Merry Christmas my readers!
I know this chapter isn't exactly somehtign you could consider as a Christmas present, considering the amount of violence and some gore on it, but it's part of the fic, so...
Here we will have a load of action and the appearance of a new member of the villains cast (if you already didn't guess that by the title). Yep, it's the Hell Knight! That guy you face in the Niflheim's Book in ToS 1 who is a bitch to defeat. Unfortunately (depending on the angle), for him to better fit in the story I had to give him a Mystic Arte. So, now he's a badass, demonic bitch.
But enough of my ramblings. Read and you'll know what I'm talking about.
NOTE: Didn't have time to put the translations of the enchantments in demonic language last time, but here are they:
Jeoriv – rejuvenate
xarent - extract
Teh kas en liss, Eriantrus. Feresh ryu sessence sint… – I ask of thee, Great Father. Breathe your essence into…
Neish lis irath tun heset fiant… Khist Tresay - Shine thy light upon these unfaithful ones… Blinding Destroyer
Chapter 12
The Hell Knight
After much deliberation that morning, Lloyd, Emil and the others decided to go back to the Asgard Continent for Sheena and Marta to find their spirit's halves in the Tower of Mana and the Balacruf Mausoleum, the last known locations where the Summon Spirits of light and wind resided.
However, when they suggested to go to the Thoda Island, where Aqua's altar was located and, consequently, Undine's temple, Raine quickly declined the idea saying that considering the season they were in, the sea was high, so part of the Thoda Island would be submerse and that would be difficult travel to the island. Her tone was a rushed one and her face was almost paled when she heard the idea, but the group decided not to comment on that, knowing the half-elven Professor would just deny it.
"I still think that this is sidetracking," Tenebrae complained for what seemed to be the fifth time. He was like that ever since the idea was proposed, but the other Centurions didn't seem to share his point of view.
"Nobody cares what you think. Face it, Tenebonehead," Aqua said with some glee on her voice. It seemed she was enjoying the fact everybody was ignoring the Centurion of Darkness' complaints.
"I am just saying we are putting everybody at risk by going back to a region so close to a Desian Human Ranch."
"Oh, c'mon. You didn't complain when we went to fetch Lumen in the Tower of Mana," Lloyd pointed out.
"That's…"
"If you want to go and find the Centurion's cores alone, then go. One less annoyance would make things so much more peaceful," Sheena commented.
Tenebrae stood quiet at that. He then lowered his dog head and mumbled to himself. Meanwhile, Raine was eying Lloyd intensively ever since they left camp. The red clad swordsman noticed, but tried not to pay attention to it. However, his face was getting redder as time passed until he couldn't stand it anymore and asked:
"Do you need something, Raine?"
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking," Raine said with a dismissive gesture of her hand.
"On what?" Lloyd asked.
"Could you maybe enter your spirit form?" she asked in a nice tone, though the gleam in her eyes put all of Lloyd's instincts in alert.
"I-I don't think so… I mean, I didn't even fully grasp how it works…" Lloyd said, starting to sweat.
"Why don't you try?" Raine encouraged.
Luckily, Sheena came to Lloyd's rescue and talked to Raine:
"Hey, you better not be thinking on turning Lloyd into some kind of experiment of yours," Lloyd sighed and was about to thank Sheena when the violet haired woman added, with a smirk. "I'm the one who wants to study his spirit form first," Lloyd's head fell to the side, with a sweatdrop running behind it.
"Oh, sure. Although, yours obviously would lead to nothing, but your personal pleasure," Raine replied in a dry tone. "What I do is for the sake of science and purely scholar matters."
"Really? Are you sure it isn't just to look at his abs?" Sheena asked, her eyes narrowed and with a devious tone on her voice.
"How dare you … ?"
"My ladies, please let's calm down," Ventus said, making Sheena and Raine look at him. "Can't you act about this subject with more maturity? You don't see Lady Marta acting like this over Lloyd's spirit form. Right, Lady Marta?"
The group then looked and saw Marta was with Emil now, who was beet red as the girl spoke to him:
"…I bet your spirit form will look just as cool as Lloyd's, if not even more handsome. Oh! I shouldn't have spoke that out loud," Marta said with a daydream expression on her face as she apparently assumed a shy pose, her cheeks gaining a pink tone.
Ventus sighed and decided to drop the subject.
The two adult women were about to go back to their bickering when they felt something. Lloyd, Emil and the Centurions also felt it and the group looked to the road behind them.
"What is this… feeling?" Lloyd asked, confused as to why his senses were all in alert since he couldn't see any threat around.
"You've probably got sensitive to spiritual and chaos energies thanks to your soul being completed," Ventus explained. "And what you are feeling now is a powerful demonic aura approaching."
"I don't like it. It's kinda scary," Lumen said.
Before the group could think about that more, a figure appeared in the horizon, coming to them at a fast pace. As it got closer, the group could finally distinguish its features and what they saw worried them to no end.
It was someone wearing a demonic-looking, purple armor, with a horned helmet that had the shape of a demon's face, with fangs and empty black spots where the eyes should be. He was mounted on a monster that looked like a Velocidragon, however, it was covered by a purple and grey set of armor very similar to the one its knight had. Sheena and Raine could smell the scent of decaying flesh and blood coming from the dragon, indicating it was an undead being.
Knowing trying to outrun the mounted knight was out of question, the group waited for it with their weapons drawn. The demonic knight then came to a halt in front of them, its dragon growling like it was eager to rip the flesh of the people standing in front of it.
"Identify yourselves, humans," the knight said in a raspy voice, which didn't seem to be an effect produced by him wearing an helmet.
"Give us your name and we will give you ours," Lloyd replied. Though Sheena and Raine didn't think it was such a good idea to taunt a being that exhaled so much chaos energy, they weren't really willingly to let the demon know their names.
The demonic knight ignored Lloyd's reply and looked to Emil, who had assumed a firm stance, shy demeanor gone. The knight then addressed to him:
"What is your name, human?"
