up!" Cow Girl snapped, and the team looked to see her pointing her rifle at him; she launched a bomb at his head. While he was stunned, she took the initiative by pulling her sword and went straight for the Goblin Overlord's neck, but he was able to narrowly avoid it by backing up. However, he was genuinely concerned of his life, and it showed. He desperately tried to keep his distance from Cow Girl's relentless assault as the rest of the team watched in amazement; she went from being a simple farm hand to being able to push the leader of the goblins, and the deadliest one by far into a corner in a few months.
GS then pushed himself to his feet...then recalled that Ranger gave him a rifle, and now was the perfect time to use it. While the Goblin Overlord was distracted, GS morphed the rifle, waited for the right time to fire it, and then put a bullet through the Goblin Overlord's knee, which left him wide open for Cow Girl to slice his gut open, and then jumped up to give him a shield bash to the face, sending him sliding across the ground as his wounds healed. He then pounded the ground with his fist in rage, then pulled GS towards him with what was left of his force magic, and the moment he was about to tear GS' helmet off, GS pointed the rifle at the Goblin Overlord's groin, and shoot him in the testes, making the Goblin Overlord roar in pain, drop GS, and recoil so much he fell down.
Cow Girl and GS then shared a glance, and waited for the Goblin Overlord to recover since this was too serious to rush. The moment the Goblin Overlord recovered, he turned to see the two standing there at the ready. He then tried to unleash a wave of force at them, but nothing happened. He then tried to punch Cow Girl, only to get his forearm sliced into, then GS went for his thigh, then Cow Girl sliced into his eye, then GS stabbed him in the side, then Cow Girl shield bashed him in the same spot she sliced into on his face, which knocked him down.
The Goblin Overlord then tried to kick GS with his good leg, but both of them were too fast, and dodged the kick. The Goblin Overlord then grabbed his throne, ripped it out of the ground over his head, and just as he was about to smash both his opponents with it...they both pulled their rifles, and fired at the Goblin Overlord's knees, elbows, and various other joints, making the throne fall on top of him, and break apart. The rest of the team simply watched the display as GS and Cow Girl lived up to their professions, then much to their surprise, the Goblin Overlord started laughing.
"You think you have me beaten? The Demon Lord will return any moment now, and when he does, he will enslave you souls, and you will each regret for what you did to me. And you...female Goblin Slayer, will beg me for the chance to have my children." He said.
"We will cross that bridge when we come to it, but you have far greater concerns." GS said.
"I also failed to mention that your army fell into my trap. Before my throne was destroyed, I set in motion the most destructive explosion magic ever conceived." The Goblin Overlord said.
"What...?" Cow Girl breathed out in horror.
"Yes, you came to our home to exterminate us, but in doing so, you have doomed yourselves and your people. If we cannot have this world...then neither will you!" The Goblin Overlord said as he finally stood up...only for GS to throw his sword into his gut, and then rush towards him to drive the blade in further, which makes the Goblin Overlord fall back as GS removed the blade.
"You're still going to die, like the worthless goblin you are." He said before removing the blade...and the Goblin Overlord's healing ability was too taxed to heal the wound completely. GS then kicked the Goblin Overlord into the wall, and he stumbled into it, and fell on his face. He then struggled to get up, and collapsed to his hands and knees. He then raised his head to see Cow Girl approach with her rifle's axeblade mounted onto it...and she was shaking with tension.
"Ever since I became an adventurer, all I did was kill. I killed for my home, I killed for my friends, I killed for my family, I killed for other people's families...but this? This one is just for me." She said before bringing down her rifle and severing the Goblin Overlord's head. The rest of the team finally caught their breath; the leader of the goblins was dead, and they even took his head as a trophy...just like Ranger did with the vampire queen.
"That makes one..." GS whispered as Cow Girl picked up the Goblin Overlord's head.
"Well, that's all well and good, but how about we get out of here, and stop this place from blowing up?" Wizard's brother asked as he picked up Rhea Fighter's unconscious body.
"We should go see Father Superior. He'll have more miracles." Priestess said.
"Good idea." H.E. Druid said as Priestess opened a portal to the war camp...and there Abbot was with the Summoner siblings, and Inspector. When they got through the portal, they saw the army retreating as black smoke whooshed around the entire battlefield.
"What's going on?" Priestess asked.
"It's the Elder Revenant. He's unleashed the wrath of the Death God upon the entire goblin population, and the troops are too terrified to remain here and continue fighting." Abbot said seriously.
"It's just as well they're fleeing. That citadel is going to blow up any second." Wizard's brother said.
"Blow up!?" Both summoner siblings said at once.
"Yeah, the Goblin Overlord told us he rigged the place to blow itself up, just before he died." Wizard's brother said.
"He's dead?" Abbot asked...and the Cow Girl held up the head, which surprised everyone.
"Chopped it off myself." She said as Abbot looked it over.
"Supreme above...you actually did it." He said in awe.
"You've definitely earned a Silver Rank as well." Inspector said.
"Really?" Cow Girl asked and Inspector scoffed.
"No question about it. If Guild Girl doesn't give you one, I'm going to kick her sorry butt." She said.
"And I'm going to help." Summoner said.
"O.k. o.k. let's not get carried away kids." Female Summoner said.
"Very funny." Summoner said.
"Uh, I hate to kill the mood, but what are we going to do about that citadel?!" H.E. Druid asked.
"There's nothing we can do..." Abbot said.
"What?!" Everyone exclaimed at once.
"That citadel is doomed, but at least the army is almost far enough away. At the rate they're going, they should be able to clear the blast radius. And don't worry, everyone is running, and the few who aren't can and will find a way." Abbot said.
"How do you know that?" D.R. asked.
"The Sword Maiden is not the only one who has a sense of things most cannot even dream of." Abbot said.
When Elder Revenant was done dispersing the black smoke, his black eyes turned back to brown, his skin regained it's color, and he started sucking in deep breathes, and convulsing with the rain beating down on his now-living skin. Sword Saint stood back the whole time, and marveled at the display; she had fought the Demon Lord himself a year ago...and now she witnesses the full power of the God of Death himself through his most loyal servant. But was Elder Revenant still a servant of the Death God even with his soul reclaimed?
Her question was answered the moment a few high priests appeared, and one hurled a spear at Elder Revenant, who narrowly dodged it as it tore through his face, making him scream in pain and cover his face. She then realized something horrible: spending so much time being unable to feel anything has probably dulled his pain tolerance to the point of non-existence. Just getting poked would hurt like a wasp sting, getting his face torn open must be excruciating for him.
His face healed a moment later, but he was still in serious pain, and the bright-red blood covering his hand marveled him as it was a sign he was indeed a living person again. He then looked at the high priests...only to get a spear through his heart and he fell down trying to remove it. Sword Saint then rushed to remove it for him, but the high priests rushed at her with twice the speed, and she then to deal with them first. The high priests moved around with so much speed that Sword Saint could barely keep track of them; it was a miracle she landed any hits at all, let alone sever two of their heads.
The struggle ended with her jumping over Elder Revenant, removing the spear in his heart as she came down, and then impaled another high priest with it. She then saw the hole in Elder Revenant's chest close, and he grabbed a high priest as it jumped over him, stood up, and then slammed it into the ground over and over until it stopped struggling and exclaiming. Sword Saint noted the look of rage on his face, and never recalled seeing him that angry before, understandable as his rage was at this point.
Elder Revenant then charged himself with green and dark purple energy, which made Sword Saint recoil, but the display only lasts a few seconds, and the results were made clear as a high priest hurled a spear right through the side of his head...only for Elder Revenant to pull the spear out and glare at the high priest, much to it's surprise. Elder Revenant then threw a scythe at it, which tore through it's side. He then slammed the spear covered in his blood on the ground, and walked towards the high priest as he crawled away from him. When Elder Revenant got close enough, the high priest started laughing.
"You fell for my trap undead." The high priest said, and Elder Revenant narrowed his eyes in curiosity, then the ground lit up s the God of Wisdom's mark appeared...and Elder Revenant quickly looked at the symbol, before he started convulsing and groaning. Sword Saint then dashed over to get Elder Revenant out of the symbol, and she barely made it before the symbol stopped glowing. The high priest then attacked her while Elder Revenant recovered, and she side-stepped one pounce after another from the injured high priest, and the fight ended with Sword Saint severing the high priest's head while it was in mid-air. Elder Revenant then struggled to get up with Sword Saint helping him out.
"Thanks..." He whispered.
"What was that?" Sword Saint asked.
"He was...trying to control me." Elder Revenant said...and Sword Saint recoiled.
"Please tell me you're joking..." She said seriously.
"No...there are ways...to take control over a revenant, and one...is binding them to the God of Wisdom's seal." Elder Revenant said as he stood up.
"Thank the Supreme I was here. Now where the hell are Hero and Sage?" Sword Saint asked, and Elder Revenant noticed more goblins approaching over the walls, and before Sword Saint could do anything, Elder Revenant rushed to one side of the fort, tore several goblins open with one stroke of his scythe, then dashed to another group to bisect them, then dashed to the other side of the fort, to kick a goblin hard enough to splatter it across the wall, and make a shockwave that sent the rest of the goblins flying...with just the force of his muscles! He then wrapped it up by grabbing one by the throat, picking it up, and making it shrivel up before throwing the body away. He then took a moment to calm down before sharing a look with Sword Saint.
"Are...you alright?" She asked.
"I am now. After five millennia...I am now." Elder Revenant said seriously.
"I noticed how painful that fight was for you." Sword Saint said softly.
"If it means I can truly live...it's worth it." Elder Revenant said.
"Do you still serve the Death God?" Sword Saint asked.
"I don't have much choice." Elder Revenant said.
"But...you're alive now." Sword Saint said
"There are ways to serve him while being alive, plenty of revenants have done so afterall. Being undead merely helps." Elder Revenant said.
"Then why did you ask for your soul back?" Sword Saint asked.
"I already told you: the living did concern me, and I am sick of living a lie, especially if the price is that I don't get a chance to see, and especially feel the difference between life and death." Elder Revenant said.
"Well, in that case...welcome back to the living." Sword Saint said before they shared a smile...which was interrupted by the ground shaking. "That can't be good." The shaking became more and more violent, and then the citadel gave off a rumbling sound. "Definitely not good!" The citadel then started blowing up piece by piece, and Elder Revenant tore open a portal with his scythe, grabbed Sword Saint, and jumped through to the army's base camp.
"What in...?!" Abbot exclaimed.
"What about Hero and Sage?" Sword Saint asked.
"What about us?" Hero asked, and Sword Saint snapped her head to see her two teammates approaching.
"I thought you were going to get caught in the blast!" Sword Saint exclaimed.
"What? We were covering the army as they retreated, not to mention the people we had to pick up." Hero said.
"So what's the deal with our undead friend-" Elder Revenant cuts Sage off.
"I am no longer undead. I obtained my soul and returned to life." He said.
"Well...good for you." Cow Girl said.
"Indeed. I also see your battle with the Goblin Overlord went well, if you're the ones who took his head rather than him taking yours." Elder Revenant said.
"Yep. Silver Rank, here I come." Cow Girl said proudly...and then Abbot gasped in horror and looked in the distance.
"What?" H.E. Druid asked.
"The Demon Lord...he's returned!" Abbot exclaimed, and everyone recoiled.
"What? But he's not due for another nine years!" Hero exclaimed.
"He must have found a way to recover his power sooner." Abbot said.
"Well this is just great. What do we do now?" D.R. asked.
"Priestess?" Cow Girl asked.
"I can't fight the Demon Lord! Even the Sword Maiden couldn't fight him alone, and...we spent too much effort, and resources on this siege, and I don't even want to think about what my family spent on fighting the Cambion." Priestess said seriously.
"So what? We beat the Demon Lord before, we can do it again." Hero said.
"He was much weaker remember? And last I checked, so are we." Sage said.
"So...what are you all saying? All this work, a year and a half of ass-kicking, and you're saying we failed?!" Wizard's brother asked seriously.
"I'm afraid so...unless..." Abbot said thoughtfully.
"Unless what?" Cow Girl asked.
"Priestess? Didn't the Sword Maiden do anything with the Temple of Law itself?" Abbot asked, and Priestess' eyes widened.
"Father you're a genius! I can use the Temple itself to help defeat the Demon Lord, but I'm going to need time." Priestess said.
"We'll buy you time." Hero said.
"It is also likely that Water Town will be attacked. Yes, I am aware that place always gets attacked, but especially in this case, it is too tempting a target for the Demon Lord's forces." Lizard Priest said.
"That's where the rest of us come in." Cow Girl said, then Sword Saint turned to Elder Revenant.
"What about you?" She asked.
"I will stay here and finish off the goblins." Elder Revenant said.
"Make sure you get all of them. Otherwise, there will be another Goblin Overlord, and we'll be right back where we started." GS said.
"Of course." Elder Revenant said.
"Best of luck Your Grace. Hero, you and you're team come with me." Abbot said as Priestess gave him the gem, and Abbot opened a portal to the Pope's palace. He then gave it back to Priestess, and she led her group, along with Inspector and the Summoner siblings back to Water Town...just as the citadel collapsed, and the blew itself to pieces, sending debris several miles in every direction.
Meanwhile, Fighter couldn't keep her eyes off of the Demon Lord as he began to gather his strength as if he woke up from a nap.
"What is that thing?!" She asked, and Cherub appeared.
"Now you've done it. Cambion just woke up the Demon Lord." He said.
"That's the Demon Lord?" Fighter asked.
"Lady, did you take too many blows to the head? You should've known that was the Demon Lord the moment you saw him." Cherub said.
"Alright, alright, don't be a smartass. Just tell us you have a plan." Fighter said.
"Hey, don't look at me! You all knew this was going down, and I'm just a cherub, not the Champion." Cherub said.
"We are doomed...now that the Demon Lord's awake, and at his full power, the world is his." Cambion breathed out.
"Not as long as we have a say in the matter." Fighter said seriously.
"Please...it took all of your power just to defeat me, and you saw for yourself how much power I had left. The Demon Lord, and his pet...are each far stronger than me." Cambion said.
"Normally, the Supreme God would be able to restrain the Demon Lord...but someone went around gathering the sacrifices for the Demon Lord, killing the Supreme's followers, and even cursing the Supreme's name." Cherub said with a raised eyebrow.
"I killed...only the Pope's soldiers, and...I was furious with them for turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the people's cries for help...just like the Pope did." Cambion said.
"Well, now you know why that wasn't a smart move." Cherub said simply.
"Condemn me all you want; it's far more merciful than what the Demon Lord will do to you, especially since no one has the power to resist him." Cambion said.
"Then we'll just get some help." Fighter said.
"First, you should get back to the others." Cherub said as he opened a portal.
"Leave me here...I will only-" Fighter cuts Cambion off.
"Damn right I'm leaving you here." She said sharply as she leered at Cambion's beaten body, and tried going through the portal...only to fall on her face. Her body was completely shot from her fight with Cambion; just walking was a pain. Cherub then helped her up, and she got her footing back as she limped through the portal.
