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Astaroth had carefully planned his attack. It was foolproof; nothing could go wrong. He waited outside of his targets' house. They sat inside, talking innocently, when they should have been protecting themselves. His plan was simple. He would blink into the room (every demon and warlock had this elementary ability to move from place to place in the blink of an eye) and with one swift motion, kill the two parents simultaneously. Then, he would easily finish off the three young ones, who would be left helpless. Mission accomplished, he would return to the Council, having tipped the scales drastically in evil's favor.
He wanted things to be perfect. Erik and Lauren had to be in one specific place: the beige sofa in the living room. Instead, Erik was standing in front of James and Lauren was sitting next to Wesley. His axe, Wrath, shook impatiently, ready unleash itself upon its prey, but Astaroth held it firmly in place and waited patiently for things to unfold.
"We've waited such a long time for this moment to happen," Lauren said, rubbing Wesley's head. "Now that's it's here, I'm just so happy..."
"Each of you have a role," Erik said. "Y'all have different personalities and backgrounds, so y'all need to work together to do your job."
"Trust in each other," Lauren said, moving to the sofa. "It's the only way you'll ever succeed."
"We have faith in you," Erik said, sitting next to Lauren and holding her hand. "I..."
His words were cut short as his power of supersensitivity kicked in. He felt an extreme sense of danger, one like nothing ever before. His heart began to race as adrenaline rushed through his system. Without saying a word, he grabbed Lauren and threw her off the sofa, just as Astaroth suddenly appeared. Throwing up his hands, a faint blue light screen flashed, rebounding Wrath's attack. The impact, though, threw Erik off the couch and into the kitchen table, fifteen feet away.
Lauren screamed as she threw her hands up. Astaroth's movement was decelerated, but not for long. She went to tend to Erik, but Astaroth fought through her power and returned to normal. Gasping, she faded into the air and ducked as Astaroth swung Wrath mightily in the direction of her head. She reached Erik, who was dazed, and tried to revive him as quickly as she could.
"I want you three to watch," Astaroth said to James, Matthew, and Wesley, "as I kill your parents first. Feel a part of yourselves being ripped out of your very being. And as your spirits fall, I will catch them and crush them myself as I kill each of you."
"Nice speech," James said as he focused his thoughts and extended his right palm. Instead of throwing Astaroth into a wall, as he had intended, the demon was only forced back a couple of feet.
"My turn," Astaroth said as he hurled Wrath at James.
The magical axe cut through the air as it zoned in on its target. Matthew, almost anticipating the situation, grabbed James' hand. The two of them became transparent as Wrath passed right through them and embedded itself into a wall. Their bodies became solid again as Matthew sat in a chair, exhausted.
"Nice save, bro," James said to Matthew. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Matthew said. "I just lost my wind for a minute. Give me a minute."
"We don't have that kind of time," Wesley said, pulling Matthew to his feet. "This guy doesn't look like he'll give us a time-out."
"I usually don't," Astaroth said, "but it's not your turn yet."
Astaroth reached a hand out and Wrath freed itself from the wall and flew back to his hands. It narrowly missed Wesley's head as it zoomed through the air. He turned back towards Lauren and Erik, who had regained himself and was standing. With all of the strength he possessed, Erik flashed his hands at Astaroth. The blue light screen hit the demon, knocking him onto the ground. James and his brothers took the opportunity and ran towards Erik and Lauren. Astaroth slowly rose to his feet, annoyed that he had fallen in the first place. He stared at his enemies, extremely angry that things were taking as long as they were.
"Jimmy," Matthew said, "try again." James again extended his hand in an attempt to throw Astaroth. However, the demon was only forced back a couple of feet again.
"C'mon, Jimmy," Wesley shouted. "Focus!"
Astaroth ignored them and swung Wrath at Erik again. Using his power to protect him, he deflected the attack and the axe bounced back towards its master, who only caught it harmlessly. The impact, stronger than before, threw Erik through the wall he was standing against and onto the grass outside. He had been thrown through solid brick as he crashed to the ground, unconscious.
"No!" Lauren screamed.
Using her power of invisibility, she vanished faded into nothing and charged towards Astaroth, hoping to separate him from his axe. James distracted him by telekinetically pushing him backwards as far as he could, but he had no more luck then than he did before. Matthew went to tend to Erik while Wesley stood there, not knowing what to do. Astaroth threw Wrath at James again, but Wesley instinctively threw his hands up. The axe was frozen in time, its razor sharp blade just inches from James' face.
"It worked!" Wesley said triumphantly as he pulled James out of the path of the deadly axe. "Don't just stand there like a dummy, Jimmy. I don't know how long that freezing thing lasts."
James pulled the axe out of the air and it exerted all of its weight on him. Being so strong, Wrath was as light as a feather to him, but to James it seemed to weigh a ton. It pulled James to the ground, pinning him under it while Wesley tried to pry it off. Meanwhile, Lauren had reached Astaroth and jumped on the horn on his back. She reached his head and tried to choke him to death.
"Erik," Matthew said, shaking Erik's unconscious body. "You gotta wake up. We need you in there."
The Doc write: What's gonna happen with Erik? I mean, he did just get thrown through a brick wall and everything. Click that 'Next Chapter' button to find out!