"Aster," Emil said, not faltering.
"Aster, huh…" the knight repeated. A chuckle seemed to escape him, though the group couldn't see anything indicating the demon had a mouth beneath its helmet. Either he was a living armor or a spirit inhabiting one. "Good try… Ratatosk."
The group tensed and gripped their weapons tighter. The demon probably knew who they were ever since it came after them. Sheena was the one to speak up:
"What's up with you, then? Are you here to fight us?"
The demonic knight looked to her and lifted one hand while holding the reigns of his dragon-mount. Purple energy started to gather at his palm, which Sheena and Raine identified as being the element darkness. The demon then closed his hand and a long, purple, ethereal, glowing sword made out of darkness and chaos energy was formed. It was at the least the same length as the mount of the demon and had jagged points in all of its extension.
"I'm Gerash'Läh," the demon said, lowering his sword and pointing it to them.
"Hell Knight," Raine muttered, translating the name.
"Oh, so one of you actually speak our language. Interesting…" the Hell Knight said. "but irrelevant. Hand over Ratatosk and I promise a quick, painless death to all of you."
"In your dreams, freak!" Sheena said.
"Very well, then…" the demon said, his mount inclining its head back and sucking the air around, fire starting to form inside its mouth. "Have it your way!"
The undead dragon breathed a ball of concentrated fire as Lloyd and the others jumped to the side. The flaming projectile exploded when it hit the ground. The group then entered into the battle; Raine charging supportive spells as Lloyd and the others took the front. If the Hell Knight had a face, it would probably show a smirk.
The mounted demon repelled them all with long range slashes from his sword as his dragon attacked them with its sharp fangs and powerful fire balls. Lloyd and Emil couldn't reach the demon thanks to his long sword's swings, but Sheena and Marta, being faster and nimbler than the boys, managed to dodge the ample swings of the sword and got close to the Hell Knight. However, when they were almost at striking range, the dragon mount of the demon inclined its head in a strange angle and bit Sheena's right leg. The guardian user winced and was soon flung to the side by the powerful jaw of the undead dragon.
Marta tried to attack, but the Hell Knight's sword suddenly disappeared and in its place, on the back of the demon's hand, appeared a purple, ethereal shield, made of the same energy which the Hell Knight used to make his sword. Marta's attacks were all blocked and even when the boys got close enough and Raine casted Sharpness to enhance their attacks, the Hell Knight formed another shield in his other hand and defended from their attacks. When the group landed, they had to jump back to avoid being hit by the demon's mount bites and tail when the dragon spun on its place.
Sheena tried to throw her seals from a safe distance, but the Hell Knight noticed that and dismissed his shields, reforming his sword and swinging it, effectively cutting Sheena's paper seals in half, which brunt exhaling chaos energies and darkness.
Raine also sensed that and decided the situation called for a light spell, as the others continued to try and get close to the demon at the same time. The Hell Knight's mount spun again, the two performing a continuous spin attack. Lloyd and the others had to stop and put up their defenses, however, the ethereal sword's range was so big they were hit multiple times by strong slashes, eventually having their defenses broken and gaining cuts before being pushed away by the incredible strength of the attack.
When the Hell Knight stopped spinning he eyed his adversaries and sneered as he said:
"Is that the best the all-powerful Ratatosk and his companions can do? You didn't even touch me."
"Then how about this!" Raine proclaimed. The demon turned his head to her in time to see the silver haired woman casting Photon on him.
A concentrated sphere of light released explosions over the demon and its mount, giving the group time to run and try to attack him, however, they soon discovered most of their attacks did little damage to the high-level demon. Even Raine's Photon, though it achieved to immobilize and burnt some of demon's aura and darkness, wasn't enough to actually do some significant damage.
The Hell Knight then crossed his arms, reuniting chaos and darkness around him and releasing them in a wave that knocked Lloyd and the others away of him. Ratatosk then took the control of Emil's body and recovered in midair, charging against the demon. The Hell Knight tried to swing his long sword at the reincarnated spirit, but Ratatosk avoided it, using an almost inhuman speed to get close to the demon and unleashed an Arte:
"Savage Brilliance!" he used an upward slash, creating a column of light which immobilized the Hell Knight and thrust forward, piercing the armor of the demon's mount and pushing him.
The undead dragon retaliated by breathing fire on Ratatosk, who defended with his sword, however, the fireball pushed him back, pressing against his sword and leaving a trail of fire behind, trying to break the spirit's defense before dissipating. Ratatosk then saw the Hell Knight coming for him at great speed, brandishing his ethereal sword. The crimson-eyed spirit barely managed to avoid the attack.
Marta and Sheena went to the aid of the reincarnated spirit as Lloyd was trying to think on a strategy. Raine was charging another light spell, since it seemed to be the only thing that affected the high-level demon. Lloyd decided that the only way for them to win would be if he used his power, but before he could think on releasing it, he heard:
"Enough!" the Hell Knight spun again, his sword slashing at the group around him once more. When the demon stopped spinning, he dismissed his sword once more and in its place an ethereal bow appeared. The demon pulled an invisible string and an arrow materialized.
"Sheena!" Lloyd shouted for the guardian user, who was in the aim of the demon as she was recovering. She wouldn't avoid it in time.
The arrow was let loose as Lloyd ran to defend his crush at the same time. Sheena could only look at the ethereal projectile flying to her, aiming for her heart. It was then a burst of flames came around Lloyd and the young man threw himself in Sheena's front, taking the arrow in the back of his left shoulder. The others gasped at that.
Sheena was in a state of shock as Lloyd suddenly reverted back to his normal form and fell to the ground, trying to clutch his wound.
"Lloyd!" Sheena called for him, going for the swordsman. She was about to reach the arrow and take it out from his body when it suddenly started dissolving. To her horror, she felt the energy of the arrow entering Lloyd's body through the wound. "Lloyd!"
