Chapter Fifteen: The Tables Turn

Finally, after minutes of a thick stream of fiery souls, the torrent of wickedness thinned, and actually stopped. Long ago, a pitch-black ball of vile magic had surrounded Zachwell. It pulsated, and grew continuously, and the only thing one could see when it flashed was a curled up creature in the center as the souls poured in like a baby in the womb.

It's contortions and expansions became more and more frequent very quickly, and the power felt from it shook the earth for miles upon miles. Something was happening inside that ball as Zachwell's body attempted to adapt to its new power, Sean feared what exactly.

Finally, as if the entire event had been exaggerated, and an illusion had been abandoned, the sphere disappeared. Zachwell's chest sealed up and he fell to the earth, crashing to the soil. Tired limbs struggled to peel the Death King's body from the ground, yet he did lift up onto his hands and knees, coughing.

Sean took a cautious step forward, there was no visible difference, and after all that had happened, he felt no dangerous power increase radiating from Zachwell.

Suddenly, however, everything about Sean's assumptions was thrown out the window, and far across the world, as Zachwell suddenly burst upwards, screaming so loudly that his jaw strained to open wide enough to allow the airflow.

The scream pierced the ears of every man, woman, child, and beast all over the planet, and all covered their ears to drown out the sound. Sean stepped back in surprise as Zachwell's muscles suddenly bulged to three, no four times their normal size. His pauldrons and wrist guards stretched to their limit, and snapped, tearing gashes in his skin.

Bones from nothing stuck out of Zachwell's shoulders, and hooked upwards, giving him a look of menacing royalty. What little armor he was wearing fell to the ground, snapped from the sudden growth of their bearer. Zachwell's bones cracked as they expanded and thickened. Bloody spikes shot out of his elbows and knees. His feet grew enormous and shape-shifted to bear three thick claws, and an ankle claw on the inner side of his ankle, which was now a good three feet off the ground. His muscled legs and thighs bent tightly, giving Zachwell a hunched, gargoyle-like look to him. His horns grew and twisted, losing all symmetry. His eyes widened with the shock and pain that accompanied this transformation. They widened until they were pure, bloodshot circles in his head.

His fists, now five times the size that they had been, pounded the ground in fury, as razor sharp bones the length of a human rib tore through the skin down his spine. His wings spread wide and long, casting horrid shadows on the ground. The scream, all the while, never ceased, if anything, it had gotten more intense. Sean watched, as did the other Dragoons, in horror as suddenly, the strain of his roar tore his bottom jaw apart down the middle. Blood dripped to the ground, and the beast's tongue lulled out stupidly, yet the scream did not cease. The wound healed up instantly, as if his face had always been constructed this way.

With all his might, Zackwell fought against this force, with everything he had he resisted the overwhelming madness of millions of vile minds forcing in unison to engulf him in the insanity. The fight, however, was a losing one. They rushed forth, into and through him, consuming and destroying him. As his consciousness faded, he cursed himself for letting ambition end him….for letting a human persuade him into giving his life…..

The screaming stopped, as did the transformation. Zackwell's massive hands rested on their backs, his wicked looking claws pointing upwards, towards his even greater shoulders and neck. The spikes rattled as he straightened his back, and looked at Sean, who was taken aback by the face of his new enemy.

His soul is gone, The Dragons said.

It was true, there was nothing left of Zackwell in that body. Sean could tell from the eyes, the sick, incomprehensive smile that he was giving, like that of the insane carnival clown. His wide eyes looked left and right, and a small, reptilian chuckle broke through his torn, bloody lips.

His mouth had been torn, into a smile that literally stretched ear-to-ear, joining the list of horrid new attributes. Zackwell was mad, but he had sentience, this thing, this thing was truly a beast.

Sean took another step back, but in the sudden silence, a rock crumbled and fell, and Sean blinked. When his eyes opened, Zackwell was gone. He heard the Dragoons calling to him, but he couldn't hear them.

Suddenly he felt hot, wet breathe on the back of his neck. He spun around and swung his blade, but cut only air. Two hands with the strength of an avalanche clutched Sean's shoulders, and flung him across the city, landing on the other side.

Sean burst up, wakening his limbs, no longer feeling the effortless advantage belonged to him. He readied his blade, and with some energy, created a twin for his other hand. A dark streak, red in the center with hellfire, tore across the sky with one beat of Zackwell's massive wings. With a demonic bellow never before heard by the Dragoons' ears, he brought his fists down on Sean, whose blades waited. Zackwell impaled himself on them, all the way to the crystals. He laughed madly, and licked the armor over Sean's face while his mandibles stretched out and clicked.