"Fighter? What the hell happened over there?" Wizard asked.
"The Cambion is down and out...but we have bigger problems." Fighter said.
"We noticed. What is that thing?" Warrior asked.
"The Demon Lord." Fighter said seriously.
"So that's the Demon Lord." Ranger said as he eyeballed the gigantic demon in the distance. "I can't say I expected him to look different."
"What are we going to do? Can Army of One take on someone stronger than the Cambion, and the pet at the same time?" Wizard asked.
"No...I can only use Army of One one more time, and Cambion was a match for me." Ranger said.
"Do you still have any miracles?" Wizard asked.
"Yes, but...I doubt they'll help against the Demon Lord. It's not holy energy afterall." Ranger said.
"Great, we spent all our energy on the Cambion, and now we have two stronger threats to deal with all by ourselves. We're fucked..." Wizard said.
"No, that's bullshit. Can't you just use Army of One again, distribute the power to all of us, and we go nail that thing to the wall?" Warrior asked.
"Warrior...if we fought him in our current state, even if everything goes as well as they possibly could, we wouldn't last ten minutes." Ranger said seriously.
"So what? We just sit here, wait for those two to get themselves together and fuck us? There has to be something we can do!" Warrior said, and Ranger sighed.
"You two go ahead and deal with the Demon Lord's pet, I will stay here with Cherub and the Pope, and look after Fighter, and this palace." He said.
"Are you sure about that?" Wizard asked.
"What if the Demon Lord comes here?" Warrior asked.
"I can't think of a better plan. Let's just hope someone else finds out about the Demon Lord and sends help." Ranger said...and then a portal opened, and Abbot came out with Hero's team behind him.
"Look who showed up just in time." Wizard said.
"Save it. Where's the Dem-" Sword Saint cuts Hero off by putting her hand on Hero's shoulder and pointing at the Demon Lord. "O...k...so he's not only here nine years early, but he also looks completely different."
"Turns out, that's what he looked like when the Sword Maiden and her team fought him." Ranger said.
"O.k...if you know that, would you mind explaining to us why he's here early?" Hero asked.
"That's...kind of because he drew power from the people, demons, what have you that all of us took out." Warrior said.
"And you kept at it despite knowing that?" Hero asked.
"We didn't know he was coming back this soon! We just stuck to training our asses off, which includes storing power in these necklaces of ours, and hoping that it would be enough, and so far it was." Warrior said seriously and Hero sighed.
"So what's the plan chief?" Sword Saint asked.
"We're going to handle the Demon Lord's pet while-" Hero cuts Wizard off.
"Wait...that thing is his pet?" She asked.
"You didn't know that...?" Warrior asked.
"Not even I knew about that; we've been all over the country and never heard anyone talk about it, nor did I read anything about it." Sage said.
"Nor does the church give information about it." Abbot said.
"Big surprise. Anyway, we're going to deal with the pet, you three handle the Demon Lord, or at least slow him down while the boss here watches Fighter." Warrior said.
"You're not going to help us?" Hero asked.
"Don't bother trying to talk me out of this; I'm staying here." Ranger said.
"But the Demon Lord is-" Ranger cuts Sword Saint off.
"I...am not...leaving her!" He snapped.
"He's right Hero. There's no way the Demon Lord isn't going to send everything he has around the world, and given that this is the Pope's palace, this place is too tempting a target, and I sincerely doubt I can defend it, and the Pope alone." Abbot said
"Fine, let's go Cherub." Hero said.
"What?! Is your breastplate on too tight? I'm not going anywhere near that tyrannical piece of work!" Cherub said seriously.
"Then give us a hand somehow!" Sword Saint exclaimed, and Cherub got an idea.
"Hero...hand me your sword." He said, then Hero drew her sword, looked it over, then handed it over. Cherub then made it float in front of him, then started chanting in the angel's tongue, and as he did, the sword pulsed with holy energy. Everyone watches the sword pulse faster overtime, and when it stopped...the sword glowed faintly.
"Uh...what exactly did you do, besides make it stronger?" Hero asked.
"I made it as strong as I possibly could." Cherub said seriously before giving the sword back, and once Hero grabbed her sword...a rush of holy energy flooded her armor, which makes her exclaim and tense up. "Oh, did I mention it comes with it's own empowerment miracle?"
"It would've been nice to know before I nearly get a heart attack!" Hero snapped.
"Hey, what about us?" Sword Saint asked.
"Oh I didn't forget you." Cherub said before beaming Sage with green energy, and giving Sword Saint an empowerment. "There you go. More spells for the hooded lady, and a strength-boost for the other one. Trust me, you three are going to need these gifts...seriously."
"Alright alright. Point taken..." Hero said.
"I will stay with the Pope, if not to be the last line of defense for him, then to maybe assist you in any way I can." Abbot said.
"Wait...what about the rest of our team?" Fighter asked.
"They're on their way to Water Town." Abbot said.
"What for?" Warrior asked.
"The Demon Lord is stronger than he's ever been; all you can do at this point is delay him while Priestess prepares a way to take the Demon Lord down." Abbot said.
"That's our Priestess." Fighter said proudly.
"I may do something similar with this palace, but I doubt it would be strong enough for the Demon Lord himself." Abbot said.
"Don't tax yourself Father." Ranger said, then Warrior sighed.
"This plan sucks..." He said.
"Well, if anyone has a better one, now's the perfect time." Ranger said.
"Not so much no." Wizard said.
"I'm at a loss too." Warrior said.
"Then Supreme help us all..." Ranger said, before extending his hand to Warrior, and then Warrior pulled Ranger into a hug, which surprised Ranger before he returned it. Then Wizard had her turn hugging Ranger.
"Good luck...sir." She said softly as Ranger ran his hand through her hair.
"It's the Demon Lord's pet that'll need luck." He said as Wizard backed up.
"Fighter?" Warrior asked.
"Just go...I'll be fine, and so will you." Fighter said.
"Really?" Warrior asked, and Fighter put her hand on his shoulder.
"If you can handle the Demon Lord's pet as well as you can handle those leviathans, that thing is completely screwed." She said.
"I guess so." Warrior said, before Fighter hugged him.
"Get out there and kill yourself a monster." She said, and Warrior smiled and returned the hug before finally leaving with Wizard, and the two charged off to engage the pet as Hero's team waved everyone off to go face the Demon Lord. Fighter then sat down against the wall.
"Now, just to let you know, fixing the palace is on the table for me, empowering you is not." Cherub said.
"Lovely..." Ranger whispered.
"Also...hey, Fighter? You are aware that your necklace is still humming with power right? Why aren't you using it?" Cherub asked.
"I am, but it's harder than I thought it would be." Fighter said as Ranger knelt in front of her.
"What about your chakras?" He asked.
"They're almost spent, and at this rate, it'll be quite some time before they're restored." Fighter said.
"Well, then I have that much more reason to stay here." Ranger said seriously.
"I knew you'd say that." Fighter whispered, before sharing a smile with her husband.
"Uh, I hate to ruin your moment, but we've got visitors!" Cherub said, and Ranger snapped his head to the gates, ran outside, and saw a horde of demons charging his way. Imps, Prides, Wrathers and Gluttons, all of them as well as regular demonic soldiers were barreling through the plains right at the palace!
"Great...as if the Demon Lord himself wasn't bad enough." Ranger said.
"Right...now, you might need these." Cherub said before filling the entire courtyard with weapons and armor of every type. "The War God said once that you'd get the equivalent of an entire arsenal when you need it, well...now you need it. Also, here's a double-dose of the number of miracles you can use. Again I have to emphasis...you're going to need them!"
"Yes I know, use them wisely. How do you think I got this far?" Ranger said as he used his chains to latch onto the weapons and absorbed them into his armor.
"Fighter, should you urgently need my aid, do not hesitate to come to me for a healing session." Abbot said.
"I appreciate that Father, but don't worry about me too much." Fighter said, and Abbot nodded before going inside and watching Ranger finish absorbing the metal from the weapons. Ranger then tensed up as the demons approached.
"Good luck." Cherub said before vanishing, then Ranger made a dozen clones, all of whom morphed quad cannons, and unloaded on the demons with silver bullets, which tore through them by the hundreds and scattered them across the plains they came from.
Ranger himself whirled around in mid-air, lashing his sword-whips around so rapidly the wind blew the Prides around, even if they weren't hit. When he was done, the Prides were launched away by the momentum. He then spotted a giant Wrather charging towards him, and then he morphed his claws, charged at the Wrather, stabbed it in the gut, raised it over his head, tore it in half, and threw one half at some imps, and kicked the second half into the rest of the imps.
Some more Wrathers appeared, and Ranger latched onto it with his sword-whips, yanked himself towards it, and once he collided with it, he jumped off of it with the combined force of both impacts knocking the Wrather down. It got up the moment Ranger landed, and charged at him, only for Ranger to morph a harpoon, and hurl it through the demon's heart.
Another giant Wrather appeared, and Ranger jumped over it, wrapped a sword-whip around it's neck, and tore off it's head, caught the head as it came down, and stunned another Wrather with it by throwing it. He then unleashed a barrage of silver bullets from his pistols, all of which tore through the demonic troops charging at him to pieces, with each bullet piercing multiple targets at once. He then charged at another group of troops, shooting them down as he rushed them, and morphed his blades when he got close enough.
Fighter watched her husband dash around the area, cutting the demons apart in every imaginable way. Limbs, heads, and severed halves flew in every direction as he turned the area into a kill zone. Ranger then stayed put as his clones returned and mowed down the rest of the demons the same way the original did, and then he reabsorbed them and went back to Fighter.
"Are you alright now?" He asked while kneeling down to her level.
"I'm getting there...but at least I get a good show while I rest." Fighter said and Ranger huffed in amusement.
"What kind of man isn't there for his woman?" He asked.
"Not the one I have." Fighter said softly.
"Fighter..." Ranger whispered
"Really...without you here, whether we were married or not, I'd probably be-" He cuts Fighter off.
"As dead as the other times you saved me. Not that it's a contest but...I do owe you more than a few times." Ranger said.
"What?" Fighter asked.
"Baby, you've saved and protected me at least ten times more often than I've protected you." Ranger said.
"That's not true at all. Just by being with us in the field to take out the goblins, demons, or whatever else we encounter you keep who knows what from going wrong. Without you, I never would've defeated the Cambion. And just by being around the people you inspire them to not forget to live their lives...and you gave me a family: our daughter. Ranger...you save me every day." Fighter said while caressing his face, and then pulled him into a brief but sweet kiss.
"I cannot believe all of that escaped my attention. But I'm still going to stay here until you're on your feet." Ranger said.
"Really?" Fighter asked.
"A man's supposed to be there for his woman right?" Ranger asked.
"Of course...and you're the 11th Platinum Rank." Fighter said, and then they heard more enemies approaching. Ranger then stood up and went out to face them. He then saw a horde approaching...one he recognized all too well.
"Hell goblins, haven't seen them in a while." Ranger said before looking at Fighter.
"Give them what's coming to them." She whispered, before her husband morphed a greatsword. The Hell goblins then formed up at the entrance, some of whom recognized Ranger, and kept their distance. A paladin then turned visible in-between them and Ranger, the latter of whom just stood there swords at the ready. The paladin then held up his shield and charged at Ranger, only for him to weave around the paladin and jam his sword into the side of it's torso, surprising the entire goblin horde...then they all snickered, and another paladin appeared in the same spot as the paladin Ranger just killed vanished into thin air, it was an illusion!
Two could play at that game; Ranger then released a Rage spell that enveloped the entire area in front of him, and the paladin charged at Ranger only to get impaled through the chest, slammed into the ground, and then hurled into the crowd. Several goblins tried pouncing at Ranger en masse from his blind spot, only to get splattered across the area, then he did the same thing to several more goblins, with his massive blade chop through them with a single swing, and scattering what was left of their bodies across the area. The surviving goblins, who were mostly drenched in the blood and mangled bodies of their comrades stood there shaking in horror as Ranger simply stared at them with cold-blooded hatred in his gaze.
He even held his gaze as a champion turned visible, tried to slice him in half with a sword of it's own, and Ranger just put his greatsword in the way, deflected the blow into the ground, sliced off the champion's hand, morphed a gauntlet, grabbed the sword, and then hurled it through the champion's face...and crushing dozens of goblins under it's mass. Two more champions appeared, only for Ranger to bash one's club so hard it flew out of the champion's hand, and into the goblins, and the other champion's club was bashed into the air. Ranger then jumped up, grabbed the club in the air, and broke the first champion's forearm with it's own club when it tried to grab him. When he landed, he broke the second champion's knee, caught it as it fell on top of him, and threw it far into the crowd of goblins, splattering hundreds of them with the still-alive champions that died when it's spine broke from the multitude of impacts. The first champion then died from a newly-morphed harpoon through it's face.
A squad of paladins then appeared, and one got split down the middle, another was punched into the crowd of goblins by a gauntlet, another was punched and then ripped in half, another was stunned by the paladin's top half being thrown at it and then smashed into the ground over and over, with each pound making the ground shake violently. Ranger then morphed his twin swords and engaged the last paladin, who was furious with Ranger at this point and engaged him up-close, with Ranger simply deflecting the paladin's sword swings.
"It's much more fun when the prey fights back isn't?" Ranger asked casually as the enraged paladin continued to thrash at him, and then suddenly retreated before multiple hobs appeared all around Ranger. He then jumped up, slashed all of them across the face, blinding some, simply injuring others, and killing one of them as he sliced through it's brain. When he landed, he dashed around as the angry hobs tried to stab, chop, and bash him with their clubs, and swords, but Ranger was just too fast for them as their attacks missed him completely, or were deflected. One hob was actually too angry to stop it's attack before Ranger got between it and another hob, and the first hob impaled the other hob's leg, before Ranger sliced off the injured hob's head, jumped off of it's body, and stabbed the first hob in the top of the head with both swords.
"That's the same way you saved me in that cave..." Fighter whispered as she recalled the pain caused by her leg nearly getting crushed. She then snapped her head back up to see the paladin charging at Ranger, and he narrowly avoids getting impaled, but then he counters by kicking the paladin into the wall hard enough to make the paladin loss it's breath.
"I never thought I'd see a paladin get this angry; you're probably even angrier than I am.." Ranger said thoughtfully before the paladin turned around and Ranger narrowly avoided getting his head split open as he moved back. He then stabbed the paladin in the forearm, then kneed it in the stomach hard enough to dent it's breastplate and make it spit up blood. He then stood there eyeballing the paladin as it struggled to catch it's breath despite it's imploded breastplate. He then glanced at the rest of the goblins who were all standing there watching their elite get completely dominated.
"Hey Ranger, that paladin is the same one Goblin Slayer took out when he, his team, Warrior, and Wizard went to get Noble Fencer's team a year ago." Cherub said.