Lloyd started to whimper and sweat, like he was in a fever. The Hell Knight hadn't noticed the transformation of the dual swordsman for it had been too fast. The demon then dismissed the bow and in its place he created a lance, preparing to throw it at the distracted Sheena. Raine saw that and decided to defend her friends.
"Light! Ray!"
A bright sphere of light appeared over the Hell Knight's head, shooting several beams of light on him and his mouth, which roared at the burning light. The demon then looked at the white mage that had attacked him and decided to switch targets. He threw his lance at Raine, just like the half-elf predicted. She ran to the side as the lance stick the ground, suddenly reuniting the chaos energy around and exploding, Raine barely escaping the explosion.
Marta gritted her teeth and attacked, spinning in her place and sending wind blades against the Hell Knight, who simply called for his shield again, seeming to chuckle at their attempts to attack him. The demon then spoke:
"Don't think I'm some weak, low-level demon. I am a high-order member of the Hunter Clan. You, mortal worms, don't stand the slightest chance against me!"
Meanwhile, Raine ran to Lloyd and kneeled near him as Sheena looked over her crush, seeming completely desperate. His breath was now ragged and lines were started to form around his eyes, like he was sick. Raine examined the wound and felt the energies in it, cursing as she said:
"He was hit by a poisoned arrow. We have to get out of here!" she then turned to Ratatosk and Marta, who were still trying to fight off the demon. "Ratatosk! Marta! Let's retreat!"
"I don't think so," the hunter demon said, his mount preparing to breathe another concentrated fireball.
Ratatosk noticed that and jumped, using Raining Delude, throwing a water sphere which created a geyser once it hit the head of the undead dragon, making it turn its head blindly and miss the attack.
The Centurions then appeared as the group started to gather to flee. Raine charged and casted her Radiant Shackles spell, bidding the Hell Knight. She stayed concentrated on the spell to make it last until the group left.
Ignis summoned a Hell Hound monster for them to mount as Tenebrae summoned a dark, demonic looking monster with wings sprouting from its back and jagged blades coming out of his arms. The Centurion of darkness referred to the creature as a Dark Wing and asked it to carry Lloyd. The monster picked the incapacitated swordsman with surprisingly care.
"Get on, Shee-luni!" Lumen said, stopping near Sheena, offering his back for her to ride. She complied as Marta took the back of the Hell Hound and Ratatosk got on Tenebrae's back.
The group soon took off at great speed, the winged demon carrying Lloyd right behind them. Raine saw that and Ventus called her attention, summoning two Ravens. The Professor guarded her staff and quickly grabbed the talons of the monsters, taking off by the air.
The Hell Knight saw his preys escaping and struggled against the light seals bidding him, bending them until he completely broke them off, dispelling the light completely. The hunter demon looked to where his preys had taken off to.
"Huh. They won't get away…"
- / - / - / -
Raine and the others just stopped when they found shelter in a cave. Marta and Ratatosk, together with the Centurions were mounting guard in the entrance in case the Hell Knight came after them. Raine and Sheena were tending to Lloyd, who was sweating in streaks and gave out long breaths.
Sheena was biting her lower lip as she saw the painful expression on Lloyd's face. They had to take the young man's shirt and jacket off to clean the wound on the back of his left shoulder, however, Lloyd's fever wasn't wearing down and he seemed to be getting worst.
"What kind of poison is this?" Marta asked, looking to Lloyd with great concern in her eyes.
"Demonic poison," Ventus explained. "And it was his luck he was able to transform in his spirit form before being hit by that arrow. If he was a normal person, he would be dead by now."
"But I thought when he entered in spirit form he gained the protection of a Summon Spirit," Sheena said. "Aren't Summon Spirit's immune to these things?"
"You are forgetting that Lloyd isn't a complete Summon Spirit. Not yet, that is," Tenebrae said.
"Origin said the spirit form would be able to absorb damage and protect the mortal side of the reincarnated spirit using the protection the power of the Summon Spirit concedes to them, but it could be dispelled if the person took enough damage," Aqua spoke.
"And since Lloyd hasn't had the time to learn the proper workings of this form, his protection is akin to one of a normal half-elf," Raine resumed.
"Can you save him, Raine?" Sheena asked.
"It won't be easy. Demonic poison is nothing like the ones that exist in this world. They can't be dispelled by normal magic."
"Then use your chaos magic," Ratatosk simply said, without turning to them. "If I remember well, the only way to dispel demonic venom is by using their magic."
"I know of a spell that could work… but…" Raine said, musing and looking to the ground.
"Then do it!" Sheena and Marta said at the same time.
Raine sighed and looked to Lloyd. The young man's breath was getting weaker now. If she didn't work fast, he would die soon. The silver haired woman then grabbed her staff and gave Sheena a clean rag, saying for her to put it in Lloyd's mouth once she began. Sheena asked why and the answer Raine gave made the violet haired woman shiver:
"I'm going to extract the venom from his body. It's going to be very painful, probably not like anything he ever experienced in his entire life, but it's the only way to save him."
"What do you mean by 'extract'?" Marta asked the question Sheena didn't want to ask.
"This magic searches through the person's entire system utilizing chaos energies to extract the venom from his body by making it travel all the way to some orifice it can exit. That's why I didn't close his wound," Sheena and Marta gulped at hearing that, but nodded notwithstanding. This was the only way to save Lloyd. "While I'm at it, I can't be interrupted. One mistake and the chaos energy might disperse inside his body, corroding it."
The group stayed silent at that, giving their confirmation to Raine. Marta went back to the entrance with Ratatosk. Raine then started gather chaos energy around her, her hair fluttering like it was being picked by a gentle breeze. Sheena felt a shiver in her spine as she heard Raine chant words in what she presumed was the demonic language:
"Teh kas en liss, Eriantrus. Feresh ryu sessence sint…" the group didn't catch the rest of the enchantment, for their attention was drawn to a small sphere of green-poison energy that formed above Lloyd's wound. "Xarent!" threads of energy slowly grew from the sphere and went to Lloyd's body, entering through his open wound.
