The roaring air hurtling past Karolus' head blanked out all sound other than the powerful beating of Blancheur's wings, the Divine Griffin cutting effortlessly through the sky as the forest canopy below flashed past at blistering speed. When Karolus had reached the teleportation platform, his companions were already airborne, waiting impatiently on their pair of Pegasus mounts. They had barely even waited for him to mount his steed before soaring off through the hole at the top of the dome over the garden and off in a direction that Karolus supposed was the north.
As Blancheur's powerful wings dragged the enormous Griffin into the air, the elation and terror of the true feeling of flight overcame Karolus, and he held onto the saddle for dear life as his mount heaved itself into the sky. He barely even got a look at the extent of the garden, but as Blancheur flew out above the dome and his flight stabilized, Karolus managed to get a proper look around.
Below them, around a kilometer in diameter, stretched the wide and shallow dome that made up the edge of the Garden's domain, stretching about 200m over the treetops at its highest point. Lights and movement flickered here and there across its surface, but Karolus was too far away, and moving much too fast to see what they were. Around the dome sprawled a vast forest as far as the eye could see in every direction, with only a few breaks in the canopy here and there, opening onto the lakes and rivers beneath them. It was this forest that occupied Karolus' attention as Blancheur easily caught up to, and then overtook his fellow companions, slowing down to match their speed with a satisfied huff of air as he proved his superiority as a mount.
Before long, as the dome of the Garden disappeared behind them, the spires of the towers of a large city broke above the horizon, and the forest below them began to thin and fade away, slowly giving way to the fields and roads of civilization. Even at this distance, however, it was clear that something was wrong, as a pillar of smoke rose from the city. Turning, Karolus looked over at Morgiana, ready to try and shout over the noise of the rushing air, but before he could, he realized she was already a step ahead of him. Holding the Grail before her, Karolus watched as her eyes flashed with a golden light, and her mouth opened to shout out a single word command. While he couldn't hear what she had said, the swirling golden portal that opened up in front of them made it clear that [Gate] was what she had cast.
The three flying beasts soared straight through the portal at full speed, each coming quickly to a hover as they found themselves around 100m above the gore-drenched plaza of the city they had seen, the portal closing behind them with a pop as Morgiana and her pegasus emerged from it.
The square below them was in absolute chaos. From their view high above, they quickly took in the destroyed buildings, the burning corpses, and the blood that covered almost every wall that was still standing. Amidst it all strode a huge figure, with wings that billowed with flames, and two enormous crimson fists. Louis was shocked, because he knew exactly what it was at first sight. To within an inch of how it had appeared in the game, this was an Evil Lord of Wrath, a powerful level 84 character that was known for its high health pool and irritating ability to summon another instance of itself with lower stats.
It's possible it's a coincidence, right?
As Louis mused to himself, he heard Carolman hiss in anger, and turned to look at him. His brows were furrowed in fury as he looked down at the scene.
"It has a hostage! The nerve of the thing!"
Looking back down, Karolus quickly spotted what he meant. In the Evil Lord's right hand was the limp figure of a woman in white and silver armor. Even at this distance, it was clear there was blood streaming from her injured face, and as he watched the demon swing her like a club and smash an armoured figure flying across the plaza, Karolus felt the powerful muscles of Blancheur explode into action beneath him as the griffin threw itself down towards the plaza. An intelligent creature with the maximum possible Karma value in YGGDRASIL, the lore of the Divine Griffin said it would act on its own to prevent evil, even without the orders of its rider; as Karolus grasped the saddle tightly while the beast plummeted down, he figured this was what the game had meant.
With a screech that shattered windows across the city, Blancheur snapped his wings open wide at the last possible moment to slow his descent, bringing all four of his legs to bear on the demon as he swept down. The demon had barely even managed to look up - clear shock and surprise in its expression - before the van-sized beast crashed straight into its chest, Blancheur's rear claws sinking deep into the Evil Lord's torso and dragging it straight down onto the cobblestones while his upper talons raked huge gouges out of its shoulders.
Roaring in pain, the Evil Lord reacted instinctively, bringing together its huge fists in an attempt to crush the griffin's head. Blancheur reared back out of the way, and tore at the crimson fists with his beak, but the attack allowed the Evil Lord to force the claws out of its chest, causing the griffin to bring his wings forward in a crash of wind, propelling him out of the range of further strikes.