"Is that so? Well, I'm pretty sure you're stronger than you were then. Although...this is as strong as you're going to get." Ranger said coldly before jamming his reverse-gripped sword into the paladin's heart, through it's collarbone. Amazingly, the goblins continued to stay in the area despite the brutality they witnessed, and their fears multiplied when Ranger . He then wrapped it up by jumping into the air, morphing his claws and remained in mid-air. His silhouette against the moon must have seemed like he was the true Demon Lord in their eyes based on the looks on their faces...especially when Ranger dived down right on top of a pair of goblins, and splattered them all over the ground.
Ranger then dashed and flew through the rest of the crowd, slicing them to shreds and covering the rest of the living goblins in more blood and entrails, only for them to get shredded themselves. The goblins who weren't being shredded tried to track Ranger's movements, but either failed, or were shredded before they had a chance. Some managed to launch an attack, but were torn apart the moment they pounced at him, as he was in mid-air and spinning like a wheel. Sometimes he shredded dozens of goblins in one place, left dozens more alive to stew in their fear, and went to another area to repeat the process.
He then wrapped things up by morphing his pistols, spinning around in mid-air and then on the ground, all while shooting the dozens of goblins that were either too slow or too scared to attack him up close to pieces. As if that was bad enough for them, Ranger then used Immolation to torch an entire swath of land with a stream of fire from his hand. The hundred or so goblins that were caught were turned to ash on-contact, with a few dozens unlucky goblins that died from a slow burn. Several armored hobs and the remaining goblins in the current wave then charged at him, he reacted by morphing his gauntlets, super-heating them, and blowing up the ground around him, blasting most of the hobs to pieces, and knocking the rest down.
Fighter watched her husband continue to create a cyclone of carnage...but then it hit her: there were dozens of goblins between her and Ranger, and her blood was in the water. They must have smelled it too; multiple goblins barred down on her when they realized that fighting Ranger was going to get them nowhere, and an exhausted woman who had the blood of thousands of their kin on her hands was too tempting for them to ignore. She then pushed herself to get ready for action, and thanks to adrenaline, and the deep breathes she took despite the horrid smell of goblin blood and intestines filling the air, she got ahold of herself just in time for them to reach her.
"Come on!" Fighter yelled, and the moment they got close to her, her fatigue was forgotten and she spin-kicked several goblins away at once with enough speed and force to shatter and dislocate most of the bones in their bodies. A goblin then pounced at her from her blind spot, then she punched it hard enough to send it flying into several more. She then popped her arm and leg blades and used all four of them to impale the goblins ones by in rapid succession as they swarmed her, and occasionally sliced several in half with spin kicks, and punted the piling bodies at the ones in the distance. Her disrespect for their dead made them attack her more recklessly..and for once, it paid off; while she was kicking one goblin, a few of them grabbed her foot, and pulled it out from underneath her, making her hit the ground hard enough to make her loss her breath. The rest of the goblins then closed in for the kill.
Next thing Fighter knew, a blade pierced the side of a goblin's head and Ranger's arm was extended in their direction; he shot a blade at it just like she could do.
"Get away from my wife!" Ranger yelled before he dashed over to them, butchering every hapless goblin who dared get between him and his wife; even in the middle of an intense battle his concern and love for her never wavered. A furnace couldn't have warmed her heart more than the contrast. When he finally reached them, he severed the heads of multiple goblins with one swing from both swords, then stared down at the two remaining goblins who fell down, and then grabbed one by the throat as it struggled to get free.
"Ranger..." Fighter whispered as her husband pressed one goblin's face against the wall until it collapsed in on itself with a series of cracking sounds. The other goblin panicked and thrashed around trying to get free, but it was no use. Ranger then threw the dead goblin away and looked at the other goblin he was holding.
"I'm going to rip you in half now..." Ranger said casually, before he morphed his gauntlets, tore the screaming goblin in half, and chucked the two halves away before turning to look at the rest of the outraged goblins who saw him disrespect their comrades. Fighter then watched Ranger walk outside to face them, and he got surrounded on all sides, and unsurprisingly, none of them wanted to go anywhere near the blood-soaked juggernaut standing before them...until an armored hob appeared.
"Great..." Cherub groaned.
"What?" Fighter asked.
"Remember that time you tore off a hob's head when you and everyone else saved your first batch of captured women? That's the same one." Cherub said.
"You're kidding me." Fighter said.
"Ironically, those two hobs he killed before where the same two hobs you fought in that cave on your first quest." Cherub said before Range morphed a longsword like Warrior's...and Fighter had a flashback to when Warrior and Hero dueled. Ranger's influence on Warrior's skill level became clear as glass in that moment as Ranger simply stood there deflecting one of the hob's wild yet rapid sword swings. In the end, the hob lashed at Ranger with a chain which was tangled around his sword, which Ranger held out and held onto with both hands. The rest of the goblins swarmed Ranger from all sides, but Ranger let the hob yank his sword towards it, and the sword pierced into throat and came out the back as Ranger morphed a greatsword and whirled it around, splattering the goblins all over the area, and sending the rest flying with the gust of wind. He then walked back to Fighter as she finally started breathing easier.
"For a moment...I thought they had you." Fighter said.
"Sorry I scared you." Ranger said.
"Well, if anything, that little scrap got my blood flowing." Fighter said.
"Speaking of which, how do you feel, physically?" Ranger asked.
"I'm getting better, and I'm certainly feeling better than those sorry bastards behind you." Fighter said.
"Hey, last I checked, this Platinum tag didn't grow there overnight." Ranger said.
"I ever tell you I love you? Oh, what am I saying? The fact that you're here to protect me instead of hurt them says everything. A man's supposed to be there for his woman right?" Fighter said.
"Right." Ranger said before kissing her.
"Seriously, leave it to the two of you to get kissy during an end of the world scenario." Cherub groaned.
"We're entitled to this FYI." Ranger said.
"If you say so..." Cherub said as he flew off to check outside, then Ranger sighed.
"You know...on the off-chance things go too far south somehow, at least we have these moments together." He said.
"Ranger, don't talk like that. This won't stop you...nothing stops you." Fighter said seriously.
"I never said anything about me getting stopped; something going south could mean anything. For me, or anyone else." Ranger said, then Fighter deflated. "Fighter...what's the matter? You were perfectly content a second ago."
"It's just...the one and only Demon Lord is back, our team is divided, and you're about to go face him.. Even with the Hero's team stronger than ever helping you,the Cambion nearly killed you before I could face him, and I beat him with a miracle on my side. A horde of goblins is one thing, but the Demon Lord...?" Fighter trailed off, and Ranger de-morphed his gauntlets, and put both of his strong, gentle hands on her face.
"Like I said, my Platinum tags didn't grow there overtime, and I know this is the most dangerous mission we've ever been part of, but as far as I'm concerned, that's just all the more reason to stay here and wait." Ranger said as he thumbed her tears away.
"O.k..." Fighter whispered.
"Fighter, my love and life...don't lose faith so quickly. Have you forgotten who I am?" Ranger asked.
"You're the Ranger, the slayer of the vampire queen, the 11th Platinum Rank, the War God's unstoppable man-at-arms...and my husband." Fighter said softly.
"And you're the strongest woman in the country, maybe the world. The one who beat the Cambion, became my wife...and gave birth to my daughter." Ranger said and Fighter held his face.
"I want you to give me more children when this is over." She said.
"I will give you as many children as she wants." Ranger said before they pressed foreheads. Cherub looked back at them, to see their moment of love, and then looked back at the Demon Lord, who was surrounded by swirling storm clouds with Hell energy radiating off of him, and sparking through the clouds like lightning, and the flames of Hell illuminating the background. A sharp contrast to the work of Heaven behind him.
"Um, this is all quite touching, but there's no way that was the last of them." Cherub said, and Ranger reluctantly pulled away from Fighter and steeled himself for another fight.
"Let them come." Ranger said before surprising Fighter by popping the same blades on his arms and legs that she uses; the sentiment was clear as
glass: she was going to help him out one way or another.
Meanwhile, Warrior and Wizard charged to where the Demon Lord's pet was, and it was still building up it's power. The pair then hid behind some rocks and eyeballed the massive beast.
"It's even bigger up-close." Warrior whispered.
"Any plan?" Wizard asked.
"I was hoping you would have one." Warrior said.
"Well...this would be easier if we knew anything about it-" Wizard shut up when the pet unleashed a torrent of fire from each of it's three heads into the air, making both of their eyes widen.
"Well...there's that." Warrior said.
"Wait, I've got an idea! You keep it busy while I go summons a World Spawn...or two...or 20." Wizard said, and Warrior smiled.
"I love you." He said.
"I know." Wizard said proudly.
"Hey! Down you overblown puppy!" Warrior yelled, and the pet turned to face him as he drew his blessed sword.
"Alright, go get him dragon killer!" Wizard exclaimed before spanking Warrior as he rushed to enact their plan, as she retreated to gather stones. The pet then spewed fire at Warrior, who countered it with a wave of energy from his sword, but it just slowed it down; Warrior still had to dodge the fire itself. Once he did, he considered making clones...but there were too many fallen trees thanks to the fight with Cambion, and everyone knew fire wasn't your friend in the middle of a battlezone, especially if there were clones of you which could make you weaker if they died, so he just stuck to keeping the beast distracted...the old-fashioned way.
He then morphed his crossbow and shot a barrage of bolts at the pet's three faces, but most bounced off of it's skin, until one head's eye was hit and it jerked around from the pain as the other two heads checked on the third one, and Warrior wisely ran away before the pet could spew fire in Warrior's direction...but he was long-gone. He then watched the pet rampage through the entire area he used to be in, smirking to himself with pride that he outsmarted the beast.
"I wish I had some traps...that would make this so much easier." He said, before the pet finally calmed down and started resting on the floor, and pawed at it's injured eye. He then turned to see what his wife's progress was, but no World Spawns came, so he decided to go engage the pet again. He moved as quickly, yet stealthily as he could through the wrecked forest, and the moment he got close enough, he charged up his sword, and sliced halfway through the pet's hide leg, making it roar and turn to see Warrior was still alive. He then saw the wound he inflicted close itself as the pet rapidly turned to face him as he backed up.
The pet then swiped at Warrior with it's claws, but it was too slow, and sliced through a boulder instead, and Warrior ran underneath it, which the pet's middle head noticed, and spewed more fire at him, and he dodged it by stabbing it in the belly and held on as the pet roared in pain and thrashed around trying to get him off. Before the beast got too out-of-control, Warrior let go and dashed to a place that wasn't burning. The pet was clearly stunned by the holy energy from his sword, but he had another problem: the amount of smoke from all the burning trees, was building rapidly, and smoke was a greater hazard than the fire itself thanks to the visibility getting worse, the smoke itself irritating his eyes, and getting into his lungs.
Wizard meanwhile was setting up stones for the summoning, but then had an idea. She was just on the brink of using her drain spell when Cherub appeared and grabbed her hand.
"Don't drain it!" He exclaimed.
"Why?" Wizard asked.
"That thing was brought back thanks to the power the Cambion took from the Death God; it's a miracle the Cambion wasn't killed as a result of taking it, but if you took it from the pet...well, do the math." Cherub said.
"Well, that's just lovely..." Wizard said.
"But the good news is that the pet has yet to fully return to life, so you have time to kill it before it gets fully restored." Cherub said.
"Let me guess, when it fully revives..." Wizard trailed off.
"It'll be as strong as the Demon Lord." They said at the same time.
"Glad we're on the same page." Cherub said dryly.
"Well, back to summoning." Wizard said before she finally finished arranging the summon stones...and true to her word, a Word Spawn appeared, and the moment it fully awakened, she drew power from it and sent it after the pet...who managed to back Warrior into a corner as he started violently coughing on the smoke. He then began to drift in and out of consciousness as the pet's three head snarled at him.
"Well...what are you waiting for...?" Warrior breathed out before passing out. The pet then backed up and just as it was about to unleash three torrents of fire at him...the World Spawn tackled it in the side, making it's flames go into the sky instead. Wizard then showed up, cleared the smoke with a gust of wind the World Spawn enabled...and her heart sank once she saw Warrior laying down. She then rushed over to him as the World Spawn rushed at the pet and started punching it, wrestling with it by grabbing it's horns and even kneeing it in the jaws.
Her summoned colossus bought her the time she needed to get her husband out of the battlezone, removed his breastplate, and push on his chest over and over. She then sucked in the biggest breath she could, opened his mouth, pressed hers onto it and inflated his lungs until Warrior trembled and started coughing as soon as Wizard felt him move.
"Cough it up honey." Wizard said softly as Warrior struggled to catch his breath.
"Smoke...not funny..." He groaned.
"No kidding, but...you're alright now." Wizard said.
"All things considered maybe..." Warrior said before Wizard gave him a deep, sweet kiss. "O.k...now I'm definitely alright."
"Kiss of life much?" Wizard asked and Warrior gave her a small smile before they looked to see the World Spawn get bitten by one of the pet's heads and flung to the side before getting pounced on.
"O.k...not to get personal, but is one World Spawn really the best you could do?" Warrior asked and Wizard's eyed widened.
"Wait! I've got another idea!" She exclaimed before making nine clones of herself, and they all set up more summon stones.
"Babe?" Warrior asked.
"That thing might be able to handle one World Spawn...but let's see it take on two, or ten! Or twenty! Or a hundred!" Wizard exclaimed..and ten more World Spawns appeared.
"O.k...now things are getting good." Warrior said as he looked over the elementals giants, and the original Wizard drained power from them and unleashed a massive spike of ice at the pet, which not only stunned it, but hurled it into the nearby cliffside and stuck it into the rock itself. The pet then struggled repeatedly until it's fire melted the ice, eventually leaving a massive hole in it's side, which slowly but steadily healed.
"Well...we can't expect it to be too easy now can we?" Wizard asked dryly before Cherub appeared.
"You're going to need to pull all the stops with this you know that?" He asked.
"We're doing what we can, what do you expect?" Warrior said, then Cherub sighed, and ran his hands along the length of Warrior's sword, making it give off just as much holy energy as Hero's sword did.
"There, you've got as much power as Hero does." Cherub said.
"Much obliged. Wait...hand me some power from these things." Warrior said, then Wizard drained the World Spawns some more and charged up Warrior's hammer with it. "O.k...things are getting really good."
"Ready for round two?" Wizard asked.
"Not yet, let's see how well these big guys do without me first." Warrior said as Wizard sent the World Spawns after the pet, and the clones all gathered around Warrior, and the ones with enough space leaned on him as they watched the World Spawns charge.
"You're not groping any of them are you?" Wizard asked.
"Wrong place, wrong time baby." Warrior said.
Back at the palace, Ranger was More goblins then showed up, only to get torn to shreds as Ranger swiped, kicked, and wove through the crowd in all directions, covering as much ground as he could. Fighter noticed that the goblins weren't interested in the dead goblins around them.
"I don't understand. Other than a disregard for their own safety, or intense rage, why would they endanger themselves like this? Didn't they know that Ranger was just going to tear them to shreds like the others? Did they even see Ranger shredding and clobbering them en masse right in front of them?" Fighter asked as she watched her husband lay waste to the goblins' ranks. When Ranger was done shredding the goblins to pieces, and kicking them hard enough to shatter their entire skeletons and sending them flying into each other, a group of hobs appeared...then Ranger latched cables onto one of them...just like Fighter would.