The swordsman's eyes fluttered open as he felt like his insides were being burnt by acid. He was about to let out a bloodcurdling scream, before Sheena noticed it and stuffed his mouth with the clean rag Raine gave her. Lloyd then bit down the rag with all force he could to keep himself from screaming as he felt his insides being searched and something being pulled out of him.
Sheena had to use all of the force of her will not to scream at Raine to stop. She just hoped it wouldn't take too long to extract the venom from Lloyd's body. Ratatosk and Marta observed the procedure from the entrance of the cave, the former commenting:
"Honestly, that woman gives me the creeps every time she does that."
"But Raine's helping us and you seemed to know about this spell too, didn't you?" Marta asked.
"You can't fight against something you don't have any idea of what is it, can you?" he replied. "Besides, that doesn't mean I ever used any chaos magic."
"At least Professor Water is on our side," Lumen said.
It was then Ratatosk, Sheena and the Centurions felt a being emanating strong, chaos energies approaching. Marta saw the look on the reincarnated spirit's face and immediately guessed; the Hell Knight had found them.
"What? Already?" the brunette girl said.
"That doesn't surprise me. The members of the Hunter Clan are known to be expert trackers," Tenebrae said. "And considering he is mounted, it wouldn't take long for him to find us."
"We have to help Lloyd!" Emil said to Ratatosk.
And how do you expect us to do that? the Summon Spirit replied to his human personality.
"Let's go out there and buy them some time."
Are you crazy? You saw his power, didn't you? He's practically at the level of a demon general.
"We don't need to fight him, just get him away of here. He's after us, after all."
Ratatosk gritted his teeth, looking to Lloyd, who was still biting at the rag with all his strength as his screams were muffled by the cloth on his mouth. The Summon Spirit cussed. Sometimes, he thought Emil was just too soft for his own good.
"Stay here. I'll drive that guy away from here," Ratatosk said to the group, turning to the entrance.
"I'll go with you then," Marta said.
"No. You stay here and protect them. Besides, that thing only wants me. It won't see a reason for coming after you."
"But, he's too powerful!" Marta protested, but was interrupted by Ratatosk.
"Don't you think I know that? But if I don't do this, he'll come here and then Lloyd will be as good as dead!"
Marta stopped talking at that. She knew it was true, but she couldn't just let the spirit walk to battle alone like that, even more against a high-level demon like that. However, before she could insist again, Ratatosk ran out of the cave and jumped to the slope bellow.
The brunette girl called out for him, but either he was already too far to hear or he simply ignored her…
- / - / - / -
The Hell Knight slowly approached the hill in which the cave was located, having followed Ratatosk here. His mount growled impatiently, yearning to tear apart the flesh of the reincarnated spirit. As the demon was approaching the entrance of a cave on the mountainside, he saw something near there, coming to him.
The hunter demon smirked (though it wasn't visible) at seeing his prey come to him. Ratatosk had his sword on his shoulder, an emotionless look on his face as he approached his demonic adversary. The Hell Knight's mount roared at the crimson-eyed entity as its knight said:
"You have much courage coming alone to face me."
"I don't need anybody else to beat your sorry ass from here to Niflheim," Ratatosk retorted, lowering his sword.
"I see your attitude didn't change even after this many millenniums."
"Say: how did you get to find me so fast?"
"Your aura is quite a giveaway. I could sense you from across this continent since the last night."
"Really? Then who sent you? Nebilim?"
"Huh, not really," the Hell Knight replied, not bothered to have a small talk with his prey before he annihilated it.
"Then it was…"
"Yes. The Great One. He got tired of you wandering around this world, which is now ours, and since Lord Nebilim had other duties to attend to, he requested our clan to send its best hunter to track down and eliminate you."
"Really? And where is your best member?" Ratatosk taunted.
"I was talking about me!"
"You don't look all that great. I've seen uglier things more powerful than you!" the Summon Spirit then assumed a battle stance.
"In that case… DIE!"
The Hell Knight's mount breathed a fireball at Ratatosk, who ran to avoid it as the demon's mount breathed a barrage at him. The Summon Spirit ran through the stone slopes of the mountain side as fire exploded right behind him, leaving holes in the rock.
When he saw an opening in the barrage, Ratatosk used Raining Delude, throwing a sphere of water at the demon, which simply cleaved it with his ethereal sword, the water dissipating in the air. The Hell Knight then saw Ratatosk running to the forest and gave chase.
At the caves, Marta was watching the fight with an expression of worry and fear in her face. Her heart beating at an accelerated pace as she saw Ratatosk avoiding the attacks from the powerful demon. She knew there was no way the Lord of the Monsters could win against such adversary. She then looked to Sheena and Raine, who were still concentrated on Lloyd.
There was now a small sphere of liquid floating above the swordsman's body. It was roughly the size of a water droplet and was growing as the rest of the venom was being extracted. Sheena knew better than to touch the floating venom. She had heard demonic poison was absorbed by the human body faster than the eye could catch.
Ignis and Ventus were also looking over the dual swordsman, who was still biting down at the rag Sheena had given him, his screams muffled. It was then the guardian user heard the sound of footsteps and stones being dislocated from their position. She looked back and saw Marta was gone. The violet haired woman cursed:
"That blockhead! She's going to get herself killed."
"Wait, Lady Sheena!" Ventus called, stopping Sheena from going after Marta. "If you go out then there will be no one to watch over Sir Lloyd. Wait for him to recover and then go after Lady Marta and Lord Ratatosk."
Sheena looked from the entrance to the eagle-like Centurion, sighing. She knew he was right, but if Raine didn't end the process and Lloyd didn't recover soon, Marta and Ratatosk would surely be dead by the time they went to help the couple…
- / - / - / -
Ratatosk was on a wild run as the Hell Knight came right after him, opening his path by the woods by cutting down the trees around him. The crimson-eyed entity smiled at that. The mounted demon's speed certainly couldn't be matched at the plains, but that was useless in the middle of a forest, where he had to avoid and open paths through the trees for his mount to pass.