"Eat this," Sean said, he put true power into the blast and blew through Zackwell. For a moment he hung limp, and Sean drew out his blades, and stuck them in again, and cut the throat, and severed the limbs. He burned the remains, froze the ashes, blew them apart, and buried them in the earth. He sat back when he was done, not expecting a close to the battle, and therefore wasn't surprised when Zackwell reassembled, but when he did there was no decrease in power, no loss in strength.

Blackness surrounded Zachwell's hands, and with a double punch, he pushed Sean into the earth, sprawling, tearing deeper and deeper into the crust.

Sean burst out and stopped, at the sight of Zackwell, bathed in blood. He tossed it to the earth, and a large, boned hand burst from the earth. The skull demon emerged from the dust of Mayfil, in full form, as tall as the highest tower.

Sean stared in awe, beholding a sight he'd never expected to see. Another terrible roar erupted from Zachwell's lips. Sean took to the skies, flying higher, yet fleeing at the same time. The skull demon lunged forward, catching Sean's leg, and throwing him back to the ground.

Call on us, all at once, came the voices of the Dragons. Sean stood up, spread out his arms, and did as he was told. Eight beams shot out from the eye in the center of his armor. The seven colors of the lesser dragons swirled around the color of the Divine Dragon's, and merged. The light landed on the ground, shrinking until it fit in between Sean's legs, and then suddenly it turned black, and grew immensely, carrying Sean high up, on a black saddle. The light died down as it took the shape of a Dragon.

The Ultimate Dragon had a long, spiked neck, leading to broad shoulders, and an asymmetrical back, full of spikes, fins, and wings, along with two cannon-like arms resembling the Golden Dragon's. It had four broad legs, each ending in an eight clawed foot. They struck the earth and it crumbled underneath it. The wings beat and boulders fell, the tail cracked and a building tumbled under its might. Its head was a strange mixture of every Dragon's head. There was a large eye on the bottom, yet more green eyes on the side, a number of yellow ones on the top, and black ones by the jaw hinge. It threw its head back, and in an earth shaking bellow, it revealed its long fangs. From the other side of Mayfil, the approaching Dragoons heard the roar of all their Dragons in unison.

Sean hopped off, and the Ultimate Dragon looked to him. "I'll deal with the big one," it said.

"And the ugly one's all mine," Sean said. He rushed forth and tackled Zachwell from the hand of the skull demon. The Dragon rushed forward, rearing up to shove the skull demon, who was distracted by its caller being attacked. They caught each other's paws, and began shoving on each other, testing strength, while biting and bellowing.

Sean abandoned his swords, as it appeared they hindered him in this battle. He willed his gauntlets to grow sharp at each joint, and lengthen at the knuckles.

Now, it was a grappling match. Sean punched Zachwell's stomach, impaling him each time, and then stepped in, grabbing a massive arm, he pulled in tight, and threw the beast over his shoulder. The beast tumbled downwards, yet spread out its wings and was steadied immediately. He bounced right back up and close-lined Sean, and then returned each and every punch, denting Sean's armor.

Finally, Sean blocked an upper cut by crossing his hands underneath him, and flipped over Zachwell's back, kicking him away. He tumbled again, but this time Sean had an idea. He pursued Zachwell, and just as the demon beat out its wings to stop, Sean lengthened his knuckles out even further, and cut right through them. He drew back, and with a great blast of magic, pushed Zachwell into the earth at light speed.

The Dragon finally gave up trying to overpower the skull demon, who seemed to be laughing up the entire situation. It let go of all its force, surprising the demon, and fell onto its back, kicking the demon over it. It jumped up, and landed on the demon as it began to get up. It sank its long fangs into the collar bone, which seemed to cause the demon some pain, because it cried out. It shoved up on the Dragon and turned over, landing on top, and cut an enormous 'X' in the underbelly of the Dragon.