He then yanked himself towards it, kicked it in the ribcage with both feet, shattering it's bones and turning it's heart and lungs into a paste. Two other hobs tried to grab him, only to get their fingers removed when Ranger spun around with his arms extended. He then morphed a pistol and shot them both in the bottom of their heads, with the bullets exiting the tops of their heads. He then sliced through another hob's shin, making it fall forward on top of him, then he caught it and threw it at another with enough force to kill both of them.
Another hob tried to chop him in half with an axe, but Ranger morphed his gauntlets and blocked every strike, before grabbing the axe, punching the hob in the stomach hard enough to knock it down, then plunged it's own axe into it's heart. He then removed the axe and threw it at another hob, who was also hit in the heart. Another hob charged at him, only for Ranger to charge at it in return, pick it up, and slam it into the ground head-first, and then throw it into another hob, who pushed the dead one off of itself just in time to see Ranger kick it in the side hard enough to send it flying in the opposite direction.
A shaman then showed up and threw a spear at him, only for it to get deflected into the air...but the spear came back to the shaman, and then the process repeated over and over until Ranger dashed up to it and then kicked it between the legs, making it fall down from the pain. Ranger then watched it charge up a lightning spell, and then got blasted in the chest...but it did nothing. He, and his team for that matter, had their armor magic-proofed ages ago. The shaman then laid there gawking at the undamaged colossus standing over it with the same icy stare on his face as ever, and let out a muffled scream as he grabbed it by the face and lifted it off the ground.
"And what was that supposed to be?" Ranger asked coldly before he ended it's pain by grabbing the spear and jammed it through the shaman's gut.
Then a big surprise: a squad of grey-suited specialists appeared, each other having the same demonic aura the goblins had. To Ranger and Fighter's relief, there were none of the black-suited ones, otherwise they probably would have been doomed. They then tried to surround Ranger, and then he pulled his pistols on them, which made them scatter...big mistake. One of them dashed at Ranger trying to stab him through the head, but he dodged it and put a bullet in the specialist's gut, and kicked him into another one. A third one threw knives at Ranger, but he blocked them with a newly-morphed gauntlet before grabbing the specialist as he dive-kicked at him, then slammed the specialist in the ground over and over before throwing him into another specialist.
The first specialist regenerated it's injured stomach, charged at Ranger, who tripped him, and then jumped on top of him, jamming the tip of his elbow into the specialist's neck with an audible cracking sound. Another specialist jumped at Ranger, throwing a flurry of kicks at him, before Ranger bashed it's legs from the side, and then jammed an armblade into it's back and then punched it into another specialist. Two specialists then tried to attack him from behind...only for one to get an arrow through his head, and the other to get jumped on by Fighter, who then snapped his neck. She couldn't help but smirk at the surprise on Ranger's face.
"I'm o.k. now." She said proudly.
"As our two friends here learned the hardest way possible." Ranger said seriously...before three more specialists arrived, and Fighter stopped Ranger from getting involved so he could get some rest himself. He then saw Fighter get attacked from all sides by the trio of specialists...and she wasn't pulling any punches; they attacked her high and low, sometimes at the same time, but she blocked their attacks with either arm or leg, if she didn't just plain dodge them. One time, she grabbed one, kneed him in the gut before kicking another down, picked up the one she kneed, then spun him around to throw him at the third one. He ducked under the throw, jumped at Fighter who side-stepped his dual-foot kick, then blocked a flurry of punches, before spin-kicking him, getting her kick blocked, and then kicking the specialist in the side with her alternate foot hard enough to floor him.
The other two got up and Fighter threw a jumped, and spun around, kicking the first specialist no less than four times before hitting the ground, then ducked up the second specialist's armblade, then uppercuts him in the jaw before kicking him in the gut hard enough to floor him. The first specialist shook off the kick barrage he took and dived for her legs, only for Fighter to jump over him and land with her elbow jammed into his back hard enough to shatter his spine. The third specialist tried to stab her with his own armblade, only for her to kick him in the lower chest with both legs hard enough to break ribs, and then she rolled to the side as the first specialist tried to stab her himself, only to hit the specialist she was laying on top of.
When she got up, the first specialist tried ad failed to stab her several times over, before she threw several kicks at his knee, hipbone, chest, and face without putting her foot down. She then hooked her ankle around his shoulder, jumped over him, and slammed him head-first into the ground with her leg. She then looked at the final specialist, who downed a small life potion, and then threw a series of punches at her...and things got more evenly-matched; a few punches actually connected with her face and gut, but she was still able to keep up with him. The specialist even stopped her from spin-kicking him into the wall, and actually jumped off the wall and spin-kicked at her. Fighter managed to dodge it, but it set the tone pretty clearly.
Fighter then went back and forth with the specialist, as they stopped each other's strikes with their elbow tips, and the pain each other causes built up pretty quickly. Fighter recovered first however and then braced herself as the specialist approached and threw a fake kick at her face, then spun around to trip her, but she simply raised her let and stopped his spin-kick with a real kick to his injured chest. The specialist then reeled from the pain, then pulled Fighter's own trick on her, by throwing a kick at her in mid-air, then tried to kick her with his other foot...but she grabbed his other foot spun him around several times and slammed him into the ground, and finished him off by jamming her armblades into his throat.
"That's how it's done." Fighter said proudly as she approaching her supremely-entertained husband. "Don't get greedy..."
"Baby it is far too late to tell me not to get greedy." Ranger teased.
"Just keep your head on straight." Fighter deadpanned.
"Which head?" Ranger asked, and Fighter huffed before Ranger laughed at her. "I'm sorry I couldn't resist...but seriously, I do deserve a laugh or two."
"You win this round." Fighter said before more demons showed up. Both of them then made a dozen clones each, with some clones shooting the Prides out of the sky with bullets and explosive arrows, and the rest of the clones engaged the demons up close. The pair's clones swept aside the imps with sword-whips, rapidly shredded them with arm and leg blades, or just plain clobbered them without a weapon. A trio of Fighter's clones once engaged a giant Wrather by provoking it into charging at them, then one threw a flurry of kicks at it's chest in mid-air, another tripped the demon, and the last one snapped it's neck. One of Ranger's clones dealt with a Glutton by playing tug-of-war with it's tongues as it tried to eat him, but wound up latching onto a morphed gauntlet. The clone then let the Glutton pull him towards it, and then jammed a greatsword into it's mouth.
Another of Ranger's clones dealt with a group of Wrathers by simply chopping them in half with a greatsword one by one, or sometimes using one swing to bisect multiple Wrathers at once. A handful of Gluttons showed up and latched onto the clones with their tongues, and started pulling him apart before a group of Fighter's clones killed them with explosive arrows. More of Ranger's clones finished off the remaining demons with their twin swords, as the clones of Fighter that were with them.
The clones then got in-sync with each other enough to use moves together, like when one of Fighter's clones watched one of Ranger's impale a Wrather with a greatsword, then she flipped over him and kicked another Wrather to the ground, with another of Ranger's clones waiting to put his rifle in the demon's face and blow it's brains out. The clone of Ranger then threw the clone of Fighter into the air, and watched her beat a swarm of Prides to a paste, before riding the last one to the ground, on top of a Wrather, who was distracted by her impact, and got impaled by another clone of Ranger.
Another of Fighter's clones grabbed an imp, punched it's nose into it's brain, then bashed other imps with it's dead body, then threw it at a Pride that was swooping down at her, stunning and blinding it enough for her to spin-kick it away. She then noticed two of Ranger's clones back-to-back chopping down Wrathers, then she got blind-sided by an imp that jumped on her back, then she grabbed it and intentionally fell down with it taking the damage. She then kicked it away and the two clones of Ranger she saw took out the rest of the imps with their greatswords.
One of Ranger's clones got Fighter's clone on her feet and then he morphed his twin swords as Fighter's clones popped her blades, and they circled each other, ducked under each other, and jumped over each other while cutting down imps left, right and center. Ranger's clones then unloaded some bullets into one group as Fighter's clone shredded another group that tried to stop him. Ranger's second clone then finished the job by bashing another group with his greatsword, then Ranger's other clone impaled an imp with one of his twin swords, and Fighter kicked it off his sword...like the original did for Warrior back in the cave on their first quest.
To both of their minor surprise, more Hell goblins joined the demon's ranks, and the clones who were shooting down the Prides finished their works and covered each other as hundreds of goblins poured in from all sides. The clones got back to doing what they did best, with Ranger's clones using twin swords, sword-whips, their gauntlets, greatswords, guns, and even unarmed skills, sometimes going back and forth between different weapon types. Fighter's clones did no worse. The pair's clones even weaved around, or jumped, and flipped over each other as they sliced and clobbered the goblins who swarmed them. The two watched their clones create an entire area devoted to the goblins' destruction; any goblin who entered the ring they created was immediately sliced apart, smashed to a paste, shot to pieces, ripped asunder, launched across the battlefield, or burned through.
Ranger and Fighter's clones used team moves like with Ranger throwing Fighter's clones at the goblins so she could shred them, en masse as she flew past them. Then the same clone joined another clone in order to take turns kicking a hob up and down it's body until it fell down, and the two clones cut through it's neck with their armblades and kicked the head into several goblins.
Ranger and Fighter themselves stuck to the palace's entrance the entire time, but their work was still cut out for them, despite the clones doing most of the work. Fighter herself dealt with a hob by twisting it's arm in order to bring it to the ground before tearing it off and jamming her armblade into it's head, and even used the arm she tore off to bash goblins to death. While she did that, Ranger killed several hobs with headshots, and any goblins that got too close to him had their skulls smashed in with pistol whips. He then superheats his pistols, unloaded explosive bullets into a group of champions as they were staggered and then blown apart bit by bit by the blasts. More goblins got past the clones...somehow, and then swarmed them both, and they took turns slicing the goblins to pieces with their swords and armblades respectively, or just kicking or punching them to a paste without a weapon.
Both of them stood their ground as the goblins rushed them, rapidly throwing barrages of punches and kicks of all types, from straightforward, to spinning, to Fighter in particular kicking several goblins without putting down her leg. Ranger then grabbed a spear thrusted at him, poked the goblin in the face with it several times to stun it while Fighter kicked it into a hob's face. It then grabbed the goblin corpse off it's face then took the same spear Ranger was nearly stabbed with through it's throat as Fighter threw it. A champion then showed up, and Ranger shared a glance with Fighter, who then jumped off Ranger's back, and when he unloaded a few bullets into the champions face to stun it, Fighter landed on it's back and broke it's neck before jumping off of it as it fell down, and landed in Ranger's arms before getting another deep kiss from her teammate and life partner.
The pair then got themselves together as the clones re-joined their originals, and they each took a moment to calm down from the adrenaline high the clones gave them, and thanks to their mastery over their chakras, it wasn't too hard. Ranger then finally let go of Fighter and sighed.
"You know...this is probably the last fight we can do side-by-side." He said thoughtfully.
"So far...it most certainly counted." Fighter said softly...before she tensed up violently.
"What's wrong?" Ranger asked.
"My...my anger...growing...I...I felt this before." Fighter said in alarm, before Ranger shoved her to the ground and narrowly dodged a fireball...and both their hearts sank. The same archdemon whom Fighter defeated before, and then engaged Ranger before in those ruins appeared.
"You should have let that fireball consume you, it would have been far more merciful compared to the result of our battle." The archdemon said.
"We both beat you separately, now you're fighting both of us at once." Ranger said.
"And it matters not; you're tired, cornered, and have too much on the line to think clearly. With my lord's return, my victory is assured." The archdemon said.
"We will see about that..." Ranger said before morphing his quad cannon, unleashing a storm of bullets at the archdemon, which all bounce off a barrier of Hell energy as Fighter rushed to the side as Ranger rushed to the other. The archdemon wasn't surprised by their combined assault from both sides as it put barriers in either of their ways before unleashing a burst of Hell energy in their directions. Neither of them were hit by the burst, and Fighter grabbed the archdemon's knee and pulled it out from under it as Ranger punched it in the face with a morphed gauntlet.
The archdemon then flipped several times in mid-air from the impact before hitting the ground, then punched the ground in a fit of anger before morphing four flaming swords, one for each hand, and the pair it was fighting frantically tried to dodge each swing of the blades as the raging archdemon relentlessly attacked them. Eventually, Ranger morphed a greatsword, superheated it, and clashed with the archdemon just long enough for Fighter to get her distance, and then loose an arrow that turned into several, all of which exploded when they hit the archdemon.
It then roared and hurled fireballs at her, and she dodged every one as she charged at it, before jumping right over it, grabbing it's horn, and yanking it to the ground as Ranger jumped up and came down with his greatsword brandished. The archdemon swung at Ranger over and over, but Ranger's superheated greatsword took the blows for him despite him getting flung back. Fighter then tried to jam her armblades into the archdemon's eye, but it swiped at her with it's horns, and even though she dodged the attack by a hair's width, and it became clear the archdemon wasn't going down that easily.
It then got up and stomped the ground hard enough to cause a small earthquake which staggered Fighter and she narrowly avoided getting her head cut off by her large, demonic foe's swords. She then cartwheeled, flipped, jumped and rolled over each of the archdemon's sword swings, but he heat from the swords was taking it's toll on her, so she had to retreat, but it was no use; the archdemon wasn't giving her a break for anything. Ranger then punched the ground hard enough to upturn the ground, then kicked several boulders at it, only for the archdemon to bash them aside. Fighter then took advantage of the distraction by latching cables onto it, and kicked it in the back with both feet after she yanked herself towards it, and flipped off of it before landing like a cat.
"Miserable wench!" The archdemon yelled before turning one of it's swords into a fireball...before Ranger jumped up and bashed it in the face with his greatsword hard enough to knock it down. The archdemon laughs and started getting up." Now I see...you're the Ranger, the same pup who dug into her and made a pup of your own-" Ranger shut the archdemon up by chopping into it's side and then spinning around and bashing it in the face again. "Do you really think you can face my lord with that little whore at your si-" Ranger shut the archdemon up yet again by bashing it's jaw, stabbing it's knee and then punching it in the gut.
"Take a hint: I don't want to hear you talk about her like that." Ranger said sharply as the archdemon's saw regenerated.
"Your anger betrays you 11th." It said.
"And the truth condemns you. For me, being angry, in love, hopeful, afraid, whatever, is as natural as breathing, and I'm not even using my chakras, unlike my dear wife. She also told me about your fight months ago; I know you're claim to fame is feeding off of anger and hate, can't say I'm surprised. However, if that anger is completely dominated by the person whom you wish to use as a supply, what good does it do you?" Ranger said and the archdemon furiously lashed at Ranger with a whip made of fire, which Ranger jumped over...only to get a fireball smashed into him and sent flying.
Fighter then opened her chakras and dashed towards the archdemon, ducked under a sword, then flip-kicked it in the jaw hard enough to stagger it. She then went for it's leg again, yanked it out from under the archdemon, jumped up, then loosed more explosive arrows at it, only for it to blocked the arrows with it's sword, and swing at her. She then blocked the swing with her armblades, but noticed they were seriously damaged. She then played keep-away until they finally repaired themselves..but the archdemon's numerous and relentless strikes made it hard for her.
