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Chapter 15: Emperor Krokhotep

"Ah I see you're back and well rested I hope, because the next opponent is one of Krokotopia's most powerful fighters. He is one of the royal family members and that means he has royal training. He is a very dangerous man so I hope you're ready." Everyone nodded as their response. "Good, then go into the dungeon on the left. Good luck." Everyone left the area and went into the dark dungeon, in the distant they could hear the old krok shout something about '2 more' but they were sure they didn't need the information. They proceeded to go into a dark blue hallway that leads to a giant room. They looked around the area and found an entire army of kroks waiting for them, all armed, all powerful, all merciless.

Our heroes prepared themselves for the battle against what seemed like 1,000 soldiers of the icy cold depths of the sphinx. Everyone charged and war cries were heard from all directions. Though they were outnumbered the kroks were out matched. They blasted their way through the army and found themselves somewhere else, it was a smaller room with blue lighting and a note on the wall. 'Figure out my puzzle and you will proceed' it read but all it was were three different types of writing on the wall. Next to the wall was a locked door with three symbol keys next to it. They entered exactly how the code was and the giant door opened on its own. Inside was the king himself, Emperor Krokhotep.

"So, you've been the pesky little brats who have been disturbing my royal chamber hmm? Well then … PREPARE TO DIE!" He shouted and without any delay he threw frozen spears at the group of fighters who had all dodged, but just barely. He froze his hand in a giant block of ice and teleported right behind them, almost smashing them with it. He teleported again following Gabriel who could barley dodge the attacks. Gabriel could barely keep up with his speed and tripped at one point trying to avoid the multiple attacks of the emperor but his attacks were blocked by a halberd. The source from which the weapon came from was Destiny, who had a deadly look on her face.

"If you even lay a hand on him" Destiny started, "I'll Kill You!" She was glowing a purple type of aura around her and electricity was flowing through her body. She threw him off guard and charged at him with the electrified weapon but was blocked by a staff that no one was familiar with. Next an axe swung by nearly scratching her cheek. She jumped back in surprise and the axe was swung at her again, this time trying to block with her left forearm. Blood rushed down her arm as she flinched from the pain and jumped back to the others. Gabriel got back up and closed his eyes. He concentrated power into his core and tried as hard as possible to give that power to his eyes. It succeeded but only for a brief minute. During that minute Gabriel had seen who they are and what their strength was. He was shocked. The 2 that had saved Krokhotep was Prince Kebi and Suten of the Sokkwi family, both descendants of Krokhotep. Their power was nearly as powerful as the kings himself.

"Oh crap. Guys, don't hold back at all. They're just as powerful as the king himself! This time we have to give more than 110%" Gabriel yelled while sweating. He knew this was going to be a close battle that no one could predict. Now our fighters are out matched against the royal family and this battle would be the most difficult one yet.

Without any warning the 2 princes teleported directly behind Seth and Destiny in an attempt to get rid of the healer and the strength of the team. Seth had barley dodged the attack but Destiny defended herself with her newly transformed weapon. She had just enough power in her right arm to fend off against the kroks attack but her arm slowed her down. The pain restricted and limited her movement so she couldn't defend herself as well as she usually could. The other prince caught her off guard and swung the axe that he had. She couldn't block it because she was already blocking the other prince's attack, she saw the blade of the axe going straight for her head. She braced herself for the oncoming attack but instead a loud clang of metal was heard. She looked up to see Jack blocking the attack with all his strength with only his wand.

"Seth I can't hold him off for long! Heal Destiny quick!" Jack yelled at him and Seth ran to Destiny and sent healing energy into his wall and put his palm on the wound with his other hand. He closed his eyes and let the healing energy flow through his body into his wand and onto the wound. The wounds from inside started to heal and everything internally damaged started to regenerate. The bleeding started to slow down until it eventually stopped and the gash started to close up like a zipper. Once her gash was healed completely her arm was still a little numb from the newly regenerated muscles. She clenched her fist trying to put feeling back into it. Meanwhile Jack is fending off one of the princes. He's fighting with magic flames on his fists but only dodging and defending when he needed, he was stalling for Destiny's arm to completely heal. Sabrina tried every chance she saw to help Jack but to no avail. Jocelyn and Gabriel were fending off the second prince with everything they had. His speed was much too quick for them to catch up. He stabbed his staff into the ground and created a frozen floor that started to spread around the room. Gabriel did not have time to be aware of this and his feet started to freeze up! The ice started to make its way up to his torso and he struggled to get out of the frozen trap but it was no use. Just as the prince was about to go in for the final blow Jocelyn jumped in front of Gabriel and created a frozen shield from mana. Her magic powers were developing quickly and Gabriel was glad for that. Destiny had jumped in and smashed Gabriel's frozen tomb with a shocking punch of the power of lightning.