Despite the thick black ichor seeping out of the gouges across its torso and arms, the demon stood strong before them, cracking its neck from side to side as it settled into a fighting stance. As it gathered itself to charge forward in an attack however, a flash of red light emanated out from behind it and the Evil Lord again roared in pain as it was hurled forward onto its knees by a crushing blow from behind. Now visible over the back of the demon was the figure of Ser Carloman, the air around him thick with the overlapping glow of a whole host of auras, his claymore crackling with a sheath of red lightning and dripping with demon blood. As he hurled himself forwards again towards the Evil Lord, he bellowed out a challenge.
"For the Lady!"
The Evil Lord, seeing itself cornered by two foes, jumped powerfully off the ground, spreading its flaming wings and climbing into the sky, roaring out a spell as it did so.
"[Flamewing]"
In its wake, as it climbed into the sky, a huge torrent of flame swept down, filling the street and burning in both directions. Carloman, well shielded against the flames with his protective auras, strode through them as though he had not a care in the world, his pegasus flying down to him as the flames passed him. Karolus, however, looked behind him and saw the scattered and shocked knights and priests in the square, now all staring dumbly at the massive wall of fire approaching them. He would be fine, but as he racked his brains on what to do for them, Karolus was once again saved by his companions; above his head, he heard Morgiana casting spells in response.
"[Wall of Light]! [Greater Resistance: Fire]!"
Behind Karolus and Blancheur, a huge wall of light sprung up, cutting off the square from the fire. At the same time, a soft red light shone forth from the pair, and the fire washed over them, crashing against the wall of light like water against rock, flowing up and out over the nearby houses. As it did so, Blancheur once more hurled himself into the sky in the pursuit of the Evil Lord, quickly climbing after the slow demon until they faced each other in the sky. The pain now obvious in its voice, the demon spoke to its foes.
"You...how dare you…"
Holding up the captive in its right hand, it showed the damage the woman had sustained during their short fight.
"You fight all out even though I have your Queen in my clutches? How will you live with yourselves?"
In his peripheral vision, Karolus saw that Carloman had climbed atop his pegasus and had now joined them, his sword now sheathed and replaced with a lance made of light. Clearly, he had caught the demon's words, because as he arrived he responded, shouting his words across the gap between them.
"Our Queen? I think you are mistaken, foul demon, we serve no Queen but the Lady of the Lake. Your trickery cannot fool us!"
The demon looked openly shocked at this.
"You...don't know who this is? Are you serious? Well then you won't mind if I get rid of her and fight you seriously then!"
With that, he raised his right arm and hurled the limp body of the Queen straight down towards the ground. Far below, Karolus thought he heard a chorus of anguished cries, but he couldn't be sure. For the moment, Blancheur and Carloman both reacted simultaneously, bellowing out their rage as they hurled themselves forward as one, soaring straight towards the demon. The Evil Lord grinned as he drew his fists together, a deep red flame gathering around them before bursting forwards towards the incoming riders.
"Perish, fools! [Vermillion Nova]!"
Caught up in the moment as the rush of combat finally caught up with him, Karolus reacted instinctively, casting skills and spells in succession as he would have in YGGDRASIL while Blancheur sped at his target.
"[Angel's Halo] [Lance of Light V] [Bane of Evil]"
As Blancheur crashed headlong into the vermillion flames of his foe's spell, a ring of golden light expanded around the griffin, expanding outwards in a single pulse to completely dispel the flames as the [Angel's Halo] negated the offensive spell completely. In Karolus' hands, a lance made of light appeared, exactly the same as the one in Carloman's hands, and together they soared through the dissipating flames.
As they came through the other end of the spell, they saw a green light envelop the demon's body, and watched as its wounds stitched back together. Karolus instinctively knew what was happening, since this Evil Lord didn't have the ability to heal, but it did have a skill called [Soul Bought Miracle] which it could only use once in a long time; it allowed it to cast any 8th tier or below spell. Clearly it was telling the truth about taking the fight seriously if it had used its trump card, and it settled into a fighting stance as the two lances speared towards it.