However, the Summon Spirit of the Kharlan Tree soon saw the demon had other means of attacking him, for the Hell Knight once against transformed his sword in another weapon, this time an ax. The Hell Knight brought his hand back and threw the ethereal weapon, which spun in the air as it flew right after Ratatosk, cutting down anything on its path.
Ratatosk widened his eyes at the sight and cursed. He had to turn around and put his sword in front of him to block the flying weapon. The ax pressed against the Summon Spirit's defense, creating sparks as it spun against Emil's blade. With a grunt, Ratatosk used all of his might and pushed the weapon away, just for it to go right back to the Hell Knight's hand, who, as soon as he caught the weapon, transformed it in a bow and started shooting arrows at Ratatosk.
The Summon Spirit restarted his run, avoiding the arrows full with demon poison, which once hit the trees, made them wither and die in a matter of seconds. Ratatosk knew with his current power he wouldn't stand a chance should he got hit by one of those arrows.
As the two resumed the chase, Ratatosk eventually arrived at an open section of the forest and had to stop abruptly. There was a cliff in front of him and the only exit was the forest he had passed through, however, the Hell Knight soon emerged from the trees. Ratatosk was now cornered.
"End of the chase, Ratatosk," the Hell Knight said. "I must admit: you're quite the cunning prey. However, the demon hunters never let their prey escape," Ratatosk just grumbled in answer as the Hell Knight pulled at the invisible string on his ethereal bow, another arrow appearing at his hand as he took aim. "Say hello to your brethren for me."
Before the Hell Knight could let loose his poisoned projectile, a wind blade impacted with his hand, pushing it to the side and making him miss the shot. As the demon let out an "what?", Marta jumped out of the woods spinning in the air, her spinner ready and slashing at the Hell Knight's armor three times, startling his mount, which reared back its head.
Marta took a step back and charged her spin with the power of wind, making the spinning blade extend and slashing it at the neck of the demon's mount, finally achieving to break some of the weaker parts of its armor and cut some decayed scales.
The brunette fighter had to jump back once the undead dragon recovered and tried to bite down at her with its sharp fangs. Marta also dodged the tail swipe of the enraged mount and reunited with Ratatosk, who exclaimed:
"Marta! What the hell? Didn't I tell you to stay hidden?"
"You can thank me later for saving you," Marta said, not even bothering to pay attention to the Lord of the Monsters' rant. "No way I'm letting you die at the hands of some demon. At least, not alone," she added.
Ratatosk felt something stir inside of him at hearing Marta speak that way, but he dismissed it. It was nor the time or the place to have such thoughts. The Hell Knight turned to them at seeing he now had another prey to be dealt with. The demon seemed to snicker at that as the young couple prepared to face off against the high-level demon.
"Well, well, seems like I've got a new bounty…" the Hell Knight mused. "If you're so willingly to die together with Ratatosk, then I'll see to it that your wish comes true!"
The Hell Knight's mount inclined its head up and shot another fireball. Ratatosk and Marta observed the flaming projectile ascend to the skies and explode, releasing several other fireballs, it turning into a rain of fire.
"Damn!" Ratatosk cursed, jumping and rolling to dodge the explosive fireballs. Marta used all of her agility and acrobatic skills to avoid the explosions too.
Ratatosk managed to approach the Hell Knight enough and jumped, gripping his blade high above his head, charging it with light, ready to bring it down over the high-level demon's head. The Hell Knight only chuckled as he brought his hand behind, forming an ethereal hammer, ready to smash the reincarnated spirit with it. Ratatosk saw that and brought his blade down at the same time the Hell Knight swung his hammer, the two weapons colliding against each other and letting sparks fly from the shock between the opposite, elemental energies.
Marta dodged the last fire ball and looked to see Ratatosk in a deadlock with the hunter demon. She saw his mount inclining its head to Ratatosk, flames forming around its mouth, intent on breathing fire on the crimson-eyed entity.
Oh no. No way. Marta thought, harnessing wind on her spinner and starting to spin her body, launching wind blades at the demon's mount.
The brunette fighter had to use all of her control over her element to make the blades fly right at the mouth of the undead dragon. She smiled at seeing the blades hit home and the fire in the undead creature's mouth got unstable as its mouth was cut by the consecutive wind blades.
The dragon let out a roar of pain, breathing fire erratically and staggered at its place, throwing the Hell Knight out of balance and making him break the deadlock with Ratatosk as the demon muttered another "what?". The Lord of the Monsters smiled at seeing his chance. He used his Phoenix Rush and, when landed, used Savage Brilliance on the Hell Knight, both Artes destroying more of the demon mount's armor and damaging the knight.
"Try this!" Ratatosk exclaimed, jumping again and slashing several times at the hunter demon, creating blades of light, which hovered in the air. "Now! Light Spiral!" Ratatosk then dived at the point where the blades connected with each other, his sword pointing forward. When the blade pierced through the blades of light, a spiral of the element was created around Ratatosk blade's, burning the energies of the Hell Knight as the reincarnated spirit passed near him and cut the back of the of the demon's mount's neck, which roared in pain.
Marta cheered and reunited more wind on her spinner. When her spinner was shinning with a green glow, Marta swung her weapon and a transparent, green disk made of wind shot forward. The disk divided into several more, impacting on the Hell Knight's armor with consecutive hits.
Finally getting fed up of the couple's attempts to harm him, the Hell Knight transformed his hammer into a lance and threw it at Ratatosk, creating other lances and throwing them. Meanwhile, the demon's mount shot fireballs against Marta, who jumped back to avoid the explosions. Ratatosk just grinned at his adversary's attempts to hit him.