Ranger then showed up and chopped into the archdemon's horns, which staggered it enough for Fighter to punch it while still on the ground, and she hit with enough force to crack another horn and make it's head jerk back. Ranger then chopped into it's side, Fighter kicked the side of it's knee, making it fall forward, as Ranger morphed a gauntlet and gave it an uppercut to the face, knocking it backwards as Fighter jumped up and kicked it forward into the ground hard enough to shatter it. Ranger then looked at Fighter, offered his greatsword, and she took it before severing the archdemon's head. She then tossed it back, and Ranger climbed onto it's back, jammed his blade into it's back, pulled the sword back to make the hole bigger, reached into the wound to pry it open more, then tore out the archdemon's heart.
"The summoner siblings will be happy." Fighter said.
"Ironic since anger and happiness are polar opposites." Ranger said before hopping off the archdemon's disintegrating corpse. The exhausted pair then walked over to the palace's entrance...and then yet another swarm of goblins approached, and they made a beeline for the door. Then Ranger unleashed Pestilence upon them, and latched chains onto the door, and slammed them closed, and even tied the handled closed as some goblins tried to bash the doors down over and over, but Ranger kept his footing as the banging got softer and less frequent as the Pestilence took it's toll on the goblins outside until they all died.
"Please let that be all of them..." Fighter breathed out, and then noticed Ranger deflate. "Honey?"
"This is the first time I've endangered you with one of my miracles. Pestilence is not safe to use around allies, and I used it around you...of all people." Ranger said seriously.
"I'm not sick, let alone dead, so don't beat yourself up too much." Fighter said.
"Right." Ranger whispered before Fighter held his hand, and he tightened his hold.
"Let's go see the good Father." Fighter said as she led him to the Pope's chamber.
"Father? We took care of-" Abbot cuts Ranger off.
"Stay where you are!" He snapped...and the pair saw Abbot kneeling in front of the Pope's dead body against the wall...with his head caved in.
"What happened?" Fighter asked.
"He...he took his own life..." Abbot breathed out.
"What...?" Ranger whispered.
"He blamed himself for the Demon Lord's return, and the resurrection of his pet; he said he failed the Supreme God and even agreed with the Cambion and said that he wasn't worthy of being the Pope. I tried to tell him that this wasn't his fault...but he wouldn't have it." Abbot said.
"The Demon Lord set everything up quite nicely, I'll give him that...but he just cut his own throat. He used the Cambion, manipulated everything to his benefits, and now he drove the Pope to end his own life." Fighter said.
"The Cambion is responsible for his own actions!" Abbot growled.
"Actually Father, I spoke to the Cambion after I beat him. He didn't know anything that the Demon Lord was planning, and I believe he would have abandoned his mission if he knew better. He also blamed the paladins for not looking into the country's problems just like the Pope did." Fighter said and Abbot sighed.
"I admit...this country has been on a dark path. Maybe Cambion's actions were necessary to open people's eyes, and the Sword Maiden achieved the highest existence a person could ever hope to obtain...with a great man at her side as her guardian and lover." He said softly before walking over to the alter.
"But there's still the Demon Lord to deal with, and the Hero's team needs our help." Ranger said.
"No...she needs your help." Abbot said...before sitting in the Pope's chair.
"Y-you?" Fighter asked.
"There must be a Pope...and I am certain the Supreme God will approve." Abbot said seriously.
"I see..." Ranger whispered.
"With the Supreme, the Sword Maiden, her charitable protector, and the Champion himself as my witnesses, I swear to not repeat the mistakes made by those who came before me. Should those below me follow in the footsteps of those who betrayed the good of this country, the good of this world and her people, they will step down, or be excommunicated. No cruelty tolerated, no excuses given, no redemption withdrawn." Abbot said.
"Spoken like a true Pope Holy Father." Fighter said before she and Ranger bowed to the new Pope.
"There is also the matter of the adventurers in the capital waiting for the Cambion's orders." Abbot said.
"I'll handle them." Fighter said.
"Are you sure?" Ranger asked.
"Of course I'm sure. Who else is going to get on it?" Fighter said, and Ranger smiled.
"Would you like me to make this an official quest for the two of you?" Abbot asked.
"Well...we were going to do this regardless..." Fighter trailed off.
"Then I will not. Self-motivated quests have more merit anyway." Abbot said.
"By your leave Holy Father." Ranger said before walking Fighter to the door.
"Just to remind you, you can only use Army of One once more, and I'm not allowed to give you a second one." Cherub said.
"Doesn't matter. It's the only one I have, I'll make due." Ranger said.
"That's a pretty ballsy answer, even for you." Cherub said.
"As long as I give Priestess enough time, I will have done my part." Ranger said seriously.
"If you say so..." Cherub said before they reached the outside and then looked at the fight with the Demon Lord that was raging in the background. He was slamming fireballs into the ground, taking bursts of energy himself, and the explosions were so loud that they could hear them, even though the fight was taking place hundreds of miles away.
"Only one Army of One miracle left...so only one hour of time. It had better be enough." Ranger said.
"Sure it will be." Fighter said.
"Are you going to be alright?" Ranger asked and Fighter touched his face.
"I'll be fine. You saw how much ass I can kick." Fighter said softly, and Ranger held her hand.
"One of many reasons I love you." He whispered before giving her and brief but sweet kiss. She then let go of Ranger, morphed a flexible sheet of metal, and wrapped her hair in a ponytail...just like the one she had when they first met. Ranger then ran his hand through her hair, and along her smiling face. "Beautiful..."
"Fighter? You may take this portal to the capital." Cherub said.
"Wait...I want to see this." Fighter said as her husband prepared to use Army of One.
"War God...hear my plea. The Demon Lord himself has returned nine years early, now he threatens everything we have fought and suffered for. Send me your power one last time so I can end this war once and for all! Make me an Army of One!" Ranger said before unleashing his vermilion aura, yelling to the sky and making the ground shake and the wind stir like a hurricane. He was finished a few seconds later, and Fighter looked him over as he relaxed and stared at the Demon Lord who was still busy with Hero's team. Ranger then looked back at Fighter who was somewhat overwhelmed by his display of power, but no else supportive of what he was going to go.
"Go..." She whispered, and Ranger lowered his head before turning to the Demon Lord, and charging off to face him. Cherub then opened a portal when Ranger was out-of-sight and Fighter went through it.
When Priestess and company got back to Water Town, Summoner and Inspector made a beeline straight for their home, and Guild Girl woke up when they came in.
"Summoner? Inspector? I thought you-" Summoner cuts Guild Girl off.
"The siege is over...but we've got much bigger problems." He said.
"What?" Guild Girl asked.
"Sword mage! Open up!" Priestess exclaimed as she knocked on his door, and he opened it to reveal his sculpted torso and legs without a shirt or pants on, but he was still covered by shorts.
"Your Grace? I wasn't expecting you back so soon." He said.
"The siege was a success, but I need the Temple of Law under lockdown!" Priestess said.
"What for, if I may ask?" Sword Mage asked.
"The Demon Lord is back." GS said seriously, and Sword Mage recoiled.
"Please tell me you were given false information..." He breathed out.
"No." Priestess said, and Sword Mage went back into his room, put his outfit on, and joined them outside.
"Orders Your Grace?" He asked.
"I want the acolytes on alert and stand-by in case I need them to do anything, and the same goes for the city's guards." Priestess said.
"But Your Grace, it's an hour before dawn, and-" She cuts Sword Mage off.
"I used Vision before I came to you; the rest of the Evil Sect's army is heading this way. They know the Demon Lord has returned, and that this city is the greatest threat to him." She said.
"What of the Hero and Ranger?" Sword Mage asked.
"They're out there buying us time to get our shit together." D.R. said.
"In other words: we're on our own." GS said and Sword Mage sighed.
"I will get to the main chamber and call upon whatever power the Supreme God deems me worthy of." Priestess said.
"And I will stay here and protect you Your Grace." Sword Mage said.
"No, I need you out there to protect the city.
"But, what if Hell Rifts open and goblins get their hands on you?" Cow Girl asked.
"I'll try a Heaven Seal." Priestess said.
"A what?" Cow Girl asked.
"Think of it as a Protection miracle, but far stronger." Priestess said.
"Do you think it'll be enough?" GS asked.
"It worked to keep the goblins from getting out, it'll keep them from getting in as well." Priestess said.
"If you say so." Cow Girl said.
"We should go wake the guards ourselves, and of course help protect the city." Lizard Priest said.
"There's also the acolytes...Sword Mage." Priestess said.
"Then I will see to it at once." Sword Mage said before leaving.
"What about Rhea Fighter?" Wizard's brother asked while still holding her still-sleeping body.
"Have one of the acolytes come here for the Resurrection." Priestess said.
"No...if you're going to use anyone, it has to be me." Wizard's brother said seriously.
"You could also use a water elemental." Summoner said.
"Wait, how badly was she injured?" Female Summoner asked.
"Her spine was broken in several places, would that be enough?" Wizard's brother asked.
"It might, but it depends on what else is happening in her body." Summoner said, and Wizard's brother carried Rhea Fighter into a room, laid her on a bed with the rest of the group holding their breath. The mage checked her pulse first...and stopped right there.
"This isn't good...her pulse is extremely weak, and her breathing is labored." Wizard's brother said.
"Then it would take several water elementals, and a body taking in that much water all at once isn't recommended." Female Summoner said.
"Resurrection it is then..." Wizard's brother said seriously.
"Alright. Everyone, go where you need to go...this shouldn't take too long." Priestess said before everyone left.
"Let's get this over with..." Wizard's brother whispered and Priestess looked away as Wizard's brother started to remove his shirt, but then realized that Rhea Fighter had to be naked as well, so he looked at Priestess, who stripped her for them. When she was done finally, Wizard's brother stripped himself naked, kept his eyes averted from Rhea Fighter's body as long as he could, then got in bed with her. Now they could start...
When Ranger finally got to where he was going, he saw Hero and her teammates laying down undercover, or behind rocky formations.
"About damn time you decided to show up!" Hero exclaimed as Ranger casually walked out in the open...and the Demon Lord spotted him.
"So...the War God's champion dares to show his face to me. Now I will make you regret threatening me...but perhaps not; perhaps you can be of use to me. I have been observing you for some time now; you have the mark of lust on your soul; you desire a great many things the world has to offer, just as I do. Imagine what you and I could do together, I the Ruler of Hell and you...the greatest of the great soldiers of Earth. You have already led the Cambion to his richly-deserved downfall, now we can do the same to the rest of this tainted world." The Demon Lord said as Ranger morphed a greatsword and plunged it into the ground.
"I am not here for your empty promises...Your Majesty." He said sharply.
"You forgive the world that he broke? The one which let the Sword Maiden's pain fall on deaf ears? The one where your family's plights would go unpunished, despite your child being merely an infant?" The Demon Lord asked.
"The world you describe...is not the one I fight for." Ranger said simply, and the Demon Lord raises his burning hand and Ranger brandishes his blade.
"Fusion..." Sage whispered before an explosion, the likes of which Ranger has never seen engulfed the Demon Lord and knocked him to the ground at least half a mile away, with the impact causing a small earthquake. The explosion was so off-the-charts that even Ranger himself was frightened...and few things frightened him.
"What...was that...?" He asked.
"Fusion, the most powerful offensive spell in the world." Sage said.
"Why didn't you use it before, or teach Wizard for that matter?" Ranger asked.
"In order: You saw the power it has; using it haphazardly is out of the question, and I didn't teach her that spell for the same reason." Sage said.
"Excuse me, you're using Army of One right?" Hero asked.
"Yep. Although this is the only one I can use; the first was used against the Cambion, so I need to make this one count for an entire hour." Ranger said...and then noticed Sword Saint tremble, and remembered her saying that she likes how he sounds in his Army of One state.
"Anyway...if any of you have something to say, now's a good time." Sage said.
"I do..." Ranger trailed off.
"Well, let's hear it." Sword Saint said.
"The first time we were together like this was when we fought the vampire queen, and I became the 11th Platinum Rank, and you Hero became the tenth after fighting the same fight we're in right now. That's makes us the only two Platinum Ranks in the country, maybe the world. Now, I know we've had quite a few disagreements since then, especially over how I did some things, but please understand. As the leader of a team of goblin-killers, I can't ever afford to lose...and now the world's in the same boat; we have to win this." Ranger said seriously.
"Don't worry, we beat him before, we can do it again." Hero said.
"Especially with both Platinum Ranks on the job." Sword Saint said.
"Before he regains consciousness, we should probably go over what he can do since...well, we fought him before and you didn't." Sage said.
"Good idea." Ranger said.
"Well for starters, he can use hellfire in just about every way you can think of, just like he could the first time we fought him, but he's gained some new moves since." Sword Saint said.
"Let me guess: he can use Hell's energy itself?" Ranger asked.
"How'd you know?" Hero asked.
"The Cambion could do that, so why can't the Demon Lord?" Ranger said.
"What else could the Cambion do?" Sword Saint asked.
"He could turn parts of his body into weapons, especially his arms, he could grow new body parts and use them as weapons, and don't get me started on how much of a beating he could take. I could probably destroy an entire mountain ranger piece by piece in my current state, and he didn't care." Ranger said.
"Well...none of that applies to the Demon Lord, except the take-a-beating part." Hero said.
"I figured as much..." Ranger groaned.
"Do you think Army of One will help as much here?" Sage asked.
"Maybe not, but at least I'm not drop-dead exhausted anymore." Ranger said.
"But for how much longer?" Sword Saint asked.
"I estimate 50 minutes at this point...probably less. Part of me hopes the Demon Lord gets up soon." Ranger said.
"I hope you're ready to give him a beating, because he was much less painful the first time we fought him." Sword Saint said seriously.
"Yes I am, and I'm thankful for this Army of One power; I wouldn't stand a chance without it." Ranger said.
"Why wouldn't Cherub give you more?" Hero asked.
"He wasn't allowed to." Ranger said simply.
"Oh well, that boost the cherub gave my sword helped alot though; I've countered almost everything he threw at us by myself so far." Hero said.
"Here he comes!" Sword Saint exclaimed as the Demon Lord finally got up and growled at the group.
"You...little...insects...! I don't care how many prayers you have said while I was asleep, none of them will be enough to save you..." He said.
"The only prayer said was the one I said to get my hands on the War God's power, and you should be honored; this is only the fifth time I've used it." Ranger breathed out and started floating. "And you're going to wish I didn't...!" The Demon Lord then watched Ranger fly into the air, then spewed a stream of fire at him, only for Ranger to fly under it, then uppercut his jaw closed. Ranger then punched the Demon Lord's face hard enough to make him recoil, then dodged multiple claw swipes from the Demon Lord before he morphed his gauntlets, and threw a barrage of punches at the Demon Lord's gut, with each blow being harder than the last.
