Chapter 3: The Battle
It has been a few weeks since she, in a way, started training to kill her friends and there is nothing that she could do but sit and watch and the more she trained, the more worried Cornelia got and hoped that Lillian could match up to her.
Astroth went into the training room and the training started. Ten boulders came flying in her direction but one at a time but still close together. Astroth jumped up into the air and slashed the first boulder in half with her tail and then landed hard causing a small wave reflecting three of the boulders. She quickly stood up and then slashed four more with her hands and two with her tail. "Is that all you've got?"
"Hardly." The man pushed a button and two big laser guns popped up on opposite sides of Astroth. She dodged the first laser and then reflected the other shot with her tail destroying the laser gun that shot it. She ran to the laser gun furthest away from her and a very strong gate came up blocking the gun. She dodged more shots as she tried to destroy the gate but she couldn't get through. She then jumped into the air and hit the laser that came at her and then slammed her fist into the ground making a small wall between her and the gun. After some thought she finally made a small tunnel and then heard something above ground but she ignored it and continued and then popped up beside the gun and immediately went back down and took cover as more lasers shot at her from some other guns that appeared. She dug a small hole directly under the caged in gun and collapsed it. She made her way back outside the cage and reflected more lasers and ran toward the closest of the four guns that appeared and cut it in half with her tail and then a beeping noise was heard. With great speed, she quickly destroyed the other three guns and the beeping stopped. Astroth breathed heavily as she stood with her hands on her knees. "Very good Astroth but remember this, the guardians won't be so easy to kill as a laser gun. They have a much greater endurance then a few guns and they are in bigger groups but I think you're finally ready to take them on. Keep yourself focused and you can kill them no problem. You must however, kill the demon child first or you Will die by her. Demons don't get enraged easily but one thing that is similar to humans is that they do have loved ones and as everyone knows, killing a loved one will anger anyone. You must kill the demon before anyone. A demons rage is dangerous so kill the demon. Once the guardian leader is dead, grab the heart and bring it to me. Now go and end them." Then Astroth nodded and ran off. Once Astroth was out of earshot, the man smiled. "Once she ends the guardians, I will have two hearts and Astroth, well; she won't have the chance to react." The man left laughing.
In her mind, Cornelia just knew this wasn't going to end well and had no idea how to even communicate with that ring on her finger. All she could do is sit back and try to relax until this ends and hope that she dies for the sake of being able to free herself from her mind.
In another part of Meridian, Lillian had just finished her training. "Great job Lil, you are a great guardian. You could still learn a few things but you are ready for anything from Phobos to Nerissa." The five girls then gave Lillian a group hug. Then Matt came up to them. Will looked over and ran over to him. "So is the wedding ready?"
"Yeah Will but why so quickly. We could easily wait a few months you know." Matt said a little tired. "Plus, I can't see how you girls do this." Matt said stretching. "It is exhausting."
"I know Matt and thanks, I really appreciate the help with the wedding since I had to help Lillian train." Just then, Asha came up to them. "Hi Asha, what's up?"
"Hi mom, are we ready to get you two married yet. I want this to be over with already so we can finally relax." Asha said and Will was just about to respond when a voice was heard from a distance. The group looked in the direction of the voice and could see a green figure standing on a hill.
The figure jumped and landed a few feet from Will and hit her backward. Will went flying and hit a tree. "Hello Will, how have you been?" Then all the guardians surrounded Astroth. "I know, you don't know me. I'm Cornelia, well sort of anyway. I am actually using Cornelia's body and have been for quite some time except that I haven't had full control actually. In order to get her back, you'll have to kill me which will kill Cornelia but she'll be free from my grasp but hey, it's a sacrifice you'll have to make for her. Anyway, my real name is Astroth and in case you're wondering how I took her body, think back to the Goreth battle and the small scratch she received. The scratch is what let me in and you took to long to fix it and so in a way, I'm here because of you. I mean really, did you really think Cornelia would ever be that mean to you. I had the perfect plan actually. All I had to do was make it so that the Oracle would take her powers from her allowing me to take over without resistance. Enough talk though, let's end this right now." Astroth jumped into the air and slammed the ground knocking everyone over and then raced toward Asha. She reached her quickly but got hit away by a lightning water combo.