The Hell Knight then transformed his weapon into an ax again. However, the demon changed its target in the last moment, aiming and throwing the ax at Marta. Ratatosk's eyes widened as he called for the girl. However, Marta had been lured to the edge of the cliff by the attacks of the Hell Knight's dragon. She had nowhere to run.
Ratatosk felt his heart pounding against his chest as only one thought crossed his mind as he tried to run to the flying ax: protect Marta. He could also feel Emil urging him to do it and the combined desire of the two personalities made something stir in the Summon Spirit. He felt like the distance between him and the brunette fighter was diminishing in the blink of an eye, like time had slowed down for him to arrive in front of the girl to defend her.
To Marta, it was like Ratatosk had suddenly appeared in front of her, raising his sword above his head and gripping it with two hands as he charged an abhorrent amount of his own spiritual energy on the blade. He then brought down the sword, calling:
"Destroyer's Song!" when the blade hit the ground, the spiritual energy accumulated on it was conducted to the earth and soon a great column of multicolored flames rose, engulfing the ax of the Hell Knight and disintegrating it completely.
The Hell Knight, to say the least, was surprised. The great column of Ratatosk's spiritual energy hid the couple completely behind it and the power that both the demon and Marta felt in that single attack was tremendous. When the column of spiritual flames lowered, Ratatosk went back to his normal stance. The Hell Knight spoke:
"You've recovered another one of your Artes…" the hunter demon then noticed Ratatosk was breathing deeply, almost panting. "but, it seems you still not have enough power to properly use it, do you?" the demon stated, smiling inwardly at that. He still had a chance to kill the Summon Spirit.
"I don't need all of my power to dispose of trash like you," the crimson-eyed entity replied, inversing the grip in his sword and charging his spiritual energy on it again, as multicolored flames ignited on the blade. The Hell Knight tensed at seeing that, he remembered that Arte. "Try this! Ain Soph Aur!"
Ratatosk then swung his sword and threw the great sphere of his own spiritual energy at the demon. When the attack connected and multicolored flames exploded around the Hell Knight and a yell could be heard.
Marta had her mouth agape at seeing the power of that Arte had increased since the last time she saw Ratatosk use it. The Summon Spirit was grinning while looking at the multicolored flames that were consuming the demon. Then the mass of spiritual energy began to dissipate and Marta and Ratatosk's jaws fell.
The Hell Knight was still there, his hands bearing two, ethereal shields protecting his front and his mount was curled in a defensive position.
"What the… ?" Ratatosk let out. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"It seems I overestimated you," the Hell Knight spoke, his mount resuming to its normal stance as he took the shields to the sides. "The Ain Soph Aur… your signature Mystic Arte... in the War of the Young Aselia, this Arte had the power to decimate an entire legion of our troops in a single shot, such was its power," Ratatosk and Marta tensed, assuming battle stances again. "However, this was nothing, but a flicker of its former power!"
The Summon Spirit felt energy gathering around the Hell Knight. He was probably preparing for another attack. The hunter demon's aura was vibrating strongly now with chaos energies and darkness. The demon then regarded the Lord of the Monsters, its voice now assuming a low, piercing and dangerous tone:
"So, should I show you the true power of a Mystic Arte?"
Marta decided to rush in before the Hell Knight had time to make his threat true. Ratatosk called her, but the girl was already jumping, her spinner's blade harnessing the wind to extend the blade's reach. The crimson-eyed entity went after the girl.
When Marta was about to slash at the Hell Knight, the demon jumped from his mount, which simply took off and tried to ram into Ratatosk. Marta landed, surprised at the evasive maneuver. Ratatosk had to roll to the side to not be run over by the undead dragon. However, he heard somebody landing near him and looked up to see the Hell Knight.
The demon then raised his hand high in the air with its palm to the skies. A cyclone of darkness and chaos energy surrounded the high level demon, hitting Ratatosk and paralyzing the Summon Spirit. What came next was a dreadful sight as the long, ethereal sword of the Hell Knight materialized and he prepared.
"Sword!" the Hell Knight swung his weapon in a downward diagonal slash. "Ax!" the sword then transformed in the mentioned weapon and the demon performed a vertical slash at Ratatosk's chest. "Lance!" the ethereal weapon transformed again as the demon thrust it, impaling Ratatosk's side and forcing the Lord of the Monsters some inches behind. "Arrow!" the ethereal weapon transformed once more while the Hell Knight still had his arm stretched. The demon then fired a rain of five arrows at same time at Ratatosk. Luckily, the power required to perform that Mystic Arte didn't allow the Hell Knight to infuse the arrows with poison. "Hammer!" another transformation and the Hell Knight hit the ground with his weapon while giving a step forward. Waves of chaos energy propagated from the impact and launched Ratatosk up. "Now it ends for you!" the ethereal weapon disappeared from the demon's hands, which started to glow with purple energy. He then brought his hands up and pointed them forward, creating a giant energy sphere which engulfed Ratatosk when the Summon Spirit was about to hit the ground. The consecutive hits were charged with darkness and chaos energies. "Chaotic Armistice!" the sphere then exploded on several purple and green-poison dots.
Marta could only watch with her mouth agape, while Ratatosk was thrown backwards by the incredible force of the Mystic Arte, his sword flying out of his grip. The brunette fighter's heart was beating so fast it hurt while seeing the gashes and wounds along the body of her protector. Ratatosk then hit the floor with a thud, his sword also falling and embedding itself on the ground. Marta finally found her voice:
"RATATOSK!"
The Hell Knight stood still, his long sword reforming itself on his hand. He started to walk to the fallen spirit until he had to sidestep a wind blade launched behind him. The demon turned his head to look at Marta, who had in her eyes tears of hatred at seeing what that demon had done to her protector.
"Get away of him!" Marta shouted to the demon, harnessing more wind around her spinner to attack. The Hell Knight simply scoffed and raised his free hand to the level of his face, snapping his finger. Marta just had time to look to her left at hearing a roar coming from behind her. The next thing she felt was an unbearable pain and the sensation that her bones were breaking apart as the fangs of the Hell Knight's dragon mount sunk into her left shoulder. "AAAAHHHHGGGG!"