In pain and anger, the Dragon bellowed, and then as it looked to the demon, a white hot beam lanced out, scorching it. It leapt off of the Dragon, clawing at its face. The fight wasn't over between the two titans…

Sean flew downwards, behind a powerful Star Children that had littered the ground all around the crater that had been left in the wake of the explosion. He froze, the situation was all to calm, obviously Zachwell was waiting for him to get close. He gathered all his power, into one huge ball of powerful magic, he poured his very soul, his hatred, into it, and with a flash, it became red, and grew further. The ground swelled, and an impatient Zackwell-wings and all-burst from the mound, heading straight for Sean, not even pausing at the sight of that massive magical attack awaiting him. Sean threw it, and retreated for the clouds, he saw his friends, and once again placed a protective barrier over them.

He felt an intense wave of heat, and looked down just in time to see the ball… heading right back at him! He turned and high-tailed it sideways, speeding to escape, but in the end it caught him and he was burned by his own hatred. As he fell, he chuckled to himself at the irony.

There wasn't much time to dwell on the mistake, however. Within seconds, Zachwell was on him, pounding him further into the bedrock. Sean rolled over, sat up on his knees, grabbing Zachwell's, and threw himself backwards, thusly taking Zachwell with him.

Sean jumped up, and with a stomp, shoved his claws into the beast's heart. He then sat on his bleeding chest and grabbed on the misshapen horns. He found a sharp rock, and with all his might, he slammed the back of Zachwell's head down on it, over and over again. Yet throughout all this the monster was chuckling.

Finally, as if it had grown weary of the game, it grabbed Sean's shoulders, and flung him up into the air. Before Sean could think to beat his wings, Zachwell was on his feet. He opened his mouth, and bit down on Sean's helm. Then, with a twist of Zachwell's thick, powerful neck he flung Sean across the field, into a wall of rock.

Sean got up slowly, shaking ruble off of his back, and snapped his head the other way as he heard an inhuman cry of anguish. The skull demon ripped its sharp claws once more into the underbelly of the Ultimate Dragon. The Dragon cried out, and brought a claw down, tearing through the rib cage of the demon. It bit into the lower vertebrae of the demon, which grabbed the cannon arms, and ripped violently, severing them.

The Dragon cried out, in a yelp, it head butted the demon away, but the evil skeleton saw that it had won. It began to furiously claw at the Dragon, which slunk lower and lower. Finally, it burst up and latched onto the skeleton. It looked to Sean, "I'm sorry," was all it said.

Suddenly a flash erupted and another loud explosion flattened another section of Mayfil. When the light died, there was nothing left of the demon or the Dragon. Sean fell to his knees, calling for the Dragon in his mind.

"Dragons!……Dragons!"

…We're sorry, it found our weakness, a Dragon's underbelly could be cut by a butter knife, came the unisoned voices of Dragons.

"Are you all okay?"

We've been severely weakened, Sean, you're going to have to keep up the fight for a while, it's all on you…you can do it…

Sean felt them all collapse in his mind. Suddenly the armor shuddered. He looked at his left hand, it seemed to be attempting to pull away from itself. All of a sudden its color changed back to the Divine Dragon's dull gray, then to jade, then red, and again to indigo. Sean panicked slightly, now he had to concentrate even harder on holding this power…

He clenched his fist tightly, and the color steadied at black again, but it was heavier. But just as he stood up, his eyes met the mad gaze of Zachwell's. He grabbed Sean's pauldrons, squeezing tightly. The weakened armor crumpled, as if it were just made of ordinary steel. Sean was flung hard into the air.

Soon the towers of Mayfil were far below him, but something was stretching up to meet him. Zachwell was instantly even with him, clasping his hands behind his back.

Everything slowed down, and became silent, Sean saw Zachwell's mandibles shake as he chuckled, he brought down his fists on Sean, denting, perhaps tearing the armor, because there was suddenly a sharp pain in Sean's side. Then Zachwell became smaller and smaller. Sean turned his head and saw the ground growing increasingly closer, but could do nothing. He closed his eyes and felt the sorrow overwhelm him.

"…I've failed…" Was all he said.

"How pathetic," came a voice from far away. The ground was ten feet away….five…and…..FLASH!

Sean was lying on a grass plain. He was in his human form, without a single injury, laying his head on the cool ground, staring at two booted feet.

He rolled over, and gasped. He sat up, and stared in disbelief, because he knew very well he was never meant to find himself staring at this person again.

"I thought I'd taught you better than that," the person said.

"…Anna?"

Authors' Note: Hey, sorry about the wait, we've been waiting to get some reviews! We've only received four reviews in the last two chapters! Where did you all go? We miss you! Please review!