Chapter 27:
"You killed her!"
The dark-haired boy gazed at the Water Dragon calmly, while bouncing the little ball in his hand. "Technically, no. Her soul…" He threw the ball over his head, leapt back and caught it. "…is in this very ball."
Ceipheed stared at the still Earth Dragon, before turning back to Phibirizo.
"Let her go!"
Balancing the pale ball on the tip of his nose, the Hellmaster scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous…I like this thing."
"You'll drop and break it!"
"You really should have more confidence in my balancing skills."
The screech was desperate. "Let her go…now!"
"You know…getting angry too often could earn you lots of wrinkles a thousand years early."
Snickering, Gaav muttered to a smirking Zellas. "Phibby must be a really happy kid."
The Chaos Dragon was instantaneously hit by a large spell.
"I heard that, you oversized dwarf."
Lina resisted the urge to snigger at the term.
Nearly on the verge of pulling her hair out, Ceipheed decided to give one last try. Until her Knight interrupted.
"Hellmaster. Release Tsuchiryuu."
Peering at the Knight, the boy threw a look of utter defiance. Luna opened a single eye. "Release her, Hellmaster." A sudden blast of battle aura nearly threw the dark-haired Mazoku Lord of his feet. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he stood frozen on the ground.
"Must I repeat myself, Hellmaster?"
"Okay, okay…" With a flick of the wrist, the boy flung the ball towards Ceipheed who reached her hands out to catch the delicate thing.
Suddenly, the Hellmaster smiled. "On second thought...I changed my mind."
The Water Dragon's eyes widened in shock as the ball zipped out of her hand and fell to the ground with a tinkling smash of glass. A huge glow flashed round the broken shards for just a second, before dying down again. The shards had disappeared. Ceipheed fell to her knees, still in shock.
Tilting his head, Phibirizo laughed. "Humans and Dragons…fools…all fools!"
To everyone's surprise, the Hellmaster abruptly gave a wheezing gasp, spurting out blood, then flew across the room and slammed with a thud onto the wall, causing the dust upon it to soar around.
Sneezing, Lina waved the dust away. Upon seeing the sight before her, she began wishing the dust was still obstructing her view.
With a huge red battle aura emitting from around her, the Knight of Ceipheed's expression was dark indeed. Lifting her head, she released a soundless cry. As her violet hair flew wildly about her, her aura burst into a larger flame, then tendrils of it grew and shot out at the crushed Hellmaster. Phibirizo began fruitlessly trying to struggle, to teleport…but he was completely paralysed by the overwhelming pressure of Luna's battle aura.
The tendrils aimed straight for the Hellmaster's heart.
"Defense!"
Luna's purple eyes narrowed in fury as an enormous shield was cast in front of the dark-haired boy, causing the tendrils to disintegrate upon contact.
"Xelloss. Stay out of this."