"MARTA!" Ratatosk screamed at seeing the girl being attacked by the undead dragon.
Marta gritted her teeth, trying to fight off the pain and brought her spinner to the head of the undead dragon, yelling:
"GET AWAY OF ME!" the spinner's blade grinded against the beast's head protection, until it destroyed it and started to saw the skin of the creature. The dragon roared in pain and let go of Marta's shoulder.
The brunette girl fell to her knees, panting and holding her bloodied, left shoulder. Her vision was blurry and she couldn't concentrate on a healing spell due to the pain. She could feel her gloved hand getting wet with her own blood and could just look up from her position as the Hell Knight walked to Ratatosk, who was trying to get up without success.
The hunter demon then stomped on Ratatosk's chest with its armored foot, pressing the reincarnated spirit against the ground and earning another painful yell from him. The Hell Knight then placed his blade near Ratatosk's neck, shortening it to not get stuck in the earth. The demon chuckled at his prey as he spoke:
"Such fragile and pitiful creatures these humans are. Don't you agree, Ratatosk?" the only answer the demon got was a grunt from the Summon Spirit. The Hell Knight casted a look to Marta, who couldn't even get up due to the searing pain in her left shoulder. "They brag about being a superior species, however it takes just one serious wound to make them unable to fight. Pathetic," the hunter demon then looked back to Ratatosk. "It's because of it that you enhanced your human vessel, right? Of course, you can only do so much with the little power you have now…" the demon then raised his blade. "The contract stated I should take your head back to Lord Nebilim. Surely the Great One will promote me to Lord with your death. Be honored."
The Hell knight was about to swing his sword, however, he was stopped by a cry of "Brilliant Shackles" as the seals appeared over the air and bound the demon right before exploding and sending him staggering back. The Hell Knight looked to the direction the voice had come and saw Raine standing there.
"Stay away of them," the half-elf commanded, pointing her staff at the high-level demon.
The Hell Knight chuckled and called his mount with a snap of his fingers again. He jumped and landed on the back of his undead dragon with ease. Raine saw that as a sign the demon intended to attack her and started to chant another spell as the Hell Knight charged at her:
"Neish lis irath tun heset fiant…"
"That enchantment…" the Hell Knight mumbled in surprise.
"Khist Tresay!" a runic portal appeared in front of the Hell Knight, a brilliant light emanating from it and making the demon stop as he felt his aura burning with the light. He tried to avoid it, but two other portals opened at his sides and shot out brilliant lights too. A final one opened behind the demon, trapping it as he tried to protect himself against the blinding light which burned his darkness. The light emanating from the portals soon concentrated into beams, which shot from the portals, hitting the Hell Knight and making his entire body and his mount's glow with a golden brilliance until this glow released an explosion over the demon, who screamed in pain.
The Hell Knight was now panting, all the fighting and attacks seeming to finally have taken a toll on him. The demon then looked to Raine, who was standing before him, not phased at all.
"You… you know our magic…" the hunter demon said. "Why aren't you in the Desian division of our troops?"
"Because I have no interest in allying with those bent on destroying this world," Raine replied.
"You little…" the Hell Knight was cut off when a storm of seal cards appeared around him, cutting his armor and his mount's flesh. "Damn! What now?" the demon cursed, trying to cut the seals while his mount breathed fire on some. They achieved to burnt and destroy some of the cards, but it was already too late.
"Typhoon Purge!" Sheena's voice came as the seals attached to the cuts made on the two foul creatures, shone and exploded. "Now begone from this world!"
As the Hell Knight was pushed back by the explosions of the seals, Sheena appeared near Raine, more cards ready. The demon then spoke, his voice dripping with anger, seeming to have finally got tired of all those interruptions:
"Do you think that's enough to destroy me? I'm a demon general! The power granted to me by that sole position is something you, miserable worms, could never touch!"
"Oh, we weren't trying to destroy you…" Sheena said, slyly.
"Just to prepare you for the payback," Raine completed.
The Hell Knight was about to reply, but suddenly he felt a powerful aura emerging from the forest nearby. A very familiar and powerful aura. The demon was turning its head and saw a red blur coming, which proclaimed:
"Flaring Tempest!" Lloyd curled and spun in the air, his transformed swords spreading flames in the air. The young man then slashed at the base of the Hell Knight mount's neck, almost decapitating it, and at the chest of the demon. The cuts ignited in a roar of flames, as the demon let out another scream of pain and his mount roared, right before falling to the side with its knight.
The high level demon stood on his knee as he looked to the one that attacked him, taking in the changes in his appearance and… was that wings coming out of his back? But that was impossible. And how in Niflheim did that human achieved to wound him using fire. It was one of the elements he was resistant against. It was then the hunter demon felt the aura of the brunette again and recognized it:
"Efreet!"
"Not really," Lloyd said, gripping his blades again. "But I sure am going to incinerate you until nothing is left for hurting my friends!"
The Hell Knight then accessed the situation again: Lloyd and Sheena were ready to attack him; his mount was down, appearing to have been killed while the smell of burnt flesh rose from it; and Raine was already healing Marta. The demon stood and touched his unconscious mount, a runic circle appearing bellow them.
"It seems I was misinformed about you…" the demon said as he and the undead dragon started to glow and their figures convert to two, bright purple spheres, right before he said. "We will meet again…"
With that, the two spheres released a purple flash and disappeared. Lloyd went back to his normal form and looked at Marta and Ratatosk, seeing the damage the demon had made to them. The brunette girl, as soon as she was cured, got up and went to her protector, who was grunting as he tried to stand, but couldn't due to all of his wounds.