The Demon Lord then creates a volley of fireballs in mid-air, launched him at Ranger, but he dodged them, and the Demon Lord winds up hitting itself...but took no damage. Ranger then flew into the sky, and dived down to strike the Demon Lord on top of the head with both gauntlets, making the Demon Lord fall forward and catch himself with his gigantic hands, just for Hero to unleash a burst of holy energy that blew him backwards again as Ranger regrouped with her team.
The Demon Lord then roared to the sky, unfolded his wings, and hundreds of individual streams of Hell energy exploded out of his wings, only for Hero to counter them by swinging her sword over and over, with each swing causing multiple waves of energy that acted on their own accord to stop the Demon Lord's assault. While Hero was doing that, Ranger raised his hand, and a volley of meteors came down from the sky, right on top of the Demon Lord. Although the meteors didn't do any serious damage, they did interrupt the Demon Lord's energy barrage, and Hero's energy waves left multiple gashes in the Demon Lord's wings...which quickly healed themselves.
"All that work, and we're still not making any progress..." Sword Saint groaned.
"We'll get something done, eventually." Hero said before charging up her sword, jumping into the air and blasting the Demon Lord with the same amount of power Sage used for Fusion...which surprised everyone.
"O.k...that was new." Sword Saint said before Ranger took advantage of the Demon Lord's recoil by flying around, this time with a pair of greatswords, and rapidly slashing away at the Demon Lord everywhere he could reach, from his sides, to his wings, to is torso, to parts of his face. The Demon Lord then charged up a burst of Hell energy, which Ranger flew away from, and then made several clones, all of whom unloaded storms of silver bullets into the Demon Lord. The bullets pierced the Demon Lord's hide, but were quickly pushed out as the Demon Lord healed. The original when re-absorbed the clones, and rapidly punched and kicked the Demon Lord in the gut once again.
Ranger then finished his barrage of punches by uppercutting the Demon Lord hard enough to make him recoil, then flew into the air and slammed down with both fists on top of the Demon Lord's head. He then rejoined Hero's team, before the Demon Lord recovered and threw a barrage of fireballs at them, which Sage was able to negate with Mana Bolts. The Demon Lord then surprised the group by summoning a sword as big as he was, and tried to impale them with it, only for them to dodge it, or at least get stunned by it. Then Ranger morphed a greatsword, ran along the length of the Demon Lord's sword, slicing it to pieces as he ran, superheated his gauntlet, and punched the Demon Lord in the face hard enough to make him recoil yet again.
To add insult to injury, Ranger then morphed a sword just as big as the one he destroyed and brought it down on the Demon Lord's shoulder, chopping into his body all the way through his shoulder, and into his upper chest...which the Demon Lord somehow survived, punched in two, and blew Ranger miles away with the wind gust as Ranger narrowly dodged it. Sage charged up a massive Mana Bolt which she unleashed just as Ranger was launched away, and Hero unleashed a wave of energy that crippled the Demon Lord's hand, and Sage's Mana Bolt was stopped by the Demon Lord putting his wing in the way.
The Demon Lord then brought down another fireball, and Ranger hurled a gigantic harpoon into his hand, which distracted him long enough for Ranger to absorb the two broken halves of his sword. The Demon Lord then pulled the harpoon out of his hand, and tried to destroy the area Hero's team was in, but they were long gone. He then looked around for him...only for Ranger to fly in and hit him in the face with Immolation...which made the Demon Lord roar in pain, frantically trying to put the flame out, which distracted him long enough for Ranger to take the harpoon back, re-absorb it, and fly to where Hero's team were hiding.
"Great, now you really made him mad." Hero said...before the Demon Lord started laughing.
"Or not..." Sword Saint said.
"Petty sneak attacks? I had no idea you were so devious 11th. Now you hide like the cowardly prey that you are, but I will hunt you to the ends of the globe. Although...if you are at the ends of your limits, then you might as well kill each other and save me the trouble." The Demon Lord said, as he looked around.
"How much longer do you have?" Sage whispered.
"I estimate 40 minutes, and the sun's coming up soon." Ranger said.
"Well...it's all or nothing at this point." Hero said...and then she charged out of her hiding spot, with Sword Saint behind her and Ranger flying overhead with Sage behind him.
Meanwhile, a multitude of adventurers were at a tavern just within the capital's walls.
"When is that asshole coming for us?!" One of them asked.
"Yeah, We wait here all day, fully ready for whatever he has in mind, and some of us even stay up all night on lookout for him. When I get ahold of that no-show..." Another said.
"Maybe someone delayed him?" Another asked.
"Or he just plain lied to us." Another said.
"He's not coming. I kicked his ass." Fighter said as she walked in and closed the door.
"You...a little girl, fought the scariest man I've ever seen and won? Yeah, right..." One of the men said.
"You're clearly never met my husband...the 11th Platinum Rank." Fighter said seriously, and the group muttered to themselves; her reputation proceeded her nicely.
"Still, even you couldn't beat someone with the powers of both Heaven and Hell on his side." An adventurer said.
"Do you all know who that man is? He's a Cambion, half man, half demon, and he's the one who murdered the Sword Maiden." Fighter said.
"That's bullshit! How do we know you aren't trying to defame him so the rest of us can't get to the same level you're at?!" The largest one asked, and others quickly joined in the accusation.
"Cambion said it with his own mouth." Fighter said seriously.
"Wait...if she really did beat him then she's got to be worn out from her fight with him." An adventurer said.
"You're right. Get her!" Another adventurer exclaimed, and two men with axes and shields charged her, only for her to weave around them, and give each of them a hard punch in the side, making them both fall down reeling in pain. She then looked the others over; the two she just dropped were Sapphire Ranked, and the others were mostly Ruby Ranked with some Steel, Emerald, Ruby and more Sapphire Ranks, with a few Silver Ranks, the man with a staff, and a big man with a two-handed mace. They all looked at the two men who were on the ground in pain; Fighter could easily kill them, but they weren't enemies, so killing was out of the question for her.
Three more rushed at Fighter, only for her to blocked their swords, trip one and kick him into the other, then punch the last one in the diaphragm. Three more rushed at her, and she countered by jumping towards them and floored them all with a flurry of mid-air kicks. The one with the staff attacked her while she was recovering and Fighter frantically blocked the staff hits; the man using it was clearly a master. He jabbed at her, backed up and swung at her, spun it around to mesmerize her and then swung at her, and even used the staff to vault himself over her, and one time she tried to unbalance him in the middle of a vault, but her attempt to knock him off-balance failed and led to her getting swung at...and the staff grazed her ponytail and kept going.
The fight ended with Fighter grabbed the staff, poking the man in the face with it, then kicked him in the diaphragm. The big man with the mace swung at her while she was distracted, but she had just enough time to block it with both arms...and she felt how tired she was thanks to the impact rattling her bones. She then dashed away as the beast of a man before her kept swinging at her, and eventually grabbed her, slammed her into the ground twice, and while she was out of breath, he brought his mace down on her.
She then rolled to the side, kicked the side of his knee, jumped off of it and kicked him in the face with her other leg, knocking him to the ground. Fighter didn't even wait for him to get up entirely before striking him in multiple joints and other sensitive places, like when she does a split and punches him in the groin, before spin-kicking him to the ground as she was getting up.
When it was over the adventurers were all laying down groaning in pain, or wisely stayed away from her out of fear of winding up like the others.
"Do any of you know what you're fighting for?" Fighter asked.
"We...we were promised the same power and wealth and you and Ranger have." An adventurer said.
"Were you told how you would get your hands on it, and what the cost would be? The Cambion's plan revived the Demon Lord, and led the Pope to kill himself!" Fighter said seriously, and the adventurers recoiled and looked at each other.
"We never wanted that!" Another adventurer exclaimed.
"That's why you shouldn't get involved in an issue you know nothing about. Am I correct in assuming you all became adventurers for the purpose of acquiring power and wealth?" Fighter asked, and no one answered. "That's what I thought. My team became adventurers to make a difference, and my husband, the father of my child, leads us because he wants not only what's best for us, but what's best for the world. He became the 11th Platinum Rank because of the difference he made, and the rest of us aren't far behind I'm sure. All of you can be no different."
"You don't seriously expect us to become Platinum Ranks do you?" The maceman asked as he tried standing up.
"Have you not been paying attention? The Cambion played you because of your greed and self-interest, and if he can, others can as well. I could have killed any one of you, but chose not to because I think there's hope for all of you. Besides...you don't have to be the best to make a difference, if you did, being an adventurer wouldn't have much point, if any." Fighter said.
"Then...what can we do?" An adventurer asked.
"If any of you are healers, you should to them and get on with your lives. Lives that are best spent on something worth spending it on." Fighter said seriously before walking away. She then hid behind a building, saw several mages heal the ones she beat down, and even heard them discussing if she was right. Cherub then appeared and got Fighter's attention.
"That'll make them think about consequences, or nothing will." He said.
"Hopefully it gets them, and us somewhere. Now, send me to Water Town." Fighter said.
"Yes ma'am." Cherub said casually before opening a portal for her.
When she got to the Temple of Law, the first person she saw was Priestess...in the main chamber.
"Fighter!" Priestess exclaimed and rushed to hug her pseudo big sister.
"I'm alright Priestess...thank the Supreme you are too." Fighter said softly.
"How are everyone else?" Priestess asked.
"Warrior and Wizard are fighting the Demon Lord's pet...and Ranger is with the Hero's team buying you the time you need." Fighter said and Priestess sighed.
"They're alright too..." She said softly.
"What about the siege?" Fighter asked.
"Miss Goblin Slayer cut off the Goblin Overlord's head, and she still has it." Priestess said.
"You're kidding me. What about the rest of the goblins?" Fighter asked.
"Most of them were wiped out, and...well, Elder Revenant showed up-" Fighter cuts Priestess off.
"Wait a minute...you had him help you?!" She asked.
"If it wasn't for him, we would probably still be fighting the goblins, and we would have suffered far greater losses." Priestess said seriously.
"Where is he now?" Fighter asked.
"He's hunting down the last of the goblins, and Goblin Slayer made it a point to emphasis that he should make sure he gets all of them...and we all know that one goblin is all it takes." Priestess said.
"Yeah...we all know the drill, and even one goblin getting it's hands on a girl is the last thing I want to think about now. Anyway...I would congratulate you for a job well done but...now's not the time to celebrate." Fighter said.
"Right...I have to get ready for the Demon Lord." Priestess said.
"Do you have anything in mind for him?" Fighter asked.
"Maybe Restoration; the Sword Maiden used it to weaken the vampire queen, maybe I can use it to stop the Demon Lord. He should have the same weakness to holy arts like the lesser demons have." Priestess said.
"Sounds good to me." Fighter said and shared a smile with Priestess. "Anything I should be aware of?"
"Well...for the past hour or so, we've been getting the defenses up and running, and I had to use Wizard's brother for Resurrection." Priestess said.
"What? Why?" Fighter asked.
"Our rhea friend was injured...badly. But luckily, the Resurrection worked, and when they wake up, she should be fine." Priestess said.
"Good. Anything else I should know?" Fighter asked.
"I had the acolytes stay in their quarters, and Sword Mage went to help lead the guards for when the rest of the Demon Lord's force try to stop us." Priestess said and Fighter sighed.
"Just once I'd like to come here and not have to save this place from a siege...not to mention I just got back from beating some sense into those people the Cambion tempted." She said.
"What?" Priestess asked.
"Oh, right, you weren't here at the time. The good Abbot told us that the Cambion goaded some people into following his cause, don't know what it was, but still. And before you ask, he told us just before you left with Goblin Slayer's team. Oh, and guess what? He's the new Pope now." Fighter said and Priestess gasped.
"He is? Wait...what happened to the one before him?" She asked.
"He...he committed suicide." Fighter said and Priestess' eyes widened. " He felt he betrayed the Supreme by giving the Cambion the remains of the Demon Lord's pet, and helped speed the Demon Lord's return, and felt the Supreme abandoned him. I can't imagine how much guilt he must have felt."
"I can't believe this..." Priestess said.
"Priestess...we're one step away from ending this war once and for all, and alot of good people gave their lives to help speed up the end. Now let's make their losses mean something." Fighter said seriously.
"Right." Priestess said.
"Now...what are my orders Your Grace?" Fighter asked.
"Keep an eye on the city, and if anything goes too far in the wrong direction, do what you can." Priestess said.
"Will do...although, this would be a good time to empower me." Fighter said.
"I can't. I'm out of miracles." Priestess said then Fighter took a moment to think.
"Then I'll just have to pray that there's a life potion somewhere in this city." She said.
"And I will pray for us all." Priestess said.
"Wait...what are the others doing?" Fighter asked.
"Goblin Slayer and the rest of his team are on the lookout for the Demon Lord's forces, the Summoner siblings are in Limbo...for obvious reasons, and Inspector is either at home, or with Summoner." Priestess said.
"Then I'm going to look for a life potion, or something to keep myself awake, then stay there and rest as much as I can afford to." Fighter said.
"Good plan." Priestess said.
"Thanks, now get to it." Fighter said as she went into the hastily-preparing city.
Ever since Priestess gave the word, the guards were slowly but steadily getting on full-alert, the civilians who were waking up were told to stay inside, but the adventurers weren't having it; they formed up at the barracks run by Ranger's father, and were kept in reserve in case they were needed. When H.E. Druid shot a flaming arrow into the air to signal that the Evil Sect was coming down the road. The guards then took to the gates to prepare for an attack from the front with some sentries keeping the people in order.
While they did that, H.E. Druid, D.R. and several dozen riflemen took pot shots at their troops from the walls and towers...and to their surprise, several boats were seen ferrying troops to the walls, and returned fire at the group, with several riflemen getting hit, with most being grazed and others being killed on the spot. Lizard Priest then evened the odds by not only slinging bombs at them to sink their boats, but also summoned skeletal crocodiles to attack them. Cow Girl then summoned water elementals to heal the troops that were able to be saved...and just in time too; several grappling hooks were thrown up onto the walls, only for the newly-healed troops to cut the ropes with their swords.
Several riflemen all of a sudden had their throats cut, their heads smashed open, or their heads cut clean off with a single moment...and a black-suited specialist appeared. Lizard Priest threw a freeze bomb at him, which scored a direct hit...then the specialist broke out and charged right at him. Lizard Priest used his Partial Dragon form to combat the specialist; he was too strong to fight normally as past experiences taught him, and then he threw the specialist across the city, making him roll and stumble along the ground.
When that was done and over with...they saw large fireballs coming towards the city, then a World Spawn appeared out of Limbo and stopped them with a gust of icy wind. Several black-suit specialists then appeared on a few of the boats, and used cables to climb onto the World Spawn, only to get hit with a burst of fire from its skin once they touched it, and sent flying into the water. Amazingly, they were all still alive; they must have magic-resistant suits. The World Spawn then unleashed a burst of lightning into the water which cooked or drowned all of them. It then took a moment to assess the situation and recover it's power...then a Mana Bolt flew at it and blasted it to pieces, stunning everyone on the wall.
"What the hell was that?!" A guard asked, then D.R. looked through his scope.
