Chapter 8- Skirmish

"Julia!" Mrs. La Croix bellowed pulling Julia out of harm's way as the sword struck the ground. "Whatever you do, do not let the sword even touch you!"

"Will do!"

The cloaked figure removed his cloak, revealing a bruised and bloody face. He drew out his sword once again and attempted to strike her with it. She nimbly dodged it, and the sword once again hit the ground.

"What the heck is your problem?" Julia shouted.

The man stopped slashing, and dropped his sword to the ground.

"Is he…..surrendering?" Julia asked.

"I don't think so," Mrs. La Croix replied. "You'll never know what these advocates of the black arts will do"

A strong gust of wind blew by, blowing away the man's cloak. Julia's long hair swayed in the strong wind, while Mrs. La Croix put on her hood.

"He's……chanting." Julia pointed out.

Mrs. La Croix just stood there, petrified by fear.

"Mrs. La Croix?"

"10 years ago, a man walked up to our door and rang the doorbell. During that time, demons were roaming across Al de Baran, so we agreed that he could stay at our home for the night." Aru gave the payment for the supplies as he continued with his story. "He was carrying a peculiarly odd sword, it was humungous, and had writings on it."

Lucas and Aru went out of the market, the door opened as they stepped through. The sun was still high up, people filled the city with their stories and joy.

"He stayed across my father's room that night, in the vacant room. Phoenix and I shared a room, while my mother was out in Juno, teaching."

"Let me guess….he slaughtered your dad?" Lucas said.

"You got that right. A night I could never forget. I heard some weird chanting, but I thought it was just part of his culture, so I went back to sleep. When I woke up the next day, there was blood all over the room."

"I shouldn't have asked about this..I'm sorry." Lucas apologized.

The man opened his eyes suddenly and let out a loud howl that could be heard throughout Al de Baran.

"Archaeon you fool!" The sword, Tirfing, said, "Useless imbecile! This black alchemy is too much for you to handle, isn't it?"

Tirfing generated a deep red aura, the inscriptions on it glowing a dark red color.

"The blood of a sage, I must have!" It shouted.

As Archaeon charged at them, Julia just stood there, not even looking at him. Mrs. La Croix didn't know what idiocy she was doing, until she sensed a sliver of magic pass her by.

"Don't! If your magic fails, we will all suffer the consequences!"

"This is our only hope."

She extended her arms, and closed her eyes, hoping her magic would work. A wall of fire emerged blocking all of Archaeon's blows.

Julia let out a sigh of relief, as did Mrs. La Croix. But they both knew one firewall would not be enough.

"The firewall's thinning!" Mrs. La Croix bellowed.

"Let's get to the second floor!" Julia suggested. She started casting again, then hurled a large fireball at him successfully. "I'm practically gambling now….."

As they climbed up the stairwell, the firewall subsided and Archaeon began to follow them, destroying everything in his path.

Julia started casting again. She doubted if she should have, as one cannot always rely on pure luck to survive.

"Aru!" She screamed, her scream heard throughout the whole city.

"Julia!"

"Eh?"

"Julia's in trouble! I have to help her!"

"……what's with the cliché lines?" Lucas asked as Aru dropped the bags and ran off. "…and now he even gives me all these bags to carry! Ugh!"

Archaeon raised his sword. Too late though. Julia finished casting, only this time, she was a bit unlucky. A huge flame devoured the house, including the people in it. The three people in the house: Julia, Mrs. La Croix, and Archaeon were currently experiencing excruciating pain. The sword, Tirfing, melted away, and Archaeon came back to his senses. A large wave then swept past, extinguishing the flames.