"Wait. I'm going to cure you," Marta said, kneeling near her crush and quickly chanting a Heal spell, ignoring the dizziness she felt due to the blood loss. However, the magic didn't have any effect. Marta tried again, but the spell simply seemed to slip on his body. "W-why isn't it working?"
"He was probably wounded by chaos energies," Raine said, approaching the two. "Wounds inflicted by that kind of energy can't be healed by normal spells and even advanced ones have little effect."
"So, do you happen to know some kind of healing, chaos spell?" Sheena asked as she and Lloyd also reunited with the group.
"Yes," Raine simply said, holding her staff in the vertical and murmuring a chant in the demonic language once more. "Jeoriv," as she proclaimed the name of the spell, a runic circle appeared beneath Ratatosk and chaos energy seemed to propagate around its borders like teeth. The energy then closed around Emil's body in a gentle manner, like a mantle was being thrown over him.
However, as his wounds were closing, Ratatosk let out a yell of pain, startling the others. Steam also seemed to come out of his wounds, like something was burning them. The runic circle then disappeared together with the chaos energies. The wounds in Emil's body hadn't closed completely, but they didn't seem as serious as before.
"What happened?" Lloyd asked Raine, who got up with a thoughtful expression as she put her hand under her chin.
"Just as I suspected," she mused before turning to Lloyd and Sheena and explain. "Chaos magic is known by having an effect on the caster's soul and its target. But since Emil is Ratatosk, a Summon Spirit, his spirit naturally rejects chaos energies. I can only do this much for him."
"At least he doesn't look worse than he was before," Sheen commented, as Lloyd helped Ratatosk to get up, by passing an arm around the reincarnated spirit's shoulder.
"Yes. I suppose we can trust you are able to recover on your own from now."
"Huh… you still doubt that, woman?" Ratatosk replied with his typical sneer.
- / - / - / -
The party set up their camp near the bridge that connected the Iselia region to the Asgard Continent. Raine had bandaged Emil's wounds, who was currently shirtless, his torso completely wrapped in the bandages, while Marta served him some steak Lloyd had prepared. The girl also had some bandages and was wearing a spare, orange coat Raine had, since her normal clothes would need to be sewed.
After ending their meal, Sheena, Raine and Lloyd were discussing the recent happenings with the Centurions Aqua, Tenebrae and Ventus. Lloyd asked them about what Raine had mentioned about a demon clan.
"The demon society is divided into several groups…" Tenebrae started to explain. "Some of these groups are the clans, composed by members of the three, main, demon species; the demon beasts, the spiritual demons and the high-demons. The Hunter Clan, for example, is composed of demons who are excelled in tracking and taking down preys, mortal and demonic alike."
"Sounds like they're tough," Lloyd commented.
"They are," Ventus said. "The Hell Knight you just saw is their best agent. To top it off, he seems to be a demon of General ranking."
"That would explain the power he had and why we merely managed to repel him," Raine concluded.
Lloyd and Sheena stayed quiet at that. Truly, that demon had shown a power they had seen just in the Desian Grand Cardinal Rodyle. Could that mean the Desian Grand Cardinals were demon generals too? That also brought another worry to them. What if the Hell Knight came back for them? He certainly wouldn't leave things like that, not when he almost had Ratatosk at his mercy.
Emil and Marta finished eating and approached Raine and the others, the brunette helping her crush to walk, since he was still feeling pain from the gashes he had received in his waist and legs. The young couple sat down near their friends as Emil asked:
"What was that Arte that demon used? I never saw something that powerful."
"It's called a Mystic Arte," Ventus said. "They're unique, powerful Artes that few beings can master, for it's necessary for them to have a certain level of power."
"I thought you would know since Ratatosk seems to have one of his own," Raine said.
Before Emil could argue, Ratatosk took the control and spoke up:
"I do have. However, my Ain Soph Aur's power is just a shadow of what it used to be, back when I had all of my power," Emil retook the control right after Ratatosk finished. "You mean, it can get more powerful than it already is?" the blond swordsman asked, surprised. He thought that Arte was already quite powerful the way it was. Ratatosk manifested again. "You call that powerful? We couldn't even destroy that bastard! If I had my full power, he wouldn't even stand a chance," the shy blonde resumed his control once more. "Oh, right… sorry."
"Somebody else is getting dizzy when they start changing like that?" Lloyd asked the group. Sheena, Ignis, Aqua and Lumen nodded to the dual swordsman.
"Whatever," Ratatosk muttered. "Anyway, we have to do something. That demon tracked us down by sensing my aura."
"I feared this would happen…" Ventus spoke. "As your powers grow each time we hatch a Centurion, so does the vibrations in your aura, making it more noticeable. And now that they know Sir Lloyd is Efreet reincarnated, they will also search for your aura, which might grow more noticeable as you grow stronger."
The Centurion of wind then looked to his brethren and they all nodded. Tenebrae then called Lloyd and Emil's attention (while Ratatosk gave him back the control):
"I think it is already time for you two to start your training."
"Training?" Lloyd and Emil asked at the same time.
"Yes. As the events of today show, we cannot delay it any longer, otherwise, your auras will be a beacon to any demons that seek your death."
"You mean you're going to train them to hide their auras?" Marta asked.
"Not just that, Lady Marta. Lord Emil also has to grow stronger to balance the power of the two halves of his soul, otherwise both will stay struck in their development."
"Just like in a symbiosis, you mean?" Raine asked, to which Tenebrae nodded.
"Symbio-whatnow?" Lloyd asked.
"It's a relationship established between two beings in which one offers the other its abilities in exchange of providing sustenance to the other being, but, due to its nature, if one being dies or becomes ill, the other will also die or become incapacitated."
Lloyd and Marta seemed even more lost with that explanation, but decided to stay quiet about it. Sheena then spoke up:
"In that case, let me help. I know about aura manipulation and magic too, so I might be useful. Besides…" she casted a quick glance and winked at Lloyd while saying. "I might know of a way to keep Lloyd… interested in the lessons," needless to say, Lloyd blushed at that and looked away.