Astroth got up and raced to Asha again but a big rock wall popped out of the ground. Astroth smashed the wall with her hand and rushed over to Asha dodging rocks, water blast, bolts, fire beams, and twisters. She reached Asha as three fire balls came flying her way. She threw up her tail and reflected the balls and then dug underground as more attacks came her way. She dug until she was right under Taranee and jumped up into the air and tackled her to the ground and then threw her to the side as more attacks came flying at her. She jumped into the air and five more of her appeared and they all landed. The six Astroth's went in different directions into the woods and then came out in different areas. The guardians had all started attacking the copied Astroth's while the real one went after Asha who had started running away by now. Astroth ran after her and chased her into the woods. She finally caught her and threw her out of the area and back into the open. Astroth jumped into the air and also back into the open and landed right in front of Asha. "Goodbye demon girl." Astroth said as she raised her tail into the air and went to strike when she hit sooner then expected. Astroth pulled her tail out and looked frightened by this.
Will finally took out the copy of Astroth and looked around for Asha. The other guardians are still fighting and some not doing so well and then she saw Asha fly through the air and land hard on the ground. Then Astroth landed directly in front of her and without thinking, she raced over to Asha and stepped in front of Asha just as Astroth's tail hit Will gasped as her tail went through and then gasped as her tail pulled out. She looked directly at Astroth with an angry look on her face. "Don't you ever attack her." Will coughed up some blood and then fell over. "I love you Asha." Then she blacked out.
Asha stared in disbelief and Astroth took the chance and tackled Asha and brought her tail down but for some reason it wouldn't move. She looked back and saw a teenage boy holding onto her tail. "Let go you little brat." She tried to get free but the kid wasn't letting up even with spikes poking through his hands.
This snapped Asha out of her daze and she could see what is now happening. "How dare you." Her eyes turned black and she raised her tail and went up into Astroth's gut but had some resistance but kept pressing up.
Astroth knew she was dead meat if she couldn't get free of the kid but he wasn't even letting up a little and he kept her tail up. Then Astroth felt a small pinch which grew. Astroth looked down and found Ash's tail had gone right through her. Asha finally went through and she pushed Astroth over as soon as she knew that Astroth died. Kevin let go of her tail painfully and then Elyon made it over and grabbed both Will and Kevin and rushed them to the Castle.
Asha looked as her mother and boyfriend were taken and hoped that they could be saved and then realized that the Heart of Kandrakhar fell off Will's neck. She picked up the heart that was on Astroth and then Irma and the others came over weakly and Irma went to pick up the heart when a man appeared. He grabbed the Heart of Kandrakhar and the ring that Astroth and transported away before they could do anything. Then a few seconds later and Elyon came back with Kevin and looked down sadly. Asha smiled but then frowned when she saw that her mother hadn't come back with them. "Where is my mother?" Asha asked tears forming in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Asha but the poison from Astroth's tail made it too far into her body and killed her before we had the chance to do anything. Kevin on the other hand will be fine but he has a small mutation with his hands. It appears that his hands have somehow taken on Astroth's spikes and poison." Just then, the Oracle came through.
"Asha, do you have the heart that Astroth was wearing." Asha nodded and saw a smile on the Oracles face with a hint of worry. "Asha, you must destroy the heart. One way to do that and the only way is to throw it into the heart of infinity. Throwing it in there will cause the heart to overload and destroy itself. We must hurry and get rid of it. Follow me Asha." Asha followed the Oracle for at least four hours and then he stopped. He went over to a wall and pushed in a small brick which revealed a small pad. The Oracle put his hand on the pad and a few seconds later the ground moved a little revealing a glowing pit. "Throw the heart into the pit. By the time it explodes, it will be to far down to see." Asha looked at it in disgust and threw the heart into the pit. They sat there for a minute.
The man followed the group to the hole and kept his distance and then teleported into the hole a ways down. He could see the heart falling and when it got into reach, he grabbed it and then teleported out of there. He got back to the lair and smiled as he transformed. He let his glamour fall revealing himself as Nerissa. "Two hearts and the power of Astroth all in a day. She made it much harder for me but at least the leader guardian is dead. Today is a good day. One question remains though, how does a place with no end have a center to it." She shrugged and smiled twirling the hearts around and looking at the ring on her finger.
The end
A/N: I realize that this is the shortest story I have ever done that has more then a chapter to it. Sorry I couldn't update earlier, things have been busy and I haven't really had any time to myself. I am planning another sequel so look for it. Please review and thanks for the reviews. Hope you all had a merry Christmas and hope that you all have a happy new year.