Raising its two arms to defend, the demon growled as the two lances of light buried themselves into its forearms, shattering into fragments as they did so. With a damage boost against low-karma targets, these were extremely powerful against demons, but given how much health the Evil Lord of Wrath had, it barely scratched the surface. In response, the demon lashed out with its fists and landed a pummelling strike against Carloman's pegasus, which whinnied in pain and recoiled from the flame-covered fists, ignoring the shouts of its rider.
The Evil Lord grinned, but had his enjoyment cut short as Karolus sunk another [Lance of Light V] into his shoulder, Blancheur surging forward at the same time to grab onto the fiend's left arm with his talons and repeatedly sink his rear claws into the demon's chest, black ichor spurting out each time he did so. Bellowing in pain, the demon took a swing at the griffin, but Karolus was ready, and Blancheur twisted slightly to place him in the path of the swing, the [Faithful's Defender] already out and ready.
"[Knight's Parry]"
The demon's fist crashed straight into the shield, which shone white in response as it stopped the attack dead, and the demon howled in pain as the holy surface of the shield seared into the flesh of his fist. As it recoiled, Blancheur and Karolus struck as one, the Divine Griffin snapping forward and ripping at the connection between the demon's wings and its body, tearing the wings free with a triumphant screech and a shower of ichor as Karolus drove lance after lance into the demon's writhing torso, blocking each incoming strike with his shield as the weakening demon sought to escape from Blancheur's clutches.
"[Greater Telep-]-guh!"
The demon attempted to teleport out of the assault, but before it could finish the spell, an ethereal white chain snapped tight around its neck as Karolus' earlier spell [Bane of Evil] activated its primary effect, preventing the escape of low karma enemies after they had been recently damaged by the caster. His escape cut off, the Evil Lord began plummeting toward the earth like a stone as the two of them kept up their relentless assault.
"Gah, even if I die, this city dies with me! [Meteor Fall]!"
Pointing its ruined right hand skyward, the demon pulsed with power as the spell rushed forth. Even as it did so, Blancheur finally got a solid grasp on the being's neck, and ripped its throat free from its body, his eagle wings opening wide to slow his descent as he let the demon drop free from his clutches into the square below, where the body of the demon crashed down to the cobbles with a sickening crack and was still.
With no time to celebrate, he looked high above, where a huge flaming rock was descending straight toward the plaza. Patting the flanks of his tired mount, Karolus spoke quietly.
"Alright, once more, give it everything you've got."
His wings straining to gain altitude as fast as possible, Blancheur responded, reaching a speed that Karolus had not yet experienced, soaring upward at a rate that almost matched the downward descent of the giant rock, which filled more and more of Karolus' sight as they approached it.
I sure hope this works the way I think it will…
As they got close enough that Karolus could feel the heat coming off the meteor, he stood up high in his stirrups and held his shield above his head towards the meteor.
"[Aspect of God: Unyielding]"
From in front of Blancheur, four white streaks of cloth came forth, connected together in a point in front of them, they began spinning in a cone around the rising griffin, forming a conical shell around them. In the next moment, they made impact with the meteor, and the shockwave almost threw Karolus from the saddle. The effect on the meteor was all the greater though, as where it encountered the spinning strands of cloth, it cracked and disintegrated into parts. Stopped dead in its tracks, the meteor shattered around Karolus and fell to earth as stones and dust, its impetus completely stopped.
As the last of the dust cleared, and Blancheur came to a stop far above the city, man and beast both shared a collective sigh of relief. Soaring down to the smoking city below them, the two caught up with Morgiana and Carloman, gliding down as one group to come to a smooth landing next to the smoking heap of ash that was once the corpse of their foe.
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A/N: Hey all! If you're back again for the new chapter, welcome back! Realized I didn't write an A/N for the first release of chapters to warn you there was a bit of a slow start to begin with, but hope the fight made up for that! If you missed it (because you read this before there was an A/N in the prologue), this is my first fic, so I'm super keen to hear any and all feedback on it! Always looking to improve as a writer, and I'm aware I have a predisposition to Telling rather than Showing, but we're working on it!
Anyway, since you got here, thanks for continuing to give my writing a read, really appreciate it and hope you're enjoying it!