"Thanks, any longer and I would've frozen up for sure!" Destiny just smiled and nodded before turning her attention back to the action. The entire tomb shook as the fighters collided with each other and pieces of stone fell from the ceiling. Krokhotep and his 2 sons are their greatest challenge yet and so far the match looked even; but it wasn't. Our heroes held them off for as long as possible but their energy was depleting much quicker than that of Krokhotep and his 2 sons. They took advantage of this and attacked furiously forcing them to block the attacks. While the 2 sons were attacking the king saw his chance at an attack so he teleported right behind them and smashed an ice block right on Seth's back, causing him to fall to the floor unconscious. No one could help him because of the speed and strength of these kroks, it's as if they had an adrenaline rush and would not stop until they were all dead. He smiled knowing that there would be no more healing for our heroes, that this is their demise. As he was about to smash yet another ice block on someone, a icy blue trident had blocked the attack. From the source was Connor!

"Man you guys sure do get in a lot of trouble where ever you go." He said as he blocked off Krokhoteps next few attacks.

"You little brat! This battle is between us and these pathetic little kids! Not with you!" Krokhotep yelled as he swung the frozen block furiously at Connor.

"Your right it's not my fight" He started "This is OUR fight!" The chamber doors were broken open and all of which had familiar faces, it was all of their previous allies!

"Well if it isn't the king himself, I thought we defeated you a long time ago but I can see you're like a cockroach. No matter how many times your defeated, you just comeback like it never even happened." Brianna said as she drew her sword, preparing for combat. The others had done so as well but the king had joined Malistare's super army and now possessed power he didn't before. He unfroze his hand and began speaking.

"I can assure you that I am no longer the evil tyrant that you've once fought. No. Now I am a completely different being with even more power! You have no chance against me. The reason these kids have lived for so long is because I have been toying with them. Why should I show off my true power and waste it on a bunch of brats?" He started grinning as he pulled out his weapon. It was no longer a staff but a frozen ice hammer like those of the frost giants. His 2 sons had stopped attacking the remaining fighters and turned their heads to the actual threat.

Seth had started to regain consciousness and looked at his teammates. They were no longer in a condition to fight, in fact most of their mana had already depleted and only enough was left for them to stand, because in this world mana is your inner energy. He then looked over at the band of fighters who were all ready for battle and they were all staring at the king.

"Are you just going to sit there like a bunch of cowards or are you going to fight?" He yelled at them, taunting them. None of them even budged. "Very well then, I guess I'll be the one to make the first move then." He swung his frozen hammer in the air and smashed the ground cracking it open! They thought it was an earthquake so they prepared for impact but nothing came at them. Instead the ground started to look like it was being ripped wide open! A huge colossal sized arm reached out of the ground and dragged itself out of the gigantic crack only to reveal itself as a giant ice helephant! A few more followed and climbed their way out of the crack. All of them as big as the first one, few with different elements other than ice. "Now let's see who's really the cockroach!" he shouted and soon after you could hear him yell 'charge!'. The army of helephants started to run to the new band of heroes. The ground shook as if an actual earthquake was happening and the group ran towards the army of helephants. Shouts were heard, swords clashed, the elements collided with spirits and screams of pain were heard as well.

Seth had mustered enough strength to sit up and watch the battle thinking on anyways he could help. He heard a little clink sound when he moved and looked at what made the noise, it was his potion. He had about half a bottle left. He turned his head to see the others in their condition and they were just sitting there watching the battle just as Seth was doing. He quickly unscrewed the cap and drank the potion and some of his old strength had started to return. Half of his energy and a little more than half his health had returned to him and he started to run to the others. He helped unscrewed the cap for them and poured down the potion. After everyone had drank their potions they felt better than ever!

"Man those potions are useful!" Jack said with a grin on his face. They were all ready for battle once more! Back to the stronger group of fighters the helephants had stood up quite a match against them but they were being brought down one by one. Luckily Krokhotep and his 2 sons were focusing on the battle and nearly forgotten about the smaller group of heroes.

"How is this possible? This is my Ultama Card and it's still not enough? That can't be! There must be something boosting their strength or something keeping them healed!" Krokhotep muttered to himself. He looked around the area they were fighting in, trying to see if he was right. He couldn't find anyone else around the arena but 'how was this possible?' he thought. 'How is it that they are so powerful they can bring down my most powerful technique? Perhaps I am a cockroach… No! Get it together Krokhotep! They're just putting lies in your head! Now let's see if I can summon more of my brutal minions.' He started to swing his hammer in the air again until he was hit in the back with a fireball.