"A goblin shaman!" He yelled.
"What? Since when can a goblin shaman do that?" H.E. Druid asked.
"I don't know, but this one doesn't look normal." D.R. said.
"Then what are we waiting for? Shoot him!" A guard yelled and they all opened fire at the same the goblin shaman was...and it was still standing.
"How did that not work?" A guard asked, then the shaman left.
"That was no shaman, it was a goblin mage, the same one I took down in the swamplands." GS said as he approached the guards.
"Then what's he doing back?" A guard asked.
"Maybe it came back along with the others." GS said.
The specialist that Lizard Priest threw landed in the middle of the city's main square, and took a moment to compose himself before taking to the rooftops, and heading for the barracks. Once he got there, he looked over the number of recruits, and then returned to the city's main square to looked over the number of guards scrambling to the gates, and around the city to spread news, and orders. He then took off to the Temple of Law...and then vanished into a Hell Rift.
Noble Fencer kept an eye on the events from the window of her home, and unsurprisingly, she came outside once Sword Mage was spotted...and brought her sword as well. Her first moment outside was seeing Sword Mage heading to the docks to help fend off a black-suited specialist that was tearing the guards there apart. All the surviving guards could do, was distract the specialist...sometimes with their last breath while Sword Mage attacked the specialist.
The specialist's last move was to put a knife in a guard's throat, and then get Sword Mage's blade through his chest, and then get the back of his neck slashed.
"Get the wounded to the barracks immediately." Sword Mage said as he walked away, and Noble Fencer hid in order to give him space...but he stopped a few feet from her. "I knew you were there."
"I just...wanted to see if you needed help." Noble Fencer said.
"No...but those men did." Sword Mage whispered.
"I'm sorry." Noble Fencer said softly.
"Let's just get rid of this siege...!" Sword Mage said seriously, and Noble Fencer followed him to the front gate, to see the guards holding back an army of Hell goblins...and their experience with the last time they faced them showed. The guards in front bashed their smaller foes with their shields, and had smaller swords like GS, and used them to quickly stab and chop any goblins that weren't crushed by their shields. The pair watched the massacre for several minutes, and no end was in sight...so Noble Fencer focused on the clouds overhead, and Sword Mage watched them rumble with thunder, and spark with the magic of the woman next to him.
"Lightning!" She yelled and a bolt of lightning came down from the clouds, and vaporized an entire wave of Hell goblins, and gave the guards some much-needed breathing room.
"Impressive..." Sword Mage said.
"That's the first time I've done that in several months, and I hope I don't have to do that too often." Noble Fencer said.
"Didn't Storm Mage train you?" Sword Mage asked.
"Somewhat, but my lightning magic is part of my family. I don't know what kind of lightning he uses, or even how it works, but it's not the same as my own." Noble Fencer said.
"A shame, you could be an excellent replacement for him...if you kept at it." Sword Mage said.
"Now that I will take as a compliment." Noble Fencer said.
"By all means my good lady." Sword Mage said before noticing the small smile, and even blush on Noble Fencer's face. He then walked her down the stairs...and then a Hell Rift opened to spit out a dozen or so Hell goblins.
"Shall we dance?" Noble Fencer asked and Sword Mage smirked and drew his blade as the goblins charged at them...only to be sliced clean in half when Sword Mage swung his blade once. Noble Fencer then followed up by spinning around him and impaling or cutting down several more goblins. Sword Mage then twirled his sword around as several goblins rushed him, and got sliced to pieces in the process. Noble Fencer was busy impaling goblins left and right when Sword Mage bisected several goblins in mid-air as they pounced at her. The two then took turns weaving around each other as they impaled and bisected more goblins that poured through the rift.
"You fight well when someone is this close to you." Sword Mage said as he rapidly sliced several goblins in half.
"This is...hardly my...first time...fighting these...bastards!" Noble Fencer said as she kept impaling goblins, and defended herself from goblins with spears before getting close to them and stabbing them each in the face.
"I heard...you were saved by two Silver Ranks." Sword Mage said before more goblins showed up and pounced at him, only for Noble Fencer to start sparking again.
"Lightning!" She yelled before the goblins were all vaporized. "To this day I cannot believe I envied them."
"Well...for what it's worth, you might be a poor adventurer, but you're a phenomenal defender." Sword Mage said.
"So I've noticed." Noble Fencer said seriously.
Fighter meanwhile, was rummaging through Wizard and Warrior's home, looking for a life potion...and as luck would have it, there weren't any. She then went to her own home, and went in through the front, noticed no one was there, and went to see if they had any life potions stored away, or if they were taken as well, and she found one in a chest in their manor's kitchen. She then made a break for the door...then it dawned on her: she hasn't seen her little girl since she and her team left to fight the Cambion!
Fighter then set the potion down, went up the stairs to see her daughter...who was still sleeping like the angel she was. She then started to tremble as tears rolled down her face; seeing her baby just that one time after so much pain and damage was refreshing beyond words, and her body and heart couldn't take the contrast...and it showed. That child, who had barely begun to live, did more for her in that one moment then Fighter believed she did for her in return, and Fighter silently vowed to return and pay her a proper visit later.
With her fortitude fully restored thanks to her baby, and her vitality partially restored thanks to the potion, Fighter went back out to see what she could do. The first major event she saw was the moment where Noble Fencer and Sword Mage massacred the goblins...and that moment was where her hope for them becoming a pair was cemented. One of the many reasons she loved Ranger was their off-the-charts level of synergy on the battlefield, and she saw the exact same thing with the pair she was watching.
When their dance of death was completely, Noble Fencer and Sword Mage took a breather, and then went back up to the gates to see what was happening...and it wasn't good. The goblins were done...for the most part, but the Evil Sect brought out a war wagon armed with cannons. Next thing they knew, the cannons fired upon them one at a time, chipping away at the bridge, and gate itself. The troops were luckily unharmed, but they were too demoralized to remain outside lest they get blown apart. Noble Fencer then tried to unleash another bolt of lightning...but a cannonball tore through the tower they were in, forcing Sword Mage to jump on top of her to keep the shrapnel from hitting her.
"Are you alright?" Fighter asked.
"Fighter? What are you doing here?" Noble Fencer asked.
"As usual, I'm here to save the day." Fighter said casually.
"Right..." Noble Fencer groaned.
"Where are the two Goblin Slayers? I haven't seen them this whole time." Fighter asked.
"Maybe they're in the sewers looking for goblins, or in the city...looking for goblins." Sword Mage said.
"I get it." Fighter said before looking at the war machine across the bridge. "Wait...that looks like- The Evil Sect copied our wagon's design!"
"Uh...I don't recall you using anything that advanced, and it looks pretty uninspired to me." Noble Fencer said.
"Maybe it's a coincidence?" Sword Mage said...before Fighter notched an arrow.
"Either way..." She trailed off before loosing her arrow, that explodes when it hits the wagon...and when the smoke clears, all three of them were stunned.
"I can't believe it...that thing is still intact!" Noble Fencer exclaimed.
"Then I'm just going to have to get up close and personal." Fighter said before she opened her chakras and jumped over the edge.
"Are you nuts!" Noble Fighter exclaimed, before Fighter landed...and dodged several cannonballs that were fired at her, while they were flying at her. The moment she got close, she tore into several weak spots, like the spacing between the plates in the back, which she tore open to reveal the panicked crew...who were all humans instead of goblins. She then moved to the side as they pulled pistols on her and opened fire, only to hit nothing but air.
As she was looking for another weak spot to puncture through, one crewman had the ingenious idea of coming out and looking for her, only to get her armblades jammed through his head, and heard the rest of the crew scream in fear. Fighter then punctured another space between plates, and the crew actually tried to shoot through the place Fighter punctured, and wound up injuring themselves with their ricocheting bullets. Eventually, Fighter found the store of gunpowder and ammo, and then jumped into the sky, before shooting an explosive arrow at it, which blew the whole wagon to pieces. When she landed, a large team of terrorists were waiting for her.
"I don't believe it. This crazy bitch just took out a siege wagon." One of them said as Fighter continued eyeballing them.
"We should just hold out until the sergeant gets here." Another terrorist said.
"Yeah...the sergeant will have the right gear to deal with this girl." Another terrorist said...then they all took launched blades from her gauntlets to their guts, hearts, and throats.
"You were saying?" Fighter asked casually, before looking into the distance, and into the forest, and put up her guard; something was coming, something he couldn't make sense of for some reason. Next thing she knew, a terrorist in heavier armor walked towards her.
"You're going to die for that..!" He growled.
"You must be the infamous sergeant." Fighter said.
"Yes...I must be." The sergeant said before stopping and the two looked each other over. Fighter couldn't help but notice that his armor was that of a specialist but...heavier. The sergeant then made his gauntlet twice as large, which made Fighter's eyes widen. "Surprised? It's just like that bastard Ranger's. He ripped my friends limb from fucking limb and now, I can do the same thing to you!" The sergeant then punched the ground hard enough to cause a small earthquake, which staggered and surprised Fighter, and then the sergeant throw a chunk of debris at her, which she narrowly avoided.
She then dashed at him with her blades popped, and each strikes was either stopped or countered by his gauntlets. He then ended the exchange by grabbing her arm, and tried to punch her in the face several times, only to be dodged over and over. He then grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the ground before kicking her into a tree hard enough to crack it.
"How...?" Fighter whispered.
"The great Cambion saw fit to give me this armor after studying Ranger's armor, which mean you're going to die here, at the hands of someone using your own husband's weapon!" The sergeant said as he walked over to Fighter, and once he got close enough, she tried to grab his ankle and yank it out, but he jumped over her arm and stomped her back in before grabbing her by the back of the head, smashing it into the tree and throwing her behind him.
Fighter then channeled what little power was still in her necklace, and used it to heal herself...but the necklace had just enough to heal her most serious injuries; if she loses this fight, it's over. The sergeant then morphed a greatsword and tried to impale Fighter with it, only for her to stop clamp it between her hands just before it could pierce her armor, then deflect it to the side, kick the sergeant down, great the sword and chop into the sergeant's armor at the shoulder, into his heart. She rested against the sword to catch her breath, then she heard footsteps and absorbed the sword.
"Impressive...even with so little stamina, you hold your ground." The goblin mage said, and Fighter snapped her head to see it.
"More goblins...lovely." She groaned.
"Yes indeed, did you think we were gone forever?" The goblin mage asked.
"Well, less of you means less pain for us, so that would be nice!" Fighter snapped.
"You wound me human...not as much as I can wound you, but still." The goblin mage said coldly, before Fighter hurled several blades at it, which gets deflected by the goblin mage's magic, and then she gets blasted with a Mana Bolt that knocks the rest of the fight out of her; she tried to get up and failed miserably.
"See, although you killed the Goblin Overlord, there are still ways for us to thrive...with me in his place." The goblin mage said while walking towards Fighter, and then grabbed her face. "And you...get to be my queen." Fighter's eyes widened as the goblin sneered at her...then got hit by a fireball, and was launched back in the opposite direction into a tree. Fighter then turned to see her rescuer...
"You?" She asked as Wizard's brother approached.
"Yes, me." He said.
"What are you doing here?" Fighter asked.
"Saving you. What's it look like?" Wizard's brother said.
"What about Rhea Fi-?" He cuts Fighter off.
"She's fine...now." He said.
"You didn't have to come out here." Fighter said.
"Are you kidding? Ranger and especially my sister, would have my head if anything happened to you, and you look like you've seen better days." Wizard's brother said.
"Very funny..." Fighter said.
"Yeah, I'm a comic genius. Now run along, I have a goblin to cook." Wizard's brother said before the goblin mage got up just in time to have a Firestream to stop with Reflect.
With the Demon Lord's pet, Wizard's World Spawn horde was giving it everything it could handle. They hurled balls and streams of fire and ice at it, with the contrast making it's movements sluggish, and others hurled lightning bolts at it to take advantage of the water soaking it. Their luck wasn't flawless however; the Demon Lord's pet returned the favor in more ways than one, from the fire it spewed at them threefold, to the ear-splitting roars that pushed them and their magic back with the force alone, and the sound waves that actually damaged the stones making up their composition.
Eventually, the Demon Lord's pet got bold, and charged at them, and even the ones that charged back were swept aside as the pet pounced on two of them hard enough to crush them, bit into two more with two of it's heads, with all three heads working together to rip them apart. It then clawed through no less than three more World Spawns with one swipe of it's paw, and the last three ganged up on it to pummel it from the sides and keep it busy.
"Hey! You're screwed now, you pint-sized pooch!" Warrior yelled as the pet looked at 20 World Spawns approaching with Warrior on the shoulder of one of them. The other 19 then charged at the pet to aid the other three that were struggling to beat it into submission. Warrior him watched from the World Spawn he was riding on as the other members of the horde unleashed their magic on the pet, as he bit into the three remaining World Spawns beating on it and hurled them at the other World Spawns. Then they caught their destroyed brethren, absorbed their power and continued to press the attack.
The pet continued to claw through the elemental colossi like a scythe through grass, but they didn't stop for anything. Every now and then, the pet took a barrage of ice spikes, fireballs, lightning bolts, earth spikes, bursts of pressurized air, or any combination of the three, while the other World Spawns worked together to knock the pet into the blasts, to decrease it's defenses against it, if not just continue punching it in a blind spot The pet then whipped around and used one of it's heads to bite down on one World Spawn, and hurl it into the ones blasting it, but it just made of them dodge it, then continue blasting it.
The pet then surprised both Warrior and Wizard by forming a sleek, black skeleton on top of it's fur...it was upgrading! The World Spawn's punches, even if they didn't connect with the skeleton itself were becoming less and less impactful. When the pet became fully enveloped in it's new suit, it roared with all three heads, then spewed fire at the World Spawns that were relentlessly blasting it, and they never stood a chance.
The pet then leaped away from the ones punching it, and then pounced at them with enough force to shatter them all. The one carrying Warrior then rushed at it, and Warrior jumped onto the pet's back, slashing away at it's armor and skin, but the wounds he inflicted healed rapidly. The pet was too distracted by his assault to cover itself as the World Spawn punched each of it's faces one by one until finally knocking it down.
Warrior then launched himself into the air as the World Spawn created a stronger storm overhead. The World Spawn finally got ripped apart by the pet's three heads, but Warrior channeled as much lightning as he could before unleashing all of it onto the pet in a single stroke, which made the entire area explode underneath the pet. Warrior then flew back to where Wizard and her clones were, and they held Warrior up as he caught his breath.
"Scratch...one...demonic mutt..." Warrior breathed out before Wizard brushed his hair out of his face and passionately kissed him. Warrior was even about to grope one of her luscious breasts before the pet exploded out of the rubble.
"Oh give us a fucking break!" Wizard exclaimed.
"Hit it with another lightning blast." One of her clones said.
"I just hit it with the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning blasts and it did nothing!" Warrior exclaimed.
"Well then...how else are we supposed to kill this thing?!" Wizard snapped.
"Like the Leviathan: from the inside." Warrior said.