"You and those damn minions have caused enough trouble Krokhotep! It's time you've paid for your misdeeds against all of Krokotopia!" Jack shouted. His 2 sons turned around and prepared for battle. The other 5 did so as well, only this time it felt different. Last time Krokhotep's group had a stronger aura of mana but this time, Seth's team had an even more powerful aura. Maybe it was because he used up his Ultama Card that drained his power but even so. The comparison had drastically changed in favor of our heroes.

"This can't be! I am a supreme being now! You can't defeat me! It's impossible!" Krokhotep had shouted, fearing that the end for him was finally nearing. The other band of fighters was still bringing down the helephants through strategic attacking and teamwork. First Nia and Chris had shocked them with enough electrical power to stun them long enough for the fighters to get close. Then Eve, Ryan, Brook, Vanessa, and the Jackal all jumped at them piercing their armor and wounding them like speedy bullets. Thanks to the armor being pierced enough Brianna completely destroyed any remains of the armor. Stumbling over Christina and Connor landed the finishing blows and quickly moved onto the next one, repeating the process.

"Face it Krokhotep, you've lost this battle. Even when you were a stronger being than before, you just couldn't keep up with all of us." Seth had said to him. His 2 sons angered, tried attacking Seth but he blocked one and dodged the other. He punched the one that he blocked with all of his strength knocking him out while Jocelyn had frozen the other one. Now even his 2 sons were defeated before him and this made him realize that he truly did lose the battle. "Now tell us why you turned your back on Krokotopia and what Malistare is up to!"

He was silent for a while. He was just staring at the ground and muttering to himself 'I failed'. After the other 10 had defeated the last helephant they made their way over to Seth and the others just in time to hear his confessions. "I turned my back on Krokotopia because it turned its back on me. They banished me from the land because I was nearly insane as a child. I had an immense power that could've possibly overthrown Krokopatra if I had some help that is. They feared I would start a rebellion against all of Krokotopia if I soon realized what I could have done with my power. Instead I broke off the piece of land containing the balance tree and the sphinx and isolated myself. From that day I promised everyone would pay. Banishing me for fear is no reason to banish me at all. To top it off they just kept sending students of the academy to make sure that I remained weak! That's when I met Malistare and he promised me power and fame if I joined his super army. Without hesitation I joined immediately and about two weeks later you six came along."

"What is he plotting? How can we stop it?"

"He's plotting to-" he was soon cut off from a girl who had jumped in and held her palm to his face. She wore white robes and a white mask. She had long flowing brown hair and a black trident on her back that seemed like it was burned or dead.

"You fool. You know you aren't supposed to talk about the plan. You shall pay dearly with your life" The mysterious girl had said and her palm had started to glow as bright as the sun.

"What is she doing?" Eve shouted as she covered her eyes. The mystery girl just smiled as she charged her power.

"Maybe you weren't able to keep your big mouth shut while living, but I don't think that will be a problem once your blasted into hell!" She unleashed the bright energy of flames into the king. The light filled the room and the scream of the king was heard. Once everything had died down they immediately looked around the room for the murderous girl but found no trace. They then looked at where Krokhotep once was but only saw a pile of ash and a piece of paper. Sabrina picked it up and began reading it allowed.

"Stop asking about Malistare's plans now or SUFFER THE SAME FATE." Everyone then looked back at the ash's of a once powerful king, and started to get the chills. "Does anybody know who that girl was?" almost everyone nodded no but the Jackal and Connor thought for a moment.

"I've seen her posters before back in DragonSpyre. We obviously know that she's dangerous and that's a huge factor to it. I'm just trying to remember what the name said. We bounty hunters have to know who's who after all."

"I know I have seen her somewhere before to. I have seen her somewhere, somewhere that I held near and dear to my heart. I can't remember though. Do you know her Christina?"

"I feel like I did see her but I'm not too sure. Like Jackal said back in DragonSpyre but I feel like I saw her fighting the dragons. Why would she fight for … Wait! I remember! Right next to the fire tree Ashley there was a wanted poster with her face on it! I remember I saw the word 'traitor' on it!"

"So then, we know she's a traitor who now works for Malistare and doesn't want us finding out what he's planning. Whatever he's planning it can't be good." Destiny said. They all left the cold chamber and reported back to the old krok back at the entrance who had much to say.

"Interesting. Your saying this girl dressed in white just killed the king? If this is true then these missions have become about 100x more dangerous. That girl was no normal witch. She is known as the Incinerator. She kills her opponents with fire and is an assassin who is now feared throughout all of the Spiral."

Well that's just about it for this chapter. I'm sorry I haven't updated in over a month but I kinda lost motivation and inspiration. Maybe I just needed a brake but I feel great now and I feel like I can continue writing the story for months to come! I'll try my best to keep you all entertained!

Cya later!

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