"You're going to let that thing swallow you? Are you crazy!?" Wizard asked.
"I always did have more balls than brains..." Warrior said proudly before rushing off to face the pet. Wizard and her clones then looked at each other.
"Well, more World Spawns ladies!" Wizard said before they got to work.
"Hey! Hey puppy! Over here!" Warrior yelled, and the pet looked down at him. "You must be hungry after taking that much lightning to the face, well...tasty human right here!" The pet's center head then reared back and extended it's tongue to wrap around Warrior and yanked him towards it's mouth. "Oh this is going to suck..." Once the pet swallowed Warrior, he charged up his armor with lightning, and his sword with holy energy, then started slicing away at everything around him.
The pet then roared and thrashed around in pain...so he was doing something right. Wizard and the clones stopped working once they saw the pet's body give off faint glows as Warrior sliced up it's insides. Eventually, the outer skeleton cracked apart and Warrior sliced open it's belly and climbed out of the wound, soaked in blood as the pet fell on it's side convulsing as it's wounds healed.
"Back to work!" Wizard exclaimed as she rushed to get Warrior, who was groaning and stretching himself out.
"I'm going to be sore in the morning..." He breathed out, before Wizard showed up and looked him over. "I don't suppose you have any water elementals with you?"
"Not now, but we can get you cleaned up later on...since you're alright." Wizard said.
"I'm better than that glorified stuffed animal behind me." Warrior said proudly.
"Sheesh, you've got a million nicknames for it don't you?" Wizard deadpanned.
"Eh, who cares? I'm not trying to make anyone laugh, I'm trying to get inside it's head...ironically I just got out of it's gut." Warrior said.
"Luckily for you, it didn't digest you." Wizard said as she helped her blood-drenched husband up and led him out of the area.
"I never got to it's stomach; I cut my way out of it's esophagus, and went apeshit." Warrior said.
"Well, you may not have killed it, but it's certainly been in better shape." Wizard said as more World Spawns showed up.
"Leave them out of this...I'm going for it's heads." Warrior said.
"No more stunts for you today." Wizard said seriously.
"It's no stunt..." Warrior trailed off, then Wizard's eyes widened.
"Oh wow...that thing is dead now." She said before draining energy from the World Spawns and giving it to Warrior's armor.
"Yeah...let's see it survive a storm like that again. Actually...the real storm is about to start." He said before charging at the pet which was nearly healed, and then climbed up it's side, charged up his sword with as much holy energy as he could and severed one of it's heads, making the other two roar in fear before Warrior impaled the center head, then cut the last one open, making the body drop like a sack of potatoes. He and Wizard then looked at the pet's corpse to see if the wounds would heal, but they didn't. They then shared looks of disbelief, then smiled and laughed at their mutual accomplishment.
"Scratch one demonic mutt...for real this time." Wizard said proudly.
"Now I'm a real monster slayer." Warrior breathed out.
"As your first reward, you get a bath from your lovely wife and her equally-lovely helpers, and whatever else strikes you fancy." Wizard said before summoning a water elemental to wash Warrior off, and heal his wounds by merging with him. When he was clean, Wizard then kissed him as passionately as before...with all nine of her clones getting the same treatment one by one.
Back with the Demon Lord, Hero pressed the attack from the ground with Sword Saint covering her by deflecting the Demon Lord's fireballs and Hell energy attacks, usually by drawing his attention while Hero hit him where it hurts. Ranger and Sage meanwhile flew around with Ranger pummeling the Demon Lord with one punch after another, with Sage launching Mana Bolt after Mana Bolt at the Demon Lord to either stop his projectiles, or to try and break his guard, or draw his attention even more. Hero then uses her own portal gem Cherub gave her to attack the Demon Lord in his blind spots every now and then...Ranger's unfair advantage mindset was apparently rubbing off on her, but now was not the time for moral dilemmas.
Ranger himself was currently in the middle of dashing from side to side while punching the Demon Lord in the sides of the head, with each blow staggering him. Ranger then wrapped up his assault by flying away, coming back, superheating his gauntlet and slamming into the Demon Lord's face hard enough to knock him back. Hero meanwhile rapidly sliced at his lower abdomen, and each wound she opened, no matter how grievous was closed rapidly. The Demon Lord then roared and unleashed a burst of Hell energy that sent Ranger flying, Hero rolling across the ground, and forced Sage and Sword Saint to take cover. When Ranger himself covered in mid-air, he flew up into the sky, and used Implosion to suck the top halves of several mountains into a single chunk of rock and metal, attach chains to it, and fly around in circles.
The Demon Lord was charging up a burst of Hell energy to counter it, but he was too late, Ranger flew right at him and smashed the enormous hunk of earth into his chest with enough force to shatter the boulder, and knock the Demon Lord down. He then rejoined Hero's team so they could catch their breath, and ll four of them were completely winded. Then...to everyone's horror, Ranger turned back to normal; the Army of One power wore off!
"O.k...that's not good..." Sword Saint said seriously.
"My sword is also almost out of power." Hero said.
"And I'm almost out of spells." Sage said, and then the Demon Lord got back up...and he was still alarmingly strong. The group then looked up at the outraged demonic colosuss and saw him build up more energy...he then looked in the distance.
"So...the Sword Maiden's power persists in this world, even from beyond the grave. That bothersome girl doesn't know when to quit does she? Perhaps it's time...I inform her!" The Demon Lord said before flapping his wings and flying off...straight towards Water Town.
"The portal gems! We have to warn Priestess!" Sage said, and Ranger finally stopped struggling, and they took out both portal gems...and they were ruined.
"NO!" Ranger yelled.
"They must have been damaged with that last burst of power the Demon Lord used." Sword Saint said before Ranger frantically tried to take off after the Demon Lord, and fell flat on his face. The three ladies immediately got on top of him to restrain him.
"Ranger stop! You're no match for him like this, none of us are!" Sage said.
"GET OFF ME!" Ranger yelled as he continued thrashing.
"Stop struggling! This is for your own good!" Hero said.
"HE'S GOING TO KILL MY CHILD!" Ranger yelled as he kept thrashing as wildly as ever.
"Priestess can still save her, and the rest of Water Town!" Sword Saint said and Ranger finally stopped struggling and his eyes watered.
"Cherub!" He yelled, and no one came. "Cherub?! CHERUB!"
"It's no use...he's not coming." Hero said and Ranger collapsed.
"Priestess...please save my child..." He whispered.
In Water Town, Priestess was in the main chamber, making herself as ready as she could for the Demon Lord...and from the look of the amount of holy energy she was radiating, she was as ready as she could be. She then sucked in one deep breath after another, and then to her surprise, Sword Maiden appeared, put her hand on Priestess' face and gave her the same loving gaze a mother should give her child. Priestess didn't even need to look at her to know what was happening or why, and the smile on her face, and the tears rolling down her face expressed how much the gesture meant to her.
Outside, Wizard's brother and the goblin mage stared each other down with Wizard's brother holding out his mace in front of him, and the goblin mage brandishing it's staff. The goblin mage made the first move by hurling a Mana Bolt at Wizard's brother, who deflected it by bashing it with his force-enchanted mace. More Mana Bolts were hurled at him, only for them to be deflected again and again, then Wizard's brother launched a quick fireball at the goblin mage, which was deflected by a Reflect 's brother then unleashed a Firestorm, which had just as much luck as the small, single fireball. Be that as it may, Wizard's brother had enough time to collect himself as the goblin mage was enveloped in smoke and dust.
"Do you think that did it?" Wizard's brother asked.
"No...that goblin is still alive." Fighter said.
"Not for long..." Wizard's brother said before the goblin mage used force magic to push the smoke away, and Wizard's brother had just enough time to put up a Reflect spell to counter the goblin mage's lightning spell. The goblin mage continued hurling lightning at Wizard's brother, but his Reflect held fast...for now. He then turned back to Fighter as he kept holding the goblin mage back, and she was still laying down exhausted and beaten; she wasn't helping him, any time soon. He then looked at the battlements of Water Town's walls, and Noble Fencer wasn't there to use Lightning again; he really was on his own.
"Die!" The goblin mage yelled before unleashing a charged-up lightning bolt at Wizard's brother, and he poured everything into the Reflect spell, but the spell shattered, and he took a direct hit from the lightning. He then spasmed out from the lightning and fell down; if he didn't charge up his Reflect he would have died before he hit the ground. The goblin mage then walked up to Wizard's brother, before a water elemental jumped out of the lake and distracted the goblin mage long enough for another to heal Wizard's brother, and for a fire elemental to grant him some more power by merging with him.
Wizard's brother then summoned a flock of crows, and a pack of wolves, all of whom were charged with fire, and the crow spewed sparks of fire at the goblin mage, as the wolves circled him, and pounced at it from different angles. The goblin mage then charged himself with lightning and vaporized all the familiars around him, but the damage was done; it was covered in minor but numerous burns from head to toe, and when he tried to use another spell on Wizard's brother, it failed miserably.
Wizard's brother then got up, with his stamina intact, and threw his mace at the retreating goblin mage, hitting and breaking his leg before calling the mace back to him. He then walked up to the frantically crawling goblin and kicked him onto his back.
"You have not won! The Demon Lord is on his way here now, and he will aveng-" Wizard's brother shut the goblin up by caving it's face in with his mace.
"If anyone's being avenged, it's the people your kind used and abused." Wizard's brother said seriously...and then the sky turned orange before the ground shook violently.
Within the city walls, everyone came out of their homes to see what the commotion was...and their clamoring turned into dead silence. The Demon Lord himself stood before them, looking over the city with disdain. Only a handful of people had it in them to move a muscle, and those who did, like Guild Girl, could only put their hands on their mouths and shake with terror.
When Fighter saw the Demon Lord...her heart sank at the sight of him, then it shattered when she remembers Ranger was fighting him; she instantly recalled the time she predicted something would happen to him in Water Town after the first time they made love...and then he was burnt to a crisp. She then gets on her knees in submission as the Demon Lord charged up a fireball in both hands.
"Come on Priestess...it's now or never..." Wizard's brother said nervously.
As if on-cue, Priestess walked outside of the temple, with her staff in front of her at the ready, and still radiating the holy light she acquired. After opening her eyes...she fulfilled her duty as archbishop with two words...
"Holy Smite..." Priestess whispered, and her voice seemed to echo throughout the city as the temple itself came to life, and the pylon on the top of the temple's roof unleashed a massive bolt of holy energy, that struck the Demon Lord in the chest, making him thrash around and roar in pain as the miracle overtook him. The whole city held it's breath and watched the temple, and especially their new archbishop bring the Demon Lord to his knees.
The Demon Lord managed to compose himself and try to throw his fireballs, but the miracle didn't stop for anything, and eventually overtook his entire body, including the hands he kept the fireballs contained with. After the most agonizing minute, that felt like an eternity, the Demon Lord vanished in a plume of smoke, like he was never there, and the sky returned to normal as the sun rose. Priestess then took a moment to compose herself, then s collapsed to her knees as the gravity of the situation finally sank in: she just defeated the Demon Lord, and saved Water Town in one fell swoop.
Next thing she knew, the city erupted in cheers, applause and shouts of praise to her name from the people.
Cherub finally appeared in front of Ranger, who was still kneeling in the rubble.
"Sorry I couldn't be here earlier, but the Demon Lord scares-" Hero cuts Cherub off.
"The Demon Lord! What happened to him?" She asked.
"Oh yeah! He's down and out now." Cherub said and Ranger snapped his head up.
"What? Tell me Priestess saved the city!" He said.
"Yep, and...you might want to get there ASAP." Cherub asked.
"Why?" Ranger asked.
"you'll find out. Here's a portal for you." Cherub said before opening one.
"What about our gems?" Hero asked, and Cherub sighed.
"Will a cherub's work, ever be done...?" He groaned before shooting the broken gems with holy energy. "There, now get your butts moving!" Cherub then poofed away as the group went through the portal
The eruption of celebrating people never stopped in Water Town, and why would it? Everyone thought they were doomed one moment, and then witnessing history in the making the next. Countless people were even calling for a festival to happen soon, but it was highly likely the entire country was going to celebrate this moment.
Except for Fighter, she was tucked into her knees, completely overwhelmed by what happened, and dreading the implications. Wizard's brother didn't dare interrupt her thoughts, but one of the guard on the wall did it for her.
"Look! The Platinum Ranks have returned!" He yelled, and Fighter snapped her head up to see Ranger and Hero's team leaving a portal and walking down the road. Fighter walked right past Wizard's brother as she went to see her husband...alive and well.
"Is it really you...?" Fighter asked.
"Of course it's me." Ranger said, and Fighter rushed over to hug him while sobbing. He was too stunned to wonder what her problem was, nor did he care. His wife was holding him, and she was bawling like a child; returning the hug wasn't optional.
"I thought I lost you...!" She said.
"Fighter...Priestess saved me before anyone else." Ranger said while pulling back.
"She did?" Fighter asked as Ranger wiped the tears off of her flushed yet angelic face.
"Yes. The Demon Lord noticed that Priestess was doing something here, and left to go see for himself." He said and Fighter snuggled into his shoulder again. "He had us where he wanted us before he left as well. He even told us we could watch this place and everyone in it burn, and look how well it worked out." Fighter giggled at her husband's quip, but then tightened her hold.
"When I saw the Demon Lord...I thought you finally made a promise you couldn't keep, and you never once broke a promise, especially not to me." She said before Ranger pulled back and saw the most miserable look on her face he's ever seen.
"I didn't break one before, I wouldn't start now, especially not when other people are looking into a way to cover me. Like always, we won the battle as a team." He said softly.
"No...as a family." Fighter whispered before Ranger pressed foreheads as the rest of the people, including Hero's team watched their moment of love.
Well...so much for the Demon Lord and his pet. I never cease to amaze myself with how often I have Ranger and Fighter have heartfelt moments even in the middle of a dire situation, or at least a lull in a dire situation. There's "made for each other", then there's this. I know I'm tooting my own horn, but things work out better than planned quite a bit. On another note, that whole "no one fights fair in GS" thing I mentioned earlier? That's something I should have highlighted earlier; how often do you see someone fighting fair in the series as a whole? Priestess using Protection to keep the goblins from hitting her team, while her team could hit the goblins has "Fighting dirty" written all over it, and don't get me started on what GS and Ranger themselves do.
Anyway, you remember how I said I originally planned on having Fighter get involved with a revenant but changed it? Well, that moment where Sword Saint unintentionally inspires Elder Revenant to come back to life rather than stay undead was also part of the plan...and as usual, I didn't stick to the plan and made something better. Speaking of plans, I remember stating that Wizard having a duel with another wizard would be a grand event, but it turns out her brother gets the bacon. And then there's the guy who said that GS would become monster slayer...well I think we can safely say Warrior has that title now, and don't get me started on how Priestess one-shot the Demon Lord. Anyway, the big bads are all down and out, but we aren't done yet, there's a few more things to do, chapters to write, so be sure to Rate, Review, and Share as this grand adventure approaches it's end...stay tuned. P.S. take notes Thor, Warrior went for the head(s)...
